may be accounted worthy to escape those things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man You see here that ye may stand before the Son of Man there must be a watching to prayer and a watching upon this very account O! that we could be sensible of that Day and stir up our supplications in that very point So the Apostle Peter For I would endeavour to argue the Scripture upon you that the great Intention and Earnestness of our Prayer should run to that very Point of the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 4. 7. The end of all things is at hand and therefore watch unto Prayer Let us be continually watching unto Prayer upon this very account because the end of all things is at hand If we considered that it would engage and stir up our Prayers Be sober and watch unto Prayer for our Prayers will meet us then we shall rise in them at that Day 3. In the Third Place Our Watchfulness should stand in this in a constant living sence of the Word of God especially in this great point upon us That we should have a Meditation upon the Word of God It is a very hard thing for us to entertain our thoughts in the Night when we are awake or when we are alone it is a hard thing to know how to employ our Thoughts and to engage them And therefore if we could take the Word of God That would keep us in an awful sence of God and of eternal things David often speaks of his Meditation in the Word of God Psal 119. I meditate in thy Word I meditate in thy Statutes it is my meditation all the day And Psal 1. 1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly c. but his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in that Law doth he meditate Day and Night Saith David I stir up my self I awake in the night that I might meditate in thy statutes If we could seriously bring into our thoughts the Meditations of the end of all things but we are so concern'd for this little spot of Time even for that next Moment that is before us what we shall eat and what we shall drink and what we shall put on and how this and that shall be maintained If our hearts were but suitably and proportionably fixt upon that What shall we do for our Eternal Condition How shall we bear that Day Would not any one set that Day before him if he were really possest of it If a Man were to Plead his Cause and whole condition in this World who of us could keep his Heart and Thoughts from oft running into 't Now if we could keep our Meditations upon those Scriptures that speak of this Eternal Condition I beseech you endeavour to get up your selves and to aspire to it by the Grace of God and that you would meditate on these things as the Apostle Paul teaches Timothy Meditate on these things that thy profiting may appear to all men He speaks indeed there of the preparation for the work of Preaching of the Gospel But let us apply it for we are every one concerned in this Great Point to be Preachers to our selves Certainly if every one be not a Preacher to himself all other Preachers can do him no good at all And the Excellent Truths that lie in the Word of God can do no good till a Man comes to Preach them to himself The Book of Ecclesiastes is in the English of it the Book of the Preaching soul that Book of Solomon which we call the Book of the Preacher it was the Book of the Preacher first to himself Eccl. 1. 1. It is observed by Learned Men the Word signifies The Preaching Soul Every one should be a Preaching Soul to himself and Preaching this Great Point Of the Coming and Kingdom of Christ And this would engage our Watch this would be like the snuffing the Lamps of our dark Apprehensions and blowing up the Flame of our cold and benumm'd affections It would make the Light more clear and it would be like the blowing up the fire it would enflame and warm us with the strength and vigour of those great apprehensions that pertain to the Coming of Christ Indeed it is very sad That the present state of the World is so covered and so darkned and so eclipsed and so chill'd and even frozen in these things We can go into no Company nay we our selves though we are sensible of these Truths we speak them and hear of them yet we don't know how to converse like the Servants of God That we might be all Preachers to our selves and one to another in them It is earnestly to be hoped and prayed for That a betterstate of things may come on and that the Spirit may be poured out abundantly And Would as Moses said all the Lords People were Prophets I cannot reasonably think that Moses spake of a thing that was impossible But surely there shall be a time that every one of the Servants of God shall have something to say as Prophets of the Lord one to another And this is the time that is earnestly to be expected and to be Prayed for I make no doubt but the World shall have such a Time of preparation in order to the Great and Glorious Coming of Christ Acts 2. 17. Pray observe God will pour out his Spirit to this very end to this very purpose saith the Apostle I will pour out my Syirit upon all flesh and your Sons and you Daughters shall Prophesie and your young men shall see Visions and your old men shall dream Dreams Every one shall have something to offer to another concerning God And on my servants and on my hand-maidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit and they shall Prophesie And I will shew Wonders in Heaven above and Signs in the Earth beneath c. And the Sun shall be turned into Darkness and the Moon into Bloud before that Great pray observe that before that Great and illustrious Day of the Lord come He will come in the still Voice of his Spirit poured out and of every one being enabled as Moses saith as a Prophet For would Moses do you think have said Would every Atome of Dust upon the Earth could be a Star he would not have wish'd such a thing or That all the Drops of Water in the Sea might be turned into Gold and Pearls These things would have been strange in Moses because they are things that never shall be But now That all the Lord's People shall be Prophets That 's a thing God will certainly do and awaken the World with before that Great and Illustrious Day of the Lord come In the mean time Let us endeavour to be Preaching-Souls unto our selves This is a thing I am sure that no one can have reason to be offended at Let Men be never so severe that none must Preach but such and
4. In the fourth Place I beseech you consider the great difference between the City of the Servants of Christ of those that are of the true Wise Virgins in Christianity And between the City of those that are not or are Foolish Virgins I would but very briefly represent that to you in Scripture-Expression and so I will conclude If you consider the City of the Servants of Jesus Christ consider it in that of the last Chapter of Ezekiel and the very last Verse the End of that Prophesie And the Name of the City in that day shall be The Lord is there There shall be the Bridegroom There shall be the Glory of the Prince himself That 's the City wherein Christ will entertain those that have the Bride-like Affection And Rev. 21. 2. I John saw the Holy City New Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven Prepared as a Bride adorned for her Bridegroom Here 's the City of those that are Virgins in Spirit to Christ in the sincere Love of him that shall be presented at that day as Chast Virgins to him But now consider on the other side You have the Name of another City And it is very admirable And I cannot but propose my Observation to you that God hath been pleased very lately to cause me to consider and to observe There is the Name of another City I say And it is the Name of the City of the Multitude Ezek. 39. 17. The Name of that City shall be Hamonah And they shall cleanse the Land The Name of that City shall be Hamonah Or The Multitude thereof Or its Multitude That is The Dead Those that are slain with the Sword of Christ's Mouth The Gog-Magog Tho they are Dead That is as to the sense of Glory and Life and Happiness and Peace and Enjoyment yet they are in Being for they have a City It were but in vain that meer Dead should have a City But those Dead that is they that are not Partakers of the first Resurrection Their City the Name of it is Hamonah the Multitude of the World are of that City and belong to that City and are taken at last into that City Multitudes Multitudes as it is said in Joel 3. Multitudes Multitudes in the Valley of Decision and the Valley of Excision They are not onely Judged but cut off They are slain with the Sword of Christ's Mouth As it is said Rev. 29. 5. They lived not again till the End of the Thousand Years That is they lay in Chains under the Footstool of Christ At the End of the Thousand Years God gave them leave to move a little and they make a New Attempt And then Fire comes down upon them and casts them into the Lake And if you think all this is too Metaphorical or too Nice and Curious and that you cannot understand so well I 'll conclude all with that of Matth. 7. 13. Where you shall find the very Hamonah in plain Doctrinal Practical Discourse it self Enter ye in at the strait Gate for wide is the Gate and broad is the way that leadeth to Destruction And many there be which go in thereat As the New Jerusalem hath its Gates and an Angel before it So the City here is the City of Destruction as it is called Isa 19. It hath its Gate But it is a Wide Gate It lets in every one that is not taken up into the New Jerusalem There be many There is a Hamonah there is a Multitude that go in thereat Therefore let us seriously take heed Look diligently to this lest any of us fail of the Grace of God of the true Bride-like affection by which we may enter with him with the Bridegroom into the Wedding when he comes c. SERMON IV. On Matth. XXV Ver. 1. and so on to Ver. 13. Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto Ten Virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom I Have you know made entrance into this Great Parable which I told you is in an admirable manner prepared and fitted to be a Representation of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ as I have shew'd you First Even from the Begining to the Complement and Perfection of it It is the Kingdom of Heaven I have shewn you that the very meaning of all Christianity is a Going forth to meet the Bridegroom And therefore the present State is a State of Espousals a State wherein we are Contracted and Affianced unto the Great Bridegroom For that the Eye of every Christian the great Aim and Design of those that are Wise Virgins is that they may have a much higher Enjoyment of Christ than they have now And because the Religion that is for the present World and the present State will not serve the great Interest and great purpose of our Immortal beings I shall now proceed to a fourth Doctrine or Proposition from these words They went forth to meet the Bridegroom And they that were ready they went in with him to the Wedding So the Observation that I shall lay down to you is this That all those that are Christ's they are to hold according to the Scripture Expression they are to hold a Great Feast unto Jehovah The great Intention and meaning of the Gospel is to assure us that after the Time of Preparation and the Time of the Espousals there shall be a Glorious Festival A Glorious Feast The Marriage Supper of the Lamb As you know it is called And I shall endeavour to open this to you according to the Scripture-Light concerning it And then I shall compare it with all the Feasts that we read of in Scripture under the Law And so I shall come to make the Application of it to our own State and Condition First therefore to make it evident to you that this is a great Notion of Scripture That there is a Feast to be held a Feast of Joy and Rejoycing and of Happiness to be held to Jehovah And it is this very Marriage-Supper as you shall see of the Lamb. That the Scripture delights in this Representation is very evident by sundry Great Expressions of it Isaiah 25. 6 7 8. And in this Mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all People a Feast of Fat things a Feast of Wines on the lees of Fat things full of Marrow Of Wines on the lees well refined And he will destroy in this Mountain the Face of the covering cast over all People and the vail that is spread over all Nations He will swallow up Death in victory and the Lord God will wipe away Tears from off all Faces and the rebuke of his People shall he take away from off all the Earth For the Lord hath spoken it There is a great Feast that God will make to all People And it is set out by such Kind of Resemblances and Similitudes as express a Great and a Plentiful and a Rich and a most Delicious Entertainment among Men Fat things full
indeed we see in the very best to this day Therefore the Observation that I shall lay down and endeavour to open to you is this That Christianity in regard of the present state of Christians and as they have been since Ephesus Rev. 2. left its first love since there was a decay of the Glory and. Purity and presence of the Gospel from the Apostles Time Since then I say Christianity in the Power and Spirit of it though it hath not downright slept yet it hath been as in a slumber For indeed I have often said it and I cannot be in a remove from it That Christianity is not as it was intended by Christ it should be We have not seen the State and Glory of it And therefore I shall make it my business to represent to you by such Representations as the Scripture hath given us how the Power of Christianity hath faultred thus long and that it will come to its perfectly awakened State when the Kingdoms of this World are Proclaimed to be the Lord's and his Christ's And I shall date this failure especially to two Times and one of them will fall directly upon our selves First of all the Time when the Mystery of Iniquity was working in the Apostles days For you may plainly behold that by the very express words of the Apostle that in his own Time there was a working of the Mystery of Iniquity Then began the great decay and bringing down of the Glory of Christianity 2 Thes 2. 'T is a Scripture that I have often turned you to and therefore I hope you are acquainted with it I am perswaded the first Christians in the Apostles days needed as much to be restrained in thinking that the Day of Christ was at hand as we have need to be spurr'd on and to be provoked and to be earnestly perswaded to think that the Day of Christ is at hand For so the Apostle writes We beseech you saith he as if he was in a business of greatest earnestness and that he could not tell how he should prevail enough upon them to whom he wrote in it ver 1. We beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him That ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by Spirit nor by Word nor by Letter as from us as that the Day of Christ is at hand They were ready to think The Day of Christ was to come just then Therefore the Apostle makes this earnest entreaty of them that they would not expect it You see what a different posture we are in now It is a hard matter to perswade any one to take off their hearts from the World and from loving it too deep and from thinking here 's a security in this World and we may do as our Fathers have done before us for so many Hundred Years in the Profession of Christianity We may be buying and selling and getting Estates and laying a foundation in this World Who is it that doth not count it a sort of Madness to disswade them from such a thing But the Christians of that Time they needed as earnest a perswasion That they might not think that the Day of Christ was so near at hand And so Christ in the 19th of Luke speaks that Parable that they should not because they did think The Kingdom of Heaven was nigh at hand He spake a Parable on purpose to assure them that it was not so nigh But Alas we need strong perswasions to the contrary And I may say the contrary to the Christians of this Time I beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus and by our gathering together unto him that you would not be shaken in mind by the general way of Peoples Profession and Preaching and Hearing as if the Day of Christ were not at hand And as the Apostle saith Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that Man of Sin be revealed the Son of Perdition So I say to you That day is near approaching For that falling away that Apostacy from Christianity it hath been and it is now very near to its expiring And therefore the great reason why it could not be then it is now a reason why it must speedily be because the Apostacy hath been so long because the Time and the last Date by God and by Christ is almost run out and expired that is the Time Times and half Time Here therefore to speak and bring home the thing to the present purpose I am upon Since this Apostacy began to work since that very Time Christianity hath been in a slumber For in this second Chap. v. 7. saith the Apostle the Mystery of Iniquity doth already work Now as soon as ever the Mystery of Iniquity began to work immediately there began a slumber upon the Christian Religion And therefore one would wonder Indeed it is a place that one would wonder to read and to find in the Epistle to the Philippians what the Apostle speaks Chap. 2. 20. For I have no man saith he like-minded speaking of Timotheus who will naturally genuinely sincerely care for your state For saith he All seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christ's I speak of him as an extraordinary Person saith the Apostle By this we may plainly see it was a great variation from what you read in the second and third Chapters of the Acts where they minded nothing but only the Promotion of Christianity No one called any thing their own they minded nothing but Christianity it self But Christianity hath been in a slumber ever since or else we should be Christians of another Life of another Spirit of another Power I say were it not that Christianity hath been in a slumber so long And this is with a great deal of spiritual Wit if I may so speak and a great deal of spiritual Elegancy set out to us in the Song of Solomon I shall have occasion to make great recourse to the Description that is there given to us Sol. Song c. 5. v. 2. I sleep but my heart waketh it is the voice of my Beloved that knocketh saying open to me my Sister my Love my Dove my undefiled for my Head is filled with Dew and my Locks with the Drops of the Night What 's the meaning of this Indeed I know Men are ready to say That these things are only Imaginations and Whimsies and Apprehensions of ones own that speaks of them But I have found a clear Thread and Line drawn from David's time till the very Glorious Coming of Christ in this very Song of Solomon And I find that the Time when the Apostacy came in is just under the very description that we here have As therefore when after a clear Day a Sun-shiny-day at Night the Drops of Dew you know they fall thick upon the heads of those that are in the Air. So
I only draw out the main scope of the Parable by way of Recollection unto you and so conclude I say seriously consider What ever you think to do for your souls do it now because there is no Time after Work while it is day the night cometh when none can work All the time that persons have lain in the Grave as we speak or that their Spirits have been in Happiness or in Misery they have not done the least thing for their souls they have not added one Cubit nay not one Hairs breadth to their Stature they have not made one Hair as our Lord speaks Proverbially either white or black as to the State of their Spirits And when Spirits come to meet their Bodies in the Day of the Resurrection every thing will be in such a speed such a World in highest motion That you cannot stay to change one ill Posture or Appearance ot Representation of your souls You must not stay I would speak according to the Language of the Parable Can the Bride forget her Attire If any of us have forgot our Attire we cannot mind any thing that is amiss We cannot fasten one Pin in that distress of our souls We must be in the Wedding Garment perfectly attired and arrayed For what is done then as I have often said is done in an Atome of Time The dead shall be raised incorruptible Wicked Men and Foolish Virgins shall be raised just as they die And therefore mind seriously to do for your souls what you 'd do in this present state And then Lastly As I have said I say again That you would earnestly pray for the Preparation of that Time Pray earnestly for the pouring out of the Spirit Do you think it will not be better for you when God shall pour out his Spirit upon all flesh when your Sons and your Daughters shall Prophesie when your old men shall dream Dreams and your young men shall see Visions When there shall be an universal Prophesie upon the People of God as I have greatest reason to hope that the time is very near Why should we not earnestly pray for it and desire it You think there will be too much Clutter and ado about Religion then don't mistake Whatsoever is done shall run so easie and quiet then with such advantage and the Great Cares and Disadvantages of the World shall be taken off and every thing shall be in a merciful order that we may be prepared for that Great and Notable Day of the Lord. And therefore Let us earnestly pray and wait That a better state both of Christianity in General and the Reformation in particular may come forth That those Thunders that have been Sealed since the Reformation for almost an Hundred and Eighty Years That their Mouths may be open and their Voices may utter themselves That every thing may be that tends to increase and promote Holiness Purity and Spirituality and Heavenliness for I am not speaking nor never did speak to you of a Kingdom of Eating and Drinking and putting on Glorious Apparel but that there shall be an universal knowledge of God and Jesus Christ And that none but those that are resolved to be filthy should remain filthy and those who give up themselves in Holy ways should be Encouraged and should mount up with Eagles Wings and Grow stronger and stronger And therefore that there is but the Hopes of these things Let us Bless God Exceedingly For many Prophets and Wisemen and Kings and Righteous Men have desired to see those things which you see and have not seen them and to hear those things which you hear and have not heard them And yet for all that If any of us are called to Die who are Sincere and faithfull God will give us so much certainly of that Spirit of Prophesie of Illumination of Revelation That shall carry us safe to Heaven and shall Search and Try us so That we shall be led out of any wicked way into the way that is Everlasting And therefore Let not these things Discourage you But let them Enflame our Care Zeal Endeavours and Desires That we may Watch Because Nothing con be done when our Lord comes but only They that are Ready Go in with Him to the Wedding FINIS AN APOLOGY For the Hope of the Kingdom of Christ Appearing Within This Approaching Year 1697. Wherein some of the Principal Arguments for such an Expectation are briefly Couch'd and the Greater Objections Answered Presented to the Notice and Examination of the Arch-Bishops and Bishops Now in PARLIAMENT Assembled By T. BEVERLEY Ezek. 10. 13. As concerning the Wheels It was cryed to them in my Hearing Oh! Revolution LONDON Printed for and Sold by Will Marshal at the Bible in Newgate-Street and John Marshal at the Bible in Grace-Church-Street 1697. An APOLOGY for the Hope of the Kingdom of Christ Entring Its Succession within this Now Beginning 1697. And an Answer of Principal Objections presented with It. To the Archbishops and Bishops as in Parliament at This Time Assembled Most Reverend Right Reverend I Have now by the Space of Fourteen or Two Weeks of Years been Serving for that Beautiful Rachel-State of the Church of Christ in the place of that Rachel in the Wilderness weeping for her Children in Sackcloth and under Death and would not be comforted Because They were not I have set my self all along by Meditation and Supplication to the Father of Lights to search out and by the Assistance of the Spirit of Prophecy to Find What or What Manner of Time the Spirit of Christ did signify for the Fullfilling that Grand Petition of his Servants Thy Kingdom come That thy Name may be Sanctified and Thy Will done as in Heaven and upon Earth and I am now Wrestling to the Break of Day and I Hope the Dawn of the Morning and Resolv'd not to Let Go Till I obtain the Blessing of it The Time that from the First and throughout it pleased the Lord of Time to fix upon my Mind as the Time of That Kingdom Entring into its Succession and Preparation for its Glory was and is This Approaching 1697. A Year to which I could have no Temptation either in Regard of Nearness or Distance or on any Account whatever but as a Scripture-Line of Time and Concurrent Reasons of Prophecy and History very many and in a Series and Continuation have Led me On this Foundation having Setled I have by Gracious Vouchsafements of Help from God Turn'd my Self to All the Grand Prophetick Points of Scripture and Found New Confirmations and have Given as Publick Accounts of them as I could attain and presented some of Them to Your Selves and to the Great Councel of the Nation And in as much as Supreme Goodness hath Granted me to Set up an Eben Ezer now at the Portal of 97. I have Thought it my Duty to offer this Apology for the Kingdom of Christ so near Approaching And that The Great Isaac The Son of Promise of
Hearts as it were with a Lamp lighting inwards and with Candles that we may know how it is with our own Souls And then 2. Let us look earnestly forward to that Appearance to that Kingdom of Heaven which our Lord hath here presented to us It is to come to another Being to another Representation than is now We see things now but in a very dim and a dark Light As I have often told you we are in the foul and in the dark place of the Apostacy yet The Time is near at hand when every thing shall be seen in its full Light and in its glorious Appearance and Representation And then Though it is a Day of Terrour to all wicked profane and dissolute Persons under general Profession of Christianity And though it be a terrible Day also to Virgins that have Oil in their Vessels that is who make a great deal of their Profession and have no Truth of Grace it will be terrible to them when they come to find themselves so sadly benighted and darkened in the very Heaven of their Profession as the Expression is in the Prophet Their very Lamp goes out in obscure darkness Yet it is a Day of Rejoycing and a Day of Glory in it self And what great Reason have we earnestly to pray every one for our selves and for them that are in such a dark and hopeless condition that they have not so much as Lamps even those that are under the Profession of Christianity and yet are in such a case Now I say in regard to the hopeless state of all those and that we who have a clearer Light of the Gospel breaking out may have more of the power We have Reason to pray for the Approach of that Time when the Kingdoms of this World shall be Proclaimed to be the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ When the Spirit shall be poured out upon us from on high and the Everlasting Gospel shall be preached to every Nation and Tongue and People under Heaven O! that our Hearts were earnest for this Time and this State and that our Souls would give God â—â—orest till he come and Rain Righteousness upon us till he be pleased to open as it were the very Windows of Heaven and to Rain down great Showers of Gospel-Truth and Gospel-Grace and Peace as He will do before that Great and Illustrious Day of the Lord come SERMON II. On Matth. XXV Ver. 1. and so on Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto Ten Virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom c. I Have begun to lay before you the great Importance of this Parable and Reduced it to this Proposition as a Foundation of Discourse on the Particulars That even the Purest and most Virgin-Profession of Christianity should look well to it self and take great care that it does not trust even in the best of Appearance of Things I say in the very best of Appearances but that it should look to the inward Treasure and the intrinsick value of Christianity in the Heart Because here the Foolish Virgins were pleased with the Lamp of Profession without the Treasure of Oil in the Vessel and when it came to the great Up-shot and Result their Lamps quickly went out they failed even in the very time and so they were for ever shut out from the Glory and the Joy and the Happiness of the Solemnity of the Wedding Having laid out this Point in the Particulars of the Parable I came to the first Particular and that was to tell you That the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is throughout from first to last The Kingdom of Heaven whether you consider it in the Preaching of the Gospel it is the opening of Heaven and of the great Counsels of the Eternal Wisdom of God in the Heavens Or whether you consider it as it comes into the Heart of every particular Christian so it is the power of Heaven enabling them to set such a value upon Jesus Christ that all the Things of the World are of no Account compared with the Pearl of Great Price Or whether you consider it in the last Glorious Appearance of this Kingdom so it is Heaven It is not a State that doth so much as pretend to any Sensual Enjoyment to any worldly Satisfaction to any of the Grandeur of this World or the Delights of it but it is perfect Heaven it is Heaven throughout This I have spoken of and so I shall not add any Thing to it I come to a Second Particular in This General and that is to let you know from the Representation our Saviour hath here given That the very Intent of Christianity the Great Design and Purport of it is this It is a Preparation to the Enjoyment of Jesus Christ as the Great Bridegroom of our Souls and as the Bridegroom of his Church For so it is said here These Virgins They took their Lamps That is As soon as ever they began to make a Profession of Christ and a Profession of Christianity Immediately in that very moment they had an Eye to the Bridegroom So that this is the Great Purport of Christianity That we should have a Spiritual Marriage-Union with Jesus Christ and in Order to the Enjoyment of him in the Glory of his Kingdom as the Bridegroom of our Souls It is a very Great Emphasis and Weight that the Spirit of God has put upon this Resemblance or Similitude of the Marriage Union between Christ and the Soul and between Christ and his Church And if I should be any thing able to declare and to open it to you at this Time in the Spirituality of it and thereby solicit and draw the Affections of every one of us to Jesus Christ I should in some measure Answer that which John the Baptist Represents John 3. 29. He that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom but the Friend of the Bridegroom which standeth and heareth him rejoyceth greatly because of the Bridegroom's Voice This my Joy therefore is fullfilled That is There is no one Preaching the Gospel who ought to draw the Affection of Souls and of Spirits unto himself but he is to look only to the Great Bridegroom None of the Friends of the Bridegroom That is The Preachers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ They are not to draw the Hearts of Men to themselves For what are they as the Apostle saith if they are the most Excellent but Ministers by whom ye have believed But as the Apostle saith We preach Christ Jesus the Lord and our selves your Servants for Christ's sake We preach Christ the Bridegroom and our selves only the Friends of the Bridegroom And therefore every one should take heed that there be no Centring in himself that speaks of Christ but onely in Christ Himself And so every one of us should take heed that we do not Rest and Centre in an Ordinance or in a Discourse of Christ but that our Hearts go up to Christ Himself For he
her father and her mother a full month c. From which it may appear as I told you before That God did ordain and appoint under the Law That there should be Thirty Days between the Contract of Espousals and the Marriage Such Time there was at least to be and especially in the case of a Captive But here is the Thing that I intend We are all Captives in a lost and in an undone condition in a ruined state And therefore if Christ hath a desire to any of our Souls in Grace and Mercy and Pity and Compassion there passes such a kind of Preparation such a kind of fitting of us for such an Union to Jesus Christ There is a Shaving of the Head and a Paring of the Nails That is the taking away of the Innate Superfluity of Lust by Regeneration the changing of the unholy and unspiritual and unheavenly Temper of Heart and Mind by Regeneration flowing from the Blood of Christ That it may be brought into a nearness and suitableness to Enjoy Christ And there is the appointment of a Month there is an appointment of Time of Preparation wherein the Souls of his Servants are daily wash'd in his Blood and in the Chrystal Sea before the Throne They generally walk with him and find a Suitableness and an Agreeableness between Christ and them till they come to say they would never be separated any more from him They desire to be joyned to him in an Everlasting Covenant as it is said in the Prophet Jeremy that should never be forgotten They desire to forget all that that they were used to and united to before and to be given up wholly and entirely to Jesus Christ Now as it was under the Law If any Woman being Espoused to a Husband did violate the Covenant of the Espousals and the Contract of the Espousals They were to dye for it The Woman and the Man that did so violate the Covenant of the Espousals Both the Man and the VVoman were to dye according to the Law of God by Moses even as if the Espousals had been fully and compleatly consummated by Marriage There was no Difference in that Case between the one and the other So I say if now in the Time of our Espousals when we are under a Profession of Christ under a Profession of his Name his Gospel and Salvation by him if our Hearts be not true and entire to him and given up wholly to him Our Condemnation will be as Great nay it will be greater than of the Heathen than those of the unbelieving VVorld of those that deny Christ of those that we call Anti-Christians or Professors at large It will be greater Condemnation because we violate the Love of our Espousals Here 's the great VVisdom of God in Representing this thing to us that we may know how to behave our selves and give up our selves to Christ and to devote our selves to him in this State of our Espousals In Psal 45. You have an admirable Representation of this under Pharaoh's Daughter that was an Egyptian Married to that great Prince of the God of Israel of the God that made Heaven and Earth VVhere it 's said ver 10. Hearken O Daughter and consider and encline thine Ears forget also thine own People and thy Fathers House So shall the King greatly desire thy Beauty for he is thy Lord and Worship thou him The Kings Daughter is all Glorious within her Cloathing is of wrought Gold she shall be brought unto the King in Rayment of Needle-Work The Virgins the Companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee With gladness and rejoycing shall they be brought They shall enter into the Kings Palace Instead of thy Fathers shall be thy children whom thou mayest make Princes in all the Earth And so the Psalm goes on in that same kind of Representation which is chiefly intended of Christ and his Church of Christ and the Soul Therefore I say to you I say to every one Hearken O Soul Hearken O Soul and consider Forget thine own People and thy Fathers House That is Forget that State of Sin and Vanity and of the VVorld All that thou derivest from the First Adam thy Father forget it all So shall the King greatly desire thy Beauty for he is thy Lord and Worship thou him And if any thing seem valuable to us in this VVorld Let us forget it all that we may give up our selves to our Espoused King Ay but how shall I leave my pleasures How shall I leave this and that Enjoyment this and that Relation that are so dear to me VVhy saith the Spirit of God ver 16. Instead of thy Fathers shall be thy children whom thou mayest make Princes in all the Earth I will make thy Name to be Remembred in all Generations therefore shall the People praise thee for ever and ever That is there shall be a great Recompence to every one that leaves this VVorld and the things of it in their Affections to devote and give up themselves to Christ Instead of thy Fathers shall be thy children whom thou mayest make Princes in all the Earth Thou shalt have Recompences enough And thou shalt be Praised for ever and ever The Graces the Priviledges the Enjoyments shall be great and thou shalt be Glorious for ever If therefore we could hearken and encline to the Terms of Jesus Christ if we could be willing to shave our Heads and to Pare our Nails and to put off the Garments of our Captivity The King would desire our Beauty Nay indeed He Loves and Does all this for us and makes us willing to have it all done For a Spiritual Captivity is loved while a Bodily Captivity is hated We love the Garments of a Spiritual Captivity even our Lusts and Pleasures and Worldly Enjoyments which are the Garments of our Captivity and They are so precious to us we cannot Naturally endure to part with them to be cloathed with change of Rayment when Jesus Christ the Great Husband and Spouse of our Souls is offered to us And This Perpetuates our Captivity And thus I have made use of the Similitude because the Scripture is so very admirable and abundant in it I 'll offer you One Scripture more and so pass on to the Second Particular Hosea 2. God there compares his Church and so every Soul to an Impure and Adulterous Woman that follows after her Lovers But saith God in the 6th Ver. Therefore behold I will hedge up thy way with Thorns and make a Wall that she shall not find her paths And she shall follow after ber Lovers but she shall not overtake them And she shall seek them but she shall not find them Then shall she say I 'll go and return to my first Husband for then was it better with me than now Therefore saith God in the 4th Verse I 'll allure her That is I 'll speak to her very heart And I 'll bring her into the Wilderness and I 'll draw
care so of Religion And another said I have married a Wife and therefore I cannot come upon that account And in another Evangelist They went to their Merchandise I have a Great Trade and I cannot carry on the present State if I mind so much the Kingdom of Christ And therefore I say The Purchasing and Husbandry and Merchandise and the Enjoyments of this World and Relations they are great Hinderances indeed to the Glory of the Kingdom of Christ But then The Second Thing I would say to you which may give you Great Satisfaction as to this If there were such a Spirit poured out from on high Don't think the World would be so Inconvenient by it It would be brought into a more High a Better and more Excellent State I am sure If the Spirit were so poured out upon the World That Men did not excuse themselves from the Kingdom of Heaven by their Trade Relations and Families And by their Interest in the present VVorld I am sure that the Trees of the Wood would yeild forth of themselves to us The Hills would flow down with Milk and the Mountains with Wine VVhenever God will bring the VVorld into a Religious State indeed Don't take care as if the State of the VVorld could not be upheld For it shall be upheld and be more Happy and Blessed than it is now Joel 3. 18. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Mountains shall drop down New Wine and the Hills shall flow down with Milk and all the Rivers of Judah shall flow with Waters c. Every thing shall be Happy and Prosperous Instead of the Thorn shall come up the Fir Tree and instead of the Bryar shall come up the Mirtle Tree and it shall be to the Lord for a Name and for a Memorial When God comes to make the world truely Good to bring in a Profession of Christianity not in Word but in Power I say when that comes to pass there shall be such a strange plenty to the World such a strange Providence over the Creation All that which we take so much care about and with so much Sin and hatred and envy one at another It will come so freely there will be no need of disturbance of and distracting our selves or one another When we come in High sense to be the Servants of God and to be in such a State All Creatures in Heaven and Earth would come and lay down their Service at our Feet The Heavens would hear the Earth and the Earth would hear the Corn and the Wine and the Oyl And they would hear Jezreel Amos 9. 11. Behold the days come saith the Lord that the Plowman shall overtake the Reaper and the Treaders of Grapes him that soweth the Seed That is the Harvest shall be sooner than the very Plowing All Creatures in Heaven and Earth would offer themselves to us And all the Riches that we dive for now so deep into the Bowels of the Earth and into the bottom of the Sea they would come up and be at our hand in that Day when the Kingdom of Jesus Christ shall be thus Universally upon the World and when the Desire of Nations shall come I would shut up this in a very Brief Application to you Vse 1. In the First Place Let it move us seriously to fill up our Religion with this Character of it The Virgins went forth to meet the Bridegroom There was the great mark in their Eye the great design in their Eye Now ask your selves I beseech you is your Religion in meeting the Bridegroom Is not your Praying Morning and Evening because it is good Family-Order It is a good thing for Reputation and Credit Is it not because you are afraid if you Rise up and Lie down without Prayer God won't Bless you that Day nor give you good rest that Night He won't succeed you in your Calling And in the Duties and Business of it Is it not because natural Conscience would cry out and say what Do you live like a Heathen yea a Brute and like a Beast I acknowledge these are valuable Reasons in their kind But sure there is a Higher a Greater Reason to go forth to meet the Bridegroom Because throughout all the Account that can be given why Men are Religious if this be not Principal if this be not the Supreme End that I would meet the Bridegroom It is not of the Excellent True Alloy Therefore Buoy up your Spirits raise them wind them up to this great height I 'll go forth to meet the Bridegroom I pray this Morning that I may meet with the Bridegroom I go to hear this day That I may meet with the Bridegroom I would not have these great things wound up onely within the Circle of this Life in this manner Here comes Business and here comes Prayer And so there 's Sleep and Eating and Drinking All comes in a Round and we would have this Round always observed And it calls to Publick Prayer and to other of those Duties Now if we turn about onely in this Circle we run on Endlessly about But our care must be higher Viz. To meet the Bridegroom Vse 2. In the Second Place I Beseech you consider whether your Religion be of this excellent kind that you would be willing to meet the Bridegroom Is it that which I believe in my Soul enlightned by the Spirit of God my Conscience bearing me Witness in the Holy Ghost that it will please the Bridegroom Are my Thoughts Affections manner of Conversation such And what reason have we and do we Humble our selves before our Bridegroom when we consider this will not please when we consider this is not fine enough Ornamental enough to his Glory of value enough I would not meet him with Tinsel instead of Gold and real worth I would not meet him with false Diamonds instead of real ones So I would not meet him with Hypocritical formal Prayers without real Grace And then Vse 3. In the third Place I beseech you consider I don't expect there should be many Subscribing to that Account of Time that I have given out Tho it be upon great and strong Foundations in the Word of God Yet I challenge nothing from any but so far as they see in that Light But I would onely ask you this Question upon the occasion of it Suppose it a true and real Scripture Account that I have given out and that within so little a Time there shall be yet so great a change of the World And Men shall begin to unhinge from the Earth and Earthly Foundations Would you be glad of it Or have you not a secret Trouble and Enmity against it And that you would have the World still go on and Ages to run on so I say try your selves as to this I think it cannot be any Injury for any to propose this Seeing we should be continually upon our watch for this very thing when our Lord will come Vse
of Marrow And Wines on the Lees well refined And in this Mountain saith God I 'll destroy the Face of the covering cast over all People and the Vail that is spread over all Nations When this Feast comes there shall be no Pagan Nation There shall be no Mahometan Nation There shall be no Popish Anti-Christian Nation There shall be no unbelieving Jews then in the World God will Draw off the Face of the covering cast over all People And every one shall see in the Clearness and in the Beauty and in the Glory and in the Majesty of the Truth of God and of the 〈◊〉 of Jesus Christ That the Religion of Christianity shall 〈◊〉 be upbraided with this Why are there so great Nations that are under the Prophet Mahomet as we are under Jesus Christ Are there not great Tracts of the World that are not known And do not the Jews that have the Doctrine of the Scriptures in the Old Testament Do they not deny Christ All these things that I may speak in a Familiar phrase Christianity is twitted with upbraided reproached with But in the day of that Feast All the Darkness of that State shall be drawn off In all our Feasts now there is necessary a sense of Death As I remember the great Prince Philip of Macedon when he had the most Sumptuous and Magnificent Entertainment He had first of all a Deaths Head served up in the Beginning of the Feast As if he should say tho I have entertained you now like a Prince and with all the Imaginable Royalty that you can expect Yet now after all this I and you must Dye So should we do in all our Eating and Drinking if we do but consider it we do but onely feed as we have a Phrase we do but onely feed Death We do but pamper Bodies to make a Feast for the Worms Now saith the Lord in this Feast I will take away all Tears and Shame and Reproach from all People utterly take it off O therefore VVho would not Aim and Design this to be at this great Feast that must be held to Jehovah And that he himself will hold for all his People as the great Prince and Master and Lord of it So you know there is nothing more ordinary in the Gospel than to compare the State of Things to a great Supper Matth. 22. He describes the Kingdom of Heaven by such a Supper as this The Kingdom of Heaven saith he is like unto a certain King which made a Marriage for his Son and he sent forth his Servants to call them that were bidden to the Wedding And they would not come Again he sent forth other Servants saying Tell them which are bidden behold I have prepared my Dinner My Oxen and my Fatlings are killed and all things are ready Come unto the Marriage But they made light of it And when the King came in to see the guests he saw there a Man which had not on a Wedding-Garment Ver. 11. 12. As I shall after endeavour to enforce in the Application But you see plainly that it is a great Nuptial Feast that the Glory of the Kingdom of Christ is Represented by So it is said His Servants wait for him There is a place of great moment to what we are upon that is Dis-advantagiously Translated And therefore I would desire that you would take something the more Notice of it Matth. 13. 34. The Son of Man saith he is as a Man taking a far Journey who left his House and gave Authority to his Servants and to every Man his Work and Commanded the Porter to watch Watch ye therefore for ye know not when the Master of the House cometh And this in Luk. 12. It is called a coming because of the Wedding ver 46. That 's the Expression I would desire a little that you would take Notice of And ye your selves like unto Men that wait for the Lord when he will return from the Wedding VVe Translate But the word in the Greek will very well signifie Because of the Wedding or upon the Account of the Wedding When Christ comes He comes because or upon the Account of the Wedding And that he may be present at that great Feast that is to be held unto the Lord our God I 'll give you but one Scripture more And so I hope you will be fully satisfied that it is the Wi 〈…〉 of the Divine Spirit to Represent to us the State of the Glory and Kingdom of Christ by a great Nuptial-Feast or Entertainment It is in the Nineteenth Chapter of the Prophesie of the Revelation Verse 7. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honour to him for the Marriage of the Lamb is come And Verse 9. And he saith unto me Write Let this thing be taken notice of let it be written in Letters that he that runs may read Blessed are they which are called unto the Marrioge-Supper of the Lamb. Blessed are they which are called and invited to the Marriage-Supper of the Lumb I shall now therefore proceed in these Two Generals before I close all in the Application First of all to shew you what the Importance and meaning of this Great Supper or the Great Feast that we are to hold to Jehovah is And then In the Second Place I shall give you a brief Parallel between all the Feasts that were appointed to the Servants and People of God in the Old Testament and this Great Feast that is to be held to Jehovah To give you therefore the Sense and the Meaning of it in these Two Expressions First It is a Time of the Greatest Solemnity Glory and Lustre and Splendor and Joy and Blessedness that the Creation ever knew or can know in the State of a Creation I say it is a State or a Time of the greatest Magnificence of the greatest Joy and Enjoyment that ever was known in the whole Creation nothing ever like to that Alas the Days that we now know here in the World take those that have been the most Lightsome the most Prosperous they are all Dark and Gloomy and Cloudy Days in comparison of that Day of the Great Glory and the Great Festival that he speaks of Indeed it is very desirable to find the Hearts of any possest seriously with God and with Religion and with Holiness and with Christianity and with Communion with God and Enjoyment of him according to the present State of Things But if we did but know how low the Condition is now wherein we are If we did but consider what a Dark Black Cloud there hangs over all a Cloud of Corruption a Cloud of Unhappiness a Cloud of Sorrow and Affliction it is they live in And it comes upon the most Eminent Servants of God you know in what a Cloud they are wrapt up as to all bodily Appearance when they come to Die and what a Cloud of Corruption hovers over them For take the most Excellent Preachers and the most Holy Men if
that comes by Chance or it is a Natural Cause that the World continues Now let it be granted That it is only a Natural Cause Who is the Great Ruler and Conducter of Natural Causes but God And who hath suited Natural Causes to Times and Seasons but God Let the greatest Atheist find out as Good Natural Causes as he can As for Example the Causes of the Great Earthquake at Jamaica There is nothing not the least Thing that comes to pass but by His Wisdom and by his Power And that it goes so far and no farther It is fully attributed to be to himself and to no other And therefore I beseech you keep as an Antidote against all the Atheistical Talk that you meet with in the World concerning these Things keep continually in your Mind what we read of in the Book of Daniel Several times indeed we read of Great Things spoken of God Dan. 3. Nebuchadnezzar made This Acknowledgment to God Whoever saith he shall speak a word against the God of Shaderach Mesech and Abednego shall be cut in peices He owned and was convinced of such a Mighty Power of God that he would not endure there should be a Mouth opened against him Indeed It were very well if Christian Nations would learn by the Example of an Heathen Prince That they would not suffer the Tongue of Atheists to walk about so brikly as it does in the World They set their Mouths against the Heavens and their Tongue rangeth through the whole Earth as the Expression is in the Psalms I say 'T were well that the Mouths of Atheists were stopt and that they had such notice from the Supreme Powers that they might be Daunted and afraid to Dishonour the Great God of Heaven and Earth and to make nothing of his Name and the Works he doth in the World So in the 34th Verse of the 4th of Daniel Nebuchadnezzar This Heathen Prince says I Nebuchadnezzar lift up mine Eyes unto Heaven and mine Vnderstanding returned unto me And I blessed the most High and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever whose Dominion is an Everlasting Dominion and his Kingdom is from Generation to Generation And all the Inhabitants of the Earth are reputed as nothing and he doth according to his Will in the Armies of Heaven and among the Inhabitants of the Earth and none can stay his Hand That 's a great Expression that I desire you to keep in your Minds None can stay his Hand He can stay it Himself but no other can stay it I would desire you but to consider in regard of the late Remarkable Providence toward This City Of which most People I perceive were Sensible some in Greater and some in Lesser Degree This Place of Scripture does very much affect my Thoughts concerning it Who can stay God's Hand If He had said Let it tear up the Foundations of this City and the Houses in it who could have stay'd his Hand I beseech you consider Why might it not have been so much more as well as so much or so little And yet Men are ready to say Because God did no more he could do no more except Natural Causes had been prepared to go on and to go further And because the Earth Did give a kind of a Little Nodd and no more We are not sensible of the Great Hand of God and who it was that was pleased to stay his Hand It was His Own Grace and His own Mercy to stay his Hand As if he should say I 'll let you see the Danger and no more than Just let you see it And therefore O that Men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and for his Wonderful Works to the Children of Men And that they would stand in Awe of Him and consider his Doings For God forbears you see with an Infinite Patience and Long-Suffering He lets Men Open their Mouths against Himself and does not cut them off in the very moment through his Mercies But if you say Will God always put up these Wrongs and Reproaches Shall Right to this Great Name of God never be done Yes He will make the World sensible of Him by Repentance Or else there 's a Day of Dreadful Recompence As if God should say I have Time enough I have an Eternity to shew my Displeasure upon Them in I have it Seal'd in my Treasures Their Foot shall slide in Due Time And therefore I 'll bear with them a little Time Because There 's a Day of Perdition of Vngodly Men As the Apostle Peter speaks 2 Peter 3. The Day of the Lord will come Men say Where is it Saith the Apostle Verse 10. The Day of the Lord will come And there is a Reserving of Heaven and Earth unto Fire against that Day and the Perdition of ungodly men And then There is a Gracious Purpose of God I desire that you would take notice of that Place Which ought indeed to be very much upon our Thoughts in this very regard That it is Prophesied and foretold That they shall come from the Ends of the Earth Jer. 16. 20. Saying shall a Man make Gods unto himself and they are no Gods Therefore behold I will this once It is a very notable Expression Like that of shaking Heaven and Earth yet once more saith the Apostle I shake not the Earth onely but also Heaven That those things which cannot be shaken may remain And that the things which can be shaken may be taken away at once Therefore behold I will this once cause them to know I will cause them to know mine hand and my might and they shall know that my Name is the Lord. And this seems to be a Gracious and a Merciful Intention For in Verse 19. O Lord my Strength and my Fortress and my Refuge in the Day of Affliction the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the Ends of the Earth and shall say surely our Fathers have Inherited Lies Vanity and things wherein there is no profit Jeremy apprehends great Grace in God upon this Prospect and so applies to Him in his own Case O Lord my Strength c. So you may see why God bears the Reproaches of them that contemn him Wherefore do the Wicked contemn God Saith God I 'll have a Day of Perdition for Ungodly Men And I 'll have a Day when the Gentiles shall come from the Ends of the Earth And for once they shall know my Might and my Power And that my Name is Jehovah I 'll bring all mine Home my Patience is for them that they might not Perish but come to Repentance c. A Fourth thing that makes it very strange that God continues the World so long is Because there are so many Prayers of his Saints for the Kingdom of Christ to come And that the Wickedness of the Wicked may be brought to an End And that the Oppression and Persecution of his Church may be at an End It is a wonder therefore that God should not
on a Wedding-Garment The same with Oyl in the Vessel And he saith unto him Friend How camest thou in hither not having a Wedding Garment And he was Speechless Bind him Hand and Foot and take him away saith Christ and cast him into outer Darkness because he had not the Linen White and Clean the Righteousness of Saints Robes wash'd in the Blood of the Lamb for that 's the Wedding-Garment He had not put on the Wedding-Garment of Christ he had not on the White Raiment Buy of me Gold tryed in the Fire and White Raiment suitable to that Time and buy of me Eye-Salve that thou may'st see c. Rev. 3. All is from Christ So that the Whole Matter is This Whether we are in Christ or whether we are not in Christ So the Apostle John saith 1 John 5. 12. He that hath the Son here 's the plain Proposition the Case of every Man He that hath the Son hath Life And he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life And this is ihe Record that God hath given to us Eternal Life the Place is as full to the Purpose as possibly can be God hath given to us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son in the Fountain The Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in his Wings He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life And hereby we may understand that great Place of Scripture which else may be more hard to be understood Rom. 9. 28. saith the Apostle there out of the Prophet Isaiah A short work saith he will the Lord make upon the Earth What is the meaning of that That he will make such a short Work upon the Earth The Meaning is this That it shall come to this speedy Question Are you in Christ Or are you not in Christ For he will finish the Work and cut it short in Righteousness because a short Work will the Lord make upon the Earth A short Work Many are ready to think That the Judiciary part of the Day of Judgment will be a mighty long time Because every Case of a Man must be examined and his Works It is a Mistake when we think so For though it will be as exact to every Man as if every Man's Case were laid down in his particular Works viz. of those who are not pardoned But yet it will be a time of the blotting out of Iniquity I say a Time of the full blotting out of Sin in all the Servants of God Though Sins are sought for they shall not be found There shall be none but upon the Wicked A short Work will the Lord make upon the Wicked when they are found not to be in Christ They have not a biding Light They are presently found by the Company they are in and by the Habit of the Body For the Saints are in the Habit of Bodies of Glory And the other in the Habit of Bodies of Contempt So a short Work will the Lord make It will be presently seen by our Appearance whether we are Christ's or no. Now this I shall endeavour to Argue to you a little from Scripture-Reason And then it shall be the Principal Part of this Discourse to clear to you the Doubts and Scruples and Objections that may arise in your Minds That this cannot be so First In regard of other Scriptures that insist so much upon what is in us And then to Answer these Questions In the Second Place you may say How shall we come to have an Interest in Christ And In the Third Place How shall we know That we have an Interest in Christ And so I shall conclude with the Application of All. The Great Scripture-Argument I would give you is this If we could seriously consider the Infinite Holiness and Purity of God If we could but I say seriously lay this to Heart That God cannot see Things any other ways than they are How would it clear this A great many Good Men are ready to say The Evangelical Righteousness that we have shall stand before God in Justification for Christ's sake I say If we seriously consider That God is Infinitely Holy That the Angels he charges with Folly That the Heavens are not clean in his Sight That he cannot see any otherwise than Things are I do beseech you to consider Whether you would venture into the Presence of such a Holiness with the Best Graces that you know in any Person in the World For my part I do not know how Men can Answer it in their own Judgments But I think it is as impossible for any Man to appear with the Holiness of the best Saint that ever was in the World except the Righteousness of Christ as I think it impossible for a Man to stand in the Greatest Presence without Confusion having nothing but the Squallidness and Filthiness of Impure Garments and Putrefaction all over him For surely the Saints of God speak in the Name of all Saints All our Righteousnesses are as filthy Rags and our Iniquities like the Wind hurry us away And there 's no standing but by that stable Righteousness of Jesus Christ Jehovah our Righteousness and by the Holiness that flows from his Death and from his Resurrection and that is under the Cover of his Blood and under the Answer that his Righteousness makes for the Imperfection of it I am sure this Reason is so solid so substantial and so weighty That whoever Considers it must needs yield and submit to it if they do not go off from it but strictly and precisely consider it That no other Righteousness can be accepted but only the Righteousness of Christ and the Holiness that flows from it that needs the Cover of his Righteousness and is made up in its own Imperfection by the Perfection of his Righteousness Surely it must be a great Hazard for such a Person as Paul to go before the Judgment-Seat with his own Righteousness when he said even in a State of Grace and in Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 4. 4. I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justified For he that judgeth me is the Lord If we have not now the Righteousness of Christ How then can we stand before God! I Argue this not so much to make you of an Opinion or a Judgment for that I ought not to aim at but with the utmost Sincerity as God inables me that you may know your Peace and Safety and Security lies only in the Righteousness of Christ That Lamp will certainly be put out in obscure Darkness that hath not the Golden Oil And therefore I speak that you may have your Hearts full of this Christ and Christ only I am so far from being moved by any Objection that I am assured That this is the True Grace of God that I now Preach to you wherein we are all to stand We read Heb. 24. Christ is not entered into the Holy Places made with Hands which are Figures
be ashamed of him before Men whoso despise his Kingdom and of those of which Confession is to be made with the Mouth uneo Salvation And therefore as I have Humble Hopes That Jesus Christ hath been Graciously pleas'd to draw out my Heart Thoughts Meditations to search Every Retirement of his Word therein above All that have been before me And to give me Greater Confidence and Assurance and a more open Profession and Publication of what I have Found So that he will graciously Accept Remember Pardon spare me through the Multitude of his Mercies and not deliver up to shame and Confusion of Face before Men and confess me before his Father and before his Holy Angels That such a State of his Kingdom and such a Revolution with it and by it shall this very Year Appear to All the World as hath never been since the Apostacy of Humane Nature and that therefore All Mighty Works shall shew forth Themselves in it The Spirit shall be poured out from on High The Wilderness shall Become a Fruitful Field viz. in the highest Purity and Prosperity of his Churches and that which look'd like a Fruitful Field become Desert even the Antichristian State and whatever partakes of it the Glory of All this World and the Grandeur of it and so the Everlasting Gospel shall be preached to every Nation Tongue and People and every Thing move to the Glory of that Kingdom To whom then Most Reverend and Right Reverend could I present equally as to you the consideration of these things who I am assured are so Richly Furnished with all Advantages of Learning both in that Sure word of Prophecy and in History and Chronology Correspondent therewith And whose very Title Imports the Office of Those who are on the VVatch Tower waiting for the Speaking of the Vision which will not Tarry beyond its Time And therefore should be able to Answer the Question VVatchman VVatchman what of the Night Or how Near is the Morning and who as Persons of an Elevated Station ought to Vindicate your selves by a Higher Zeal for the Kingdom of Christ and even by a Holy Haste to bring Him to his Throne above others That you may not Fall under any Ombrage of the Anti-christian Hierarchy who as Feet of Clay are found in the Undermine of the Kingdom of Christ and are Broken by the very First Openings of it as upon which that Image Rests that Stands in delay of that Kingdom How therefore should you be able to answer that Question What do you more than others for the Kingdom of the Chief Shepherd who hath it on his Vesture and on his Thigh King of Kings and Lord of Lords and who Profess to Attend upon him more Near and in Ordinary I most Humbly therefore submit this Apology to your Severest Examination and that as Prophets that is Persons above Ordinary Instructed in the 〈◊〉 Word of Prophecy for no otherwise can it be done you would Judge The Grounds Themselves I freely tender to so Sage and Learned a Christian a Protestant Presidency There is a kind of Intuitive Knowledge and Plerophory of Satisfaction I must with all Reverence yet and Humble Fear Hope I have a Right unto as proper to the having seen together the Curious Lines of Prophecy equal to the Curious Lines and Symmetry in the Works of God which the most Exact Astronomer Anatomist Naturalist 〈◊〉 hath or can Observe I desire the Things I offer might be brought into Seriousest Consultation and Debate as in the Days of Herod concerning the place where Christ should be born so now concerning the Time of his Kingdom Appearing It cannot be but most Great to be near the 〈◊〉 of the Kingdoms of this world to be the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ How would it releive in All the most Inextricable Labyrinths of the present Difficulties of Nations to our Nation particularly to our King to the Councel of the Nation in Parliament That He whose Right it is is now about to take to Himself his Great Power and to Reign and to destroy them who have been so long destroying the Earth I know the Paganizing Nations and Spirits will be very Angry even at the Mention of these Things as Vtopian Imaginary Fanatical and think to Scoff it off But as an Hidden and Concealed Train that Gives Fire and hath its Effect in a Moment so the Chain of Divine Councels the Predictions of Omnisciency in All Times take Full Effect in their own Just Moments how Unawares soever the World be concerning them For He who is wonderful in Counsel and excellent in working can neither be out-witted nor over ruled What I offer can be onely from Sense of Duty to declare what I have so Full Assurance of Duty as to the Great Revealer of Prophetical Secrets the wonderful Numberer of the Times of Prophecy so Duty to the Publick in the so Generally Acknowledged Distress of Affairs For which my Constant Supplications Ascend as also for You whose Most Christian Assistance and Administration according to Your Higher Sphere I Beseech and who I Hope Count it Your Greatest Honour to Serve Him who is the Prince of the Kings of the Earth 〈◊〉 and therefore will not with a Gaâ—â—iâ— like Spirit not Care for any of these Things This First Month of the Year 1697. Most Reverend Right Reverend Your Most Humble Servant In That Kingdom of our Lord T. BEVERLEY FINIS