WILLIAM DYER Preacher of the Gospell Aetat 27 1663 A CABINET OF JEWELS OR A GLIMPS OF SIONS GLORY Written by WILLIAM DYER late Preacher of the Gospel at Chesham and Chouldsbury in the County of Bucks Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things that are written therein for the time is at hand Rev. 1.3 Printed in the Year 1663. TO Those of Chouldsbury Parish Together with all others who did attend constantly upon the Word of God there Preached Grace Mercy and Peace be multiplyed from God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. DEarly Beloved They that love God dearly are dearly beloved of God dearly beloved of Christ dearly beloved of Angels dearly beloved of Saints they are beloved of all and have the love of all whose love is worth the having O my dear Friends I cannot think of you and your condition but it fills my eyes with water and my heart with griefe and with Jeremy I wish O that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountaine of Tears that I might weep day and night for the slain of the Daughter of my people Jeremiah 9.1 Oh that I am constrained to be from you whom I could live and dye with spend and be spent for so deare a people as you are I would chuse to be doing the work to which I was called amongst you rather then any where else if I might I should not count my Life dear to me so that I might have the liberty to preach Christ to you for your edification and salvation I hope your Consciences will bear me witnesse that whilest I was with you I Laboured as much as in me lay to be a helper of your joy not to Lord it over your faith and I bless God I can with a good conscience safely say I have coveted no mans Gold nor Silver as you your selves know I could do very much for you but I dare not sin against God and my own Conscience But my dear Brethren Though they have separated us one from the other they cannot separate our hearts I hope there will never be a separation of our loves but that will still continue if we do not see one another yet we may love one another and pray for one another And now my desire is that my pen may reach you though my voice cannot reach you That I may still approve the sincerity of my love to you I shall give you twenty Directions for the right ordering of your Lives and conversations in these dangerous and sinful times that you may live in Heaven whilest you are on the Earth and come to Heaven when you shall leave the Earth I. First Loath sin and leave sin He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whosoever Confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Prov. 28.13 If we confess our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1.9 There must be falling out with our sins before there be falling off from our sins there must be a loathing of sin in our affections before there be a leaving of sin in our conversations Oh is it not a thousand times better to part with sinne though never so sweet than to part with God and Christ and Heaven one of them you must do One sin will damn a Soul out of Christ but no sin can damn a Soul in Christ Sin is the evill of evils it is worse then the Devill for its that that made the Devil to be a Devil O the love of sin and the lack of grace will ruin and destroy your souls for ever It is better not to be than to be a sinner better to be no people than not to be the Lords people Oh therefore kill sin that sin may not kill you mourn for sin and flye from sin do not commit new sins but repent of old sins Ezek. 36.31 You shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities O poor soul hast thou not served the flesh and the Devil long enough Yea hast thou not had enough of sin is it so good to thee or so profitable for thee Oh what a place will you be shortly in of joy or torment Oh what a sight will you shortly see in Heaven or Hell Oh what thoughts will shortly fill your hearts with unspeakable delights or horror what work will you be imployed in to praise the Lord with Saints and Angels or to cry out in fire unquenchable with Divels Oh therefore dye unto sin confess it mourn for it and be ashamed of it hate it and loath it and flye from it as from a Serpent and though your sins are more then you can number yet they are not more then God can pardon II. Secondly Put off the old man and put on the new Eye not one to another seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him Col. 3.9 10. And that ye put on the new man which after God is created in Righteousness and Holinesse Ephes 1.14 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature Gal. 6.15 As new born Babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that they may grow thereby 1 Pet 2.2 Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are past away behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5.17 A new understanding a new will new desires new love new delights new thoughts new words new company and a new conversation he is not what he was before O dear friends be new Creatures that you may be glorious Creatures We can call nothing in Heaven ours till Christ be ours Without regeneration there is no salvation Verily I say unto you except yea be converted and become as little children ye cannot enter into the Kingdone of Heaven John 3.3 Verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdome of God You have heard much of God Christ and Heaven with your ears but this will not bring you to Heaven unlesse you have much of God Christ Heaven in your hearts you must be able to say I was once a slave but now a son once I was dead but now I am alive once I was in darknesse but now I am light in the Lord once I was a child of wrath an Heir of Hell but now I am an Heir of Heaven once I was under the spirit of bondage but now I am under the spirit of adoption A true Believer lives in the Lord 1 Thes 1.1 On the Lord Rom. 1.17 Luke 20.38 From the Lord Joh. 6.57 To the Lord Romans 1â— 8 With the Lord 2 Corinth 13.4 III. Thirdly Make your peace with the Prince of peace Isa 9.6 Psal 2.12 Kiss the Son least he be angry and ye perish from the way
Truth obey the Truth and hold fast the Truth Now Beloved Let me beseech you for Gods sake and for Christs sake and for your Soules sake keep your selves from false Teachers from false Doctrine from false worship from false Opinions If you will be tasting and siping at Babylons cup you must resolve to receive more or lesse of Babylons plagues XVIII Eighteenthly Be one with every one that is one with Christ Endeavouring to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace There is one body and one Spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your Calling One Lord one Faith one Baptisme one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Ephes 4.3 4 5 6. Every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him By this we know that we love the Children of God when we love God and keep his Commandments 1 Joh. 5.1 2. He that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen 1 John 4.26 Oh Consider what a dishonour it is to the Gospel that those that professe themselves Sonnes of the same God Members of the same Christ Temples of the same Spirit Heirs of the same Glory should be at a jarring one with another It is strange and unnaturall that Lillies should prove thorns to one another that those who are Saints in profession should be Devils in practise to one another that Gods Diamonds should cut one another For Wolves to devour the Lambs is no wonder but for one Lamb to devour another is a wonder and monstrous Oh that Christians instead of loving one another should hate one another Oh how unlike are we to that God whom we professe to be our God! He is full of love full of goodness and full of mercy and patience Oh but Christians cannot beare and forbear one with another Oh do not wicked men warm themselves at the sparks of our divisions and say it is as we would have it Oh Beloved hath not God made his wrath to smoke against us for the divisions and heart-burnings that have been amongst us Oh that you would lay this to heart and throw away all discord and divisions and heart burnings and labour for a onenesse in love and affection with every one that is one with Christ Oh labour for a healing spirit You cannot love God if you do not love the people of God If any man saith he loveth God and hateth his brother he is a lyer Let brotherly love continue Heb. 13.1 They that feared the Lord spake often one to another Mal. 3.16 Christs Doves should flock together There be many that cannot love a man unlesse he be of their Opinion or a Member of their Church though he be a Member of Christ Every man hath a good opinion of his own opinion But alas Beloved it is not this opinion or that opinion this way or that way will bring a man to Heaven without faith in Christ and he that hath faith in Christ hath a right to all the Ordinances of Christ and Promises of Christ and Priviledges of Christ therefore let me beseech you to love every man that is a godly man let him be of what way and form he will And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul Acts 4.38 XIX Nineteenthly Love Christ with a Love stronger then life who loved us with a love stronger than death Therefore doth my father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again no man taketh it from me but I lay it down my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again John 10.17 18. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 Christs love to us was stronger then death he dyed for love he laid down his life to save our lives he loves us as the Father loves him John 15.9 As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue ye in my love Oh the Scripture hath exceeding high expressions of his affection to us Now Beloved if he died for us and suffered for us and set his heart upon us to love us and delight in us how ought we then to love him again Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind Math. 22.37 38. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Psal 73.25 Vnto you therefore which believe he is precious 1 Pet. 2.7 Oh let our hearts be full of love and affections to Christ Love will breed courage and cast out fear slavish fear before God and carnal fear before men God can keep us from the torments of men but men cannot keep us from the torments of God Whilest we stand by God God hath promised to stand by us Therefore be not afraid of any Authority that stands in opposition to the Authority of Christ None can promise us better than Christ can none can threaten us worse than Christ can Can any man promise us with better then Heaven Can any man threaten us with worse than Hell Heaven is promised to those that love him and Hell is to be the portion of those that hate him Oh my dear Brethren Let us Love Christ with a love stronger then death so did Paul and the rest of the Apostles Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distresse or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or sword Rom. 8.35 Love is stronger than Death many waters cannot quench it neither can the floods drown it Cant. â— 6 7. XX. Twentiethly Be every day as serious in your preparation for death as if it were your last day All the dayes of my appointed time will I wait till my change come Job 14.14 This night thy soule shall be required of thee Luke 12.20 For what is your life it is even a vapour that appeareth a little time and then vanisheth away Jam. 4.14 Behold thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth and mine age is as nothing before thee Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity Psal 39.5 As no Saint knows when that time and hour shall be so no wicked man knows when it shall not be To live without fear of death is to dye living To labour not to dye is labour in vain Men are afraid to dye in such and such sins but not afraid to live in such and such sins Oh the Hell of horrors and terrors that attend those soules that have their greatest work to do when they come to dye therefore as you would be happy in death and everlastingly blessed after death prepare and fit your selves for death Did Christ dye for us that we might live with him and shall not we desire to dye and be
with him A Believers dying day is his Crowning day And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me write blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them Rev. 14.13 Oh I beseech you my dear Brethren every day spend some time in preparation for and meditation of Death Judgement Hell Heaven and Eternity Eternity is a sum that can never be numbred a line that can never be measured Eternity is a condition of everlasting sorrow or everlasting joy Oh think of this and prepare for this every day before the night of death comes And thus my beloved I have given you these Twenty precious directions for your souls I shall leave this Book with you as a Legacy of my dearest Love my desire in all this is your happiness here and your blessedness hereafter My earnest and humble desire of you is That you would mind this Book and my former Treatise not only read them but reform your lives by them O do your Duty love your Duty and live your Duty that you may be made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Which is and shall be the earnest and constant Prayer of one that esteems it a most glorious priviledge to be of the number of those who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth William Dyer REVEL 14.6 These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth THE Title of this Book tells us it is The Revelation of John and John tells us Chap. 1.1 it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ Christs Revelation to John and John's Revelation to us The Comma of this Book is set forth Chap. 1.19 VVrite the things that are and the things that shall be hereafter And into these two parts this book is divided First a Relation of the things that are referring to the seven Churches of Asia Secondly A Revelation of the general state of the Church to come and that from John's time unto the second coming of the Lord. The words of this Book are the true sayings of the true God they are therefore true and faithful Chap. 22.6 The matter of this Book so much concerns the good of the Church that Jesus Christ commandeth every one that hath an ear to heare to hearken what the Spirit of God saith unto the Church and to shew how earnest Christ Jesus is to have all his Members and Servants acquainted with the things revealed in this Book this charge he repeated eight times over as this Book shewes Chap. 2.7 11 17 29. And Chap. 3.6 13 22. And Chap. 13.9 A blessing is pronounced upon the Reader Hearer and Doer of the things written in this Book Chap. 1.3 O what can be said more or more effectually to stir us up to hear and read than blessedness And blessed is he that keepeth the words of the Prophesie of this Book Chap. 22.7 But how shall we keep them except we know them and how shall we know them except we read them The excellency of this Book is such as neither Man nor Angel none in Heaven or Earth or under the Earth was found worthy so much as to look into it till Jesus Christ went took out of his Fathers hand to open it unto us Chap. 5.3 The blessed St. John could not but weep for fear least this book should have been kept close from him and the Church so earnest was he to know those things which we neglect to know Chap. 5.4 This book is a most precious Jewel which Christ hath bestowed upon his Church in the latter dayes and it is our great duty to look into it and read it study it open it and expound it that all the people may thorowly be acquainted with it especially in these times for now in this Age is and shall be the very heat of the war and brunt of the battle betwixt God and Beliall betwixt Christ and Antichrist betwixt the Lambs followers and the Beasts followers Now this book lyeth all open and plainly telleth us what shall be the issue and successe in the day of battel which side shall have the victory and which side shall go down Chap. 17.19 And certainly the sons of Belial shall not long prevail the date of their Reigne is almost out and the time draweth on apace wherein both they and their Beast shall be laid in the dust This book sheweth us the rising of the Beast the declining of the Beast and the ruine of the Beast Chap. 18 Our Lord Jesus hath shewed us in this book the sorrowes and sufferings and afflictions and tribulations which the Church was to meet withal in the latter times Chap. 11.7 and Chap. 12.14 15. and Chap. 13.7 And her deadly and cruel Enemies the Whore of Babylon the Mother of Harlots the Beast the false Prophet and the great red Dragon which maketh War against her and casteth out floods after her Chap. 12 17 This book sheweth us likewise the true State of the true Church upon Earth what she is where she is how she is and what she shall be hereafter and that before the slaying under the slaying and after the slaying 1. Before the slaying time the true Church is in the Wilderness where she hath a place prepared her of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes Chap. 12.2 Before the slaying of the Witnesses the true Worshippers of God are in a low condition in heavinesse and sadnesse in sack-cloth and ashes in a mourning and suffering State being scattered and dispersed here and there as Israell was of old But though this be the condition of the poor Woman in the Wilderness yet she is not without comfort she may take comfort in three things 1. That God prepared a place for her 2. That God nourished her locked her up in his chamber of Providence 3. That God numbered her dayes of suffering The Tribulation of the Saints of the Old Testament is reckoned up still by years as the bondage of Egypt four hundred and thirty years and the Captivity of Babylon seventy years But under the New Testament by Dayes Ye shall have tribulation ten dayes Chap. 2.10 And the two witnesses shall lye dead three dayes and a half Chap Chap. 11.9 So the Woman was to be in the wilderness a thousand two hundred and threescore days The Church is compared to a woman for four Reasons First As as woman is weak and feeble so is the Church and can doe nothing without Christ John 15.5 Secondly As a woman is useful and fruitful so is the Church John 15.2 Thirdly As a woman is faire and beautiful so is the Church Ezek. 16.13 Fourthly As a woman is full of love affection so is the Church Cant. 2.5 2 Under the slaying time the true worshippers of God and witnesses of Jesus Christ lie dead in the Street of the great City which is spiritually called
Where there is a Vaile cast before the eyes of knowledge there is a Barre set before the hands of practise An ignorant person neither knows what he is a doing nor doth he know whether he is a going he doth nothing but undoe himself by doing Carnal men see no preciousness and loveliness in Christ Oh what is thy beloved more then another beloved Cant. 5,9 If thou knowest the gift of God and who it is that asketh thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living water John 4.10 Christ goes undesired in the world because he goes undiscerned by the world But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 But now believers being enlightned by the Spirit of God and by the Word of God they see themselves what they were before faith and what they are by faith and what they shall be at the end of faith they see Christ to be all precious precious in his Ordinances precious in his Discoveries precious in his Graces precious in his Gifts precious in his Promises precious in his Members precious in his Ministers and precious in himself 1 Pet. 2.7 Therefore believers cannot but love him and follow him Fifthly They follow the Lamb because they love the Lamb. Grace be with all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Ephes 6.24 They love him with a superlative love Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee Psal 73.25 The Spouse of Christ looks upon what she is as not great enough for his remembrance and what she does as not good enough for his acceptance Look not upon me because I am black because the Sun hath looked upon me My Mothers Children were angry with me they made me the keeper of their Vineyard but mine one Vineyard have I not kept Cant. 1.6 The Church is never more fair than when she judgeth her self to be most deformed never more happy than when she accounts her self most miserable never more holy than when she reckons her self most polluted she is never richer than when she seeth her self to be poorest of all The soul that loves much is a soul that works much the Commands of the Gospel are not grievous to him but precious to him Tell me oh thou whom my soul loveth where thou feedest Cant. 1.7 A soul that loves Christ hath hath his eye upon Christ and his desire is after Christ The desire of our souls is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee With my Soul have I desired thee in the Night yea with my Spirit will I seek thee early Isa 26.8 9. True believers love Christ more then they love themselves They loved not their lives unto the death Rev. 13 11. Christ is dearer to them than their lives they slighted contemned yea despised their very lives when they stood in competition with Christ and his Glory and chose rather to suffer the greatest misery than he should lose the least dram of his honour The love of Christ hath made his Saints and VVitnesses yield all the parts and members of their bodies to the cruel and mercilesse instruments of bloody persecutors their backs to be whipt their eyes to be boared and their tongues to be cut out of their mouths Heb. 11.37 Oh how strongly did these love the measure of loving Christ is to love him without measure Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Tribulation shall not Persecution shall not Famine and Nakednesse shall not Peril and Sword shall not for I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8.35 38 39. Sixthly They follow the Lamb because they are married to the Lamb Jer. 3.14 I am married unto you Rev. 21.9 I will shew thee the Bride the Lambs Wife Cant. 2.16 My beloved is mine and I am his Here I will shew you two things First How Christs comes to be ours 2ly How we come to be Christs First Christ is ours by the free donation and gift of the Father God so loved the word that he gave his only begotten Son John 3.16 Secondly Christ freely gave himself unto us so that Christ is ours by his own consent he hath as it were passed over himself unto us Christ loved me and gave himself for me said the Apostle Gal. 2.20 Thirdly Christ hath passed himself over unto his Church by marriage and therefore she is called his Queen his Spouse his Bride and his VVife Psal 45.9 Although we had nothing to bring to him but poverty shame forrow and misery yet he took us and loved us and married us Fourthly Christ is ours by communicating his own Spirit to us 2. The Saints are Christs four ways First By the Donation of the Father God hath made him both Lord and Christ Acts 2.36 And hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the Head over all things in the Church Ephes 1.22 And now saith Christ Behold I and the Children whom thou gavest me thine they were and thou gavest them me John Seventeen Six God the Father gave us to God the Son that he might redeem us and God the Son gave us to God the Father that he might sanctifie us and keep us from the evill of the World verse 17. Secondly We are Christs by choice I have chosen you out of the World And the Saints are said to be Chosen in Christ Eph. 1.4 And they are called A chosen Generation 1 Pet. 2.9 And chosen and faithful Rev. 17.14 Thirdly The Saints are Christs by purchase We were in our Enemies hands and under their power and could not free our selves from the bondage of the Law Sin Satan Death and Hell therefore saith the Apostle We are bought with a price 1 Cor. 6.20 For in respect of Gods Justice we are bought by Christ Fourthly We are Christs by combination and Covenant I entred into Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine Ezek. 16.8 That is I did make a Solemn Covenant or Stipulation with thee that I would take thee to be my people So that it is no wonder Pelievers follow the Lamb whethersoever he goeth they are married to him he is their Head and Husband Seventhly They follow the Lamb because they have the Spirit of the Lamb We have not the spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we may know the things that are of God And we have the mind of Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 2.11 12 16. And we know that he abides in us by the Spirit which he hath given us Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his This Spirit that the Lord