this be the not Receiving the Truth in the Love of it on which God gives up the â—postacy to strong Delusions and to believe a Lye and because of the Few and Small Things he hath against his Suffering Churches of Pergamus and Thyatyra and the Sardian State of the Reformation that hath a Name to Live and yet is dead Upon all these Accounts Prophecy is so little understood saving the Glimmerings of Light given by a very Few and those very Little Acceptable Interpreters that do inlighten and shew by a Little how this dark place would be inlightned by taking heed to the Sure Word of Prophecy But I am about to say if Prophecy were as Fully and Truly Interpreted as the Publickness of its Constitution for Interpretation would give Leave to it would especially now so near the End foâ— inlâ—gâ—ten the dark place that there would be no Room found for the Darkness of the Apostacy but it would fly away like Shades of the Night at the Morning Appearance But as the Apostle says God hath concluded All under Sin so under the Apostacy either in Full as in the Antichristian World or in Part as in the Reformation-Part that in his own Time he might have mercy upon All. Oh the Heighth and Depth of the Riches of both the Wisdom and Knowledge of Goâ— How unsearchable are his paths and hù ways past finding out For of him and by him are all things to him be glory for ever 2. The Disagreement among the Interpreters of Prophecy and more particularly the Great Mistakes they have fallen into in â—oint of Time seems a more formidable Objection against the Freeness and Publickness of the Interpretation of Prophecy and most as to Time For when Wise Learned Sagacious and very Diligent Zealous and Holy Persons have set themselves to inquire and find out the Mind of the Spirit and have not found it but have disagreed among themselves and so some must be in mistakes For they cannot differ and all be in the Right This is much more against the Interpretation of Prophecy being not privâ—te than if none had attempted For were it not under Reserve why have they not been more successful in finding that have so tryed and put themselves forth to the utmost therein Answ 1 We ought to be very wary to urge either Mistakes or Differences of Interpreters in interpreting Prophecy of Scripture left we shut our selves out of all Interpretation of Scripture in General yea even out of Great Points of Faith and Trnth of the Gospel Because in all these there are Great Differences of Explication and therefore Mistakes on some side Should we therefore Reason These are so Dark and Reserv'd as not to be medled with This would be an high Dishonour to our Chrâ—stian Profession Let us much rather make our Attendances to Reading and Meditation more Inward Constant Sâ—rious Deep Humble with more earnest Supplications for Divine Assistance and Free Communications of his Spâ—rit the Author of all Knowledg in the Truths making wise to Salvation and so in Interpretation of Prophecy Answ 2 Whensoever Any have fallen short or are mistaken in the Interpretation of Prophecy we must conclude there was a want of Due Attendance and God Left even Good Men and his Servants so to themselves that they have miss'd in what they have seem'd to themselves or even to others to have attain'd But in the mean time nothing is to be charg'd upon Prophecy of Scripture or the Nature and Constitution of it as to Interpretation as if it were dark and incertain and we could ne're be sure whether we had it aright or not so contrary to the Apostles Doctrine concerning it For as no Weakness or Indisposition of the Eye or Disadvantage in Avenues or Entrances of Light are to be charg'd on the Light it self so none of the Hallucinations or over sights or Stumbles of the Interpreters of Prophecy are to be imputed so much to the Difficulty of Interpretation of it as in it self but to our Dullnefs of sight or hearing what the Spirit hath therein said to the Churches Nor is any one therefore to be discouraged but only cantioned not to be high minded but to fear Even as the many Miscarriages in persons seeking Eternal Happiness should not deter us from walking in the way of Life but oblige us to do it with an holy fear and trembling lest we should so much as seem to fall short Object 3 It will be said It is true Nothing is to be laid to the charge of Prophecy it self or to the Constitution of it for such Interpretation as God intended for it But it may hence be collected God intended Prophecies should be kept secret until either they shall be opened in such a glorious state of the Church as is signified by the Kingdom of Christ or till each Prophecy shall be fullfilled or at least till as near the Time of fullfilling as it was when Daniel by Beoks understood concerning the End of the Seventy Years Captivity Answ 1 Nothing of what is mentioned in this Objection will satisfy what the Apostle Peter hath here affirmed For that Prophecy should be a Light shining in a dark place can by no means be accommodated to the state of the Kingdom of Christ That could ne'r be styl'd by the Apostle a dark place although it is most True Prophecy shall lye open as a Volume most clearly and fully understood in the Hall as I may say of that Palace of the Kingdom but not as in a dark place but as Light uniting with Light unto perfect Brightness Then it is the Day shall dawn and the Day-star shine in the very Hearts of all the Servants of Christ and the Light of one Day be as the Light of seven Nor can the Apostles sense be made good by Prophecy being understood when fullfilled For indeed the Disputes are as Great concerning the Time at which Prophecies that undoubtedly have been long ago fullfilled were fullfilled as concerning Prophecies yet to be fullfilled And though it may well be allowed that there have been some Bruits and Noises of the Things foretold by Prophecy that they were coming to pass at the time they did come to pass yet there are Two Things evidently intended by the Apostle as the Great Scope and End of his Discourse much to be considered by all that would find the Purpose of the Holy Spirit by him 1. That there is one Glorious Day and Day-Star to break out and shine in the World which is the Great Point at which Prophecy aims and into which it shall uniâ—e as a Lesser Light with a Greater and more Glorious which is indeed the Kingdom of Christ and to which the Apostle had respect as is to be shewn throughoâ—t this Epistle This is that Time of the Restitution of All Things of which all the Prophets have spoken since the World began as that same Apostle Peter spoke Acts 3. 21. This is the Mpstery to be
it Consider it every way and then give me an Answer is it Miracle or not And as it is thus concerning Creation so concerning Providence it is perfect Miracle for what is Miracle but an Effect rising from the immediate word of God now how does our Meat preserve our Life not by it self only but by every word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of God as our Lord hath declared to us So How do our Cloaths warm us How does the whole Course of Nature maintain its Circulation We are as ignorant in all these things even as the Jews were when Christ either Heal'd the Sick or the Lame or open'd the Eyes of the Blind or cast out Devils or whatever were the great things he did and yet still the things were evident Matters of Fact Even so it is in the Dayly Evidences of the Divine Power and Greatness and Goodness in the Creation and Dayly Providence How excellently does David speak upon this Subject Psalm 104. He goes through this whole Oeconomy of Creation and Providence and therefore he begins thus Oh Lord my God thou art very Great Thou art Cloathed with Honour und Majesty who coverest thy self with Light as with a Garment and so on Now if we do really believe that the whole World stands by Immediate Divine Power and that every day the Motions of it come fresh out of the Hand of God and that beyond all Natural Causes or Connexion of Causes then we must acknowledg Miracles every day The Prophet Jeremy tells us Lament 3. 23. It is of the Lords mercies we are not Consumed and because his compassions fail not they are new every Morning We are ready to think the Light and the Life and the mercy of this Day are the same they were Yesterday but if we believe the Spirit of God by that Prophet they are not the same though of the same for Kind yet not the same by any necessary Continuation or Natural Connexion with those of Yesterday but new new every Morning Now if the mercy of this Morning be new why then it is certainly a Miracle because no Power of a Creature could have produced it or brought it forth but an Immediate Act of the Power of the goodness of God And he had not done it so yesterday that he must needs do it to day yet if he did not generally do it and that anew our Life must cease for ever Oh if our Hearts did but Live under this Sense of God how Humble and Dependent would it make us We are ready to think it is the Suns Duty to Rise to Day because it Rose Yesterday and we are too ready to Build upon it that our Life shall be to Day as it was Yesterday but if we could consider that it is indeed a New Life every Day yea every Moment and that whatever Channel it runs through yet that God alone is the Giver immediately from Himself and it is continually a New Gift If a Man were Dead and Raised again from the Dead then every one would look about them and make a great wonder but if we went up to the Fountain Head we should find the very same Power that Raises the Dead giving Life every Moment and if we could see but into that we should see Miracle in the one even as in the other for both are immediately from Infinite Power Both are New Only one is out of the Ordinary Course of Gods Disposal the other not so I would only argue this further on one place of Scripture and so pass on It is said Rom. 1. 20. The Invisible Things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly understood by the Things that are made Even his Eternal Power and Godhead so that they are without Excuse The Apostle affirms The Eternal Power and Godhead are in themselves clearly to be seen round about us by the Works of Creation and Providence and so as to leave without Excuse Although therefore we see not thus clearly even the best of us and so many bruitish Atheistick Men not at all yet this cannot make the Apostle's Words of no Effect They continue Firm The Eternal Power and Godhead are so to be seen as to leave men without Excuse What now can Miracles do more They can only alarm or call us to closer Attendance They cannot more clearly inform inlighten or assure We may therefore justly say of Creation and Providence compar'd with Miracles as the Lord said of Moses and the Prophets compar'd with one rising from the Dead If they will not believe the one they will not be perswaded by the other If not by Creation and Providence no not by Miracles I would therefore consider what is said by the Men of Wit and Reason as they are ready to Esteem themselves They would suppose that Matter and Motion being either Eternal as some would have it or Created by God as others would at least seem to allow and then either by themselves or by a General Concourse of the Supreme Being they could together according to a sort of Mechanick Law do every thing But we see how soon not only the Works of Art but even of Nature Run out of Order or wear out themselves It is True if all things could have produced themselves there were an End of the Miracle of Creation Or if when made they could Govern themselves There were then indeed no Miracle of Providence but what turned Nature wholly out of its Course But to us instructed by the Word of God the whole Frame of Creation is like a well Tuned Instrument every String wound up to its due Tenor but in evèry single String and the whole Harmony the Divine Hand was immediately even wherein any Second Cause had the least Activity Every Wheel in this curious Machine was plac'd by his Finger And when all was put together and so Tun'd All had for ever notwithstanding lain still like an Instrument on which the Musicians Hand never came or was removed Or as a Clock or Watch whose Weights or Spring were never wound up or quite down or taken off And to this Frame and this Motion no Vicarious Hand but the Creator's alone can suffâ—ce He is every moment even a-new the Fountain of Life Being and Motion as the Apostle saith In him we live move and have our Being So that Creation and Providence are still Miracles The Sun and so all other of the Works of Creation in their proportion is prepared as a Bridegroom coming out â—f his Chamber and rejoyces as a strong man to run a Race But in all this the Sun declares the Glory of God alone Oh that therefore our souls could Bless the Lord while we have our Being and all that is within us praise his Holy Name that the meditation of Him and his Works could be sweet to us and that we could say we need not Miracles as further Evidences of his Creating Power or Preserving Goodness but for the Displays thereof to other
the Whales Belly What is said of our Lord Jesus Mat. 4. v. 24. when It is said The Fame of him went out throughout all Syria And they brought unto him all sick persons those which were possess'd with Devils those which were Lunatick and had the Palsy and he healed them his opening the Eyes of the Blind cleansing the Lepers making the Lame to walk the Dumb to speak the Deaf to hear the giving to speak with Tongues to Interpret strange Tongues But above all Raising the Dead appears to All perfect Miracle the Raising of Lazarus when Dead Three Days John 11. 14. so alarm'd the Jews and affrighted the Sanhedrim who sat in Counsel upon it that they said If we let him alone all men will believe on hiâ— and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our Nation All these are Miracles of Mercy and both these sorts both of Judgment and Mercy we allow to be Miraculous because they are above the Standard of Gods general Government of the World and settlement of what we call Nature in this present State of it And thus I have labour'd in this First and Fundamental Point to define the Nature of Miracle because it will give Light all along the Discourse and guide to the chief Point viz. That they a pertain to the Kingdom of Christ and World to come CHAP. III. Giving yet a more Strict and Exact Description of Miracles in Five Particulars I Find it necessary to come up yet closer and nearer to the Nature of Scripture-Miracles or its Account of them and that so that I may shew how close they lead up to that World to come And herein I shall observe most particularly the Words the Spirit of God uses to express Miracles by I will to this purpose insist on these Five Particulars 1. The First Thing that speaks Miracle and that is indeed the most Proper and Essential Description of Miracles is That in Miracle God acts by an immediate Hand and does not work by any Second or Subordinate Cause whatever Instrument Conveyance or Minister of his Power he may use When he works perfectly as the Creator he is alone and there is no other with him in his Work He shews himself immediately by his own Hand and stretched out Arm If God blesses Physick and the sick man is recovered This is indeed Miracle if we consider the First Spring God is at the Fountain of All Mâ—ans For he is the First Cause When a Man by Diligence in his Calling grows Rich This Men say is no Miracle He was a Diligent and an Industrious Laborious Man and he had besides these and these Opportunities But if we believe the Scripture This is not to be attributed to the Second Cause but to the First and in that it is Miracle For The Blessing of the Lord maketh Rich and The Lord maketh Thee to grow Râ—ch as we Read in Moses and a man to whom God giveth Riches saith Solomon But yet the Scripture it self does not call this Miracle because a Train of Second Causes waits upon the First and to a common Eye hides it In Miracle God does All and he works like himself suddenly and not according to the Leisure and Slowness of the Second Cause He heals immediately He pour'd Riches on Solomon like the most High Possessor of All He commands and the Effect stands up together in the same moment he commands If a Man hath Cataracts on his Eyes and goes to a Skillful Oculist and he Couches them as we speak we do not call this Miracle because an Hand of Natural Cause waits upon God here for Concurrence But when by the Power of Christ Men had their Eyes opâ—ned without the use of Means Then Every One agrees It is the Hand of God and calls it Miracle I say therefore This is One Thing in Miracle and I beseech the serious Consideration of it because there is such assurance in Scripture God will come to do great Things immediately by his own Hand He will do them as he said he would Answer the Idolatrous Enquirers in Ezekiel by Himself by his own immediate Power According to this we are instructed Exod. 7. 5. When I stretch out my Hand saith God upon Aegypt Miracle is the stretching out of God's Hand and Chap 8. 19. when the Magicians could not do what Moses did They then said This is the Finger of God Here then is the Nature of Miracle It is God's shewing his own Finger The Magicians acted by a Power as we say behind the Curtain They acted by the Devil But when Aaron smote the Dust of the Earth and it became Lice Then the Magicians themselves acknowledged This is the Finger of God because they tryed to do so with their Enchantments and could not This therefore plaâ—nly declares Miracle when it comes to that that no Angelical Power can do it nor can he trusted to do it as God's Commissioner Then it is Miracle Then it is a Power of the World to come which God hath not put into Subjection to Angels either Good or Bad. The Magicians acting by the Intervention and utmost Power of Bad Angels did some Things as Moses and Aaron so long they did not own Miracle But when they come to that They acting by Created Power could not do nor were any way Commission'd to do Then they cryed out The Finger of God And it is very observable our Lord makes use of the very same word in arguing the Truth of that so great Miracle of Casting out that Potent Devil Luke 11. by the Power of God and not as the Magicians by the Power of Belzebub or the Devil as the Magicians did If I by the Finger of God cast out Devils saith Christ then no doubt the Kingdom of God is come upon you Where are Two Things most Remarkable concerning Miracles 1. That Miracles are by the immediate Power of God Patrated or Effected 2. That there is a certain undoubted and inseparable Connexion between the Kingdom of God or the World to come and Miracles or Effects of the Immediate Divine Power or Finger which shall indeed bring it in All in it being Highest Power and so is All that works for it There is therefore a peculiar Word chosen by the Spirit of God in the New Testament to Express Miracle by and it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Power so very often in Scripture and most Remarkably Miracles are call'd Heb. 6. Powers of the World to come Now I find by the Consent of the most Sage Interpreters Those Powers of the World to come are understood of Miracles They are Powers Demonstrative of Immediate Divine Power and Powers proper to the World to come prepar'd for all manner of Service to it and which shall in the Due and Just Time introduce it and as I observed before we find the same Expression taken out of Exodus and so Acts 4. They are the Hand of God stretched out and his Arm as
they may know the Certainty of the Words of Truth This is an undeniable Priviledg and Ground of Hope to All who set Themselves by Prayer Desire and Humble Endeavours to Search and so seek out the Misteries of Wisdom to be found out in the Book of Prophecy why then should it be Thought a Hopeless Undertaking or an Incredible Thing that any one should be so Assisted that doth Humbly Profess he hath so waited upon God in his Word Or that That Key of Prophetical Knowledg should be vouchsafed to such a one when so gracious Assistances are Promised from and by the Divine Spirit the Publick Spirit of Prophecy and its Interpretation Now All this I have Discoursed in General I would particularly Argue concerning Prophetick Time and by an Argument most peculiar to it For not only in general If All and Every Prophecy be Constituted of a not private Interpretation then not Prophecies by Numbers defining Time to the Kingdom of Christ For as hath been said if All Scripture as the Apostle Paul says be of Divine Inspiration Then Prophecy So if All Prophecy be not of Private Interpretation then not that very particular Part of Prophecy which Defines Time And as Prophecy is so excellent a part of Scripture so the Numbers Defining Time are an excellent part of Prophecy and therefore cannot be of private Interpretation if Prophecy be not so For every General includes all especially chiefest Particulars But I shall further Argue with a Peculiar Respect to the Prophetick Numbers of Time that they of any cannot be of Private Interpretation For Number Weight and Measure are Things of so great Exactness that the whole Communication of the World Depends upon them and Scripture puts upon them great Honour also requiring above all that they be Exact as the Rules of all Enter-Course Now therefore when Scripture takes Number and Measures of Time into it self if these are not well understood how can they be such Standards of Enter-course Seeing then Prophecy hath so many Numbers 2300 Eves Morns Time Times Half a Time 12â—0 Days 1335 Days in Daniel 1260 Days with Time Times Half a Time Three Days and an Half and 42 Months 2 Times mentioned in the Revel if these Numbers that so evidently speak a Fitness for Calculation of Time with greatest Exactness If these by a due Search and Compare one with another cannot be understood what spaces of Time they Dâ—fine when they begin and when they End They of all the Points of Prophecy tho they carry the Face and Appearance of Greatest Significancy yet would be indeed of all the most Insignificant Now seeing an Insignificancy in the Highest Points of Signification can by no means be imputed to the Wise and Holy Spirit of Prophecy I conclude that even these Prophetick Numbers in a peculiar and Eminent Manner may be understood both what space of Time they Emensurate or Line out to us and also when they Begin and when they End and so I have finished the First Head of Discourse I proposed I come now therefore to the Second Head proposed to give Answers to the great Objections that are Levyed against this Proposition viz. That All and every Prophecy of Scripture is not of Private or Reserv'd but Publick Free and open Interpretation Object 1 If Prophecy of Scripture be of so Free Publick and Unreserv'd Interpretation how comes it to pass that so few have so much as Attempted the Books of Prophecy that Fore-tell Great Events and the Times of Them Yea that Most judg it so Unpresumable an Undertaking as to Reject all Interpretations of Daniel and the Revelation that Debate Things throughly to their utmost point and issue and that search what or what manner of Time is signified by the Spirit in them or is more than by way of ordinary Comment as if they were the Performances of only Fanatical and Imaginative Men and upon the Evidence but of such an Endeavour condemn them immediately as such Ans Let God be True and every Man a Lyar Now God hath said Every Prophecy of Scripture is so Descended that it is not of Private Interpretation that they do well who attend to the Light of it shining as in a Dark place and so Enlightning it if then it were Dark it self how should it enlighten a Dark Place for it would be Dark to Dark which increases Darkness still whatsoever enlightens must be it self Light This main Truth ought therefore at all times to remain Stable and Firm. The immediate Cause therefore of this so general prejudice against search into Prophecy however Coloured over with Modesty and Reverence of Divine Mysteries and secrets into which Men pretend they would not Pry are these 1. There is so great a Darkness upon the present state that though the Light Shines in it yet it as Darkness comprehends not the Light of Prophecy shining upon it 2. Hence as Men in the Dark they are Afraid of every appearance of Difficulty They say concerning All Interpretation of Prophecy There is a Lyon in the way It is as the Sons of Anak to them that cannot be Encounter'd and as the Walls that cannot be Scaled so difficult and unintelligible is Prophecy that it cannot be Interpreted It is as a Sealed Book the Learned cannot Read because Sealed nor the unlearned because not Learned 3. How many are they who are afraid of the very Light it self what Prophecy Reveals is so contrary to the State they are in that they are as the Expression is in Job upon all appearance of such Light as it were in the Terrors of the shaddow of Death The Aspect of Prophecy upon both the Civil and Ecclesiastick State of the present World is most Terrible especially when it comes to the Determination of Time as near Thus the Lord makes Foolish the Wisdom of the Wise c. Esay 28. that they cannot endure it and so hate the Light and will not come to it least their State should be Reproved and Shaken and are Angry that such a Light should be flashed in their Faces But these are only the next or second Causes there is a higher judiciary Cause that sways Righteously and Holily and yet so as Permitting and leaving Men to themselves even this That Because men do not like to attend to the sure Word of Prophecy God gives them up to this Culpable Cause and Reason of all the Injudiciousnesses concerning the meaning of Prophecy and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prepossessions against the Interpretation of it as if it were private and Reserv'd and thus that his Wise and Just purpose purpose should be fulfilled that the dark place should be a dark place still while the Apostacy should according to the Oath of Christ for Time Times and half Time continue and till the Day dawn and the Day-Star arise in mens hearts and yet no Encouragement or Boldness ministred to it that it might continue so Dark without Great Sin And indeed though the faulty Cause of all