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A26260
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Scripture-prophecies opened which are to be accomplished in these last times, which do attend the second coming of Christ : in several letters written to Christian friends / by E. Avery.
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Avery, E. (Elizabeth)
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1647
(1647)
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Wing A4272; ESTC R2586
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37,649
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53
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be shaken but our heaven without us hath been shaken which is the Ordinance and hath likewise been taken away for when God withdraws and doth not appear in it then all is gone But howsoever here is matter of unspeakable comfort to the Saints even at this time wherein the powers of heaven are shaken and shall likewise vanish away because that which remains cannot be shaken though it be dissolved ceasing to appear in that manner as formerly as covered with a vail but now we shall see face to face Now having spoken at large concerning the heavens being on fire which is dissolved to some and shall be dissolved to all when the Saints shall see God as he is because the Ordinance which is that vail that hath hid the glory of God from us whilst we live so lowe in the earth is taken away because we could not see God and live except he had been so covered but when this vail shall vanish away like smoke Isa. 51. and be rolled together like a scroll Revel. 6. 14. and every mountain and hill shall be removed out of his place and heaven shall be shaken and the earth shall be removed out of his place in the wrath of the Lord Isa. 13. 13 14. Heb. 12 God saith that once more I will not shake earth onely but also heaven Now this once more signifies the removing of those things which are shaken that the things which cannot be shaken may remain And our Saviour saith Heaven and earth shall passe away but my word shall not passe away which is God himself Now that which vanisheth and passeth away and is shaken and taken away as in these Scriptures here quoted heaven which is here spoken of is the Ordinances which shall passe away when God appeareth in his glorious manifestations when he comes into his Temple Mal. 3. 1 c. But it is said Who can abid his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth Heaven passeth away now with a great noise there is great trouble in the Saints when this shall be Now heaven which is the Word of God in distinction to that heaven which passeth away with a great noise v. 10. though this heaven which is the word of God shall be dissolved it remains the same in nature though not in such a grosse substance Now when it is thus dissolved there is more spiritual efficacy in it then before in that this Word shall become flesh as is spoken of Christ 1 Joh. 1. And so as the Word of God did become flesh in Christ our elder brother so this Word shall become flesh in all the Saints when God shall be manifested in their flesh and they likewise shall be declared mightily to be the sons of God by the Resurrection from the dead not the Resurrection of the body natural which we do not expect in that manner as formerly we conceived but the resurrection from the dead in a spiritual sense Now concerning the resurrection of the bodies of the Saints which is expected after their natural death it is to me a mystry as yet and so I conceive it is to most of the Saints As for that resurrection which is held forth commonly in the Scripture it is in part made known unto me 〈◊〉 to be dead with Christ and so to be risen with him Now to be dead with Christ the Apostle saith is to be dead unto the Ordinances and all vails and shadows and to be risen with him is to live in God in seeing eye to eye when God shall bring again Sion Isai. 52. And so that resurrection which we do expect is not the resurrection after death but a resurrection in a spiritual sense whilst we are in the flesh before the state of glory and it is a resurrection out of a spiritual defection which we have been brought into being slain by our iniquity as Hos. 13. where God saith O Ephraim thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy help Onely here is a difference in the cause of the death of Christ and the cause of this death in the Saints in a spiritual sense Now the cause of the death of Christ was the sin of mankinde as the Scripture speaketh but the Saints are slain by their own sin Now here will arise a Question How can it be said that the Saints are slain by their iniquities seeing Christ hath satisfied for the sins of the whole world Answ. It is true the satisfaction which was in Christ it was a sufficient ransome for in that the whole Creation is redeemed from the curse of the â—aw and if all did believe all should have benefit by this redemption for it is evident that none are damned but for the sin of unbelief as the Scripture declares in divers places So howsoever though there be such a sufficient ransome yet none have benefit by it but those who do believe and unto them the guilt and malediction of sin is taken away but though the guilt and malediction of sin be taken away by this redemption and so the Saints cannot be slain by their iniquity in respect of the spiritual man yet they are slain in their own apprehension when they are bereft of all joy and comfort in the spirit in that God hath withdrawn himself from them And here it may be said they are put to death with Christ in that they are conformable to his sufferings in respect of the spiritual desertion that Christ was in who in the days of his flesh did pour out strong prayers with crying and tears as in the Hebrews and so likewise the Saints are to be conformable to Christ their Head in being slain by the cruel hatred of the wicked in respect of reproach c. And so the Saints may be said to be slain with Christ when they are slain by their iniquities as in the first Chapter of Hosea When Ephraim saw his sicknesse and Judah his wound then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to king Jareb yet could be not heal nor cure him of his wound for saith God I will be unto Ephraim as a lion and as a young lion to the house of Israel I will tear and go away I will take away and none shall rescue And then God returns to his place until they do acknowledge their offences in their afflictions they will seek him early And so the resurrection of Christ follows in the sixth Chapter where those which are thus slain in a spiritual sense take unto themselves these words and say Come let us return unto the Lord for he hath wounded and he will heal after two days he will revive us and the third day we shall live in his sight So in Hos. 13 it is said that Ephraim had destroyed himself as we may see in the words following in that death follows for it is said that Ephraim was an unwise son for he should not have stood still in the breaking forth of children but he doth stand still and in
and risen with Christ being secured in that chamber here spoken of in respect of the spiritual man in that there is no more sin nor hell nor death though hell and death remains in the flesh as yet insomuch that we have cause to cry out with the Apostle O wretched men that we are who shall deliver us from this body of death But now the Lord is come into his temple in many of the Saints though we have a being as yet in Babylon amongst the dens of lions and the mountains of the leopards but though the Lord is come into his temple even the Messenger of the Covenant in whom we delight yet it is said Mal. 3. 1 2 3. who can abide his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth what flesh can endure his presence Flesh must die when God appeareth in it So God sits in his temple to destroy sinful flesh in his Saints which is done even here whilst we have our being in this strange land amongst our cruel enemies But when the Lord hath accomplished his work on mount Sion which he will effect by the cruelty of the inhabitants of Caldea to the mortifying of the flesh in the Saints then the Lord will visit the proud heart of the King of Babel and gather all his from among the Heathen and so give rest unto his people and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon Now I shall sum up in brief the particulars of the fall of Babylon which is begun in some and shall be accomplished in all even in this Island of Great Britain In the first place Babylon is fallen in a very inconsiderable part of the Saints even in the least number but in a spritual sense it is fallen in the least number so when Babylon was thus fallen in them Light did appear in that they had brought forth a man-childe spoken of Rev. 12. 1 2. Isai. 9. and 66. which man-childe is understood in the first place to be onely the glorious manifestations of God in the flesh of that number of Saints in whom he doth appear Now when God doth thus appear in any then that dragon which of late hath made war in heaven Rev. 12. who did not prevail because Michael did withstand him I say when that dragon was cast to the earth even that glorious State which is now come to confusion and so he saw his power he did presently begin to persecute that part of the Church who did represent the woman which had brought forth a man childe but the woman had fled into the wildernesse where she is kept as is spoken of in the Scripture which wildernesse in a spiritual sense is onely that place of safety in which the spiritual man doth reside which is God himself who does manifest his presence most unto his Saints in their desolate and disconsolate condition and the Saints live more in God in the want of all help and comfort from the creature then in the enjoyment of all But though that part of the Church is secured in that place which is God in respect of the spiritual man yet as she is in the flesh she is in Babylon amongst her hateful enemies who have procured the greatest evil unto themselves in persecuting of the Saints In that the violences done unto us unto our flesh be on Babylon shall the inhabitants of Sion say not onely in that which God hath done already in the fall of this glorious State and Church which shall never be rebuilt again but our blood be on the inhabitants of Caldea shall Jerusalem say Now here we may see the fall of Babylon whose fall is first in an inconsiderable part of the Saints and when it is in any light doth appear and you know the Prince of darknesse hates the light so as they hate the light they persecute them in whom God doth appear and in persecuting them they dash themselves against the rocks and so are broken and sure the stone that is cut out of the mountain without hands shall fall on all the enemies of God and grinde them to powder even as Babylon is fallen in some of the Saints and fallen in the State and National Church of Great Britain which out of doubt is the great part of the tenth City spoken of Revel. 10. so Babylon shall fall in all gathered Churches and in all the Saints shortly and so not onely shall the stone break the feet of the great Image buâ— when the feet are broken then all falls with it the gold and silver which is the truth it self that is held forth in Babylon Howsoever truth shall return from the land of the enemy as Jerem. 31. and the fire shall try every man his work and we know that gold and silver shall abide the trying and refining and so truth shall be tried and appear to be truth the Saints themselves shall be tried and appear to be Saints so in this fall and refining the Truth loseth nothing but its drosse and the Saints nothing but their corruption and when this is done the whole body shall go out of Babylon and flâ—e out of the land of the Caldeans with a voice of singing Isa. 48 20 21. When we shall trust God in a wildernesse-condition in respect of temporals having so good experience of his supplying us in spirituals so assuredly as God hath already and will gather all his out of Babylon spiritually in respect of Errour so likewise he will gather all his from all places whither they have been led captive as well as out of this Land which doth more evidently appear to be spiritual Babylon then any other place which gathering shall be out of doubt a local separation The Scriptures to prove are as followeth Isai. the 8 9 13 14 25 26 27 34 35 43 52 and 66 Chapters Jerem. the 30 31 50 and 51 Chapters Ezek. the 37 and 39 Chapters Hosea the 5 6 and 13 Chapters Malaâ—h the 13. and Revel. 18. Compare these Scriptures which shew the great tribulation which shall befal the Church of God immediately before her deliverance out of Babylon in respect of Darknesse and Errour and her deliverance likewise temporally from the bondage of the creature the hateful enemies of God and so the Church shall be secured in that chamber spoken of in Isai. 26 and the wildernesse Revel. 12. as well in a temporal sense as in a spiritual which is a place of safety as we may understand it in the letter which God will provide as a resting-place for the Saints which I say is an undoubted truth in respect of the judgements of God which are coming on the earth an utter destruction of the wicked by Sword Pestilence and Famine which is one of the main motives which God doth use to perswade his people to depart out of Babylon Jerem. the 50 and the 51 Chap. Rev. 18. Unto this it may be objected If this were a truth that you speak concerning the gathering away of the Saints surely God