the Text speaking of the glorious state of the Church that should be saith The Sun shall be no more thy light by day neither for brightness shall the Moon give Light unto thee but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting Light and thy God thy Glory Thy Sun shall no more go down neither shall thy Moon withdraw it self for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light and the dayes of thy mourning shall be ended Certainly this hath not yet been fulfilled And in the 21. Rev. towards the latter end you have almost the same words And the City saith the Text had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the Glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the Light thereof I shall afterwards come further to open somewhat of the meaning of that what it is no to have no need of Sun and Moon when we come to open wherein the glory of the Church doth consist that God intends to make the praise of the whole Earth I might name divers other Scriptures but I hasten rather to the other thing which is the main to open wherein the Church shall be the praise of the whole earth or what shall make it to be the Praise of the whole earth First more generally Certainly when the condition Jerusalem shall be in when Gods time shall come there will be a time of Resurrection from the dead there will be a kind of Resurrection from the dead before the general Resurrection at the great day of Judgment we have divers Scriptures that do seem to point at this and indeed clearly to manifest it The first Scripture is in the 12 Chapter of the book of Daniel that speaks of a Resurrection another Resurrection than that that shall be at the great day of Judgment saith the Text And at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the Book And many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt and they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever Now that this must be an Estate of the Church before the great and general Resurrection is clear First It 's said here Some shall rise he speaks not of all shall rise Now at that day good and bad all shall rise But then Secondly The uttermost glory of the most eminent godly men that shall rise it shall be but to shine as the brightness of the Firmament and the height of all is that they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars they shall but shine as the Stars Surely those who are not only righteous themselves but are means to turn others to Righteousness they are like to have the greatest degree of Glory in Heaven which is a mighty encouraging place not only to Ministers but to all to seek to convert all they can For this Scripture seems to hold forth this Truth that the Lord will look upon them as Instruments of his Glory and give them a higher degree of Glory than others But now at the great day of Judgment we know that the Saints of God shall shine brighter than the Stars they shall be as the Sun These Bodies of Clay that we carry now about with us in the great day when Christ shall come to judge all the World they shall shine as the Sun in the Firmament The poorest Man or Woman or Child that is godly though their Bodies are cloathed with Rags now yet at the day of Christ their Bodies shall be made to shine as the Glory of the Firmament nay more than so as the Glory of the Sun Yea they shall be like to the Body of Jesus Christ himself c. and the Body of Christ shall be beyond the Glory of the Sun therefore this is not meant of that time for the height of all the Glory here is but as the Stars But then a third Reason why it is not meant at that time is because the Lord bids Daniel to close up this Prophecy and tells him it shall be a thing kept hid Now that there shall be a Resurrection that God shall come to judge the World this was never any such secret the light of Nature will tell us this that there is a time that it must be well with the righteous and ill with the wicked The Heathens could tell us of a time that God should judge the World But now the Prophet here speaks of this as a Mystery that it was not to be revealed till the latter dayes Yea and then Fourthly The Lord promiseth to Daniel as a peculiar and special favour unto him that he should arise and stand in the Lot at the end of the dayes Now for Daniel to arise at the day of Judgment that 's a thing that is common to all good and bad but here it is promised to him as a special Mercy that he shall stand up in the latter dayes in his Lot And therefore according to the Reverend Brightman and others this place is interpreted of the time of the calling in of the Jews when they and the Gentiles shall joyn together and Jerusalem shall then be set up as the Praise of the whole Earth And the rather it makes me think so because the Apostle in the 11 of the Rom. vers 15. speaking of the time of the calling of the Jews he doth make use of such a kind of Phrase that it shall be even a time of Resurrection it shall be no other but even a raising from the dead In the 15 verse For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the World what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead Therefore it seems that he had some Reference to this very Scripture here at this time And in the 37 of Ezek. the beginning the receiving of the Jews there is set out by the dry Bones that were breathed upon by the breath of God and so they stood up as an Army and had life Yea and this shall be as a new Creation There will be as great works done as God did when he made the World at first and he will put forth as great a power So you have it set forth unto you in the 65. of Isa There the Prophet prophesying of a Glorious Condition of the Church what it should be mark how he doth express it For behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into mind But be ye glad and rejoyce for ever in that which I Create for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoycing and her People a Joy I create saith he new Heavens and a new Earth When will God do this Why saith he Be glad in it for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoycing and her People a Joy When this Jerusalem
will help you to pray much and you should put this into your Petitions Lord make thy Church appear to be thy Portion Thy Treasure Thy Glory Now come Lord Jesus come quickly O that that day might come The third thing is this That when God sets up Jerusalem as the praise of the whole Earth then God will make good the Promises that he hath made unto his Church in the Old Testament And the Prophecies of the glory of his Church which are very many that the truth is we do not know what to make of them we are fain to make Allegories of them when it 's very probable that they are to be in a literal way to be understood and all for the want of the knowledge of this one thing that there is a time for God to set up Jerusalem as the praise of the whole Earth Commonly we find that Divines have opened the promises of the Old Testament either by way of an Allegory or of the state of the Church in glory so that there hath been a great mistake in this thing We find in the 54 of Isa v. 17. when the Lord makes a promise to his Church that no weapon that was formed against that should prosper he concludes it and saith This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. All the promises in the Old Testament are the Inheritance of the Saints of God It 's a very sweet place it 's an Excellent place to poor People that have no Riches nor Inheritance left them by their Parents but they have the Promises for their Inheritance Thou may'st look over the Book of God and watsoever promise thou findest made to the Church thou mayst look upon it as thine Inheritance Many carnal men that have great Inheritances other ways they have nothing to do with the Promises of the Saints But the poorest Saint hath all the glory that there is in the Promises of the Word of God they are their Inheritance But in the mean time I have little Why thou art under age yet and God he is thy Guardian and God will be accountable to thee for all and the longer thou stayest before thou comest to thine Inheritance the more shalt thou have when thou comest to it and therefore remember that all the Promises in the Word are to be made good to thee one way or other and all that concern his People will be made good in this world when God shall come and set up Jerusalem as the praise of the whole Earth We shall understand that hereafter and therefore we find in the 5 th of the Revelations that there the Lamb he only is able to open the Seals of the Book There was brought a Book Seal'd and a Proclamation was made to know who was worthy to open the Book and to loose the Seals thereof Now the Text saith that John saw none found worthy At length there appeared a Lamb as it had been slain and he was found worthy and the Book was given to him and he opened the Seals of the Book this Book is the Book of the Prophecies of the state of the Church in the new Testament and the promises of God for the glory of the Church of the new Testament Now these things have been kept Sealed for a long time and especially before Christs time But Jesus Christ the Lamb that hath been slain it is he only that is able to open this Book and the Seals of it and there is a time that he will open it he opens it by degrees to his Church And therefore I find it 's very observable in the 22. of Revel vers 6. There comes an Angel to John and said unto him These things are faithful and true And the Lord God of the holy Prophets sent his Angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done Why now John was before speaking of the glorious condition of Jerusalem the Jerusalem that came down from Heaven Now saith he The Lord God of the holy Prophets sent his Angel Why is it said here The Lord God of the holy Prophets The meaning is this that the Lord now sends his Angel to make his Servants to understand what was in the Prophets and therefore the Lord hath this title The Lord God of the holy Prophets It 's not said here The great God or the holy God only or the Father of Christ or any such title But the Lord God of the holy Prophets That is I here will manifest to my Servants what I did Inspire the holy Prophets with in former times and will open their Prophecies unto them O it will be a blessed time when we shall come to understand the Prophecies of the Old Testament and how they do aim at the New Testament you Read their Book and how often do you shut the Book and say O Lord I cannot understand I do not know the meaning of these things and so likewise the book of the Revelations and sometimes you are ready to think why doth God write so in his word But be satisfied in this thing in your Reading the Scriptures there are some things very dark But now the main things that concern thine everlasting Salvation are clear enough and bless God for that But now if you would know why other things are dark they are dark because the Lord intends in them to manifest some glorious thing that he will do towards the latter end of the world for his People that the truth is God would not have generally known till then You will say why then have we the Scriptures Yes we have them now that God may appear so much the more glorious when they are fulfill'd that they may be manifested to his Saints that these are no other things than the Prophets did Prophesie of divers thousand Years ago Now this will mightily add to the Joy of the Saints when they shall come to see O this is partly fulfilling of such a Prophecy in Isa and in Ezek. and in the Revelations now it adds to the Joy of the Church to know that these things that now they have are no other than God did foretel by his holy Prophets as no question now when Christ was Prophesied of For he was Prophesied of for four thousand Years before he came into the world and in a Mighty dark way as now this first Prophecy of Christ The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents Head what could they understand of this and yet under this Prophecy was the whole Gospel Prophesied of and he shall bruise thy heel there all the sufferings of Jesus Christ were Prophesied of under that Prophesie Now I am confident that for the general part of the Jews they understood no more of that Prophecy to be meant of Christ and his sufferings than we when we Read in Ezekiel and in the Revelations do understand what God will do for his Church in time to come But now when this Prophesie is fulfill'd that we find
the seed of the Woman is come and how he hath overcome Principalities and Powers and how the Devil hath opposed him now we see the meaning of this Prophecy And now we can bless God so much the more for Christ Christ is no other than the Lord did in Paradise formerly Prophesie of And so divers other Prophecies in the Old Testament as The Scepter shall not depart from Judah unto Shilo come Alas none of the Jews almost did understand this And that not a bone of Christ should be broken and so I might name you forty such Prophecies so just as now The Prophecies that were Prophesied of concerning Christs coming in the Flesh were very obscure in the Old Testament but were made clear by the fulfilling of them to us in the New So the Prophecies of the glorious state of the Church when Jerusalem shall be made as the praise of the whole Earth they are obscure to us yet but when it comes to be made clear the Saints of God will praise and bless God that now they come to enjoy that that so many years ago was Prophesied of And therefore comfort your selves in this when you Read the Prophecies in the Word But certainly when it shall come it will be a blessed time and therefore pray for it give the Lord no rest till he set up Jerusalem as the praise of the whole Earth For then shall the Book of God be opened and things shall be seen mighty plain when that comes I will give you one Scripture for that of the clear opening of things when Jerusalem shall be made the praise of the whole Earth You find in the fourth of the Revelations and vers 1. There was a Door opened in Heaven nothing else but a Door But afterwards you find that Heaven it self was opened In the 19. Chap. vers 11. And I saw Heaven opened and behold a white Horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true c. First A Door was opened and then the Heaven of God was opened Noteing that there should be a Progress in the state of the Church at the first they should have but a little knowledge but afterwards they should have abundance of knowledge And in the 11. Chap. the 19. vers And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven and there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Testament c. How comes that to pass for in the time of the Law there was no such opening of the Temple as to see the Ark of Gods Testament for that was kept hid But now speaking of the glorious times of the Church in the state of the Gospel the Temple of God was opened in Heaven and there was the Ark of the Testament of God seen it was made clear Then the Ark of Gods Testament it was kept hid from the People that they could not see it in the time of the Law But when Jerusalem shall be made the praise of the whole Earth the Temple shall be opened and the Ark shall appear the word of God shall be made open in the Promises and Prophecies of it Therefore let us pray and believe let us believe and pray that this time may be hastened The Second SERMON On a Fast-Day at Stepny Octob. 31. 1645. IN the fourth place the time when Jerusalem shall be made the Praise of the whole Earth what shall be done then We shall be delivered from all Oppressions The Titles of the Church made good visibly Prophecies and Promises fulfill'd And in the fourth place there shall be a wonderful Confluence of People that shall joyn with the Saints in the way of God's Worship It 's true now there are but a very few that do joyn to worship God how little is God known in the World and Jesus Christ how little is he acknowledged in all the world if we should divide the World as some have into thirty parts we find not above five of those thirty that do so much as acknowledge Jesus Christ all the other are Heathens at this very day And then among those that do acknowledge Christ in the Grecian Churches though he is acknowledged to be Christ the Saviour yet they are extream ignorant generally And what a great part of the Christian World hath Popery under it And among those that make profession of Christ how few are there that do honour him and worship him according to his own way But when this time comes that Jerusalem shall be made the Praise of the whole World you shall have a mighty Confluence of People It shall not be said any more Little Flock fear not little little Flock but it shall be a great Flock and therefore you find in the Book of the Revelations that Jerusalem when it comes to be measured it is said to be a great City a mighty Confluence shall be unto the Church In the 2 of Daniel v. 35. it 's said there speaking of the Church as I remember 't is by way of resemblance of a Stone that it should grow great as a Mountain and it should fill the whole Earth there should be the generality of the World called in the fulness of the Gentiles together with the Jews I will not say every one but generally they shall be called in to the true Worship of Jesus Christ and to the embracing of the Gospel That Scripture in the sixtieth of Isa ver 3 4. and so on it is remarkable for this And the Gentiles shall come to thy light and Kings to the Brightness of thy Rising Lift up thine Eyes round about and see all they gather themselves together they come to thee Thy Sons shall come from far and thy Daughters shall be Nursed at thy side Then thou shalt see and flow together and thine Heart shall fear and be enlarged because the abundance of the Sea shall be converted unto thee the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee Mariners and those that converse at Sea they shall be converted unto the Church 'T is a Prophecy shewing that the Lord hath a special care of Mariners that have gone on in wayes of Ignorance not knowing Christ and the way of the Gospel saith he Abundance of the Sea shall be converted unto thee He doth not mean the waters of the Sea but the People that do converse in the Seas Mariners in the Sea that they shall even come over the Sea to joyn when they hear the Gospel comes to be set forth in the beauty and Power of it And so he goes on still further in the 6 vers The multitudes of Camels shall cover thee the Dromedaries of Midian and Ephah all they from Sheba shall come they shall bring Gold and Incense and they shall shew forth the Praises of the Lord. Read but this sixtieth of Isaiah and you shall find both this of the multitude of People And of abundance of Glory of Jerusalem that shall be which in the very Reading of it you cannot think that this hath been