that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom And the Friend of the Bridegroom rejoyceth when he hears the voice of the Bridegroom That is when he finds that he speaks to any Heart and draws any Soul to him How Happy would it be if in this Discourse the voice of the Bridegroom might be heard and discovered in any of our Hearts and that it might be known that this Preaching of Christ hath prevail'd at all upon any Soul This is to Rejoice in hearing the voice of the Bridegroom O therefore that this Joy might be fullfilled in you that hear and in me that am speaking to you But as he goes on he must encrease and I must decrease That is In all wherein we may seem to be serviceable to Christ or serviceable to the Souls of Men that must go off And then the Kingdom and Glory of Christ Himself that is It that must encrease And therefore for those that hear and those that speak to meet one another in that Great Solemnity and in that Great Glory and to find that all is gone off but only Christ How Glosious and how Blessed will this State be I shall therefore endeavour to open this Great Point in some measure unto you Though I know it is not possible to speak of it as it is to be spoken of But I shall therefore First Lay down this as a Great Scripture-Point as a Great Scrippture Truth That there is such a Marriage-Union betwixt Christ and his Church and betwixt Christ and every particular Soul In the second place I shall endeavour to shew you wherein it stands at the present First In the Opening of it I shall shew you That there is a State of it Now. And then That there is to be the Glory and the Heighth of this State in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Therefore I shall endeavour to shew you wherein it stands now And then In the third place How the Glory of it shall break out and in what Expressions the Scripture hath assured that to us And therefore that every one of us should look upon our Profession as a Fitting and a Preparation to that Great Solemnity of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. I. The first Scripture by which I shall make it evident to you is indeed a Scripture full of Mystery full of Figure of Metaphor and Emblem and therefore it may not be so eaâ—ie to your Apprehension It 's that of the Song of Solomon It is an hard thing almost to advise you to the Reading of it because it lies hid under Veils It â—ies hid under curious Allegories and Representations But that is the very â—ense of it Chap. 1. 3. Thy Name is as Ointment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love thee Draw me we will run after thee The King hath brought me into his Chambers we will be glad and rejoice in thee we will remember thy Love more than Wâ—ne the upright love thee Ver. 3 4. All this it is but Metaphor Representing Christ as Drawing with the Savour of his Good Ointments As Persons make themselves Acceptable by those things that draw and win upon the Sense and so upon the Sense of Smelling This Savour of his Good Oyntment draws Souls to Christ That is those Rich Spiritual Excellencies in Him win upon the Souls of those that are indeed truly his that are indeed Virgins They draw the Love of Souls after Christ The Pardon of Sin His Righteousness His Resurrection in the Power of it His Death in the Power of it His Life in the Power of it The Glory of His Kingdom These Draw Souls Draw me we will run after thee And the upright love thee All that have Sincerity in the Profession of Christianity they truely love him And thus there is a Thread drawn throughout that whole Book till it comes to the very Glory of the Kingdom of Christ The last Words signifie it Make haste my beloved and be thou like a Roe or to a Young Hart upon the Mountains of Spices That is The State of the Kingdom of Christ is just like a Mount of the most Aromatick of the Sweetest Perfumes of Glory and Happiness This is the first Scripture that lays this great Point down before us And there are many Expressions especially in that Evangelical Prophet the Prophet Isaiah comparing the Union betwixt Christ and his Servants to a Marriage and to a Marriage that shall be solemnized at last in Glory But the second Scripture that I would give you concerning it is Ephes 5. Where the Apostle does draw or delineate this very whole Representation before us in the Beginning and in the Perfection of it And indeed he introduces the very first Institution and Appointment of Marriage to bring it all to this That there was in it a much more Glorious Purpose to prepare for and to Represent the Union betwixt Christ and his Church In speaking therefore of the Duty of Husbands to their Wives he enters into this Great Discourse saith he The Husband is the Head of the Wife even as Christ is the Head of the Church and he is the Saviour of the Body Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ so let the Wives be to their own Husbands in every thing And Christ as an Husband ver 25. He loved the Church and gave himself for it That he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word That he might present it to himself a Glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish For indeed as I shall presently shew you out of a Great Type of the Law of Moses in this Thing Christ takes those whom he must Beautifie He takes those whom he must every way fit for so great an Enjoyment as that of Himself He takes them out of Corruption out of Impurity and Defilement in a Miserable and Loathsome and Captivated State and Condition But he never leaves till he brings it to this That he may present them to Himself That he may take them to Himself without spot or wrinkle or any such thing And then saith he for this Cause a Man shall leave his Father and Mother and shall be Joyned to his Wife and they shall be one flesh This is a Great Mystery But I speak concerning Christ and the Church That is Here lies the Mystery the Great Point that I intend to present to you that close Union that is betwixt Christ and his Saints And it comes as I told you to that Gloty that He presents it to Himself a Glorious Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing And if you would know when this is It is at the time of the Kingdom of Christ at the time when he hath destroyed False Christianity that Christianity that is called in the Professors and Profession of it The Whore When that is quite taken away that is when all False Christianity shall be driven out of the
of the Judgment that there ought to be such a kind of Preparation And that it is agreeable to the Law of God for the Wisdom and Decency of such a Solemnity as Marriage I shall not insist upon that But it is very clear that such a thing was in use among the Jews and that the Law hath very great regard and respect to such a thing and that the Scripture is drawn out in such a manner of Expression Now It is nothing to speak of the Figure that 's not at all to my purpose But to let you know that there is a Time of Espousals of Sculs to Jesus Christ According to this and to Ground the Allusion to you upon it we find Matth. 1. 18. The Birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise When as his Mother Mary was Espoused to Joseph before they came together Before they came to dwell together and to have the Marriage Solemnized while she was his Spouse and so the Gospel History goes on So I say there is an Espousal of Souls to Jesus Christ and that is in the present State in the present State wherein we are under the Preaching of the Gospel wherein we are under the motions of the Spirit of Christ Here Christ begins and he Sanctifies and Cleanses by the Washing of Regeneration and by his Word that he may present every Soul There 's the method of it It begins here in a preparation And therefore we should consider whether we are under this preparation now for Jesus Christ Whether our affections are drawn to him Whether we hear the Voice of the Bridegroom speaking to us Whether we have found the Savour of the Good Oyntments of Christ and that it is not a Savour of Death As the Apostle speaks in that great Scripture 2 Cor. 2. 14. Now Thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ and maketh manifest the Savour of his knowledge by us in every place The Savour Osme that is the rich Perfume in every place as in Solomons Song saith he Because of the Savour of the good Oyntments The Virgins Love thee And draw me and we will run after thee Thy Name is Oyntment poured forth Now the Apostle speaks just as if he had taken his words out of that of Solomons Song Saith he Who maketh manifest the Savour or Perfume the Odour or perfume of the Knowledge of Jesus Christ For saith he We are unto God a sweet Savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish That is whether Men are taken and drawn and perswaded by this Savour Odour or Rich Perfume or not it is all one Suppose the Perfume does not go down into our Hearts and into our Thoughts and Affections yet it arises up to Heaven and there it is accepted If there be none of you that hear or I that speak at this Time Which I hope is far different who find the Savour and Excellency and Perfume of Christ and of his Doctrine and of the Knowledge of him yet still this Savour this Odour rises up to Heaven and God is pleased with the Savour tho we find nothing at all in it But saith he we are to some a Savour or Odour of Death unto Death That is if a Man saith I find nothing that you can say offering the strong scent and Knowledge of Jesus Christ I do not find the Attractive and VVinning Virtues and Powers of it They do not at all prevail upon me This is certainly unto Death A Savour of Death without Life and unto Death As it is said of natural Odours and Scents that they wrap and twist themselves about the Brain and win upon the sensitive Power of a Man and so they draw and please and allure In the very same manner the Knowledge of Christ VVhen we hear of a Crucified Saviour who dyed for our Sins and to bring us out of this Misery and Ruine it gives us the Savour it wraps it self and Twists and Twines it self about our Minds our Hearts and Affections and we cannot stir away from it because it is so excellent so desirable Here 's a Savour of Life here 's a quick and a powerful Savour But now on the other side when Men find not when they feel not any such thing They say this is a Dead Root It hath not the proper scent of such a Root and it is not such a Rich and an Admirable Oyntment as you speak of we find nothing at all in it If we speak of Eating and Drinking and Buying and Selling and Riding out and Enjoying and taking Pleasure and having great Entertainments of Company this we understand But to say Get into Christ mind Him get the Assurance of the Love of God in Him Pardon of Sin in Him We find nothing in this It is a Dead Savour Why then saith the Apostle It is to Death It argues all is to Death Or in another comparison if we should bring as Physitians say a strong Suffumigation to the Nostrils of a Person that is in a dangerous state as the way is to bring strong Scents just under their Nostrills those that are proper to stir up the Brain and no Effect follows This is to Death The man is a Dead man So when Christ is brought and the Doctrine of his Salvation to a Soul and there is nothing at all of Worth Effect or Efficacy This Death is unto Death Just as such a kind of Suffumigation brought to a Dying Person and no Effect argues That he 'll die presently if the strongest Savours and Perfumes have no Effect and the Brain is just ready to be laid asleep in Death So Conscience and Inward Sense which God hath planted in a man in order to Spiritual Life if they stir not at the Savour of Christ it argues a person left of God and he is under the Doom and Sentence of Death If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them who are lost Further To Represent the main Point we are upon to you to shew you in what a State we are now give me leave to make use of a Type in the Law of Moses in this Thing because it doth greatly Represent it and I make no doubt it was intended to this very purpose that I am now speaking of It is said Deut. 21. 10. When thou goest forth to war against thine Enemies I desire you to take notice that I speak only of it by way of Allusion and as a Type of this Thing When thou goest forth to war against thine Enemies and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands and thou hast taken them captive and thou seest among the captives a beautiful woman and hast a desire unto her that thou wouldest have her to thy Wife Then shalt thou bring her home unto thine house and she shall shave her Head and pare her Nails And she shall put off the Raiment of her Captivity from off her and shall remain in thine house and bewail
Good in himself yet it is plain and undeniable that there is a mighty wicked world every way round about Now if a Man truely Loves God and Christ the wickedness that abounds in the world and so over-flows it would make him desire that there should be another State of things Suppose he be a Man that Swears not why yet when he hears those Vollies of Oaths and Blasphemies that are every where about him And so in every other such Instance This is a reason for him to desire the Bridegroom should come Because there is such a wicked such an Intollerable wicked World God's heart cannot be to this wicked world tho Noah Job and Daniel and all the Great Worthies should stand before him for this world Yet his heart could not be to this world because of the abundance of wickednesses that are in it Separate from it the consideration of in Comparison the few Servants of God in it And Oh the abundance of wickedness that is in it and of wicked Men There was undoubtedly a succession of Holy Patriarchs to the Floud And undoubtedly they had many Godly Children and Godly Friends one with another And yet for all that God's Heart could not be to that Old World But he must needs destroy it And so God's Heart cannot be to this world That now is but he is resolved to burn it about the Ears of all the wicked that are in it And therefore because of this a Good Man tho he be never so Good and Suppose he have very Great and High Enjoyments of God in himself and suppose he hath many Godly Friends and Relations and Acquaintance that are really and truely Religious and Holy Persons yet for all this I cannot saith he endure this world Or for all that wherein I walk with God my self or wherein I have any or know any that walk with him After all this after all the Good that you can find or hope you can find in the world yet there are such an abundance of wicked in it that because of this his Zeal rises up to the coming of the Bridegroom and to the meeting of the Bridegroom He looks for and Hastens on to the Day of God because of this Now certainly this is a very undeniable Argument Who can take Pleasure Knowing that there are so many wicked Men Riding on Horseback To use that Expression of Solomon That there is in all places Employments Cities Towns and Neighbourhoods such great Ignorance of God and contempt of Him and Jesus Christ and such wicked Conversation a Good Man cannot be satisfied but he must desire the Coming of the Bridegroom Consider that Example we have in 2 Pet. 2. 7. God delivered Just Lot as the Criticks observe He was tormented after the manner of the Torments of Hell vexed with the filthy Conversation of the wicked For that righteous Man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous Soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds or with their enormous deeds So I say when we consider the Great Enormities that are in the World who indeed that is a Christian but would say Oh that the Bridegroom would come and put an end to this Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar Arg. 2. In the Second Place Suppose that we could overcome and salve our selves of this Reason of Desiring the Bridegroom's Coming and might say notwithstanding this That we and our Houses serve God and that our Conversation is as becomes the Gospel and that we desire to converse with Saints and that we have an Heavenly Society upon Earrh I say suppose this could be said where there is not an High Sense of the Bridegroom 's Coming yet David says Horror hath taken hold upon me because they keep not thy Law It is time for the Lord to mork I wonder thou stayest so long for they have made void thy Law And Rivers of Tears run down mine eyes because they keep not thy Law All this I say plainly proves That if a man could salve the first Consideration to himself yet he cannot bear out himself on this Account O! when any of us come to look seriously into our own Hearts Lives and Ways can we say That we are what we desire to be and what vve vvould be Have vve such a Tenor of Thoughts such a constant Chain of Holy and Serious and Wise Thoughts Do we keep our Mouths with a Bit and Bridle while the wicked is before us Do we take care to speak always so That our Speech is seasoned with Salt and that it ministers Grace to the hearers Are our Hearts so in the Enjoyment of God and Communion with him That we may say It is Good for us to be here Or do we meet in such Ordinances Publickly Administred with such Power and Powerful Preaching Gospel Administrations The Lords Supper Keeping and Observing the Lords Day as we desire Do we find that there is so much in these That we can our selves say we have Reason to rest here or to continue in this State Or do we not find a continual complaint Like that of Paul Rom. 7. The Good that I would I do not But the Evil which I would not that I do I find then a Law that when I would do Good Evil is present with me And so in Verse 24. He comes to cry out O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death If this World could stand Yet This Body of Sin and Death is such that I could wish it were at an End Who shall rescue and unchain me from this Body wherein I am Fettered and Held that I cannot do the things that I desire to do to the Glory of God in it So that there is a Chain upon our Minds and Hearts That the very consideration of it should make us earnestly desire the coming of the Bridegroom 3. A Third Consideration Suppose now neither of these Reasons sufficient why we should desire the coming of the Bridegroom Yet I beseech you consider whether the Glory of Christ be not a proper and Condign Object of our desires Whether it be worthy of him that he should have no higher nor more Glorious State in this World than he yet hath Can you be content that the Nations should be given to Idolatry or Mahometanism among the Turks Would you be willing the Papists should have so great a part of the Christian World still under their Darkness and Superstition Would you be willing that so many Tyrants as have and so many as are ready still to do it should be Riding over the Heads of the Saints and Servants of God and that his Worship should be cast down to the Ground And that the Sanctuary should be Trodden underfoot by the Gentiles And that the Abomination of Desolation should stand where it ought not Could any Man that Loves the Glory of God and the Glory of Christ be content
are in the whole Orb and the whole Body and Sphere of Light his own Righteousness and Perfection And they all are Communicated from him And therefore it is that these Graces are spoken so Graciously of because they are in him In the Third Place you may say But suppose I am satisfied and convinced That it is not what is in my Self but what is in Christ where all my Imperfections are made up and where every thing is in Purity and Perfection This is the Great Thing lies upon me That I don't know how to come to Christ that I may be his and that he may be mine And therefore this is that I shall Answer to you There are under the Profession of Christianity two Sorts of Men. First Those that never care for these Things that never mind them that never consider them that never ask the Question Whether Christ is theirs or not Nor have any Thought or any Trouble about it Now to such Persons there 's no great need of answering It is a vain Thing to Resolve Cases of Conscience to an Atheist to him that saith There 's no God There 's no Religion So it is in vain to answer such Scruples to the Man that never minds Christ or considers himself Whether in Christ or not But if there are any of us that are really under the Sense of the Want of Christ and of the Greatness of that Want If there be any such Why then there is not at any time such a Thought in our Hearts as this Whether we are Christ's or not but it is a Hopeful Argument That Jesus Christ doth Call us and does Invite us He doth Call and Invite us or else Why should it so be That we are concerned and troubled about our having or not having of him Our Case is just like the Case of that Blind Man in the Gospel that we read of Mark 10. 46. When they were come to Jericho there was a great Number of People And Blind Bartimeus the Son of Timeus sate by the Way-side Begging And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth he began to cry out and say Jesus thou Son of David have Mercy on me And many charged him that he should hold his Peace They would not have him make such ado after Christ But he cry'd the more a great deal Thou Son of David have Mercy on me And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called And they call the Blind-Man saying unto him Be of good Comfort rise he calleth thee I would only make an Allusion and so an Application of this Christ coming near him Invited his Desires and when he Desired Christ further Invited him When we find our Souls moved with any thing of the Sense of the Want of Christ or Desire after him It is a sign Christ is coming near to us and when we find that let us cry out more earnestly after him and though our own Corruptions our own Unbelief our own Fears our own Lusts say Don't make such a stir after Christ They charge us to hold our Peace and Satan charges us and many Doctrines in the World yea of some very good Men they charge us to hold our Peace and say First of all Get more Humiliation and Sense of Sin Get Holiness Get Resolutions of being better and don 't expect and ask for Salvation till you come so and so qualified Now I say in this Case Let us cry so much the more For if we want Humiliation where should we have it but only from Christ If we want Resolutions to Holiness where should we have them but from Christ It is not intended that you should be negligent of Humiliation or Sense of Sin or Sorrow for it or Resolutions for Holiness But the Question is Where shall we have these Now I say We can have them no where but from Christ From the First Item of coming to God even from first to last to an Everlasting Happiness it is from God it is from Christ He calleth all those whose Souls are moved and those that have had no more Sense of these things heretofore than the very Stones and Stocks than the very Heathen and Pagans To all these I say If Christ do but move and stir you fly ye to him and say If I perish I 'll perish here I know nothing in my want of Everlasting Life but only coming to Christ to help me may every Soul say Objection But then you 'll say There 's a Danger that Men should Sleep and do nothing but put off all with coming to Christ. Don't fear this If we are indeed in Motion to Christ be assured of this He 'll come to you and make himself further known to you And in that very Moment that you think to be doing something look upon Christ as the very Author and Finisher of our Faith and in his Strength go and do it For surely we may stand long enough fetching Water out of a Flint till Jesus Christ be pleased to turn the Flint into a standing Water Such an Expression is in the Psalms So I say The Flint in the Heart the Heart of Flint Christ will turn into a Standing-Water And it can never be done till Christ do it And therefore I know not how to advise such otherwise Many complain of the Want of this and that Grace What Advice would you give us Alas Many would say Be Industrious and Earnest I do not deny but there 's a Place for it But I say It is for a Man to begin at the Wrong End of the Thing to begin there without looking first to Christ Let us therefore go to Christ For Faith and Love are in him abundant And he 'll draw Souls to himself When I am lifted up saith he I will Draw all Men to me The Death of Christ upon the Cross was a Spiritual Emblem of this Drawing And the Father Draws and the Spirit Convinces That Persons may by it be Drawn to Christ It is therefore in the High and Supream Hand And when we have any Intimations and Motives upon us to move and to stir still go to the Fountain Go to him that is the Son of Oil These Rays and Beams lead to him that is the Spring of all Grace from the very first to the last It is worthy our Consideration that Place of the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 22. last Verses And I will fasten him as a Nail in a sure Place and he shall be for a Glorious Throne to his Father's House And they shall hang upon him all the Glory of his Father's House the Off-spring and the Issue The very Beginning and the End Vessels of all Quantities from the Vessels of Cups even to all the Vessels of Flagons They hang all upon him Now therefore If you would hang your Humiliation or Preparation that 's a Vessel of the Off-spring and it is a small Vessel a Vessel of small Quantity if you hang this any where but upon the Nail in
of Man cometh at an hour ye think not that is if you are not ready For the very sence of knowing or not knowing the time is being ready or not ready if not ready we are not aware The knowing of time or not knowing is but the cover and outside of this true effective knowing or not so knowing I will therefore first endeavour to open to you the true state of this thing and then lay down to you several particular Directions for the right Exercise of this Watch And in a Second Head give you the Arguments of Persuasion to this Watch and so close the whole with Application 1. To shew you then in the First Place the true sence of this great Proposition from this our Lord's Application of the Parable And in the general You know the Conclusion of a Discourse is the Practical Application and that you know is regularly drawn out of the main substance of it This Application is then drawn out of the substance of the Parable and that most evidently is the having Oil in our Vessels as hath been explain'd The watching is therefore our looking well to that having Oil in our Vessels for they watch'd who were so ready though the Bridegroom delaying his coming they slumbred and lay down in Death they did not watch who so slumbred and went out of the World by Death that they had not a provision ready for the Bridegrooms Coming so that the knowing or not knowing the Time is not at all touched upon But more particularly to attain our Lord's sence in the most plain and practical instances of a Spiritual Life according to the Gospel as Directions to watching 1. Look diligently that we are taken out of the Gall of Bitterness and from under the Bond of Iniquity That we are taken out of the state of Children of Wrath by being implanted into Christ and translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son in whom is Redemption in his Bloud even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his Grace that we awake from that sleep and stand up from the dead that Christ may give us life Let us look well that we are brought into the State of Grace for that is the principal and fundamental Point of Watching and the Essential Difference between a wise and a foolish Virgin to be brought into Christ and to have his Spirit 2. Let us be continually carnest and fervent in Prayer watch unto Prayer as the Apostle Peter speaks 1 Pet. 4. 7. And as our Lord commands Watch and pray that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things and to stand before the Son of Man at his Coming Luke 21. 36. Pray earnestly with importunate Crys that you may not be given over and found in a state of Ruine and Condemnation at that Great Day Christ was whole Nights in Prayer with strong Crys and Tears he offered up Supplications unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared And how then should we think to meet him without that exercise let us therefore be instant in Prayer 3. Let us be very diligent in meditating on the Word of God Blessed is the Man that meditates in his Law day and night that 's watching to meditate day and night and whereas Christ says I know you not it is said The Lord knows the way of such holy righteous servants of his through his Grace in Christ And it is an evidence of being in him Psal 1. 6. 4. Let us shew our watching by keeping our selves from our iniquity and from all the Temptations to it Watch and pray saith our Lord that ye enter not into Temptation Luke 22. 43. Be sober saith the Apostle Peter and watch unto Prayer Gird up the loins of your mind and hope perfectly for the glory that shall be brought to you at the Revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 13. with c. 4. 7. And be sober be vigilant or watchful for your Adversary the Devil goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour c. 5 2. All this shews the great Watchfulness our Souls should maintain against our own Iniquity that we may be upright before him and not be as foolish Virgins And it is the more admonishing that in like Discourses of our Lords with this Parable when he discovers such foolish Virgins he says Depart from me ye that work iniquity 5. Our Watchfulness must be exercis'd in adding Grace to Grace for otherwise as the Apostle saith we shall be blind and not see so afar off as to behold the King in his beauty and the Land that is very far off 2 Pet. 1. 9 c. with Isa 33. 17. Thus an abundant and rich Entrance shall be ministred unto us into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ We shall be ready and not go to buy and find the Door shut 6. We Watch by continual Meditation upon being dissolved and being with Christ and upon the Glory of his Coming We need not be written to of the Times and Seasons for we our selves shall know that the Day of God so cometh as a Thief in the night and as sudden destruction cometh on them that say Peace Peace but they that watch thus and are sober are not in darkness and in the night but are of the Day and not asleep 1 Thes 5. 5. c. 7. We must Watch against the Sin of the very Age and Day wherein we live when we live in a prophane Age take heed of that when you live in a formal hypocritical time take heed of having a Name to live and being dead for Christ comes on such as a Thief at unawares They shall not know at what time he will come upon them Rev. 3. 3. If a Sensual Luxurious Worldly Age Take heed of being overcharged with those evils and the Cares of this Life 8. Let us possess our selves with the most clear and distinct Apprehensions of the Appearances of the Kingdom of Christ as the Kingdom of the Resurrection and of the Appearances of Saints in Bodies of Light and Glory Rev. 16. 15. Behold I come as a Thief Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his Garments that is that looketh to the presenting his Body now as a sacrifice a living and acceptable sacrifice well pleasing to God in Christ Rom. 12. Thus we shall appear in Bodies of Glory and not of Contempt in the Redemption of our Bodies and Men cannot see our shame when Christ cometh and all his Saints with him Head 2. I come therefore to the Second Head to lay down the Arguments of Perswasion that we may be moved to this watch Argument 1. The Time of Watch is only the Time of the present Life Whatever we would do for the After State it is to be done in the Present State in the Time of the present Life There is no Counsel nor Device in the Grave whither we are going and therefore whatever Our Hands find to
such so Educated and Prepared yet to be a Preaching-Soul to our selves none can be scandalized or offended at that 4. In the Fourth Place Let us take heed and keep our selves from our Iniquity that there may be no Sin that we shall be found in at the coming of Christ that we give Indulgence to now no course of known sin or of the neglect of any known Duty Let us take care of this that we do not allow our selves in any way of sin that we search and try our ways continually that we may turn unto God Il'l give you two notable Scriptures to this very purpose though a great many more might be given I was also upright before him and kept my self from mine iniquity Psal 18. 23. That 's a very great Scripture though I have already spake of it that especially that I would direct you to now is in the 139th Psalm 23. 24. Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way Everlasting You see here It is a very Difficult point For If a Virgin may be shut out for ever what Reason have we to lay our thoughts open before God and to say unto him Search me O God I know not how to Search my Self I am so Dark and Blind to my self in my own peculiar Iniquity That I know it not But do thou Search me and know my heart Try me and know my thoughts And see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting Any wicked way in me That is The way of living in any Sin or giving up my self to any Lust Let us be mighty Cautious very careful in This to lay our selves before God for Indeed If any one would say to me Which way shall I help my self You say That a Virgin may be a Foolish Virgin You say That Virginity is the Best State in the profession of Christianity And yet There may be such a Worm at the Root of it as may wither it all What then shall I do Does not this Discourage in the way of Religion If I may be so Mistaken and Deceived in it Were not the Foolish Virgins as likely in their own Eyes as the Wise Therefore I say No other way but to lie at the Foot of Christ and of the Spirit of Christ and Earnestly to pray Search me O God and know my heart Try me and know my thoughts and my Secret Retirements and see if there be any any Secret wickedness in me and lead me in the way Everlasting If we did continually This and if our hearts were fully Set upon it certainly God would bring forth our Righteousness as the Light and our Judgment as the Noon-Day Surely God will Discover This if we are Sincere It is the best counsel that can be given and the best Example that can be laid before us And so That of our Saviour I look upon as the peculiar duty in order to our waiting for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ I say I look upon it to be the very peculiar Duty Our Lord saith concerning this Let your Loins be girded about and your Lights burning Luke 12. 35. And so the Apostle Peter expounds this Scripture more fully to us and he directs it to this very Point of Looking to the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 13. Wherefore gird up the Loins of your Mind be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ Besides all the Grace of the Gospel at the present there is the Crowning-Grace There is the Triumphing-Grace that is to be brought to us at the appearing of Christ Gird up the loins of your mind be sober and hope to the end for that salvation You know the loins they are taken for those parts of Human Nature wherein is the Seat of Sensuality and Corruption most of all the Bodily-Lust that men are affected with And as the loins are girded a Man is the more expedite and ready for Motion So when all that superfluity of the Flesh and impure sensual affection is girt up and we hope perfectly for the Grace that is to be brought to us at the Revelation of Jesus Christ Let us earnestly therefore pray Keep back thy Servant from presumptuous sins that they may not have dominion over me Then shall we lift up our face clear as the Morning and we shall lift up our head without spot as Job If Pride if Lust if any inclination to the love of this World to sensual Pleasures and Delight if any of this we find to be our sin any immoderate Lust or Sin whatever it is Let us gird up the loins of our minds wherein we find any extravagant and impetuous Motion to evil prevail upon us 5. In the Fifth Place Let this be our great care to meditate much upon Death Judgment and Eternity Let those common and general Notions prevail upon us For my part I have always and desire always to Declare That I do not bind up any one to any particular apprehensions of my own in these things although I do fully believe such an appearance of the Glory and Kingdom of Christ Yet I say to every one Let those general and agreed Notions and Principles be strong upon your hearts And the less you can intend and encline to believe such an Appearance and Kingdom of Christ be the more Intent upon those Four Last Things as they are generally called that is Death Judgment Heaven and Hell Let those General and acknowledged and impressed Points be always upon your Minds O! What kind of persons should we be if we did but grow up to the acknowledged Points of Christianity Death Judgment Heaven and Hell Let us always take these into consideration and there is no Christian but owns them even Papists themselves those of them that have been more Devout than others have written very excellently and very notably upon these things these Principles that run so mightily into all the sence of Christianity God forbid that any thing should be said to take off the plain Consideration and the strong Apprehension and the close Meditation and the mighty influence of those Four Things from us For who can enough speak of them or consider them Take them in the plainest sence that you can And Oh that God would give you to feel even every one of us to feel the full work of them upon our hearts that they may have every one their perfect work upon our hearts That as I may allude the Chariots of our Souls may be always moving upon these Four Wheels and that our Chariots may never stand still but lift us up continually above the Earth It is my earnest Prayer for every one of us speaking and hearing That our Souls may be as the Chariots of Aminadab carried upon these Four Wheels of Death and
Express Scripture End Three Years and Half or Half a Week from the Death of Christ And then we know a Time there must be from the Beginning of the 1260 of some distance of Space from the End of the Weeks Because from the Three Years and Half after the Death of Christ so many more Years then 1260 are now passed and yet the Great Events at the End of the 1260 not yet come to pass and therefore not the 1260 themselves And yet that space must take hold of the End of the Weeks Because the Half Week Ends a Three Years and a Half Half a Week from the Death of Christ The Seventy Weeks Notwithstanding They are divided into Joynts yet are as close as the Joynted parts of any the same Member of the Body being together the Seventy Weeks The Seventy Weeks lay an Indisputed Claim to whatever Time went before to Cyrus And every part must be Joyned Each to other Because all the several Portions of Time stand United in the 2300 And seeing so much Time hath already passed since the End of the Weeks as leaves no more then 75 before the Weeks of the 2300 to Cyrus we are sure there can be no more I confess there may be Fewer and so more of the 1260 to Run out then to 97 But so far as we can be sure there can be no more than 400 before the 1335. We may be sure there can be no Fewer than 75 before the Weeks From Cyrus backward must be the 40 of Judah's Sin Born Lying Close to the End of the 390 Days of Israel's Sin Born which Bring back to the Division of the Tribes into the Two Houses of Israel and Judah All which Things have been and are Ready to be Fully made out to any who Desire it in particular The Undoubted Emblems of Scripture Answering to these Numbers of Time may be Accounted for with the same Evidence in this Retrospective Motion as in the Progression For the very End of the Wonders is plac'd in the Beast and the False Prophet cast alive into the Lake And the Glory of Christ's Appearance and the Armies of Heaven for whom Thrones were Set and They Sate upon Them and They Lived and Reigned with Christ a Thousand Years were such as did not Worship the Beast nor Receive his Mark c. The Vials that Brought in the Thousand Years are Noted to Fall on the Beast and them that Worshipp'd the Beast and had Receiv'd his Mark The Voices that prepar'd for the Vials and at the End of which the Vials Began were also upon the Beast and the Witnesses coming out of the Death the Beast had laid them under plainly Entwist the Vials and the Voices with the Beast and the Witnesses and so their Times one with another viz. with the 1260 Days the 42 Moons the Times and Days and Half And in this same manner the Dragon and they that were Beheaded for the Word of God and for the Testimony of Jesus and the Dragon cast down and the Martyrs of Christ Overcoming by the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of his Testimony and not Loving their Lives unto Death Seeing the Dragon Gave his Power and his Seat unto the Beast shew very Evidently that the Moons of the Gentiles and of the Beast Began at the End of the Seals Even as it is most clear in a Progressive Motion the Seals Issue into the Trumpets by the Seventh Seal conveying to them The Trumpets into the Voices by the Seventh Trumpet the Voices by the Seventh Voice into â—he Vials the Vials by the Seventh Vial into the Thousand Years The Seals Run plainly Back into the Weeks Beginning in the Confirmation of the Covenant by that Preaching of the Gospel by the Apostles Emblem'd by Christ Riding out on his White Horse conquering and to conquer at the Ending of the Weeks The Weeks Run back into the Time of the Word Going forth for the Restoring Judah and Jerusalem from whence they are Dated The Going forth of the Word into the Babylonish Captivity which gave Occasion to the going forth of that Word and the Last Forty Years of the Babylonish Captivity which was the Ground of Bearing the Iniquity or Punishment of the House of Judah clasps Fast with the 390 of Bearing Israel's Sin because God commanded Ezekiel when He bad Born the sin of Israel on the Left side without any Intermission to Turn on the Other side and to Bear the sin of the House of Judah on the Right side and the Bearing the Sin of the House of Israel goes back to the Division of the Tribes into Two Houses at Solomon's Death In the Last Place I dare Appeal to the Greatest Chronologers or Historians whether our General Accounts do not within some Fair Proportion Allow the Years of the Papacy of the Pagan Power of the Roman Empire of the Grecian Persian Babylonish Kingdoms to serve these Prophetical Accounts and so backward by the Kings of Israel and Judah to the Death of Solomon Now all these Things were there Room to Represent Them clearly particularly and in Full would Give such certainty in these Points according to the Exactness of Scripture-Time as would amount to the Justification of the Great Hope I so publickly make Offer of and against which in every minute Particular I Humbly Pledge my self to be Ready to Receive Exceptions and to Return Due Satisfaction and therefore shall now Return to the more General Objections This way of Endeavour to Justify every Thing by Plain Accounts and Arguments of Reason Approachable by every Ones Reason and Subject to the Examination of every Man whoever will take so much Thought and Care of Tryal and Just Judgment upon Himself may take off much of that Exception Why should All This be Reveal'd to you more than to Any Other For The Answer I would give is Because God hath engaged my Heart and Thoughts to this Inquiry And it hath been the Principal Subject of my Intellectual Inquiries though I hope not in a Neglect of other Points of Theology and Scripture-Knowledge But by this means I have been looking every way into All the Advertisements of Scripture-Prophecy comparing Prophetical Things with Prophetical and any of the most Accurate Memoirs of History and Chronology I could Arrain And This is no other than what Any Other Studious in these Things might have Attained and much Higher according to the Advantages of Learning more enlarged Capacities of Mind Clearness of Expression as is most experimental in that Excellent Person The Annotator on the Revelation and his Annotations Published about Four Years ago The Only Thing that I pretend to of Peculiar Favour herein from the Most High is That he hath thus engaged my Heart and Thoughts to separate my self and to Intermeddle with this Wisdom and Assisted me so far therein When any one vouches any Immediate Revelation that cannot be disprov'd by its plain Disagreeableness to other Sealed Parts of Divine Revelation though