and no likelihood that the wounds thereof should be healed And at this time the Church of Christ and our Nation give us too great a cause of sorrow in this respect Fourthly We are to endeavour to procure all the good we can to our Jerusalem our Church and Kingdom in a lawful and Christian way We are to promote the peace and prosperity thereof of all kinds as much as in us lies For it would be but vain to call upon God for his help and succour for our Jerusalem if we are so little concerned for it that we will not vouchsafe it our own help and assistance so far as we have power And the devout Psalmist here doth resolve upon this that he would do what good he could to Jerusalem Ps 122.9 Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good And the Apostle exhorteth us to seek the good of others 1 Cor. 10.24 Let no man seek his own but every man another's wealth And much more then ought we to seek the good and welfare of the Church and Kingdom which are of such a general concern and not to think much to bestow both labor and cost for the benefit of them And it is our Lord's command that we should seek the Kingdom of God and seek it in the first place Matt. 6.33 But seek ye first the Kingdom of God saith he and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you The promoting of God's Kingdom and Righteousness among men is to be our first and chiefest â—are and to such endeavours a blessing of earthly things is promised And to promote the Gospel and the pure Religion thereof is to promote the Kingdom of God as St. Paul sheweth Col. 4.11 These onely are my fellow workers unto the Kingdom of God But not only the outward profession of the Gospel but chiefly the inward reception of it and the hearty belief of the Gospel which produces obedience and makes a life conformable thereto is the true Kingdom of God And so our Saviour hath told us that the Kingdom of God is within us Lu. 17.21 And not only the outward profession of the Gospel but especially the inward and hearty embracing thereof should we endeavor to promote and advance what we can And the Peace and Prosperity of our Church and Kingdom should we advance as much as we can that the Gospel and Kingdom of God may be promoted therein as much as may be and that God may be duely worshipped and honoured therein and that his worshippers and servants may receive true benefit and comfort thereby We are to endeavour by all mild and gentle ways to heal the breaches and divisions that are in the Church and to allay all bitterness and animosities that are among us and to draw all to union and concord and to promote love and goodness among all if it may be And by all other lawful means should we seek the good and welfare of our Church and Kingdom And herein especially are we to be assisting to the prosperity and happiness of our Church and Nation by leading of haâ—mless and righteous and holy lives Hereby shall we do the Church and Kingdom the greatest service of all This will adorn our Church and Religion the most of all when all that are of other persuasions shall take notice what innocent and pious lives the Sons of our Church lead and how just and upright they are in all their ways And hereby shall we help to procure the Blessing of Almighty God upon us which is that which must complete and crown all our Peace and Happiness in every respect and make it firm and lasting or else it will never be done They are our sins which withhold good things from us and hinder the advancemâ—nt of our Peace and Happiness which we must remove before we can procure good to our selves This the Prophet shewe h Jer. 5.25 Your iniquities have turned away these things and your sins have withholden good things from you For amon my people are found wicked men And King David doth shew that the keeping of the Commandments of God was the way to enjoy the peaceable possession of the Land of Canaan and to leave it for an Inheritance to their Children 1 Chr. 28.8 Keep and seek for all the commandments of the Lord your God that ye may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance for your children after you for ever And this must we do if we would enjoy the Blessing of Peace our selves and leave it for an inheritance to our Children after us And saith the Prophet Jeremiah 22.3 Thus saith the Lord execute ye judgment and righteousness and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor and do no wrong do no violence to the stranger the fatherless nor the widow neither shed innocent blood in this place For if ye do this thing indeed then shall there enter in by the gates of this house Kings sitting upon the throne of David But if ye will not hear these words I swear by my self saith the Lord that this house shall become a desolation And so it is like to be with our Jerusalem The doing of the works of righteousness is the way to procure Peace and Happiness to our selves and herein also shall we be instrumental in procuring of Peace and Good to our Church and Nation Fifthly We are to pray unto Almighty God for the Peace and Good of our Jerusalem in every respect This we are taught by the Text and what hath been said upon it All our own endeavours will be but vain and fruitless without the divine help of Almighty God and therefore we must address our selves unto him in earnest prayer that he would be pleased to grant to us this blessing of Peace who is the onely giver of it For the peace and welfare of the whole Church of Christ upon earth are we to pray That God would preserve and keep it in perfect peace that it might be no ways annoyed and that the Gates of Hell as our Saviour hath promised Matt. 16.18 might not prevail against it but that the Kingdom of God might come as our Lord hath taught us to pray and might every where prevail and be firmly rooted in men's hearts That God would enlarge the Kingdom of his dear Son and give him the Heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession according to that promise Psal 2.8 But more especially are we to pray for the good and welfare of our Church and Kingdom that they may enjoy all manner of Peace and Happiness We are to make supplication to Almighty God for the preventing of all judgments and calamities that may at any time befal them and to pray according to Solomon's form 1 Kings 8.29 That his eyes may be open day and night upon them and that he would watch over them and preserve them from all dangers and miseries that threaten them
thereof may justly expect to fall under the lash of such a Woe and Curse And our Lord denounces a Woe against all such as offend against his Church or any of the smallest Members of it and offer them any injury and wrong Matth. 18.6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones saith he which believe in me It were better for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea Wo unto the world because of offences for it must needs be that offences come but wo to that man by whom the offence cometh And to this purpose Mar. 9.42 and Luk. 17.1 The Church is the Spouse of Christ and all the true and faithful Members thereof are dear to Almighty God and whosoever offereth any injury and violence to them will fire the wrath of Almighty God against himself and bring a Woe and Curse upon his own head When Saul breathed out threatnings and slaughter against the Church and Disciples of our blessed Saviour and went to Damascus to bring them bound from thence to Jerusalem to have them imprisoned and punished our Saviour told him that in so doing he persecuted him and let him know that he should find sharp service in so doing Acts 9.3 And as he journeyed he came near to Damascus and suddenly there shined round about him a light from Heaven And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me And he said who art thou Lord And the Lord said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks This was the persecuting of Christ himself as we see it was resented and in such high provocations we must expect to bring the wrath of God upon our selves And saith St. Paul to the Galatians concerning those that troubled their Church Gal. 5.12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you This heavy wish doth he utter against such as troubled and molested the Church of the Galatians And saith he to the Thessalonians 2 Thess 1.6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompence Tribulation to them that trouble you This is like to be their Doom that trouble the Church and are Enemies to it and do any violence to it or the faithful Members thereof And we may see that Elymas the Sorcerer was struck with blindness for withstanding the Apostles and seeking to turn away the Deputy of Paphos from the faith Acts 13.8 By these and such places we may see what a sinful and evil thing it is to do any injury and harm to the Church of God or to any of the faithful Servants of God And what sharp punishment they are to expect that do so And according to our great Wickedness must we now expect to be punished if we help to destroy the Protestant Church and to set up Popery or join with those that do so and give encouragement to such an unrighteous and hellish work And we are not to expect to go unpunished in our follies and sinful ways if we go about to overthrow the good Government of our Kingdom or any ways to disturb the Peace and Quiet of it All such offences are of a publick and high nature and those that are guilty thereof must expect to be dealt with accordingly And we are also to have a great care that we do not disturb the Peace of our Jerusalem by making any causless Divisions and Schisms in the Church to rent and tear it to pieces and to destroy all the Peace and Quiet thereof And we are to make no Factions and Parties in the Kingdom to make any confusion and disorder therein All causless Divisions in the Church are very sinful and strictly forbidden in several places in the Word of God Rom. 16.17 saith the Apostle there Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them With great earnestness doth he dissuade them from following all such as make any causless Divisions among them And saith St. James 3.14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not and lye not against the Truth This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish For where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work Envying and strife and divisions are productive of nothing that is good but of all confusion and disorder and destroy all the Peace and Happiness of the Church and Kingdom And these bring ruin and destruction in the end as our blessed Lord hath taught us Mat. 12.25 And Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them every Kingdom divided against it self is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against it self shall not stand Hence we see a Land and Kingdom is like to be brought to desolation and ruin If we would study and seek the Peace of our Jerusalem our Church and Kingdom we must create and promote no Divisions and Factions therein And that we may be wholly innocent herein and not instrumental in overthrowing and disturbing the Peace and Happiness of our Church and Nation we are to have a care that we do not help to bring down the judgments of God upon them by our own sins and wickedness That we do not hereby help to cause the Light of the Gospel to be taken away from us and justly cause the Lord to visit our Nation with the Sword or Pestilence or some other sore and terrible judgment If we bear true Love to our Jerusalem to our own Church and Kingdom and would seek the Good and Welfare of them we are then to take great care that we our selves do no injury and harm to them and no ways disturb their Peace and Quiet That we help not to destroy and overthrow them and to bring in Popery and the Romish Yoke into this Nation That we help not to bring disquiet and misery upon them by creating and promoting of Divisions and Factions therein And that we help not to pull down the heavy judgments of God upon them by our sins and wickedness If we are true Lovers of our Zion we are carefully in the first place to avoid the doing of any injury and wrong thereto Secondly We are to be highly concerned for our Jerusalem and to endeavour to prevent and to keep off all the evil and harm that may befal our Church and Kingdom at any time what we can in a good and lawful way but things unlawful must not be attempted such as the taking up of Arms against Authority That little Power that we have we are to use to a good end and to stand up for the good of the Church and Nation to oppose all the violence and injuries that may be offered to them what we can and when we can do no more to shew our dislike of such things as are evil and hurtful to them and to have
no hand in such Every one in his own Place and Station should oppose and withstand all Corruptions and sinful Innovations and all things that tend any ways to the Ruin or to disturb the Peace and Weal of the Church and Kingdom And especially are we all to oppose and withstand the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome what we can and to give no way for the introducing of them and the Popish Religion For that Religion I apprehend now to be coming upon us and we Protestants shall be notoriously sinful if we help to bring it in and do not in a mild way oppose it For the Faith and Truth of the Gospel and for the Constitutions and Liturgy of our own Church and for our Laws and Government so far as they are good and agreeable to the blessed Word of God by which we are all to be guided are we to strive and contend and willingly to give way to nothing that shall tend ro the overthrowing of them This the Apostle sheweth that we are to strive for the Faith of the Gospel and the pure Word of God Phil. 1.27 That ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel And in nothing terrified by your adversaries By no Terror of our Adversaries are we to be moved to depart from the Faith of the Gospel and the blessed Word of God And saith St. Jude ver 3 Beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you That ye should earnestly contend for the Faith which was once dâ—livered to the Saints For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation ungodly men turning the Grace of God into lasciviousness And such there are now like to be whose errors and corruptions are to be opposed and withstood by all good and pious Men. And we may see that the Church of Pergamos is commended for standing for the truth of the Gospel and not giving way to be seduced to Apostacy though it were in a time of great danger Rev. 2.13 I know thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is and thou holdest fast my Name and hast not denyed my faith even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful Martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth For the pure Word of God and the Truth of the Gospel are we at all times to strive and contend what we can and to stand against all errors and corruptions that are contrary thereto though it should be with great hazard of our Lives And for the good Constitutions and Orders of our own Church and for our own Laws and Government which are agreeable to the blessed Word of God are we to shew some care and zeal and not willingly to give way to have them subverted and overthrown but mildly to oppose all alterations therein that may be destructive to them and to our Peace and Happiness therein The Rechabites are commended for obeying the commandments of Jonadab their Fore-father who had set them certain Laws and Commands and because they would not depart from them Jer. 35.6 And much more then ought we to be zealous for the good Orders and Constitutions of our own Church and the Laws and Government of our own Nation and in a good Christian way to stand up for them and to oppose all attempts that are made to overthrow them And that we may be the more serviceable to our Church and Kingdom and endeavour to prevent all the evil that may befal them we are to oppose the great sins and iniquity of the times what we can that hereby we may endeavour to prevent the Judgments of God from coming upon them For Iniquity when it is grown ripe will be sure to bring some Judgment or other We are to stop the current of all wickedness what we can and to endeavour to reclaim and draw all sinners from their evil ways This we are to do both out of Christian compassion to their own Souls that we might help to save them if it may be and also to prevent such evil and misery as they will help to bring upon a place by their wickedness By all good and lawful ways are we to endeavour to prevent and keep off all evil and misery that may now or at any time befal our Church and Nation Thirdly We are to be grieved and to mourn for all the miseries and calamities that befal our Jerusalem our Church and Kingdom The true Protestant Church among us are we now to esteem as our Jerusalem and to account it as dear to us as our very Lives and for all the evils that befal it are we to be much troubled and perplexed This should be matter of great mourning and lamentation and weeping to us to see our Church brought low and under a cloud and in a desolate and forsaken condition To see the blessed Peace thereof to be removed and taken away and her Enemies triumphing over her this should be sorrow and grief of heart to all her faithful children And now is the time come that all good Protestants are to fall to bitter mourning and weeping For now is the time at hand that the Gentiles are to tread under foot rhe holy City forty and two months Rev. 11.2 Now is the time drawing near that the Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless Pit will make war against the witnesses of God and overcome them Rev. 11.7 Now I apprehend the time to be at hand that Popery shall prevail over the Protestant Church for three years and an half and this should call us all to great mourning and lamentation Nor is it with dry eyes that I have drawn up these lines And we are to know that our sins are the cause of this misery that is coming upon us and therefere we have the greater reason to mourn We may see that the Jews wept in their Captivity when they thought of the desolate condition of their Jerusalem Psal 137.1 By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down yea we wept when we remembred Zion And the Prophets did much bewail the miseries that befel the Church and People of God Is 22.4 saith the Prophet Therefore said I look away from me I will weep bitterly labor not to comfort me because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people For it is a day of trouble and of treading down and of perplexity by the Lord God of Hosts in the valley of vision breaking down the walls and crying to the mountains And saith the Prophet Jeremiah 4.7 8 The lyon is come up from his thicket and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way he is gone forth from his place to make the land desolate and the cities shall be laid wast without an inhabitant For this gird you with sackcloth lament and howl For the fierce anger of the Lord
is not turned back from us And Jer. 6.26 saith he O daughter of my people gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thy sâ—lf in ashes make thee mourning as for an only son most bitter lamentation for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us To mourning doth he call them upon the sight of the evil that he saw coming upon them And for the great wickedness of his people and the Judgments of God that came upon them for it doth the Prophet lament sore Jer. 9.1 Oh saith he that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people O that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men that I might leave my people and go from them For they be all adulterers an assembly of treacherous men And saith he Jer. 13.16 Give glory to the Lord your God before he cause darkness and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains and while ye look for light he turn it into the shadow of death and make it gross darkness But if ye will not hear it my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride and mine eyes shall weep sore and run down with tears because the Lord's flock is carried away captive While there remained some time to provide for their peace and good he exhorts them to a reformation and to give glory to God before the time of darkness came fully upon them But if they would not hear he tells them that he would sorely bewail their folly and the calamity and misery that would come upon them And this God ordered that they should mourn and weep for the misery that was coming upon them Jer. 9.17 Thus saith the Lord of Hosts consider ye and call for the mourning women that they may come and let them make hast and take up a wailing for us that our eyes may run down with tears and our eye-lids gush out with waters And ver 21. For death is come up into our windows and is entered into our palaces to cut off the children from without and the young men from the streets And saith God to him Jer. 14.17 Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them let mine eyes run down with tears night and day and let them not cease for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach with a very grievous blow If I go forth into the field then behold the slain with the sword and if I enter into the city then behold them that are sick with famine yea both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not Thus was he to weep before them for their miseries And the Prophet sheweth how Jerusalem wept for the miseries and sorrows that were come upon her Lam. 1.2 She weepeth sore in the night and her tears are on her cheeks among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her all her friends have dealt treacherously with her they are become her enemies And I wish that the Sons of the Protestant Church would not now so deal with her and become her enemies And ver 15 The Lord hath troden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men The Lord hath troden the virgin the daughter of Judah as in a wine press For these things I weep mine eye mine eye runneth down with water because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me my children are desolate because the enemy prevaileth Zion spreadeth forth her hands and there is none to comfort her the Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob that his adversaries should be round about him Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them Thus doth he bring in Jerusalem bewailing her self and doth much lament her desolate condition And saith he Lam. 2.11 Mine eyes do fail with tears my bowels are troubled my liver is poured upon the earth for the destruction of the daughter of my people because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city In this extraordinary manner was he troubled and did sorely weep for the great misery that came upon them and their beloved Jerusalem And the Prophet Amos rebukes it as a crime in some of them that they were not grieved for the affliction of the People of God Amos 6.1 Wo to them that are at ease in Zion And ver 6. That drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief ointments But tbey are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph And our blessed Lord himself wept over Jerusalem for the misery and destruction that was coming upon it Lu. 19.41 And when he was come near he behold the city and wept over it saying if thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy Peace but now they are hid from thine eyes For the days shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee in on every side and shall lay thee even with the ground Thus sorrowful did our blessed Lord shew himself for the great misery and destruction that was coming upon this City for the great wickedness thereof and did most earnestly desire that they would amend and mind the things that belonged to their Peace before it was too late and was greatly troubled at their carnal security that they were so unconcerned in this weighty matter By these and such places we see that it is our duty to be troubled and to mourn and weep for all the publick Calamities and Miseries that befal our Church and Nation To see men to grow cold in their Zeal and Devotion towards Almighty Gâ—d and to have little or no heart towards their duty and seâ—vice towards him To see the house of God to be deserted and forsaken and his Ordinances and Worship to be slighted and neglected To see the Church rent and torn to pieces with schisms and divisions and to see mens zeal all spent a wrong way in heats against one another To understand that Popery is like to prevail over the Protestant Church for three years and an half and that the Popish Gentiles are like to tread under foot the holy City the true Church of Christ for forty and two months To see wickedness and impiety to abound every where in the Nation and Love and Goodness to be withdrawn to see the Kingdom divided into Factions and Parties and to know as our Lord hath told us that a Kingdom so divided cannot stand To see that our sins and iniquities are grown great and to know that wrath and judgments will be sure to be the issue and consequence of them These things must needs be matter of sorrow and grief to all good men and call them to lamentation and mourning to see the Peace of our Church and Kingdom in such a manner to lie a bleeding
of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of our God That as a young man marrieth a Virgin so her Sons might marry her and as a Bridegroom rejoyceth over the Bride so her God might rejoyce over her That God would create our Jerusalem a rejoycing and her people a joy Is 65.18 That he would rejoyce in our Jerusalem and joy in his People that the voice of weeping may no more be heard in her nor the voice of crying That ver 25. the Wolf and the Lamb may feed together and the Lion eat straw like the Bullock and dust may be the Serpent's meat that they may not hurt nor destroy in all this holy Mountain That such universal Peace and Love may every where prevail that men of the most perverse spirits may be overcome by them and lay aside all their malignity That the Lord of Hosts Zac. 1.14 would be jealous for our Jerusalem and for our Zion with a great jealousie That God would be gracious to our Land and cause the Gospel to flourish amongst us and to take deep rooting in our hearts That God would cloath the Priests of our Zion with Salvation Psal 132.16 and make her Saints to shout aloud for joy That the mountain of the Lords house Is 2.2 might be established in the top of the mountains and be exalted above the hills and that all nations may flow unto it That there may be such an universal willingness and readiness in all to know and practise their duty that they shall say Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths That our Ministers and Pastors may be orthodox and sound in the Faith true and faithful in the discharge of their offices and of an upright life and conversation and so adorn the Gospel of the blessed Jesus and that holy Religion which we profess That God would abundantly bless the provision of our Zion Psal 132.15 and would satisfy her poor wâ—â—h bread and give us all kind of plenty and store in our Land That there may enter in by the gates of our City Kings sitting upon the throne of their Ancestors Jer. 17.25 and riding in Chariots and on Horses and Ruling in justice righteousness and mercy That he would fill our hearts with food and gladness and grant us health and prosperity in our Land That God would make our Zion an eternal excellency Is 60.15 a joy of many generations That our People also ver 21. might be all righteous and inherit the Land for ever and that in all Peace and Quiet That there may be heard in our Land Jer. 33.11 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride the voice of them that shall say praise the Lord of Hosts for the Lord is good for his mercy endureth for ever and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord That our Land may be blessed with all manner of blessings and that we may not be unmindful to return Almighty God his due Laud and Praise for the same Such promises have been made to and such petitions have been put up for Jerusalem and by such may we be instructed how we are at all times to address our selves to Almighty God in prayer for our Jerusalem for the Church of Christ in general and more particularly for our own Church and Kingdom But at this time we have great reason to make our earnest prayers to Almighty God for the Protestant Church especially that part of it with us and for our own Nation that they may be preserved from such judgments and miseries as now threaten them and us and we have justly deserved for our great wickedness and abuse of mercies Sixthly We are to rejoyce and to take great pleasure in the Peace and Prosperity of our Jerusalem when there is just cause for it and to praise and magnify Almighty God for the mercies and benefits that he hath granted to her The good and welfare of the whole Church and especially of our own Church and Kingdom should be matter of great joy and gladness of heart to us and stir us up to return God his due Laud and Praise for the same And this is the Prophets exhortation Is 66.10 Rejoyce ye with Jerusalem and be glad with her all ye that love her rejoyce for joy with her all ye that mourned for her That ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations that ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory And with our Jerusalem the true Protestant Church should we rejoyce when she hath cause to do so which when the days of darkness are over I hope she will have And saith the Psalmist Psal 106.4 Remember me O Lord with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people O visit me with thy salvation That I may see the good of thy chosen that I may rejoyce in the gladness of thy nation that I may glory with thine inheritance Like fellow-feeling members are we both to suffer and to rejoyce with the Church and all the true and faithful Members thereof And saith the Psalmist Psal 126.1 When the Lord turned again the Captivity of Zion were like them tâ—at dream Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing And Psal 137.6 saith the Psalmist there If I do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy And at every thing that tended toward the good of Jerusalem and the pure worship and service of Almighty God did the Royal Psalmist King David greatly rejoyce as he sheweth here Psal 122.1 I was glad when they sa d unto me let us go into the house of the Lord. Every advancement of God's Church and Worship did much delight and please him and so it should do us And for all the Mercies and Blessings that Almighty God shall at any time vouchsafe to our Church and Nation are we to be truely thankful and to make our hearty return of praise to him for the same This the Psalmist doth most passionately wish and sheweth that men are too negligent herein Psal 107.8 O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness saith he and for his wonderful works to the children of men And this the Psalmist exhorteth Jerusalem to do to make a due return of praise for the Blessings that she had received Psal 147.12 Praise the Lord O Jerusalem saith he praise thy God O Zion For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates he hath blessed thy children within thee He maketh Peace in thy borders and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat And this St. John sheweth in that vision of the Elders that we are to praise and magnify Almighty God for all the