into a Condition to meet the Bridegroom with Oil in their Vessels as well as in their Lamps Argum. 3. There is such a Space of Time Determined by God Settled Fixed and Declared in the Sure Word of Prophecy Lin'd out by Four Monarchies that must Runn out Themselves And there is a Particular Assignation of Time to the Last State of the Fourth the Last of Them Viz. Time Times and Half a Time Expounded into One Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty Days of Years Revel 12. 6. 14. And in this Time Wickedness Fills up its Ephah or Measure and is carried as by the Wings of a Stork and Settled for Ever upon its own Base And to this Assignation of Time Jesus Christ Consented and Testified his Consent by Lifting up Both his Hands to Heaven and Swearing There should be this Time Times and Half And therefore no Injury is Done to Him And that then and not before All the Wonders of his Kingdom shall be Finished On this very Account the Apostle so Solemnly Declares 2 Thess c. 2. 1 c. That That Day of Christ could not come Except that Apostacy the Last State of the Fourth Monarchy was Revealed and Blown off by the Spirit of Christ's own Mouth and at Last utterly Consumed by the Brightness and Glory of his Appearance at that his Coming Before it could come to this those Times and Half must be Expired Immediately therefore after the Death and Resurrection of Christ Vision and Prophecy were Sealed Daniel 9. 24. with Relation to that Greatest and Richest Effect of Prophecy Viz. the Kingdom of Christ It was Sealed But then Immediately at the very Beginning of Half Time Christ took the First Opportunity of making a Seizure viz. at the Reformation and of Swearing there should be Time of such sort no more but in the Days of the Seventh Trumpet When he shall begin to found the Mystery of God Viz. The Kingdom of Christ shall be Finishing as he hath spoken by all his Servants the Prophets Which shall begin at 1697 So near approaching All which things have been fully by the Assistances of God made out and publickly set forth And are now onely so far briefly Represented as to give satisfaction to this doubt How comes it to pass that the Coming of the Bridegroom hath been thus long Delay'd And no further Insisted upon in these Sermons Sett for Preaching the Gospel especially under the Grace of the Divine Spirit to work upon the Heart and to engage in all Holiness of Conversation I come therefore to the Practical Reflection on what hath been spoken in these short Applications Appli 1. That we would take heed of the Atheistick and prophane boldness of Scoffers Who because the Bridegroom on so Holy and Wise Reasons as Scripture hath given us Delays his Coming say where is the promise of his Coming They believe no such thing And indeed all Discourses against the Kingdom of Christ and the Prophesies of Scripture or turning them into Allegory and Metaphor Give Countenance and Assurance to such Prophaneness and Boldness of Scoffing Let us aherefore be mindful of the Words of the Holy Prophets and of the Doctrines of the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour 2 Peter c. 3. v 1 c. Appli 2. Let us beware of the Accounting the delay of the Bridegrooms Coming to any thing in the Course of Nature or as if the World could bear up it self or Perpetuate it self As they of whom the Apostle speaks who are willfully Ignorant that the World by the very Word of God was settled so out of and yet in such a Neighbourhood to the Water that it depended wholly on the Word of his Power not to be overflown by it And that the Heavens and Earth that now are are so Reserv'd are Treasured up for Fire at the Time Appointed by God for Perdition of such and of All Ungodly Men That we may be in a continual Dependence upon Him and Preparation for the Bridegroom 's Coming Applicat 3. Let us have Just Apprehensions of the Patience and Long-Suffering of God in the Delay of the Bridegroom 's Coming And that it is no Sluckness concerning his Promise As if He were altogether such a one as our Selves And Let us Account it Salvation And so it will be if we are His For He will let None of His Perish but Every One of Them shall come to Repentance But if we are not His though we Know it not Yet His Goodness Leads to Repentance by its Gracious Invitations and Excitements And if through our Hard and Impenitent Hearts It does not Lead us so we Treasure up Wrath against the Day of Wrath and the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God at this Coming of the Bridegroom Rom. 2. 3 4 c. Applicat 4. Let us not Think it Boldness or Presumption to Search the Scriptures and 2 Peter 1. 19 c. to Give Heed to the Sure Word of Prophecy as to a Light that shineth in a Dark Place Till the Day Dawn and the Day-Star Rise in our Hearts Especially to that Line of TIME Times and Half Time For our Lord charges it as Hypocrisie not to Discern the Signs of the Times That is the Characters of Time Scripture hath Impress'd upon it And though there are many Providential Signs as Wars Commotions Earthquakes Yet these will not Define Time to us Onely the Line of Time can Do that And let us Humbly wait upon God therein and take in All Other Marks God hath Given by His Providence therein But as I say The Line of Time is the Sure Rule by which we are to walk and I have full Assurance if we behold according to that the Course of Scripture-Prophecies the Emblems or Prophetical Types and Figures given therein the Numbers of Time proportion'd to and Running all along from Time to Time through those Figures and compare All with the Providences and Great Events God hath taken Care should be Recorded in History brought to our Knowledge or be coming down to our very sight we may be fully Confirmed as by a Threefold Cord not to be Broken and that it is a Line Reaching to 1697. Applicat 5. Let us have Continual Apprehensions of the Glory and Greatness of That Day Let us consider That Day Malac. 3. 18. When we shall Return and Descern between the Righteous and the Wicked Him that Serveth God and Serveth Him not Him that Sweareth and Him that Feareth an Oath and between the Wise and the Foolish Virgins and not put off the Thoughts of it Because we see the World so Earnest in Eating and Drinking Buying and Selling Building and Planting Marrying and Giving in Marriage For so it was in the Days of Noah and of Lot until the very Day And so our Lord saith It shall be in the Day of the Son of Man Applicat 6. Let us so Consider and Apply our Selves to the Examining what manner of Men we ought to be in All Holiness and Godliness
you You may go to your Farm and to your Merchandize c. Every one your own way Now is the Invitation made and now it is to be taken Now it is to be closed with now it is to be accepted Hearken therefore every Soul that hears this Discourse Behold thou art Bidden to the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb Thou art invited to that Great Feast of the Kings Son Thou art earnestly perswaded that thou wouldest be present there and that thou wouldest partake of the Splendor Glory and Magnificence and of the Happiness of that Day Take heed now that thou don't make Light of it and say what 's this to me You will certainly Repent it another day You will fall to Weeping Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth that you would not be perswaded when you were thus Graciously bidden by Jesus Christ and by the Voice of his Word and the Voice of his Gospel Therefore hearken to this Invitation Hear whoever it be As it is said Isa 55. Where there is a great Description of this very Kingdom of this very State of Paradice As you may find in the last Verse Instead of the Thorn shall come up the Fir-Tree and instead of the Brier shall come up the Mirtle-Tree And it shall be to the Lord for a Name and for an Everlasting Sign that shall not be cut off Now Ho every one that Thirsteth So the Chapter begins As you know we make publick Sounds and Proclamations So Ho every one that Thirsteth come ye to the Waters c. Wherefore do ye spend your Money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not c And if any should say this is nothing but onely a Noise of Words and of Discourse saith God ver 9. As the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts For as the Rain cometh down and the Snow from Heaven and returneth not thither but Watereth the Earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may give Seed to the Sower and Bread to the Eater So shall my word be that goeth out of my Mouth It shall not return unto me void but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall Prosper in the thing whereto I sent it Therefore assure your selves that this Word It will not return in vain It will Prosper to that very End You may be sure such a Feast there is to be Therefore take great care concerning your selves what you will do about it how you will order your selves about it Vse 2. In the Second Place I shall point out to you how you may prepare your selves You must take care of this First of all that you get a Wedding-Garment As it is said Mat. 22. He saw one there that had not on a Wedding-Garment And he said unto him Friend how camest thou in hither not having a Wedding Garment And he was speechless The Man was so confounded he was so ashamed of the thing that he had nothing at all to say The King came in to see his Guests and he saw a Man that had not on a Wedding Garment The Man had nothing to say he knew there was no Reason for him to say any thing And what is this Wedding Garment It is an interest in Christ an Interest in His Righteousness a being Cloathed in Linnen White and Pure washed in the Blood of the Lamb. And tho the Person did not despise the Wedding He made a Profession as we do of Christianity to come to it Yet in the next verse ver 13. The King said to his Servants Bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer Darkness And There shall be Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth For many are called but few are chosen Therefore look diligently to this thing That tho you seem to speak fair you will come and you will be there and you do make a pretence And yet you have not the Wedding Garment Christ and his Righteousness Oh how sad will it be In the Second Place You must look diligently to this too That you have Oyl in your Vessels and not onely in your Lamps This you see is in Matth. 25. The Foolish Virgins never thought of Oyl in their Vessels but onely in their Lamps That is you must have Grace you must have a Holy and Spiritual Life from Christ That will be able to last out and to endure that very Time But I shall not speak more of it Because I shall come in a full Discourse to Treat of it Vse 3. The third use I would have you make is I would have you observe and consider but a little How this Notion of a Feast hath been Corrupted by the Anti-christian World What a Company of Feasts have there been of Man's Institution The Feast of such a Saint and such a Saint and Feasts that never were appointed by God Yet they have come into use and they remain in observation And how came this It is by that Counterfeit Christianity Antichristianism came in Feasts that never were ordain'd by God And I wish with all my heart there were not Reason to bewail not the Anti-christian World onely but even our Protestant Profession There 's nothing looks more Scandalous and more Strange than setting up Feasts that the Gospel never appointed nor Instituted I say I pray with all my heart that they that have Power and Authority in these things may consider it For when Jereboam departed from the purity of Religion Instituted by God in the Old Testament He made Feasts and Times of his own So the Christian World hath done And the Rellicks and Refuse of it are still among us We keep up Times that never were appointed That there 's no mention nor Signature of in the Gospel I do not speak any way to desire to Reflect or to be Censorious but to speak the Truth of things according to the Word of God For it is onely of Jehovah himself to appoint his own Feasts And He hath kept up to us The Feast of the Lord's Day and the Feast of the Lord's Supper as Preparatory to that Great Festival of the Kingdom of Christ And no other are we to make nor to Devise of our own Hearts Vse 4. The Fourth and Last Application is this That you would seriously consider this Marriage of the Lamb this Great Feast how near it is For as the Jews were mighty careful to keep Account of Days and the Motion of Times and Weeks They were to Account as Scripture-Expression is Lev. 23. 15. In that Case so we ought to Account the Time And methinks it is a very great Amazement and a very great Sadness That there should be no more Diligence nor Care Neither in the Publick Ministry of the Gospel nor in Private Christians to Count the Time and to know how near it is to this Great Festival For tho you may think you are Excused Because it is said
that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom And the Friend of the Bridegroom rejoyceth when he hears the voice of the Bridegroom That is when he finds that he speaks to any Heart and draws any Soul to him How Happy would it be if in this Discourse the voice of the Bridegroom might be heard and discovered in any of our Hearts and that it might be known that this Preaching of Christ hath prevail'd at all upon any Soul This is to Rejoice in hearing the voice of the Bridegroom O therefore that this Joy might be fullfilled in you that hear and in me that am speaking to you But as he goes on he must encrease and I must decrease That is In all wherein we may seem to be serviceable to Christ or serviceable to the Souls of Men that must go off And then the Kingdom and Glory of Christ Himself that is It that must encrease And therefore for those that hear and those that speak to meet one another in that Great Solemnity and in that Great Glory and to find that all is gone off but only Christ How Glosious and how Blessed will this State be I shall therefore endeavour to open this Great Point in some measure unto you Though I know it is not possible to speak of it as it is to be spoken of But I shall therefore First Lay down this as a Great Scripture-Point as a Great Scrippture Truth That there is such a Marriage-Union betwixt Christ and his Church and betwixt Christ and every particular Soul In the second place I shall endeavour to shew you wherein it stands at the present First In the Opening of it I shall shew you That there is a State of it Now. And then That there is to be the Glory and the Heighth of this State in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Therefore I shall endeavour to shew you wherein it stands now And then In the third place How the Glory of it shall break out and in what Expressions the Scripture hath assured that to us And therefore that every one of us should look upon our Profession as a Fitting and a Preparation to that Great Solemnity of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. I. The first Scripture by which I shall make it evident to you is indeed a Scripture full of Mystery full of Figure of Metaphor and Emblem and therefore it may not be so eaâ—ie to your Apprehension It 's that of the Song of Solomon It is an hard thing almost to advise you to the Reading of it because it lies hid under Veils It â—ies hid under curious Allegories and Representations But that is the very â—ense of it Chap. 1. 3. Thy Name is as Ointment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love thee Draw me we will run after thee The King hath brought me into his Chambers we will be glad and rejoice in thee we will remember thy Love more than Wâ—ne the upright love thee Ver. 3 4. All this it is but Metaphor Representing Christ as Drawing with the Savour of his Good Ointments As Persons make themselves Acceptable by those things that draw and win upon the Sense and so upon the Sense of Smelling This Savour of his Good Oyntment draws Souls to Christ That is those Rich Spiritual Excellencies in Him win upon the Souls of those that are indeed truly his that are indeed Virgins They draw the Love of Souls after Christ The Pardon of Sin His Righteousness His Resurrection in the Power of it His Death in the Power of it His Life in the Power of it The Glory of His Kingdom These Draw Souls Draw me we will run after thee And the upright love thee All that have Sincerity in the Profession of Christianity they truely love him And thus there is a Thread drawn throughout that whole Book till it comes to the very Glory of the Kingdom of Christ The last Words signifie it Make haste my beloved and be thou like a Roe or to a Young Hart upon the Mountains of Spices That is The State of the Kingdom of Christ is just like a Mount of the most Aromatick of the Sweetest Perfumes of Glory and Happiness This is the first Scripture that lays this great Point down before us And there are many Expressions especially in that Evangelical Prophet the Prophet Isaiah comparing the Union betwixt Christ and his Servants to a Marriage and to a Marriage that shall be solemnized at last in Glory But the second Scripture that I would give you concerning it is Ephes 5. Where the Apostle does draw or delineate this very whole Representation before us in the Beginning and in the Perfection of it And indeed he introduces the very first Institution and Appointment of Marriage to bring it all to this That there was in it a much more Glorious Purpose to prepare for and to Represent the Union betwixt Christ and his Church In speaking therefore of the Duty of Husbands to their Wives he enters into this Great Discourse saith he The Husband is the Head of the Wife even as Christ is the Head of the Church and he is the Saviour of the Body Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ so let the Wives be to their own Husbands in every thing And Christ as an Husband ver 25. He loved the Church and gave himself for it That he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word That he might present it to himself a Glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish For indeed as I shall presently shew you out of a Great Type of the Law of Moses in this Thing Christ takes those whom he must Beautifie He takes those whom he must every way fit for so great an Enjoyment as that of Himself He takes them out of Corruption out of Impurity and Defilement in a Miserable and Loathsome and Captivated State and Condition But he never leaves till he brings it to this That he may present them to Himself That he may take them to Himself without spot or wrinkle or any such thing And then saith he for this Cause a Man shall leave his Father and Mother and shall be Joyned to his Wife and they shall be one flesh This is a Great Mystery But I speak concerning Christ and the Church That is Here lies the Mystery the Great Point that I intend to present to you that close Union that is betwixt Christ and his Saints And it comes as I told you to that Gloty that He presents it to Himself a Glorious Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing And if you would know when this is It is at the time of the Kingdom of Christ at the time when he hath destroyed False Christianity that Christianity that is called in the Professors and Profession of it The Whore When that is quite taken away that is when all False Christianity shall be driven out of the
with this Who does not that is seriously a Christian long That might be fulfilled From the Rising of the Sun to the going down of the same Thy Name O Lord shall be Great That Christ should have his Portion given Him with the Great and with the Strong That the Ends of the Earth should be His That Knowledge should cover the Earth as the Waters do the Sea If any Love God and Love Christ I appeal to you whether we could be content Things should be as they are and not as they are thus foretold Let me make a plain and a Familiar Comparison and bring it to our selves I would suppose now as I know there are many that are Zealous in this Nation for King James They know he is out of the Nation and as it were an Exile from them And tho they may have a Great Plentiful Competent Estates and Great Riches Yet they think things are not well and as they should be Because they say things are not as they should be to exclude a Just and Lawful Prince as they think I make onely this Allusion My Judgment is enough known Suppose any Profess to Love Jesus Christ Then think with your selves whether it can consist with your Loyalty to Christ with your desire of his Glory and his Kingdom that it should be at so low an Ebb as it is Now I am sure if you weighed these and much more that might be said and all of them together You would plainly say that there can be no Truth nor no Loyalty of Christianity without an Earnest Desire and Preparation in your selves continually for the Bridegrooms coming Surely to be Rich onely as to this world and after the rate and pass of it and to our selves can no way satisfy a Wise Virgin in Christianity But now Alas We may see it very much otherwise who can but observe it every where and with all manner of Persons that we may converse with of the Higher and Lower Degree even of the First Three as I may speak in Christianity As it was said of David's Worthies I say if you take even those of the First Three We cannot but say there 's too Great a Byass too Great a Propension too Great an Inclination and Poize of Men towards this VVorld They are for every thing Pleasing and Desirable and Pleasurably affecting in it And they hold off as much as they can from a belief of the nearness of the coming of Jesus Christ Now how comes this to pass in the VVorld Give me leave very briefly to Represent the reasons of this to you and the way or method how these things have come into the VVorld I am sure I may without any uncharitableness or untenderness say that the Religion and Christianity of not one of a Hundred but is onely Calculated for the present State And they would that all the State and Trade and Government and the VVealth and Peace and Plenty and Prosperity of it should go on still Than that there should be an approach of the Bridegroom and Kingdom of Christ The Reasons of these things I 'll give you in these three Particulars 1. The first is It comes to pass by the Bridegrooms Delaying his coming that hath given the Advantage and Opportunity to this State of Things if Christ had come as soon as he Rose as soon as ever he sent forth the Apostolick Preachers Things would have been found in a far other temper than now For when I come saith Christ Shall I find Faith on the Earth But now it was so necessary for Him in the Wisdom of the Father and in his own wisdom to delay his coming that he Swore It was a thing of so great concernment Dan. 12. That there should be Time Times and Half a Time before his coming should be So he did Chronize he drew out Time till his coming And that hath given Advantage to all that Deadness of Christianity to all that low posture of things So the Apostle saith 2 Thes 2. That day cannot come except there be a falling away first Thus the day was Post-pon'd it could not come And so observe Mat. 25. Where the Bridegroom Delayed his coming they all slumbred and slept Ver. 5. While the Bridegroom tarryed they all slumbred and slept And in Match 24. Pray observe how the Spirit of God Insists upon this that there was a delay of the coming of Christ ver 48. But and if that Evil Servant shall say in his heart my Lord delayeth his coming c. So here 's the sleep and space given for the possibility of such sleep such a low State in Christianity as there is by Christ delaying his coming Some are ready to say he 'll never come there will never be any such thing Why is it not sooner Why has it been so long Men have time to do something else We must find somewhat or other to pass away the Time till our Bridegroom comes And so they fall into a slumber As many in Morality have discoursed the great degeneracy of humane nature say they the Intellectual Life is Slumbred by the Animal Life And as some have desired to Allegorize the History of Adam and Eve Adam when Eve was taken out of him fell into a sleep you know God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam And so say they that lower Soul came to have the Predominancy and to get above because the Life of Adam was in a slumber it was in a sleep Give me leave by this to express to you my sense in what I am now upon as soon as ever the Professors of Christianity did perceive that the Bridegroom did not come The lower Life began to get above and the Christians even of the first Times began to slumber and sleep We have many instances of it Demas hath left us having Loved the present World Demas was not onely a single Example But he was a Peculiar Pattern of the State of Christianity Having Loved this present World So says the Apostle there is no Man like minded to Epaphroditus that naturally cares for your State For all Men seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christ's Phil. 2. So I say here was presently a Slumbring of the Power of Christianity And then there 's a Great Example of this Worldly Grandeur rising in that of Diotrephes in the third Epistle of John ver 9. He Loved to have the pre-Eminence Now as I said of Demas so I say of Diotrephes It was not onely a single Example But the Bishops of the Churches of Christ began to Love Preeminency to Love Grandeur To Love Prelation and to set up one above another And thus the Apostacy began to creep in And so Christianity degenerated into a Worldly Interest a Worldly Gain a Worldly Greatness a VVorldly State And here the Life and Power of Christianity fell asleep It was in a Slumber And this Spirit went from one to another and from hand to hand And tho the Reformation
may be accounted worthy to escape those things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man You see here that ye may stand before the Son of Man there must be a watching to prayer and a watching upon this very account O! that we could be sensible of that Day and stir up our supplications in that very point So the Apostle Peter For I would endeavour to argue the Scripture upon you that the great Intention and Earnestness of our Prayer should run to that very Point of the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 4. 7. The end of all things is at hand and therefore watch unto Prayer Let us be continually watching unto Prayer upon this very account because the end of all things is at hand If we considered that it would engage and stir up our Prayers Be sober and watch unto Prayer for our Prayers will meet us then we shall rise in them at that Day 3. In the Third Place Our Watchfulness should stand in this in a constant living sence of the Word of God especially in this great point upon us That we should have a Meditation upon the Word of God It is a very hard thing for us to entertain our thoughts in the Night when we are awake or when we are alone it is a hard thing to know how to employ our Thoughts and to engage them And therefore if we could take the Word of God That would keep us in an awful sence of God and of eternal things David often speaks of his Meditation in the Word of God Psal 119. I meditate in thy Word I meditate in thy Statutes it is my meditation all the day And Psal 1. 1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly c. but his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in that Law doth he meditate Day and Night Saith David I stir up my self I awake in the night that I might meditate in thy statutes If we could seriously bring into our thoughts the Meditations of the end of all things but we are so concern'd for this little spot of Time even for that next Moment that is before us what we shall eat and what we shall drink and what we shall put on and how this and that shall be maintained If our hearts were but suitably and proportionably fixt upon that What shall we do for our Eternal Condition How shall we bear that Day Would not any one set that Day before him if he were really possest of it If a Man were to Plead his Cause and whole condition in this World who of us could keep his Heart and Thoughts from oft running into 't Now if we could keep our Meditations upon those Scriptures that speak of this Eternal Condition I beseech you endeavour to get up your selves and to aspire to it by the Grace of God and that you would meditate on these things as the Apostle Paul teaches Timothy Meditate on these things that thy profiting may appear to all men He speaks indeed there of the preparation for the work of Preaching of the Gospel But let us apply it for we are every one concerned in this Great Point to be Preachers to our selves Certainly if every one be not a Preacher to himself all other Preachers can do him no good at all And the Excellent Truths that lie in the Word of God can do no good till a Man comes to Preach them to himself The Book of Ecclesiastes is in the English of it the Book of the Preaching soul that Book of Solomon which we call the Book of the Preacher it was the Book of the Preacher first to himself Eccl. 1. 1. It is observed by Learned Men the Word signifies The Preaching Soul Every one should be a Preaching Soul to himself and Preaching this Great Point Of the Coming and Kingdom of Christ And this would engage our Watch this would be like the snuffing the Lamps of our dark Apprehensions and blowing up the Flame of our cold and benumm'd affections It would make the Light more clear and it would be like the blowing up the fire it would enflame and warm us with the strength and vigour of those great apprehensions that pertain to the Coming of Christ Indeed it is very sad That the present state of the World is so covered and so darkned and so eclipsed and so chill'd and even frozen in these things We can go into no Company nay we our selves though we are sensible of these Truths we speak them and hear of them yet we don't know how to converse like the Servants of God That we might be all Preachers to our selves and one to another in them It is earnestly to be hoped and prayed for That a betterstate of things may come on and that the Spirit may be poured out abundantly And Would as Moses said all the Lords People were Prophets I cannot reasonably think that Moses spake of a thing that was impossible But surely there shall be a time that every one of the Servants of God shall have something to say as Prophets of the Lord one to another And this is the time that is earnestly to be expected and to be Prayed for I make no doubt but the World shall have such a Time of preparation in order to the Great and Glorious Coming of Christ Acts 2. 17. Pray observe God will pour out his Spirit to this very end to this very purpose saith the Apostle I will pour out my Syirit upon all flesh and your Sons and you Daughters shall Prophesie and your young men shall see Visions and your old men shall dream Dreams Every one shall have something to offer to another concerning God And on my servants and on my hand-maidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit and they shall Prophesie And I will shew Wonders in Heaven above and Signs in the Earth beneath c. And the Sun shall be turned into Darkness and the Moon into Bloud before that Great pray observe that before that Great and illustrious Day of the Lord come He will come in the still Voice of his Spirit poured out and of every one being enabled as Moses saith as a Prophet For would Moses do you think have said Would every Atome of Dust upon the Earth could be a Star he would not have wish'd such a thing or That all the Drops of Water in the Sea might be turned into Gold and Pearls These things would have been strange in Moses because they are things that never shall be But now That all the Lord's People shall be Prophets That 's a thing God will certainly do and awaken the World with before that Great and Illustrious Day of the Lord come In the mean time Let us endeavour to be Preaching-Souls unto our selves This is a thing I am sure that no one can have reason to be offended at Let Men be never so severe that none must Preach but such and