to forsake any man so far as he appears to me to go with that And in this resolution as to the present work I am confirmed by considering that the knowledge of those Prophecies which relate to the last times is to be attained not so much by settling upon old received Principles as by running to and fro to seek new Light and further Discoveries If any inquire of me as touching the reasons why I have forborn to mention the names of such Authors as I have had occasion in this Discourse to deal with my answer is because I would not appear as an opposer of men though for the love of truth I am an opposer of false Principles which may be in the best man and also because I would not give just cause by bringing the names of good men upon the stage to any who yet are living or the friends or lovers of such as are deceased to be offended I might adde another reason with wishes it were otherwise because many Professors in our dayes are grown so wanten that the very naming a good man and shewing him to be in a mistake is enough to make his name of little esteem if not odious with some of them And yet although I have suppressed names have I alwayes laid the weight of their Reasons in the ballance not willingly concealing nor extenuating by my laying it down the strength of any one Argument that whilst I was composing this Discourse I could meet with making against me which for any to do I have alwayes judged a manifest sign of one who rather seeks to make others think him a Victor than to finde the truth Having given thee Christian Reader this brief account of the rise of this enterprise and my progress in it I have only two or three things to adde First In case thou art one who art a young beginner whose face is but newly set towards Truth to seek it let me commend to thee this one rule amongst many which those who wait for the Spirit shall learn it being that which the Author being such a one as thy self finding himself wearied and quite tired out in seeking after truth whilst he hath addicted himself to follow now the opinion of this man now of that being able all this while to settle upon nothing hath in the end been forced as in other things so in this to have recourse unto which is to take the naked Scripture and read it over and by some distinguishing mark made in the Bible to sever those Scriptures which in the Prophets and elsewhere treat of the last times from other Scriptures whose subjects are different which done thou shalt then be able by the help of thy mark to turn thy Bible over and in a few hours to consider all that from one end of the Scripture to another hath special relation to the last times or by making a different mark to any subject into which thou desirest light whence having first by comparing the whole together founded thy self upon such Principles as are contradictory to no part thou shalt then be able to pass a right judgement upon the different minds and sayings of Writers knowing when and where to chuse and refuse as they agree with or differ from the substance of that truth which in Scripture hath special relation either to such a Time or such a Subject and as where this is carefully and understandingly done there will be little need of the multitude of Authors so where it is omitted there will be little else save confusion to him that shall turn them over And this let me say further in doing of it thou mayest promise thy self through the help of the good Spirit more full sat is faction then I will promise thee from what I have written or from any Book extant that ever I met with besides the Bible and willingly I would have been here at the pains to have pointed out to thee those Scriptures whose subject is the last times but that I judge that to read over thy Bible diligently thy self and mark them out will do thee much more good Secondly In case thou art one whose delight and study runs this way to pry into the mysteries of the last times if he might teach who indeed hath more need to learn I would say make stops sometimes and look round about thee lest while thou art running on supposing thou seest thy way before thee thou dost unawares out run thy Leader which if thou dost thou wilt streightway be woodded and wildred and go to work with thy reason only which will never make good work to hew the way thou shouldst go in And further never fear to make a turn out of the common road though standers by cry you are out of the way if so be thou perceivest truth to have taken that path before thee Thirdly If thou art one who art offended at the visible dispensations of this age and upon that account no friend to studies of this nature I only say perhaps thy readiness to be offended at what is done and doing at this day in the world ariseth hence from a not observing the signs of the times study therefore these things a little and more take a wise mans counsel Act. 5.36 Refrain from censuring and opposing for if the work now doing in the world be of men it will assuredly come to nought but if of God happily whilst ye oppose ye shall be found to fight against God Fourthly and lastly Whatsoever thou art receive not what is written without triall nor throw it away upon a loose triall with a Tush the one is an enemy to thy comfort for he that swallows meat whole tastes not the sweetness of it the other may be to thy light for he that 's resolved to open his eyes but half way must expect to see men like trees And as things are not written with a spirit of infallibility so as that all must be received so neither I hope is any thing put in with so much levity as deserves to be cast out with a Tush but rather lay Scriptures together wâ—igh things well and then judge Thus the Bereans did and are called noble for so doing whereas those who take things upon meer trust and those who throw them away without any triall are neither of them noble Only in case of trial do not for one single Scripture which may seem to thee to contradict any part reject the whole but rather lay Scripture to Scripture till the whole of Scriptures is brought to some harmony by which time possibly thou mayest see reason to be of my mind if not a better harmony being found I shall I so hope at least with thanks for light willingly relinquish my own and come to thine And further In case some things upon diligent fearch do evidently appear to be mistakes do not therefore because of some weeds throw away all the corn he that will eat no corn but what grew up without weeds
I will gather her that is driven out and her that I have afflicted And I will make her that halted a remnant and her that was cast off a strong Nation and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Sion from henceforth even for ever Chap. 5.4 And he i.e. Christ as vers 2. shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord in the Majesty of the Name of the Lord his God and they shall abide for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth vers 5. And this man shall be the peace it is proper to Christ alone to be called the Peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land and shall tread in his Palaces Nahum Chap. 1.15 Behold upon the Mountain the feet of him that bringeth good tydings that publisheth peace O Judah keep thy solemn Feast perform thy vows for the wicked shall no more pass through thee he is utterly cut off explained Zech. 14.4 His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives vers 21. And in that day there shall be no more Canaanite i.e. the house of the Lord of Hosts Habakkuk Chap. 2.14 For the Earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea To what time this relates see by comparing with Isa 11.9 where wee have the same words Zephaniah Chap. 3.8 to the end Haggai Chap. 2.6 7 21 22 23. before opened Zechariah Chap. 6.12.13 Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts saying Behold the Man whose name is the Branch and he shall grow up out of his place and he shall build the Temple of the Lord Even he shall build the Temple of the Lord and he shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule upon his Throne and he shall be a Priest upon his Throne This Prophecie relates to Christ who is the Branch who is to bear the glory and not any creature yea who and no other is King and Priest both upon his Throne Chap. 9.9 Rejoyce greatly O Daughter of Sion shout O Daughter of Jerusalem Behold thy King cometh unto thee he is just and having salvation lowly and riding upon an Asse and upon a Colt the foal of an Asse And I will cut off the Chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the battel bow shall be cut off and he shall speak peace unto the heathen and his Dominion shall bee from Sea even to Sea and from the River to the ends of the earth Which latter words are an evidence the Prophecie is yet to be fulfilled and this coming of Christ as a King is the same which as under a type was represented by Christs riding into Jerusalem Mat. 21.4 5. and that was in a Personal way There is but one Prophet more and that is Malachy who also speaks of this Chap. 3.2 Who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth for he is like a Refiners fire and like Fullers sope Chap. 4.1 2 3. Behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven and all the proud yea and all that do wickedly shall be as stuble and the day that cometh shall burn them up that it shall leave them neither root nor branch But unto you that fear my Name shall the Sun of righteousness arise Thus I have lead you through all the Prophets naming but a few Texts out of each more especially the Psalms Isaiah and Zechary which every where are full of this instead of many that might be shewing you what a harmony there is amongst them all as to the time of Christs Kingdome which if any one can shew so full a harmony as to that of the General Judgement I shall for time to come lay by this Scripture as not of weight to prove the thing in hand but till this is done I shall hold my own conclusion viz. That the time of the Restitution of all things when Christ is Personally to appear being that which all the Prophets have spoken of is not the General Judgement which few or none have spoken of but the time of restoring the Kingdome of Israel that being the thing that all the Prophets are full of having treated of no one Subject more nay not half so much And indeed the 20. verse suits this Interpretation well And he shall send Jesus which before was preached unto you the latter words unto you having reference as well to sending as preaching and the meaning is That Christ shall at this time as verily be sent of the Father to the Jews as then he was preached to them by Peter and therefore Tremelius in his Translation out of the Syriack reads the Vobis to you twice after either Verb. The Argument then lyes thus If that Christ shall personally appear at the time of the Kingdoms restoring to Israel as hath been at large proved and if this shal be in the Interval of time betwixt the sixth and seventh Vials as also hath been formerly proved then doth it follow that Christs personal appearance or coming shall be betwixt the sixth and seventh Vials and so is the very coming here spoken of Behold I come as a Thief Two Arguments more to prove our Position are in the words themselves which are 3 ARGUMENT The phrase of coming as a Thief is most frequently used in Scripture to express Christs personal coming which therefore is the coming here intended 1 Thess 5.2 For your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a Thief in the night 2 Pet. 3.10 But the day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the night in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noyse So Mat. 24.42 43 44. Luk. 12 39 40. 4 ARGUMENT The duty here spoken of to which a special blessing is annexed is that very duty which beleevers are with much earnestness exhorted unto whensoever Christs personal coming is spoken of Mat. 24.42 Watch therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come Chap. 25.13 So Mark 13.32 33 34 35 36 37. 1 Thess 5.2 compared with 6. all which places speak of no other coming but his Personal Yea the blessing annexed to this duty of watchfulness we do not read of but thrice more in all the Scripture and that is ever in such places where mention is made of his personal coming Luke 12.37 38. we have the blessing twice pronounced Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching And if he come in the second watch or in the third watch and find them so blessed are those servants Mat. 14.46 Blessed is that servant whom the Lord when hee cometh shall finde so doing what doing why watching and being ready against his coming as vers 42.44 These two last Arguments taken from the words I must confess do not of themselves conclude the thing because the same expression of coming as a Thief with the duty of watching annexed thereto I find once used in a spiritual
Ordinances shall be no more thy light by day neither for brightness shall the Moon give light unto thee and verse 21. Thy Sun i. e. the Lord Christ who is the light of this New Jerusalem shall no more go down neither shall thy Moon thy outward glory and felicity with-draw it self making a clear distinction betwixt the Sun that before was which is called the Sun and the Sun that at this time shall be which is called thy Sun as being another Sun peculiar to these times and not the same Sun as was in former times and this Sun that we may not be mistaken in it is interpreted twice over to be the Lord Verse 19. The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light Vers 19. as opposed to the former Sun And again For the Lord shall be thine everlasting light vers 20. being there added as a reason why this Sun should never go down no not in Heaven hereafter because the Lord should be this Sun And who is this Lord why Jesus Christ the Lamb who is said to be the Temple and Light of this New Jerusalem and that in opposition to the Temple Sun Moon i. e. all outward Lights and Ordinances that before had been Rev. 21.22 23. And I saw no Temple therein for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it And the City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the Lord God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof And to this day as I conceive have those Scriptures reference Jerem. 31.34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brether saying Know the Lord for the shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them Isa 54.31 And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord arguing an immediate feeding and teaching not so much by instruments means and Ordinances as the Lord himself And though it is not denied these Scriptures had a fulfilling in the beginnings when the Spirit was poured down teaching then Christ promising and sending his Spirit for that end being more abundant and spiritual than in former times for which cause they are by Christ himself and Paul after him interpreted as then fulfilled yet it is evident from the scope of those places whence these Texts are quoted that the Prophets had in their eye another time namely the time of the Jews delivery when not Judah only but Ephraim Head of the ten Tribes also spoken of expresly by Jeremy should return yea the very time of the New Jerusalem whose stones are therefore by Isaiah said to be laid with fair colours her foundations with Saphires her windows of Agates her gates with Carbuncles and all her borders with pleasant stones not unlike that description of the New Jerusalem John gives us but more full Rev. 21. of that although in part these Scriptures had a fulfilling before in which sense Christ and Paul mention them yet the fulness or the compleat fulfilling of them respects the time we are speaking of And doth not the phrase of New Heavens and New Earth spoken of by Isaiah Peter John and ever with reference to this time imply as much for the very phrase of making a new implies the abolishing of the old which new made that it cannot consist of any such outward things as did the old is clear because upon the abolishing of the old such things only are left standing in this new as can never be shaken or removed which all outward things are subject to Thus although in the New Jerusalem a Temple there shall be yet not such a Temple as was the Temple of Jerusalem of old or is the Temple of Jerusalem that now is but as the whole state of things shall be new so shall the Temple be new In the new Heaven the Lâ—mb who sits upon the Throne shall be the Temple and the great Voyce out of the Temple of Heaven from the Throne is the Voyce of Christ himself who at this day will sit upon his own Throne in the midst of his Church and People which is clear as before I have said Chap. 21.5 6. And what I have formerly hinted I shall here remember again that the very reason as I conceive why many in these dayes cast off the holy Ordinances and Institutions of the Lord Jesus is this They find it clear in Scripture that the continuance of these things are but until his coming which coming puts an end to Ordinances they judging to be Spiritual only and not Personal and perswading themselves withall that in this sense Christ is come to them already they conceive it high time for them to quit and shake off all outward forms Object If against what I have said it be objected that Zechary Chap. 14.16 speaking of this time tells us They shall go up from year to year to worship the Lord and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles therefore Ordinances shall be at this day I answer If by worshipping the Lord and keeping the Feast of Tabernacles we understand a walking in Ordinances then shall the Ordinances at this day bee common to all even the worst of sinners for that such at this day shall be in the world hath been before proved and observe the comand to come up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles is general upon all that are left of those who came up against Jerusalem vers 16. All the Families of the earth vers 17. yea the very Heathen vers 18. and if Ordinances shall be so common at this day then will the purity of worship in respect of the Worshippers be less then than now it is and if so where then will be the holiness of this day which in this respect is to excel all dayes before it The meaning therefore I conceive is this That all people in remembrance of the terrible destruction Christ made of his enemies gathered together at Jerusalem upon his appearing shall from that day year after year i.e. often come and worship before the Lord i. e. fall down before this Christ sitting on the Throne acknowledging him to be the great King of the world and Jesus Christ the Lord to the glory of God the Father fulfilling that of Isa Chap. 45.23 Vnto me every knee shall bow And that of the Apostle Phil. 2.20 At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow And this the phrase used by the Holy Ghost of keeping the Feast of Tabernacles doth notably set forth for in Levit. 23.34 where we have the institution of this Feast we have vers 43. this added as the reason of the Institution namely the memorial of Gods strange and wonderful Providence towards and in preservation of Israel when they came out of Egypt which Deliverance as it was but a Type of this so the Memorial thereof by keeping the Feast of Tabernacles was a Type of the Memorial that should be kept
Generations nor matter of exaltation to our selves who have nothing but free Grace to boast of nor any other reason to give why it should thus be but this onely so it pleased him Yet as then when truth came forth in being the new light of the Generation did oftentimes offend persons living in those Generations so as they could not see the work of the Cerations as the persecutions that many of the Prophets of the Old Testament and the Apostles of the New did suffer from the men of those Generations for the same doth witness So now when truth is coming forth in regard of discovery the new discoveries of truth have been and are a continual offence to the men of these last Generations even to the opposing the very work of the Generation they have lived in as the sufferings of those Witnesses of Jesus who stood up for the Priestly Office of Christ about Luthers daies by the Papacy and the persecutions of those Worthies since who have maintained the Kingly Office of Christ by the Prelacy and the several Nick-names of truth in this our age and new light the common by-word of the Country doth clearly and fully evidence Secondly At those stumbling blocks which usually are laid in the work of the Generation It is a thing to be noted that almost in every age God hath laid some eminent stumbling-blocks in the work of that age both for the trial of the faith of his own people in getting over them and for his Enemies to stumble and fall upon which stumbling-blocks as they have exercised the faith of the one so have they been continual Rocks of offence unto the other In Noahs time when the work of that age was to expect and prepare for a universal deluge what a stumbling-block in reason may we think was it to the Old World to hear of such a thing one hundred and twenty years before it comes to look for it year after year one hundred and twenty years together and yet no appearance of such a thing might they not well conclude before half that time was expired that Noah's preaching was a fable and his building the Ark a fancy for no such thing as he expected would ever be When Moses was sent of God into Egypt to deliver Gods people thence which was the work of that age what a palpable stumbling-block was it to Pharoah and the Egyptians to behold the very same miracles which were wrought by Moses to evidence his being sent of God done by their Magicians might they not well say is this man sent of God then are our Magicians for they do the same things as he Afterwards in the wilderness did not this lie as an apparent stumbling-block before that Generation that Israel should there wander to and fro forty years till the whole Generation of men that came out of Egypt were consumed before they must enter that Land they were brought out to possess At the time of the building the second Temple upon Israels coming out of Babylon which being in the latter times of the Jewish State was I take it the Type of Christs building his Church in the last days upon the coming out of Antichristian Babylon what a stumbling-block was it that the great work of that time the which they were come from Babylon about should receive such a nip at the very beginning as to be at a stand forty years together before it could go on might not Gods people fear and Enemies conclude this work would now surely come to nothing who will wonder that Temple-building hath been at a stand for many years since the comming out of Babylon mystical that considers thus it was upon the coming out of literal Babylon and their Temple was the type of ours Christs coming into the world was accompanied with two notable stumbling-blocks First He was born of mean Parentage when as he was looked for amongst the Royal or Priestly seed Secondly He first appears out of Galilee and by vulgar esteem is a Nazarene whereas all knew the Messiah was to come out of Bethlehem These two so visible rocks of offence as they drew the generality to oppose him pleading against him and for themselves Shall Christ come out of Galilee Hath not the Scripture said That Christ commeth of the seed of David and out of the Town of Bethlehem where David was Joh. 7.41 42. So were they sore tryals to the faith of the godly who not strictly inquiring into Christs descent and the place of his birth but taking things upon trust from report of the vulgar a weakness too incident to many true meaning souls made that their stumbling-block which rightly understood would have been a confirmation of their faith as appears in that good plain-hearted Nathaniel who was without guile could not tell how a while to get over this Joh. 1.46 Can any good thing come out of Nazareth And to say no more When Christ sent forth Apostles into the world about the great work of that Generation did not this lye as a sore stumbling-block before many to see the learned ones the Doctors and Rabbies of the times set by and in this glorious work a company of poor illiterate Fisher-men imployed And as it is most evident that in Generations formerly God for wise ends hath ever laid stumbling-blocks in the work of the Generations So he that shall but narrowly observe Gods dispensations towards his people of late in these our times shall find this verified nothing more there having hardly been any great Victory obtained or any thing remarkable performed which hath not had his stumbling going along with it and happy is he whosoever is not offended thereby 3 At the declared dissents or the private discontents or murmurings of a religious party against the work of the Generation God in his secret providence unsearchable wisdom hath so thought it good that Generation-work should meet with its affronts not only from the tumultuous confused rabble of the world but also from a religious party who should either repine at dissent from or make opposition against the same It was a religious party the whole Congregation of Israel being a professing people amongst which undoubtedly very many that came out of Egypt were truly godly who yet sinned with the Congregation and fell in the wilderness that in the days of Moses did so heap up their murmurings murmuring upon murmuring against the visible dispensations of that age It was a religious party yea and that too upon a religious ground as well as a politick Joh. 11.49 50 51 52. that gave wicked counfel for the putting of Christ to death It was a religious party the Jews and the devoute women that raised persecution at Antioch against the work of the Gospel expelling Paul and Barnabas the faithful Preachers thereof out of their coasts Act. 13.50 A religious party have always had a finger in opposing Generation-work And observe when a religious party hath opposed this their
with the Beast and fraying his Horns got not onely power into their hands now to cope and grapple with the greatest but also the very Art of hacking and hewing down Gods enemies they shall be no longer young beginners to whom time must be allowed to rid work off hands but they shall now become perfect Artists men that have driven a Trade a great while of fraying of Horns pulling down worldly powers and therefore be skilled in the way and know how to rid such work off hands apace and hence in the forequoted place Isa 11.14 it s said they shall flie to note the quick dispatch they shall make of their work Now the Gentile Churches by invading the Turks Dominions with such of the Jews as are nearest for being zealous in Gods cause and expert in their way they will lose no time and by fraying his Horns they shall thereby prepare a way or make a high way for the rest of the Jews who come from more remote parts and chiefly the ten Trâ—â—es who were carried captive by the King of Assyria who therefore are called the remnant of his people from Assyria to come up to their land and joyn with the rest as vers 16. And there shall be a high way for the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria i.e. yet remaining of those the Assyrians carried captive like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt Yet because some Jews there shall be who shall be in such corners of the world that they cannot any other way than by shipping come at their Land therefore those Gentile Christians who shall have set their Brethâ—en in possession of their Land making it now their busâ—ress to serve God in this work shall go forth with the multitude of their ships to fetch up the Jews from the more remote parts and Creeks and corners of the world unto their own land which is spoken of Isa 60.9 Surely the Isles shall wait for me and the ships of Tarshish first to bring thy Sons from far their Silver and their Gold with them unto the name of the Lord thy God and to the holy one of Israel because he hath glorified thee And although at this day the Gentiles shall be in a manner Servants to the Jews yet shall their hearts be so spiritual that considering it to be their Fathers work will they shall be so far from being offended to see these new-coming-in-Guestsso entertained and welcommed as that they must wait upon them that they shall exceedingly delight in the thing As Angels of glory delight to see Saints dandled and to serve them Now as the Gentile Christians by drying up the waters of Euphrates shall set open a door for the Jews from all quarters to come up to their own Land So shall this kindness of theirs shewed towards the Jews in undertaking freely so great a work for their sakes have a strong influence upon the hearts of that People to bring them by little and little to a love and liking of Christianity and so as I said at first the pouring out of this Vial prepares a way both for their regaining their own Land their conversion to Christ Qu. If any further desirous to know who amongst the Gentile Christians are most likely to be the Instruments in doing of this work My thoughts concerning it are of which I may truely say that not a private affection to any people above others hath been the rise of them but a diligent search of the Scripture to find satisfaction concerning the Angel of this Vial hath brought forth unawares both the questior with my thoughts thereupon which in the general so far onely as I have ground for conjecture I shall here lay down and let the understanding and unprejudiced Reader judge 1 It is most likely That the same Angel or those very Instruments which shall ruin Rome shall also pour out this Vial upon the great River Euphrates because the stone that smites the feet of the Image i.e. Antichrist is the same with the four Carpenters who are to fray the Horns i.e. the Turkish Power lift up over the Land of Judah Now because it will be said That it is as hard a thing for us as yet to find who this Angel shall be as the other for till we see Rome destroyed who knows who shall do the thing I answer would you know the Instruments before you see them at Romes Gates observe then the rolling stone and look for them there where you see that For this is most certain that as the great Image is to be broken in peeces by no other force or power but onely that of the stone so there where the stone is first taken out of the mountains and formed together by God and begins to roll and smite out of that quarter may we conclude the Tempest though yet it be a great way off which is to fall upon Rome shall most certainly come for observe it though the stone by rolling grows greater and greater yet is it that stone still and not another which was formed together at first whereas if the same matter which formed together did make the stone at first were wholly to be laid aside though matter of the same kind should still be used yet would it be a new stone a stone new formed but the same stone that smites at first and not another is that which breaks in peeces the great Image though this stone whilst it is in doing of it is still in a growing posture by means whereof as it rolls further and further so may it have much more matter added daily to it yet is it the same stone still and the outward strength of the stone lies principally in that matter which was formed together at first that being the Basis or foundation of the rest And this confirmes our first and main Proposition viz. That the Gentile Christians shall pour out this Vial upon the Turk because the very same stone which begins to smite the Image on his feet is to break the whole Image i.e. all worldly Powers This likewise confirms what but even now I said viz. That the stone Dan. 2. and the four Carpenters Zich 1. are one and the same for the four Carpenters are they which fray the Horns lift up in the last days over the Land of Judah Now that which breaks all worldly Powers in the last days standing in the way of Christs Kingdom is no other but the stone which Daniel â—peaks of 2 In answer yet further to the former Question I find in the fore-quoted places Isa 60 9. and 11.14 four marks or characters to know that people by who among the Gentile Christians shall be the principal Instruments of making way for and bringing the Jews unto their own Land First They shall be a people inhabiting in some Isles Secondly They shall have great hearts to the work and a longing desire to
Saints Matth. 24.31 He shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather together his Elect from the four winds of heaven that is all that are his Elect from all parts and quarters of the World and we read not of two gatherings together the Elect but of one only to which agrees 2 Thess 2.1 I beseech you by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together to him 2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to all them that love his appearing A Crown of righteousness is to be given in that very day that suffering Paul should receive his Crown to all that love Christs appearing which is a qualification common to Saints not peculiar to Martyrs or sufferers only In Rev. Chap. 2.3 The Promises made to the several Churches which for their accomplishment have reference to the time of the New Jerusalem run to overcommers He that overcommeth to him will I give power over the Nations And he shall rule them with a Rod of Iron as the vessels of a Potter shall they be broken to shivers even as I received of my Father Chap. 2.26 27. Him that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the Name of my God and the Name of the City of my God which is New Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from my God and I will write upon him my new name Chap 3.12 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne vers 21. which Texts as they clearly prove that not Martyrs alone but all Saints shall have their share of glory in the New Jerusalem because a man may be an overcomer who notwithstanding may not be a Martyr or an actual sufferer so also do they as strongly prove that the Saints now dead shall certainly rise again and be inhabitants in this New Jerusalem because otherwise these Promises made to that time had been of no use nor could have administred any comfort to the Saints in those Churches to whom these were firstly made they being dead many hundreds of yeers ago if so be they were not riss at the beginning of the thousand yeers Rev. 20. when the New Jerusalem is to be set up Object Whereas it is said Rev. 20.4 5. that the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God and which had not worshipped the Beast neither his Image neither had received his mark upon their fore-heads or in their hands they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand yeers But as for the rest of the dead i.e. say some such as were not Martyrs they lived not again until the thousand yeers were finished I answer If rest of the dead exclude any of the Saints from the first Resurrection then doth it include them in the second Death for the promise of being freed from the second Death runs to those only who have part in the first Resurrection vers 6. Blessed and holy is hee that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second Death hath no power therefore I take it that the Dead here opposed to the Living are the wicked dead to the godly living whose Resurrection is not to be till the General Judgement vers 13. who as they shall then arise to be judged so being judged they are streightway sent to Hell for as Death and Hell deliver up their dead vers 13. so Death and Hell i.e. the persons of those Death and Hell delivers up are cast into the lake of fire vers 14. and as the first Resurrection hath this golden Note set upon it Blessed and holy is hee that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the socond Death shall have no power So the second this black mark This is the second Death vers 14. Now the reason why suffering Saints are principally mentioned in the first I take to be this because this Book of the Revelations being a doleful Tragedy in the greatest part of which we have little acted but the sufferings of the Saints Christ therefore to sweeten this bitter cup at the bottome and conclude this Tragedy as I may so say with a glorious Comedy speaks of those chiefly now though not excluding others as reigning with him who throughout the book before had been spoken of as suffering for him As to those Texts Mat. 19.29 2 Tim. 2.12 with other such like which may seem to favour this opinion I onely say that heither those nor any other that hitherto I have met with do positively exclude any Saints from that glory the Martyrs shall have in Christs Kingdome though true it is some Texts where the Argument insisted upon is suffering specifie not to exclude others but for the comfort of the Sufferers Martyrs or Sufferers only Yet if the Question be stated thus whether Martyrs or Sufferers shall not have a greater degree of glory in this Kingdome than many others I shall not oppose it For as I conceive the degrees of glory intimated 1 Cor. 15.40 41. which place as I have shewed speaks of the first Resurrection are more proper to be referred to this time than to heaven hereafter when God shall be all in all So do I conceive that the more any man here hath laid out himself either in a way of doing or suffering for Christ the greater glory and honour shall be put upon him at this day which as it is incouragement now to do for Christ so doth it give yet a farther answer and that which I conceive may reconcile the difference to such Scriptures as seem to intitle Martyrs only to the glory of this day Now taking this coming of Christ as hath been laid down for that second coming we all wait for I see as yet no inconvenience following upon it in case we say that Christs second coming shall be at this time betwixt the pouring out of the sixth and seventh Vials and what things are to be done in the world afterwards are such things only as Christ will dispatch betwixt his coming and the time of the end And thus to conceive of Christs second coming as it no wayes tends to loosness but rather the neerness of this day calls aloud upon all to watch yea may cause all those who have hope in a day of Redemption to lift up their heads with joy because their Redemption draweth nigh so doth it seem more agreeable to the current of Scriptures and also to that which but a few years ago was the faith of Gods people in general to wit that Christs second coming could not bee far off than the contrary opinion doth which makes this coming not to be till the General Judgement which cannot be so little as
a thousand yeers off And truly when I consider how godly Ministers and people not many years past did provoke one another from Christs second coming and harp upon it as near and how at present few speak of that but look at comings of another kind setting the second coming a great way off It is so far from bringing me into a beleef with them as that contrariwise it nourisheth within me a perswasion more strongly that his second coming is at hand and he will be upon us unawares because the Scripture tells us this day shall come as a snare upon all Luke 21.35 And the Son of man at his coming shall hardly find faith to beleeve his coming is so near on the earth Luke 18.8 Yea he comes at midnight Matth. 25.6 an hour when but few are looking for their friend and the calling upon beleevers so frequently to watch whensoever Christs second coming is spoken of lest that day come upon them unawares and overtaken them as a Thief in the night implies no less to me than that which experience within these few years teacheth that they as well as others will be apt to put the day of Christs coming far from them And by how much I read over these Scriptures the oftner by so much have I the less hope knowing that not one jot or tittle of the word shall fall to the ground of seeing many of those some I have hopes we may who have deeply drunk in the perswasion of a spiritual coming and Kingdome only to change their minds and be of another perswasion Only with such I leave to ponder upon this caution Take heed lest as the Jews by expecting a glorious outward coming at first when Christ was to come in a low and despised way did then mistake his first coming So you by cleaving to a Spiritual coming onely with a denial of a Personal should now mistake his second I will only adde That the Security the Scripture holds forth which will be not upon the world only but many of Gods people also as touching the coming of Christ about that time when he is to come is to me an Argument that Christs coming I mean the coming commonly called the coming to Judgement is to be at the beginning of the Thousand Years Rev. 20. and not as most who acknowledge the Thousand years to be yet to come at the end of them because were the coming at the end how could there be a security especially upon Beleevers who now could expect nothing else every day but his coming who would not say when they should see God and Magog again gathering together now is the Lord coming how then would this day come unawares as a Thief upon them when they could now neither look for nor expect any thing else but at the beginning of the Thousand years when as their thoughts and expectations shall be high and all running upon another coming viz. a glorious spiritual appearance but no thoughts of a Personal then Christ comes upon them and takes them unawares whilst they dreamed not of such a coming but were gazing after another What I have hitherto said as touching the Coming of Christ varies nothing from that common received Principle among good men which holds and maintains a second comming of Christ to Judgement but only in this The common Principle is that the General Judgment shall begin immediately upon Christs coming On the contrary I conceive the thousand years mentioned Rev. 20. are to succeed first upon his coming and after that the General Judgement which is clear because as the coming of Christ must for the Reasons afore-mentioned precede the battel of Armageddon so is it as evident that the thousand years must follow it taking their beginning from that battel as an intervening time betwixt that and the General Judgement Now that the Thousand years six times repeated in chap. 20. is in all to be understood of one and the same period of time and not as some of two distinct periods of time each containing a thousand years is clear 1 Because such as reckon two periods of time account the first thousand years to be wholly passed already and 300 years and upwards of the second thousand years whereas it is manifest as presently shall be made appear that the whole Prophecy of Satans binding and the Saints reigning is yet to come 2 Because as one though no friend to the Millenary point hath yet well observed in answer to this opinion we have the thousand years twice used without any Areicle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thousand years but four times with an Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these thousand years clearly proving that the Holy Ghost speaks still of one and the same thousand years which is also a manifest Argument that the thousand years here spoken of cannot be meant of an indefinite time i. e. a thousand years put for a long time though not precisely so many for they may be more or less but must be interpreted of a certain definite determinate time As the time of the Beasts reign the treading under foot of the Holy City the Womans flight into the wilderness the Witnesses prophecying in sackcloth is a determined time One thousand two hundred and sixty days or years So the time of Satans binding the exaltation of the Church and the Saints reigning with Christ is also a determined time namely a thousand years though of the first we have so many years set forth by so many days which is a Prophetical and mysterious way of speaking because all the time of the One thousand two hundred and sixty daies the mystery of God was not clearly and fulled revealed therefore things are kept under a veil still but in the latter we have a year put for a year which is plain without any mystery because now the mystery of God being fulfilled veils are taken off things are nakedly to be beheld Now as to the main thing that the thousand years are yet to come and indeed to take their beginning from the battel of Armageddon appears not onely from the order of the Vision being placed after the battel of Armageddon as the next remarkable thing But also Because at the end of the thousand years the Devil is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where it is said the Beast and false Prophet are i.e. had been before him all the time of the thousand years Verse 10. And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the Beast and the false Prophet are which words have a special respect to those chap. 19.20 of casting the Beast and the false Prophet into the lake of fire and shewing that this Vision of the Devils being bound and the Saints reigning a thousand years is to take place successively from or after the battel of Armageddon when the Beast and false Prophet were cast into the lake of fire 2 Because Dan. 7. which Chapter doth contemporise
behalf of that cause which my heart is inwardly perswaded is Jesus Christs to whom I could not be faithful should I now be silent having this hope that that heart which once had in it such a flame of love to the cause of Christ and was so zealous of the work of God in the world and against the Beast as that thereby many were provoked cannot but yet have some sparks of this holy fire alive in it and that there is yet in your Highness an ear to hear what the Holy Spirit saith in the word if so be the sound be certain and distinct tho but a Child blow the Trumpet Or if not yet that herein I shall discharge a duty in my own apprehension incumbent upon me and every of Gods people so far as they have light namely to inform your Highness what Christ at this day expects from you according to which he will account with you and if what is written be truth it is you duty to hear it yea where is but an appearance of truth if you shall without diligent trial either neglect or reject it though the grounds upon which you may perhaps so do may serve to answer Conscience a while yet will they not answer the Lord another day who will account with you not as with others but according to that Talent of light you have had and is held forth unto you the professions you have made before many of his people and the opportunities you have And therefore my Lord as it is now no time for those who either love the Lord Jesus or your Highness to flatter you or speak their fears mincingly So let me here say what not long fince I told your Highness in a more private way That I do verily beleeve the thing is already manifest to the Lord and the day is not far off in which it shall be to your Highness also who are your most faithful Friends whether those that now hang up their Harps though they may be but as one Micaiah to 400 false Prophets or those that are singing their Songs of which latter sort I mean for the greater part of them I may for the truth of the thing I am sure without offence say in the Apostles phrase onely adding a word They who never yet loved you truly now zealously affect you but not well yea they would exclude you that you might affect them and serve their designs I would to God I could speak otherwise and that private cryes might have prevented this publick bearing witness which though I had no other motive yet ingenuity did I not consider that when it tends to hinder in the Lords work it is no longer a vertue but a vice to be mortified would have disswaded me from The love of the meanest Saint is precious to me the favor of your Highness much more but in these divided times offering many temptations of this nature I have often remembred the case as it stood betwixt Christ and Peter Matâ—h 16.21 22 23. who when Peter by his love and affection would have put him by his Fathers work Christ grew offended even at Peters love and did abandon it My Lord if ever the Mystery of Iniquity wrought spiritually it doth at this day And no wonder for a fear and dread of the Witnesses is fallen upon the Beast whose blow that he may escape he would now if that will do it enter into a high form of Saintship and indeed who looks for Antichrist take him either as he is the whole Body or as he is this oâ— that part in his last state in any other Garbe than the form of a gloribus â—aint though he may have read the Book of the Revelations yet is he still to learn the Mystery of the Beast there revealed Now is the man of sin struggling for his Kingdom which he will uphold as long as he can but though the Dragon Beast and False Prophet joyn heads and hands together yet shall they not bee able to keep it up long no not half so many years as some dream of Ages for God hath numbered Babylons Kingdom and in a manner finished it the Beast and the Whoreâ—s or the Beast and the False Prophet are already weighed in the Ballances and found wanting the Kingdom shall as most certainly so suddenly be divided broken and given to another And as a clear evâ—dence hereof we have the signs of the times grounded upon the woâ—d which Christ did refer the Generation of the Pharisees and Sadduces to when they would know of him a sign Matth. 16.3 O yee Hypocrites can yee not discern the signs of the times What signs of the times had they Answ Two evident signs founded upon Scripture 1. The departure of the Scepter from Judah in Herods then swaying it who was an Idumean 2. The expirations of Daniels seventy weeks the limited time of the Messiahs appearance By either of these they might have concluded that truth they opposed and received him for their Messiah whom they rejected but this they did not but must have farther signâ— yet for which cause Christ calls them Hypocrites a wicked and an adulterous Generation My Lord Let me here say The Lord in his Word hath left signs of this time I am now speaking of no less clear and demonstrative than were the signs of thaâ— and although I am of all the most unworthy to be acquainted with them or any thing of the mind of the Lord yet is it my perswasion that some of them are discovered in the following discourse and he that shall without prejudice read what in the close is written of the time and compare it with the things themselves specified throughout the Book may possibly be of my mind at least not censure me for thinking so And if now My Lord as persons willing to be blinded we shall shut our eyes to those signs of the times God hath left us in the word and ask for other signs to know his work by and when we are called to do it it is an evident token even from our Saviors own words of an Adulterous and Apostatizing generation I had almost said and if I had his words would have born me out of an hypocritical heart My Lord Let me not be made an offender for this plain dealing if I am so long as the Lord shall keep my feet in the way of my duty it shall not trouble me and I have hope that in this I have had his merciful guidance and have not as yet stepped out of that way For if in the day when Christ is going up to his Kingdom the stones would not hold their peace should not the Children cry Hosanna then surely it is a duty very incumbent upon the Saints at this day there being nothing more obvious than that Christ is well onwards upon his march to his Kingdom not to be silent but although they may be rebuked yea dealt worse by for so doing yet to follow their
hardned his heart How did the Lord accomplish this Pharaoh settles himself upon as righteous principles as ever any of the Sons of men could do One is that it belongs to the chief Ruler of a Nation to see to the profit and glory of that Nation What more righteous principle is there in the world Hence he concludes that if iâ— be incumbent on him to see that the Realm receive no detriment he must not let the people go by whom they received so many great advantages God confirms his heart in these principles which are good in themselves but saith the Doctor abominable when taken up against the mind and providence of God Hence he and his perished in their principles acting against the appearance of God Secondly It is also said of Sihon the King of the Amorites that his heart was hardned that he would not let the people go through his Land How I pray even by adhering to that wise principle That it is not meet to let a potent Enemy into the bowels of a people and this made way for his ruine Thus saith he it is with many they fix on principles good in general and in their season Old bounds must not be broken up Order must not be disturbed Let God appear never so eminently so mightily they will keep to their principle what is this but judicial hardness And this is one reason why the actings of God in such a day as this are so unsuited to the expectations of men they square his works to the interests and principles which it will not answer Hitherto Dr. Owen 4 Take heed of that ungodly principle sprung up of late the contrary to which some call a State-Herene though I am sure the principle is a Scripture-Herefie viz. That godliness in a Magistrate or Civil Officer is but a secondary qualification natural accomplishments and endowments being the primary for which therefore a man is to be intrusted with this power rather than the other I cannot but wonder how any who profess the Name of Christ much more who profess themselves to have been faithful to his cause should together therewith profess such an unchrist an yea Machiavilian principle which First Lies point-blank against the promises made to the last dayes which assure 1 That God will restore his peoples Judges as at the first Isa 1.26 But were Judges at the first Moses Joshua c. such 2 That their Governors should be of themselves Jer. 30.21 But may we call such of themselves Secondly Leaves out as of little worth comparatively the main qualifications of that divine pattern by which the first Rulers that ever were so made by men amongsh Gods own people were made Exod. 18.21 Thirdly Makes null that Divine Maxime 2 Sam. 23.3 He that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of God for how can such rule in the fear of God who have no fear of God before their eyes which is one character of every natural man Rom. 3.18 Fourthly Layes an unavoidable necessity of a continued judgement upon a people For if it be a judgement to have Rulers that know not God because such make the people to erre Isa 3.12 chap. 9.16 then if such for their natural endowments are to be chosen of necessity must a judgement lye upon that people over or amongst whom they are set Fifthly Opens a door to all persecution by putting the Civil Sword into the hands of the Seed of the Serpent for better cannot be said of a meer moral man which from the beginning hath had a natural enmity to the Seed of the Woman My Lord Bear with the boldness of it if I say That in case your Highness be found steering your course and laying out your power by this crooked rule know assuredly that Christ will suddenly take though how I know not your power from you and give it to one that shall lay it out otherwise I shall not multiply many more words save to add that in case any expression either in this or the following Discourse savour of the spirit of man which my self allows not have kept a watch against yet may be guilty of I do in that humbly crave your Highness pardon but as for the matter and substance of those things I have written I ask none my Conscience bearing me witness that I have afferted nothing but what according to my present perswasions not grounded upon this or that particular Text which is a deceiving way but by comparing the whole of Prophecies together is the truth of Christ yea the truth of the time though yet through mercy I have drunk in no such conceit of my own knowledge as though it were more than in part not do I impose upon your Highness conscience or the consciences of any a belief of my principles any farther then Scripture and right reason doth approve them yet would have none on the other side condemn them as this age is apt to do upon the account of this or that single Text till he hath compared the whole of Prophecies together in doing which he may perhaps see my reason of stating things as I have done which upon every occasion I could not bring forth and therewith a full answer to his own doubt And farther I have not in this work knowingly stretched any one Text beyond what I have judged its due bounds or forced an interpretation to reach any Party a blow Nor have I on the other side with-held any peece of the truth so judged by me lying in any Text nor minced any Interpretation to spare any party a blow As I would be loath to strike any my self for my blows can do me no good and them little hurt so would I not have a hand in keeping off that blow that truth will strike whosoever it fall upon And although a Discourse of this nature would better have become a graver Pen than mine and possibly from such a one been sooner hearkned to pride rashness and headiness having been the coutinual accusation laid against young men and not alwayes groundless yet seeing the Aged silent and perceiving through the light the Lord of his grace hath larely given me to see by a cleer opening sundry Prophecies which not long since were mysteries to me the cause of Christ in sore travel either through an ignorance of what Gods Designs are at this day or somewhat worse in those that should manage it I conceived my self though others might better do it yet at this time called to speak and to speak plainly Elihu though a young man went and that with success over the head of such a temptation in a less case That a like success and blessing from above may accompany this is his Prayer who is Your Highness humble Servant Mournful for You hold with You for Sions sake JOHN TILLINGHAST To the several Churches of Christ within this Commonwealth Together with all those that have fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ The Church