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A55419
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The kingdom of heaven explain'd, and the way to glory manifested by Christ Jesus, the Lord and King of that kingdom held forth in a parable in Mat. 22 from verse 1 to ver. 13 : with some brief meditations upon the said parable / by James Pope.
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Pope, James, fl. 1675.
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1675
(1675)
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Wing P2901; ESTC R4510
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17,062
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46
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THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN EXPLAIN'D And the way to Glory Manifested By Christ Jesus the Lord and King of that Kingdom Held forth in a Parable in Mat. 22. from verse 1. to ver 13. With some Brief Meditations upon the said Parable By James Pope If I have told you Earthly things and ye believe not How shall ye believe if I tell you of Heavenly things And he spake many things to them in Parables Mat. 13. 3. London Printed for the Author and are to be sold by Samuel Sprint at the Bell in Little-Brittain 1675. Academiae Cantabrigiensis Liber THE PREFACE I Have been Young and now am Old having lived to the account almost that Moses gives of the Age of a Man Psal 90. 10. Vnto which but few attain and being therefore now in expectation that I may quickly be called hence it was with great desire upon my heart that I might leave something with my Friends and Family and my loving Neighbours That if the will of the Lord be so it might be of some advantage to them when they shall see me no more The Subject of the insuing discourse is weighty though the Instrument is weak for which cause some perhaps may say Could not this man have found something else to do then to Write a Book seâ—ing this Nation doth abound with good Books that have been Written by Learned and able persons both Ancient and Modern It is true and blessed be God for plenty Yet nevertheless this may be of some advantage at least to some who have neither Money to buy nor time to Read the Books the Objection mentioned and for such this may be of use And besides though the Nation doth abound with good Books yet the houses of at least many People do not abound with them nor their minds with the knowledge of them Who perhaps will have a mind to hear what this Babler will say and it is possible some one or other may gain something thereby Which if it might be so it would make amends for all my trouble in Writing I know my end is to Alarum some poor souls and to perswade them to hearken to the invitation of the Gospel that so they may come and be welcome to the Marriage for they and they onely are Blessed Revel 19. 9. There will be but Come ye Blessed receive the Kingdome and Go ye Cursed into everlasting fire Which will certainly be the Portion of all those that neglect to hear and make ready to come upon the bidding to the Wedding by the Servants that are sent out to that end and purpose I shall subject the following Discourse to the perusal and censure of the Reader for whose sake I have Written it and especially my Neighbours of the Town of Hempsted whom I could be glad to serve in any thing within my power in thankful remembrancâ— of their Kindness shewed to me and my Friends which I do not forget I would also commend it to my Friends and dear Relations committing you all to the Grace of God with my poor Mite now cast into the Treasury remaining Your suppliant at the Throne of Grace J. P. THE KINGDOME OF HEAVEN EXPLAINED Matth. 22. 2. The Kingdome of Heaven is like a certain King that made a Marriage for his Son THe Lord Jesus spake much to the Jews in Parables and in a foregoing Parable he shews them what would be the event of their dealing with himself and his Servants which he sent unto them and they themselves passes Sentence Chap. 21. 41. He will miserably destroy those wicked men and let out the Vinyard to other Husband-men that will render the Fruit in their Season Which hath been fully accomplished both to them and to us they are destroyed and we Gentiles saved they are broken off and we if we believe shall be Grafted in They are deprived of the Gospel and we injoy it which is the sume of the Parable now under consideration And I shall take notes of three things First What the Kingdome of Heaven is Secondly How it may be compared to a Marriage Thirdly Wherein the Parable doth not hold for in all things Parables do not hold And then I shall desire to consider wherein the whole may be profitable to us As to the first a Kingdom doth impose a King and Subjects and so do the Kingdome of Heaven supposeth a Heavenly King and Heavenly Subjects and then Christ and his Church are to be taken for the Kingdome of Heaven But then the Question is what is the Church The answer is it is to be considered First In its Militant or else Secondly In its Triumphant state and in both these it will fall under a two fold consideration The First viz. The Militant or warring state we must consider it as it's Catholick consisting of the universal Body Among whom there is no Prophane nor Hypocritical Person And in this sense they are called The General Assembly and Church of the first born that are written in Heaven Heb. 12. 23. My Dove my undefiled is but one Song of Songs 6. 8. They are that whole Family in Heaven and Earth Eph. 3. 15. So all the Saints make up but one Church in this sence But in a second sense the Church is devided into particular Churches as 7 in Asia Rev. 1. 4. In Galacia divers Gal. 1. 22. As also at Corinth at Rome at Antioch and more that might be mentioned Now in the Church in this sence there were in the primitive days and have been since and will be so to the last some Hypocrites John 2. 19 Jude 4. Esay 33. 14. Sinners in Sion are afraid fearfulness surpriseth the Hypocrits Which seems to be at the last day There were foolish Virgins among the Wise when the Mid-night cry is made Mat. 25. For the Net of the Gospel doth bring to shore bad Fish as well as good Mat. 13. 47 48. But it greatly concerns the Churches to take care that such be not there by their allowance if they are made manifest to be such But the Church Triumphant is also the Kingdome of Heaven and falls under a twofold consideration also and First We may consider it as with respect to the first state of Glory in which state Christ and his Saints shall Reign Gloriously together according to Dan. 7. 9 10. I beheld till the Thrones were cast down and the Ancient of days did sit whose Garment was as White as Snow and the Hair of his Head as the pure Wool his Throne was like the burning flame and his Wheels as burning fire A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him thousand thousands Ministered unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him the Judgment was set and the Books were opened This must needs be a day of great Glory when this glorious King shall come with his Glorious attendants to sit upon his Glorious Throne when all other Thrones must be cast down But what is this to the Saints I
in this is like those Men that are called Spirits that flatters Children with fair words and fine toyes to go with them till they have got them out of the reach of all relief and then and not till then they will let them see they are certainly Slaves past all Recovery Oh be not such Children as to be flatter'd with worldly toyes out of the hope of Heavenly joyes and so suffer your selves to be carried into endless woes For remember till you tack about you are nearer Hell every day and so consequently further off from God and Christ and Glory O â—emember whither you are going and turn again before it be too late Let not Christ say of you as of the Jews Ye will not come to me that you might have life John 5. 40. O that poor men and women would take Counsel of Wisdom crying after them Prov. 1. 20 21 22 23 24. Turn as my Reproof I will pour out my Spirit unto you I will make known my words unto you O harken before it be too late hear that your Souls may live Isa 55. 3. Let not Satan get you one step nearer Hell before you turn 3. Motive Those Souls that delay to return and come in upon the invitation will make their work more hard and difficult if ever they do reform First Because the longer they go on in sin the more hardned they will be in sin Heb. 3. 13. But exhort one another daily while it is called to day viz. While the day of Grace and opportunity last lest any of you be hardned by the deceitfulness of sin Sin is deceitful and the Devil is deceitful and mans heart is deceitful and these three agree in one Jer. 17. 9. Even to deceive poor Souls with the Golden Baits of worldly injoyments till Repentance be hid from their Eyes And so their Oyl be to seek when the Bride-groom comes and the door be shut Secondly It will be difficult to return after long delays because Custome is as it were a second nature Jer. 13. 25. Can the Ethiopian change his Skin or the Leopard his Spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil We know Old Ulcers are hardly hardly Clensed and Cured when an ease and speedy Cure may be made of a Green Wound Poyson when it is first taken may be expel'd but by continuance in the body till it have insected the Vitals the Cure will be very difficult and hazardous 3 ly The longer we go on in sin the more difficult will be our return because one sin draws on another and so we shall have more sins to repent of and the more work we have to do the more discouragement will be as to the undertaking of it Repentance is of necessity and seeing it is so it will be easier to repent of sin betime It is a kind of madness for a man to go on in a Trade that he knows he must repent that ever he medled with it and must throw it off or else it will utterly undo him every one will say The sooner the better Better to be rid of such an Imployment that a man loses by every day we lose by sin every day and treasure up wrath against the day of wrath If a fire kindle upon our House the way to quench it is not to add more fuel to it Now Sin sets Soul and Body on fire And the breath of the Lord as a stream of Brimstone doth kindle it Isa 30. 33. The Devil knows what he does in perswading Souls to delay their coming in at the first Call he knows that the work of returning will be more difficult If a Nail be but entred it may be easier pull'd out then if by continual knocking it is driven up to the head To add sin to sin is as to add to a burden to make it to be carried the more easily This is like what is said Deut. 29. 19. When the Curse of God is pronounced against sin and one say I shall have peace though I walk in the imaginations of my own heart to add Drunkerness to Thirst See what the Lord saith ver 20. The Lord will not spare him but his anger and his Jealousie shall smoak against him and all the Curses that are Written in this Book shall lye upon him O then take heed of delays for the work will be more difficult to morrow then it is to day O then while it is called to day harden not thy heart 4. Motive Come in quickly for else thou may'st not have so much time to serve the Lord as thou hast spent in serving the Devil who is thy deadly Enemy who intends nothing but thy eternal Ruine 5. Motive Consider thou hast run a great hazard all this while the Lord might have cut asunder the thred of thy life before now and thou mightest have dropt into Hell from whence there is no Redemption and wilt thou venture still if once he strike he will strike home 6. Motive Consider what thou losest by delays First Thou losest the presence of God the Communion of Saints the comfort of the Holy Spirit which although the wicked men count the Godly fools and think they live a mopish uncomfortable life yet is their joy as the joy of Harvest and as those that find a great spoil Isa 9. 3. see 1 Joh. 1. 4. Psal 16. 11. see 1 Pet. 1. 8. So that by delaying to come at the first although at last thou do come yet thou art a great loser in regard of that early joy which thou mightest have had by comming in sooner For the Lord doth not call upon thee to come and make thy condition worse than before It is a madness to think that the Devils service is more comfortable then Gods Secondly Thou losest the advantage of becomming famous in grace and holiness if a man be in a thriving way yet if he fall into it but a little before he dye he is not like to be very Rich. Oh therefore hearken to the Call betime that so thou may'st be rich in Grace rich in good Works and then thou shalt have a rich Reward in the Kingdom of Glory Thirdly By delayes thou may'st lose all and come as the Foolish Virgins did Mat. 25. When the Door was shut and as those Mat. 7. 22. That Prophesied in the Name of Christ and cast out Devils in his Name anâ— yet cannot be admitted When once the Master of the house is risen up and hath shut to the Door Luk. 13. 25. It will be then no boot 〈◊〉 knock and this is a loss indeed to lose the favour of God the love of Christ the fellowship of the Holy Spirit the Communion of all the blessed Angels and Saints thou losest Heaven and happiness and all the Glory and Felicity which was tendered to thee in the invitation But that is not all but those that lose God gain the Devil those that lose Heaven gain Hell which gain is a dreadful loss