and Zeal not only ought but must be reduc'd and redress'd in Towns and Cities and in all our Villages and most particularly in our Camps and Navies where they more than any where else if possible abound and where there ought to be greater Guard and Watch against them than any where else according to that Great Precept Deut. 23.14 2. If this be not done It cannot be except God hath left the Earth more than ever yet he hath done and forsaken it and walks in the Galleries of Heaven without Regarding but that there must be a Visiting for these things and that his Soul must be avenged of such a Nation as this Jer. 5.9 whether by Plague or Famine or War or evil and noisome Beasts or by a Complication of these Four yea though it be by a Fire yet unblown that is ready to flame out or by an Army of Wounded Men that our Destruction must come and much the more because the Light of his Truth is so open and clear among us because his Mercies and Deliverances have been so-Great and the Methods of his Providence so unusual in his unhinging for us the General Laws of Nature in Dethroning and setting on the Throne for our preservation Now if These his Great Acts and Wonderful Doings do not work to Reformation They certainly shall justifie God in our Destruction And yet we daily see our sins and Transgressions Growing up to the very Heavens so that that our Destruction cannot but be speedy 3. Except the Kingdom of Christ be as I have declared very near us And that we are not yet under some most dreadful Judgments it is an argument to me it is certainly so that the Kingdom of Christ is very near us when he will take to himself his own great Power and Reign and Reform by a through Purging his Floor either by pouring out his Spirit and perswading by his everlasting Gospel Malach. 4.1 and sitting as by a Refiners Fire and Fullers Soap throughly to purifie that Baptism with Fire or by the Day that shall burn as an Oven and consume the Wicked Root and Branch and because of this notwithstanding our great Transgressions and mighty provocations even though he hath lifted up his hand that he would destroy us yet he hath wrought for his Great Names sake that is his Kingdom 's sake and hath done nothing yet so remarkable against us Let us then that fear the Lord speak often one to another that a Book of Remembrance may be writ for us as for them that have feared the Lord and thought on his Name and that we may be spared in the day when he makes up his Jewels and gather'd as Wheat into his Garner when he shall burn up the Chaff with fire unquenchable Mal. 3.16 Matth. 3.12 Infer 9. Seeing Nations and Persons are under so strict Commands to Repent with that Repentance to Salvation the contrary whereof is expressed by Death There is therefore in the Kingdom of Christ a City of Life and under it a City of Death a City of Salvation whose Walls and Bullwarks are Salvation and a City of Destruction distinct from it and opposite to it Esay 19.18 c. 26.1 The one is the Residence of those who have Repented with that Repentance to Salvation not to be Repented of The other is the dark and dismal Receptacle of those who have either been wholly dissolved into the worldly Laughter and Mirth or been Sorrowers only after the worldly Sorrow that worketh Death The New Jerusalem is the City of Life and Salvation the City that hath the Tree of Life and the River of the Water of Life and the Nations of the Saved walk in the Light of it and are healed from any possibility of Dying by the Leaves of the Tree of Life and the Living are written in it Whatever liveth in it shall live even for perpetuity The Second Death hath no power over them Esay 4.3 Revel c. 20.6 c. 21.24 c. 22.1 2. On the other side there is the City of Destruction Esay 19.18 when Five Cities shall speak the Language of Canaan being of the Nations of the Saved There is one City that shall be called the City of Destruction the contrary to Salvation being of those appointed to Death This is the Congregation of the Dead Prov. 21.16 This is the City of Gog that is of the dead slain with the sword of Christ's mouth who hath a place of Graves the Valley of Hamon Gog of the Multitude of Gog. Ezek. 39.11 c. These though they are the dead that is slain with the sword of Christ's mouth yet they are as in a Community in a Polity for though they are condemn'd by the Word and Sentence of Christ they are yet the Wicked rais'd to Condemnation and so are in the State of Living but of a Living Death Therefore these dead have a City and the Name of it is Hammonah as the Name of the New Jerusalem is Jehovah-Shammah the Lord is there so the Name of this City is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 its multitude or a multitude is there For broad is the way and wide is the Gate that leadeth to this City of Heres to destruction and many there be which go in thereat Matth. 7.13 These are the multitudes that are gathered together to the Battel of Armageddon the Day of God Almighty shaded by a Battel the multitudes in the Valley of Jehoshaphat the Valley of the Judgment of Jehovah the Valley of Decision of the Doom and Sentence of Christ as the Sword of his Mouth and the Valley of Excision of Destruction Joel 3.74 Revel c. 16.14 16. Now these dead in their City of the dead lye dead during the Thousand Years bound Hand and Foot for that space The Rest of the Dead slain with the Sword of Christ's mouth But when the Thousand Years are expired they are let loose into the Appearance of Life Motion and Action They whose multitude are as the Sand of the Sea under their Name Gog Magog come up against the Beloved City and the Camp or Tower and Castle of the Saints and cover the breadth of it shewing themselves the same Impenitents they were and had been before the Thousand Years began the Never-Repenting Enemies of God and of Christ and of his Kingdom So they are finally judg'd Ezek. 39.11 c. Rev. 19.21 c. 20.5 to the end cast with Sathan who had alway deceived them with Death and Hell into the Lake This is the second Death Thus in the opening this dark Scripture Behold in these two Cities the Repentance to Life and Salvation never to be repented of the Impenitency to Death and Destruction never also to be repented of that we may chuse the first perswaded by Eternal Grace and Love and abhor the other as the Black Mark of being the Esau hated by God who found no place for Repentance as the Vessels of his Wrath the Border of Wickedness against whom he hath Indignation for ever
Malach. 1 4. Infer 10. Upon all this I conclude with that great Scripture Hosea 10.12 Sow we to our selves in Righteousness the Righteousness of Repentance springing from Faith in the Blood of Jesus Let us break up all our Fallow Grounds For the Just and proper time is near for an universal seeking God till he come and rain Righteousness upon us upon all the Earth This is indeed prepar'd peculiarly for Israel the Ten Tribes at their Conversion after the so long Captivity shadowed under riding ploughing breaking the Clods till the sowing in righteuusness at their restoration It is now near that they who have been so long lost that it shall be said of them These where have they been shall with the whole Gentile World seek the Lord. Let us count which way we can the time must be near exceeding near Whoso is wise and he shall understand the Scripture concerning these things prudent and he shall know them For the ways of the Lord are all righteous and true concerning them Vpright men shall know how to walk in them while transgressors fall most dishonourably and finally therein And when this is there shall be a great Rain a Rain of Righteousness that shall come down upon the World This shall make a mighty Change as the Earth is changed by a mighty coming down a pouring down of Rain after a long Drought so this Rain shall refresh the Inheritance of God that hath been so long weary Righteousness shall come down as showers upon the Grass and as the soft Rain upon the mow'n Grass as the former and latter Rain in their seasons It is prophesied of Jesus Christ coming in his Kingdom he shall come down so Psal 72.6 c. So that in his days Righteousness For the Righteous shall flourish and abundance of peace so long as the Moon endureth and then as Psal 85.9 10 11. His salvation shall be nigh all them that fear him that Glory may dwell in all the Earth Mercy and Truth shall meet together Righteousness and Peace shall kiss each other Righteousness shall look down from heaven or as the Rain from heaven shone upon with the healing wings of the Sun of Righteousness It shall represent the bow of the Covenant in the Clouds in the Day of this Rain Ezek. 1.28 Rev. 10.1 and Truth shall then spring out of the Earth in abundance This State shall be as irresistable as the Rain against which tho Princes Powers Councils and all their Armies should conspire they cannot help it yea the Heavens themselves commanded by God cannot withhold or restrain their showers any more than they can give them till the time appointed by God So it shall bring into the ways of Righteousness when Righteousness shall come down thus from Heaven All the prophaness and wickedness that is at this time shall not be able to hinder it any more than we can hinder the Rain It will not stay nor tarry for the children of men All the Promises and Prophecies shall come to pass at this time that God hath appointed and shall tarry no longer the windows of heaven shall be opened the waters above the Firmament shall come down the deep shall be broken up And whatever shall not then be rained upon shall be given to salt for ever And This shall be sudden as Elijah's Rain sudden and at an Instant beginning in a Cloud about as big as a man's hand and so covering the whole heaven But it cannot be till after the Apostacy till the droughty Moons of the Gentiles and of the Beast are expir'd It cannot be while the Days of the VVitnesses Sackcloth Prophecy last For they have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their Prophesie That is it is determined by God It shall not rain in those Days Rev. 11.6 There was some of this Rain in the very beginning of the Reformation when the Thunders uttered their Voices But it stopped at their sealing yet the Effects remain to this Day in so much enjoyment of the Gospel as we have The heavens opened so far because it was the Morning of half time It stopp'd because it was but half time begun and not râ—n out At the end of half time or 1697. there shall be a full and effective Thunder and a much greater Rain of Righteousness even preparing for the Harvest Then he who sits upon the white shining Cloud shall bring forth even the harvest it self in the Glory of his Kingdom when he will weary as the Expression is in Job c. 37.11 the thick Cloud of Righteousness by so abundant a watering the Earth and scatter the bright Cloud by dispersing Righteousness in so great an abundance And it shall be turned about by his Counsel to do whatsoever he commandeth upon the face of the world in the Earth He causeth it to come whether for correction or for his Land Judgment upon his Enemies Mercy for his Kingdom Hearken unto this Oh whoever we are that profess the Name of Christ Stand still and consider these wondrous works of God as held out to us in the Prophecies of Scripture And then shall be held that great Feast of the Thousand Years to the Lord in which all the Feasts of the Lord that were the Types shall concur meet and unite the Feast of Weeks or Harvest the Feast of Passover the Day of Trumpets and Attonement the great Feast of Tabernacles Brief Considerations OF THE Late Trepidation of the Earth so sensible in this City and other Parts of this Nation and beyond the Sea particularly in the Kings Camp TOGETHER With that Tremendous Judgment on our English Plantation in Jamaica and so as upon our Selves by an Earthquake as both an earnest Persuasive to Repentance and Prognostick of the Kingdom of Christ. UPON Hebr. xii 25 c. See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh c. Whose Voice then shook the Earth but now he hath promis'd Yet once more I shake not only the Earth but Heaven also c. I Hope it will not be thought impertinent if I take advantage of the fresh Providences that have given an Alarm to this Nation by the late Concussion of the Earth most gently and by way of Admonition in this Chief City the Royal Camp and with so much dread and terror in that Colony of it self Wherein 2000 perished according to the most perfect Account Printed by Mr. Miller at the Gilded Acron in St. Paul's Church Yard Price 2 d. in Jamaica Because the Things are very great as they reveal from Heaven either the Power and Wrath of God in the Desolation he made by the last mentioned and of his Power and Goodness in the first mentioned within our selves immediately that he did so much and no more and so both ways move to Repentance and to Serve him with more Heed-taking of him with Reverence and Godly Fear as being a consuming Fire And also because this Warning God hath hereby given in this Nation
and its Camp and the full Accounts of that Desolation in Jamaica and Port-Royal were so just upon the Finishing the foregoing Discourse of Repentance as to give leave to take a very short notice in the Introduction Printed last and no more But it is of so great Concern and Interest to a National and Personal Repentance and Reformation that it could not in such a Discourse be passed over without a great disregard to the Works of the Lord and to the Operation of his hands which is so branded an Evil in Scripture-Account Psal 28.5 Esay 5.12 that an Appendix concerning it was even demanded And lastly because Earthquakes the Shaking Trembling and Moving the Earth is us'd as so constant a Symbol or Emblem of the Kingdom of God and Christ Bowing the Heavens Coming down and making a change in the Heaven and Earth that now are and in their whole State and Administration as appears by this Context I have therefore chosen to discourse upon And seeing as I have all manner of ways endeavoured to demonstrate and do not doubt I have by divine Assistance according to Scripture attain'd to do it that that Kingdom of Christ by Computation upon Times given by the most Sure Word of Prophecy is nigh at hand These Motions of the Earth in any parts of the World and more particularly relating to our selves and in this City where such a Symptom so generally observ'd as to be uncontestable is very rare ought to be taken notice of as calling aloud to us to Repent because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and a Forerunner of the change that Kingdom is to make That therefore which I design in this Discourse upon this Text is to shew That the great Symbol or Representation of the Kingdom of Christ in this so great Text of the Kingdom is the Universal Shake Concussion and Convulsion of Heaven and Earth and that therefore all the Shakes of this Earth ought to be taken notice of as parcels and pieces of that Greatest and Last Shake and as Pledges and Assurances of it and especially when by the Sure Word of Prophecy and the concurrent Judgment of most sober thinking Men concerning this matter who will not yet pitch upon the Time it is concluded it cannot be far off It is known that the Kingdom of Christ is so near I will therefore endeavour to comprise this short Discourse in these Heads 1. To observe how throughout this Text the Kingdom of Christ is shaded by the shaking Heaven and Earth once for all 2. From thence to make Remarks upon the nature of such Motions or Trembles of the Earth and their fitness to be such a Shade of the Kingdom of Christ and wherein they are so according to the Light of Scripture concerning these things 3. To observe the holy use that is to be made upon such Motions of the Earth in general and particularly in these propos'd to our Observation now and that with relation to Christ's Kingdom To begin with the first The occasion of this Context is thus The Apostle having given the Description of the New or Heavenly Jerusalem-state in the former Verses You are come to Mount Zion c. ver 22. c. he makes that great practical Application See that ye refuse not him that speaketh in order to the setting up a Kingdom for so by what follows must needs be intended that the Speaking is in order to the setting up a Kingdom For if they escaped not who refused the same great Prince when he would form a Kingdom on Earth among the People of Israel to be a Type of much a greater Kingdom How shall we escape who refuse him who now spoke from Heaven in the Effusion of his Spirit as a First-Fruits of his Kingdom and who is to be the Great Prince and who will appear in the Glory of his Kingdom the Lord from Heaven as he is called 1 Cor. 15. and then will set up a Kingdom in the New Heaven and the New Earth in a far greater Glory For though Christ came in great State then the Chariots of God were then twenty thousand c. As great Princes come with mighty Retinue of Horses and Chariots so did Christ on Mount Sinai yet that was but Christ as on Earth this from Heaven Psal 68. For his even the same Lord 's Voice shook the Earth Mount Sinai and the Parts about it did exceedingly shake But now as he is setting up a Kingdom both in the New Heaven and the New Earth so he hath promis'd I shake not only the Earth but the Heaven also It may seem strange an Earthquake should be given in promise it is rather a Threatning and Denunciation but because it is a close Forerunner of the Redemption of the Servants of Christ and even of the whole Creation therefore it is given in promise And because so blessed a State is not in present and immediately but to come therefore also it is promised as a thing future and to come I will shake And because this whole frame of Nature is defiled with Sin and Apostasie up to the very Heaven of God and his Saints therefore Christ promises to shake not only the Earth but the Heaven For there are spiritual Wickednesses in High Places or Heavenlies Sathan and his Host who are the Princes under him of the Power of the Air as well as the Rulers of the Darkness of this World and so the Heavenlies or Heavenly Places are more defiled than all the wicked Men on Earth can defile the Earth though they defile it so much but then Sathan shall fall as Lightning from Heaven All must be dislodged and dismounted For that Heaven shall be the Residence and Palace of Christ and his Saints and shall shine down into the new Earth beneath purified by Fire from the Defilements of Men so Heaven and Earth must both be shaken And therefore the shaking of Heaven and Earth may well be by promise since a new Heaven and Earth rise from hence by promise And Because all this is fulfilling of Promise therefore the Servants of Christ at so great a shake of the Powers of Heaven and Earth shall be less afraid than they are of a small Earthquake now they shall receive it with Triumph and rejoycing they shall say Oh blessed Day Oh blessed Appearance They shall lift up their Heads with joy because their Redemption draweth nigh Let us not therefore say That Day will be so terrible how shall we endure it It shall be given us in that Day to Rejoice who are his Redeemed And this Christ will do once more even at his Kingdom as if he should say I have shaken or permitted or ordered the shaking of the Earth many Times in various Places and on sundry Accounts I have shaken Nations and Kingdoms but now saith he I 'll do it once more and once for all And we may be sure this shaking hath never been yet for there hath not yet been
of deep Tribulation and Temptation such as none ever was before to All but the Servants of God and Christ Dan. 12.1 Mat. 24.21 Rev. 3.10 c. 7.14 Now therefore It becomes him by whom are All things and for whom are All Things seeing he hath determined so great an Earthquake at last to give such Terellaes of it such little Parts Pieces and Models of it that might Inlighten Awaken and Assure the World concerning it and to have set up such a Pyramid of it by the Flood in general to all the World and to Sodom and the Cities about it in more particular in the Beginning of the World and to speak in the Eloquence of what he will do on every occasion of a greater Judgment on any Nation or People and to ioyn with it the Thunder and Lightnings of his Power and Voice that are as the Shakings of Heaven and generally fall in with the Shaking of the Earth And thus we find all along the Scripture and with great Relation to this very Earthquake ushering in the Kingdom of Christ and the Destruction of Babylon the great Symbol of his Enemies so Psal 18.7 Esay 13.13 with very many Pieces more And this is to make the Thoughts of it familiar to Men and to acquaint them throughly with God's great purpose herein for hereby a short Work will God make on Earth yet every Man Woman and Child shall be rais'd on purpose to see this great Sight and to feel it The Earth shall cast out her dead for it and no more cover them This is that Earthquake in which God arises to shake terribly the Earth Esay 2. wherein it shall be indeed as a chaâ—ed Roe and as a Sheep no man cares to take up tho now they are so greedy of it Then the Lord will make it empty and under the great Desolation overthrowing and turning upside down Persons and Things and all distinction of Servants Masters and Mistresses Purchasers Sellers Lenders Borrowers as is describ'd Esay 24. which shall end in the Sun 's being confounded the Moon asham'd when God comes to Reign before his Ancients in Glory And in the New Testament we find at the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ Mat. 27.50 when he gave up that mighty Breath and with that loud Voice commended that immortally blessed Spirit into the Hand of God There was a Great Earthquake and the Rocks rent and the Graves opened and after his Resurrection many Bodies of Saints came forth and appeared to many in the Holy City a most admirable Type of the Last Great Earthquake At the Resurrection of Christ there was again an Earthquake Matth. 28.2 At the Pouring out of the Spirit Acts 2.1 There was from Heaven a mighty rushing Wind that fill'd the House and so must needs shake it and as the Appearance of Fiery Tongues when the Apostles Pray'd after that solemn Conference with the Elders of the Jews the House shook c. 4. When Paul and Silas had praised God in Prison there was an Earthquake and the Foundations of the Prison were shaken the Doors opened and the Chains of every one were loosed Acts 16.25 All these were real Historical Earthquakes or Matters of Fact and they are also great Types and Emblems with Relation to what shall be at the Kingdom of Christ and even Predictions and lively Assurances thereof In the Revelation that most August Prophecy of the Kingdom of Christ we read of Four great Earthquakes that were so many Advances of the Kingdom of Christ 1. That grand Deturbation of or dismounting Paganism or the casting down the Dragon or Devil inhabiting it from Heaven who was worshipped in Paganism as a God and all his Host in the Fourth or Roman Empire were cast down with him when that Empire in Constantine became Christian And this was celebrated by those lofty Expressions concerning it as a great Shaking even of Heaven and Earth Rev. 6.12 c. 12.5 as shall be at the Kingdom of Christ. 2. The final Extirpation of Paganism or Rooting it out though with that unhappy Revolution of Antichristianism ready to come in with the Barbarous Nations into that Empire and so undermining the Kingdom of Christ. This was at the famous Victory of Theodosius And this was as Church Historians tell us with a very great Tempest of Thundring and Lightning and motion of the Earth in the Letter as well as the Prophetic Representation of the Thunder Lightnings Voices and Earthquake the great Emblems of the Kingdom of Christ 3. The Earthquake that shall be at the Rising of the Witnesses when that Great City whose Emblem is Ten or Tenth in regard of the Ten Kings who give their Kingdom to the Beast that carries it shall fall Rev. 11. cap. 17. 4. The whole Time of the Seventh Trumpet shall in regard of the mighty Effects and Events be a continual Earthquake even till the great and real Shake of Heaven and Earth the once more in the Text that what cannot be shaken may remain as hath been explained Rev. 16.18.20 compared with c. 11. Now that Earthquake nam'd last but this last viz. the Fall of the great Antichristian State I affirm to be so near as 1697. approaching wherein the Kingdom of Christ shall be in its Succession Now what arises from all this Inference but that it may both urge the Necessity and give all Invitations and Incitements to Repentance which cannot be higher express'd than in the Apostle's own Words as 't is us'd in this Context Let us have Grace or rather Take Hold lay earnest Hold of Divine Grace and Power in Christ that we may serve him with Reverence or all Holy Awes of Modesty and Shamefacedness as the Angels that cover Faces and Feet lest we give distaste and with good Heed-taking as the Israelites that kept within bounds lest God should have broken out And this Service of God with holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Modesty and shame of our own Unworthiness and horrid Nakedness This Good Heed-taking not to run into God as a Consuming Fire is most shewn exercis'd and practis'd in timely Repentance For all at that Day of Earthquake Thunders and Lightnings once for All All must be near for God will come near to them as a swift Witness and to All not Repenting and Reconcil'd in Christ he will be a Consuming Fire Mal. 3.5 With this Heb. 12. And to this purpose Let these very late Motions of the Earth be consider'd in all the foregoing Discourse for I cannot but be perswaded they are Pledges of that great Change that shall suddenly be in the World in the Fall of the whole Papal and Antichristian State besides their general strong Motive to Repentance as they speak God both in his Divine Power and Ability to execute Wrath as also in his Goodness Long-suffering and Patience leading to Repentance and how much more if the Approach of his Kingdom it self the greatest Motive to Repentance be by it declar'd so near That I may therefore
more and they shall know that his Name is Jehovah that he is the true God and all other Gods shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens Jerem. 10.11 c. 16.19 20 21. Thus as at the first preaching of the Gospel there were so great Conversions prickings in the heart and Repentances Acts 2 c. Because that was the fullness of time So there shall be much greater when the fullness of times eveâ— of All Time shall be For whatever was done by way of Inchoation and Beginning in the fullness of time shall be much more done at the fullness of times or of all time For That Gospel that was alway the everlasting Gospel shall then appear in that stile and be known by it The everlasting Gospel and therefore its Force Effect and Success shall be much greater than ever And it immediately follows upon this Preaching the Everlasting Gospel another Angel proclaim'd with a loud Voice Babilon is fallen is fallen before this it could not be done The Church of â—ergamus was blam'd for having them that held the Doctrine of Balam and who taught to eat things Sacrificed to Idols and Thyatyra for suffering them They had not Mourned that they might be cast out as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 5.2 and therefore they were Commanded to Repent and draw to Repentance all such among them that belonged to the Election of Grace Rev. c. 2. and here is that great Repentance by which Babylon is utterly cast out and fallen as it follows in the next Thunder or Voice from Heaven to that of the everlasting Gospel And then as it was in that Apostolic time they brought out their Books of curious arts and burnt them publickly even to the value of 50000 Peices of Silver so shall the curious arts of Idolatry Sorcery and Impurity be expos'd and for ever devoted at that time to the Flames Acts 19.19 Now how does this Recommend to us the Doctrine of Repentance throughout all our Generations and through the whole course of our Lives seeing the World of the Sav'd shall be thus Baptised with the Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of Sins just before Salvation And into this Treasury all ages of Saints in the World before this time have cast by Mourning Godly Sorrow and Repentance For have not their Tears been put into God's Bottle and are they not in his Books And at what time are they more likely to be Produced to their Etternal Account and Advantage than in such a day of Attonement and Reconciliation When the days of Refreshing that Blessed and Happy Age shall come forth from the presence of the Lord his immediate Appearance even the same Appearance that shall utterly abolish the man of sin 2 Thes 2.8 and revive and re-enliven the Saints that have Dyed and Slept in Jesus into the First Resurrection upon whom Blessedness is then Proclaim'd when all sins shall be perfectly blotted out and their holy Works alone shall follow them among which Repentance is one of the Principal in the Day of the Restitution of all things in the day of Salvation when it shall appear true Evangelical Repentance is never to be Repented of Acts 3.19 21. Rev. 14.13 And to move us therefore all and to provoke us to either the first Repentance if we have not yet Repented or to Renewed and advanced Repentance Rom. 13.12 let us consider how far the Night of the Apostasy is pass'd and the Day of Salvation is at hand How very near it grows How much more we see the Day approaching Heb. 10.24.25 For we are now in the 1255th day of the Witnesses 1260 days of Years of their Mourning and Sackcloth and upon the 25th day of the Last Month of the 42 Moons of Apostacy and when they end the Kingdom of Christ shall be immediately Proclaim'd How near then is the Kingdom of Heaven at Hand Infer 8. Because I know there is so great an unwillingness to believe such an Approach of the Kingdom of Christ Let us take as we stand in the National Community whereof we are this great Doctrine of Repentance into deepest and closest consideration For we find Scripture whenever it speaks to a Community as to the Kingdom of Judah and Israel in the Prophets it still speaks to them as such Communities as in the Language and Doctrine of Repentance and when it speaks to the Churches as in the second and third Chapters of the Revelation it speaks to them as such Communities and commands them to Repent as was before observ'd How necessary therefore to the National Body is the Doctrine of Repentance taken as relating to a Community How necessary must it needs be to every one of us not only as for our own Immortal Souls but as Parts and Members of the National Community and to the Church or Churches of this Nation that of the Church of England or the National Church as so many love to speak or to the Churches that are in England or Churches of England as others agreeably enough with Scripture speak as of the Churches of Judea of Galatia and thus undoubtedly there is a truth in both ways of speaking For when God hath given a Nation an universal consent in the Profession of the Name of God of Christ and of the Gospel they do in many great Regards and Accounts of Scripture come under such an Obligatory representation as a National Church as Judah and Israel in the times of the Old Testament came under And all particular Churches wherein so ever they differ in many particulars and make distinct Associations of themselves may be look'd upon as particular Churches and so Scripture vouches for them because they do in a Particular Union give themselves to the Lord and to one another yet notwithstanding they cannot what ever they may think put off their Relation to the whole Nation whereto they are United as parts nor to it as United with them in the substantial Essential Points of Christianity not so Adulterated but that such Church is look'd upon as a true Church by God and by Christ Nor can the more general or National Church Dis-interest it self in any of the more particular and Dissenting Churches seeing in God's account they are within it even those that are purest and have most of the Spirit and Power of Christianity and truly Purer than it self as in the general as the more general Church of Sardis had within it self the few purer Names that had not Defiled their Garments Rev. 3.1 c. This is when a more general Church is pure in substantials of Doctrine Worship and Laws of Holy Conversation it is otherwise when what is call'd a Church is Antichristian and Idolatrous in its substantials as in those of the Papacy and have no more Right to the Name of a Church than that Idolatrous assembly that cried up Diana of the Ephesians Acts 19. though it be there call'd by the same Name of a Church or Ecclesia
Evangelical Repentance UNTO SALVATION Not to be Repented of Upon 2 Cor. 7.10 And as most Seasonable Short Considerations on that Great Context Hebr. 12.26 Yet once more I shake not only Earth c. Upon the Solemn Occasion of the Late Dreadful Earthquake in Jamaica and the Later Monitory Motion of the Earth in London and other Parts of the Nation and beyond the Sea Whereunto is Adjoined a DISCOURSE on Death-Bed Repentance On Luc. 22.39 Now God commandeth every one every where to Repent Acts xvii 20. By T. Beverley London Printed by R. Smith for W. Miller at the Gilded Acorn in St. Paul's Church-yard where Gentlemen and others may be furnished with Bound Books of most Sorts Acts of Parliament Speeches and other sorts of Discourses and State-Matters as also Books of Divinity Church-Government Humanity Sermons on most Occasions c. MDCXCIII Licensed and Entred According to ORDER THE Epistle Dedicatory TO THE KING and QVEEN TO Their Majesties is most Humbly presented These Discourses of Repentance extending to National Reformation in order to the Kingdom of Christ Into which are inserted Considerations upon the late Earthquake in Jamaica and the later Motion of the Earth in London and other Parts in the Nation and beyond the Seas And all this on greatest Right and Due For who as Religious Princes are so concerned in Publick Reformation according to all the Precedents of Scripture Who as Protestant Princes are Interested in the Kingdom of Christ of which the Protestation against Papal and Antichristian Abominations and Usurpations was a Preparation even for that Kingdom of Christ tho at the distance of 180 Years styled in Prophecy Half Time near expiring into the Succession of that Kingdom when Reformed Princes truly so shall not lose but highly gain in Glory Who as Good and indeed Gracious Princes are so deeply affected in publick Judgments unhappy Revolutions or general Mercies and happy Revolutions foreboded by Earthquakes or Gentle Moves of the Earth For they are Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers of their People And of what Princes can we hope or promise our selves better than of their so Vnited Majesties Two-One in True Religion As therefore the Supream Majesty was pleas'd to give particular Directions to Themselves of those Tremblings of Earth whether for Judgment and Repentance or for Mercy in their Port in Jamaica styl'd Royal and in this their Capital City and not only so but peculiarly in the Camp Royal in Flanders So All these Discourses upon All are most Humbly and with profound Obeysance first laid at their Majesties Feet as having the first National Episcopacy committed to them from God in Succession to Constantine the first Christian Prince in much greater and truer Right than the Popes have their Primacy from Peter or his Hierarchy their Episcopacy from the Apostles And next it is Presented to the National Episcopacy so Constituted by their Majesties even as an Evangelical Ministry is I hope more immediately committed to them by Christ wherein being near to Christ as in their National Episcopacy to their Majesties they can and I doubt not will Represent to them what is according to his Gospel by this Ministration For wherein have we in the History of Scripture found a greater Configuration of the happiness and stability of Times than when David's and Nathan's Jehosaphat's Micaiah's and Jehaziel's Joash's and Iehoiadah's Zerubbabel's and Joshuah's Nehemiah's and Ezra's have been conjoin'd And in Church History than when Constantine's and Athanasius's Theodose's and Ambrose's the Protestant Princes and Luther's c. and in our Nation than when such as K. Edw. VI. and Cranmer c. or Q. Eliz. Jewel c. have been Vnited in Publick Reformation And oh that at such a time as this General Reformation by Both might be tinctur'd with the Knowledge of the Kingdom of Christ when by the Sure Word of Prophecy deeply to be search'd it is so near How great Honour would be return'd from hence All which is most Humbly Prayed by Their Majesties most Humble and Obedient Subject and Servant in the Kingdom of Christ T. BEVERLY TO THE READER BY A Friend of the Authors WE live in an Age wherein Names and Professions are many Thousands and ten Thousands are distinguished thereby every one saying Lo here is Christ and Lo there that thou hast a Name that thou livest may be said to the National Church and to all the Dissenting Churches among us the Temple the Temple saith the one and saith the other yet may it not be said to the most of these Churches But thou art dead be watchful and strengthen the things that remain that are ready to Dye Rev. 3.2 3 4. God hath I am perswaded a few Names in all and every the said Churches who have not defiled their Garments but do indeed repent and turn to the Lord who are born not of Flesh nor of Blood nor of the will of man but of God such to whom the kindness and love of God our Saviour hath appeared not by works of Righteousness which they have done but according to his mercy he hath saved them by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost and for others let them be of the lowest or of the highest form such that have made the first step to Reformation or higher and greater steps thereto they are but the leaves of the Fig Treee that is cursed of Christ and shall soon wither away It is no matter what name you have I would there were not any Name among us but Christian It is the Nature and Power of Christianity What is the Chaff to the Wheat It is said in the Phrophesies of Isaiah and Micah that the Mountain of the Lord's House shall be exalted to the top of the Mountains and all Nations shall flow unto it I do not think by Mountain in these places is meant any one particular Church by what Name soever they be dignified or distinguished But the true Living Mistick and Catholick Church such who having been in the Apostacy with others do Repent and turn to the Lord and that you may the better know them you have these following Discourses to help you in so great a work some Despise this great Grace and stumble at this mighty work of God upon the Heart as too high too hard and too difficult a work but God hath his Fire in Zion and his Furnace in Jerusalem and he will throwly purge his Floor There must be a cutting off a right Hand a plucking out a right Eye and it is better going to Heaven with one Eye and with one Hand maimed and Halt than to go to Hell with both Others say Repentance is a legal work fit only for old Testament Saints There is indeed a sorrow a rapentance that worketh Death but the Repentance here called for and exhorted to is such that is never to be Repented of That which brings the Soul poor and naked trembling and melting to Christ the Prince and Saviour
be as Convictive Proofs in their kind and as satisfactory to true Understanding Even so I affirm that the Prophetick Images and Numbers if they are attently eyed and compared may be as certainly Assur'd and Intellectual enquiries even satiated with the evidence of them Though they are not under such Proofs as the plain Doctrines and Precepts of Scripture yet by such a Probation as is most proper to them they are certain in their kind As the proof of so plain a point in its kind as Repentance is is as certain in its kind as the proof of Natural Religion in its Kind which is as certain as a Mathematick Proposition in its kind So sure is Prophecy In the Goodness of our Creator and Mediator in giving and sustaining our Faculties in the true use of themselves so sure are each of these and each of them in their kind as sure the one as the other even the Word of Prophecy sure as any For as I have often said even these Enigmatical parts of Scripture are most certainly as will be easily allowed infallibly true in their own sense They are therefore to be understood For so is all Truth They are Revealed and therefore it is intended by God they should be understood If to be understood they may be known they are truly understood by the Consciousness to ones self of the evidence of those Critierions and Marks of Truth most Connatural to them that All Parts answer one to another that they answer to what must be most apparently the main Scope and Intention of the whole and that Historical Matter of Fact answers all along which makes all certain As he that hath a Key to a Cyphar or to History in Picture or Emblem may be assur'd he hath it when he Finds all agree one part with another and the whole with what was reasonable to be expected and supposed to be the Design And if any one should say Why should this be Revealed to me so unworthy so little prepared with all the Advantages of Learning and Books I do most humbly Acknowledg the Dint of this Prejudice and can only Answer as I have done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So it pleased him and to humble me to lowest Abasement However I most humbly Confess wholly by my own sin and guilt as in a solitary Patmos for it And I cannot but hope now I look upon my Testimony as near Finished and that things are just now upon their Complement he may be pleas'd also to Disconfine me when his Witnesses are so near Comming out of their Sackcloth and that I shall in their Rising rise out of this Civil Death But not my will but his will be done I have therefore I say upon the whole presented this Discourse as upon one Reason that by it you may look upon my other Treatises as not the Performances of a Fanatick or Phantastick or one that would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Much less 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or what is Written but to speak forth the words of Soberness and Truth as well in the one as the other 2. That from the Conjunction of the one part with the other the Prophetick with the Doctrinal you may be as however I Hope and am Perswaded you are more excited and may move more Vigorously and Zealously in the Promoting National Repentance and Reformation as I have also in the Inferences of the discourse press'd seeing therein is most certainly the greatest Magnification of your National Office or Episcopacy that as having greatest nearness to the Affairs and Persons that are at the Top and who as Springs move what is below them you do therein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 minister in Offering them up to God For not Worldly Grandieur nor any of the Cathedralities of your State nor an Animal or Sensitive however not Sensual Hospitality will sustain you but this is the best Account that can be given of such a Pre-eminence when it is indeed of National Superiority in an Elijah Like Fervor and Influence for National Reformation seeing it is certain in an Union in true Religion a National Episcopacy Devoted to its true ends tho in it self but Civil may be serviceable to National Godliness Hereon I have set my Foot in this Dedication to you and Acknowledgment of you that if you are indeed for and with God in your Pre-lations you will be Blessed not only with Good Wishes and Endeavours but with happy Successes not only in Word but in Power in such your Character and Station For all Wise and Good Mens Eyes are now upon you to know not your Names or Titles or Speech but your Power in Holy Influences upon the Nation from you But the very want of Blessing from Heaven and Success therein and to find that National Vices and Irreligion surmount your Sphere and grow up above it to Heaven is reason for great Humiliation and even Jealousy over your Constitution tho without your guilt But this will bear you in so great a Revolution so near as I declare to you For even as that Building call'd Pauls that is rising so Sumptuous e're it climb to its top shall only stand if it can be any way Serviceable in that Kingdom 's Succession so nigh so it may be supported else it s goodly Stones and Building will not at least to such an use as Cathedral only be one Stone left upon another with how magnificent a Zeal soever it be carried on It is begun too late to such a purpose if it be so intended Even so a National Episcopacy suffering the Loss of all that is but Hay and Stubble in it as by Fire may yet be Sav'd or Continue in its National Presidency if it can be found as such Serviceable for Offering up whole Nations more speedily to God and Christ else it will vanish away as Froth and empty Bubbles For let us all be sure the Kingdom of God is coming upon us which is not Word but Power Although therefore you do not smite the men-servants or Maid-servants or eat and drink with the Drunken Yet I humbly beseech you to take heed that as Wise and good Stewards set over the Houshold you give diligently that portion of Meat in due Season all the most efficacious Perswasions and Influences for Repentance and even National Reformation And herein what can be so mighty to perswade as if with United Applications to it You would search and encourage all that do search and hold out that sure Word of Prophecy that hath shone so long and yet shines in the Dark place of this Apostacy till the very day dawn and the day Star arise Because I most Humbly Assure you in the Name of the Great Master of the Family he will no longer delay his Coming but he is very near at hand I hope Providence hath Introduced you to such a purpose and as I humbly hope this Doctrine of Repentance is presented to your Hands together with
so many Discourses that the Kingdom of Heaven is nigh at Hand that upon that very Consideration you may be most Zealous in it So I earnestly Pray you may be Blessed in your Lord finding you so doing Verily I say unto you he shall make you greater Rulers in a truly Evangelical Sense than now you are And as to the black and dark side I make no mention of it because I am perswaded better things of you and such as Accompany the Salvation and Glory of that Kingdom Herein I am Your most Humble and Affectionate Orator T. BEVERLEY A Discourse upon Evangelical Repentance to Salvation not to be Repented of and the Godly Sorrow working it 2 Cor. 7.10 For Godly Sorrow worketh Repentance to Salvation not to be Repented of but the Sorrow of the World worketh Death THERE is no more Universal Notion in the Soul of Man in those Things wherein he hath to do with God or even with Man or with Himself then to Repent that is to be sorry for what he hath done Amiss and wherein he hath Offended and to Resolve and Promise to Amend and to do the Evil he hath done no more It is fitted as a great Instrument of Reconciliation and a second state of Innocency a Reserve after the Ruin and Shipwrack of our First Innocency a Remedy a Reparation after the first Advantages of doing well are lost And it is the infinite Grace of God in a Mediator that there is such a Notion in the World It preserves it from being a Hell in regard either of the extremity and utmost Rages of Wickedness or of the Horrors and Fury of Despair It is the infinite Grace of God in a Redeemer That there is a Place of Repentance as the Apostle calls it Heb. 12. that is place and room for it in mans Heart and that there is place for it in the Acceptance of God that God does not scorn and utterly reject it against him that hath once sinned That he is not inexorable and not to be intreated concerning it For how woful and even Hellishly Miserable would man be without it That the Nature of Man is inclin'd to offer and accept such Repentance one towards another and so that there are mutual Forgivenesses among men and not unappeasable hatreds and that there is in a mans own Conscience a preparedness to acquiesce to be satisfied to Rest and to be Appeased upon finding in the Soul and Action a sorrow for sin and Reformation from it All this keeps the World from being absolutely Hell For Sorrow Dislike Trouble Remorse for what a Man hath done evil move a man to review to acknowledgment to bewailing to confession to change and reformation to a new course of Life and Action Seeing then Man is such a fallen such a Peccant and offending Nature it is infinite grace in God that there is such a Notion such Action in mans Soul as Repentance and that there is not an utter irreconcilableness an unpardonableness after Offense committed neither in Heaven nor on Earth not in the Court of Heaven nor in the Court of Human Nature one towards another nor in the Court of a mans Conscience within himself If it were not so every sin would be like the Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit Matt. 12. Unpardonable and because Unpardonable Impenitable or not to be Repented of and that not only in this World but in that which is to come the World would become a Theater of sin and damnation even a Hell without any Chancery any Appeal to Grace to Mercy or Relenting of Repentance from the hopes of Mercy the reverence and awes of Goodness and Forgiveness Now that which lies loose and scattered or disseminated sown through the whole human Creation That the word of God especially in the Gospel in the New Testament that the Spirit of God hath collected into a more full and solemn Doctrine and open'd the Foundation and laid bare and in view the root or the great place of it How it hath room and reception what are the Sources springs of Efficacy from which it Rises even in the Sacrifice Blood and Redemption of Christ and the mighly Efficacy and Grace of the Divine Spirit what is that godly sorrow which is given by God as the Elaboratory or the Instrument of God for the Operation of it what are the Laws and Rules of it the true form and constitution of it what are the motives and inward considerations mooving to it what are the signs and evidences of its Truth what is the proper time and space for it It resolves the Scruples or Cases of Conscience that may arise in the Soul of Man concerning it it shews the great Fruit certain Benefit and Advantage of it And all these are either most innately residing or some way reducible to this great and excellent Context of the Apostle in which regard I have chosen it and shall endeavour to bring Light accordingly to it and according to these heads I will by the grace of God endeavour to Discourse it 1. In regard it is Repentance to Salvation and that Salvation is no other but in Christ alone Acts 4.12 it plainly shews That the whole Redemption and Salvation of Christ is the proper Basis and Foundation of it the whole Area Court Space and most proper place of it and that the whole Notion and Spirit of it as any way Commensurate to or extended upon the whole human Nature hath its Rise and Original flows from some Communication to the human Nature from Jesus Christ the Redeemer and that yet the word of God and his Gospel only Reveals it fully and genuinely and his spirit is the supreme Operator of it 2. Here is plainly laid down to us the Elaboratory or Instrument God hath prepared in infinite Wisdom and Grace and inlay'd the Soul with in order to Repentance First as it is a Natural Affection subservient to it and then as it is Sanctified by God to so great an end Godly sorrow or sorrow after and according to God worketh down Repentance or brings it forth a sorrow opposed to the sorrow of the World that worketh Death 3. In that it is 1. Repentance to Salvation effectual to it 2. Repentance not to be Repented of 1. Not as a false counterfeit Repentance to be Repented of 2. Always to be carried on and promoted and not recall'â— repeal'd or revers'd but confirm'd by progressive repeated Acts and renewed after Falls 3. In that it is to or lays hold of Salvaetion 4. In that it rises not from an earthly spring or any sorrow not after God In all these Regards it yeilds just reason to Discourse the true Laws and Rules the Frame and true constitution the motives means and considerations for the signs and evidences of sincere Repentance 4. The admirable Fruit and Benefit of it is most visibly and illustriously set forth before us in those words It is Repentance to Salvation not to be repented of 1. It is
the Spirit of Bondage Rom. 8.15 For that Law of Self-preservation being seated so deep in Man the fear of an evil so Destructive to â—our Beings as wrath to come and the eternal Displeasure of the Supreme Being Nothing moves so strongly and powerfully nothing makes so violent concussions in the Heart of Man as these deep apprehensions or tears up the very Roots of that old sinful Frame and make it fly every way to change its Scituation and Posture for the avoiding of that Displeasure Thus Nineveh affrightned with that present dreadful Dâ—nunciation of Judgment turn'd it self every way to Attonement with God although the Judgment then Denounc'd did not râ—ach to Everlasting Punnishment how much more do the Apprehensions of Wrath to come and ever to come as was before observed of it move And though this is not the highest and noblest Kind of Motive yet it is such as our Lord earnestly and doubly recommends to his Friends I say unto you my Freinds fear not them that kill the Body and have no more that they can do Luke 12.14 but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear fear him that after he hath kill'd hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him 3. The so greâ—t Assurance God hath given in Jesus Christ the Mediator and Redeemer that our sâ—â—s shall be Pardoned upon our Repentance is a most excellent motivâ— to Repentance and follows the former as that still Voice wherein God is did the â—arthquake 1 Kingâ— c 19.12 This Assurance is that which gives Life and Spirit to Repentance and also the true Evaâ—gelical Sweetness and Divine Temper to iâ— which else would turn into the Horrors of Cain and Esau which afterwards relaps'd into a Worâ—ly sâ—curity senselesness and sensiâ—ility for Cain went out from the Pâ—ese ce of the Lord Gen. 4.15 c. 36.15 and dwelt in the Land of Nod and fell to Building Esau bâ—came a greaâ— Earthly Prince and Faâ—her to many Dâ—kes without any further thought of the Birthrigâ—t or Blessing or else the ho â—ors arising from the sense of sin and Divine Dâ—spleasure turn into the Dâ—spair of Saul and Judas â—â—at are but the forâ—casts of Hell and everlasting sâ—pâ— aâ—ion from the presence of God and the light of his Countenance This sense of the Love and Favor of God in Christ is that which draws the Soul by the melting and dissolving that Stony Heart and making that stiff Neck and Iron Sinnew to be ready and pliant to all Holy Rules and Heavenly Motions and sweetens fear sorrow and horror into Love and Reverence and filial dispâ—sitions to Obedience while there are any beginnings of shedding abroad the Love of God in the Heart and when the Love of Christ begins to Constrain us This glance of the Eye of Christ on Peter wiâ—h Love and Grace made him go out and weep bitterly this sense of Mercy humbled David and Distill'd into all those Heavenly Penitential Expressions we have Psal 51. 4. When by the grace of God the Heart is deeply Affâ—cted with the sight of the great Evil abominable Foulness and Hatefulness of sin and with the Beauty of Holiness this is a most effective motive to Repentance when we are struck with the sense of the Intrins ck shamefulness of every evil way the falseness of those appearances of good that aâ—e found upon sin but werâ— an Inheritance of Lies it makes us hate every false way and cast away the Things that can yeild no true good or profâ— and of which we have reason for ever â—o be ashamâ—d the end of which is Death Rom. 6. Through the word of thy Lips I keep my sâ—lf fâ—â—m the Paths of the Destroyer Psal 17.4 Through thy Precepts I get understanding therefore I hate every false way Thy word is very pure therefâ—re thy sâ—rvant loveth it I hâ—ve found thy Precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false way The righteousness of thy Testimonies is everlasting give me understanding and I shall live Psalm 119. The Law of the Lord is right converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple the Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart How sweet are thy words to my taste sweeter than honey to my mouth Moreover by them is thy servant warned and in the keeping of them there is great reward Psalm 19 All these are Expressions of the mighty Power of Holiness moving to Repentance from the Beauty and Amiableness of it self and the Odiousness of Contrary Sin and Evil. 5. The Word of God throughout all these is the Instrument of the Holy Spirit and with the Variety of its Divine Representations Collects and Diffuses into the Soul and Universâ—l Spirit of a Man being suited to every Faculty and Affection the Reasons and mighty Efficacies â—oth of Fear and Hope viz. the Wrath and Indignation against sin of Grace and Mercy in Christ to the truly Repenting sinner and together with them the Beauty of Holiness and the Hatefulness of Sin For the Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit executing Vengeance on sin and yet sparing the Humble Returning sinner and effectually moving him by it to Repentance 6. The sixth and last Motive I shall use is the true Consider tion of the Gospel state both as it is now and as it shall be in its Glorious Manifestation For that being a state so New and so different from the present state of Sin and Flesh and Corruption we can never be suited to it but by this great Change by Repentance for it the putting off the Old Man which is corrupt according to its deceitful Lusts Ephes 4.22 23. and putting on the New Man which is renewed after God in Knowledge Righteousness and true Holiness is most absolutely necessary to enjoy this Kingdom And this is the Truth of Repentance It is the having such an Eye upon him 2 Cor. 5.15 who is Risen from the Dead and to the Resurrection of the Dead it self as to know neither Persons nor Things as we knew them before after the Flesh On this account our Lord sent John as an Herald before him preaching and saying Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand And as soon as John had finish'd his Ministry of Repentance to shew it was not only the Message of the Fore runner but of the Lord himself whose way he was to prepare Jesus himself from that time began to preach and to say Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Matth. 3.1 c. 4.17 he shewed to us this New state requires New Persons New Hearts and Spirits New Lives and Actions to lay the Foundations and Beginnings of it here and now and that it may break out into Salvation and Glory at the Glory of that Kingdom That it may be so tryed now as to be found unto Honour Praise and Glory at the appearance of Jesus Christ I come now to the second part of this
that we may not be pleased and contented with a Counterfeit with any other Repentance than that unto Salvation not to be Repented of Least we for ever Repent of our Repentance in Hell where there is no place of Evangelical saving Repentance but of that only which is a barren Fiery Horror and Despaire scorching the Conscience for ever and not allaying it with a Drop of Water to Cooll outragious Tongue Luke 16.24 Blaspheming at the same time God and Christ and our impenitent selves who would not Repent while we had space and place for our Repentance Infer 5. Let us by all the most moving Considerations of the Evil of sin the hatefulness and unreasonableness of it the sense of the Goodness and Grace of God in Christ all his Judgments all his Mercies the sense of an Eternal Misery and Punnishment from his Presence be strongly mov'd excited stirr'd and led to Repentance Infer 6. Let us rejoyce in the sweet Reposes of Conscience when we have truly Repented in the infinite Power Authority and Supreme right of God to Pardon upon Repentance not dependent upon Man nor upon the Will of Man Who is a God like unto him who Pardons Iniquity Transgression and Sin and casts it into the depth of the Sea who makes by his Pardon sins as Scarlet and Crimson to be White as Snow and Wooll that blots out Iniquity as a Cloud and a thick Cloud with the same Potency and Ease that the Sun does off a Cloud and with infinitely greater Let us Rejoyce in the great Efficacies of the Redeemer Pardoning sin upon Earth as the great High Priest of our Profession and the Bishop of our Souls Absolving truly Repenting Sinners by the Witness of his Blood sprinkling the Heart from an evil Conscience and speaking better things than the Blood of Abel The Blood as of a Lamb without spot Offer'd by the Eternal Spirit Purging the Conscience from dead works together with and even as the Author and Finisher of faith and repentance from dead works to serve the Living God Heb. 9. c. 10. c. 12. Let us rejoyce in the Witness of the Divine Spirit Sealing and Witnessing to us by Repentance washing the Body the whole Conversation as with pure water Let us rejoyce in all the Blessed Promises and Assurances of the Word of God made by it to sincere Penitents which are yea and Amen in Christ For all these are of far greater Authority Truth Certainty than All Bindings or Loosings on Earth whether by the Ecclesiastical as we call it Administration of the Keyes or by Men forgiving one Another however necessary these may be in their place Infer 7th Seeing the Kingdom of God and of Heaven is the great Motive to Repentance as hath been before on great Reason made out The high Reason we have to believe that by the Apostles calling it the Last time the last hour the ends of the World so many Hundreds of Years ago we must needs be now upon the very last issue and determination of that Time when the Kingdom shall appear in Glory and all other kind of Time shall be no more How great a Cloud does therefore Encompass us that we should by no means be willing or able to Rend to Engage us to run with Patience the Race of Repentance set before us Heb. 12.1 and to that End to lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Repentance that it may be to Salvation and never to be Repented of Hearing him who in the days of his Flesh because the offers and first appearances and First Fruits of his Kingdom were then begun Preach'd saying Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand so the full Harvest of that Kingdom being now ready to appear he does by the Voices of all his Prophets in the Old and New Testament instantly Preach to us Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand And of how strong and close Connexion the Kingdom of God and of Christ and Repentance are I shall more fully and largely at this time Represent as a most solemn Conclusion of this Discourse There is a fixed space given and a peculiar Interval Appointed Lying between the time of the Apostacy call'd the Time Times and Half Time or the 1260 Days and the Time of the Vials And it is 30 years making the 1260 1290 Years Dan. 12.11 even as the 45 Years of the Vials to the Absolutely blessed state of the Kingdom of Christ in Glory when the Saints shall all stand in their Lots fill up to that very Fulness of Times Now at this space of the Thirty Years the Spirit shall be powred out from on High The Song of the Lamb which hath been so long out of use that it becomes as it were a new Song and can be at first learnt only by the 144000 shall be Taught by them immediately and the Everlasting Gospel shall be without delay upon it Preach'd to every Nation Tongue and People under Heaven and then there shall be as in preparation to the Glory of the Kingdom of Christ but under the Influence of that Kingdom in Succession a mighty Spirit of Godly Sorrow working Repentance to Salvation never then indeed to be Repented of pour'd out upon all Flesh Now because this is a point of great moment to the Doctrine of Repentance and sets forth much of the Excellency of Repentance I shall give very great Scriptures and argue upon them for the truth of ir Scripture 1. The first Scripture I would insist upon shall be from a consideration of that great Ordinance of God concerning the Day of Attonement among the Children of Israel This Ordinance We find Levit. 23.27 In the tenth day of the seventh the Sabbattical Month there shall be a day of attonement It shall be an Holy Convocation to you and you shall afflict your Souls And you shall do no work in that same day For it is a day of Attonement to make Attonement for you before the Lord your God for whatsoever Soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same Day he shall be cut off from among his People And whatsoever Soul it be that doth any work in that same day the same Soul will I destroy from among his People It shall be a statute for ever throughout your Generations in all your Dwellings It shall be to you a Sabbath of Rest and you shall Afflict your Souls And on that day there were the great rites of Sacrifice the Bullock the sin Offering the Blood of which was carried into the Holy of Holies to make an attonement for the Vncleannesses of the Priests and People and to reconcile the Holy of Holies and the Mercy Seat and the Tahernacle of the Congregation and the Goat that was to be Kill'ed in the same Manner and the scape-Goat throughout c 16. Now that which I lay in the Foundation is That God never appointed
any of these great Rites but they had a Solemn signification a signification as sollemn as the Type was So that there must be some great sense of this day of attonement I know it had a great fulfilling in Christ and in him as an Offering once for all that immediately Entred into the Holy of Holies with his own Blood to appear in Heaven for us It had very great parts of its accomplishment But there are other great Parts that are to be fulfill'd in his Saints and for them as in themselves And especially in this solemn Affliction So that as if any did not afflict their Souls they were to be cut off so now And in these things this day had many very remarkable Lines of the sollemn affliction and attonement that shall be in the very last parts of Time and near the state of the Kingdom of Christ 1. It was an Ordinance throughout the Generations of both Natural and Adopted Israel A Statute for ever that is until the very Kingdom of Christ. 2. It was in all parts of it Sabbattical prepar'd for the great Sabbatism of the Kingdom of Christ. 3. It was when the Holiest of all and the Tabernacle of the Congregation and even the Mercy seat and Altar were Purified and Reconcil'd not in themselves for they were separate and pure especially the Holy of Holies much more the Heavenly Antitypes But in regard of the Vncleanness of the Children of Israel For with relation to all the Saints and Servants of Christ even to the very last of them in this corrupt World of the First Adam they must be Purified and Reconciled that so God and the Lamb coming down with the Holy of Holies and Tabernacle to be with Men and to dwell among them may appear in visible Glory 4. That peculiar Sacrifical Rite of the Scape Goat on this day sent away into the Wilderness was a most lively signification of the final act of Oblivion and act of Amnesty upon all sin and the Curse for it born away into the Land of Forgetfulness and so perfect attonement made and all former Evils of the Curse Forgotten Esay 65.16 17. 5. It was followed immediately by the Feast of Tahernacles So great a Type of the Kingdom of Christ in the Trees of Paradise and the Paradisiac Branches when the Tabernacle of God is with Men as before When thus the Glory of the Attonement and Redemption of Christ shall come into open View and the Holy State fully purified from all Vncleannesses of the Saints and perfectly reconcil'd above manifest and reveal it self Before that there shall be a general Afflicting the Soul the most solemn Penitential that ever was in the world Script 2. The Second Scripture I urge to this purpose is Psalm 84.6 Who passing through the Valley of Baca or weeping make it a Well The Rain also filleth the Pools They go from strength to strength every one of them in Zion appeareth before God So Jerem. 50.4 5. In those Days saith the Lord the Children of Israel shall come they and the Children of Israel together Going and Weeping they shall go and seek the Lord their God they shall ask the way to Zion with their Faces thitherward This speaks a solemn weeping and mourning immediately before the going up to Zion as if the Rivers overflowed in this Day of Mourning with the Tears of the Servants of God as after some great slaughter with Blood or as the Blood at the Battel of Armageddon shall come up to the Horse-Bridles of Christ and of his Saints upon their VVhite Horses of Triumph So before this the Pools and Wells shall be fill'd with the Tears of Saints in their Day of Great Mourning and Repentance Script 3. A Third Great Scripture I insist upon is Zech. 12 12. In that Day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo And the Land shall mourn every Family apart and the Families that remain apart This Prophecy is most apparently by all that went before and follows after a Prophecy of the Kingdom of Christ and for that Kingdom of Christ there is so great a mourning as in preparation to it There shall be a Spirit of Grace and Supplication an admirable universal Grace of Repenting in all parts of Repentance poured out upon the Israel of God in Jerusalem looking on him whom they have peirc'd and so long Rejected and a joynt mourning of Convert Gentiles represented by the Mourning of Hadad-Rimmon or of the very glory of Assyria known by the name of their God Rimmon and their Dedication to his Glory this Mourning of the Gentiles shall be in Megiddo as in Israel for all their Idolatries and Crucifying of Christ in his Witnesses slain in Spiritual Egypt of which that excellent Prince Josiah slain in the Cause of Assyria by Pharoah King of Egypt was a Type and so lamented by both Israel and Assyria Israelites by Nature and Adoptive Israel in that great day shall mourn and it shall be so deep and sincere that all Families shall Mourn not only together but apart They shall not Mourn for shew form and Company or need that Natural Excitation of Mourning the seeing one another Mourn but they shall Mourn apart The Royal Family signified by the House of David the Prophetick Families signified by the House of Nathan the Priestly Family signified by the House of Levi and Scribal Families signified by the House of Shimei and the converted Gentiles signified by the Families that remain the usual Character for the Heathen Nations Because Israel in God's account is the principal The Remnant whom the Lord our God shall call Joel c. 2.31 and the Residue of Men even all the Gentiles as the Apostle James Acts 15.17 interprets Amos 9.11 Now in this Day of the great mourning and afflicting the Soul this Day of attonement there shall be an opening the Fountain for Sin and for Vncleanness for the washing of the Robes of all Saints and making them white in the Blood of the Lamb that as it is granted to them they may be arrayed in Linen white and clean which is the Righteousness of the Saints Rev. 7.14 c. 19.8 4. The last Scripture wherein I will draw up and sum this Point is Revelations 14.6 I saw another Angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach to all c. saying Fear God and give glooy to him by Confession Humiliation and Repentance At which time the Gentiles shall come from the ends of the Earth and say Our Fathers have inherited Lies and things wherein there is no profit Shall a man make himself Gods of them who are no Gods who have not made the Heavens nor the Earth the Sea nor the Fountains of Water This shall be when God this once that once when he is just ready to shake Heaven and Earth and this once signifies the doing it so that it shall never need to be done any
that the Churches of the Saints are v. 32.41 Now this I have Premis'd to shew how necessary the Doctrine of Repentance is to be Offered and to be Receiv'd by the generality of the Church Churches and People of this Nation according to the Doctrine of both the New and Old Testament even that Repentance that hath been Discours'd the Repentance to Salvation never to be Repented of and to be wrought by a Godly sorrow or a sorrow after God It may look like a Difficulty how a Nation Composed of such Variety of lesser and distinct Communities one from another and much more so many single persons should be brought to Unite in Repentance or a Church that hath so many lesser and different Churches or How such a Repentance can be a Repentance to Salvation seeing Nations are not so much sav'd as Nations but particular Persons of those general Communities are the Saved This may be three ways Reconciled 1. By considering there is the Face of a Nation and of a National Profession of Christianity in the Princes Rulers and Councels of it and When these set themselves to Repentance of Reformation How greatly necessary therefore is it to Represent with greatest Efficacies of Perswasion to them the duty to Reform themselves and to be examples of the same to the Nation We find therefore Universally in Scripture there is so much application to the Kings and Nobles the Counsellors and Judges of Israel and Remonstrances against their sins and not Reforming And this lies with especial Obligation upon those who are Exalted into the most publick Stations of the Christian Ministration those who are the most publick Seers So we find Nathan the King's Seer was chosen out by God to speak to David in those two great services of shewing David his sin and moving him to Repentance 2 Sam. 12. When he had so fallen God sent to move him to Repentance by his own Seer or as I may Express it Bishop And so in the Case of Numbring the People God sent to David by Gad another of his Seers 2 Sam. 24.11 Again when God declared to David the Building the Temple not by himself but by his Son Solomon to encourage his Preparation for it but to Countermand his Building it he did it by the same Nathan his Seer 1 Chron. 17.3 And thus when God by his Providence Exalts any to a Precedency or Presidency in the Gospel Ministry so as to be near Princes and Councels and Senates in that high Administration when they are Zealous and Successful in their Preaching Repentance and such Higher Powers are mov'd by it This generally goes down from such Heads of a Nation to the skirts of the Garment viz. The subordinated Ministry of a Nation and its Magistracy and so to the generality of the People And it becomes in God's gracious acceptance through Christ and Account a National Repentance though there may be many particular Persons both in Ministry and Magistracy negligent of their Duty and much more many unreformed Persons among the Multitude And such Repentance may be called Repentance to Salvation For it does not only as in the King of Nineveh's Case give a Reprieve from presenr Judgments and bring in great Blessings and prosperity to a Nation at the present but there is very great Reason to believe in the visible Glory of the Kingdom of Christ There are as I may so speak Constellations of Saints who have joyn'd together in the same Nation and time in Repentance and earnest Endeavours for Reformation for as Daniel says The Wise and they that turn many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars and as the brightness of the Firmament for ever and ever Dan 12.3 Now how does the present state of the Nation require the joyning of all that fear God to retrench that boldness and insolency of wickedness that rages throughout the Nation and to necessitate the Vices and Prophanesses of Men who have no fear of God to keep within and not to shew themselves as they do openly and abroad and in the mean time to give such an Honour to Godliness Righteousness and Soberness that the contrary to these may not be charged as National sins and therefore herein those that are principal Seers of the Nation and have opportunity to do it to Princes and Councels are under greatest obligations of Duty Love Honour and Service to God and our Lord Jesus Christ to move with light and Heat in their Orb and Sphere to make due remonstrances of the absolute necessity that there is to discharge the Nation of that great weight of Publick Guilt that lies upon it by the Enormities that not being restrain'd and Punish'd Redoun'd from particular Offenders whom they have first invested and cover'd all over upon the Community to which they belong and to incite and greatly to encourage all whatever denomination or distinction soever they are of to Unite in this to give a stop to the overflowing wickedness that there be not wrath against the Royal Family the supreme Powers of the Nation the superior Episcopacy of it and against the whole Nation which Episcopacy above all ought to cry aloud and not to spare but to shew to the Court and Councels of it the sins and transgressions of the Nation which they make their own by not turning their whole Power against and to exhort all to joyn with one shoulder against them For the present state so Unreformed so Luxurious in Wickedness shews that according to all the word of God and the general course of his Providence that hath ever been in the world some one of these three things must needs be 1. That there must be an Universal National Reformation from those sins that being of a publick and sensible appearance sins that may be felt and that are so palpable to the common sense of Natural Conscience and so cognisable and ought to be taken notice of by the Courts of Human Judicature may be restrain'd and kept from Dying the Nation in so Crimson and Scarlet a Guilt such a Purple Hiew by the abominations now it is all over stain'd with the horrid Oaths or Swearing for the great commonness of which even on seeming better accounts Lands mourn very often the noise of which bellows in all streets and publick places as well as in private Families the dreadful Cursings and Dammings that every where resound the fearful Sabbath-breakings that turn it not only into a Day of Idleness and sloath but of leisure to all manner of Wickedness the Excess of Pride and Vanity in apparel which the very Prudence of sumptuary Laws should reform the Impudence and Outrage of Lust and Luxury declaring and not hiding it self as in Sodom of Old the Great Vnmercifulness to the Poor of all Kinds and not strengthning their hands to such profitable service and employment in their Places as might abound not only to their own private which ought to be but to publick Good These things with all Care
a shaking so universal and things have never yet been so shaken but they have gotten again into their old posture state and as we say wont so as to need to be shaken again But this once is like the Expression Jerem. 16.21 Behold I will for this once I will cause them to know my might I will do it so at the Great Conversion of the Gentiles then spoken of It shall never need to be done any more They shall know by that once for ever Even as it shall be known to my People Israel Amos 4.13 For in this Kingdom that Name is known indeed which was known but in Type Exod. 6.3 that my name is Jehovah God hath done these things in a Degree and in some measure a Hundred and a Hundred Times But now they shall be done once for all I am fully assured we shall All be at this shaking of the Earth You may think you may be in your Graves but you shall certainly be brought forth to see and feel God's doing this thing once The Earth shall cast out it 's Dead by the beginnings of it that all may see it in its Fulness Now this Doing the Thing shall make a great Change a Transpose of the Things that are or have been made or done The Word Metathesis signifies a Dispose of Things out of the Places where they had been into Places where they had not been before or into a different Order or State And it is of very great importance because it may be a Transpose for the better or for the worse Enoch was thus Transpos'd the same Word is us'd several times concerning him Heb. 11.5 and it was highly for the better he was Translated to Heaven without Dying So Transpos'd It is used for the Galatians being Removed to another Gospel and that was for the worse Gal. 1.5 This shake of the Earth shall make a great Transpose of Things Many poor Persons that have feared God and yet embrac'd Dunghils who have been forc'd to lye on the Earth in the Dust and in the filth of Things shall be Transpos'd for they shall Inherit the Throne of Glory 1 Sam. ch 2. The Bodies of Saints that lye in the Earth or wherever in the Dark the Dust of Death shall be Transpos'd they shall shine above But on the other side the Great the Rich and the Brave and the Honorable that have been High and Honorable they will be wofully Transpos'd they shall be turned down into a State of Everlasting Contempt And so there shall be a Translation a Transpose of the very Creation out of this Earth as under the Curse and Defilement into a new Earth and of the Heaven into a new Heaven not where Spiritual Wickednesses but Christ and his Saints shall inhabit Things shall not cease to be but shall be changed and removed some for the better some for the worse as to themselves But all Things of this World shall then be chang'd and remov'd All the Things that have been made or done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are great Things in the World of all kinds made or done Great Palaces great Cities great Temples or as we call them Churches Great Castles Fortifications Navies There are other great Things made and done There are the several Laws and Constitutions of Government great Volumes of Books great Furniture of Palaces and Houses Bravery of Equipage and Apparel exquisite Engines and curious Pictures all these are Things that have been made or done There are the heaps of Gold and Silver so impressed so minted so coined All these and an unexpressible variety more shall be Transpos'd for the Day of the Lord shall be upon them all Esay chap. 2. It shall be upon the High and Lofty every one that is lifted up shall be brought low It shall be upon all the Cedars of Lebanon and upon all the Oaks of Bashan both in a natural and figurative Sense and upon all the High Mountains the mountainous Towers and Piles of Building upon all great Ships those floating Palaces the Loftiness of Men shall be brought low and the Haughtiness of Men shall be humbled and the High Looks shall be bowed down And they shall cast their Images of Gold and Silver he means not only their Idolatrous Images but their minted Gold and Silver bearing the Images of Princes which Gold and Silver they commit Idolatry with also to the Bats and the Moles to go into the Caves and the Rocks and the Tops of the rugged Rocks for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his Majesty and all this in the Day when he rises to shake terribly once for all the Earth Oh how great will this Transpose then be And then all the Religion that Men have made shall become a perfect Transpose into a Nullity and indeed there is not a greater Poema or more made thing than False Religion and particularly the Religion of Popery it is a strange kind of Fabrick a strange kind of Frame so indeed is Mahometanism and so was Paganism heretofore but none like that of Popery But yet whatever hath been of the Substance of either true Natural or Revealed Religion in any False Religion adulterating it shall be then Transpos'd back into Truth and all else shall be abolished And lastly That Heaven and Earth that are now viz. since the Flood to which Flood this once more may refer shall be changed and transposed by Fire all shall be removed by Fire as I remember that most Learned and Ingenious and Christian Philosopher Dr. Burnet of the Charterhouse shews Theory of the Earth 1st and 2d Parts How much the State of our Heaven and Earth as before the Flood was chang'd and Transpos'd by the force of Water the Water of the Flood for the worse But they shall by the force of Fire be Purified and Renewed and Rescituated for Beauty and Glory as he also asserts All shall be Transpos'd All shall come under a new Make It is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Work of God it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What hath been already made It shall be chang'd by him that will say from the Throne upon which he sits Behold I make all new Rev. 21.5 They had been made before but saith he Now I come to make All over anew I will bring them to that Excellent State wherein they shall continue till God be All in All. For only the Things that cannot be shaken shall Remain Now what are those Things that cannot be shaken They are the Blood Sacrifice and Redemption of Christ his Redemption and Intercession these are for ever They remain in his Priesthood for ever after the Order of Melchisedech after the Power of an Endless Life The Spirit of God in his Grace upon his Servants in Conversion Faith Repentance Holiness shall remain as in the Glory and Salvation they are unto This is an incorruptible Seed from the Word and Truth of God that abideth for ever He that
sensible of For as in the most admirable Knowledge of his Almighty Hand he took up our Earth and poiz'd it and in the Doing of it did as it were say How shall I give thee up London How shall I make thee as Admah and Zeboim the Cities the Lord overthrew as Jamaica or Port-Royal My Heart is turned within me my Repentings are kindled together I will not execute the fierceness of my Wrath I am God and not Man I will not enter into this City Hosea 11.8 9. as into Jamaica Behold then on Them Severity to Us Goodness if we Turn to him in his Goodness and so abide in it or else according to ordinary Rules we must be cut off also And there is indeed most of the Power and Wisdom of God in doing so much and no more For a rude and unskilful Hand can Throw Down Spoil and Destroy but only an Understanding and Almighty Hand could weigh the Earth as in Scales and as in a Ballance lift up and set down in the very same place and state And how much more of Love and Grace to melt and soften us as if he had said Behold what I am able to do to Ruin you in a moment But I will only shew what I can Do and I will Do you no hurt Oh that this Riches of Goodness Long suffering and Patience might lead us to Repentance who himself staid his own Hand and said to Himself What am I doing when none else could and He did it not I come now to the Second Head I propos'd for the Improvement of our Thoughts on these Earthquakes in general but particularly of that but just a Motion of the Earth in this City and the Royal Camp and other parts beyond the Sea That it is predictive and foretelling of a great Change in the World And of this I give these following Arguments 1. It is beyond all denial most evident that Scripture makes use of Earthquakes as the Conveyance of its Description of the great Works and Changes God will make for the Kingdom of Christ till it appears That course of Earthquakes Providence hath been in of late years is surely a Declaration of those great Changes he is about to make first by the Succession of that Kingdom and then by its own Appearance For if first Christ convey his Kingdom by Earthquakes as Types and Pledges it is but reasonable to expect when he alarms the World with Earthquakes he has something to do more than ordinary in the Advancement of it else his so great use of them in his Word would be but as the sounding of the Mountains and Amuse in vain By the so often use of Earthquakes he teaches us to expect by them Seeing as on one side he uses Earthquakes in his Word to express great Things for his Kingdom by so on the other side he uses Earthquakes that are so in Fact to and in his Providence to foretell some Changes for his Kingdom following them according to his Word 2. The Nations and Places where this Motion of the Earth came are such as are closely concerned in the Change that God is about to make being either of the Protestant Profession or of the Ten Kings that yet give their Kingdom to the Beast That God was pleas'd therefore to guide the Motion of unquiet Vapors over so many Countries and Cities it was like the sending the Cup and Yoke in Jeremy to so many Nations on whom he would execute his Displeasure by Nebuchadnezzar Jerem. c. 25. c. 27. so now he hath sent by this Earthquake as it were by a Messenger to make known to the Nations his Kingdom so near For so mild and gentle a Motion that had nothing of Wrath and execution of Vengeance in its Commission seems entrusted only with so great a Notice And I cannot but hope and am even assured That this City is to bear so happy a Part in the Kingdom of Christ that it shall be preserved for his Servant David 's sake and that God in Christ is the Holy one in the midst of it 3. That which above all assures me so is That Sure Word of Prophecy that Time is so near for the Succession of the Kingdom of Christ which is by Prophecy describ'd by a great Earthquake that I can understand nothing by this Move but that Introducing or Bringing it in with the Call of the Witnesses and the Fall of the Tenth of the Great City For I cannot understand that there is Space or Room for any other Change but of That to the Kingdom of Christ entring into its Succession wherein all shall have the Advantages of Repentance and Reformation by the pouring out of the Spirit and the Preaching of the everlasting Gospel even to all the World and the Converts of that Time shall be as the Drops of Dew from the Womb of the Morning A Change of so great advantages to the World that none have any reason to be offended or to complain of the Tydings except They who hate to be Reform'd I desire no other Beauty of Feet or Face than to bring and pubâ—ish it It is all holy pure spiritual benign and beneficent to those who have but any Desires after God Christ and Goodness both in inward and outward Bounties There is greatest reason it should be daiâ—y prayed for and daily it is to be praised Verily It may be said Many Kings Prophets and Righteous Men have desired to see the Things that shall then be seen and have not seen them and to hear the Things that shall then be heard and have not heard them Oh therefore that this may be what this gracious Heave of the Earth does presage as I have great Assurance it does That there is no more danger by it than this That we should take notice This Earth with great Sedateness gave a Motion with joy as John Baptist in the Womb to foretell It is with all its Kingâ—oms soon to become the Kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ wherein Righteousness shall dwell That soon after upon a Purification from all Defilements the Heavens over it and it self may become a New Heaven and a New Earth and the Will of God done as in parallel as in that Heaven and upon Earth But though I have endeavoured to make good my way all along yet I would in the Conclusion give a more solemn Answer to the chief Objections I have taken notice of Objct. 1. Some of the sagacious Observers of Nature have so trac'd extraordinary Events to their Causes that they have foretold particularly Earthquakes by observing the Ripeness of natural Causes for them Answ 1. Whatever Observations the wisest of Mankind have made they are not able so far to penetrate the Screws of Natural Causes fitted to the necessitating one another to such Effects but that supernatural Agents may give a Lift to the Wheels of Second Causes that usually move but on Earth viz. in a natural way to move much above Earth that
is Supernaturally and in the same manner to set Bars to or hinder their Motions Ezek. 1.19.20 Now that there are such Supernatural Agents the very Evidences of rational and even sensible Experiments compel the stoutest Gainsayers to confess but as they bid defiance to all Things for the sake of their Atheistic Sentiments Answ 2. He that Knows all his Works from the very Foundation of the World and foresees All Causes and Effects could with the same Ease ballance them for their just Time both as to particular Persons and Nations with their Sins filling up their measure and so that All should roll down to their highest Effects at that time when he will once more shake not only Earth but Heaven also even at that Time of Trouble and Day of Battel and War as it is most Prophetically call'd Job 38.22.23 compar'd with Dan. 12.1 Mat. 24.21 and Revel 16.14 the same Spirit that dictated All Fitting the very Words one to another in these Scriptures Object 2. But still If this be allowed that such natural Causes and Effects are adjusted for the Purposes of Divine Judgment and even for that Dissolution of this present Frame Why at this Time Answ 1. Such a Time according to all Scripture and Reason must be at some Time and why may it not be now so near Answ 2. The very Time since the Coming of Christ first in the Flesh being almost 1700 Years ago was call'd the Fulness of Time what then can be after it but the Ends of the World the Last Day the Last Hour running apace to the Fulness of all Times Gal. 4.4 and Ephes 1.10 Answ 3. Mens Heats in all the Business of this World Buying Selling Planting Building the Little Faith on Earth it is near are no Arguments it is not near for these are foretold to be even at the nearest Approaches of that Day Answ 4. But in sum The Sure Word of Prophecy and Line of Time according to Scripture in full Agreement with History as I have so often affirm'd is my Grand Assurance Object 3. But those Words of our Lord's Marc. 13.32 Of that Day and Hour knoweth none c. contradict any such Calculation making known that Time Answ I affirm upon greatest Evidences of Scripture Reason The Son having all Judgment committed to him and the Spirit resting upon him without measure did know of that Day and of that Hour but in that Parâ—bolical Speech Christ acknowledges the Supreme Dominion of the Divine Being which is so often said to have the Panto-Cratorate the Almighty Ordination of that Day and the so unfathomable stupendious Process of it As the Revelation or Bringing All Things to pass in order to it is said to be given by God to Jesus Christ to shew to his Servants and the Conduct of them originally in God is given to him even so the Knowledge of the Time and the Administration of that Day Object 5. But the contrary Prevalencies of that French Prince the so great Enemy of the Witnesses who keeps them now from Rising shews That Time is not so near Answ As God gives in all Ages such Dominion and Greatness to some Princes that no Confederacies can withstand it as to Nebuchadnezzar Alexander Caesar Mahomet so hath he given much Greatness to that Monarch but when such Time of those Princes came and so of this Prince that they must have End At that very Time as they so he must end and none shall help it nor any precedent Greatness stay him up Answ 2. An Universal Monarchy is Embarrassed to him He shall never be more than one of the Ten Kings till he or his Successors with the Rest shall hate the Whore As Prophecy so Providence hath Embarrassed him as with a Band of Iron and so far the Confederacy or some other certain Interposal shall prevail till then Answ 3. We are not earnest enough in Prayer we curtail the Time of Humiliation and seeking God especially in that strongest Argument of his Kingdom Oh that this Counsel might be acceptable to the King and to the Counsels of the Nation and the Ministry of all Names that we might by earnestest and loudest Prayers of a Winters Humiliation and seeking him by Fasting and Supplication prepare for a Summers Action and not grutch God the Time Answ 4. He hath had the usual Space allowed to such notorious Enemies of the People of God And give me leave to use it as an Emblem tho not as a Forebode As Divine Providence commanded so great a Leviathan or Whale which he calls King over the Children of Pride from Playing in the Ocean where he had room enough in the pursuit of his Prey to come and strand himself and dye on the Shore of Scotâ—and the Twin Island of our Great Britain even so he will shortly work his Signs and Wonders in Heaven and Earth that he may abase such Tyrannick Leviathans walking in Pride For the Time is near and All however it seems otherwise shall be ready A King shall Reign in Righteousness and Persons compar'd to the Basest Vilest shall no more be called Most Christian most Serene Magnificent Beneficent But there shall be a Breaking out of the Glory of the Gospel The Tongue of the Stammerers shall speak plain The Lame shall leap as an Hart. The Ears of the Deaf shall hear The Esay 29. c. 32 c. 35. Eyes of the Blind shall see out of obscurity The very Ears of the Deaf shall hear the Words of that Book of Prophocy which the Learned will not now meddle with because say they It is Sealed nor the Vnlearned because they are not Learned Abundance of Converts shall be brought in Foolish Virgins shall be made Wise and not Err in the way called the way of Holiness and no ravenous Beast shall be there any more for ever Let us then to sum up all Seek him who made the Seven Stars and Orion Amos 5.8 who makes the Day dark with Night and yet turns the shadow of Death into Morning who calls for the Waters of the Sea commands them out and pours them on the face of the Earth who rends the Rocks with his mighty Winds and shakes the Earth out of its place 1 Sam. chap. 2. and Thunders down with his Fire upon the wicked 1 Kings 19.11 and comes himself in the Still Voice of his Kingdom And hereof he hath given notice as he saw good with dread of Wrath on Jamaica as an Emblem of the Day of Judgment on the World of Vngodly which as it should stir up the Remnant that are there escaped even as our Selves to deep Repentance so it should excite us to all Acts of Mercy to them and Prayers for them To us he hath sent as it were the Still Voice to let us know he is coming himself to which the Earth mov'd it self in token of Obeisance FINIS THE GENERAL INEFFICACY AND INSINCERITY Of a Late Or Death-Bed Repentance WITH Earnestest Dissuasives from committing our
Eternal Condition to that Unspeakable Hazard AND A full Resolution of the Case how far a Death-Bed Repentance is possible to be Sincere and Effectual By T. Beverley 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To Day whilst it is called to Day Lest any one be hardned through the Deceitfulness of Sin Heb. 3.7 13. LONDON Printed by R. Smith for William Miller at the Gilded Acorn in St. Paul's Church-yard where Gentlemen and others may be furnished with Acts of Parliament Speeches and other sorts of Discourses and State-Matters as also Books of Divinity Church-Government Humanity Sermons on most Occasions c. MDCXCII THE PREFACE TO THE READER IT may seem unseasonable and morose to deny the value of any kind of Repentance in such an Age as this wherein there is a Generation arisen Oh how lofty are their Eyes and their Eye-lids lifted up with Scorn and Disdain of all Religion An Age so irreligious that it seems necessary to gather up all the Fragments tho but of a seeming Piety and make the most of them rather than to call things to so strict a Ballance A thinner and more dilute Repentance than would formerly have admitted a Man into a visible Church may at such a time as this hope for Heaven To all this I must answer First The Looseness of an Age does not slacken or dissolve Eternal Laws Wisdom abates nothing of its price of that timely and early search after it whether Men think good to give it or whether they will forbear It hath no meaner Esteem of it self because Folly that is simple and knoweth nothing sitteth upon the high places of the City full of Noise and Clamor and entices to its Entertainments the Multitude and Grandeur of the World All the Severities of Scripture that make the way to Heaven narrow and the Gate strait stand like a Rock from Generation to Generation alike in all times Nothing that is prodigally loosed on Earth in compliance with a licentious Age will be therefore loosed in Heaven The goodly price of a Death-Bed Repentance at which God is priz'd by Men even then when Religion is at the lowest is rejected oftest with Indignation and the everlasting State purchased by it may be sadly called an Aceldama a Field of Blood If this Severity of Divine Truth offend any one The Resolution is that of our Saviour †Mat. 15.17 Every Plant whether Person or Thing that our Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up 2. It is no improbable way of Contesting against Atheism and general Irreligion by the strict Doctrins of Christianity as well as by Arguments of Reason Nay Authoritative Applications of the Truth of God often strike the Conscience within the Reason sooner and quicker than industrious Attempts upon the Reason as Lightning melts the Steel and neglects the Scabbard Pressings of Faith Repentance Holiness Eternal Judgment make Men even Vnbelievers fall down upon their faces when the Secrets of their Hearts are discovered and confess God is there For the Soul of Man is more easily wrought upon by those domestick Rebukes God gives it by his Word than by more solemn Treaties Especially corrupted Reason takes upon it self to be a lawful Authority when an honourable War is commenced against it by the better Reason on the other side It contemns Laws of Discourse as precarious and makes account it gives Reason for Reason But the Rod of God shaken over it makes it tremble and confess it self a Slave Thus the Slaves in the Story were more easily reduced by the servile Chastisements they were acquainted with than by the force of Armies Atheism grows the prouder generally for being reasoned with It does but dissemble while it pretends its disease to be in the Head which it knows indeed to be in the sensual Heart And therefore is pleased to be struck in the Head but cannot endure to be wounded in the Heart which the Word of God especially aims at Not but that it is indeed a most generous and honourable Atchievement to shew Religion to be the highest Reason and to detect those pretending Sons of Reason of the greatest Irrationality But it is still to be acknowledged the plain preaching of the Gospel which the Apostle calls the Foolishness and Weakness of God is alone wiser and stronger than Men The Reason of that couched under an Heavenly Authority of Truth carries those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those mighty Weapons whereby every high Imagination and Reasoning is to be subdued that lifts up it self against God Vpon this occasion I cannot but bewail those unhappy Divisions that have separated the Preachers of the Gospel one from another and thereby opened a Lane for that Black Troop to advance in and made the Trumpet of the Gospel to sound so incertainly that it hath rather scattered Men than prepared them to the Battel Our Saviour foreseeing the Consequences hereof according to that great Maxim of his ‖ Mat. 12.25 Every Kingdom divided against it self is brought to Desolation did so earnestly command Vnity and Love of one another to his Disciples in general and more particularly to the Ministers of his Word as the most effectual Demonstration †Joh. 17.21 He was sent from God and his Doctrin from Heaven From whence it follows where ever this Vnion is broken Christianity is liable to the Imputations of being a great Cheat and Fraud Vpon which advantage loathsome Irreligion enters and spreads it self in those empty spaces begotten by our Distances and removes from one another All divisions in Christianity are Scandals to it and weaken it This we see verified in our days the differences in Religion and the prophane scorn or stupid neglect of it being alike visible and notorious throughout the Nation Yet upon just Accounts the Irreligion consequent upon Divisions in Religion turns to the advantage of Christianity that thus it must be else how should the Scriptures be fulfilled But this abates nothing of the Sinfulness and Vnhappiness or Necessity of Amendment To guide us then into that It is very observable the venom of this Distemper falls not so much upon the several Parties in Religion as upon Religion it self while we wound one another Religion is the Martyr lies a bleeding and even dying And while good Men lament it the Enemies of it make merry and send †Rev. 11.10 gifts one to another in token of Triumph The method of Cure therefore is not for every Party to weigh up it self and press down others but to buoy up Religion it self and that is best done by Preaching and living the very Thing without distinction of Names If we did but yield it its own Integrity and Vniversal Goodness it would soon rise into that Honour it hath lost by being captivated to Opinions For as our human Nature would be much more beautiful and happy if cemented by that Philanthropy or general love of Mankind so indearingly charged upon us by our Saviour who demonstrated that he embraced within
any one Judge between these two Repentances and accordingly even counsel himself concerning them Yet I must acknowledge this Discourse subject to these following Limitations 1. That the Arguments I have insisted upon prevail not only against a Death-Bed Repentance but against all Repentances that have no higher Spirit to move them than what I have now represented from hence therefore we may take the trial of our Repentance in general for though a Death-Bed is most subject to these mistakes yet whatever Repentance falls under them is by reason of them invalid and the later any Repentance is or the more it is occasioned by any Extremity which it doth not out-live the more subject it is to them 2. What I have said is not at all to be understood of the perfecting and consummating Repentance by higher and fuller Acts towards God at Death though enforced by the present Circumstances of the Case For true Repentance running through the whole life takes advantage of every thing much more of so considerable an Opportunity to unite all our strength for God as a Death-bed brings with it All that hath been spoken is designed against trusting to the Extreme Vnction of a dying Repentance just then begun 3. I have before resolved upon that tenderest Doctrin that it is possible among all the unhappy Circumstances of a Dying-Bed there yet may be this true Act of the Understanding Will and Affections turning to God and if there be this it would be the same and alike however these Circumstances alter and then it excels those temporary Amendments undertaken in the freest times of Life But because it is but possible and so almost impossible so unhappy a Case as not to have repented till just we die should fall out so happily the Intention of this Discourse stands good notwithstanding 4. I acknowledge the choice of the Soul can never be so free but it must be subject to infinitely the most worthy and preponderating considerations of the love and goodness of God the Redemption of Christ the greatness of eternal Happiness most indearing on one side of the fear and terror of the Lord the loss of a Soul everlasting perdition most perswasive on the other side so that if a Man cannot be free in his choice of Religion except he choose it without the force of any such consideration he can never be at all free for these are on all sides of him And further there is always the supream motion of the Grace of God which does not lessen but steer and exalt the freedom of the Will towards God The difference then between true and false Repentance in this particular is the same that is between just and rational consideration of all the motives of Hope and Fear and the hurry of them moving us not intellectually but as a Tempest or with the force of a meer Engine 2. Between the highest reasons carrying the chiefest force and leading along with them the lower ones and the lower doing all without the higher for want of which they are Sensual or Hellish 3. Between the government of meer Providence and of the Spirit of God 4. Between the Repentance of Cain Esau Saul Judas and the Repentance of David Manasseh Peter and Paul 5. I acknowledge the first Preparations of the Soul by God for himself may be with a great deal of noise and confusion Clouds and Darkness are the Dust of his Feet Storms go before him to prepare his way while these last there cannot be a serene calm Act of the Soul and he that doth not live till he hear that still Voice in which God is is in great danger of being lost in the Storm But if out of this Darkness and Confusion a holy and gracious Settlement proceed it is not the worse for being so introduced but is agreeable with the usual method of God The fourth Head I proposed is to weigh the Repentance of the Crucified Malefactor against our common Death-Bed Repentances which duly performed will be of great force against Presumption rather than minister it any Confidence For we shall find so much gathered together and pressed down into it that as Jewels have their Riches in a little room so his short Life of Penitency had an Age of Repentance in it It is so composed of Extraordinaries that it can give very little encouragement in ordinary Cases except just thus much that Repentance at Death is no absolute impossibility 1. Let us observe how his Repentance look'd to the several parts of Repentance for though it had but little time in this World to breath in yet with extraordinary diligence it was busie in all the great and most concerning Points Yet I account this of the least Remark in the History of his Repentance because it is easily imitable That in which it Excelled was the Evidences of Sincerity it carried 1. Yet take notice of his Sense and Acknowledgment of Sin which was not only a Confession of Words but of his very Soul for deliberating things in a Moment he pronounced himself self worthy of the Condemnation and Punishment he endured Magnum est poenitentiae signum in poena sua acquiescere Grot. in locum I confess this is not so infrequent in those who forfeited their Lives to Justice but how oft is it rather a Formality than the inward sense of the Mind condecently affected and possibly if we look upon the out-side of things we can find no great difference between him and others Yet it is a necessary part of Repentance The sacrifice of God is a broken and contrite heart Psal 51.17 2. In his Repentance lay a lively Faith in Christ first resting upon the principle And truth of the thing That Christ was a just Person that he had a Kingdom and then a particular Application to him for Mercy Lord remember me when thou comest in thy Kingdom 3. A quick sense of Eternity supplied Vigor to his Repentance an evident sight of something beyond this world For what more excites the Soul and shews it the necessity of a gracious Change than an everlasting Condition appearing to it To this end hath Jesus Christ brought life and immortality to light 2 Tim. 1.10 of which this Penitent made a very full Confession Lord remember me when thou comest in thy Kingdom He saw a Kingdom beyond the Cross and Death 4. An earnest desire to promote and propagate a sense of God into the Hearts of others was the immediate fruit of this Malefactors Repentance He admonishes the Impenitent Thief on the other side Dost thou not fear God He had such a Reverence of God that he expostulates the want of it in the other as monstrous and horrid His design was also exceeding Compassionate as well as Pious For it was an Endeavour full of Charity desirous his guilty Fellow-sufferer should be brought into the same Condition with himself We want much of the Compassion due to the Souls of others because we are so insensible of
and as Birds in a Snare when it falls suddenly upon them having not known their time Let us most humbly commit our selves to Him by earnest seeking his Grace in the Redeemer in whom all his Grace is Treasur'd up Thus by the Efficacy of his Spirit we shall know in our day the things of our Peace that they may not be for ever hid from our Eyes we shall seek the Lord while he is to be found and call upon him while he is near And so shall be secured from having the Door shut upon us Infer 4. This may be to us a close and determinative Test in this point of Death-Bed Repentance If our Repentance be such and so real that it is not a Lamp of Profession only but Oyl in the Vessel that will bear up the going forth to meet the Bride-Groom and that we are ready and have not our Oyl to Buy but can enter with Him into the Wedding before the Door be shut This how late soever it may seem is Repentance to Salvation and not to be Repented of and shall be with Christ in Paradise Such a Repentance when the Spirit goes out of the Body will be before-hand entred into that within the Veil whether the Fore-runner being for us entred Ministers in the Holy of Holies not made with Hands in that Sanctuary which the Lord hath pitched and not Man in that more perfect Tabernacle that is to say not of this Building a High-Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedec a Saviour to the utmost or to All Perfection He fills up with the valew of his own Sacrifice and Intercession and by the Power of his Endless Life whatever is wanting in the Repentance He hath given either in regard of its Valew as being so Late and in the Refuse of Life or of the deep Rooting and Habituation or of the abundant Fruits and having Apprehended the Spirit He enables it in a Moment in the twinkling of an Eye every way enables it to Apprehend that state of Holiness which agrees to the Resurrection of the Dead first in the Life of Spirits with Himself then in the Raising the Body Incorruptible For this appertains to his Melchisedecian Priest-hood wherein He is now and wherein He is King of Righteousness King of Peace a Priest set down on the Right Hand of the Majesty on High If therefore the Repentance be such as He as this Great Prince hath given There is in it a Coming to God by Him and then his Salvation is to all Perfection to it For as going into the Heavens in his Spirit He took in his Passage this Prey the Dying Malefactor out of the Mouth of the Lyon So as He pleases out of the same Power the power of the Dog He rescues those Souls that he hath made dear to Himself for He living ever quickens whom He will and He can by his Spirit seal this his Grace in a Moment For this Great High Priest-Hood being the Eternal Priest-Hood of Christ whatever is said of Him as a High-Priest must be said of Him as this High-Priest which He is alway or without least Intermission And as such an High-Priest therefore it is that He succours the Tempted being in All things Tempted as we are yet without Sin now even as his Great Temptation was at Death yet without the Sin of having deferred his strong Cries and Supplications to Death though then He was most Earnest He can therefore Succour and be infinitely Compassionate even to those who are Tempted though with and in this Sin of having delay'd Repentance to the last They therefore whom He graciously moves to it may come even then boldly to the Throne of Grace and obtain Mercy and find Grace even in this just Season and as it were indivisible Point of Time These Things I write that we may not Sin this Great Sin of Delaying our Repentance to the last But if any Man do so Sin we have this Great High-Priest over the House of God an Advocate and a Propitiation and if such a one be under his Charge and given to Him by God He is a Faithful and a Merciful High-Priest He is therefore Faithful because Merciful to make Reconciliation and to Succour in so great a Temptation as even This is This He can do because He is a Fore runner within the Veil and by his Blood appears as he that hath obtained Eternal Redemption a Redemption always ready This is the great Security and Cordial against the Fear of Death in general to the Saints and Servants of Christ and if by its Hyper-Pleonasm its exceeding Abundance and Affluence it may and does over-flow to some upon whom the Grace of Christ Abounds much more where Sin hath so much Abounded How great is this Miracle of Grace But who How few are they who shall thus Live whom God and Christ will please to make thus to Live When it is come to this for if they are Few that are Saved how much Fewer are the Saved at this last Point Strive then to enter betimes at the strait Gate for many shall then seek at last of any Time to enter in and shall not be Able There is too much of especially the Death-Bed Repentance at is Repentance of the Lamp only that makes a shew only that is but only of this World and from beneath which is able for once to give or yield a fair and lightsome Flash at parting with the World But because without a Treasure to Enter into an Eternal Duration That which is but a Lamp fails in the very time of Tryal and becomes a Lamp put out in obscure Darkness Let your Lamps be always Shining and your Lights Burning such as are Able to be always so and so to Shine even into Eternity Infer 5. From what hath been spoken concerning the Great Mourning and Repentance that shall be before the End of this state of the World even before the pouring out of the Vials in that Miraculous state of Things that shall be after the Apostacy ended and the Kingdom of Christ in Succession I conclude there shall be a Death-Bed Repentance of the World if I may so call it but after that viz. in the time of the Vials we read of no Repenting but a Repenting not no more than in the state of Everlasting Punishment in our general Apprehension of that State even as He that is Righteous shall be Righteous still that is for ever Righteous and in no possibility of for ever Falling from it any more than from the Glory and Happiness of Eternity in our General Notion of that State And this strongly Argues to us the Possibilities of a Death-Bed Repentance seeing all the Prejudices that lie upon and against a Death-Bed-Repentance now lie against that late Repentance of the World but yet it limits and guards against the Ordinariness and Easiness of a Death-Bed Repentance in General in as much as this late Repentance is in a miraculous state of things viz.
of the Spirit poured out of such a Glorious Kingdom of Christ come into its Succession and at the time when our Lord shall immediately Come in his Kingdom But then at the same time is cut off all possibility of Repentance after this Season of Repentance For as soon as the time of the Vials enters all possibility of Repentance is fore-doom'd as hath been said Now this Late Repentance shall be excited and stirred up to by the Preaching of the Everlasting Gospel and of this there were two great Symbols or Figures given in the very first Appearance of the Gospel viz. the Apostleship of Paul who was as hath been observed Born out of due Time into that High Mission agreeable to which is the Preaching of the Everlasting Gospel and the Repentance of the Dying Malefactor just as Christ was entring into his Kingdom And they are each a Hypotyposis or Pattern for them who shall Hereafter Believe on Him to Life Everlasting and Repent with the Repentance to Salvation never to be Repented of and especially at that Great Futurity of the Coming and Kingdom of Christ or the Coming of Christ in his Kingdom FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by William Miller at the Acorn in St. Paul's Church-yard where Gentlemen or others may be furnished with the best Collections either in whole or in part taking all the State-Matters Church-Government Sermons Divinity or Humanity In Folio ASSemblies Annotations in two Vol. Ainsworth's Annotations Book of Martyrs in three Vol. Ben. Johnson's Play Bartholomeur-Fair His Staple of News Devil is an Ass Boyle's Wall-Flower Charlton's Phisiologia or a Fabrick of Science Natural upon the Hypothesis of Atoms Downham of Justification Extravagant Shepherd the Anti-Romance Elton on the Colossians Gusman's Life Goad's Aphorisms and Discourses of the Bodies Celestial Spanish Baud. Herbert's Travels Heylin's Cosmography Heywood of Angels His Love and Revenge a Romance Jones on the Hebrews His Reports Kellet's Miscellanies of Divinity Lloyd's Memoirs Orlando Furioso Paraeus on the Revelations Pryn's History of King John Ramsey's Astrology Reconciler of the Bible Violet's Proposals Venn's Military Discipline Ward on Mathew Bishop Wilkins's Real Characters Willet's Sinopsis Papismi on Genesis and Exdous In Quarto Allin's Scripture Chronology Arraignment of the whole Creature Barclay's Argenis with the Cuts Ball against Cam of Separation Bolton's Works Belmon's Pieces Baxter's Works Brisket's Discourse of a Civil Life Blunt's Voyage to the Levant Lord Bacons Essays Cradock's Knowledge and Practice Clark's Life of William the Conqueror Black Prince Sir Francis Drake Cooper's Heaven Opened Rom. 8. Life and Death Carpenter's Pragmatical Jesuit a Comedy Declaration of Nusances in Cities Towns and Corporations by Four Famous Sages of the Common Law Mounson Plowden Manwood with the Resolution of the Judges of Assize Dod on the Commandments On the Sacrament On the Lord's Prayer Dike on the Heart Digges Tectonicon or the Art of Measuring Euphues Anatomy of Wit English Spanish Pilgrim by Wadsworth Second Part or further Observations Essex's Ghost English Villain Extravagant Shepherd a Comedy Gullimeas Midwifry Gost or the Woman wears the Breeches Heywood's Life of Henry the Fourth Life of Edward the Sixth Hooker's Souls Preparation for Christ Souls Humiliation Souls Ingrafting in Christ Souls Exaltation History of King Arthur History of Precious Stones Jackson's Concordance to the Bible Killigrew's Conspiracy a Tragedy Leigh's Saints Rest Mereton's Sermon before the King 76 Medice cura teipsum or the Apothecaries Plea against Dr. Christopher Merret Du Moulin's Moral Reflections on the Number of the Elect. Appeal Conformity of the Discipline and Government of Independents to that of the Ancient Primitive Christians Account of the several Advances the Church of England hath made towards Rome Papists Younger Brother or the Vileness of Quakers detected Squier on the Thessalonians Struther on King David's Choice Sibbs his Fountain opened Thomas of Reddings History Tarlton's Jests Fishing-Tables Sir Hen. Vane's Retired Mans Meditations Voyage of the Wandring Knight Weemes Works Webster The Judgment Set the Books Opened 15795. A Collection of State-Matters in all Volumes as ACTS of Parliament Answers for and against one another Advices Apologies Army for and against Appeals Animadversions Articles of War and Peace Allarms Accounts Addresses Agreements Arguments Almanacks Bishops for and against Charges of High-Treason Considerations Collections of Papers Characters Conferences Commissions Cases City Affairs Catalogues of all sorts Decrees Declarations Desires Discourses Discoverers Dialogues England several sorts English Fights divers France Good Old Cause Grand Cases Great Britain Hue and Cries Histories Impeachments Instructions Ireland Interest Divers Informations Kings Knights Lists Levellers Letters Majesties Messages and Answers Lilborne's Tracts Mercuries Monarchy Mysteries Memorials Murders News of most sorts as also to supply Gentlemen that want any New Years Gifts Needham's Tracts Narratives New England no Protestant Plot all the Grants Observations Orders Ordinances Parliament for and against Proclamations Plots Protestations Plain English Proverbs Problems Politick Powers Propositions Pleas. Present States Proceedings Papers Petitions Peace Princes Tracts Questions Queries Relations Reply Reasons Representations Royalists Defence Resolutions Replications Remonstrances Sedgwick Strafford States Stubbs Speeches Tryals Travels and Voyages Treatises Transactions Triumphs Treason Tests for and against Votes of Parliament Vox Populi Coeli Regis Dei Civitas Plebis Militis Clamantis Vindication Victories War Warnings 3578. Church-Government and Divinity Articles of Religion Visitation Bagshaws Burtons Baxters Bayly Baptism for and against it Callings Cotton Craftons Cannes Confessions of Faith several Church Affairs Cases Discourses Dialogues Duties Exhortations Ecclesiastical Discipline Edward's Episcopacy Forms of Church-Government Forms of Prayer Gallaspie Gilbert Gerre Gauden Goodwins Heylins Hammonds Hall Independency Indulgencies King James London Ministers Liberty of Conscience Liturges for and against Mather Marten Majesties Non-Conformist New-England Owen's Ordination for and against Pearson Pleas. Presbytery Proposals Pagitt Penington Injunctions Queries Questions Reformation Reason Replies Synod of Dort Articles Sacrament Smectymnus Smith Sherlock Sprat Sufferage of the Divines of Great Britain Stewart Scandalous Ministers Saltmarsh Sabbath for and against Taylor 's Testimonies Toleration Tythes for and against Vindications Usher's Vickers Whitfield Wickens Warmstry Wilkins Webster Walker Several Tracts 3472. Sermons on most Occasions as Assizes Artillery Christmass Passion Resurrection Funerals Feasts Fifths of November Consecration Thirtieth of January Twenty ninth of May Latine Visitation Weddings c. Ailsbury Andrews Abbot Adams Ashe Arrowsmith Alestry Annesley Baxter Burnet Burroughs Bould Beveridge Burgess Bonde Bridge Byfield Burton Barker Brinsley Bagnes Bolton Bagshaw Benefield Bowles Bayley Brockes Barnes Calamy Cleynell Cooper Clarke Caryl Case Cotton Carter Carpenter Coleman Bishop of Chester Cawdrys Dod and Claver Dells Downame Duglas Duppa Donne Dike Durham Estwicke Edwards Ellis Elborrough Bishops of Ely Exeter Fathers Faircloth Featly Fuller Fullwood Ford Fawkner Farmer Freeman Flower Goodwins Gatakers Gouges Gores Gee Glanvill Gardiner Griffeth Gauden Gell Gregory Geree Gilbert Good Gillaspie Homes Holdsworth Hering Hodges Hornes