which by a New Predication will quickly over-spread the World This River shall receive no stop by the way as the last Satan being bound it shall run over all the High Mountains Isaiah saith And there shall be upon every high Mountain and upon every high Hill Rivers and Streams of Waters in the Day of the Grees Slaughter when the Towers fall Christ saith Every Plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up and this is the time of rooting up But God never pulls down but he builds up where he reaps he sows The falling of these Towers is nothing else but driving the wild Beasts out of the Forrest an overthrowing the Babylonsh Kings and their Buildings and this is done by the Sword Then comes the Word implied by these Waters and instructs and informs them in the Ways of the New Dispensation This is the last Dispensation which hitherto was to come The Text saith We give Thee thanks Lord God Almighty who art and wast and at TO COME This is that World or Dispensation to come which the Apostle to the Hebrews speaks of It therefore being now come no more is to be expected Four do not bear Record in Heaven only Three the Father the Word and the Spirit And God having applied himself to Reclaim Men by Three several Methods they can in Reason expect nothing else And therefore the Text saith He that is filthy let him be filthy still and he that is Holy let him be Holy still implying thereby that no more Attempts would be made to reclaim them The first Approximation was by Angels very Terrible above them the Second by Flesh more Familiar and Kind yet without them the Last by his Spirit comes nearest of all even within them This is a most Gracious Approach and will leave the whole World without Excuse Men need not step out of Doors for any thing they have all things at home In the Propagation of this last Dispensation there will be no such Martyrdoms as before the bloody Beasts are driven out or chained up Old things are passed away and all things are bcome New The Martyrdom will lie inward a renouncing Self and the World and a crucifying the Affections and Lusts Nothing henceforward can hurt Gods True Church for Christ presides over the Forrestial Kingdoms and makes Kings the Nursing Fathers and Queens the Nursing-Mothers thereof 'T is said The Kings of the Earth shall bring their Glory and Honour into it 'T is an amazing thing to observe how tenacious Men are of their Old Models thinking that God will build so lasting an Empire as that of his Son upon such rotten and weak Foundations Whereas he has publickly declared to all the World that he would make all things New Let them henceforward think of nothing else but of being broken to pieces by the Stone out of the Mountain The whole Civil and Ecclesiastical World is now in the Crucible and the Fire of Gods Wrath will quickly melt it down and make it ready for a New Impression The Angel has his Sword in his Hand and only wants the Word to fall on Christ has granted his Royal Pattent to his Church it wants only the Sealing and the Wax is just now a melting When 't is Sealed when the Complex Birth is Circumcised or the Child Regenerate Baptized with the Spirit I mean Then all the World shall know That the Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ They are truly and really His now And never a Tree in the Forrest has any Legal Power but One But this World knows not But then they shall And all the Rest shall be found to be Usurpers Then wo to Herod Wo to Zebah and Zalmunnah For the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon shall do mighty things Then the Kingdom of the Forest will enter and every Man will be a Soldier to help to kill the wild Beasts Every Man then shall understand what is meant by the Man whose Name is the Branch And shall confess that God has given him for a Witness to the People a Leader and Commander to the People I care not to perplex the Reader with Numbers When the Sun is up there is no occasion to ask when he Rises Yet I could do it very exactly But this is anothers Province Before I Conclude I must desire the following Writers to take particular notice of what I have wrote The One is an Ingenious Man but more a Philosopher than a Divine He melts down the World Literally instead of its Civil Frame This is most Cruel and Inhospitable There might have been some better Correction found out than to burn Mens Houses about their Ears and Some Better Entertainment for wearied Guests and Strangers than to fall on them and kill them in their Lodging 't is not customary to turn men off before They have said their Prayers The Millennium is the Repentance of the world The Counterpart of a Voyage The Reversion of an Estate after an others decease But He cuts off the Entail Sinks the Vessel in the Harbour kills the weary Traveller and allows the Penitent no Benifit of the Clergy 'T is the custom of a Skilful Founder to Break his Metal before He casts it a new The Stone out of the Mountain is said to break the metal Image of the Four Monarchies to pieces This Breaking to pieces is nothing but the unravelling of all the Constitutions upon Earth Now Had He well considered This I Believe He would have left us our Good Old world standing during the Time of the Millennium For there is no doubt but It would Last us much longer were the Heavy weight of Mens Iniquities Swept off The Other is more a Divine than a Philosopher and would have Christ to come Personally and his Saints with him and to Live and Rule with him in a Heavenly Court over us in the Air dureing a Thousand Years and to have The Dead-Risen Saints to hold a Corespondence and Commerce with the Saints that remain alive below upon Earth as plainly appears by his Catichism and other of his writings Now having so plainly and fully proved The First Resurrection not to be Literal there needs no more to be said in Confutation This Castle in the Air as He himselfe makes it will quickly vanish The Man is a Pious and Good Man and has Great Communications of Light But Humanum est Errare 'T is much more probable That Christ will appear in an ORACVLAR manner as in the Temple of old rather than in a Personal On This account He is called Wonderful COVNCELLOR c. And The Prophet Saith Men shall Say no more The BVRDEN of The Lord But what hath The Lord ANSWERED This plainly Implies That He is to be Sought to for Councel and Advice And although The Name of The City be The Lord is There Yet an Oracular Presence is more Suitable to Reason Scripture and Gods
Swore to and under CRONOS All The Tempestates or Species of Time what soever are comprehended Having Swore his Death so solemnly one would have thought The Angel would presently have fell upon The Aged Monster But He gives him a little Respite coming in with a BUT or an Exception which Semper firmat Regulam But Saith He In The Days of the voice of The Seveath Angel Reckoning These Days from the very Time when He shall Begin to sound c. Did I Say He gave him Respite He gave him none but killed Him then and Raised Him again to life The Oath flew both Him and his Issue TIME here is of a Complex nature and may rather be suposed a She Monster And being Pregnant The Angel rips open the Belly and lets the Young live out all their DAYS which had otherwise perished in The Womb of Their Parent But Though These POST HUMES live yet Their life is only a Reprieve after Condemnation for They are not to propagate Their Death being really swore to in the Death of their Parent This BUT limits their Life which is during All The Days under the Sounding of the Seventh Angel Some Pious Men amongst us understand TIME here in a Relative and Restrictive sense affirming that The Angel means no more than that some of the same quality or sort should be no longer than the Beginning of the Angels sounding which Interpretation though acidentally true yet falls much short of The Angels Oath being only a part of his plain indubitable sense For nothing is more plain than that the Sense extends it self farther even to the END of the Days and consequently to The END of the world The Text at the very entrance confirms this making The Hysteron the Proteron or Puting The Days before The Beginning plainly implying thereby That we are to include All The days under The Angels sounding before his Oath of Time being no longer can take place We cannot suppose that God would send so Extraordinary in Embassador to The world on such a slight Errand as to acquaint them That when The Sixth Hour was past it would be Seven a clock or that The Time under The Sixth Trumpet should last no longer than The Beginning of The Seventh Such a Message would be very unworthy so Great a Courtier And was his Business to tell us That The Time in the sixth Hour would not be The same for quality with That in The Seventh This would not add much to the Dignity of His Office In short TIME Ends not as is vulgarly supposed when The Angel BEGINS to Sound But at the Expiration of the whole Days under his Sounding And the Angels Chief Errand is to point out to Men The PERIOD of The world And The END of Time And Methinks I hear Him Speaking to The world after This manner YE Sons of Men Take Notice The Old Glass of Time viz. of 1260 is just run out And I Am Sent to Turn it And I Here Turn it in The Presence of you All And do Swear By The Living God who Liveth for ever and ever That It shall never be turnd more But when The Sands are run out or when The Days of the voice are Ended Reckoning Them from the Beginning of his Sounding or Tuning of his Trumpet Then The Glass shall be broke and TIME of whatsoever Denomination shall never be Measured more but be swallowed up in the Great Ocean of Eternity Two Things The Reader must Note First That That TIME which The Angel swears the Death of is of a Simple and indefinite nature and that The Time which He Excepts is of a Complex nature Because there are Days in it Secondly That The Angel is Seven year in sounding viz Betwixt The Second and Third Woe These things being premised Though there may be so me seeming difficulty when to Commence The Excepted Time and when it Ends or Expires Yet really There will be none at all For We are to Begin These Excepted Days Not when The Angel has sounded or done sounding But when He Begins to sound Not When The Clock has struck all But at The very First stroke of Seven The Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quum futurum est ut Clangat That is When He shall First begin or be about to begin to sound The very Tuning his Trumpet or his Preparing himself to sound comes into The Account 'T is usual to say T' is Seven a Clock when it has struck Seven But This is our Errour For it was seven at the First stroke at that very Instant when The Sixth Hour Lapsed or The Second Woe to The True Church Ended The Reign of a King Commenceth Not from the Time of his Proclamation But From The Exact Time of His Predecessors Death There is no Interregnum Time being not discontinued So The Reign of Christ Commenceth from the very moment of the Angels Beginning to sound which was in The Later part of 1688 When The Witnesses Rose The Spirit puts an Emphasis on The word beginning God being unwilling that Men should be ignorant of the Exact Epoche of Christs Reign Because it is The Index which points out The Final Day of Judgment Now In The second Place How long These Excepted Dayes will Last or when they will Expire and Time be Finished is alike plain and manifest For The Sands In The upper part of the Glass will be no longer in runing than in the lower part The Lease of The Bride If The Indentures be compared will be found to be cut out of the Same sheet of Time with that of the Whores Now The Whores Lease was for 1260 Years or Time Time and halfe a Time under the Sounding of the Sixth Angel And The Brides under the Sounding of the Seventh will be the Same viz 1000 for The Millennium and 260 for The Little Season In which Satan shall be Loosed which Ballances exactly Then Time shall be no longer The Turning the Last Glass or the Angels Begining to sound Is the Finishing of time Inchoate And Its vacuity or Expiration of the 1260 Years Is the Finishing of time Consummate These things must needs be very plain The Sounding of the Seventh Angel Is the worlds Passing Bell Judgment then begins and They are Destroyed which destroy the Earth and in the End are thrown into Hell when the Quick and Dead will he judged These Last 1260 Years being the Dawn of an Eternal Day to the Godly But the Dire Crepusculum of an Eternall night to the Wicked These Days Began in the Latter part of 1688 But had no Solemn Commencement 'till An. 1689 ' when The Man whose NAME is The Branch was Crowned King Now would The Inquisitive know what the Last Year of the Seventh Angels Sounding will Issue in Let me tell them T is very probable 't will Terminate in a Most Glorious Appearance of Christ Pouring down the Spirit from on High at Pentecost For He is Now Considered under the Following Relations viz As the Son of A Great King or an Heir Adult Claiming All the Kingdoms of the Earth As a Bridegroom come to marry His Bride As a Great General come to Conquer the World whose Name is called The WORD of God As an High Priest or Chief Administrator in His Millennian Kingdom and Lastly As a Young Infant in His Church Regenerate The Pouring out the Spirit so often promised may Refer to all These As He is a King 'T is the Great Proclamation As a Bridegroom 'T is The Marriage Supper 'T is the Sealing His Commission as a Souldier His Installment as He is an High Priest As He is married 't is the Sealing His Bride a Jointure of Power For a Thousand Years and as He is an Infant 't is his Babtizing and Lastly 't is the TEMPLE OPENED not of which The Plagues do Issue forth with a Full Commission to Destroy all His Enimies who would not have Him to Rule over them No Sort of Christians will deny that God hath made to Men a Promise of a NEW COVENANT in the Latter Days Obliging Himself thereby to write his Law in their HEARTS c. Now He never makes a NEW Covenant but He Break The OLD one Nor is it his Custom ever to Introduce a New or Cancel an Old one with out the Greatest Solemnnity After what Manner and with what Solemnity He Broke The old one I have plainly hinted in my Preface to the King The Introduction of the New one there being Two SEDE VACANTES by Cancelling the Old one is but the Reverse of That And That It will be Introduced with a Joyous Solemnity is The Rational Expectation of all Good Men. THE END * O. C. T. Burnet T. Beverly M. Jurieu
The TEMPLE Opened OR THE GREAT MYSTERY OF THE Millennium AND The First Resurrection REVEALED And Found to be Different from all the Accounts that have been given Thereof by Any who have hitherto wrote on the same Subject More Fully and Plainly Opening the Nature of the Death and Resurrection of the Witnesses AND The State of the NEW JERUSALEM Than has ever yet been Done Humbly Presented to the KING and PARLIAMENT By THOMAS BROOKHOVSE LONDON Printed by George Larkin Jun. And are to be Sold at his House over-against the Hat and Feather upon Addle-Hill And by J. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall 1696. To the King Great Potentate under the Administration of JESUS THis Address at first may seem an Enthusiastical Strain but upon farther perusal it will be found otherwise Christ being Adult or of Age in his Church in her Favour gives the Kingdoms of this World to whom he pleases During His or Her Minority SatanVsurped the Power and Let his Whore a Lease thereof for 1260 Years But these Expiring All the Kingdoms of the World Devolved upon him as Lord in Chief Heir of All Things and Head over All to the Church The Time of this Grand Devolution happened in the Time of our late Harvest when He sent a Bold Herald to Claim His Right and to Demand of The Guardians or Two Old Anointed Ones their Staves of Authority These Staves are Power Spiritual and Temporal called by the Prophet Beauty and Bands These the Herald took and Cut in Sunder before all the People thereby Cancelling the Old Covenant which God had made with them This Publick Act was a most Solemn Act of Abolition and Abrogated Representatively all the Powers in the World The Old Cedar and Vine being thus Lopt the immediate succeeding Powers were to be considered no otherwise but as Parents or Adminicula to the Two New Branches or Two New Anointed Ones represented by the said Prophet by Two Olive Branches The Power and Promises belong to These who are to Minister or Stand before The LORD of the Whole Earth under the Dispensation of a New Covenant These are foretold by the Man whose Name is the Branch and Joshua The One is to be a King on his Throne and the Other is to be a Priest upon his Throne And the Counsel of Peace is to be betwixt them both GREAT SIR You are the Man whose Name is the BRANCH The Tree of Monarchy was Planted in the East but was Cut Down in the West and You are the Branch that grows in its Room The Lord of the Vniverse hath Preferred You before all the Kings of the Earth His Ship run A-drift and You are the First Pilot He has Chose to Steer It. Your Commission is to Drive the Wild Beasts out of His Forrest that His Flocks may Feed and lie Down in Safety And there is no Doubt but He will Assist You in it Now since He has Presented You with the First Staff and Honour'd You with the First Fruits of Power That he would also Honour You with the First Fruits of His Spirit and Enable You to perform all His Good Pleasure Is the Hearty Prayer of Your Faithful and Dutiful Subject THO. BROOKHOUSE To the Parliament Wise Senators and Faithful Patriots GOD having promised to make all things New is now performing of it Empire and the Gospel have finished their Voyage and are now about to return from whence they first set out You have many things of great moment before You but that of Time justly challenges a place amongst the first The Sands of a New Aera are now running the last Glass of Time being turned Empire has made us a Visit and will stay some Time with us and we shall measure out Law and Time to other Nations We have long gone by a corrupt Reckoning but all things are to become New Time and our Coin seem to be joynt Petitioners and beg to be Regulated together that one may give Testimony to the other The Regulation is not only very Honourable and Profitable but very Feasible The Royal Society would quickly perform it And when is it more suitable than when a New Empire Commences This Noble Work would perpetuate your Memory till Time should be no longer It would also be very Profitable for there might be put what Price on the New Ephemeris You pleased and every Family throughout the Kingdom being obliged to take one a vast Sum would be raised for the Kings Use To say it would be very Troublesome is no Argument an Old House was never pull'd down without trouble and dust When things are made New and the House new Built all the labour and trouble is compensated Caesar thought it worth his while to Correct it and he took not his Aim amiss for it has been a Faithful Register of his Fame I could wish the King a Partner in the same Reputation But whether the present Conjuncture will admit of it or no I can assure you it will not be long before it be done For there is a New Calendar Commenced in Heaven Christs Reign is actually Commenced The Head of the Image was in the East the Feet are in the West and Here the Stone first falls upon them and this is the Reason of all our present Confusions which will continue till all the old Building is pulled down Satan put his Metal four times in the Fire and 't is yet but a Lump of Dross But now the Son of God takes the work in hand and has appointed You his chief Workmen That He would give You the Spirit of Understanding to go thorow Your present Undertakings is the Prayer of Your Devoted Servant T. B. To the READER Reader THe Four Monarchies are but a Copy of the Four Elements and all th Models of Power and Policy hitherto used are no other but Transcript of the Divine Operations in the first Creation They answer one another at Face does Face in a Glass For as then the WORD by a Fiat spake the Four Disagreeing Elements into that Beauty and Order we see them in So Now the same WORD His Name is called The WORD OF GOD comes to speak the Ataxy or Irregularities of the Four Monarchies into such an Harmonious Frame and Model that may Eccho to Nature and keep time as it were with her in all her Divine and most Excellent Administrations The Four preceding Monarchies were rather Heaps than Buildings Men piling up mollia cum duris sine pondere habentia pondus Things of a differing nature together so that nothing less could be expected than their downfal the Dissimilarity and Disproportion of parts to such a degree corroding and fretting the whole substance as at last to undermine the Foundation and to tumble down the whole Frame But in this Monarchy or Consistency Bone comes to its Bone and Flesh to its Flesh and all the Similar parts will be fitted and joyned together in such a due and wise Symmetry that the Building will be
mistaken in this matter and so are all others who have wrote on this Subject which the Reader must of necessity acknowledge if he impartially peruse what I have wrote The liveliest Emblem of Death Resurrection which I know of is a Silk-Worm In its first state 't is a crawling Worm of a greenish colour and the whole business of its Life which may instruct Christians is to prepare for Death for spinning a Noble Coffin it dies laying it self therein and after some time it comes forth of this Mausoleum a perfect New Creature of Whitish colour with Wings and Legs The Death and Resurrection of the Witnesses ought to hold a due Conformity thereto They ought to be in two differing States in two differing distinct Bodies attended with two clearly differing Circumstances The Old Witnesses ought to have no Life no Power no Model or Form at all but their Constitution is to be absolutely dissolved and lie dead dead dead Then the Spirit of Life and Power is to enter into them and give them a New Life Model and Constitution perfectly New in substance and circumstance in all points and respects differing from the former This has not been done yet in any part of the World but in England and here it has been done and is lifted up as an Exemplar for all the World to copy after What has been done in other places has been only a Field of Corn raised up after it has been flatted by some boisterous wind of Persecution this amounts not to a Resurrection it being the same Old Corn not risen but raised But here our Harvest has been cut down and our Wheat cast into the Ground for a New Crop which we can say is not raised but risen one implying help the other none and it cannot be said that ever any one helped our New-Risen-Witnesses to Rise 'T is purely Gods Work and is marvellous in our Eyes England is reaped but wo to the Vintage Wo to all the Constitutions of the Earth For the Angel with his Sickle will cut all down before him And where he pulls down there will he build and where he reaps there he will sow For the Doctrine of Restoration must be spread over all the World God has promised he would make all things New which He will not do but by pulling down the Old Happy England above all the Nations of the World who art first visited by the God of Heaven England Scotland and Ireland are the Reubenites Gadites and half Tribe of Manasseh which first have their Lot in the promised Land on this side Jordan But what they did so must we We must pass over Jordan and assist our Brethren to overthrow the Canaanites before we can enjoy our Possessions Reading the Revelations through I observe the True Church or Witnesses to have several Appellations and to wear several Suits of Apparel fitted to the differing Ages and Circumstances they are in In Chap. 7. they are The Sealed Number of one hundred forty four Thousand In Chap. 11. the Two 〈…〉 in Sack-cloth In Chap. 12. A Woman going into the 〈◊〉 In Chap 14. The same Number of one hundred forty four Thousand with their Fathers Name written on their Forehead standing on â—ount Sion being delivered out of all their Calamities And in Chap. 19. as an Army fighting under their General the Word And lastly in Chap. 20. Every one standing in their proper Colours concerted into a regular Body of the Church Regenerate Landed safely in the Millennium Thus Si liccat parvis componere Magna Caius goes to his Diversion to the East End of an Oblong Pool where he chooses several smooth Stones and marks them with a particular mark then slides them over the surface of the Water where they dive many times by the way but at last Land on the Western Shore where Julius going by he calls to him aloud to throw him back his Stones telling him they have such a particular mark the which he doth And this is the state of the Church and Witnesses before and during the Millennium For in their passage they met with many Troubles and Perplexities by the Way but in their Return they are free from all OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CHRIST taking Possession of the Kingdoms of this World as Heir and Conqueror thereof and the Church being brought to bed of the New-Risen-Witnesses these things make such a great Alteration that there is said to be a New Heaven and a New Earth All things in Church and State receive a New Face And things are so turned up-side-down that This State is called by the Apostle to the Hebrews The World to come But it is not well Translated for the Original is not Cosmos but Oceonimia which is Dispensation so ought to be rather Dispensation to come of which we speak The Millennium doth introduce a New Dispensation but not a New Gospel by Dispensation I understand a Publication of all New Discovered Truths and an Errecting up a New Outward Administration suitable thereto Light and Truth breaking forth they ought to be Published and Children being Born they must be Provided for The New Bride must have a New House built for her and it was never known that a King took the Field but he had a Royal Tent pitched for him 'T was the custome of the Warriers of old as soon as their Armies were Mustered to Erect a Pavilion for their General called the Praetorian Tent which being pitched in the middle of their Camp all Commissions and Orders were Issued out from thence and the whole Camp Addressed themselves thereto in all their Affairs of Concern and Moment The WORD is in the Field Riding upon his White Horse and his Army of White Linnen Followers are Mustered but there is no Tent Erected for the Lamb there are Muster-Masters but no Quarter-Masters and every one bears his own charge in the War this ought not to be the Apostle saith No man goes to War at his own Charges 't is a shameful thing that the Generalissimo should lye out in the Field there was never any Army yet but had some Head Quarters In all the Dispensations that have hitherto happened There was some principal place appointed for God and Religion Moses built God a Tabernacle and Solomon a Temple and it has been the confusion of the World that Christianity has had none appointed for it in this last Dispensation The Christian Dispensators having no peculiar Lodgings appointed for Them fell into the Baudy House of Rome and so She that was at First a Pure Virgin became a Prostitute and is now that great Whore of Babylon which must be turned out of doors to make Room for the True Bride This Great Neglect of not making due Provision for Gods Servants will cost the World dear for all that Irregular Building that Vile Mixture of the Sons of God with Men is to be pulled down and Men must do what they ought to have done before They must build a
and Graces upon his Master-Builders whom he employs in the Work But it is plain that this Building is to be Material and therefore requires a Man upon Earth to do it I am no Theologue and if I should be mistaken may be excused but I cannot remember that the NAME of Branch is attributed peculiarly to Christ any where else in the Bible The Angel saith His Name shall be called Jesus and in another place 't is said His Name shall be called Emanuel God with us and Wonderful Counsellor c. This Text points directly to the Mans NAME and to the Manner and Circumstance of his Rising It saith He shall rise out of his Place implying an Ascent to Honour David rose out of his Place being but a Shepherd and he overthrew the Philistines and all the Enemies of God's Church round about And Zerubbabel rose out of his Place being but a Thresher and he cast down Baal's Worship and overthrew the Midianites and settled the People of God in Peace This Man the Branch if he could be found must be attended with the like Circumstances because there is the same business to be done The Baalitish or Babylonish Worship is to be thrown down and the Philistines and all other Enemies of God's Church to be overcome The Kingdoms of this World becoming the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Christ finds the World in great Confusion and his Church much oppressed and therefore wants a Man to overturn his Enemies and to Deliver his Church from Oppression Therefore he raises some Man or other out of his Place to perform this as God did Zerubbabel and David of old Now there is a Man risen out of his place and is already performing this Great Work on Him Christ has delegated the First Fruits of his Power in his Millennian Kingdom He also rose out of his Place in another sence being a Posthume His Appellation is also from a thing that grows out of the Earth or out of its place And so it is ordained that He who should be the first Introducer of the Millennian Kingdom should not have his Name from a Fierce Ravenous Creature by which Beastly Emblems all the preceding Monarchies were represented but from a Tree A Tree next to the Olive Tree the only Emblem of Peace and Prosperity in the World For the nature of it is such that it has always Fruit upon it either New or Old and often both together This happy Emblem is chosen to represent to us the most flourishing and happy State of the Millennium and possibly that this Nation shall never want one to sit upon his Throne After the cutting down our Harvest and the Termination of the Old Powers Saul was our first King who though under great Obligations did nothing the last was only an Intercalation But this seems to be our David that must do the Work Now I have brought the Monarchy to a Tree it will be needless to enlarge more upon the Name of Branch The First Head of the Fifth or Western Monarchy ought to be a great Hunter to drive the wild Boar out of the Vineyard and chace the Lions the Leopards and Bears out of the Forrest that the Flocks of God may feed and lie down in safety Hitherto these Beasts of Prey have made sad Desolation and Havock vock amongst the Lords Heritage Constantine once drove them out but they came in Agatn But Now the Promise is They shall not live Again Great God when will this Great Battel come But come it certainly will and then these Beasts shall be for ever driven out Daniel saith The rest of the Beasts had their DOMINION taken away That is they were civilly kill'd The last Tyrannical Scene of Lions Leopards and Bears being withdrawn the next is A Fair and Beautiful Forrest and this comes of course There are now no Inhabitants in the Forrest of the World but Trees the wild Beasts had driven out the Flocks before and now They Themselves being driven out the Trees only are left The Millennium enters of course and a Beautiful Forrest is the first Scene And then the first Tree that appears which is to have the chief Dominion is The Meinreb or Vitis The Second is The Pomerancenbaum or Malus Assyria one is to be the Adminiculum or Pedimentum to the other This last with its Golden Fruit introduces the Golden Age. This in behalf of the Vine is made the first King of the Trees This has a preference to all the Trees in the Forrest and has the First Commission of Power granted him from the Sovereign Lord in Chief in the First Resurrection of Power Which Tree may next be preferred I cannot tell All Power being Christs He chooses whom he pleases But this I can tell The last in Succession when Satan is loosed must be some Vile Bramble only fit to be burnt because suggested by Satan he attempts a Rape upon the Spouse of Christ the beloved City So he and his fellow Brambles are all burn'd with Fire from Heaven And in all probability this New and Last Aera will hold Analogy to the last Expired Monarchies We shall have the Best Trees first and the worst at last as is intimated by Nebuchadnezzar's Image Whose Head was of fine Gold his Brest and his Arms of Silver his Belly and his Thighs of Brass his Legs of Iron his Feet part of Iron and part of Clay And if Men should object against this New Emblem of Power They ought to consider the Old Tree of Monarchy being cut down a New One ought to grow in its Room The Beastly Monarchies Expiring and the Kingdom of the Forrest Entering the Powers Civil and Ecclesiastical are no more to go under the Emblem of Beasts of Prey but of Trees whose Leaves are for Shade and Protection and Fruit for Profit and Delight and therefore most proper to represent the most Glorious Reign of the Millennium all whose Officers shall be Peace and Exactors Righteousness But the old Tree being cut down and the Stump left in the Ground there must be some time allowed for another Tree to grow up and before it can be a Tree it must first be a zweig a Surculus in English a Branch The Old Vine the Old Church or Old Tree of Life and Power of the Gospel has been cut down as also the Old Tree of Power or Monarchy and two New Branches sprouts out These Two Branches grow up together the latter being the support and strength of the former which is tender and weak and needs Assistance All the World knows the Nature of a young Vine And this leads me to the understanding of two Texts which has been hid from Ages but now Revealed to the Glory of God in due time Jer. 23. 5. Behold the Days come saith the Lord that I will raise unto David a Righteous BRANCH And a King shall reign and prosper and shall execute Judgment and Justice upon Earth In his Days Judah shall be
as lasting as Nature her self of which indeed it is but a Copy Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life He is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Son or Word of God the Right Reason and Beauty of the Creation But Satan is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Father of Lies the Grand Patron of Injustice and Violence the Chief Author of Confusion and Irregularity These two have been at continual Was since the Creation But at last the VVord gets the Victory and the last Battel introduces the quiet and peaceable Reign of the Millennium The Millennium Commences before viz. At the Expiration of the Whores Lease when all the Kingdoms of the World devolve on Christ but there is no Quietness to the State though there is to his Church till after the Great Battel And Christ as all the other Monarchs have done must Conquer the World before he can Enjoy it He finds it over-run with wild Beasts and his Flocks cannot feed quietly till He has expelled them He tells the Vsurpers He is Heir but They reject and despise his Title They resolve to continue on the Premises till They be thrust off He therefore prepares for War But after a clear differing manner from all the other Months For They made War in Wickedness He in Righteousness They subdue it by Fire and Sword He only by his Word Their Followers were cloathed in Steel and had their Swords in thier Hands but His only in Fine Linnen with their Swords in their Mouths They Ride on Red Bloody Horses He and His Followers on White ones His whole Equipage sufficiently declares what a sort of War He designs to make in all the Circumstances thereof Intirely differing from the other Satan thought himself of Ability to Rule in Gods Throne but he has sufficiently discovered his Inability for he neither knew aright how to make Peace or War how to pull down or build up But Christ will instruct the World in better Methods The Text saith In Righteousness he doth Judge minister Peace and make War He uses not his Power but his Spirit not his Sword but his Word And by This way He subdues the World and tumbles down Satan from his Seat like Lightning who by his ill Conduct had so miserably scorch'd the Earth His way of Fighting is only Preaching as the Sword in his Mouth doth sufficiently demonstrate He designs to restore his Gospel by an Army of Predicators Cloathed in the white Linnen of an holy Life By these he ferments and levens the whole Earth and pulls down all the Constitutions thereof The Millennium is the Manhood of the World and all the preceding Governments are but the Tossings and Tumblings of Childhood and Youth Christ also being Adult or come to his full Stature in his Body the Church comes to claim the Government thereof But this State is rather an Hierarchy than a Monarchy Jerusalem and the Bride through the whole Context being put in opposition to Babylon and the Whore And the Text saith They shall reign as Priests which agrees very well with what our Saviour saith That his Kingdom was not of this VVorld And when thie Rough Work is over She is to be Empress of the Vniverse and the Kings of the Earth are to bring their Glory and Honour into her As in the preceeding Monarchies They trampled upon her casting Dirt in her Face now they are her humble Servants and bow down before her and this is because Christ her Husband Rules and Reigns over them and they have a more immediate dependance on Him for their Titles and Soveraignties He Giving and Disposing of the Kingdoms of this World to whomsoever He pleases And besure He will give no Power to those that Affront her And though there is no mention made of any Kings Reigning with Christ during the Millennium only the Saints yet without all doubt there is a Series of Good Kings running through the whole otherwise there would be none to bring their Glory into it But this is certain that good and holy Men the Members of the True Regenerate Church have the greatest Title to the Priviledges of the Millennium because they are set in the Front of it and are said to reign with Christ and all other Powers are to hold their Empire from the Church in Chief as the Soveraign Spouse Since Empire has been so fruitful in its first Voyage we cannot suppose it absolutely barren in the Second But its Children will be more Mansuete in their Return participating of the Common Renewed Nature and so exercise their Power to the service and good of Christ's Church Farewel The TEMPLE Opened OR The Great Mystery OF THE Millennium AND The First Resurrection REVEALED c. REV. XX. 5. But the rest of the Dead lived not Again until the Thousand Years were ended This is the First Resurrection BEFORE I can come at the above Words I must speak something against Christs Personal Reign and a Literal Resurrection of the Saints John saith I saw the Souls c. and THEY Lived an Reigned with Christ a Thousand Years This is b◠no means to be understood in a Literal Senc◠but in a Civil for the Witnesses were never In their Grave and therefore cannot Rise Out of them This is a Mathematical Demonstration if I can prove these Souls c. to be the Witnesses which from the preceding parts of the Revelations is plainly demonstrated they are This The Souls c. is nothing but a long complex Name for a complex Body viz. The New-Risen Witnesses or Church Regenerate They are the same Specifick Body of the Numerus Sigillatus in Chap 7. who running as it were under ground for 1260 miles rise up again in Chap. 14. and stand upon Mount Sion having their Fathers Name written in their Forehead so are called Numerus Conscriptus And what is this Name of their Father but the distinct Character of their Sufferings which in their passage they underwent through every Age This Name is the Characteristick by which they may be known to be the true Heirs of the Promises And therefore being now concerted into a New Body they bear them in their Forehead to shew their Legitimacy Satan being overcome in a Great Battel who had usurped upon their Rights and palmed upon the World a Whorish Church for many Ages The Whore being turned out of the Premises the true Heiress comes to claim her Right And that she may be known to be the true Heiress she puts on her Mothers Clothes But putting on her Mothers Apparel makes only an accidental and not a substantial alteration there 's no such Virtue in these Garments as to transubstantiate the Daughter into the Mother 'T is our great mistake therefore to suppose these to be the Old Witnesses risen from the Dead in a literal sence they are only the New-risen Witnesses wearing the Livery of the Old and to shew that they are their Legitimate Off-spring they bear the true Signatures
out of the Spirit from on High which Invests them with Power and is the great confirmation of the New Administration or of Christs Reign It really Commences at Their Resurrection for Christ after his Resurrection said He had received all Power both in Heaven and in Earth but the Charter of Power is not Ratified and Sealed till the Septenary Day is ended and that is at Pentecost when the whole World will be fully satisfied and ser to their seal that God is True An Infant for the first week is in a state betwixt Life and Death as it were almost as much Vegetative as Animal and that is the reason of this dark day mentioned by the Prophet for the Body and Life of Christ is the grand pattern of all things both in Heaven and in Earth the Regenerate Church or New Resen Witnesses are his Body and they must be conformable to the Head whatever circumstances attended the Single Birth in the East will of necessity attend the Complex Birth or New Risen Witnesses Inter Iberos in the VVest this I could make out in the east minute manner but is not so much my present business further confirmation of this dark Septenary Day is the Cutting own the Tree of Monarchy seven times passed over Nebuchadâ—â—â—â—er before he would acknowledge Lew is guarda ti that the God of Heaven was the only Soveraign Monarch and disposes the Kingdoms of this World to whom he pleases All this time Monarchy was as a Beast in its Infantile State rather Animal than Rational during this Septenary Day there are bands of Iron and Brass upon the Stumps of the Monarchical Tree that it shall not grow the seed is some time hid in the ground before the blade comes up and these are the true reasons of the Darkness of our present day But in the Evening it shall be Light That is Men may think that the Corn being hid is dead and that the Tree of Monarchy being cut down will not sprout again but when they see the Blade Rise up and the Branches sprout out they are then of another mind this enlightens them and makes them acknowledge that this Darkness was only the common effect of Nature which conceives her Children in the dark the operations of the Womb are always in the dark But some may ask Why should Monarchy Expire in the VVest and there have a new Commencement more than in any other place This is easily Answered Empire is Fellow Traveller with the Sun and must return with him The whole Earth seems to have as great a right and title to Power as it has to Light The Sun never stops till it comes to the VVest and Empire accompanies him in all his Course The Punicks the Sons of Cham put in a Caveat and would have stopp'd this Traveller inviting him to have lodg'd in Africa but they might as well have stopp'd the Sun their Fathers Prophecy and Curse putting in a Bar condemning them to perpetual Servility The Gospel was published in the East and is to be restored in the VVest otherwise the Sun goes down at Noon There is to be a Repassage or Return both of Empire and the Gospel and after some Refreshments they will set out very gloriously and will also have other Companions of a Royal Family The Kings of the East I mean who are to go back with them The Fulness of the Gentiles being come they are to return home For They both together the Sheep of Both Folds the Twelve Apostles and Twelve Tribes will be concerned in the Administration of the New Jerusalem But the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost will be the Sign for them to return for this took their Power away in the East and was the Sign of Dispersion and it will give it them again in the West and be the Sign of their Reversion and Conversion too The Blood reverts not till it comes to the Toes and the Stone fell on the Feet of the Image and so goes on regularly breaking to pieces all before it When there is to be a general Renovation the Extream Parts are the most proper to begin in But it may easily be discovered through the whole Oeconomy of this World God in all his Methods has a respect to Nature which like himself is most perfect in all her Operations Now Nature circulates the Light and the Blood circulates and so ought Empire and the Gospel So following Nature I cannot Err and therefore do positively conclude that Empire and the Gospel will set be cut down and be dead as it were and then rise again in the West And whatsoever things were acted in the East at the Publication of the Gospel at the Natural Birth are to be re-acted in the West at the Restoration of it at the Spiritual Birth the Birth of the Church Regenerate or New-risen Witnesses because there ought to be a due Analogy betwixt the Head and the Body The Birth of the Infant-Church occasions one Day to be neither clear nor dark but a sort of Crepusculum But the Evening of this Septenary Day is approaching and the Light shall break forth abundantly I have in some private Letters to Friends prov'd from uncontestable Arguments raised from the true and genuine nature of Death and Resurrection That the Witnesses are already risen and that the whole World have been mistaken in the Nature and Quality of this great Truth which I am able to make good against all the Learning in the â—niverse and design to do it in a little time publickly I have little more to say as to the Subject of the Millennium at present only this This glorious Day dawns with the Loss of 〈◊〉 to the Wicked for therein consists their Power which must be taken from them all Power and Dominion belonging to Jesus Christ He that has Wisdom let him calculate Eight Days make up the Day of Circumcision but Seven Days of Weeks betwixt the Pascha and Pentecost What I have writ on this Subject is suited and adapted to the economy of This World and whoever calculates Prophecies if they do not first state and calculate the Nature of This World and fit one to the other they do but reckon without their Host God takes particular care to suit all his Changes and Dispensations to the State of This World And a literal Resurrection hears too many Absurdities in the Front to be consistent therewith Many have been the Mistakes of Men about the Milleneium And at present the subject lies under such prejudices that it the very sound of the Name Men shrug up their Shoulders and throw it aside saying with the old Monks Graecum est non parest legi But this is unmanly and discovers their Ignorance Sloth or Vice more than any thing else Men are unwilling to vex themselves by looking into a Doctrine which will turn the World upside down and untwist all the Constitutions upon Earth This is a dismal prospect to those that are at
ease in their Possessions and had rather things should run on in the old corrupt Account than to have a New and Just Reckoning But since these things must of necessity come to pass for Gods Prophecies are not Poets Fables they may as well fend off the Blow by a due Provision as to encrease their Misery by an unexpected stroke The Ark is open and they may enter in if they please and prevent being destroyed by the Deluge This Prophecy now no more remains a sealed Book God has opened a door and no man shall shut it This Mystery which has been hid from Ages is no more a Mystery being now clearly revealed and so it will stand to all Generations Great and Marvellous are thy Works Lord God Almighty Just and True are they Ways thou King of Saints Who shall not fear and glorifie they Name for Thou only art Holy All Men shall come and worship before Thee for they Works are made manifest Of the Death and Resurrection of the WITNESSES THe Death and Resurrection of the Witnesses is a Truth almost of as great Importance as the Death and Resurrection of our Saviour They being the Counter-part of that Great Scene All the Empires in the World are interessed in this Great Truth 'T is the Pole-Star by which they ought to steer and in not observing it they run great hazard of splitting their Vessels I therefore take the liberty of addressing my Enquiry into this weighty Affair to our present Powers as before which may give them much Light in all their Counsels and Consultations 'T is well known what Alterations and Changes the Birth of our Saviour made throughout the World how it overthrew all the then-existing Powers upon Earth and what Method there was used to do it This is but the same thing acted over again in another part of the World That by a simple Birth and This by a complex Birth The same Methods of Conquest will be used viz. Nothing but Predication and Vociferation And we that live at so great a distance for us to have the same Scenes renewed and the same Actions re-acted amongst us is a singular kindness from Heaven Hitherto we have taken things upon Credit and Hearsay But now we our selves shall see with our Eyes and hear with our Ears the wonderful things of God To have things brought to our own Home is a wonderful Condescention for which we cannot be too thankful to Heaven And since we know on what Rock the Eastern Nations split This is a Blazing Beacon for us and we shall be doubly guilty if we split on the same I cannot err in my Enquiry so long as I take Christ along with me for my Guide For He is the Way the Truth and the Life The Grand Pattern of all things in Heaven and in Earth These Witnesses are his Body which ought to be conformable to their Head in all things Christ saith Except a Man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Now Christ is a Man and to fulfil all Righteousness He ought to be born again But our Nicodemus's will say How can that be He is in Heaven and cannot enter a second time into the Womb of Mary 'T is true but He has a Body here below his Church which is himself and this may be renewed or born again and ought to be so before it can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven or the Millennium which is a Shadow of it We are to come from strength to strength from an imperfect Dispensation to a more perfect until we come to God in Zion Christ Racks off his Truth from Vessel to Vessel till it be perfect Spirits till Man becomes an Angel whose place he is to supply Now what reason his Church has to be purified and made clean is plain The Sun is coming to the Tropick her Lord is to make her a Visit and she is but in a filthy pickle to recive Him In her long Voyage from the East she has contracted a great many Pollutions passing through many polluted Cities and Countreys over-whelmed with Superstion and Idolatry There is the greatest reason imaginable that she should wash her self in the Waters of Purification that being found without Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing her Lord may take delight to dwell with her In the Scriptures there is mention made of The Times of Refreshing from the presence os the Lord and of the Time of Restitution of all things which can only be meant of an Accidental Change and not a Substantial as some would have it The Times of Restitution are Accomplished by Changing all things chengeable by making every thing New which can be Renewed or in the Scripture-phrase by SHAKING those things which can be SHAKEN that those things which cannot be shaken may REMAIN Now before I can well proceed further I ought to divide the things of this World into Two Classes viz. of Changeable and Vnchangeable and this will tell me not only When God has renewed all things according to his Promise but How For his Work will of necessity fall in the Changeable Class as it has done in every Dispensation hitherto Christ in one place is said to come with the Clouds which may very well be understood in the Changeable Class in which all the Thunders and Tempests are formed But the Vnchangeable Class is the Firmament which is to Remain or not to be moved And the Instruments He will use in changing all things changeable will be the Church Regenerate or New-Risen-Witnesses and this by a New Predication as Soldiers of the WORD with their Swords in their Mouth Predication and Vociferation are the only Artillery the Lamb uses to beat down the strong holds of Satan But as to Those Two Classes The Immutable I divide into Seven Heads and the Mutable into Five as follows Things Immutable to Remain 1. Religion or the Worship of that God which made the World being an indispensible Duty is Immutable Under this Head I mean the Christian Worship 2. Truth Being the Attributes of the Immutable God are 3. Justice both Immutable and must remain to the end of the World 4. Power or Government without which the World would be a Chaos and therefore Immutable 5. Pleasure and Pain Being the two great Wheels on which all Humane Actions run And I can by no means consent to his opinion who saith Men must live without Pain in the Millennium 6. The Common Effects of things Natural and Moral As of the four Elements That Fire will burn Water quench c. That Industry Piety and Frugality will advance single Persons Families and Kingdoms and that Luxury Sloth and Profaneness will always have the contrary Effects What accidental Alterations or differing Effects the said Causes may at any time have come not into this Account 7. Eating and Drinking Marrying and Giving in Marriage Buying Selling Building and Planting will continue to the End of the World Necessity making them Immutable
place for the Servants of God in each Nation for the Dispensers of his Word to dwell in and it ought to be as our Saviours Sepulcher in which 't is said Never yet Man lay For had the Spouse layen in such an one before She had had no occasion of Repentance and had not now been called a Church Regenerate So many Vile Idolators having lain in Rome Corrupted her Manners and Conversation and made her unfit for her Lords presence What Irregularities and Confusions there have been in the last Dispensations I think will be needless here to enumerate they being so plain and self evident to the World and that the principal cause and occasion of them has been what I mentioned I think is a like manifest The Dispensation of Moses was much better than this Last for he appointed Thirteen Cities for the Priests and Forty Eight for the Levites through all the Tribes of Israel The Servants of God were not left to scramble for their Livings in such a precarious manner as ours but had their due Lot of Land allowed them for a Possession which indeed was the greatest Due and Justice in the World And God appointed Moses to do it And when they came into the promised Land they applied themselves to Joshua and Eleazer And they spake unto them at Shiloh in the Land of Canaan saying The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to give us Cities to dwell in with the Suburbs thereof for our Cattel The Lord commanding this thing not only shews the Justice but the Fitness and Properness of it And I challenge all the Skill and Wisdom of the Universe to propose a better Way and Method of Dispensing Gods Word than what He here doth Himself in this Chapter of the New Jerusalem There is a River of Life and a Tree of Life in the midst of this City which no Skill or Learning in the World can make any thing of but must of Necessity allow it to be the Gospel and the Preachers thereof And to what purpose can the Twelve Gates serve but that the Preachers may go out Twelve times a Years or every Month to heal the Nations 'T is said The Tree yielded its Fruit every Month and the Leaves of the Tree were for the Healing of the Nations And the Kings of the Earth bring their Glory and Honour into it This shews the Millennium to be rather an Hierarchy than a Monarchy as I hinted before And this Constitution of Circular and Itinerant Predicants doth confirm the same The Inhabitants of the City are a Royal Priesthood a peculiar People zealous of good Works But some say This New Jerusalem is Heaven because it comes down from above The Millennium is the Morning of an Eternal Day and this Jerusalem-state is a Type of Heaven but not Heaven it self because the Text saith plainly it comes down from Heaven and therefore cannot be Heaven it self It is said to come out of Heaven because of the Excellency of its Constitution being contrived by God himself and because 't is a Copy of the Heavenly Motions answering it in all its Circular Revolutions But if Men consider it right 't is a very strange Opinion to make all the other Scenes through the whole Prophecy to be on Earth and this to be in Heaven they may as well make Solomon's Temple in Heaven as to make this City in Heaven As his Temple was the Perfection of the Tabernacle so this City is the Perfection of the last Tabernaculous Dispensation of Babylon The Bride and the Whore are always put in opposition to one another and to make one upon Earth and the other in Heaven is to go against the whole current of Scripture-Analogy This City can be taken no other way but in a Literal sence And Men that only Gaze and speak at Random may be surprized But whoever doth soberly and seriously consider of the matter must needs Vote for me in this Case There is such a Torrent of Reason and Justice on my side that I cannot well see how any one can withstand it All Men will acknowledge that God made This World as a Theater to display his Glory upon the Five Empires are no other but Five Acts And the Altar Tabernacle Temple Mock City and True City are the Five Scenes Jerusalem is but the Scene of the Fifth Act which always is the best And 't is usual in the Last Act to have all the Actors on the Stage at once For first there are the New-Risen-Witnesses or Church Regenerate then the Jews then the Whore and her Retinue and lastly a Set of Idolaters throughout the World Every one are to be rewarded according to their Merit The Witnesses are the principal Actors in this last Act and are Risen but as yet enter not publickly till The Scene of the New Jerusalem be Drawn when The Stone which the Builders rejected becomes the Head Stone of the Corner But I spoke of the Reason and Justice of the thing Is it not a most Just thing that the Lord in Chief when He comes to visit the World should be served with the best Furniture and lie in the best Room in his own House He has had the First Fruits of our Flocks and our Herds an Altar for the Earth a Tabernacle for our Tents a Temple for our Houses But he has had no City yet And 't is fit he should be presented with the first Fruits of all the Compositums as well as of the Simple and Natural Things on the Earth The Kings of the Earth have built to themselves many stately Cities and called them after their own Name Saith one Is not this Great Babylon which I have Built for the House of the Kingdom and for the Honour of my Majesty And this is the cause which makes the Earth mourn and the Hail-stones of a Talent the Bombs ruine so many Cities Men build their own Houses and neglect Gods David would not do so He would not lie in Cedar when the Ark of God was in Tents But now the WORD OF GOD is on his White Horse in the Fields and like Jacob must lay his Head upon a Stone For He has no Tent at all But 't is hoped ere long this thing will be considered by our David when the Wars are over and when God shall give him Peace round about Again Nebuchadnezzar calls Babylon The House of the Kingdom Every Kingdom is to have a House or Principal City in it Now all the Kingdoms of the World are become Christs and 't is the most reasonable thing in the World that He should have a House in every Kingdom as Lord in chief and Proprietor of the Whole This is but a very reasonable Sacrifice to Him who can enter upon the whole Premises when He pleases At this very time He is Soveraign Lord of the Universe The King of Kings and Lord of Lords and that by a Decree ordained Him from Eternity No Monarch in the World has a Foot
objected It cannot be in a literal sence because of the Inestimable Materials This makes little for the Richness and Sumptuousness of the Materials is not so much to be understood literally as to set forth that most admirable Beauty and Harmony it will introduce and to make it a more proper Representative of Heaven of which it is really and truly a Type and nothing else John was set upon a Mountain to see this glorious sight and he tells us It came down from Heaven and therefore cannot be Heaven it self He might be set on a Mountain to see as far as Judea he being in Patmos but I rather think it was to see as far as Britannia where this happy State should first dawn and where the First Pillar in this Temple of God or of the New Jerusalem should be erected which is a peculiar Promise to the Philadelphian Church which we really and in truth have amongst us Jerusalem in Palestine will be the Tower of the Flock or the Cupola of this most Magnificent Structure and all other Cittadels will be as Pillars to support the Main Fabrick It will be like St. Peters at Rome and all the rest answering our Cathedral 〈◊〉 Further John saith He saw no Temple in it which plainly sets forth the changing the Temple-Administration for that of a City And how excellently is this Dispensation suited to the Age of the World The World is now Adult and come to its Manhood and what more proper Scenes can we have than Cities which are the Discretional and Political parts of her Furniture But further The Body of Jesus Christ is the Grand Pattern of things in Heaven and in Earth and were we but well-instructed in our own Frame we might almost know any thing The last expired Dispensation has been only a Fermentation in the Stomach or a preparing of the Juyces to convert them into Blood which this City-Heart disperses and makes to circulate through all the Body The Circulation of the Blood being found out the Gospel which is the Blood of the World could not be long a Mystery and the Blood coming to the Extream Parts reverts as I hinted before proving thereby the Church to be Re-born or the Witnesses to have their Resurrection in the West The Increment of Christs Natural Body is the Great Rule of all our Dispensation or Cause of Alterations of all the Political Affairs in the World As the Flesh grows the Politicks of the World change The Flesh is the Incremental or Changeable Part and the Spirit the Firmamental or Immoveable Part being God himself That common measure of Prophetick Time of Time Times and Half a Time has a peculiar respect to the Age of Christ And the Three Grand Dispensations by Father Son and Holy Spirit have a peculiar Regard to his Childhood Youth and Manhood In the dark shadowy Dispensation of the Jews He was growing in the Womb and to Constantine's time a Child and the last 1260 years he was a Youth and what Aestuations and Fermentations there are in Youth is well known and 't is as well known how Youths are corrupted and imposed upon who are Heirs to great Estates But now he is Adult and come to his Manhood and therefore as is usual for Heirs makes claim to his Estate which is no less than the whole World Hitherto he has been as it were in his Nonage But Now as the Apostle expresses it his Body the Church is come to the Measure of the Fulness of his Stature which is not well Translated for 't is Christi Adulti in the Latin which ought to be rendred of Christ come to his Manhood or grown a Man Before Other Lords Ruled over his Heritage But Now in the Millennium being his Manhood he will Rule Himself He Now Claims all Power and Authority and gives and bestows the Kingdoms of this World to whom he pleases And whosoever henceforward Exercises any Power or Authority on Earth if not delegated by him 't is either Permission or Usurpation for all Power and Dominion belongs to Him And when Kings come to their Kingdoms 't is usual to prefer some City before others for their Residence Therefore Jerusalem in Palestine is the place He will reside and put his Name there The Text saith The Name of the City shall be THE LORD IS THERE 'T is also speaking Spiritually usual for Men who come to Age to Marry and take a House Jerusalem is this House and the Church Regenerate is the Bride and blessed are those that are called to the Wedding Saith John Blessed are they which are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb That is Blessed are those that are Members of the Church regenerate Blessed are those that live in the times of this happy Administration of the New Jerusalem for they if they be Holy shall be Sharers of the First Resurrection or be invested with the First Fruits of his Power They shall enter into and have the Priviledges of this Holy City if they are cloathed in their Wedding Garments the white Linnen of Holiness but if not they must stand without The Text saith And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that Defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a Lye but they which are written in the Lambs Book of Life And Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and may enter in thorow the Gate into the City For without are Dogs and Sorcerors and Whoremongers and Murderers and Idolators and whosoever loveth and maketh a Lye And all these things are to be understood in a Literal as well as in a Spiritual sence No indigested crude stuff must come to the Heart but pure and rarified Blood And what can Men object against this most happy Administration I know they will say It will make strange Alterations and overturn all their Old Constitutions in the World I allow this 'T is said Old things are passed away and behold I make all things New And Men may thank themselves for this for if they had not built with Wood Hay and Stubble it had not been pulled down If they had made due Provision for the Infant Bride she had not turned Prostitute and so had now had no occasion to have been washed and purified she had been ready long ago and had not now occasion to make her self ready Christ set the World a Blessed Pattern but they would not follow it The Text saith And it came to pass that He went throughout every City and Village preaching and shewing the Glad Tidings of the Kingdom of God and the Twelve were with him And another saith And Jesus went about all the Cities and Villages teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the Doctrine of the Kingdom This was the way which our Saviour took and had it been continued hitherto there had been no need of a New Administration The Way and Method a Doctrine was first planted is the most