difference God makes betwixt Professors some he curiously Measures others he deals not so with as not worth minding being Virgins Nullius Pretii of no reckoning value 4. That the building of the Church is Gods work his measuring-line not Man's must be stretcht over it 5. His care to preserve this remnant in that purity simplicity of Worship that was according to his Will and they had attain'd to during the whole time of the Antichristian Apostacy and Prophesying of the Witnesses against it Measuring in Scripture somtimes at least denotes the care concern of Jehovah for the thing measured III. All the time of Antichrist's rampancy there are two Witnesses that have Power given them from the Lord at least till the time of their slaughter to prophesie against Antichrist i. e. to stand by the Lord of the whole Earth against him Rev. 11.3 4. viz. to take Christ's part against Antichrist maintain defend the things of Christ against the incroachments devices carnal inventions of Antichrist Now this man of Sin made not onely advances against the Doctrine of the Gospel but against the oeconomy order thereof with respect to Worship Christ hath his particular Churches with fixed Officers in them Institutions Orders of his own affixed to them all gather'd by the Power of the Spirit and voluntarily giving up themselves to the Lord and one another Pastors Teachers chosen by them from amongst themselves He the Head of them all Antichrist hath his oecumenical Universal Church Officers Institutions Ordinances Forraign contrary to Christ's He sets up himself as Head of this Antichristian-Church gathers into it by force violence rules governs it by Canons Laws of his own If then Christ hath his Witnesses and their work be to Witness for him against Antichrist's innovations they must be found not only pleading against these which would be only a negative testimony but witnessing for the Order Institutions of Christ and so consequently be in the practice of these For it cannot be imagin'd that Christ's Witnesses should own that in Principle and plead for it which they are themselves out of the practice of Nay the truth is this last is that wherein their witness signally lyes IV. That the Woman's flight into the Wilderness Rev. 12.6 and the Witnesses prophesying in Sackcloth contemporize is not onely generally granted but 't is from hence evident because the time of the Witnesses prophesying in Sackcloth and the Womans continuing in the Wilderness is the same Rev. 11.3 They shall Prophesie a thousand two hundred and sixty dayes clothed in sackcloth Rev. 12.6 And the Woman fled into the Wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and three-score dayes That she was in the Wilderness in a Church-state waiting upon the Lord in Institutions Ordinances of his own appointment is evident 1. She is therefore call'd the Woman as the false Church is call'd the whorish Woman because of her Antichristian Church-state Worship Ordinances 2. 'T is said They should feed her there Quest Who shall feed her there Answ Persons appointed by the Lord and chosen by the Church in this her Wilderness-state shall do it Quest How should they feed her Answ There 's no extraordinary way of feeding pointed at by the Spirit of the Lord therefore she 's to be fed in God's Ordinary way in her attendment on Institutions of his own appointment for that end So that evidently there were Churches Church-Institutions Worship all the time of the Witnesses prophesying Object All this may be granted and yet the continuance of Gospel-Churches not proved for the Witnesses began not to Prophesie till a few years ago Answ Though this Objection be very weak frivolous the basis upon which it is built generally exploded by all Reformed Christians and therefore may seem not worthy our notice yet resolving not willingly to pass by any thing that may seem to have the least shadow of Argument in it against what we are pleading for and for the sake of some that are or may be in danger to be led aside by such pretensions as these we shall particularly examine it Several things are supposed as the basis upon which this Objection is built that are evidently false which being demonstrated to be so the Objection will presently evaporate into smoke and vanity As 1. That the two Witnesses spoken of are two particular Persons 2. That they are to come in the last of the last dayes 3. That the time of their Prophesie is but One thousand two hundred and three-score natural dayes Now the Heterodoxy of all this will presently appear I. As touching the first 't is true Bellarmine the Jesuite and others tell us not only that they are two particular Persons whom some of late follow but also who they are viz. Enoch and Elias who they say shall come and fight against Antichrist in Jerusalem and there be put to death by him Bellar. de Rom. Pontif. l. 3. c. 13. But that they are not cannot be two particular Persons is evident 1. The Two Witnesses are call'd two Candlesticks which Christ interprets to be Churches as was said before 2. The Two Witnesses Prophesie all the Wild Beast's Antichrist's Reign viz. Fourty-two Months or One thousand two hundred sixty dayes viz. prophetick dayes i. e. Years as shall by and by be demonstrated 'T is not to be imagined that any two particular Persons should ever live so long 3. During the time of their Prophesie They torment them that dwell upon the Earth Rev. 11.10 i. e. the Antichristian Kingdom which 't is not probable two particular Persons especially considering that those which hold this notion assert also that the 1260. dayes are natural dayes or three Years and an half should do in so short a time 4. When they are slain and lye dead in the street of the great City three dayes and an half natural dayes as they 'l have it they of the People and Kindreds and Tongues and Nations viz. the multitude over which Antichrist presides see their dead bodies and rejoyce over them Which that they should do if but two particular persons and they lye dead for so short a time is the first-born of absurdities 'T is impossible within that limit the persons mention'd should all hear of it much more come to see it II. That the two Witnesses are to come in the last of the last dayes is also an unscriptural-vanity as is evident 1. The two Witnesses Prophesying and the Gentiles treading under foot the Holy City contemporize Rev. 11.2 3. But the Court which is without the Temple leave out and measure it not for it 's given unto the Gentiles and the holy City shall they tread under foot fourty and two Months And I will give Power unto my two Witnesses and they shall Prophesie 1260 Dayes cloathed in Sackcloth The fourty two Months according to the Grecian account are exactly 1260. Dayes so long then as the Gentiles tread down the Holy City so
profession of our Faith which lies eminently in our subjection to him therein the assembling our selves together to exhort one another which he would not have us forget is annext to bottomed upon the New-Covenant of which he is ex professo treating And a wilful rejection of these in open despight of Christ and contempt of his Authority he calls v. 29. A treading under foot the Son of God because it 's a high affront to his Soveraign Authority an accounting the Blood of the Covenant an unholy thing not only because these Institutions are annext to that Covenant which was ratified by the blood of Christ but also because they have all their Foundation in that Blood our approximation to God in them our advantage by them is the issue of its effusion and a doing despite unto the Spirit of Grace because as hath been proved they are all the Ministration of that Spirit should God immediately by himself speak from Heaven to us and declare in so many words These Gospel-Institutions establisht by My Son are all of them bottomed upon annext to the New-Covenant we could not have a greater certainty that they are so than what is in that Scripture-evidence we have hitherto been discoursing of But 3. They belong to the Old-Covenant or the New There 's no medium To the Old-Covenant it 's most certain they appertain not Other manner of Ordinances which were only to continue to the Gospel-day as Circumcision Sacrifices appertained thereunto not the least notice under that Covenant as any part of the oeconomy thereof of particular Churches Baptism Breaking-Bread Christ came to put a Period to that Paedagogie and all the Laws Institutions thereunto appertaining and vertually did so by his Death actually by providential dispensations taking out of the way destroying that Temple to which they were peculiarly affixt And becoming a Mediator of a better Covenant established uppon better Promises as such he gives forth the Laws and Institutions we are pleading for of which afterwards 4. The Communications of Divine Life the Royal manifestations of the Love of GOD to us the bestowment of the Spirit upon us Divine peace comfort support upholdment with whatever Grace we are made partakers of are all conveyed in the way of the New-Covenant Now whatever any talk the communication of these as 't is promised to us as we have found attending upon the Lord in his own Institutions of which more anon so the Saints in every day at this day through wonderful riches of Grace are under the enjoyment of The Spirit is received Faith communicated Peace and Joy shed abroad upon the hearts of Believers as they conscientiously attend on these appointments of Christ Such as know not these things or having known them through the power of temptation slight undervalue them are to be pitied not attended to or regarded in their present apprehensions touching them 5. That God hath a people that he hath in the New and everlasting Covenant taken unto himself for a peculiar People will not be denied To these God gives himself as their GOD he betroths marries them to himself and they give up themselves spontaneously unto him as a People to own subject to his Authority Soveraignty and to profess their so doing by a conformity to whatever Commands Injunctions he shall lay upon them Gospel-Institutions he gives forth for the trial of their Love Loyalty to him charges them to be found in the practice of them as hath been proved Their obedience subjection hereunto he looks upon as a great part of their Loyalty to him in the Conjugal-Covenant he hath taken them into with himself Jer. 3.14 15. Turn O back-sliding Children saith the Lord for I am married unto you and I will take you one of a City and two of a Family and I will bring you to Zion And I will give you Pastors according to mine Heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding Where coming unto Zion or our attendment on God in wayes of his own Appointment is asserted to be that wherein our Marriage-relation to him stands Hence departing from these is call'd Whoredom Adultery and those that do so The great Whore the Mother of Harlots and fornications of the Earth The sum is Gospel-Churches Institutions are bottomed upon the New-Covenant therefore abiding CHAP. VIII The Churches that have been are are the Churches of Christ or Antichrist They are not the Churches of Antichrist proved The matter of Antichristian-Churches and of the present Churches The Form Foundation Doctrine Worship Nature Characters Properties of the one and the other considered 1 Tim. 4.1 The Daemons there mentioned what they are Their Original Office manner of Worshipping them the Doctrines of Daemon's the Doctrine of the Apostatick-Synagogue of Rome Demonstration VIII THat there have been persons under the profession of the Name of Christ congregated together for the solemnization of Ordinances from the first-times of the Gospel hitherto hath been before proved That there are so still cannot be denied Now these Churches must be either the Churches of Christ or the Churches of Antichrist There 's no medium A Church that was neither of Christ nor Antichrist was never yet heard of in the world since the first-dawning of the Gospel-day So then if we demonstrate that the present Churches are not Antichristian-churches we evince them to be the Churches of Christ and a continuation of the Gospel-Church-State at least hitherto is evidently discover'd That they are not Churches of Antichrist is easily demonstrated They wholly differ from the Antichristian-Church in respect of matter form foundation doctrine worship nature characters properties Touchching which it 's needful that we particularly discourse First then the Matter of the Antichristian-church is whoever own 's the Christian Faith make 's a Profession of it though never so deboysh vile wicked to every good work reprobate Notwithstanding all their pompous shews of Religion Forms of Godliness they are really such as have pleasure in Unrighteousness 2 Thes 2.12 Is this the matter constitutive of the present Churches Do they admit persons of so black a character into their Communion If any such spots are found amongst them do they tollerate indulge them Are not the rules of Christ prosecuted till they appearing to be persons of a reprobate mind are rejected out of their fellowship Is it not the avowed principles of all the Churches that such as these are not fit matter for any Church of Christ Can they be charged with walking contrary to their principles in this matter Who hath the confidence impudence thus to charge any one of them 'T is true now and then some scandalous persons are found amongst them and so there were in the Primitive Churches as in the Church of Corinth c. that crept in unawares but they are matter of grief humbling to them and they do not dare not cannot suffer them in their Communion 2. The Form if it may be so call'd of the Antichristian-Church lie's in a
long are the Witnesses to Prophesie A few things must further be enquir'd into 1. Who we are to understand by the Gentiles 2. What by the Holy City 3. What their treading under foot the Holy City means 4. What space of time the fourty-two Months take up in which 't is said the Gentiles shall tread down the Holy City 1. By the Gentiles we are to understand the Antichristians particularly the bloody Papists headed by the Pope That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Man of Sin that Son of Perdition that Lawless One 2. Thes 2.3 8. These are call'd Gentiles because 1. Of their Introduction of Idolatrous Worship practised amongst the Gentiles I mean not only the Worship of Statues Idols of Wood Stone Brass Silver Gold but the Worship of Heroes or Saints in imitation of the Gentile-Heroes whom they Worship'd 2. Of their being actuated by the same Spirit of bloody cruelty against the Worshippers within the Temple and Altar or the true Spiritual Worshipers with which the Gentiles before them were actuated against the Primitive Believers and actually murdering the true Servants of the Lord as they did 2. The Court without the Temple and the Holy City which Type out the same thing is the Antichristian Church-state Worship Worshippers Orders Ordinances The Temple of God the Altar and the Worshippers therein v. 1. are the Gospel-Church-state with the Worship and Worshippers thereunto belonging as hath been proved The Court then without the Temple and the Holy City to be left out as a matter of no worth is the false Church-state with its Worship and Worshippers 3. Their treading under foot the Holy City denotes 1. The numerousness of the Antichristian Worshippers 2. Their frequency in their Antichristian Service as the Phrase is taken Isa 1.12 Psal 121.2 q. d. Measure not the Court The false Worship Worshippers are so contemptible vile they deserve not to be taken notice of are so numerous that they cannot well be measured They throng the City as if they would tread it under foot at once 4. The fourty-two Months cannot possibly denote fourty-two ordinary Months or One thousand two hundred and sixty natural Dayes or three years and an half for these Reasons 1. The Papacy represented under the notion of the Gentiles have been already rampant hundreds of Years persecuted murder'd destroyed millions of Saints for not treading together with them the Holy City 2. As was said The forty-two Months and the One thousand two hundred sixty dayes are the same Now a day for a year is the prophetick reckoning See Num. 14.34 Ezek. 4.6 So in the prophesie of Daniel Chap. 8.21 23. and 9.24 and 12.11 12 And for ought I find in all Prophetick Books where any signal time is spoken of 3. That the Gentiles treading down the Holy City and the wild Beast Rev. 13.2 3. are the same hath hitherto been taken for granted and 't is evident they are so as from other considerations so from this that the same term is given to them both ver 5. And Power was given to him forty-two Months or One thousand two hundred and sixty Dayes as was before intimated Now t is impossible that what is said to be done by and ascribed to this wild Beast should be shut up in so short a period as three years and an half For 1. He brings the whole world under his subjection is a dread and terror to them grows so considerable that none is able to make War with him ver 4 7. And they Worshipped the Beast saying Who is like unto the Beast Who is able to make War with him 2. All the World wonders after the Beast ver 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Word is very emphatick denoting honour reverence fear of any one upon the account of some wonderful strange thing done by him 'T is translated Jude 16. The having mens persons in admiration It comes from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 greatly to observe reverence worship to magnify have in great esteem Some read it He was admired in the whole Earth The Arabick translates it The whole Earth wondring followed the Beast Which is indeed the sense of the place q. d. such wonderful things shall be done by the Beast in the sight of the World that with the greatest admiration highest approbation and consent they shall take the Beasts part list themselves under his standard The Aethiopick reads And the whole Earth wondred and followed this Beast to the same purpose 3. He makes War with the Saints and overcomes them v. 7. Acts that must certainly take up more time than three Years and an half for their production III. Antichrist who is the same with the Wild Beast but now mentioned as is granted by all was in the womb in the Apostles dayes wrought then under ground in a mystery labouring to come forth which he at last did Exalting himself above all that is called God or worshipped shewing himself that he is God 2 Thes 2.4 7. He more openly shew'd himself whilst the Apostle John was yet alive than he did in Paul's dayes John 2.22 23. and 4.2 3. So that it 's evident that the Antichrist was in the womb in the Apostles dayes and openly discover'd himself not long after the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which letted call'd the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Letter or he which letteth 2 Thes 2.6 7. was taken out of the way Various are the sentiments of the Learned touching this Letter The Learned Brightman makes him to be the sixth head of the Roman Empire others think him to be the Holy Spirit who by his signal presence power with the Primitive believers kept Antichrist from ascending to that heighth of dignity supremacy he aimed at Some adjudge it to be the apostasie spoken of ver 3. Except there come a falling away first and that man of Sin be revealed the Son of Perdition q. d. The general Apostacy must first be ere the man of Sin or Antichrist openly manifest himself when that is he will quickly appear to head it It s not yet coming is that which lets his Revelation The generality take it for the Roman-Pagan-Empire or Emperour in his full Power and Majesty flourishing and living at his seat in Rome Which I humbly conceive is Paul's intendment For 1. No reason can be given why Paul expresses himself in so dark terms that which letteth this Letter if the Roman-Pagan-Empire be not intended but if so the reason is obvious They had an opinion that this Empire was everlasting to have talk'd of its removal would have stirr'd them up to have persecuted the Saints as the Enemies of it Less occasions they many times took so to do 2. Antichrist's seat was to be Rome Rev. 17.9 The seven heads are seven Mountains on which the Woman sitteth i. e. The City built on seven Hills is Antichrists Seat viz. Rome alone famous amongst Historians upon that account Septem urbs alta jugis toti quae