an Half And so Jacob served 7 Years and 7 for his 2 Wives and 6 for Cattel Then flyeth 3 Dayes and is pursued 7 to Gilead the Stones of Witness Joseph is also Born in the 14th year of his Fathers and Freed in the 14th Year of his Own Bondage and his 2 fellow Prisoners were freed on the 3d Day And so the 2 Searchers of Jericho lay hid or as lost for 3 Dayes and an Half And so Davids Wives and Friends of Ziglag And divers others besides our Saviours 3 Years and an Half Publick Preaching as Daniels Half Week and 3 Dayes and Half from the Passover 3 Hours and Half Anguish on the Cross As in the Grave 3 times 12 Hours and Half or about 40 or 42. And Paul was strucken Down and Blind till the 4th Day and in a great storm by Sea first 3 Dayes and Then they Lightned the Ship and was not fully freed till the 14th and so he went up to Jerusalem or to the 3d Heaven in the 14th year And Jerusalem was freed from the Assyrians in the 14th year of Hezekiah As Sodom or the World perhaps from the 4 Great Monarchies which are all shewed to Abraham in Visions in the 14th year as in the 14th of Genesis and also in the 15th we see the Turtle and the Pigeon as the 2 Witnesses preserved whole and unbroaken between the Heifer Ram and Goat and all of 3 years old Gods own Emblems of the 3 First Monarchies in the Prophets besides That Vision shewed All the kinds of Sacrifice and other things discoursed in This Book But especially the Passover which being the First 14th Day of the First Month of the First year of their Coming out of Egypt is to measure All that follow Which the Author therefore considereth in Hours of the year to the Passover and Thence to Pentecost and so onward to the 7th Month and its Feast of Trumpets Expiation and Tabernacles which was the Great Feast of the year and the Moed of all Moeds The Ingathering of All the Fruits of the Earth and Latter Rain of That which did but Drop in the First Fruits of Pentecost Time first beginning at Evening 12 Hours brought up Light for Darkness which returned again in the 25th Hour so that 25 is the Root of Darkness or That which first Turned Light into Darkness and the Next Number below the square Root of 666. 36 Hours come to the Morning of the 2d Day ending at 48. and 49 the Number of Middah in Hebrew Measure and the Number of Jubilee being 7 times 7 and the first of the 3d nights Rest. Whose Midnight is about 55 so neer the 12th part of 666. 60 The Morning and 70 the Evening Minha of the 3d Day Ending in 72 of 6 times 12 the Number of their Sanedrin 84 Hours or 3 Dayes and Half brought up the Sun of the 4th Day Measure to all the 3 and Half of all other Witnesses 96 come to the Evening of the Fift Day when Blood was first Created and its Morning Sacrifice is at Hour CXI the very Number of Kavh in Hebrew a Measuring Line and 6 of These is just 666. 120 the Hours of 5 whole Dayes Before Man was first Created is the very Number of Moed in Hebrew As 120 years was the Great Moed appointed by God for Men of the Old World 3 of these Moeds of 120 which is 3 times 40 make 360 as Dayes of their year and Half a Moed more 420 3 of which make 1260 in the Revelation which is also Ten Moeds making 1200 and an Half Moed 60 more 135 the 3d Hour of the 6th Day when Adam was Created Afterwards the Morning Sacrifice And about the Temple from That they called Hell or Chel to the Court of Israel were 135 Cubits as 135 Dayes from Pentecost to the Great Hosannah or the Last of Tabernacles 140 That is Twice 70 Hours shewed the Moon to Adam they say in the first Day of his Creation and he worshiped God who afterwards appointed That Hour for slaying of the Evening Sacrifice the Preparation to the Sabbath whose Lamb came up with 144000 Clakins of Time as the First-fruits to God and his Lamb There being just 144 Hours that is 12 times 12 before the Sabbath began and in 6000 Dayes 144000 Hours as the Number Sealed of all the 12 Tribes with the Holy Lamb on Mount Sion Revel 14. 155 The Noon of the Sabbath which was the measure to all Holy Things being the very Number of the Hebrew word for Kane which Ezekiel saith was 6 Cubits and an Hand as reaching into the Sabbath Day for every Cubit had 24 digits as the Day had 24 Hours The 10th Midnight is at Hour 222 the 3d part of 666 or the Number of Jerecho To which they also came on the 10th day of the first Month when they entred Canaan This is a solemn Fast with them for Miriams Death on the 10th of the first Month As Eli and his 2 Sons Dyed on the 10th of the 2d Month. When also the Ark was Taken by the Philistines After so many Hours of the year were past As there were Years between Egypt and the Taking of Jerusalem and Burning of the Temple by the Chaldeans on the 10th Day of the 5th Month. And the 2d Temple was also Burnt by the Romans on the 10th Day of the 5th Month or the same Day of the Month when in the Wilderness it was decreed They should not Enter into the Rest of God And This Day of the 5th Month might be as many Hours after Pentecost or before the Tabernacles As there were Hours before the Pentecost or Years before the Flood or After Egypt to the last sack of Jerusalem or Thence to their Coming in again with the Fulness of the Gentiles at the â—gathering of All the Fruits of the Earth in the Great Feast of the Tabernacles or the Latter Rain of That spirit of which the First Fruits were at Pentecost in Acts 2. which was so many Years After Egypt as the Day of Pentecost was Hours in the Year which is just after 1â—6 the Hours of 64 Dayes before the Day of Pentecost which was the 65th Day of the Year or 50th from the Morrow after the Passover on the 14th The 10th Day of the 7th Month was the only Fast appointed by God or the Great Day of Attonement to which they reckoned 187 Dayes of the year as there were 187 Cubits in the Court of the Priests and Clean men of Israel about the Temple The 10th Day of the 10th Month was their Fast for the Seig of Jerusalem in the 9th of Zedekiah to the 9th of the 4th Month of his Eleventh year but the Temple was not burnt till the 10th of the 5th Month as Jeremy 52. with Zech. 8. saying that the Fasts of the 4th and of the 5th and of the 7th and of the 10th Month also should be cheerful Feasts of Joy and Gladness therefore Love Truth and Peace and think
10 Cleds or Clades or 3 Moeds and an Half as 70 is 3 score and an Half But 3 of those Dors or Generations being 3 times Thrice 70 or 9 times 70 and an half make just 665. And Dorothenu Our Generations in Hebr. letters may make 666 670 676. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word so often used by God For your Generations makes 4 above 1260 which is 10 Moeds and an Half As in the Revelation also 1260 for a Time and Times and Half which is Moed Moeds and Half a Moed in Daniel And His 1335 is but 3 more than Twice 666 or 4 times 333 As the 14th Day ended in 336 Hours 3 more than 333 the Evening Sacrifice or slaying of the Passover And the Temple Witnesses lay as slain by Antiochus 3 years and then Recovered by Iudas Macchabeus in the 148 year of Seleucus Nicanor the very same Month the Temple was polluted 3 years before 1 Macc. 1. 54. 4. 51. That was Twice 666 from Egypt or 1332 years and the Clensing 1335 Which was also 1290 years from Their setling in Canaan as Iosh. 14. 10. which was in the 46th or 47th from Egypt As Noah went into the Ark on the 46th or 47th Day of the Year And if we There fix the Pentecost which was not till they were in Canaan as Levit. 23 25. There may yet be Greater Harmony For as the years before This setling in Canaan may be as Hours from the beginning of the Year to the Day of Pentecost so all the years following This in Canaan may be reckoned as Hours After the Pentecost the 65th Day of the Year and Therfore about the 5th of the 3d Month. 430 more come up to Solomon 470 to Ieroboam As 470 Hours from the beginning of the Day of Pentecost end about the 23d or 24th Day of the 3d Month when the Jewes Fast to this Day for Ieroboams stopping all the First-Fruits of Israel from Ierusalem 430 more to the City Taken by Nebuchadnezzar ending as Hours about the 9th of the 4th Month the very Day when it was broken up As we read in divers places of the Kings and Ieremy 39 and 52. 430 more which make up Daniels 1290 to the Times of Epiphanes for which They Fast also in the latter end of the 4th Month as also for Moses breaking the First Tables at their Golden Image in the Wilderness which themselves account as a Type or cause of the Babylonian Image oppressing them or That Abomination of Desolation as the Macchabees call it of Antiochus that mighty Type of Antichrist Or of any other since On them and the Israel of God And yet again 222 more added to 1290 make 1512 the number of Hours in 63 Dayes between the Day of Pentecost and the 10th of the 5th Month. That Fatal Day when Amalek Canaan destroyed them to Hormah the Curss upon that Heavy Doom of Not Entring into Rest And for the first Temple Burnt by the Chaldeans Jer. 55. 12. and the Second also by the Romans on the very same Day of the 5th Month. The 65th from the Day of Pentecost as This the 65th Day of the year and its Morning Sacrifice was in Hour 1526 from Pentecost As the second Temple Burnt 1526 years from their setling in Canaan 1512 years After Enoch On the 18th of the same 5th Month they Fast for the Lamps put out in Ahaz time and for them that defamed the Good Land on the 17th of the 6th Month but All the first half of the 7th is little else but Fasts as the first half of the 7th Day was Darkness and the latter half was Light and Joyful Feastings ending all that years sorrow and their scatterings which Damel makes the Measure of All things foretold in Him As Chap. 12. 7. And his 9th saith Desolations shall be determined at the End of That War whose very first Crisis lasted till That season of the year in the 7th Month we are now Seeking Shall we view a Map of All in the 39 40 41 52 Chapters of Jeremiah First The City Broken up on the 9th of the 4th Month about 860 Hours after Pentecost As That 860 years from Their First Pentecost in Canaan Then the Temple Burnt on the 10th of the 5th Month As a Type of the 2d Temple Burnt by the Romans on the same Day of the same Month and same Course of Joyarib 666 years after Or 1526 years from That Pentecost in Canaan As 1526 Hours from Pentecost to the Morning Sacrifice of the 10th Day of the 6th Month. In which also they Fast for Aaron's Death a Type of our Saviour Dying before That Temple Burnt Then the Great and Rich and Mighty men were All carried Captive and the Vineyards and Olives c. Left to the Poor As promised Zeph. 3. Ezek. 34. Levit. 26. with Ex. 23. adding that What the Poor left the Beasts should eat Then the Witnesses slain First Gedaliah a Type of Christ the Great Lord and Then the 70 Elders those solemn Witnesses in Mourning and their Hair shorn c. And at Mispa the Watch of Witnesse to Jacob and his two Wives as we saw before And slain by the 10 Great Captains as the 10 Horns of Ishmael the Beast as the Angel called him Pere first mocking Isaac and now slaying him in a Name-sake and of the Seed Royal. And Then the Witnesses Rising again Or All the Captives recovered by Johanan the Lord's Grace or Gracious And at Gibeon where the Sun stood still for a new Heaven in Joshuah and a new Earth and Age in David yet but Types of more when God shall do his Work his strange Work as at Gibeon Isa. 28. Thence they go to Egypt as Christ when Herod slew the Children For Out of Egypt God alwayes called his Son And the Prophets and Revelation speak of their last Return as both from Babylon and Egypt And for the Times also besides the great and only Fast prescribed on the 10th of the 7th Month They Fast on the 7th for the Golden Image of the Beast They made as Psalm 106. a Type of the Beast slaying the Witnesses and on the 3d for Gedaliah slain in the seventh Month as Jer. 41 and the other 70 on the 2d Day after And 1290 Hours from the Temple Burnt on the 10th of the 5th Month 53 dayes and 18 hours come up to this Time which may be compared with Daniels 1290 dayes or years or 1260 in the Revelation written about 30 years After the Temple and City Burnt by the Romans As Daniel's Great Prophecy of 2300 days was just 30 or 31 years after the City sacked by Babylon Whose Times are All but 3 times 666 and an half or 2331 years and so but just 2300 from the 31st year of that account which was in the 3d of Belshazzar as we read in Dan. 8. to be compared with Baruch whence much of Daniels Prayer in the 9th expounding Levit. 26 as an absolute Promise of
was a great Earthquake and the City fell with 7000 Names c. This Angel in the Sun might Preach the everlasting Gospel and Judgement also Bedan In Dan or in Mahane Dan as the Hebrew of Judges 13. 25. 1 Sam. 12. 11. which may shew us He was After That History of the Danites Judges 18. 12. An Angel also appeared to Josuah to Gideon as now to Manoah from Noah Rest. This man must give them Rest also and carry them through the Flood of His Generation As Noah did in His and Moses in His. And as they came out of Aegypt on the 15th Day at Sun-set or 360 Hours So this Sun also set about 360 Years from Aegypt or the Minha of the 15th Day 3 Times 40 make 120 the Moed and 3 of these Moeds make 360. 3 Times 40 more in Elies 40 Samuels 40 with Saul and Davids 40 bring us to Solomon Peace and the Temple founded in his 4th Year as the close of the 4th Moed or 4 times 120 or 12 times 40 being just 400 and 4 score Years from Aegypt as we read in the 6th of the First Book of Kings And 480 Hours bring up the last and great Day of Unleavened Bread the close of the Feast of Passover or 21st Day of the Month For Solomons great Feast of Dedication To be compared with the great Feast of Tabernacles in the 7th Month of the Year As His Feast was the 7th Month of the 7th Year of the Temple when it was fully finished and 14 Dayes as 14 Hours we saw before And although the Tabernacle was a good while at Gibeon of Benjamiu As the Ark at Kiriath-jearim of Judah as the very Temple Courts were parted between Those two Tribes Yet little Bethlehem also became a great Scene of Action during these Times of the Judges Thereabout was Rachel buried with her Idols which we may finde growing up Thence again In Michaes 〈◊〉 and the Falss Prophet also a poor Levite of Bethlehem Ephrata Spreading also to Dan as a Type of Jeroboams Calves of Aarons Cow to Dan also with Jonathan of Gershom of Manasseh where the Mazorites observe a signal Character to bid us pause till the Captivity of the Land as we read in Judges 18. Though it may lead us also to the Ark taken by the Philistines at Elies Death And as Elimelech carried his Wife and Children from Bethlehem to the Land of Moab so did David also of the same Bethlehem and of Elimelech by Ruth carry His to the same Moab And afterwards also to the Philistines where he sojourned as the Ark and Abraham and Isaak had done before him Dayes or a Year and 4 Months And so the Levites Concubine of Bethlehem also played the Harlot and stayed Dayes or a Year 4 Months In which places as that also of Rebecca Let her stay Dayes or a Year or 10 Daies in the Plural seem to speak a full Year As Two Daies in the Dual seem to intimate a Month. As Numb 9. 22. Dayes or a Year or a Month or Two Dayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 just 666. As the Moon returneth to the Sun in 666 Hours and to them at the Poles in Twice so many Dayes as the Sun in Months as we saw before We see how Idolatry was followed with Adultery and Both from the same Bethlehem as in divers Scriptures So St Paul ranketh their sins in the Wilderness by Idolatry Fornication Tempting of Christ and Murmuring 1 Cor. 10 and Jesabels Charge even in the Revelation is enticing to Adultery or Fornication with Eating but Eating things offered to Idols Both those Adulteries were severely punished For notwithstanding his Infinite goodness he knoweth How to punish the Ungodly but especially those that walk after the Flesh and speak evil of Dignities 24000 slain at Peor about 66000 at Gibeah which infected all the 12 Tribes with the 12 pieces of the Concubine and cut off Little Benjamin All but 600 men that fled and hid themselves 4 Months and Elizabeth hid her self Five Months in the Rock of Rimmon As Saul of that Tribe also had but 600 men left him after God had rejected him 1 Sam. 13 and chosen David who had also 600 men with him and parted also as These 600 by 200 and 400 to recover Ziglag and these 600 were kept up for his Guard we see in his flying from Absalon As also the Danites that Sacked Laish and set up Idolatry were 600 men as Shamgar slew 600 Philistines with an Ox goad of which we may read in Hoseah with other Prophets To be added to All before of 600 and 666. And as those things in the Wilderness followed Israels Vow Numb 21. So do These in Judges Jephtae's Vow and the peoples also for putting away their strange gods And as Serpents seized on them There so did Nahash the Serpent Here also till he was swallowed up by Saul as Death and Hell must swallow up the Serpent also in the Revelation Moses was bid to make a Seraph as the Serpents are called Seraphim the word for Angels in the 6th of Esay But Moses made a Nahash of Nehust a mighty Type of Christ who only can deliver us from the Serpent as old as Paradise and the Dragon and the Beast and its Image also made by Aaron or Micha or Babel or any other And yet Hezekiah durst destroy That Brazen Serpent and call it Nehustan a little piece of Brass So Dangerous is a lawful expedient or requisite Matter of Worship also when it degenerates to Idolatry or Superstition As the sourest Vineger from the quickest Best and sweetest Wine There was a strange Fate may we say that followed Those Serpents which bit Jacobs Heel so that he Halted ever after and their very next step was to Oboth Pytho's or Pythons As from the Serpent to the Devil And so also in Samuels time They were bitten with the Serpent Nahash and they murmur for Saul which is Hell Sheol Gods Scool and Mans Soul if God leave it as he did Israel here till they chose and sought their Saul As Samuel alludes and gives its Etymology 1 Sam. 12. And when you saw Nahash the Serpent You said Nay but a King shall Reign over us when the Lord your God was your King And now behold the King whom you have chosen and sought him or Saultem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1331 coming up to the double of 666 the number of the Serpent just 1332. But 3 less than Daniels 1335. And again he threatens a sign to make them see their great evil in rejecting God to Saul them a King Lisheol Verse 17. And when they heard the great Thunders in Harvest which should be remembred when ever so they cryed unto Samuel Pray for thy servants Nay but a King and now Thy servants Lest we Dye For we have dded to All our sins This evil also to Saul us a King Lisheol And then comes One of the sweetest places in the Bible Fear not c. For the Lord
Power And again when you meet with my spirit and the Power of our Lord Jesus Christ. That this was a Judging Power is plain by all that Chap. speaking of casting out and judging them which are within while God only judgeth them that be without And in the next Chapter Do you not know The Saints shall judge the world Are you not worthy then to judge the smallest matters Know ye not that we shall judge Angels how much more things that pertain to this life Set ye them to judge who are least esteemed in the Church Is there not a wise man among you not onethat is able to judge between his Brethren And in that very Chapter you presse so much against your self he saith Judge in your selves Is it comly that a woman pray to God uncovered And of their Church-meetings he saith If ye speak with Tongues speak by two or three at most but if ye Prophesie do it by two or three at the least for so seems the opposition and let the others judge For you may all Prophecy and you should all desire earnestly and pray that you may Prophecy even above all other spiritual Gifts but it must be in order and not confusion while some Iudge and still the spirit of all Prophets are subject to the Prophets both old and now also while you be in Churches you must keep Church Order and your spirits must be subject to the Prophets before you and among you also But of the Sacrament he saith You must here Iudge your selves and be not concluded by others Judgement But let a man examine himself and so let him eat and drink For He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh Damnation or at least Judgement to himself and for this cause are many weak and sick and many sleep For If wee would judge our selves we should not be judged but when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World Which is one of the most sweet and comfortable places in the whole Bible as before we observed in this Epistle also about Temptation Which also may and should comfort you So far are you from being condemned as you think by God who will never confirm or execute any wrong judgement though you give it against your self And yet you should be tender how you judge your self unworthy of Eternal Life which is the free gift of God least the spirit say as Paul and Barnabas to the Iews Seeing you put the Gospel from you and judge your selves unworthy of Eternal Life Lo we turn to the Gentiles But if you judge a wrong judgement God is so merciful and just also as not to confirm it And if you judge Rightly you are so far from being so wretched and miserable as you think your self that you are one of the happiest men in the World and not onely still under the gracious Spirit of Promise convincing you ofsin and also of righteousnesse setting up Christ in you and making you bow and long for him but also receiving from him one of the greatest and highest gifts possible which is a right Judgement and a power and priviledge to judge your self the hardest and highest work in the world so that you never shal be judged by the Lord. A Royalty not given unto any but the Kings and Princes or first-born of Jesus Christ his Churches as at Corinth or the members of them or such as are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints and to such as in any place call upon the Name of Jesus Christ the Lord both theirs and ours as I hear and see and know you do And therefore I pronounce it written to you also as a letter from Heaven or the Throne and Heart of God in Jesus Christ our Lord and yours whom you so call upon and trust in For how could you call upon Him if you had not believed on him As you may read in the Tenth of the Epistle to the Romans compared with the beginning of the first Epistle to the Corinthians which we now speak of Nor do I wonder Paul should put such a stresse upon calling on Christ when by his own experience and observation of all Christians he had found it the great Badge of a Christian and the greatest Character he could well expresse of one taught and drawn by God to come to Jesus Christ who though the Mediator to God yet indeed is the end also of all the Teaching and Drawing of the Father which I will therefore on this occasion more largely insist upon as one of the greatest and sweetest things I can declare to you especially in this great hour of darknesse and temptation When Paul saw Stephen the first Martyr stoned consenting to his death and standing by keeping the clothes of them which stoned him he might easily observe and remember that he died calling on Jesus Christ and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit And again kneeling down he cryed Lord lay not this sin to their charge and saying this he fell asleep He might very well wonder that in the very Infancy of Christian Religion any could so quickly speak and pray to Christ and that also with such courage and boldnesse as daring to die in it and to desire no other rest or happinesse then that Jesus only should receive his spirit and forgive his stoners Doubtlesse it could not but take deep impression in so wise a man as Paul or Saul was And so it seems it did for presently he went and got a Commission from the Rulers to bring bound to Jerusalem all that he should find calling on Jesus Which he could not but see a most distinguishing Character between Jews and Christians for the Jews also called on God but the Christians only called on Jesus Christ and by that character he might easily discern who were only Jews and who were also Christians and so binde All he found calling on Christ. And when Christ appeared to Ananias in a vision he bad him Enquire in the house of Iudas Which we may consider again when we see Paul rising up in the room of Iudas and of Saul also being of the same Tribe much about a Thousand years after David that is Love had cast him out and bound him up as Satan must be bound for a Thousand years and then perhaps struck down as Saul here was by fire from heaven Saul also signifying Hell or the Grave and so might well be an Emblem of Satan which is the very Phrase used by David of Abishai to which Christ also might allude when he called Peter Satan And when Ananias or the Lords grace was sent by Christ to look out Saul he said Lord I hear he hath authority to bind all that call on thy Name To which Christ replyed Go for he is a chosen Vessel to bear my Name to the Gentiles and to Kings and the children of Israel though the Jews shall reject and persecute him yet he shall bear
Love And so before the fall he loved man And being fallen with a Sweeter better Greater Kinder kinde of Love of Pitty Mercy and most tender Bowels of Compassion Which was ever in that Infinite Fountain of All being But it appeared not abroad till the Wisdom of God contrived how to shut up some in fear and guilt that so he might at once shew Justice Truth and Mercy also which then Met and Kist Embracing one another And the Lord foreseeing and Resolving all this that so it should and so it must be while his Heart was such and such it must be while he was and is himself which was and will be ever and beyond all words that expresse Eternity He still spake so wisely that when he threatned most yet he lefr an Issue for goodnesse to come forth and shew it self with Truth and Justice too And therefore at the very first Command and Threatning to our Father Dying thou shalt Dye or thou shalt surely Die he did not tye his hands or bind himself without such Reservations as might still afford room large enough for Truth and Mercy both I shall not enquire at present upon what account it pleased the Lord to abridge Adam in Paradise of That which he granted before when he gave him for meat e-Every hearb bearing Seed and every Tree in which is the Fruit of a Tree yielding Seed which is not Usual with God To give and then to take away without demerit Nor do I say Adam obliged himself to that which he needed not if he had considered his former Pattent or his Deed of Gift But this I say in general there is not a Word Command or Threatning spoken to man that is not spoken by Christ And first therefore spoken by God in and to Christ who then speaketh nothing but what God said to him in him and As the Father spake it unto him so he speaketh unto man But certainly there was not any one word ever spoken by God to Christ either Precept or Threatning with any purpose to make him Despair But to Do believe and live And by consequence never any one Word or Threatning of the whole Law spoken by Christ to any man but As the Father spake it unto him not to make him Despare but believe and live For which also see Deut. 5. 29. 29. 29. Psalm 78. 5 6 7 8. 81. 13. Prov. 22. 19 20. Isa. 48. 17 18. Rom. 15. 4. John 3. 17. 17. 5. 34. 12. 47 48 49 50. 20. 31. Again I do not see plainly what God meant by Dying when he said thou shalt surely dye or dying dye Or that if he meant the worst of deaths for kinde he meant it so also for Duration Seeing Christ when he bore the Curse and its heavy weight did not dye such a kinde of death or at least for such duration as it is supposed to be here threatned And the very phrase here used to Adam is threatned to Davids Child by Bathsheba and to many others in the Scripture And to Hezechiah it is added Thou shalt not live And yet he did not die but live And David hoped that his Child might live notwithstanding that threatning dying it shall die or it shall surely die And sure when it did die he did not believe it dyed Etetnally or that this was threatned by that phrase so frequent also in Scripture And if God had meant any such Eternal death to Adam by that threatning it is somewhat strange that after the fall he removed them out of Paradise and guarded it so least they should yet eat of the Tree of Life and Live for Ever though he had said Thou shalt surely dye But to put the matter out of doubt We may see Gods Meaning of this Threatning in the 24. cha of Ezek. where he saith the people should so certainly die in their sins and pine away in their Iniquities with the most terrible expressions and most vehement assertions that can well be imagined as Because I would have purged thee and thou wast not purged thou shalt not be purged till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee I the Lord have spoken it it shall come to pass and I will do it I will not goe back neither will I repent But you shall pine away for your iniquity c. which is the terrible Threatning reserved for the last place in that famous and gradual Judgement so solemnly denounced in the twenty sixth of Leviticsn And As a Seal of this most heavy doom Ezekiel is strucken dumb and can no more admonish or comfort them so finally devoted to destruction so that he never speaks a word more to them from that 24. chap. to the thirty third And there God lets and bids him speak again unto the Children of his people By which very phrase we are led back to that sweet place we cited so lately out of the 19. of Leviticus of bearing no grudge against the Children of his people but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy heart but shalt certainly rebuke him and not suffer sin to lye upon him Which is the Text on which the Lord so comments to the Son of man whom God there setteth up as a mighty Type of Christ to be the great Watchman and warner to his brethren and his neighbours Or to be a light to lighten the Gentiles also each man and every Man that cometh into the World Adding also on that occasion that if a Nation or a people of a place do of themselves in a time of darknesse and danger choose a man and set him up for a Watchman or a Teacher or a Ruler among them there being alike reason God will own it as His Ordinance though but of Humane Choyce and Institution Which may be compared with That of the Apostle of submitting to Mans Institutions in Government even for the Lord or as an Ordinance of God To be much considered by those that reject Rulers or Teachers if they cannot shew a special Call or Mission by God Upon That occasion the Son of Man which also reacheth to Christ whose work is much described in Ezekiel hath his strict yet general Rules also when ever God threatneth Man And Then remembring the last solemn Threatning but now cited from the 24. chapter which was the last spoken to them He commandeth Thus O thou Son of Man speak unto the House of Israel Thus you speak saying If our sins be so upon us that we must Pine away in them which was the last great Threatning How then shall we or can we possibly Live Say unto them As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the Death of the wicked even of the wicked but that the wicked Turn from his Way and live Turn you Turn you from your evil waies for why will you die O ye House of Israel And then giveth that sweet and yet general Rule for interpreting All the
Lords Threatnings and This in particular used to Adam Dying thou shalt die or Thou shalt surely die The very Words spoken to Adam and the worst of All that was Threatned to Him When I say to the Wicked as I did once to my dearly beloved Adam in Innocence Thou shalt surely die Yet if he Turn and Thou must warn him of those very words that he may Turn and Repent and Then he shall surely live he shall not die Which is several times repeated notwithstanding that Doom Thou shalt surely Die. Which in general God hath here interpreted when ever he so speaketh or shall so speak for it is the Infinite Mood or Manner of speaking In my saying or when ever I do say or shall say Dying thou shalt Dië or Thou shalt surely Die Yet it is not nor may be taken as any Absolute Doom but a conditional Threatning Which in case of Repentance shall never come to Sentence and much less to Execution And yet it was to a Wicked Man as Wicked O Thou wicked Man and so to one in a much worse condition and more desperate than Adam was when it was so pronounced to him in Paradice And upon This Occasion also God Comments on that Clause in the second Command of visiting the Fathers sins upon the Children which the Jews judged not Equal and expressed by their usual Proverb The Fathers have Eaten the sowr Grapes and the Childrens Teeth are set on Edge Which he confutes at large in the 18 of Ezekiel and sweareth it shall not be used any more Which is to be compared with That most sweet Chapter the 31. of Jerem. Where also That Evil Proverb is commanded and promised Down with such a sweet and gracious Context both before and after it as can never be too much considered And the Lords Discourse against That Proverb may be a good Comment on that passage in the second Command of visiting Iniquities of the Fathers on the Children But on Those that go on in their Fathers Iniquities And Then also the Children never Die for the Fathers sin They may be visited or chastened But They shall not Die for their Fathers sin No not for their Great Father Adams Which is a very comfortable thing and much to be considered by All and in special with relation to Infants that die without Actual sin having not sinned after the similitude of Adams Transgression But the Lord hath here promised the Children shall not die for or Bear the Fathers sin Nor indeed was That Expressed to Adam or for ought appeareth was intended that His Children should Die for His sin Nay rather God hath expressly declared the contrary that They shall not And yet Death came in by sin and passed over All seeing All have sinned and came short of the Glory of God And yet They do not Die and sure Then not Eternally for their Fathers sin Which may be compared with That of our Savior touching the man born blind and yet neither for His Own sin or his Fathers but that the Glory of God might be seen in his blindness And yet the Fathers Iniquity for That is the Phrase May be visited upon the Children and are the Visitations of God Smal things But yet why should we despair of the Goodness of God even in his visitation seeing Himself also hath chosen such a Phrase that with God and man speaketh kindness And a Love visit rather than any Hatred And if we rightly understand Gods heart in All we would long for his visits though he should come but to chide or to chasten us and we should value the very lowest and the meanest of his visits at a very great rate Sure it is not a little thing to be visited by a great Man How much more by a good Man which if we understood and saw the person they represent to us and the Embassage they still come about we should cry as Elizabeth to the Virgin Mary How is it that the Mother Brother Sister of my Lord vouchsafeth thus to visit me for every one that is His and doth His Fathers will is his Mother Brother Sister as himself speaketh And have not many Thus entertained Angels How much more is it then for God and Jesus Christ to come and visit such poor Worms as we are For What is Man that thou shouldest so magnifie him even so magnifie him and that thou shouldest set thy heart upon him and That Thou shouldest Visit him every morning and Try him every moment Yea as if David would lead us up to the very Visits made by God to Adams Children after the Fall he expresseth it Thus Lord what is Enos that thou shouldest remember him and the Son of Adam that thou shouldest visit him For he very well knew it a great condescention in God and happiness to Man that God should come to visit him For his Visitations sustain our spirits and preserve us alive I need not tel you what the Jews say of Sampsons visiting his Wife with a Kid or Abrahams visiting of Hagar in the Wilderness a Type of what is on her and her Children to this day as St. Paul speaketh Or what is promised to all the Kings and great men in the Terrible Pit that after many daies they should be visited as we read in Esay to be compared also with Zech. 9. 11 12. Yea even when his Visit is to chasten us it is an Honor and an Happiness My Son despise not thou the Chastening of the Lord neither be thou weary of His Correction for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth even as a Father doth a Son of his delight Behold Happy is the man whom the Lord correcteth Therefore despise not thou the chastising of the Almighty For be maketh sore and bindeth up He woundeth and his hands make whole Which in That very Book also is more largely repeated by Elihu in the person of Christ as his Name imports He is my God who sheweth Gods designs in afflicting of Man yea and Then when he visiteth in Anger though he know it not in great Extremity a very considerable Expression whether we take it of God or of Job who was taught that all Gods Angry visits were for Good of man to shew him his Way and to hide Pride from him and to recover him from his sins and sorrows also Which is confirmed also by the Psalmist in divers places Especially after he hath so solemnly called Invited and Wooed all Nations and People of the Earth to come in and bow to God because of his Goodness and marvelous Kindness to the children of men from the 95. onward Shewing also that Afflictions and the Lords visits even unto Fools the worst of men is to make them cry to God and stir up his Pities and Compassions that never fail and to make his tender bowels yearn over them so that he will hear them in their trouble and will save them out of their distress He will send his Word and heal them and