Schools express it It makes 144 if M be only 40. But if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Mazorites do often reckon makes 600 Then it may be as we reckoned Olam only 4 above 700. which is 10 Generations or 10 times 70 as we found God himself expounding Ever in the case of Moab and Ammon As Ruth also the 10th from Lot might be married to the 10th from Abraham and about the 10th 70 Years as David was the 14 Generation and the 14th 70 Years who also lived 70 Years Though Christ lived but about half so many Which may shew us more ere long than that Mans Age was Then also shortned As from the Flood or other great Epochaes Ten times 70 may be expressed also by the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ay which is 70 with Ten. Being also joyned with Kedem in Gen. 12. 8. to be compared with Joshua who made it a Desolate Heap for Ever which is Ay in Greek or many other Languages And yet it was rebuilt and Peopled in the Time of Nehemiah as before And if Letters may be so joyned for Multiplication as well as Addition Then may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also their great word for Ever be 4 times 70 or 70 times 70. that is 70 squared Which is the Great Power of 4 in Scripture Language speaking somwhat Squared as the very figure also of 4 in Heb. which yet is not much unlike 7 or Seven the Full number and so often squared in Scripture that is drawn into 4. or so as 4 is powerful in it as it is in Every Square Which is still made up of 4 and to be so Resolved As Cubes also by 8. whose Character in Heb. represents a Dye Which is yet more visible in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their final M. which is the Mystical Letter as the Jews write in Esay 9. 7. or many other places That God also did intend we should Multiply somtimes by adding Letters to a word may be seen in the Plural Numerals we read in Scripture which are Ten times more than their Singulars and it may be So were All Plurals made by Jod only in Regimen which is 10 and by im which is 50 at length As of Three and Four the Plurals are Thirty and Fourty And by the way it may be considered whether in the Second Command it might not be read Visiting Iniquity for 30 or 40 Daies or Months or Years Seeing 40 was the great Number in Punishing Theirs also in the Wilderness where they stayed 40 Years in 42 Mansions As the 42 Months in the Revelation for Treading the outward Courts and for the Reign of the Beast As also for the Womans being in the Wilderness though reckoned by 1260 Daies which make up 42 Months For their Murmuring and Worshiping the Beast also or the Image of a Beast as we read in Psal. 106. And they have One word for Age and the World also which in Numerals is 42. and That is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eld as Eng. Elder and Old Whence the old Weld for World that is We are Eld or Old And we do not reckon a Man Old till over 40. And if Final 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with them also be but 40 Olam Then without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will be but 140 or Twice 70. And so is Kum their word for Rising up or Resurrection as with English Come But if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be 600 as the Mazorites Then both Kum and Olam is 700 that is 10 Generations or 10 times 70. as we saw before Which may be also more considerable If the Moons Hiding or Covering in so many Hours the measure of All Ages and Changes might also intimate Gods Hiding or Covering of Their Iniquity which is implyed also in Olam And the Taking off Their Yoak which is also Olam so often hinted in Scripture as the great Work of Gods Rest in Sabbath Daies and Years and Jubilee Which was the 7th 7th Year or 49. a Number of Rest as we found it in Hours the beginning of the Third Nights Rest. Yet it brought in Great Motions and Changes also but for the Better still which the Schools call Perfective and not Corruptive Motion So that the very Hebrew Mot which is Motion or Mutation is in Numbers 49. And every 3d. brought up a Change as we found before in Night and Day Rest and Motion as in Leaps or Hopping and in all our movings One foot resteth while the other moveth Mot Turned is Tom and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 turned into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tam or Tom which as we saw in Jathom an Orphan signifieth Perfect And in least reckoning is 440 and their Tamid Ever or the Daily sanifice 444 without Jod or else 454. But if M Final be 600 Then Tom is 1000 a very Perfect number both in Years or Months or Hours For 1000 Hours bring us to the Morning Sacrifice of the 42 Day of Creation or other Time which is the sixth Sabbath As 444 Hours bring us to the first Sabbath I may add also that if M final be 600 in Hebrew words we may find out many making up the very Number of 666 of which we spake before as the Number of Change in the Moon and all other great Motions and Revolutions in all Generations For the very word Sum which is not only Eng but Heb. is just 666. As if This were the Summ of each Generation or of every Age of the World which is called Age also in many Languages And in Latine Sum is the great Verb of Being As in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or English Is and Jessi is my Being or my Essence Which is much or most or all in the Heb Ish a Man Though not a vulgar low and Weak man which they called Adam or Enos but a great or noble man or an Husband As we see in That famous place Thou shalt not call me Baali my Lord or Master but Ishi my Man or Husband They shall look eye to eye Till they see themselves in my eys or Eishon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Eyn is the Heb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Eye and a Fountain And among the Rabbins or other Eastern Writers Sum is not onely the Summ but End of all reckonings As in Hebrew Soph. and Sophia or Wisdome is the Lords Perfection or his End To which Solomon also seemeth to allude in his End of man or End of All written with such great Letters in the Hebrew of his Book of Wisdome or Ecclesiastes the Woman Preacher As the 68 Psalm and 11 verse God shall give a Word so it is in Heb and Many shall be the Women Preachers And as Sophia in Hebrew a metathesis of Joseph is with the Grecians Wisdome so with them Foolishness or Moria is in Heb the Lords Teaching or Death or Mountain of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And when it is said Let him that is Wise count the number of the Beast And here is
witnesse Judges or Jury to Indict arreign condemn and execute this Malefactor but Himself and his own hands in his own bowels had not some over-ruling secret Power restrained him or prevented opportunities Which ere long yet might seem to be offered when he heard the sad doleful shreekings of his fellow passengers while All at once saw their hopes and ship broken together spliting on a scraggie Rock where they all bid adieu to themselves and Time Now lanching out as they all thought into the boundlesse Ocean of Eternity Wearied with expectance and pursuit of death which they feared and he wished as a little pauze to that Horror which he judged worse than Death rather then struggling for life he lay gasping on the top of a scrag somewhat higher then his fellows where those waves that had cast him up seemed to leave him a while as stepping back a little in regret rather then pitty that with greater and renewed force as he was like enough to fear they might return again to assault and afflict him In these hoping fears and strength enough to recollect so much of his bewildred reason as to think he yet lived though he knew not how or where a grave aged Person came or was rather sent from some higher power that had seen and pittied him it seems as having been a mournful spectator of that shipwreck After some real expressions of most cordial sympathy with his sad forlorn condition which came out in sighs and groans and Tears rather than words the grave Hermite for such he seemed carried rather then led him into his Cell which was hard by the place and in the same Rock where the proud swelling waves had been commanded so to leave him As he was preparing such repast as that distance from the World could afford he perceived such a meen and carriage with other characters in his wearied Guest as made him much guesse of his native Countrey and Education to which therefore he suited his Language as he judged likest to be understood by his Stranger Who yet replyed little but so many sighs and broken groans onely as with piercing looks might intimate he was very sensible of his goodnesse and compassion but that it could not avail him now since he was become the most wretched object of the Creators wrath and the whole Creations scorn and hatred There needed no more to melt the good Fathers heart and make his bowels yern over his Strangers soul and spirit more then before on his broken and distressed body Yet it was some comfort to discern such a sense of his sore and what it was For which also he was the better prepared by the like workings and sufferings in his own spirit which by many years experience of much affliction and sorrow had been taught to sympathize with all dejected spirits and to long much for their cure and healing To which therefore he now soon applied himself after some few questions onely to discover more clearly the breadth and depth of the wound that so he might more perfectly discern what Teincts Plaisters or other remedies were proper for his oure The poor Soul had very few words to answer any question not that he would not but he could not speak his grief and sorrows of a heart too full to vent it self in ought but Horror and amazement when a necessity of Breathing sometimes forced out such sighs and groans as otherwise were unutterable In those breathing pawses when he had not strength enough to weep more his eyes and spirit rather then words expressed such an ingenuous willingnesse to speak his heart without any reserve or such shinesse as is usual to strangers that the Father had no need to presse him to Confession which he waved rather seeing his poor Guest ready enough to pour out his soul when ever he could and in some things which he thought not meet to hear much lesse to presse him to All particulars which might occasion such Horror as was like enough to overwhelme his soul and body both so that he thought it very requisite to apply Cordials as soon as he might seeing him ready to faint and swoon away in his spirit almost every moment Here the Authour craveth pardon if he be forced to be more confused then becomes so great a Subject But the poor soul being then in great sorrow and confusion of spirit could not keep method in asking questions or returning answers or be clear in stating their discourse It being written also some pretty time after so that he cannot be punctual in saying this was first and this next His intent being matter and substance much rather then Manner or circumstance Nor must the Reader wonder if he sometimes find a long discourse of many things added together which came out by degrees at several times and occasions as their mutual discourse or dialogue invited or lead rather then drew them although one part of the Dialogue Questions and Objections be omitted now He is also desired to consider All things are better much in their Original or native dresse and Language then they well can be in a Translation and from such a Language as constraineth the Translator to conjecture that I say not divine at the Authours meaning in some places Where haply also a broken line and points may hint the Original there imperfect or somewhat wanting Which yet possibly might be supplied from some other copy which is not yet found and the characters of this in some places also scarce Legible Yet All things material and of consequence are as faithfully represented and expressed as they well may be from such a discourse as sighs and great pangs of sorrow and perhaps also some other causes make abrupt and broken more then is usual especially in the first Book which is therefore presented by way of Abstract rather then a literal Translation and as the Ancients did their Parables To all the poor soul said against it self it was replyed to this purpose All this may arise very much from mistakes of God and your self and although you cannot have too great and high thoughts of God in any thing yet you may have too great thoughts of your self in every thing yea in your very sins God hath made all our hearts so much alike that there is perhaps no great difference in Temptations Thoughts or Actions but what is common unto men And to think our selves better or worse then other men may be from Ignorance of our own and other mens heart which is general and special is so desparately evil and deceitful above all things that it may be worst when we think it best and it may be best when we judge it worst Yea it may be great Pride and no Humility to judge one self a greater sinner then others from conceit of having greater Light or Love then our neighbours have Or if you think you have more abused these though not more of these then others yet in this also you may be
of eternal life seeing it is the gift the free gift of God For the Fathers sin may not forfeit the childrens Inheritance Nor shall the child die or lose his Inheritance for the fathers sin Which may not only be considered by those that so deeply stain the childrens blood for the fathers sin perhaps contrary to the Laws of God and Practice of his People in several Ages through the Scriptures But it may be also carried much further and Higher also perhaps even to our first Father in Paradice then I shall urge it now But the very Orphans of Edom even of hated cursed Fsay are yet bid in Jeremy to come to God and trust in him who will preserve them alive and be the God and Father also of the fatherless and widdows even of those also that die in their sins and are out off for their Transgression or Rebellion Which is also but suitable to that good Law in Deut. which I hope ere long we shall find and see lying on Christ also who was made under the Law even the whole Law and so under this Law also When thou goest to War with any people How the excepted Cananites were also received to mercy we may shew anon Thou shalt offer peace and if they Take it Well They all shall live But if they refuse Thou mayest slay the men and so 't is said they slew the Males of Edom or Amalech a branch of Esau and the Jews add a story of Joabs wrath to his Master that should have taught him the difference between Zachar Zecher Male and Memory But though the Men might be cut off yet the Women and children might not but even by that Law and so Christ practised to Edoms Widdows and Orphans They must be kept alive Thus ere I am aware I am come to that great Argument for speaking and Praying to Christ which I shall more fully insist upon as the richest Pearl of all I can yet produce for comforting afflicted minds and consciences I speak and Pray to Christ and have great comfort in it through his grace not only because he speaketh All that ever God speaketh unto me and so sure in all Christian civility I should speak to him again But also I may and can and dare and should say That even many things to Him which I dare not cannot may not speak to the Father as Father But that he see them answered and Done by his Son whom I Therefore press upon And it may be These Things which I so may speak to Christ only are the best and sweetest I can yet present to Him or expect his Returns upon Which also flesh and Blood I hope did not reveal to me but my Heavenly Father in his Drawing me to Jesus Christ and Teaching me some little os That Truth which is in Jesus and some little of his Love which passeth All knowledg which yet All Saints must come to Tast and see that so they may be filled with All the Fulness of God And He that hath heard and learned of the Father will come unto Christ and by Him to the Father I may say to Christ O Lord Thou art the feed of the Woman promised to bruise or break the Serpents Head to loose his knots dissolve his Works yea to destroy him who had the Power of death which is the Devil Or as the Psalm expresseth it He shall break in pieces the Oppressor And the Prophet Esay Thus With his sore and Great and strong Sword he shall punish Leviathan the piercing or the Crossing Serpent even Leviathan for he that made him can cause his Sword to approach to him That crooked Serpent laughing at the shaking of our spears and ratling of our Quivers and shall slay quite slay the Dragon in the great Deep To which the Revelation alludeth plain enough both in the Serpent and the Dragon in divers places And as he is the Womans Seed so is he also the seed of Abraham and That blessed Seed of Promise in whom not only All Nations but also All Families and every Family of the Earth shall be blessed as is expressly promised more then once And St. Peter citing that Promise concludeth thus God hath sent him to Bless you in Turning every one of you from his Iniquities So that I may also say to him Thou wert promised to Bless me and sent to Turn me from my Iniquities Thou wert made Man for my sake Thou art also my Kinsman Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh and did Any ever hate his own flesh May I not call him Brother and say unto him that a Brother is born for a day of distress and sorrow as the wise man tells me And he doth not only give me leave but councels and commands me not only to lift up my voyce to Wisdom and cry after her but also to call her my Sister and to Understanding I am bid to say Thou art my neer Kinswoman And is not this Wisdom the Spirit of Christ Which is yet promised to stand in every street and path and that she shall cry for so it is promised in the future time yet to come and not only time past or present as some render it Yea she crieth and shall cry to All the sons of men to All the simple ones Yea 't is expressly said she shall cry to the Scorners also How long will you love scorning Turn ye yet at my Reproof and I will yet powr out my spirit on you And again in another Chapter 't is also Shall not Wisdom cry shall she not give her voyce by the way in the paths at the gate she shall shout and at the entry of the City and the coming in at doors Unto you O men I will call and my voyce to the Sons of man O ye simple understand Wisdom and ye fools be ye of an understanding Heart And again I love them that love me and they that seek me early shall find me And my delights both were and are with the sons of men Now therefore hearken to me And to this Wisdom which is There described as begotten by God the same word used by Eve of Cain I have Gotten the man Jehovah even in the beginning of his waies before his Works of old c. which is plainly Christ and yet to This Wisdom I am bid to call her my Sister and my neer Kinswoman So that I wonder not at the Divine Rhetorick of Those that cried after Christ O thou Son of David have mercy on me For by This he was their Neighbor and their Brother born for a day of sorrow Which was also caught and pressed by the poor forlorn and cursed Woman of Canaan though Christ was first silent and then called her as a Dogg but at length helped her with much compassion as a Neighbor or a Brother which is large enough to reach a stranger also and an Enemy as we see by his own answer to him that said Lord who is my
that I say nothing of David in the 50. Psalm and Ezekiel the Son of Man and so a special Type of Christ the Son of Man is bid to make his people Know their sins and the Transgressions and Iniquities of their Fathers Which are forgiven when Seen and acknowledged bemoaned and repented as God promiseth he will bring them unto For it is not as some read it If they shall confess c. But 't is an absolute Promise in Leviticus and Deuteronomy and so cited also by Nehemiah or Daniel and Ezekiel that he would bring them to confess and that they should confess their own Iniquities and their Fathers also and be ashamed for them That which also followeth in the second Command is very sweet and far from shewing God to be an Angry Wrathful God as Satan would fain represent him As at first in Paradice some of his very first spawn cast on our great Mother and continued ever since till Christ shall break his head and destroy his malice with his works was This That God was an Envious God the Root of all evil and hard thoughts of God Who even in Judging and in Chastening and in all his worst visitations There Threatned where yet he spake his heart and seems to speak his worst will still remember Mercy Even in Judgment and in visiting most as a Jealous God he will remember Mercy And will but correct in measure and will not contend for ever lest the Spirit fail which he hath made But will visit only to the third or fourth Generation even in those that Hate him Which yet we All do and could not but do Till he Turn us by manifesting Love to us Love which he still beareth in his heart and it is there Rivetted so fast that he can as soon Un-god himself I would speak with Reverence as he can cast out Love from his Heart or act to his poor creatures without Love Nay give me leave to tell you he loved Adam Better more or with a Better Love or more Godlike after his Fall than before Nay it may be Now much better since his long sorrows and sufferings than before in Paradice Nay I had almost said with a better Love than he loved Christ himself before his Fall or Sufferings For he tels us it is a Little Love to love our like our Friend one lovely fair and beautiful kind and thankful still to us for all our love A very smal and poor and little Love which sinners shew and Hypocrites and All to All their like But that God might encrease his Love to Adam or might shew a Better Love than he could manifest be it spoken with Reverence while Man was Like him Holy Wise and Just Truly Fair and Beautiful in All he let him fall into the dirt and dust of death Into the Pox or worse disease that might deform him wholly so that he might commend his love indeed to such as hated him and were unworthy ugly more deformed then poor Job when botched all and naked most forlorn and miserable in his own and others thoughts and left in the hand of Sathan at his will But onely save his Life or Soul as God expresseth it Not onely for a Type of somewhat yet to come unto All that will wait with Job and expect the Lords End but it may be representing Adam also as accused and tempted by Sathan and at length left in his hands till God could shew his love was not onely skin deep as we say but everlasting Nay encreasing more and more as it could make or find an Object for that pity and compassion and that gracious Mercy which could not appear but still had been unseen abroad from God or hid within him had not his Wisdom contrived an Object for it which was Misery and guilt which was not till Sin came in and so he let him fall and shut him up under sin and guilt that he migh shew him Mercy which he could not do before And as before his fall God did not absolutely tye himself to Punish him So After the fall he did not execute That upon him which he might have done but devised devices as the Wise Woman of Tekoa said to David that his poor Banished might not perish And yet still preserved his own Honour and Majesty Truth and Justice too with such a kind of Love and Tender pity merciful compassion which could not appear abroad or possibly be shewn till sin or guilt or shame or fear or sorrow grief or pain or some such misery or other made an Object capable of pity mercy or compassion I shall yet a little more insist on these Particulars shew I hope they very well agree and no way contradict the Words and Mind of God even in the Law or harshest part of all the Scriptures First I premise God loved him and could not but love him very intirely if he loved himself while he was in his own Image And having so loved him and being so Immutable in his Heart Love and Nature he loved him to the End And I do not yet clearly see how any Promise can Oblige God to a more Constant Love of Man restored to that Image Then his own Nature and Heart moved him to love Adam In that Image Now if his Heart be not so truly Tender Gratious and Perfectly Good and immutable also in his most Genuine and Natural Love but that it could really change towards Adam in his own Image yea and that also before his fall or any demerit what ever as to decree his everlasting ruine or at least to leave him to it so foreseeing that he would so fall and rise no more in himself and his Posterity How can any man be sure and rest upon his Word or Promise that he will not leave him when he is renewed again into that Image Seeing it may be still doubted whether any man living can fully know Gods heart and mind by his words or expressions except there be some way else to know it and to rest and trust in it then his words can expresse or import Or unlesse a man may also be taught to believe his Word is Better Truer and more Certain Fixed and Obliging also then his very Heart and Nature is Which as some Teach or Believe was Such even then when it loved most or as much as it could love its self or its own Image that it yet hated and forsook and left to I know not what Irrecoverable misery his own Image and his dearly beloved in his own person or at least his posterity even his very next Son and Sons Sons to all Generations yea to all Eternity for the far greatest part of his Posterity May we not therefore believe and say that with a true constant and Eternal Love of Delight and Complacence from all Eternity to all Eternity God loved himself and his own Image where ever it was And nothing else but kimself and his own Image with that kind of
lose her two Sons for bondslaves which may be a great Mystery and how he gave a Son to a barren VVoman and then raised him from the Dead and how he Healed the Pottage when Death was in the Pot and fed a great Multitude with a few barly loves and Healed Naaman the Syrian Lepar and struck Gehezy with Leprosie for seeking things of the VVorld in an ill time or season And How his dead bones raised a dead man and many other things we might observe in this great Type of Jesus Christ. But especially His striking his Enemies blind and then bringing them into Samaria and when the King of Israel said shall I smite them my Father shall I smite them He said Noe. Wilt thou smite them whom thou hast taken Prisoners with thy sword and thy bow Set bread and meat before them c. And I have often heard one say he knew not that he ever had a sweeter return from Christ then when once in great anguish he could onely say Now shew thy Kindnesse to thy Poor Enemy Whom thou hast taken Captive with Thy sword and thy bow And the King of Israels Feasting Those Prisoners for he made great provision for them may be more considered hereafter and compared with That of Solomon if thy Enemy hunger feed him and the Lord shall not onely requite but reward thee and this History may be the more considerable because it may perhaps be found the most desperate or most forlorn condition here on earth VVhen a man Degenerates into a judicial blindnesse Except it may yet be worse to come unto a Beastly Spirit and Nature VVhich is when after great and perhaps very long Abusing Light and Love shewed from God and Christ a man doth not only disobey but grieve and quench that good spirit so much and so long that at length it leaves him to degenerate into a blind and seared conscience and a Bruitish Nature till he becomes as a Dog biting and snarling at all about him and returning to his vomit and as the Swine to wallowing in the mire and also Turning and Tearing those that lay good things before him Who now tramples them under his feet and offers despite to the spirit of Grace and accounteth his Saviors blood as unclean and profane This was It perhaps the Psalmist so prayed against not only when he cries against Presumptuous sins but Then also perhaps when he prayeth so earnestly to be kept from the Dog or Dog-like Nature of which he speaketh divers times And This it may be is also in the Revelation under the Notion of Worshiping the Beast and receiving his character where it is also said that All the world should so follow the Beast but those that were written in the Lambs book of Life From the Foundation of the World And I have somtimes inclined to believe that Christ is not only the True Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world but that he Truly loves every man as he loves himself so long as he is a Man But when he degenerates into the Nature and spirit of a Beast and it may be the evil spirits are in the species of Ravening Beasts as good Angels in others and when one so degenerates into the Beastly Nature Then one falls out of Christs Neighborhood Yea and it may perhaps come so far that they may be no more warned lest they Turn and Tear those that cast such precious Pearls before them And in such a forlorn case it may be hard to shew why they should or how they can expect any more favor from Christ than a Beast or why so much And It may be This is That Sin unto Death of which the Apostle speaks when he addeth also that for such He doth not say that one ought to pray But yet he Doth not say One ought not to pray even for such also Which is One of the reasons why I pray for All I ought and All I may pray for When I am crying to an Infinite God for All my Relations and Truly they are very many as I somtimes say to God for I am Related to the whole Creation of God and yet farther than I can express and I know not But I may somtimes pray for some That I am not Tyed in duty or by express Command to pray for But I am still Tyed to Love my Neighbor as my self and so is Christ also I Trust or else I lose one of the sweetest pieces of the whole Bible and himself also brings the Notion of a Neighbor out so large that it may not only include Strangers but Enemies also And when a mans waies please the Lord he will make his Enemies his greatest Enemies to be at peace with him And if an Angel or if God himself forbid a man to pray for such or such a person City Nation or number of men yet This may be but to draw him larger out by shewing the danger of such persons As we see in the Prophet Jeremy and others that never prayed more sweetly than when they were forbidden to pray for such or such and yet they prayed Then most because they saw there was most need And Gods commands never do never will forbid us to Love our Neighbor as our self And that No man may ever despair we found Gods Love of pity and compassion so to reach to Beasts also that his great Command is that They also must be brought to keep the Sabboth and to rest the Rest of God and a good man and Christ is the Best of men must be and will be Merciful to his very Beast also Yea to the Beast of his Enemy and Him that hates him as we see commanded And for Those also that degenerate into the Beastly Nature lest They also should at length despair not to speak how often men are invited in the Prophets and the Revelation to come back again from the Beast and out of Babylon which shews they might return Repent and live we see How graciously God dealt with Nebuchadnezzar Though he so degenerated into a Beast which may be much worse than to be made a Beast at first and so born How Wisdom also crieth unto Scorners and How it is promised She Shall yet cry even unto Scorners may be here again observed out of the Proverbs To be compared with the 48. of Esay sweetly calling inviting and wooing the most obstinate sinners and Treacherous Revolters Yet for my Names sake and again for my Names sake I will resrain For How shall I cut thee off O that thou hadst or wouldst yet hearken For He speaketh in the present Tence I am yet teaching thee c. And how shall I give away the Glory of my Patience and my Goodness Shall I be weary also of well doing and having begun in the spirit of Goodness shall I also end in a fleshly Wrath or Passion God forbid The Psalmist also saith He received Gifts for Rebels also even for Rebels as we saw
men who must be Honoured and Loved also as the Image of God our Father And the Greater Honour must be Given to the Weaker Vessel even as God also hath given it to That which might seem the most uncomely Which is an Argument that may be well pressed on Christ not only to bear with them that are weak but to give them the more Honour as the Weaker Vessel And those commands yea and Prayers also that we love and honour all men speak more of the unspeakable love of Christ who is the Root of this Spirit in All then can be Here exptessed by many Words The sixth Command Thou shalt not kill or thou shalt do All thou mayest to preserve thy own Life and thy Neighbours lyeth also on our blessed Saviour as the Text commented by many Scriptures Being by his Death to bring in Life and Immortality and to destroy Him who had the Power of Death the Devil and to redeem them who through fear of Death were all their life time subject unto Bondage Even as that pretious Psalm foretells He shall save the Children of the Needy and shall break in pieces the Oppressor He shall spare the Poor and Needy and shall save the souls of the Needy He shall Redeem their soul frrm Deceit and Violence from force and fraud and pretious shall their Blood be in his sight He shall Live and shall be tender of his Neighbours Life and how much more of his Neighbours Soul which himself hath said is so exceeding pretious and unvaluable From whence come Wars and Contentions Come they not from our lusts within us but the Wisdom from on high and sure then more as it is on high is Pure and then peaceful for without Peace and Holiness No man shall ever see God Gentle and easie to be entreated For the man of God must be gentle towards All men even those that oppose themselves being in the snares of Sathan and led Captive at his will A very sweet place when it is applyed to Christ also who is the great and good and best Man of God and therefore must be gentle unto All. No striker no quareler but gentle unto All. The man of God must not strive or fight Which also puts me in mind of That prophecyed of him He shall not strive nor Cry or braul in the streets the bruised reed he shall not break nor quench the smoaking flax till he bring out Judgement to victory over all Lusts and Pride Passions and Contentions Seeing This is the great Rule given us in the Psalms and new Testament also that he that loves Life and would see long dayes as Christ ever shall must refrain from strife and guile must follow peace and persue it and who will harm you in so doing when Himself also said next to the Pure in Heart Blessed are the Peacemakers which is much to be applyed in our Prayers unto him for They shall be called the Children of God as if himself also came to enjoy That Glorious Title of the Son of God by being so Peaceful and the Great Peace-maker To which also I may add Davids Blessing of Abigael and her Councel saying that when himself should rest from all his Enemies and Troubles it should be no Grief of Heart to him or offence that he had spared his Enemies also and had not shed their blood All This or much more lyeth in the sixth Command and from Thence is branched out in divers Laws in Exodus and other books of Scripture which all lie upon Christ made under the Law as much or more then any man to Man also as well as unto God his Father And we lose very much of the sweetnesse of the Gospel by not pressing the Law Yea the whole Law upon Christ that he may still keep it to us also as to God his Father seing it is vain to talk of Loving God if he do not also Love his poor Neighbour And who his Neighbour is we may see by divers places of the Law and Gospel compared especially in those which are branches of these great commands for loving our Neighbour as our self He that smiteth a man that he dye shall be surely put to death As of old to Noah the great Father of us all and so the very Law of Nations or Nature He that sheddeth Mans blood by Man his blood shall be shed for in the Image of God he created Man And that Image is still so continued and preserved by Christ who is the Head of every Man that the same Apostle calleth Man not onely the Image but glory of God If a man smite his servant or his maid with a rod that he dye under his hand he shall be surely avenged Which should keep a man in aw even to All under him For the Man of God must be gentle towards all c. If an Ox and by Consequence any other Beast or offensive Creature be wont to push with his Horn and it be told his Owner and He do not keep him in the Beast killing a man or woman shall be stoned and his Owner also shall be Put to death Which may be sweetly applyed to Christ who is the great Owner and Master of Sathan and all other pushing Horns of which if we complain as wont to Push and goar us or our Children is he not bound to keep him in and set us at rest from Him that pusheth at us Which may be hinted also in the Psalms where we find some complaining of pushing Horns as in the Prophets also and of the tearing Lion and Bear and the power of the Dog or other Beasts of Prey which the great Owner and Master must keep in upon Complaint that they were wont to push yesterday and the day before If a man dig a pit or do but Open a Pit digged by some other and do not cover it again so that an Ox or Ass fall into it he shall surely make it good How much sorer punishment if a man or his Child fall into it and perish which we may haply come One day to presse upon Christ also least he suffer us to fall into a Pit of his own digging or opening or any other Ye shall not afflict any Widow or fatherlesse Children for if thou afflict them in any Wise and they cry at all or do but begin to cry to me I will hear and surely hear their cry and my wrath shall be hot and I will kill you with the sword and your wives shall be widows and your Children Fatherlesse The word used in Heb for an Orphan is Jathom He shall be made perfect as well as He is wanting And the whole History of Jotham the Orphan of Gideon should be often read in These and all Times and the rather because That of Arma Gedeon in the Revelation may perhaps lead us to Gedeon As that of Sechem to Dina or Judgement as we touched before If thouâ—end mony to any of my people who are They the Poor that
And Moadim the Months or Moments of the Witnesses Which in Heaven may be Sun and Moon But As on Earth Josuah and Caleb Jerusalem and Jericho Moses and Aaron Elijah and Elisha Or many other things or persons Which through divers Types or Shadows in Light and Darknesse Day and Night Summer and Winter Man and Woman with many other things which we hinted before in the Temple and the Land of Promise and the Body of Man and the Ark and Tabernacle of Witness also at length All come to be resolved into the Times of Christ and his Church or Churches his Two Witnesses The Dove and the young Pidgeon As Adam had his Lilith they say and then his Eve or Evening that is Lilith also Drest in Night-cloathes And Abraham had his Hagar and Sara and Ketura Jacob his Rachel and Leah David his Abigail and Ahinoam carried captive from Ziglag As Dead Three dayes and an half All which may be Types or shadows of the Church and the World the Jew and the Gentile under such and such Changes of the Moon as it were with Eclipses also or whatever else God please to shew us in his Baths 3 Seas in Heaven above the Earth beneath and waters under the Earth also Which yet may be but As New-moon and Full or Shegell and Sheleg of which again with other forms and motions of those Heavenly bodies which are All measured on Earth plainer then perhaps we think by such and such Moeds Times of Witnessing or Witnesses Which may be Houres or Dayes or Weeks or Moneths or Years or Sabbaths in Dayes in Years in Jubilees and what else we find of Time in Scripture wch is generally very much measured by Three an half As If we take it for Hours it may shew us how long the Moon or the Earth may be kept from the Light of the Sun which we call an Eclipse But a Shadow of that Dark Horror which our Savior and his Church in him felt upon the Cross. We find it in Heathen Records also another Help to fix Chronology And His Eli Eli as in Greek speaketh somwhat of the Sun also For God is a Shield and Sun also He will give both Grace and Glory Blessed are They that Trust in Him Though they go through Baca Bokim weeping and pass from one Hell to another for the Phrase is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hil Hel or Chel by which the Gentiles and Unclean were kept from the Temple So that they may not enter Moriahs Temple Yet they shall see God in Zion Give ear O God of poor flying trembling halting Jacob Look upon the Face of thy Messiah in his Pangs on the Cross. That Psalm as the 15th and 24th is of This Feast of Tabernacles And beginneth O! How Amiable are thy Tabernacles O! How Jedidoth alluding both to David and Solomon Jedidiah Keeping This Feast in such Glory as should be touched again in Samuel Kings and Chronicles The unclean Sparrow are not many sold for a farthing the Swallow Black but Comely O ye Daughters of Jerusalem the very Swallow but in Summer She may make her Nest and lay her Young ones in thy very Altans both of Sacrifice and Incense also O thou God of many feminine Hoasts 499. My God and my King This leads us to the Harvest also For we saw before that Our Savior never called himself a King Till the End of the World which he calleth Harvest And the Son of man shall send His Angels They are the Reapers and till that Time he calleth them Holy Angels and his Fathers Angels Now his own Angels and They shall gather out of His Kingdom All things that offend and Those that Do Iniquity And then the King shall say to Them at his Right Hand A Phrase often used in the Psalms At Thy Right Hand the Queen doth stand in Gold of Ophyr And Look at the Right Hand and see for so is the Text Resuge faileth me And at Thy Right Hand are Pleasures for Evermore And yet That very Psalm sheweth that He was not afraid of His Worst or Left Hand neither No more than she or They that begged to sit at his Left Hand also And so David is Placed There Is it because He was Father to our Saviour the Branch and Root of David and of Jessi my Essence that he placeth himself at the Left Hand and Châ—ist at His Right Hand Mimini Bimini Limini Even as Legatus a Latere is sent a Limine And when Satan is set at Judas Right Hand to accuse him as at Josuahs Right Hand also to Resist him with the Heaviest Curses in the Bible He concludeth Christ shall stand at the Right Hand also to save the Poor at His Left Hand from Him that would judg or condemn his Soul his precious Soul Fury is not in me But if he wil set thorns against me I will eonsume them Or let him lay hold of my strength to make peace And He also shall make Peace with me Esay 27 4 5. And the next Psalm crieth My Judgment shall come from Thy Face Thine Ein will behold or consider Equities which to Justice in Scripture often is As The Chancery to Rigour of Law O shew the Wonders of thy tender Mercies in the Plural O thou saving those that Trust or hope in thy Mercy From or Before them that raise themselves or are raised at Thy Right Hand That which followeth will reach our Times also It should be considered with its Misteries A word There used for Secrets and All the Scriptures speaking of Jemini my Right Hand both in Saul and Shimei Cursing David and Both again in Mordecay from Shimei Kish and Jemini As we read in Ester the Mistriss of so many Great Misteries written in the Revelation and upon the Old Crown or Myter yet to be seen perhaps in Rome as at This day And as Mister is a plain Hebrew word for Hidden as Olam or a Mystery So Mistris Hester also with their usual Article as Hadam That Adam and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 maketh beyond dispute exactly 666. of which again when we find The Mysterious Woman sitting on the Beast in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 703 in the Wilderness where first the Woman was Hidden Alma Mater for a Time and Times and Half a Time as in our Prophet Daniel also The very next Psalm of deliverance from All his Enemies and Saul or Sheol also both Grave and Hell so oft repeated crieth The Pangs of Death and Kables of Sheol caught me But verse 35 The Shield of Jesus and Thy Jemine shall uphold me And thy Gentleness shall make me Great As Psal. 45. Ride on prosperously because of Truth and Meekness or Gentleness of Righteousness And thy Jemine shall teach thee wonders For Ever and Aed Thy Throne O God and yet This God hath a Father and a God For God Even thy God hath made thee Messiah and hath given thee His Spirit
VVisdom it might ocasion us to think how neer Sophia or Sophos which was the great word with them that called it and their wise man a Die for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 turned backwards also is still the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes to that very number of 666. Which we find also in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his Name may be written who was so notorious in the VVest with Mahomet in the East about the year 666. And although I cannot deny but Ireneus scholar to St. John or his scholar found That number in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as others also in Romijith and divers other VVords or Names yet Some interpret That Phrase of the Number of a man as if it were a mans reckoning or to be counted onely by Him who of all the Creatures can onely so Number Numbers As if man an Hebrew word also came from Mana to Number And Manath or month is reckoning and 490. As if That Solemn Number of 7 Sevenights as we read in Daniels VVeeks were some way That which in Gods reckoning was The Number or the Manath or Month and it may be some way in every month also And in Hebrew manim or minae Pounds or mans or if you will men are 700 as mani number 100. And when Jacob complained that Laban had changed his wages so many times it is manim in Hebrew as the English also use many and for many also they use some which is Hebrew also as we found before in sum a sum or end of number and in numerals 666. as in Latine also Sexcenti for Many Shall I add also that as money or Monie is plainly an Hebrew word for Numbring as with English so also Zemanins which is Times or seasons as the word soundeth for every thing as Solomon speaketh is but 7 added to 700. That is monim or numbring or reckoning by seven as if all seasons were made up of the number Seven And as the Hebrew Sum is a kin to the Latine Sum and Turned backward is their Mus as Sumus also turned backward is still Sumus as if all our being and our summing also were but mus a mouse and all our musing also which is English and many other languages so also both sums are very neer to the Greek soma by which they expresse our body And it may be some will so render That phrase in the Revelation For it is the Number of a man as if it were not onely of mans numbring or of mans reaching or bearing or using as in Scripture often the Rods of a man and the Cords of a man and the pen of a man and the words of a man and the way of a man and the son of man and Children of men and to speak or walk as a man and Temptations of a man or common unto men But also some special Thing in mans body just of that Number And what if it should be That which makes him a man and yet so much and so oft to degenerate into a Beast For as man in the Image of God he was above all beasts and made to Rule them all with all his lusts and beastly Passions as we shewed before from Gods own words and great consult at mans Creation But lust conceiving brought forth sin and sin complete or grown up to be of age brought forth Death as we read in St. James and in Peter also that fleshly lusts Fight against the spirit and that it is very dangerous for any that have once escaped the pollution of the world which came in by lust to return with the Dog to his vomit or the sow to wallowing in the mire in a word to degenerate into a beast or beastly nature VVhich is very much by lust and that which causeth lust in our Bodies and Minds VVhich indeed is a strange kinde of Beast rising out of the sea or our lower Region or VVaters under our Heart or Earth Where also we found the 7 fleshly heads or Planets answering also to the 7 above and in our Brains also the heavens above or the waters above the Heavens as we shewed before where we glaunced at the Serpent also or Hydra a strange beast with 7 heads and 10 horns VVhich are somewayes in the worlds both great and little also which they call the Microcosm and in all its Regions also and in All Generations Most of All perhaps in That or Those which may be called the very Principles of All or every Generation What in our Bodies answered to the Two Faithful Witnesses in Heaven was hinted before May I now add that as Shemesh the Sun in Hebrew where yet it is Feminine is neer akin to somwhat we may scarcely Name at least As the Rabbines often use that word So is Jerach which is Moon and Masculine akin to That which the Scripture makes so much the Instrument of Generation the Thigh or Jareck whence the English Jerk or Yerk to strike upon the Thigh As we read also in Scripture And if the Latine Thorus were but written in Hebrew or Syriack might it not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which would also be Taurus a Beast And either of those words is just 666. And How neer is Ferus as in Greek also Beastly or Fierce to that Name or Number also May I not add that Shimshon or Samson or Hercules in Greek stories signifies the Little Sun crossing the Crossing Serpent of the Zodiack and its 12 Signs as the Labors of Hercules where also the Hydra or the Dragon or Beast and Serpent with 7 Heads and that it may be 666 or 700 in its numeral Letters also Or How Samson Dallyed with Dallilah till he was overcome by Lust also that cut off his Hairs as the Rayes of the Sun and at length put out his Eyes or the Two Witnesses in one Region which have Two also in other places called Testes or Witnesses by Many Nations And they bring Fire also from our Heavens and do strange wonders in us All. But they must be Put out before That Great Change will come which is so generally expected at 666. Which He may understand perhaps that knows why Christ himself did no Miracles till at a Wedding also he could say Woman what have I to do with thee and Then she said to the servants Do whatever He bids you So that Christ himself Did no Miracle Till his Mother bid it also If one should ask a Jew what maketh Men to be Men He might answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their VVeapons or their Vessels what they mean by those expressions one may easily know that understandeth Pauls discourse to the Corinthians about Marriage and keeping their Vessels clean or Holy or separate As David also spake to Ahimelech in number 665 or 666. And so also is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Heb. Vessels Yea and the Reins also or very neer akin to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and That to Kalla or