Palm tree which it also signifies as That which Riseth by Pressing down and was used at the Feast of Tabernacles and yet also by the Jews shaking their Palms Thrice every way crying Hosanna Hosanna As their Fathers did to Christ spreading Palm branches as we read in the Gospel But how Hated and Cursed Things and Persons may be Loved and Blessed as changed by Him that is not changed as we read in the same Prophet to which also St. James alludeth who also telleth us We are All begotten by One Father and that He hateth putting away in himself also I hope more than any person We must speak anon When I consider the solemn engagement of God to his Son Ask of me and I will give thee all Nations and the utmost ends of the Earth or in the Gospel-words Ask and thou shalt receive seek and thou shalt finde knock and it shall be opened which was first said to Christ before he said it unto us and he saith it to every one and with that also Because it is so to every one therefore so to you or them that then heard him I have often thought it such a ground of Faith and Hope that instead of doubting whether I was given to him or not I have often pressed it on him Ask me that thou mayst receive me seek me and thou shalt finde me and by vertue of the Covenant my hard heart also shall be opened to thee if thou wilt knock heartily Now thou saist thou standest at the door and knockest O but do it heartily which is the great Law of All Servants and thou art the Lords Servant and so called through the Prophets Gospel all the Bible And the Lords servant must be gentle towards all even to them which oppose themselves c. I have also judged it an unworthy thought of God to think he would so solemnly bid him ask what he would and whom he would and then to tye his tongue or narrow his heart so as he durst not or he would not ask as many as he could dispose or manage And to put it out of doubt I see him very solicitous to perswade and assure us that the Father hath so far prevented all his asking or our fears doubts that he hath given him all Things all Persons all Power in Heaven and Earth And on this Rock he grounds his Calls and all our Faith and Hope and coming to him For we must needs have staggered at all his words and promises till with Abraham we were fully perswaded that he was able to perform what ever he promised and this was imputed to him for Righteousness and not unto him only but unto us also it shall be imputed a strange expression to the Gentile Romans If we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our Justification We erre greatly not knowing the Scriptures and the mighty Power of Christ which if we knew we should not dispute his will but rowle our selves upon it as we daily pray and say Lord if thou wilt thou canst make us whole and cleane The God whom we worship is able to deliver us out of this Pit and fiery Furnace was it not a great mystery But however we will not worship the Golden Image of the Beast or him that was or is to be a Beast and to eate grass as an Oxe nor will we receive his character or name or number of it though set up in the plain of Dura every Generation of this World made up of 6. in bredth and 60. in height 666 was also the number of Talents of Gold brought yearly unto Solomon But of this again in our discourse of times and numbers weights and measures And when our Saviour himself came to dye and all the Scripture was against him that he could not live yet he was not afraid to put himself upon the infinite Power of God with Father if it be be possible and all things are possible The Angel to the Virgin said all things shall be possible with God and Christ several times with God all things are possible and at his coming down from the Mount an embleme of his second coming he addeth all things are possible to him also even to a poor weeping man that believeth All things are possible to thee O Father and to mealso they shall be possible But not my will but thine be done on Earth and my Earth also as in thy highest Heavenly Throne which shall also be my Throne And Father I will that those which thou hast given me to whom thou hast given all things may be with me and see my Glory and sit on my throne also And his Throne is established with Mercy as we read in the Prophet Isa. Yea rather with Mercy than Truth or any other thing for so the Proverbs say Mercy and Truth preserve the King but his Throne is established with Mercy So that if he cannot hold both he must let go Truth and all Justice rather than Mercy For Mercy shall triumph over all Judgement and in Judgement he still will still doth remember Mercy And he that sheweth not mercy in all things and all times shall have no mercy shewed him and himself bid them go learn what that meant I will have mercy and not sacrifice or mercy rather than any sacrifice He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what the Lord delighteth in to do Justice but especially to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Ride on prosperously because of Truth and Meekness of Righteousness and seeing God accepteth mercy rather than any other sacrifice let him guide thee also in the way he shall chose and best accept as the Psalmist speaketh I will therefore sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever for I have said mercy shall be built up for ever Mercy and Truth shall go before thy face O blessed are the people that know that joyfull sound and understand it They shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance in thy name they shall rejoyce all the day for they that know thy name will trust in it and in thy very Justice they shall be exalted Mercy and Truth are met together Righteousness and Peace do kiss each other Melchizedek the King of Righteousness is also King of Salem that is Peace and his Throne of Judgement in the Revelation is a white Throne and is established with mercy For his mercy endureth for ever for his mercy endureth for ever Even that Mercy which is Over all his works and his compassions never fall And Solomon saith he that honoureth his Maker hath Mercy on the Poor He shall hear the Poor when he cryeth and him that hath no Helper no Helper He shall save their souls and shall redeem them from deceipt and violence or as this Psalm is expressed in Ezechiel He shall offer sacrifice for every one that erreth and is simple
Flood was such a Baptism to the Earth also As helped to wash away its Curss and Then God said in his Heart I will no more Or I will not yet add or go on to Curss the Earth for mans sake For or although all the mouldings of his heart be evil continually Which was the great reason brought for the Flood and yet now against it and the Curse or its continuance So gracious was God seeing the Flood also did not change mans heart but still left it as bad as it found it he resolved another Course and that he would Overcome Man with Kindness For it it was not only the Heathen Poet that told us Love would Conquer All Nor the Apostle only that Love covereth a multitude of sins but Solomon expressly saith Love covereth or shall cover as the Original expresseth All Transgressions Which St. Paul also Comments on Love beareth All believeth All hopeth All endureth All. Which was seen before in Davids that is Loves perfect Victory over All his Enemies Yea and Saul also which is the Grave and Hell to which David also alludeth perhaps in That very Psalm Crying the Kables of Hell laid hold of me Kable Seol I shall not digress Here to shew How the Flood it self was a Blessing also to the Earth and a Type of a greater Blessing to come When the skies shall pour down Righteousness and the Earth also shall bring forth Salvation When we shall receive the great showrs and the Latter Rain of the Spirit as we have received the Former little drops and first fruits of it hinted in divers places of Scripture For the whole Earth also must be full of the Knowledg of God as the Waters fill up the Sea and did once cover the Earth yea once and again But the Spirit also moved on the Waters and formed out the Heaven and the Earth so also it shall bring forth a new Heaven and a new Earth in which Righteousness shall dwell And in the Revelation the Earth also holped the woman and drunk up the Flood cast out of the Dragons mouth May it not also be about 1656 from Christs Resurrection or the New Creation as the Flood was so long after the Old Creation And That very Earth which God so cursed even This Cursed Earth must become the Blessed of the Lord. Yea so much his Darling That he resolveth to make it the very Centre of All his Glory and to fill it so with his glorious presence that the very Saints or Angels in Heaven rejoyced in the Revelation that they should come out of Heaven to reign upon the Earth Which is many times also hinted in the Psalms and All the Prophets to be compared with that most remarkable Discourse of God with Moses on Mount Sinai of the Lands enjoying her Sabboth of Rest in Leviticus And the very Song of Moses which is as the Bass to All following Prophesies concludeth with This He will be gracious to his Land as to his People or he will Cover or Atone or Expiate his Land Yea the very word by which God named the Earth which is one of the few things God Himself named and would not leave to Adams Naming as he did other things is such a word as might be also rendered I will delight or be pleased as if Here he meant to take his pleasure and delight rather than in All the Heavens Which must pass away as a Scroul of Parchment before the fire and They shall be no more being only as a Canopy or Curtains now to hide the Glory of God which must ere long fill the Earth which therefore shall Endure for ever and be never moved though renewed and filled both with Righteousness and Peace And God will come to keep his Sabboth of Rest and will delight on Earth and take his pleasure Here and Here also accept his People as himself seemeth sweetly to allude to the very Name Erets by which he named the Earth in the 40. verse of the 20. chapter of Ezekiel Where also This allusion is more sweet and fuller much in the Original than other Languages can well express Berets sam eretsem And in the 34. of the same Prophet he saith I will make them and the places about my Hill a Blessing I will cause the showr to come in his season there shall be showers of Blessing And the Tree of the field shall yield her fruit and the Earth even the whole Earth shall then yield her Increase Which we also read in the 67. 96 97 98 99. and divers other Psalms and in the second of Hosea and divers other Prophets And this Land of Canaan more Accursed than the whole Earth besides while it was held by those accursed Nations so devoted to destruction came to be the Pleasant Land the Holy Land the place of Gods Delight and Residence on which his Eyes and Heart were fixed All the Year And This also but as the First fruits of the Earth For it must All be Full of the glory of God And All Nations must worship him and All Kingdoms must be His. So it is prayed and promised in many places of Scripture Let All the Earth fear the Lord let all the Inhabitants of the World Reverence him For he looketh on them and fashioneth their hearts alike and his Eyes are on them that fear him and Hope in his Mercy All his Works are done in Truth He loveth Righteousness and Judgment All the Earth is full of his Goodness And the next Psalm is Davids Heart or Christs when driven out from Abimeleck the King my Father or the Father of the King he Changed his Habit c. And among other sweet Expressions That may be One When the Face of God is against the wicked to cut them off from Earth They Cry for so is the Original and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their Trouble And again All the Ends of the World shall remember and Turn unto the Lord. And All Nations and Kindreds shall worship him Yea All Kings shall fall down before him and All Nations shall serve him For he shall deliver the Needy when he Cryeth the Poor also and Him that hath no Helper And again All Nations which thou hast made shall come and Worship before thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name And the reason is in the same Psalm For the Lord is Good and ready to forgive and plenteous in Mercy to all that call upon him O sing unto the Lord a New Song which is cited also in the Revelation Sing unto the Lord All the Earth Fear before him All the Earth Say among the Heathen the Lord Reigneth and the whole World shall be Established that it thall not be moved Let the Heavens rejoyce and let the Earth be glad Let the Sea Dance and Rowl with All the Fulness thereof which hereafter we may understand Let the Field be Joyful and All in it Yea Then shall all the Trees of the Wood rejoyce before the
that I say nothing of David in the 50. Psalm and Ezekiel the Son of Man and so a special Type of Christ the Son of Man is bid to make his people Know their sins and the Transgressions and Iniquities of their Fathers Which are forgiven when Seen and acknowledged bemoaned and repented as God promiseth he will bring them unto For it is not as some read it If they shall confess c. But 't is an absolute Promise in Leviticus and Deuteronomy and so cited also by Nehemiah or Daniel and Ezekiel that he would bring them to confess and that they should confess their own Iniquities and their Fathers also and be ashamed for them That which also followeth in the second Command is very sweet and far from shewing God to be an Angry Wrathful God as Satan would fain represent him As at first in Paradice some of his very first spawn cast on our great Mother and continued ever since till Christ shall break his head and destroy his malice with his works was This That God was an Envious God the Root of all evil and hard thoughts of God Who even in Judging and in Chastening and in all his worst visitations There Threatned where yet he spake his heart and seems to speak his worst will still remember Mercy Even in Judgment and in visiting most as a Jealous God he will remember Mercy And will but correct in measure and will not contend for ever lest the Spirit fail which he hath made But will visit only to the third or fourth Generation even in those that Hate him Which yet we All do and could not but do Till he Turn us by manifesting Love to us Love which he still beareth in his heart and it is there Rivetted so fast that he can as soon Un-god himself I would speak with Reverence as he can cast out Love from his Heart or act to his poor creatures without Love Nay give me leave to tell you he loved Adam Better more or with a Better Love or more Godlike after his Fall than before Nay it may be Now much better since his long sorrows and sufferings than before in Paradice Nay I had almost said with a better Love than he loved Christ himself before his Fall or Sufferings For he tels us it is a Little Love to love our like our Friend one lovely fair and beautiful kind and thankful still to us for all our love A very smal and poor and little Love which sinners shew and Hypocrites and All to All their like But that God might encrease his Love to Adam or might shew a Better Love than he could manifest be it spoken with Reverence while Man was Like him Holy Wise and Just Truly Fair and Beautiful in All he let him fall into the dirt and dust of death Into the Pox or worse disease that might deform him wholly so that he might commend his love indeed to such as hated him and were unworthy ugly more deformed then poor Job when botched all and naked most forlorn and miserable in his own and others thoughts and left in the hand of Sathan at his will But onely save his Life or Soul as God expresseth it Not onely for a Type of somewhat yet to come unto All that will wait with Job and expect the Lords End but it may be representing Adam also as accused and tempted by Sathan and at length left in his hands till God could shew his love was not onely skin deep as we say but everlasting Nay encreasing more and more as it could make or find an Object for that pity and compassion and that gracious Mercy which could not appear but still had been unseen abroad from God or hid within him had not his Wisdom contrived an Object for it which was Misery and guilt which was not till Sin came in and so he let him fall and shut him up under sin and guilt that he migh shew him Mercy which he could not do before And as before his fall God did not absolutely tye himself to Punish him So After the fall he did not execute That upon him which he might have done but devised devices as the Wise Woman of Tekoa said to David that his poor Banished might not perish And yet still preserved his own Honour and Majesty Truth and Justice too with such a kind of Love and Tender pity merciful compassion which could not appear abroad or possibly be shewn till sin or guilt or shame or fear or sorrow grief or pain or some such misery or other made an Object capable of pity mercy or compassion I shall yet a little more insist on these Particulars shew I hope they very well agree and no way contradict the Words and Mind of God even in the Law or harshest part of all the Scriptures First I premise God loved him and could not but love him very intirely if he loved himself while he was in his own Image And having so loved him and being so Immutable in his Heart Love and Nature he loved him to the End And I do not yet clearly see how any Promise can Oblige God to a more Constant Love of Man restored to that Image Then his own Nature and Heart moved him to love Adam In that Image Now if his Heart be not so truly Tender Gratious and Perfectly Good and immutable also in his most Genuine and Natural Love but that it could really change towards Adam in his own Image yea and that also before his fall or any demerit what ever as to decree his everlasting ruine or at least to leave him to it so foreseeing that he would so fall and rise no more in himself and his Posterity How can any man be sure and rest upon his Word or Promise that he will not leave him when he is renewed again into that Image Seeing it may be still doubted whether any man living can fully know Gods heart and mind by his words or expressions except there be some way else to know it and to rest and trust in it then his words can expresse or import Or unlesse a man may also be taught to believe his Word is Better Truer and more Certain Fixed and Obliging also then his very Heart and Nature is Which as some Teach or Believe was Such even then when it loved most or as much as it could love its self or its own Image that it yet hated and forsook and left to I know not what Irrecoverable misery his own Image and his dearly beloved in his own person or at least his posterity even his very next Son and Sons Sons to all Generations yea to all Eternity for the far greatest part of his Posterity May we not therefore believe and say that with a true constant and Eternal Love of Delight and Complacence from all Eternity to all Eternity God loved himself and his own Image where ever it was And nothing else but kimself and his own Image with that kind of
he had Blessed him He appeared to Abraham by the Name Elshaddai God Almighty and Abrahams believing but This Power was imputed for Righteousnesse But afterwards by the Name Jehovah which speaketh his Will also And I will be what I will be or what I can be As the Words are and not as some read them I am what I am which the lowest Creature may be said to be And at the Close of the Baptists Testimony of Christ in the third of John This is made the very Ground work of our Faith and Hope in Christ and coming to him because the Father hath loved him and given All things into his hand And so doth himself also make it several times in That very Gospel For the Father Loveth the Son and sheweth him all he doth and will shew him greater things then these that you may Marvel For as the Father quickens the dead even so the Son quickeneth whom he will For the Father judgeth no man but hath commited all judgement to the Son that all men should Honour the Son even as they Honour the Father For as the Father hath Life in himself so hath he given the Son also to have Life in himself and hath given him Authority to execute Judgement also because he is the Son of Man And again the Hour is come that the Son of Man should be Glorisied But as a Corn of Wheat he must first die that so he may be made a quickening Spirit and then he shall bring forth much Fruit for he will not die as a Fool dyeth But will improve his death to the utmost and do as much good as he Can and will Work while he may VVork Least the Night come and then he cannot VVork He will therefore do what is in his Hand and Power to do and will do it with all his Might Remembering him that said withhold not thy hand while it is in thy Power to Work Say not to thy Neighbour goe and come again to Morrow When it is now in thy Power to do him Good And now shall the Prince of this World be cast out And I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw All men unto me and Him that cometh to me will I in no wise I will not I will not cast him off or cast him out But walk while you have the Light least Darknesse come upon you These things he spake and did Hide himself from them But he came and Cryed again He that seeth me seeth him that sent me I am come a Light unto the World and he lighteth every one that cometh into the World that whosoever believeth should not abide in Darknesse If any Man hear my Words and believe not I judge him not for I came not to judge the World but to Save the World and these things I say that you might be Saved And again Jesus knowing that the Father had given All things into his hands and that he was come from God and went to God he riseth from Supper and took a Towel and girded himself and washed his Disciples feet O see his Heart when he hath Power for all this is because the Father had given All things into His Hands And when Judas was gone out immediately after the Sop though St Luke seem to make him present at the Sacrament and one of the twelve of whom or to whom he spake of twelve Thrones and Judging the twelve Tribes of Israel he saith Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him and if God be glorified in him God shall also glorifie him in himself and shall straightway glorifie him And shall not All bow to him and to the Glory of God also And if God be glorified in them God will glorifie them with himself or where is the stress of our Saviors Argument And again It is expedient that I go for else the Comforter will not come and when he comes he shall convince the World of sin For so God loved the World that he sent his Son not to condemn the world or Judg it but to save the world by That which he will give for the Life of the World And again which he shall give unto you for Him hath God the Father sealed And again I have many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth for he shall glorifie me and shall receive of mine and shew it unto you All things that the Father hath are mine therefore I said that he shall take of mine and shew It unto you And again Father Glorifie thy Son that thy Son also may glorifie Thee a Good Comment on the Lords Prayer for who can first give to God that it may be given or can lend that it may be paid again As thou hast given him Power over All flesh that he should not onely may but should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him And if That be not yet plain enough before in That very chapter he repeats it again saying I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me For they are Thine And all Mine are Thine and Thine are Mine and I am glorified in them And his saying here I pray not for the world stands as much alone without a Fellow or any like it as most words in all the Bible And how can we build any great matter of Faith upon That which hath not two or three Witnesses to confirm it Yet if it were said I Will not pray for the world Is it more or more obliging or concluding than That in Hosea Call her Lo-ruhamah I will no more have mercy upon the House of Israel and I will not have mercy on her children and I will not be their God And yet he did turn again and had pity on them because he delighted in Mercy and where it was said You are not my People There it shall be said You are the Sons of the Living God So also Thy Name shall be no more called Jaacob but Israel And yet God himself often called him Jaacob after This. So also I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice And I did not command your Fathers or speak to them concerning Sacrifice And in the same Prophet They shall teach no more saying Know the Lord. And You murmur not against us but God And they have not rejected Thee but Me. As in the Gospel I came not to Judg the world nor will I Judg you And again I do not or I will not call you Servants And You shall ask me Nothing And when thou makest a Feast Thou shalt not invite thy Friends In all which and divers other places sure we do not believe any absolute Negative but Comparative Or at least not so definitive but such as may be reversed And why should that saying I will not Pray for the world if he had said so oblige Christ
our Hearts do also signifie the sprouts of the Earth That Earth which the Lord Cursed But Noah found grace with God which may allude to his Name being the very same Letters which in Heb signify Grace He is called the eighth Preacher of Righteousnesse being the eighth from Enos When it is said Men began to Preach or Proclaim the Name of the Lord. The same phrase with Gods Proclaiming his own Name to Moses Though it be often used also for Calling on his Name As in the 80. and 79. Psalm Pour out thy Wrath upon the Kingdoms or Families that call not on Thy Name Till they seek Thy Name O Lord as we read in the 83d which may be added for calling on Christ and Praying to Him For among other Arguments There why he should not be Angry for ever or remember their Ancestors sins He cryeth Help us O God Our Saviour or our Jesus for the glory of Thy Name and Deliver us and Purge away or atone and expiate our sins for Thy Names sake VVhich as in the 65 Psalm and many other places is a sure Character of Christ in his Priestly Office being a Phrase so proper to the Priest in making Expiation for sin and the Mercy Seat and great Day of Atonement is from that VVord through all the Law of Moses And if I should so paraphrase the Words that Noah was the eighth from Enos who began to Preach Jesus Or to own him so as to call upon his Name I might not onely shew many Scriptures alluding though we now render them by Man and the Son of Man Where in Heb it is Enos or the Son of Adam But I might also bring great Arguments to prove Jehovah there used to be most proper to Christ Or the great Angel Jehovah as he is called in Zech. as alluding to the Angel so often speaking to Moses and giving the Law at Sinai out of the Burning Bush and Sinai is my Bush or my Thorns or my Sin or my Hatred as it is written or at least sounded in the Heb. And That Angel speaking to Moses when he was first made to turn aside and say he would consider that great thing a Bush Burning and yet not consuming as Christ also was plainly telleth him He was the God of his Fathers and appeared to them as t is said the Word of the Lord appeared to Abraham and the old Chaldee Paraphrase useth it very often where we read the Lord Though it was onely by his Name of Elshadday or God Almighty which we found the Object of Abrahams Faith but not yet as Jehovah speaking his Will also with his Power Ehje asher Ehje I will be what I will or can be Which now God would be in Christ delivering them out of Aegypt which in Heb is Misery as he speaks in the Law calling himself Jehovah the Lord thy God And This Name also may seem to be foretold to our Grand-mother Eve and that He should come from Her and she could not hold it in her Name being Chave which may also signifie a Tatler and as soon as Kain was born she cries I have kuned or kinned the Man Jehovah See the same Idiome particles and accents in Ezech. 4. 1. But as Seth was Set the Saxon English is very much Hebrew and a kin to Abraham in the room of Righteous Abel whom Kain slew So there was a Righteous Man also to rise up and be set in the room of Kain the Murderer and Brother Hater Which might be hinted perhaps when Kain named his Son Enoch sounding alike to Enos the very same name with the Blessed Patriarch Enoch That is the Chatechist or Catechumenus As is touched also in Abrahams taking out his Enochs or his Catechised servants against the four great Monarchies And Enoch was a great Type of Christ Walking with God and was not because God took him but before his Translation he had this Testimony that he Pleased God Living also 365. years as there be Dayes in a year And so long also did Christ remain in the Purity of the Primitive Church as the Oracle answered That Christian Religion should remain but One Great or Prophetick year and then came up That Grand Apostacy so much spoken of and ushered in by Him that through all ages since is Called The Apostate For Julian was about 365 years after Christ of which we may discourse again in an other Season When Enoch was Taken away and Seth Dead Noah is Born So Gracious is God in raising up other Comforters as our Saviour speaketh when it is expedient that some be taken from us Who is to be set in the room of Kain and his issue called the Children of Men in opposition to the Sons of Enos Named the Sons of God as some will have it Then began Men to be called by the Name of God All Kains Issue was washed off by the Floud so that all men now are the Children of Seth as we read in Scripture as well as Children of Noah And as we see the Justice of God in washing away the Sons of Cursed Kain so we may see the goodnesse of God in bringing us all since from Blessed Noah while also our sins as the Sons of Kain are washed off by the Blessed Flood of Baptism by Water and the Spirit Which must move on those Waters also as at first on the great Waters till it bring forth a New Heaven and a New Earth in which Righteousness shall dwell I do not Here stay to compare Noahs Ark with Peters Sheet having all kind of beasts Unclean and Clean which He must slay and eat and Turn into himself and his own spirit And from This he is Taught at length to call No Man Common or Unclean Seeing All are together and may be alike as they were in the sheet and in the Ark Resembling Christ with Rest also as the Name of Noah signifies Which was therefore given him because He shall give us Rest or Comfort in our Toyl because of the Earth which the Lord hath Cursed To which also the Prophet Micah may allude This Man shall be Our Peace whon the Assyrian Overflows our Land For so also Esay Prophesied that Assyria should rise up as a Flood and overflow the breadth of the Land of Emanuel as Antichrist the Church of Christ. see also Jer. 47. 2. But Christ shall give us Rest as himself also promiseth when he calleth all that are laden and that Labour as alluding to That of Noah I will give you Rest and again you shall find Rest to your Souls And the flood so Baptised Noah that God blessed Him and his Sons also which was more then we read done to Adams Children Yea Noah had a greater blessing then Adam had as may be shewed in divers Particulars and an Everlasting Covenant so established with Him and his Seed also that it is made the Pattern of all Covenants with Israel or any other as we may find in divers places And the
God promiseth to bring back the Captivity of Ammon as of Sodom also in Ezechiel and of Moab in the latter dayes or Time of Messiah as the Jews use to expound that Phrase of the latter Dayes And in the Tenth Generation They also may enter into the Church of God though it was threatned They should Never enter And as David was the fourteenth Generation and the fourteenth seventy Years from Abraham so was Boas the Tenth or eleventh who married Ruth a Moabite who might be the Tenth from Lot who by a former Man of Iudah was Daughter to Naomy Beauty Wife to Elimelech who had two Sons Mahlon weaknesse and Chilion consumption or perfection or Espousal who had Orpha stiffneckednesse who left her Mother The other Ruth who choosing her Mothers people and God is led to a field of Boaz and is bid stick close to his Maidens O tell me where thou feedest and restest at Noon for why should I stray and at length is bid to lie at his feet and say Thou art my Kinsman as Solomon bids us say to Wisdome Thou art my Sister And Christ is both Iachin and Boaz the Wisdom and Strength of God and so very near a kin to Elimelech my God the King see the third of Esay compared with the 7 8 17. 22. of the 23. chap. and see the Women of Moab and Ammon married to Kings of Israel and Judah And David in his straits carried his Parents to the King of Moab saying Let my Father and Mother be with you till I know what God will do for me Or as Esay Let my Out-casts dwell with Thee Moab be thou a Covert to them And in Mercy shall the Throne be established as we found before in the Psalms and Proverbs and he shall sit upon it in Truth in the Tabernacle of David judging and seeking judgement and Hasting Righteousnesse And my Heart shall Cry for Moab O the Tender Heart of God! Let his Fugitives flee to Zoar. As his Father Lot did from Sodom to Zoar which seemeth therefore to have stood in Moab on the East of Iordan and not on the West as the Tables place it And again send ye the Lamb to the Ruler of the People to the mount of the Daughter of Zion as alluding to the King of Moabs paying Lambs for Tribute to the King of Israel But about Ahabs Death Moab and Edom also brake their yoak and freed themselves from Iaacob under Iehoram the high Lord in the dayes of Elisha or God Iesus as the Name implies who had a double portion of the Spirit of Elijah the Lord my God And shall a Man be able to give a Double portion of his Spirit and That at his Parting and going away and shall not He that hath the Residue of the spirit in opposition to shear Baser the Residue of the Flesh which is so many times in Scripture Language for near Kindred or He that hath the Spirit without Limits or not by measure shall not He be able and willing also to give His Holy Spirit unto all that ask it and a Double Portion unto All his First Born Who saw and yet see him ascending and cry to him my Father my Father the Charriot of Israel and the Horsemen thereof And it may be That remarkable promise of the Spirit unto all that ask it may allude to This very History of Elijah giving his Spirit to Elisha crying my Father my Father As in Luke it is not as some read it your Heavenly Father But Your Father who is Out of Heaven or came out of Heaven And he took the Mantle of Elijah and smote the Waters saying as we may now say Here indeed is the Mantle of Elijah O but Where is the Lord God and the Spirit of Elijah and the Waters parted Hither and Thither Though I do not yet say when they so parted as before at Josuahs coming over Jordan there began an Other Generation or a New Age of the World As at first dividing the Waters by the Firmament of Heaven with the Waters above the Heavens of which in the Psalms and divers other places that I speak not of Esdras Ecclesasticus or Wisdom of Solomon And the Sons of the Prophets said the Spirit of Elijah resteth on Elisha and they bowed down or Worshipped him and afterwards he enlarged their Colledge and it may be their Spirit also The Hebrew Word Saul used in That History puts me in mind How Saul cut off the Lords Priests and How he fell and How the Jews say He was Recovered aand saved though I dare not say by the Mediation of Elias or Elisha Who they say must come and loose all knots or as our Saviour saith He must Restore All Things yea and that after John the Baptist was beheaded And some other words in That History put me also in mind How Elijah destroyed the false prophets of Baal and Jezabel and how Elisha did encourage and enlarge the True Prophets and at length by one of the young prophets annointeth Jehu which yet was given in charge to Elijah himself One of the best Texts I know for Deputations And Jehu destroyeth Jezabel who had not onely Destroyed and Corrupted the Lords Prophets and driven away Elijah and Elisha but had even quite stifled the very Spirit of Prophecy in the Seed of God as the Hebrew words Naboth in Jezreel may import Which may be compared with That of Jezabel opposed by the Bright morning Star breaking and scattering the Dark Clouds and bringing in the Morning and Our Rising and cloathing with White and fresh Linnen in fourth and fifth Churches and thâ—slaying of the two Witnesses with the Spirit of Prophecy in the Revelation And the sixth Church of Philadelphia or Brotherly Love is plainly the New Jerusalem as Christ himself expresseth in his Epistle to that Church before the General Iudgement of the People or Laodicea as the Word signifies Which may also be compared with the latter part of the eleventh and also the four last Chapters of the Revelation Where the great Judgement also is Described which the Prophets place in the Valley of Jehoshaphat whose very Name implies the Lords Judgement Which was also called the valley of Beraca or Blessing When they had troden down Moab and Ammon and Edom. Which we find also cited in the Prophets as foretelling somewhat yet to be done in the Revelation And had it not been for Jehoshaphat Elisha said he would not have seen the other two Kings met against Moab also saying Nay but hath God gathered these Kings and their people also together to Destroy them But as Jehoshaphat smarted sorely for joyning with Ahab and his Sons so They Got by His good Company In which we may see God pitying a Wicked man and Hearing his Cry and Prayer as most remarkably after he did the Prayer of Jehoahaz 2 Kings 13. 4 5 6. 23. How the Waters came at the morning Sacrifice and How he multiplyed the VViddows Oyl that was like to
are by Thee Thou shalt not press him with Usury or be as an Userer to him nor any way Hard for if he Cry unto me I will Hear for I am Gratious and will God Hear when we cry of a man oppressing or pressing us and will he not hear us against the Devil also and our spiritual pressors or Oppressors seeing he Fxecutes Judgement for All that are Oppressed And His Word is as pure silver seven times refined from Earth sweetly applyed to this very thing If thou meet thine Enemies Ox or Ass going astray and in another place This Enemy is called a Brother which may shew us how far that Phrase of Brother or Neighbour reacheth even to an Enemy and One that Hateth us As also Christ sheweth us in his Parable of the good Samaritan and divers other places Where he tells us 't is â—a little Love to love a Friend or one that is like us or friendly to us Thankful and Kinde which even sinners and Hypocrites use to do in Their Love But his Children and Servants and himself also must love Enemies and such as hate backbite blasphem and offer all despite unkind and unthankful and all this that they may be like their Heavenly Father Who with love of delight and complacence loveth only himself and his own Image but with pitty and compassion which may be a better or a kinder kind of love he loveth and is kind and Merciful to his very enemies and those that are unlike him froward and unthankful Yea to their very Ox and Asses also even as the Law here bids in Exodus If thou meet thine Enemies Ox or Asse going astray thou shalt surely bring it back to him again If the see the Asse of him that hateth thee lying under his Burthen Thou shalt surely leave thy businesse or lay aside thy Garments to help him up or help with him Which may be improved much in our addresses to Christ. For we may justly tell him Our poor souls are as the very Asses of his Enemies and those that hate him nay yet worse as the wild Asses Colt as the Scripture expresseth it and that is more unserviceable then the Ox or Asse or other beast of burthen is I am Behemoth with thee as the psalmist expresseth it But though I stray yet Thou hast put thy self under That Law which bids us help a straying Beast and much more when he lies under an heavy Burthen under which he cannot stir much lesse come to Thee as thou callest All that are heavy laden Now sherefore shew thy pitty and compassion to the poor Asse or the poor soul the bruitish Heart of him that is thy Enemy and Hateth Thee And I know one that said He never received a more sweet and kind return from our Saviour then when in great anguish of spirit he bowed unto him crying onely This Now shew thy kindness to thy Poor Enemy the Kindnesse thou hast spoken of to a Poor Enemy which is now at thy foot and mercy whom thou hast taken captive with thy Sword and thy Bow and while I am speaking Thus I think also of That spoken by the Prophet to the King of Israel when he had so many of his Enemies at his Mercy in the midst of his great City Shall I smite them my Father shall I smite them and the Prophet answered No by no means wilt thou smite them thou hast taken captive with thy sword and thy bow give them to eat and drink and let them go and he prepared great provision for them and sent them away so overcome with this Kindnesse that they could hardly be drawn to come any more as Enemies against the King of Israel who was so Merciful a Prince And Mercy doth preserve and establish a Kings Throne more then any thing in the World as Solomon shews and David also in divers places and so it doth and still shall establish Christs Throne also Which is a white Throne even when he cometh to Judgement and Mercy shall still go before him and be the stability of his Throne and Kingdom and blessed be they that hear and know and believe that joyful sound which is sweeter then all the Trumpets or the Bells about the fringe of Aarons Garment Which yet had a better Ornament even that sweet perfume of the Good Oyntment a meek and quiet spirit as Saint Peter expresseth it and the Psalmist compareth it to Love which with God is of great value and it drencht his beard throughout even Aarons Beard which was yet but an Excrement and often to be cut away and ran down through all his Garments even to the seams and fringes also round about And as if God had not yet enough provided for the Poor through all the Laws in Exodus and Leviticus He repeateth and addeth in Deuteronomy Thou shalt not harden thy Heart or shut thy hand from thy Poor brother As if all shutting of hands came from Hardnesse of Heart and that This also was mainly or onely against a poor man But thou shalt open thy hand wide and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in That which he wanteth Beware there be not a word or thought in thy wicked heart saying the seventh year the year of Release is at hand and thy eye be evil against thy poor brother and thou givest him Nought and he cry unto the Lord against thee and it be Sin unto Thee Thou shalt surely give him which before was lend him but at or near the year of Release it was a gift because to be forgiven then and Thy Heart shall not be grieved when thou givest to him a most sweet Command and Promise because that for This thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in All thy Works and in All that thou puttest thy hand unto VVhich is the great promise to the Reading and Observing of the whole Law so that love and pitty to our poor Neighbour is rewarded as keeping of the whole Law As Daniel also to Nebuchadnezar even when the decree was made against him I councel thee to break off thy sins by justice and by shewing Pity to the poor And when the people asked John the Baptist What shall we do He said nothing but Pity the poor And so our Savior also to the wicked Pharisees Give Alms of all you have and All things shall be clean to you And lest All This might yet be too little or too narrow because it begun with a Poor Brother It concludes as general as well can be expressed Thou shalt open thy hand wide unto thy Brother to thy Poor and thy Needy in the Land Which Phrase is remembred to Christ several times in the Psalms crying Thy Poor and Thy Needy and forget not the Congregation of Thy Poor c. Where it is also Kite as the English sound the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Kite or Knite the Beast or Beasts of thy Poor As alluding to the Oxe or Ass or wild Asses Colt
Charan may see the motion of the Moon in her double state of New and Full crossing the Ecliptick with North and South Latitude attending the Sun also in all his Declinations North and South As Their Journeyings were In all places the Spouse is Lebana so with Laban so at Lebanon so in Aegypt and so also in Arabia whose Frankincense was Lebona And Solomons spouse had the smell of Lebanon and Lebona As alluding to the Temple Ketoreth of which before or to Keturah married to Abraham about the Time of Rebecca's coming from Bethuel and Laban so that she was also Lebana And when the Manna fell they cryed Man or called it Man being like the Good or Goat seed of Laban As the words may sound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which yet some render As Coriander seed or Goid in Dioscorides and it was White Alban a Methathesis of Laban whose Goats also were White and streaked And that of Manna and the white Stone in the Revelation may perhaps allude to That white Good Seed or Saviour which they also called Man not knowing what it was and the Seed of Gad or God whom they also call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in Esay they sacrificed to Gad whence some bring Godt and God and Guid and Good and Good Nese the Good â—le of Gades the old Elyzian Fields Hesperides or Fortunate Ilands And as Man is the great Reckener on Earth as we touched before from the Hebrew Mana to reckon so is the Moon in Heaven Mone Reckoning or the Counter And as she is called Lebana from VVhiteness so she is called Jareach As Reaking like Incense Lebona Which in the Temple was a VVitness as the Moon in Heaven to the Great Covenant which God made with Man and Mankinde in Noah when he offered Sacrifice at his coming out of the Ark and God smelt a sweet sauour of Rest which should be still remembred all the many times we read that Phrase and said in his Heart However his Face may seem to frown yet All the words of his Heart shall stand and he said in his Heart I will no more Curse the Earth for Adam For or although every would of his Heart be Wrong from his youth or before his youngers neither will I add to sâ—ite or Hack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All Flesh or Any Flesh As Any Work in the 4th Command and divers other places As I have done c. And this Everlasting Covenant was made when he smelt that sweet savour of Rest which in Hebrew may sound The Moon a Reak of Night or Rest. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As if the Moons Intercessions betwee the Sun and the Earth might also represent the sweet Odours of the Church to Christ and of Christ to his Father who hath made That everlasting Govenant with man for His sweet Odour of Rest as sure as the Moon a faithful VVitness in Heaven as the Psalms express it speaking of the Covenant made with David and his Seed for Ever As before with Abraham and His Seed and with Noah and His Seed for Ever Which is made the measure of all other Covenants So that If This which God made with Noah for Day and Night or other seasons can be disannulled Then also may his Covenant with Israel As himself speaketh in the 33 of Jeremy And as Jareach may come from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Reak so also from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the common word for Spirit as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the English Racket a Fan or Vane But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Vaine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet a little while and God will pour out his Spirit on the Earth as the Sun doth on the Moon He will give us the Upper and the Lower Springs as before in Achsa The Precious things of the Sun and Precious things of the Moon of the Heaven above and the Deep Couching beneath And the good will of him that dwelt in the Bush And when he saw that Moses said I will now turn aside to see This great sight and that he turned aside to see He called to him c. It is This Moses speaketh so of Joseph whom his Father also blessed with the Blessings of Heaven above and the Deep below the Breasts and the Womb. And These on Him that was separate from his brethren see Prov. 18. 1. as in Heb. And they scorned him as they Thrust out Moses also saying Who made thee a Judge among us But God exalted him and so he did Joseph also Sophie the Dreamer And Lo this Dreamer cometh And his Dreams were Sun and Moon and a Crown of 12 Stars also Rachel was the Sheep but He the Shepherd and the Stone of Israel to be compared with Dan. 2. and other Scriptures comparing Christ to a Stone And may we not finde Three Tribes of Rachel in Canaan with an Half also beyond Jordan Or what if Rachels Two sons should also be Stones of VVitness As Jacob spake at Gilead parted also or measured by Three and an Half As we see they were and the Lord dwelling at their Shilo and Mispha Sechem and other Shoulders also While the very Temple it self or its Court was parted between the Tribes of Benjamin and Judah That I speak not of the Tabernacle settled so long at Gibeon and the Ark at Kiriath-jearim another City of the Gibeonites saved on the 3d or 4th day in Josh. 9. who yet were Cursed by Joshuah that is solemnly Devoted to God and His service As the Nethinims in all the Bible I have yet said nothing of the Candlestick in the Tem ple parting it self into three Branches with three Bowls and three Flowers and three Lamps on either side of the Great Lamp in the Midst as the Sun in the middle of the seven Planets which yet so inclined to the West that they commonly call it the Western Lamp still burning Day and Night And measuring Time by Three and an Half on each side or Seven in the Whole while the 12 Cakes of Shew-bread lay by and were changed also every Sabbath or 7th Day And the Incense offered at 7 and 14 as we shewed before With the other Altar without for the Tamid where the Fire was not quenched Day or Night And the Salt Frying as the Worm never Dying And the Spirit of God as the Ayre or Sulphure also which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 somwhat Divine as a River of Brimston Kindling it Yea and the Sea of Sodom also before the Throne as we touched before in the Molten Sea so placed in the Outward Court as the Lake of Sodom was to Jerusalem On the Right Hand South-East As we may read in several places How the Seas Lamps or other things came to be multiplyed by 10 in Solomons Time we may speak in Characters if God permit In the mean time let me add That He that believeth is Childe of the Promise with Isaac and Blessed with faithful Abraham Yea He that is weak in
Jerusalem shall be as David and every one that Thirsteth receiveth His Everlasting Covenant and His sure mercies or his Holy Things in all things Ordered and sure His seed shall endure for ever His Throne As the Sun before him It shall be established for ever as the Moon as a faithful Witness in Heaven Selah Then follows the Laying or slaying of those faithful Witnesses But How long wilt Thou O Lord be Hidden Here is the Great Nister as the Jewes call the 3d Person As Hidden or Mister as the English or Mistery we touched before and Lanetsach And Cheled the word here used with others leading us to Adam and Abel Then to Enoch and Elijah When we shall resolve that Dying Eclipse on the Cross in Hours and Dayes and Months and Years As we shall be enabled by Him whom to acknowledge on all Occasions is our Happiness and Glory What is the Proper Age of the Moon its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when called Jareach may not be easie to determine We found her before in her Casing sucking the Sun as a Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till her Heat as That in the Earth and our Heart also the Cause of all motions and clicking Pulses make her first Reak and then Boyl as a seething Pot or a Boyling Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seath Seeth as the Greek 〈◊〉 Spirit boyling up as enflamed by Heat within And so the Moon and Sea also may flow as we touched before to be compared with Esay 64 1. 2. Psal. 147. 18. In Numbers Jareach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 makes 218. Which in Hours is but 2 or 3 more then Three times Three Dayes Or if you will Three Nights because the Moon is to Rule the Night And all the Nights of the week make but 3 whole Dayes of 24 Hours and an Half before the Sun of the Sabbath Riseth As the Lamb of the Sabbath Day with his 144000 Virgins following the Lamb of the Sabbath as the Jewes Clakins of the 144 Hours of the six Dayes before the Sabbath as the first Fruits to God and the Lamb of which before Of Dayes and Months and Years in Characters To 3 times 3 Dayes each 3 is 72 Hours adding6 Hours more we are brought to Midnight of the 10th Night before the 10th Day the time of Jerecho In Hours 222. the 3d part of 666. And Jerichos Walls mightr each to Heaven or at least to the Moon as it signifies Though we have not yet compared its Trumpets with them in the Revelation Or the Last Plagues of God and the Last Woe When it is past No more Curse But as we saw in Jericho though Cursed as Gibeon also yet built again by Hiel the Living High God from Bethel the House of God in the Dayes of Ahab Brother and Father also As we saw before If we go forward to reckon the Age of the Moon and the World together we may remember that although the Jews Night were in Winter about 7 minutes more than 14 Hours long yet they alwayes made or accounted it Even to their Day and so it was There and elsewhere at the Equinox in which they agree the World was Created Let us a little compare it with the first Month in which they came out of Aegypt When the first Night of Time was past as the Cubits first Span of 3 Taps or Watches of 4 Hours apeece or 4 of 3 12 Hours brought up That great Change of Light for Darkness It is made of 3 the Father of all Numbers and Ab in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 3 on 4 the Mother as 7 is 3 with 4 which we found the first square Number or Compound as 3 are all Simples The 2d 12 Honrs were All Children of Light which we called the sons of Israel as the former 12 were sons of Darkness or 12 sons of Ishmael the First-born of Abram the High Father The 25th Hour brought in the next great Change of Darkness for Light and is the nearest Root of 666 the Course of the Moon that Eve of Night as the Sun is the Adam of Day with his 12 also as Apostles the Root of 144. 35 and 36 Brought in the Second Change of Light for Darkness As 350 and 360 Dayes bring up the 2d Year both Solar and Lunar which is as the Day Dawning in the 35th Hour before Full Light in the 36th which is 3 times 12. And the Half being also added maketh 42 which brings up Noon or perfect Light of the 2d Day Which is ended by 12 drawn into 4 the first square Number bringing up the 3d Nights Rest and great Change beginning with 49 or 7 times 7 as the Jubilee and Hebrew Midda Measure of measures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 49. 60 Hours bring up the Morning of the 3d Day and 66 its Noon and 70 is the Hour of its Evening Minha had it been appointed to be compared with the Pentecost and Return from the 70 Years Captivity and many other 70 in Scripture It coming so up in the 3d Day which is also ended with 72 Hours as the 72 Elders of the Sanedrin 6 times 12. 84 Hours bring up the Sun of the 4th Day and frees the Moon from the Sun as we saw before So that Both those Witnesses might Then be seen in Heaven Where One or Both had yet lay hid till the 4th Day or after 3 Dayes and Half which is the Night of the 4th the Moed of these Heavenly Witnesses to measure all other And as the Sun of Righteousness did not appear till the 4th Great Day of the World so perhaps he came in That very Hour of the 1000 years which answereth to the 4th Dayes Minha or some other signal season that may tell us both his Setting and Rising again when we shall consider all his Moeds also of 3 Years and Half 3 Dayes and Half yea and 3 Hours and Half great Eclips on the Cross of which in Characters as God shall help us with the Prayers of his people who must help the Lord against the Mighty Powers of Darkness that He may bring out his Marvellous Light which is Dawning among us 96 Hours end the 4th Day And 7 times 96 are but 6 more than 666. Whos 's 6th part is III. in Hebrew letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Measuring Line we touched in Kav la Kav Sav la Sav. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is also just 96 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 106 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 100 and 11. 120 Hours 10 times 12 bring up the 6th Day in which man was Created and when he had fallen and God grieved or Repented or resolved to change him because he had made him on Earth and not kept him in Heaven He said My Spirit shall not be a Don or Dun to Man for Olam 140 or 700 in their Erring who is Flesh. But his Dayes have been or shall be 120 Year as