Father and the Son concerning the great interest of his Son the sum of which is this second Psalme wherein the father expresses so great love and manifests such strong resolutions to exercise his wisedome and power in doing that for his Son which his love tells him becomes the love of such a father to performe and his deare Son doth deserve The Son seeing his Father so full of wrath and jealousie for his sake going about to make bare the arme of all his wonderfull Attributes and set them all on work to bring to passe his Decree concerning his beloved he steps in declares the Decree to the Sons of men and he doth it with such tendernesse of heart such loving exhortations and invitations that if possible he might perswade them to submit to his Scepter come under his healing wings and be blessed for ever In this Psalme we have First A TIME pointed at Secondly WORKE to be done in that time which is double The worke of God and the Worke of Christ the Son Thirdly The MANNER of Christs doing his work We have Two times pointed at by the holy Ghost in this Scripture 1 All that space of time between Christs first coming in the dayes of his humiliation and his second coming in the day of his power and glory to take the Kingdome to himselfe For the clearing up of this consider 1 That the holy Ghost devides the enemies which Christ shall have in this large Tract of time into three ranks 1 Heathens and People 2 Kings of the Earth And 3 Rulers Heathens and People that is Jewes against Christ for that space of time wherein Heathenish Rome bare rule Kings of the earth while Antichrist Lords it over the Heritage of God And lastly Apostate Rulers men of more refined Principles and professions as will be proved in its place that yet shall prove Apostates such pernicious implacable enemies to Christ in the last dayes such as God shall be no longer able to bear with but shall come forth against them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure 2 And surely The holy Ghost's distinct manner of Characterising them signifies not a little to us concerning this matter What more fit and true Character can be given of Heathenish Rome that great red Dragon than rage What rage did that Beast exercise against the poore flock of Christ How did he rend and teare it to pieces The ten first Persecutions witnesse to it And what vaine things did the people of the Jewes imagine when they thought to extinguish the light of the Gospel that shone in their Horison and to extirpate the profession of Christ out of their Coasts And secondly How directly and particularly doth the holy Ghost point out unto us the ten Hornes that gave their power to the Beast under the notion of the Kings of the earth setting themselves against the Lord and his anointed How openly and stoutly the Kings of the earth have set themselves against the Lord and his anointed in giving their power to maintaine the dominion lusts and blasphemies of the man of sin is evident by the havock they have made in the Church of Christ these many hundred yeares And lastly How exact and precise is the holy Ghost in describing unto us by many notable Characters the constitution of a third sort of Rulers that should come upon the stage of the world in the latter end of those dayes to finish the Tragedy of the old Serpent yet before the Kings of the earth should be totally extinct or put by from prosecuting their work for while the remaining Kings of the earth set themselves these take counsell together against the Lord and his anointed 3 The Apostles and Brethren in the fourth of the Acts are of our mind they begin the fulfilling of this Prophesie with the first coming of Christ when Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and people of Israel were gathered together against Christ in the twenty-seventh Verse 4 As to the finishing-time of this Prophesie we have good and sure ground to receive it for a truth that this Prophesie runs downe to the day of Christs power when all the Kingdomes of this world shall become the Kingdomes of the Lords Christ For 1 Here 's the forbearance and long-sufferance of God at an end He speaks to the world in wrath and vexeth them in his sore displeasure A course God takes not till he hath tryed all other wayes and means and that indeed the world hath fill'd the cup of her iniquity almost full and the mystery of iniquity is almost finish't then God resolves to make a full end of her as he did of the old world when the appointed time came But 2 Christ steps in and by vertue of that authority he hath with his Father he saith he will declare the Decree He procures a little suspension of the devouring wrath of God and undertakes to declare the Decree in the midst of this wrathfull dispensation now the Decree being onely concerning the matter of his Kingdome in the world it 's worthy our serious consideration whether it point at a time past or the time present or to come PAST I conceive it cannot be for we doe not find that this Decree hath been declared in former times accompanied with the weighty and materiall circumstances in the Text viz. Declared as his right and Title to the Kingdomes and possessions of the Kings and Rulers of the earth in opposition to the present Governours of the world though the best and most Saint-like of them who Take COVNSELL against the Lord and his anointed that is act against him hiddenly that it appears not to the vulgar eye and particularly addrest to the Kings and Rulers of the world as matter for their consideration denouncing no lesse than perishing death to those that yeeld not to him pronouncing them blessed who forsaking their former Lords and Rulers put their trust in him Now no time past being able to shew this Decree thus declared therefore it cannot point out to us that part of time 3 Here is but a little time given men to repent in which argues the day is far spent and the night is at hand the glasse is almost run out there 's but a few sands behind to run the voyce was all the day long beseeching and woeing to repentance by loving and patheticall perswasions We beseech you saith the Apostle in Christs stead setting before men the tendernesse of the heart of Christ to sinners and that matchlesse love of his that mov'd him to shed his blood for them pourtraying before them in a lively manner a crucified Christ with his Crowne of Thornes on his head his wounds in his hands and sides blood and water gushing out and all this with the merits of his death and sufferings to perswade men to believe the willingnesse of the heart of Christ to save sinners and that they would come and take him upon his owne tearmes that they
snatch up the Crowne and set it on their head God overturnes some of them and these Apostate Rulers fasten the Crowne to their Temples but their comes a third overturning which is a thorough one indeed for saith God Remove the Diadem take off the Crowne this shall not be the same exalt him that is low and abase him that is high I will overturne overturne overturne it and it shall be no more untill he come whose right it is and I will give it him Where are these Rulers now there 's no hope for them for his Kingdome is an everlasting Kingdome 2 That while these Apostate Rulers are taking counsell together against the Lord and his anointed the designe of God is then at that time to set his King upon Sion the hill of his holinesse And he doth it in opposition to them though they contradict it YET I have done it saith God 3 That the first thing God doth for his Son after he hath made bare his arme and entred into judgement with the Antichristian world for surely he began that work when these Rulers cut downe some of the Kings of the earth and in opposition to these Rulers is to make him King in Sion in his Church Yet have I set my King VPON SION the hill of my holinesse He is set there in a posture fit for the carrying on the designe which he and his father are now managing in the world there is his Throne and his holy ones about him and there he will sit and together with them judge the world and poure downe his fathers wrath upon it 4 That Sion may be a fit seat for the Son to settle himselfe upon in opposition to all his enemies God makes Sion the hill of his holinesse The HILL of my holinesse a hill for strength and stability it 's unmoveable a hill for union all its parts are so united and compact together as none can divide it a hill for height The mountaine of the height of Israel it 's above the world reaches up to the Heavens And a hill of holinesse the King being seated upon this hill this metaphoricall hill becomes his Court and those in it his Courtiers they are clothed with the same clothing his Majesty is hâ—linâ—sse they are all like their Lord each one of them resembling the Children of a King holinesse to the Lord is written upon them And a hill of holines for they are consecrated separated and set apart for the work of Christ at this day sanctified for this service enabled to overcome all the assaults of the evill one and having done all to stand to keep their place and station a seat and Throne for Christ to be such Carpenters as shall fray away all the Hornes the spirit of the Hornes shall not enter into these Carpenters for God saith Sion is the hill of his holinesse 5 Although at this day many may fall away and loose their first love many prove foolish Virgins yet God hath his true Church his hill of true holinesse a fit seat for his Son his chosen number which he unites together and by the mighty working of his spirit they become the hill of his holinesse He sets his Son upon this hill and thence he issues forth the Decrees of his father about the concernments of his Kingdome notwithstanding the power and forces of his enemies against him 6 That under the Government of these Rulers the people of God have not liberty to come up to the height of Gods holinesse for when they come to be a hill of holinesse the world stands in opposition to them and they unto the world Christ is set upon the hill of Gods holinesse in opposition to the Rulers of the world If any then blame the followers of the Lamb as busie-bodies and rash spirits saying it 's otherwise with them now then it was under the Kings they may be as holy as they will and live in their fellowship with God and Christ in his owne Ordinances to the highest it 's a falsity for if they seek after the height of Gods holinesse to get to the top of this hill to enjoy the fullnesse of the Promises in Christ by following him fully according to the voyce of his spirit in his word in this day they are opposed by the Rulers and taken counsell against 7 We may here see what God expects from his Sion his Church that in this day when the Rulers and great men of the world reject Christ and take counsell against him and his that this his hill of holinesse should receive his Son and cleave so close to him espouse his righteous interest so unfeignedly and so zealously as that it may be a hill of advantage whereon Christ may sit as King in opposition to the Kings of the earth and in despite of these Rulers although the Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsell together against the Lord and his anointed when the Kings and the Rulers combine together to doe their utmost the one by an open perverse setting themselves the other by taking counsell pernicious secret counsell against him and his and at last shall conjoyne Forces openly setting themselves to act their counsells things at this passe God brings his Son to Sion his Church the hill of his holinesse he is totally excluded the world by the men of the world from having any share in their Royalties in these Rulers the father hath tryed the finest and purest piece of earth the world can shew and finding it false he brings his Son to Sion sets him there as in a safe place expecting they will submit their necks to his yoke and their shoulders to his burden and follow him in his goings forth against his enemies after what manner soever they be whithersoever he will lead them This indeed is the ready way to find out an everlasting rest to get a full possession of the promised Land to be blessed in heavenly places with him Lastly Behold the Lamb with his 144000 his chosen number standing upon Mount Sion having their fathers name written in their foreheads Sion is the hill of my holinesse saith God Here are the Armies of Heaven with the great Captaine of Salvation in the head of them in a posture fit ready prepared to execute the Decree Thou shalt breake them with a rod of iron thou shalt dash them to pieces like a potters vessell But before they enter upon this strange and wonderfull work being the will of their deare Captaine and leader they sing as it were a new song of praise unto God before the Throne and though it be a hard song that the world cannot learn and it sounds harshly in their eares seeming to them such a thing as never was before a new invention of the spirit of delusion yet these chosen holy ones they are acquainted with and expert in singing this song before the Throne of God Christ their Captaine begins and they follow on declaring the
this Decree concerning the Kingdome of the Son fully according to the due import of A Declaration in the eares of the whole world yea that the Kings and Judges of the earth may heare and feare and tremble If men or Devils in men besmear them with the spurious conceptions of their owne filthy hearts what matters it They have the pure water of the word at hand to wash off all that dirt It 's the work of Christ in this day of his fathers love I will declare the Decree that which he will doe by his body his Mysticall Members and men cannot duely nor rightly charge his holy ones with sin or folly in this their obedience to their Lord It 's the work of Christ to declare it in Sion by his spirit and it 's the work of Sion as the Instrument in his hand to declare it againe to the world in opposition to the Kings and Rulers thereof in their usurpations upon the Royall interest and Prerogative of Jesus King of Sion 3 That this Declaration is published in the time of the fathers wrath neither is this expression of the Sons love without some tokens of displeasure The world and the powers thereof have so slighted trampled upon and provoked the Son as he will not speak one word for them to plead their cause with his father but by his silence suffers his fathers wrath to break forth speaking to them in wrath and vexing them in his sore displeasure The father having by his Almighty power set his King on Sion and he being ready to over-run the world with the execution of his fathers just displeasure his heart being tender his bowels rowle within him towards poore sinners he must declare the Decree with an Exhortation if now at last they will come in submit to him and he will blesse them yet it 's very hasty and ends with the harsh sound of a threating in case of a non-sudden-acceptance there 's a tang of the fathers wrath and the Sons provoked displeasure goes along with it the clearest sun-shine of this day is clouded with symptomes and tokens of wrath and displeasure then it 's no wonder if God judicially throw stumbling-blocks in the way of this Generation in this day that they may not hearken to the voyce of his Son but stumble and fall and perish 4 The father having decreed to give the whole world to his Son Heathens for an inheritance and utmost parts of the earth for a possession it must of necessity be that all the GREAT possessors of this earthen world will prove his enemies and the declaration of this Decree will set the world on fire fill it with a fiery fury The heavens shall passe away with a great noyse and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up 5 That this is no rebellious nor strange word but a doctrine becoming the Gospel and Gospel times to proclaime the War of the Lord against all the enemies of Christ it 's the mind of the father for this is part of the Decree which the Son hath engaged to declare Thou shalt breake them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potters vessell 6 That this day is a day of great supplication and prayer ASKE of me saith God the father commands to aske upon such an encouraging account as that it provokes Christ and his followers to lye hard at the Throne of grace for the performance of the fathers Promises saith God ASKE and I will give ASKE or you cannot receive but ASKE and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession If God command to aske upon such an account how can it be but his people will obey with rejoycing filling the Heavens with their cryes And can we think Christ will not fill the Censor with these odours and offer them up upon the Altar as a sweet perfume to God his father and then what voyces what thunderings lightnings and Earth-quakes will this fire from the Altar fill the earth with These will fill the Vials of Gods wrath and send the Angels out of the Temple to poure them out upon the world 7 Here 's a direction for prayer in this day It 's the will of the father the prayers of the Saints should be chiefly and in the first place for the glory of Christ that he may have Heathens for an Inheritance and utmost parts of the earth for a possession And for vengeance and ability to execute the wrath of God upon the world secondarily meerly as a means to accomplish the former by removing lets and hindrances out of the way Their heart in prayer to their father ought to run out chiefly for the glory of Christ and surely if the world would be converted and turne to God it would redound much to the honour of our Lord Jesus therefore Christ undertakes to declare the Decree tells them the whole sum of the matter with Exhortation to come in to him that they may be blessed with everlasting happinesse but if they will not hearken to this voyce of love then ASKE and thou shalt breake them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potters vessell 8 In this day the Intercession of Christ and so the prayers of the Saints will be of very high concernment of dangerous consequence to the world and worldly powers They reach at no lesse then the Crowns and Scepters of the world that the whole world may become the Lord Christs Heathens for an Inheritance and utmost parts of the earth for a possession As the Saints formerly prayed against the Heathens rage and the Kings open profanenesse in setting themselves against their Lord so they now pray as zealously against the Clandestine cunning Counsells of hypocriticall Apostate Rulers what though the men of the world and some deluded sincere hearts call it sin and grosse infirmity at the best leading to rebellion unwarrantable talking tending to nought but ruine it matters not they have the command of the great Jehovah for it ASKE of me saith he and I will give thee the Heathens ASKE of me and I will give thee the utmost parts of the earth ASKE of me and thou shalt breake them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potters vessell ASKE these things of me pray for them and I will give them 9 That in this day the perverse opposition of the worlds Saint-like Rulers to the Lord and his anointed will prove such as will compell them to ask of their father AN IRON ROD such an iron rod wherewith they may breake their enemies and dash them to pieces like a potters vessell And if they ask it he hath promised he will give it and that in their hand it shall doe his appointed work and then woe to the world for how great will the Vintage of Gods wrath upon the world be in
144000 singing their new song now the end of all being to bring men to repentance exhorting them to turne to the true God worship him onely and submit to the Son that they may be blessed by him and this being a reall act in God intending the salvation of men it cannot be but all this must be done before the day of repentance and salvation is finishâ— and gone when the night cometh no man can worke and if so then it must of necessity be granted also that these things must be done before the fourth Viall is powered out for after that Viall is once gone forth there remaines no place for repentance the day of repentance and salvation is spent and gone for the Text expresly saith that men blasphemed the name of God and repented not to give him glory When the two Witnesses rise which we have good ground to believe will be at or before the powring out of the fourth Viall and execute some part of the wrath and judgements of God the day of repentance and salvation being not yet past over and gone it 's recorded Rev. 11.13 that the remnant of men left gave glory to the God of heaven a true and excellent fruit of true repentance but here the day of repentance and salvation being finisht and mens hearts hardened that is recorded also that men blasphemed and repented not to give him glory And in this 14th of the Revelation immediately upon the preaching of this Gospel Babilon Rome falls and suddenly upon the neck of that God by the mouth of an Angel pronounces them cursed without remedy that then worship the Beast and his Image and receive his marke and the Son of man followes with his sharp sickle reaps his harvest and gathers the Vine of the earth treads the wine-presse of the wrath of God What God may doe in a more than ordinary way with any particular soule I leave it but there 's no generall Time of repentance and salvation interveening these executions of the wrath of God when once the fourth Viall is powred out Not being able to answer these Reasons I am fully perswaded to believe the truth of this Assertion And whether Daniels little stone's smiting and the rise of the two Witnesses be not contemporary with Davids hill of Sion and John's Mount Sion Christ being seated on it whether all these Prophecies will not be fulfilled at one the same time yea whether they signifie not to us one and the same thing onely one one part of the work of God at that day another another part of it I leave to the serious consideration and narrow scrutiny of the godly wise at this day And let none be discouraged from believing these things because of the unlikelinesse of them to come to passe in our dayes for the flood of Gods wrath upon the old world was as unlikely to that worlds understanding to overflow when it did as these things can be to this and the Scripture saith the coming of the Son of man shall be like unto those dayes Againe the Scripture saith He shall come at midnight a time when men asleep least expect him And againe When they that dwell upon the earth shall be in the height of their mirth and jollity FVLL OF PEACE rejoycing and sending gifts one to another then the spirit of life from God enters into the two Witnesses and fills those rejoycing earthen soules with great feare brings an Earth-quake slayes a part of the world and affrights the remnant that are left extorting from them glory to the God of heaven Yet againe though the whorish woman Babylon may come to such prosperity as to say in her heart I sit a Queen and am no Widdow and shall see no sorrow her plagues shall come in one day death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burnt with fire for strong is the Lord who judgeth her Let our hearts ponder these things and we shall tremble as the word of God for judgement is at the doore In the second place I am to give my judgement how far we are come at this day or rather how neare the great God in his providence is come to us at what part of this Psalme thus expounded we may lay our finger and say this is our state and condition this is the work God would have us to doe in this our day To doe this is a great work but to doe it with demonstration to convince the understandings of men and stop the mouth of the gain-sayer is a far greater work which I despaire to performe yet according to the measure of light the Lord hath given me I shall make an Essay towards a clear evidencing of the Truth I conceive We are come to the dawning of that day wherein God will in wrath to the worlds Rulers set his King upon Sion the hill of his holinesse and the Lamb will stand on Mount Sion with his 144000 his chosen ones about him wherein the Son will declare the Decree and the 144000 will be singing their new song before the Throne of God according to the import of that Command of the father to his Son in this second Psalme ASKE OF ME And that the present Kings and Rulers of the world but especially the Rulers who are the head of this gathering together against the Lord and his anointed are those against whom the father will engage in this day of his wrath and jealousie for his Son speaking to them in wrath and vexing them in his sore displeasure even with this his setting his King upon Sion the hill of his holinesse The Reasons for this my Assertion are 1 Because we are already gotten under if not towards the latter end of the third Viall to prove this that it may be as valid a reason to you as it is to me I intreat thee Courteous Reader let thine eyes accompanied with thy mind take a journey through Mr. Tillinghast's Treatise upon the Vialls where you will finde so much Reason and such strong Arguments for this assertion as I presume will be so satisfactory as it will not be expected I should say any thing more to the point And if so then upon my former proofe it appears the dawning of this day of blessednesse to the Saints and of wrath to the world with its Rulers hath ceazed upon us But 2 The first fruits of the qualifications of Gods hill of holinesse Christs 144000 the sprinklings of the spirit of that day the beginnings of Christs being received as King in Sion are to be found in the midst of a despised people among us in this our day Let us view over the Qualifications of Christs 144000 consider them and put on a paire of those excellent spectacles made of pure love and our dim eyes will not behold men like Trees but like the purchased inheritance of the Son qualified according to the Decree to such and such a work at such a time I say the first fruits the
A BRIEF EXPOSITION VPON THE SECOND PSALME Wherein wee have That Time Modestly pointed at by the favourable direction of that significant THEN in the 5th v. in which the Father will in Wrath to the professing refined RULERS of the World Set His SONNE on SION AND A Description of the work the Son then performeth both by his Spirit and his Mysticall Body With usefull Observations thereupon Tending to clear up the scope of the whole Psalme With Application to our Times By WILLAM LLANVAEDONON of P. H. C. Repent yee for the Kingdome of Henven is at hand Mat. 3.2 But the Saints of the most High shall TAKE the Kingdome and POSESSE the Kingdome for ever even for ever and ever Dan. 7.18 LONDON Printed for Livewell Chapman at the Crowne in Popes-head-Alley 1655. THE AUTHOR TO THE READER THERE is a Time wherein God will speak to the Rulers of the World the professing Rulers the Rulers in Jerusalem by a vers 11. A STAMMERING LIPP a stuttering tongue in the 28th of Esay in such a manner as though this stammering lipp tell them b vers 12. This is the Rest wherewith yee may cause the weary to rest and this is the refreshing though it shew them the way to attaine a sure and certaine Rest to settle themselves upon an everlasting foundation yet c vers 12. They will not heare God withdrawes from them that notwithstanding his word hath been d vers 13. Precept upon precept and line upon line it 's now but here a little and there a little among them But although the word of God come forth into the world at this time in such a stammering weak posture that it 's despised and set at nought by the Rulers of the world those e vers 14. Scornfull men yet it 's the Power of God the breath of this STAMMERING LIPP smites these Scorners to the earth Behold what a Sermon of Terrors this stuttering tongue preacheth to these Rulers in Jerusalem from the 14 to the 23 Verse These Rulers are pleasing and hugging themselves in their owne wayes with their Covenants and Agreements Associations of Peace as the most safe and unerring way to their settlement Say they f vers 15. We have made a Covenant with death our strongest enemies and with hell the torment of a conquered condition are we at agreement that shall never befall us When the overflowing scourge shall passe through it shall not come unto us for we have made lyes high pretences for God and his glory for the welfare and peace of Jerusalem our refuge and under falshood have we hid our selves As confident as these Rulers seem to be yet this weak stammering lipp overcomes them conquers them g vers 18 19 20. Your Covenant with death shall be disanull'd and your agreement with hell shall not stand the overflowing scourge shall overftow and tread you downe it shall be a vexation to you to understand the report the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himselfe in it and the covering narrower than he can rap himselfe in it And the Lord shall doe this by laying in h vers 16. Sion for a foundation a stone a tryed stone a pretious corner stone a sure foundation Laying i vers 17. Judgement to the line and righteousnesse to the plumet Sending a showre of haile to sweep away the refuge of lyes and causing the waters to overflow the hiding place All your fine pretences and curious slights of wisedome those garnisht coverings under which you hide your evill intentions from the eyes of men are now too narrow to hide you you are discovered thus your bed is become too short for you those faire and spetious designs of yours which you thought would prove as a bed of Downe whereon you might rest your weary bones are become too short that it 's a become a sufficient vexation to you to understand the report the wisedome of God in this STAMMERING LIPP is got beyond you to your great regret and misery and least these men should in their hearts make it an impossibility these things should be brought to passe saith the same stammering lipp k vers 21 22. The Lord stall rise up as in Mount Perazim he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon that he may doe his work his strange worke and bring to passe his act his strange act And now therefore be ye not Mockers lest your bands be made strong for I have heard from the Lord of Hosts a consumption even determined upon the whole earth This Message God sends to these Rulers by a stammering lipp here a little and there a little l vers 13. that they may goe and fall backward and be broken and snared and taken There 's no way to avoyd this judgement of the wrath of God but by listening to these stammerings of the lipp spelling the mind of God out of them bending our hearts to a conformity to it And now Courteous Reader all my ambition is that these few Meditations I here present thee with may prove a piece of that stammering lipp by which God speaks to the world Surely I can promse thee no more than a company of stammerings O that our Lord Jesus would cause something of his fathers mind to be spell'd out of them that some glory may redound to his holy name then shall I have my aime and I shall possesse a dram of that joy which none can be able to deprive me of Neither despise nor reject them because they are but stammerings for you see by the fore-mentioned Scripture the Lord in wrath to the worlds pretending Rulers chooseth a stammering lipp to speak forth his mind to the world so that if we would in such a day as the Prophet makes mention of be acquainted with the will of our God we must sit downe under the Oratory of that stuttering tongue therefore how greatly doth it concern us to search and try every thing and hold fast that which is good I might have enlarged abundantly throughout the whole of this work but upon severall considerations I have chosen rather to hint and point at things as well as I could than to dilate upon them The good Lord water what hath been done with his rich blessing and then a fruitfull crop of honour to our dear Lord King Jesus will spring forth The God and Father of our Lord grant it Farewell MEDITATIONS On the SECOND PSALME THE Psalmist David that sweet Singer of Israel was a man after Gods owne heart as is elswhere testified of him and God knowing that he would make such an improvement of the discoveries of what he would doe in the world as would be very suitable to the heart of God according as he dealt with his Father Abraham of old and to his Promise he keeps not his secrets from him but reveales to him things to come what he would doe in the last dayes a Conference between the
battels against the Beast for A Kingdome divided against it selfe cannot stand If Satan be against Satan how can he prosper Therefore it 's not reasonable to think that Satan should set them on work to destroy his Kings but that these Rulers did fight upon the account of Christ and his people Againe Satan is on the loosing hand by these Rulers for as Satan was not so visible nor so absolute in his rule over the world in the Beasts time as in the Dragons so now he looses more ground in the losse of his Kings then when he lost his Dragon and can it be thought the wise Serpent would doe himselfe this mischief Further if these had gone out to warre upon any lower account they would have been Kings still as we see dayly when one King is gone another gets up into his seat yet but a King certainly it 's some weighty reason that moves them to forsake the glorious Title of a King and make such refined pretensions as the very name Ruler considering it stands in the Text in opposition to the preceding Heathens and Kings signifies to us they will be forc't to Againe They are RVLERS that have given profest subjection to the Scepter of Christ That is hinted to us in the third verse Let us breake their bands asunder That these bands can be no other but that part of the yoke of Christ to which they have submitted those Lawes and Commands of Christ to which they have subjected themselves being convinced in their consciences it was their duty so to doe is clear to me upon these grounds 1 Otherwise the holy Ghost should commit Tautology and unnecessary redundancy of speech for Interpreters and that according to the truth expound these bands and cords mention'd in the Text to be no other then the Lawes and Commands of Christ And would it not be a derogating from the glory of this blessed word of God and that excellent significancy that is in every tittle of it to say that these two manner of expressions signifie but one and the same thing to give to it no more than a bare elegancy of speech Surely then one part of the verse would be superfluous and may be left out which God forbid This were to charge the word of God and so God himselfe with that imperfection vaine man is subject to which I presume none that professes himselfe a Christian dares to doe And if this be granted which cannot be denyed that there is a weighty significancy in both parts of the verse then 2 What more genuine Interpretation can be given For how come the Lawes of Christ to be bands to a man but by his being actually bound with them As the cords and withes wherewith Sampson was bound were not his bands before he became bound with them they were cords and withes before but then they were his bands which he brake in sunder They cannot be called a mans bands in respect of the duty that lyes upon him to yield obedience to them for so they are called cords which these men endeavour to cast away from them A man becomes bound either by Covenant Oath Vow or Engagement when a man shall make a Covenant to walk in obedience to such and such Lawes and bind himselfe to the performance of it with an Oath when he shall make a Vow and engage to doe such and such things though these duties and obligations were but cords before yet now by these tyes upon him they are become his bands these Rulers being thus tyed and bound take counsell together to breake these bands asunder and to cast away the cords from them that they are not as yet bound with Object If it be objected That in the Text it 's said Their bands that is the bands of the Lord and his anointed so that they cannot be the bands of the Rulers I Answer 1 It 's brought in as the speech of the Rulers and so I conceive holds forth unto us their Apostacy who now in an opprobrious scorn call them their bands thereby denying that they were at all obliged to the observance of them Or 2 By this terme their bands may be intimated to us those Lawes of Christ which Christ by the common and ordinary workings of his spirit had wrought in these Rulers some kind of love to which moved them to a subjection to them or by his providence had necessitated them so to doe otherwise they saw they could not prosper in their work or that the people of God Christs anointed by their exhortations calling upon them and that formidable assistance they gave unto them while they stood for Christ against Satan in his Kings had obliged them to be bound with so that these may be truly called their bands because they are the cords with which the Lord and his anointed have bound them of which they cannot be freed except they break them yet still they are the Rulers bands which they take counsell together to break Therefore 3 The consideration of the different carriage of these Rulers towards the bands and the cords will add some further satisfaction they will breake their bands and cast away their cords if the bands had no more tye upon them than the cords the same slight manner of carriage of theirs towards the cords would serve them also to be rid of the bands But it 's far otherwise though they think a bare casting and putting away will clear them of the cords yet they are sensible the bands cleave so close to them they cannot be rid of them unlesse they break them as Sampson could not be free from his cords and withes wherewith he was bound untill he had broken them If they had not so obliged themselves to the Lawes of Christ as that they were bound by them what need they take counsell to break them a man needs not stand to break a cord to clear himselfe of it except he be bound therewith if onely a proffer be made to bind him with it he may put it by and cast it from him that is easier for him so to doe and will serve the turne as here in the Text they consult to doe but if he be once bound with it nothing but a forcible breaking of it will free him So that this carriage of theirs towards the bands and the cords confirms our Assertion Yet notwithstanding this their professed subjection to Christ these Rulers turne Apostates Satan debauches them then entring into them makes them his owne to finish his warfare to fight for him though after another manner in a more subtill method then formerly bringing forth the very masterpiece of Satans wisedome for we see here they take Counsell together against the Lord and his anointed 2 THEN when the Rulers take COVNCELL Counsell in distinction from and opposition to the mad rage of the Heathen and the open and publick boldnesse of the Kings these two kinds of vassals not thriving in their way Satan runs to his
and his anointed shall have their due and their right And to CAST AWAY THEIR CORDS what though these cords be the most righteous holy and wholesome Lawes of the great Jehovah that will blesse those with the greatest happinesse that live in unfeigned obedience to them that the Lord and his anointed would impose on them for their owne good and salvation they will none of them but take counsell to cast them away scorning and deriding them as a burden too heavy for man to bear a yoke not fit for the neck of such a free Creature as man is Breake their bands and cast away their cords that they may have no power over them that they may be their subjects and not their Lords that they may not intrench upon their Dominion nor deprive them of their worldly enjoyments 6 THEN when they TAKE COVNCELL Before they proceed to act when upon consultation they are ready to goe forth in all their might crying LET VS breake their bands c. Then God will arise and shew himselfe he will not suffer them to act their counsels least they prevaile but while they are in counsell he will take them to task and let them find he can in wrath tumble them into those pits and snares they have digged for others 7 THEN when the Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsell together against the Lord and his anointed The order of the words in that the Holy Ghost brings in the Kings setting themselves and the Rulers taking counsell together before he tells us against whom seems to me to be of sufficient force to perswade us that here is a hint given us by the Holy Ghost of another confederacy that there shall be some agreement between the remaining Kings of the earth or at least some of them and these Rulers against the Lord and his anointed and then will God arise bear with them no longer but speak to them in his wrath Lastly THEN when their Counsells shall be guilty of such a degree of Apostacy as moves God to laugh at them when they set at naught the counsell and reproof of God which surely is contain'd in those bands and cords they reject then will God deale with them in that dreadfull manner mentioned Prov. 1.24 ult Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regardded But ye have set at nought all my counsell and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your feare cometh When your feare cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlewind when distresse and anguish cometh upon you Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seeke me early but they shall not find me For that they hated knowledge and did not chuse the feare of the Lord they would none of my counsell they despised all my reproofe Therefore shall they eate of the fruit of their owne way and be filled with their owne devises for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fooles shall destroy them And when the abomination of their counsells come to that height that God shall have them in derision which is somewhat more then to laugh It may possibly be that a man may laugh at one and that in anger too whom he yet loves but to laugh with derision argues perfect hatred When their counsells and doings against the Lord thus provoke the eyes of his glory THEN shall be speake to them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure And if we would know when God will thus laugh at them and have them in derision The answer is plaine in the Text he will doe it upon their taking counsel to break their bands asunder and to cast away their cords from them when the cry is Let us breake their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision Thus we see what a multitude of plaine Characters the Holy Ghost hath given of that time wherein God will come upon the world and doe such great things for his Son who he hath made Lord and set at his right hand and his anointed ones When we see these Characters written on the foreheads of the high ones of the earth then we may safely say without haesitation That God will suddenly come in wrath and fury take their Dominion away and give it to that rejected corner stone whose right it is to raigne Let us now make a stand and by a serious review see what may be observed as a beneficiall Lesson for us to learne 1 That in these latter dispensations men may fill up the measure of their iniquity and bring judgement upon their Generation by a bare taking counsell against the Lord and his anointed When the Rulers take counsell together then God will speake unto them in wrath 2 How Great matter of Comfort is it to the people of God the followers of the Lamb that their father is so far from suffering their enemies to prevaile against them in these last dayes that All that ever they can doe cannot prevaile to breake one band asunder that is so as to free themselves from it to settle themselves upon another foundation but while they are taking counsell together God comes and gives them the rout let 's them heare his mighty voyce in wrath that they run to the holes of the rock and cry to the mountaines and to the hills to hide them from the tempest of his fury He will take the crafty in their owne snares though they take counsell to draw the Lords people into their snares and to throw them into the pits they have digged yet shall they not be able to bring it to passe but they themselves shall be taken with and fall into them then the scourge shall teach them Nebuchadnezzar's lesson That the most high rules in the Kingdomes of men In former times his long-sufferance was much he lets them goe on to rage and madnesse to open and bold yea and prevalent acting setting themselves against them but now his patience will waite no longer he will deale with them before they are well warme in their counsells He will cut the worke short in righteousnesse because a short worke will the Lord make upon the earth those dayes shall be shortned for the Elect's sake 3 What a darke and distracting day is this day When such men as these Rulers have appear'd to be having followed the Lamb so far to the cutting off some of the Kings of the earth and proclaiming the Lord to be King made his cords his Lawes to become their bands binding themselves with them as hath been open'd at large when such men shall now turne head and deale subtilly with the Lord and his anointed taking counsell against them What a darke day of Apostacy is this day The Dragon is able to
love the Gospel was glad Tidings but now the word is a word of wrath threatning judgement and destruction to the world for their wicked Apostacies and rebellions against the Lord and his anointed O say they this is no Gospel spirit but a spirit of delusion although it 's but the same Dialect the Holy Ghost useth throughout the Revelation against spiritual Babylon Antichrist At this they stumble and cast the word of life far from them thinking they have good ground so to doe 4 The Apostacy of false Brethren from the truth this is a great stumbling-block to the world by this the world blindly judgeth that the way of the truth is but a meer phansie and hath not that real good in it the world hath otherwise these men would not change their station they cannot think they would take worse for better thus they stumble and fall and perish This is also the judgement of God upon the world 5 The spirituality of the truth At this also the men of the world stumble being blind and not apprehending the truth aright put strange glosses upon it and draw unworthy and uncouth conclusions from it representing it Satan helping them to themselves and others in a monstrous shape at which they stumble and fall and perish As those men did John 6. when Christ had been treating of that great and spiritual Mystery of union with him it is said ver 66. From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him And vex them or trouble them as it is in the margent in his sore displeasure When God speaks in wrath surely it cannot but bring great trouble to men When God spake in wrath to Saul that he had rejected him and given the Kingdome to a neighbour of his better then he how did it vex and trouble his soule What feare ceized on him How did it torment him when he perceived the Lord being departed from him was with David Oh saith he to his Son Thou Son of a perverse woman doe I not know thou hast chosen the Son of Jesse to thine owne confusion for as long as the Son of Jesse liveth upon the ground thou shalt not be established nor thy Kingdome How was that most excellent King Solomon troubled when God spake in wrath that he had given the greatest part of his Kingdome to another And what trouble and vexation of spirit did it bring to all the Kings of Judah and Israel when at any time God spake unto them in his wrath concerning the matters of their Kingdome The whole History of the Kings make it evident And vex them in his sore displeasure That must needs be a dreadfull and terrible trouble great anxiety of spirit that comes from the sore displeasure of the great God If we can imagine any trouble and vexation to be greater and more deadly then another that must needs be it Vex them in his sore displeasure O dreadfull what horrors what gastly terrours of death will encompasse men about in that day If they turne to the left hand to their Cisternes they have hewne out to themselves behold they are broken and hold no water If to the props they thought to have upheld themselves with behold they are rotten and will not bear them up and if to the arm of flesh the strength of Aegypt they trusted to behold it 's a broken reed and pierceth their hands If to the right hand from whence they are fallen behold nothing but the frowning brow of a wrathfull God and the fiery spirit of an enraged people whose heart burneth with the zeale of God for the honour and glory of their God What killing disappointments are here What no hope Alas alas very little or none at all What is the feared fruit this brings forth Why they repent not but blaspheme the God of Heaven Quest But what is this that God speaks to them that thus troubles them Answ The Answer you will find in the Text Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion It 's the word of the Kingdome that God will take their Crownes from off their heads and set them on the head of Christ How was Herod troubled and all Jerusalem with him when he heard but a where is he that is borne King of the Jewes How greatly did the tidings of a rightfull King trouble him His conscience flyes in his face and stings him his jealousie and feare of loosing what he had surreptitiously gotten rent his heart with a thousand anxieties which vented themselves in unheard of cruelties against poore Innocents And the Stories of the Martyrs tell us that some Emperors after the example of Herod have been so troubled with the fear of and jealous of King Jesus his robbing them of their Thrones they have sought the destruction of the whole lineage of David And at this day what a dreadfull troublesome story is it to the Kings and Rulers of the earth to heare the doctrine of the Kingdome of Christ is asserted and preached to the people How jealous and full of wrath are they How doth it trouble them Quest Why should men be troubled and vexed at this word Answ Truly there 's some reason why the men of the world should be troubled 1 Because the word is spoken as that which God hath already done I HAVE set my King upon my holy hill of Sion I have done it saith God and the subsequent is easily drawne you must submit to him or you perish If the doctrine were this That Christ should have a Kingdome many hundred yeares to come the people of God might preach it while their lungs lasted and meet with no opposition from the men of the world let them alone till that day think they but when the word comes so neere them as to say now is the time God hath already done it the time of performance is come This galls them rubs on the sore too hard and troubles them 2 Because this Doctrine is preacht in opposition to them YET have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion YET though you have taken counsell against the Lord and his anointed to break their bands asunder and cast away their cords to keep them at a low and under rate as Pharoah did that they may be your subjects and servants and never be able to become your Lords Yet saith God I will speak to you in wrath and trouble you with this I have set my King upon my holy hill of Sion I will doe it you shall know and find that I am above you in that wherein you are so subtilly wise in spite of you he shall be King and raigne it 's his right and he shall have it I have promised him and I will give the Kingdome to him maugre all your envy and malice I would not suffer the Heathen to keep the Kingdome from him and have brought downe to the dust those Kings of the earth you have slaine for their attempts
against him and shall you prosper in your Apostacies and rebellions against him I would not bear with their superstition and shall I now connive at your hypocrisies Shall I suffer and permit you to keep the Kingdome from him and to interrupt the performance of my Promises No know I speak it to you in my wrath Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion 3 Because it will destroy all their Idols deprive them of all their dear enjoyments their powers with their pomp and glory to which their heart cleaves so close this sword of Christs mouth will smite them all their Idols of gold and their Idols of silver and their Idols of honour c. all these will it consume And their Kingdomes must become the Kg domes of the Lords Christ and all their Dominion and the greatnesse the glory of it shall be given to the Saints of the most high those whom they have trampled upon and to whom they have been so barbarously ungratefull These things trouble and vex these Rulers that they gnaw their tongues for anguish and paine And surely this is a day of great wrath indeed as when two Kings and both strong are striving for a Crowne it 's likely to be a day of great wrath a bloody day So this day for behold what a feast will God make on this day For the Fowles that flye in the midst of heaven the flesh of Kings the flesh of Captaines and mighty men the flesh of Horses and of them that sit on them the flesh of all men both free and bond both small and great We may conclude from these things 1 It 's not unsuitable to a Gospel spirit to denounce the wrath of God against Rulers for their Apostacies and abhominable hypocrisies yea and to deale particularly with them laying the finger on the sore pointing out the Abominations by name denouncing the vengeance of God upon them For we see here how particularly God characteriseth these Rulers laying open all their abominations speaking to them in wrath And surely this also as the rest of the Scripture is written for our instruction 2 It 's no wonder that the Rulers of the world are troubled at and moved against the Gospel of the Kingdome for here God saith He will speak it to them in wrath and vex them with it in his sore displeasure 3 It 's not so much the infirmities of the Saints accompanying the delivery of their message to the world or any other circumstance about it that troubles and vexes the Rulers let them pretend what they will as the doctrine it selfe when it 's rightly asserted and thorowly opened as that which is at hand and ought to be submitted to without delay O! how doth it trouble and vex them to heare of the coming of King Jesus to depose them of their usurpations and take the Kingdome to himselfe If it troubled Herod and all Jerusalem with him when they heard of this Kings first coming meek and lowly how then think we will it not much more trouble the Kings and Rulers of the earth to hear of his second coming in power and the glory of his Sion It cannot be otherwise for God saith he will trouble and vex them with an I have set my King upon my holy hill of Sion 4 When the Rulers come to this height of ungratefull wickednesse to take counsell against the Lord and his anointed to break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from them THEN is the time of Gdos wrath come to that Generation he will speake to them in wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure 5 That before such time as God enters into judgement with the rest of the Kings of the earth and that Whore mystery Babylon the great whom they uphold God Judges these Rulers he speaks to them in wrath to them in particular to them that Take counsell against the Lord and his anointed For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim he shall be wroth as in the Valley of Gibeon that he may doe his worke his strange worke and bring to passe his act his strange act Awake awake put on strength O arme of the Lord awake as in the ancient dayes in the Generations of old 2 Here 's the work of Gods love and faithfulnesse to his Son in these words Yet have I set my King upon Sion the hill of my holinesse as it is in the margent of the Bible YET have I c. As if God had said Notwithstanding your taking counsell against him and his anointed and that you have so far proceeded managing your businesse so wisely to the very heighth and depth of wisedome as to make your selves formidable in your owne eyes thinking you have gotten strength and power sufficient to put your counsels in practice crying Let us breake their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us yet have I set my King upon Sion the hill of my holinesse Though you take counsell against him to make the way to his Kingdome as thorny difficult and perillous as you can though you be so ungratefull and unfaithfull to forsake and take counsell against him and his yet will not I be so to my beloved Son YET have I set my King upon Sion the hill of my holinesse Yet have I set MY KING Though these Rulers will not make him a King yet God will My King though they reject him would breake his bands and cast away his cords that he might not raigne over them yet God hath made him a King and given him a Kingdome He it is who must goe forth conquering and to conquer destroying all his enemies breaking them to pieces like a Potters vessel plucking up every plant that his father hath not planted throwing downe all those superstructures that are not of his owne building creating new Heavens and a new Earth A New Creation making it a suitable purchase to the unvaluable price of his blood clothing it with his glory that it may be a fit present for his father at the appointed time Yet have I set my King upon SION That is the Church of Christ by Sion is meant the Church throughout the whole Scripture that I suppose is granted by all therefore I need not enlarge upon it Yet have I set my King upon Sion the HILL of my holinesse Why a hill A hill is a place of great advantage on which if an Army be encamped it may be an impossible thing for the enemy to dislodge them So God here sets his King upon his Hill his Church a place of such advantage that God doth if I may so expresse it even vaunt it over these Rulers that he hath notwithstanding their oppositions policies stratagems and wisedome set his King upon his hill where he is a naile fastened in a sure place on which all the vessels may hang secure and safe such a place as his being fixt there frustrates all their designes undoes all their contrivements and
should seek it with teares they shall find no place for it they shall hear this voyce no more but another Depart from me yee workers of iniquity I know you not after this voyce ceases there remaines nothing but a fearfull looking for of Judgement Therefore it highly concernes the whole world with their Kings and Rulers to be cautious how they stop their eares against this wise Charmers charming surely if they doe what horrors what terrors what a massie weight of wrath of the Almighty God! what unexpressible misery will be our portion for ever How unconceivably unsufferably tormenting all our long day of eternity will the recounting over all those opportunities and especially this we have had to make our peace with the jealous God and to get Christ to be our friend by an easie submision to him upon his owne tearms be This will be no small Worme gnawing our consciences to all eternity 12 It 's worthy our Observation That notwithstanding those symptomes of wrath and displeasure that appear here and there throughout the Exhortation Yet our Lord will have it end full of grace and love with a Promise full of blessednesse Though this Exhortation be made in a day of wrath and accompanied with wrath yet at evening time it shall be light the close of this day shall be with a very clear Gospel demonstration of the good will of God unto the soules of men so that if they hearken not unto him now they shall for ever after hold their peace be left without the least excuse not have a piece of a word to say for themselves although the wrath of God break forth upon them perishing and destroying their soules with eternall death The great Correspondency this Interpretation holds with other Scriptures that have relation to our times Now it remaines that I should doe these two things 1 Shew that great correspondency this Scripture with the Interpretation given of it holdeth with other Propheticall Scriptures that have speciall relation to these last dayes 2 Give my opinion and judgement according to the light the father of lights hath given to me where abouts we in this our day are that we may consider and know our work God expects at our hands For the first This Psalme according to the following comparison is contemporary with the 14th of the Revelation Psalme 2. From Vers 6. to the end Revelation 14. From Vers 1. to Vers 8. YEt have I set mine anointed upon Sion the hill of my holinesse as the Margent hath it I will declare the Decree the Lord hath said unto me Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Aske of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thy inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potters vessell ANd I looked and loe a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion and with an hundred forty-foure thousand having his fathers name written in their foreheads And I heard a voyce from heaven as the voyce of many waters and as the voyce of a great thunder And I heard the voyce of Harpers harping with their Harps And they sung as it were a new song before the Throne and before the foure Beasts and the Elders and no man could learne that song but the one hundred forty-foure thousand which were redeemed from the earth these are they which were not defiled with women for they are Virgins These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth These were redeemed from among men being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb and in their mouth was found no guile for they are without fault before the Throne of God Be wise now therefore O yee Kings be instructed yee Judges of the earth serve the Lord with feare and rejoyce with trembling Kisse the Son least he be angry and yee perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him And I saw another Angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every Nation and Kindred and Tongue and People Saying with a loud voyce Feare God and give glory to him for the houre of his judgement is come and worship him that made heaven and earth and the Sea and the fountaines of waters In the Psalme the Holy Ghost shewes us the spetiall and peculiar posture the Son of God shall stand in at that Time upon Sion the hill of Gods Holinesse with the work he will then doe in his Sion Declare the Decree to them In the Revelation the same Spirit tells us the particular qualifications of this hill of Holinesse on which the father hath set his Son with the work the one hundred forty-foure thousand being so qualified fall to among themselves after the example of their Lord they sing a new song Againe In the Psalme the spirit of God describes the Preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdome in a speciall and peculiar manner to the Kings and Rulers of the earth In the Revelation the Holy Ghost deciphers to us the Preaching of the same Gospel in relation to the whole world in generall The Exhortation to the Kings and Rulers and the Gospel Preached to them that dwell on the earth is one and the same These two Scriptures thus compared together are an exact Comment upon each other The Psalme closes with an Exhortation the preaching this Everlasting Gospel This 14th of the Revelation goes on she wes us the work the Son doth being seated on Syon having his 144000 about him after he hath declared his fathers Decree after the everlasting Gospel is preached he destroyes Babilon layes that proud and lofty one in the dust pronounces them cursed and subjects of his fathers eternall wrath that worship the Beast and his Image and receive his Mark in their forehead and hand blesses them according to the last clause in the Psalme that dye in the Lord Yea proceeds to shew us his compleating Acts his Reaping the harvest and Treading the Wine-presse of his fathers wrath Now if any should be desirous to know further of the Time when God will set his King upon Sion the hill of his holinesse and when the Lamb will stand on Mount Sion with his 144000 about him I judge the father will doe that for his Son in that space of Time between the powring out of the third and fourth Vialls and the declaration of the Decree with the Exhortation annexed and the preaching the Everlasting Gospel will end if not before yet with the finishing Time of the fourth Viall My Reason is Because The declaration of the Decree with the Exhortation to the Kings and Judges of the earth is the product of the Sons being set on Sion as King and the preaching the Everlasting Gospel is the fruit of the Lambs standing on Mount Sion with his
impossible for a rich man to enter into the Kingdome of heaven for one whose heart is touched with and cleaves to the present evill world to be an inheriter of the world to come which God hath promised as a reward to the faithfull followers of the Lamb True in this day you must ask a world Heathens for an inheritance and utmost parts of the earth for a possession but not this present world for your selves but another for the Son your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ yet for your comfort know you are not under an exclusion for you must ask a world for Christ as he is your head your King that from him you may receive according to the Decree of God what your portion is Of his fullnesse you may and shall receive grace for grace He that hath in this old world been faithfull over a few things which the Lord hath given him in charge shall in the new world to come be made Ruler over many things and enter into the joy of his Lord Mat. 25.21 And every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my names sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life Mat. 19.29 But he that doth not by the exercise of a faithfull spirit make such a retreat out of the world shall perish in the ruines of this world If our spirits be right the counterpaine of the spirit of our Lord in this day our prayer to our God and father will be for the utter dissolution of this old world and the bringing forth the new Heavens and new Earth promised for the performance of those glorious and admirable Promises which the God and father of our Lord Jesus hath made concerning this matter Now if our hearts be not wholly taken off this present evill world that voyce Come out of her my people will seem to us as the speech of righteous Lot to his Sons in Law as the speech of one that mocketh and not hearkening to it we shall perish with the world at best if any such temper'd soule be saved it will be as by fire he will suffer great losse What advantage then can the enjoyment of this present evill world be unto us 3 Take not up your rest in any attainment though you may have taken many a step in following your Lord and gotten on high above the world and it may be the rest of your brethren yet take not up your rest there but keep on your pace endeavouring daily to mend it in following the Lamb be not contented nor satisfied with any thing below the sitting downe together with your Lord and Saviour at the right hand of glory in those Mansions of the fathers house which your Lord is gone before to prepare for you and hath promised to come againe to receive you that where he is you may be also Rest not untill you see your Lord the Son of man sit in the Throne of his glory and then shall you sit upon Thrones also Mat. 19.28 I say take not up your rest in any attainment otherwise you will be of the number of those first which shall be last in vers 30. Those that are lag now will get before you to your great regret of spirit and as in the next Chapter a part of those many which be called but not chosen to the work of the day and so you will run a great hazard of missing that glorious reward the gift of your Lord To raigne together with him 4 Remember this That in this day in the carrying on the work your Lord hath put into your hands there must be no guile found in your mouth you must be without fault before the Throne of God Your Lord expects you should exercise such sincerity of spirit in your following him in this work as that you be not defiled with any of that guile that hypocrifie and doublenesse of heart and tongue the worlds mouth hath alwayes been filled with In the matters of the Kingdome of your Lord and his out-goings against the world in this day you must be without guile and without fault so clear as that God sitting on his Judgement Throne may see no fault in you without fault before the Throne of God Let it be so and when your Lord comes you will hear his blessed voyce calling unto you Well done good and faithfull servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. 5 Would you be such as God will teach knowledge and make knowne his mind to in such a day of wrath as this is Then it 's not my counsell but the Lords be weaned from the milke and drawne from the breasts Isa 28.9 Whom shall be teach knowledge and whom shall be make to understand doctrine or the stammeringe of lips as the margent hath it at this day them that are weaned from the milke and drawne from the breasts Be yee weaned from the milk of the worldly carnall professing Church be drawn from the breasts of her consolation and the Lord will teach you knowledge and make you to understand doctrine there shall not be a stammering of the lip in the things of God in this your day but the Lord will make you acquainted with it to the understanding of it Instead of her milk and her adulterous breasts he will give you the teachings of his good spirit making you intimately acquainted with his blessed everlasting Gospel Though he withdraw from the worldly professing Church that his word is but here a little and there a little among them as he formerly dealt with the carnall yet professing Church of Ephraim though his word hath been among them precept upon precept precept upon precept and line upon line line upon line but now it 's but here a little and there a little the Lord is gotten to the threshold off their house and is departing quite away from them I say notwithstanding this he will manifest himselfe to you if you be weaned from their milk and drawne from their breasts separate your selves from have nothing to doe with the worldly though professing Church he that hath made this Promise will performe it for he is faithfull let who can charge him in the least with the breach of any tittle of his word and promise 6 Be upon your watch that you let not slip the nick of time God gives you to and he expects you should doe your worke in The time when God expects you should receive his Son and exalt him among you as your King is then when he is rejected by the worlds refined Rulers and they enter into Associations Combinations against him to break his bands asunder and cast away his cords this is the time for you to stand up and declare for the Decree of God the father on the behalfe of your Lord and Saviour and the very nick of time which you are not upon your perill to let slip as you will answer before his father and your father is then when these wicked yet professing Rulers are going about to execute their abominable Counsells crying LET VS let us doe it break his bands and cast away his cords then it 's your work and duty to stand up and cleave to your King follow him whithersoever he will lead you I say slip not your time for it concernes you if you will not owne him now before the world you will run a desperate hazzard that he will not owne you before his father and then what misery and unhappinesse will betide you Let your owne enlightned consciences judge Lastly Beware of unbelief the mother of all evill and misery though you should get to the very borders of the land of Promise and the providence the voyce of God call you to encounter with your enemies to remove every let and obstruction in the way to your full possession yet unbelief is able to drive you back into the wildernesse againe if you take not great heed would you not returne to your wildernesse Companions the Bryars and the Brambles would you not have that mournfull ditty heard in your mouths againe Woe is me that I sojourne in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar then flee all unbelief that mortall enemy of your happinesse unbelief of the truths and mysteries of the Sons Kingdome is the Characteristicall sin of the times immediately before the coming of Christ When he comes shall he find faith on earth This interrogation is a strong affirmation of the truth of the negative He shall not find faith on earth The Son had in the preceding words asserted the faithfullnesse of God in the certainty of his avenging his Elect which cry day and night unto him yet saith he Neverthelesse when the Son of man cometh shall be find faith ou earth In that time when God is about to spread abroad his faithfullnesse in making bare his arme to answer all the cryes and prayers of his people to avenge them of their enemies yea even when the Son of man is a coming to make good the word of his blessed father Shall be find faith on earth That is He shall not find faith on earth Men will not believe that it 's the time of Gods performing his Promises the face of things appear so through the counter-working of the evill one the man of sin and his instruments to the meerly rationall eye that in this very time when the Son of man is coming to avenge the Elect of God which cry day and night unto him the men of the world become mockers saying Where is the Promise of his coming all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation And others that would be esteemed the better sort they cry out The time is not come The time is not come They believe not the word of the Kingdome Beware of this unbelief least you loose the comfort of this coming of the Son when other faces shine with the joyes of the Spirit yours be bedew'd with teares the sad fruit of this defiling unbeliefe THE END