TIDINGS of PEACE OR Acure for the many Evills that happen in the world about Religion in a discourse OF The New Jerusalem Proveing That The New Jerusalem is a Holy Citty to be built on Earth in each Kingdom in which The Clergie are to dwell Whereby a New and most happy Ecclesiasticall Administration will arise Behold I will bring it Health and Cure and I will Cure Them and I will Reveal unto Them abundance of Peace and Truth Jer. 33 v. 6. And I Iohn Saw The Holy Citie the New Jerusalem comeing downe from God out of Heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband Rev. 21 v. 2. And Hee that sate upon the Throne said Behold I make all things New v. 5. To the Clergie Srs THe Dedication of the ensueing Modell of the Holy Citty doth most properly belong to you as being the Lords Heritage and Servants In the old Administration The Sons of Aron had Thirteene Cittyes and the Levites eight and Fourty but in the New and better Administration the Servants of Jesus haue not one Citty to dwell in amongst all the Kingdomes of the Earth Methinks I heare you Speaking as the Sons of the Prophets to Elisha viz t Loe the Place where wee dwell is to strait for us Let us goe unto Jordan and take thence every one a beame and Lett us make a Place there where wee may dwell T is certaine your Place is to Strait and though Some of you haue roome too much yet others unhappy unequallity haue noe Place at all I could Present you with a Catalogue of all the Evills you haue suffered for many yeares and of the many evills the world hath sufferd by you But Prima abiêrunt Ecce nova facio omnia Old Things are passed away and loe I make all things New Saith Christ in the Revel I shall omit mentioning the forma Evills and proceed to the remedying of them And doe here present you with a modell of a New OEconomie and t is this I haue appointed you a Citty in each Nation and Kingdome to dwell in where in you shalle liue peaceably and quietly and shall be sufficiently provided for of all things necessary for your holy Functions soe that all Temptations shall be taken away from you of acting or moveing irregularly From this Citty placed in the midst ' of each Nation you are to goe or ride out as it shall please you every month by turnes and heale each Nation and on the Bells of your horses shall be wrote Holynesse to the Lord. The Kings Princes of the world and all Temporall Governments will find their acco tt in building you such a Citty for t is not to be expressed what happinesse will accrue to them and to all the world thereby This Citty will put an end to all the miseryes the World labours under on account of Religion And wee shall heare from you rideing on your Red white and Speckled Horses that Joyfull Report mentioned in the 1st cap. of the Prophet Zacha. 11. verse Wee haue walked to and fro thorow the Earth and behold all the Earth sitteth still and is at Rest If this be the glorious effects of your circular Preaching as wee haue all the reason in the world to thinke it will T is no wonder that the Kings of the Earth will bring their Glory and honour into this Citty not onely as it is a Citty dedicated to the honour of God but as it is a Citty whose Inhabitans will establish Peace and Tranquillitty in their Kingdoms It was in the heart of King David to build God a House and though God had not commanded it yet he most graciously accepted his good intentions But it has not yet been in the heart of any King to build God a Citty they haue built themselues Cittyes for their owne honour and glory Is not this Great Babylon that I have built for the House of the Kingdome by the might of my Power and for the honour of my Majtye Thus speakes the proud Emperour Nebuchadnezzar and he spoake rhe truth he had built Babell for the honour of his Majty And many are the Cittyes whieh both the Heathen and Christian Emperours haue built for their owne honour and haue put uppor them their owne Names as Caesarea Allexandria Constantinople c. but wee find not one by the Name of Deople or Christople When I consider how in a speciall manner Gods hath set Crownes on many Christian Princes heades and has raised some from a Private station to the highest dignity and giuen them Severall Kingdomes and many Thousand Cittyes I say when I consider this it makes me wonder to find none returning back one single Citty by way of gratitude to the Donour Pudet haec opprobria nobis c. T is True They haue built and ginen him Severall Houses But what is a House or a few Houses A magnificent and Royall Citty would be more Suitable to the Majtie of Heaven and Earth then a House Besides in this Citty he hath said shall be noe Temple plainely insinuateing that the Temple Administration should be ended and be changed into that of a Citty To me it seemes to be a most Just and reasonable Thing That in Every Nation and Kingdom God the Giuer and Governour of all should haue one Citty built and dedicated to his Honour wherem his Seruants who wait in his Courts and Minister at the Altar should be honourably provided for that their Lineings and fortunes may noe more be precarions and subject to the Will of men as to the Shame of Christianity they are at this day I could mention what evill hath befaln the World on accont of Gods Ministers being-chosen by men and not by Lot and by haueing their allowance and dependance from Man but I shall here omit it haueing spoaken of it in another place I could heartily wish that Christian Kings and Princes and all Temporall Governments would Seriously consider on this Point Who can tell but that their building Such a Citty in which the Dispensers of Gods Graces and Blessings to each Nation may dwell may be as Sweet incense in the Nostrills of God in and some measure attone him to stop the Rage of Fire and Sword which at present layes somany of their owne Cittyes wast I will hope there fore That as Dauid Thought of building Gods a House soe that Some King or other whom God shall deliner from many Troubles and bestow on him Crownes and victory over his Enimyes and shall Establish him on his Throne in Peace will thinke of so holy a worke and with a most gratefull heart build a Royall Citty to the God of Heaven as a Pattern and Example to other Princes And t is my oppinion that That Prince who first sets his hand to so holy a worke will as far exceed all others as a Citty shall exceed a house or Temple T'or as Soloman exceed all other Kings of his Time To you Therefore the
ground First the Man of Sin would tumble from his Throne like Dagon before the Ark And how Happy and easy would the Princes of Christendom find themselves when rid of all his Ecclesiasticall pretensions They and their Kingdomes haue tomuch Suffered by his greevous yoke and unjust usurpations I need not Quote old storyes Wee haue a certaine King at present struggling in the Ecclesiastical Net But this OEconomie would absolutely free them for ever from all the Scourgeing of the Ecclesiasticall whip And wee should heare no more of Popes Kicking downe of Emperours Crownes Thundering out Curses forbidding the Subject to pay his Homage to his Lawfull Prince All the Doleful noise of Persecution would be no more heard of in the World All sects and partyes would speedily vanish And wee should haue no more Flying for Religion from one Country to another the Protestants from France or Papists from England No Kingdom or Country turned upside downe by Religious Men contending to get or keep their partyes in and to turne others out of the Government For these preachers being Sufficiently provided for in thir respectiue Cittyes all Temptation of acting irregularly would be taken away And by this meanes Temporalls would be absolutely Seperated from Spiritualls A thing much hitherto wished for but never yet effected And wee should heare no more of Kings imprisoning Bishops or of Bishops dethroneing Kings nor of this or that Party being upper or under in the Government For these Spirituall preachers should haue nothing to do in any Government Nor should Princes or Temporall Power haue anything to doe in spiritualls for this has beene the occasion of many Evills in the World and has corrupted the purity of the Christian doctrine And a certaine King hath said so long as it was in his power so choose Bishops he could haue what Gospell he pleased Therefore these spirituall Men in respectiue their Cittyes as in another place I haue said are to be chosen by Lot as was Matthias And hereby God as is most Iust and fit will choose his owne Ministers and Servants and then no doubt but wee shall haue the Stream to run pure And these Streams comeing out from this Holy Citty every Month how will they coole and refresh each Nation there will be no dry or barren Corners therein But all things will liue and all places be Green and flourishing where these liueing waters come At present by the unhappynesse of the presenr Administration many are the Darke Corners of the World where the Light of the Gospell shines not and no provision is made for Preachers But These Gospell Angells these Rayes of the Sun will illuminate all the Darke Corners of Each Land so that The Earth will be full of the Knowledge of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea No dry or barren corners will want watering by these ever Flowing Fountaines And no Dark corners want the Rayes of these glorious and evershinning Ligbts But Iam not able to describe all the advantages of this most Excellent OEconomie but must send you to the Prophets who doe it very largely and pathetically These things wee Suppose will come to passe to make up the fulnesse of the Gentiles which St. Paul speakes of But then as to the Iewes may I speake in the Termes of the Angell in the 12 vers of the 1 cap. of Zacha. who when the men had brought in their Report That all the Gentiles were Still and at Rest said O Lord of Hosts how long wilt thou not haue mercy on Jerusalem c. Without all doubt God will Remember his promises made to the Jewes by the mouth of all his Prophets and will bring them and Establish them in their Owne Land Where they will build also a Citty holy to the Lord out which will flow Liueing Waters vizt. Peachers halfe of them toward the Former Sea and halfe of them toward the hinder Sea both in Summer and in Winter as both the Proph Zach a and Ezek mention And Palestine being placed in the midst of the Earth as some Writers affirme And Jerusalem built in the midst of Palestine And a Jerusalem or Holy Citty built in the midst of Each Kingdome How will every thing answer one another Ye Admirers of order Ye Sons of Uniformity Where can there be greater order and Uniformity then in such an OEconomie What a glorious Harmony will there be betwixt These Holy and chast Sisters Jerusalem in Palestine being the first borne How Glorious will the Spouse of Christ be in such Dayes Let us be glad and Rejoyce and giue honour to him For the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made herselfe ready I dare not affirme with what particular presence and manner God will Honour these Cittyes But it is said that the Lamb will be the Light there of And what if God should Honour these Cittyes of the Gentiles with the same honour with which he honoured the Tabernacle and Temple of the Jewes Who can tell Great are his mercyes to his unworthy creatures In our Dayly Prayers Wee beg of God that his Kingdom may come and that his will may be done on Earth as it is in Heaven But I pray you tell me was there ever a Kingdome without Cittyes will a Few Houses make a Kingdom God has Houses in the Earth t is true but as yet has no Cittyes Therefore if wee would haue his Kingdome come Wee must build him Cittyes And when in Each Kingdom he has a Citty built they all together will make him here on Earth a Kingdom or at Leastwise by their influence make the whole Earth his Kingdom And so our Prayers of thy Kingdome come will be fullfilled both in a Literal and in a spirituall Sence And as Other Kings of the Earth amongst all their Cities do choose one for the Royall seat of their Kingdome so God will choose Jerusalem and put his Throne there and make it as it were the Head of this spirituall Kingdome The Prophet Ierem. saith at that Time they shall call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord And all Nations shall be gathered unto it And the Proph. Mica. saith in the 4 cap. 8 verse And thou O Tower of Flock c. unto Thee shall it come even the First Dominion The Kingdom shall come to the Daughter of Jerusalem Here it is said that shee shall haue the First Dominion And that the Kingdom which we haue so often begg'd for shall come to her Wee know t is the Custome on Earth that the Eldest Son or daughter shall Inherite the Crowne Now God has here a spirituall Kingdom And these Cittyes or Severall Churches are his daughters But Jerusalem is the Eldest Now to which of the Daughters should the Kingdome come God here answers To Thee as the Eldest shall it come even the First Dominion the Kingdom shall come to the Daughter of Jerusalem But These Words the First Dominion may admit of a double construction First they may imply that all these Cityes sisters or Daughters are to haue Dominion But that the Holy Citty built at Jerusalem as the First and Eldest Daughter shall haue The First or principall Dominion or they may signifie that all these Sisters as Gods Daughters may haue a right to the Dominion and the Kingdome But that the Citty at Jerusalem as eldest Daughter shall haue the Dominion first And the others afterward Successively Whether of these are the more genuine I leave to the more Judicous to determine But for the Reasons formerly mentioned I think not that the Nature of this Dominion is Imperiall or that the Lady at Jerusalem should as a Queen Exercize an absolute command ouer the Rest But I rather thinke that the nature of it relates more to order than command And that shee shall haue a Priority of order and preheminence of Respect due to her on acco tt of being Eldest Sister and as enjoying more particular honours and favours from God I must confesse I have found this Little Booke in the inditeing or eating of it as Sweet as hony I hope that no one hereafter will make it bitter in my Belly For I have wrote Nothing but for what I have alleadged the Word of God and Great probabillity The Apostle saith there are different Administrations but one Lord. The Lord is King of the Universe And Christ is the Head Administrator and can Governe his Family after what method and manner he pleases What therefore if he first order an Altar then a Tabernacle then a Temple and then a Citty And then at Last bring us to Heaven the New Jerusalem it selfe The Prophet David saith They shall passe from strength to strength untill they come to God in Sion Heaven it selfe without a Type To which Place God of his infinite mercy bring us all through the merits of Jesus Christ Amen Postscript The Julian and Gregorian Account of Time are both vitious and puts the world in no small confusion I would therefore humbly propose that they both may be regulated by an exact calculation It will not onely be the greatest honour but also the greatest Proffet and advantage to that King or Prince Who shall undertake so Honourable a Task Since therefore all things are to be come New And the Angell saith that Time shall be no more which I understand to be the Time of the old Administation as also of the Old Vitious calculation I hope that this Proposition will also be considered that with the New Administration wee may haue a New account of Time That wee may write Anno domi Anno ab Urbe conditâ
Behold I make all Things New Johns Revel the 21 cap. 5 verse This relates to the New Administration which I hereafter prove in those things that are changeable in this world And it came to passe that he went throughout Every Citty and Village preaching and shewing the Glad Tideings of the Kingdome of God and the Twelve were with him Luc. 8. verse 1. And Iesus went about all the Cittyes and Villages teaching in their Synagogues and Preaching the Doctrine of the Kingdome c. Mat. 9 cap. vers 35. Lo this was the Method Our Saviour tooke when on Earth And can the Disciples imitate a better Coppy then their Masters And t is certaine that Doctrine wil be best nourished and perserved by the way and Method it was first planted I Haue Set Watchmen uppon Thy Walls which shall never hold their Peace day nor night Isaiah 62. 6. Thy Watchmen shal Lift up the voice with the voice together shall they sing for they shall See Eye to Eye when The Lord shall bring againe Zion the 52 Cap. 8 vers And I will set Shepheards over them that shall feed them and they shall feare no more nor be dismayed neither shall they be lacking saith the Lord Jer. 23 4 Then againe God saith by his Proph Jer. 3 15 verse And I will gine you Pastours according to my heart which shall feed you with Knowledge and understanding The Pastours of this Administration which are to goe out of the City every month to heale the Nation seem to mee to be the Pastours here mentioned The Proph. Zac. the 14 8. saith thus And it shall be in that day that Liveing waters shall goe out from Jerusalem halfe of them towards the former Sea and halve of them towards the hinder Sea in summer and in winter shall it be Can any thing more plainely chalk out the Method of this new Administration then this Text The liueing waters are Preachers which are to goe out of this Citty in their courses Some one way and some another both in Summer and in Winter that is for ever to the worlds end for so long will Summer and in Winter last But as to these liueing waters these Evangelicall Preachers heare what the Prophet Ezek. in the 47 cap. beginning at the 6 verse Then he brought me and caused me ro returne to the brink of the River Now when I had returned Behold at the Banke of the River were very many Trees on the one side and on the other Then said he unto me These waters issue out toward the East Country and goe downe into the desert and goe into the Sea which being brought forth into the Sea the Waters shall be healed And it shall come to passe that every thing that Liveth that moveth whither soever the Rivers shall come shall live and there shall be a very great multitude of Fish because these Waters These Preachers shall come thither for they shall be healed and every thing shall liue where the River commeth And it shall come to Passe That the Fishers shall stand uppon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim There shall be a Place to spread forth Netts Their fish shall be according to their Kindes as the Fish of the Great Sea exceeding many But the myrie places therof and the marishes That is Private standing Churches that will not heare or admit of these Publick Preachers shall not be healed but giuen to Salt And by the Riuer on the banke thereof on this side and on that side shall grow all Trees for meate whose leafe shall not fade neither shall the Fruit thereof be consumed that is These Preachers shall not faile to make their constant monthly circuits out of their Citty it shell bring forth new fruit according to his Months because the waters issued out of the Sanctuary and the fruit thereof shall be for Meat and the leafe thereof for medicine Here The Gospell very propely is Typefied by a River and by waters which cleanse and purifies and heales all places and makes every thing fruit full wherever they goe Alsoe the Preachers are Typefied by Fishers and by Trees whose fruit serves both for food and Physick in further confirmation of which Heare what St. John sairh And he shewed me a pure River of water of life cleare as Christ all proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it and of either side the River was there the Tree of life which bare Twelve manner of Fruits and yeilded her fruit every Month and the leaves of the Trees were for the healing of the Nations This seemes to be plaine in all the Circumstances thereof And therefore I haue taken the Modell and delineation of the Citty there from But may be some may doubt whether The Throne of God be Jerusalem To which the Prophet Jerem will answer for me in the 3 cap 16 17 verses And it shall come to passe when ye be multiplyed and increased in the Land in those dayes saith the Lord they shall say no more The Arke of the Covenant of the Lord neither shall it come to mind neither shall they Remember it neither shall they Visite it neither shall that be done any more At that Time they shall call Jerusalen The Throne of the Lord and all the Nations shall by gathered unto it to the Name of the Lord to Jerusalem As to the Fountaine I haue put in the middle to giue source to the Rivers See what the Prophet Zach. saith the 13 cap. verse 1. In that Day shall there be a Fountaine opened to the House of Dauid for sin and for uncleanesse And and a Fountaine shall come Forth of The House of the Lord and shall water the Valley of Shittim Ioell 3 18 and Our Saviour saith in St Ino. the 4 Cap. 14 verse Whosoever shall drinke of the Water that I shall giue him shall never thirst But the Water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of water springing up into everlasting life The Watet which Christ will give is the Water of the Gospell out of this Holy Fountaine this holy Citty And see how by the Prophet Isaiah he inviteth all to these waters in the 55 cap. 1 vers Ho Every one that thirsteth come ye to the Waters and he that hath no mony come ye buy and eat yea come by wine and milke without money and without price Many haue paid very deare for a draught of these Waters But old things are passed away and all things are become New These Evangelicall Preachers shall goe from Towne to Towne and from Citty to Citty and are to offer these Waters of the Gospell Gratis inviteing all to come and drink and will not in the least be chargeable to any one being sufficiently provided for from their Citty with all things necessary for their Function and voyage If any man Thirst let him come unto me and drink saith our