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A27619
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The parable of the ten virgins in its peculiar relation to the coming and glorious kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ opened according to the analogy of the whole parable, and of Scripture in general, and practically applied for exercising all the churches to holy watchfulness ... : with an apology for the hope of the kingdom of Christ appearing within this appriaching year 1697 ... presented to the notice and examination of the arch-bishops and bishops now in Parliament assembled / by T. Beverley.
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Beverley, Thomas.
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1697
(1697)
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Wing B2165; ESTC R25250
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193,605
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220
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to be no better than dross and dung in comparison of the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ You know the World how Ambitious it is of the Riches of Pearl how desirous of the Glory of the Lustre and Splendour that it gives to them that wear it Now when a Man counts Christ a Pearl beyond all value beyond all Esteem This is the Kingdom of Heaven saith Christ within a Man It is not in Word as the Apostle speaks but in Power It is the Kingdom of God in Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit viz. The Righteousness of Christ and that Joy and Peace of Conscience that arises from it by the Spirit of God applying it to our Hearts Now therefore All the Time that we live here in the World we should be gathering our selves into this Kingdom of Heaven and to have the Kingdom of Heaven within us That is indeed the Oil in our Vessels when we have the very Spirit and the very State of the Kingdom of Heaven within us I know that we are now in a State of Imperfection and cannot rise up to the Glory of these Things but yet in the Truth and Reality of it every one that is fitted for the Kingdom of Heaven he hath this value of Christ within him this inward sincere Love of Him and Resignation of his Heart to Him though it be not come into the Glory Though this Mustard-seed hath not yet sprung up into all its Amplitudes and into all its Greatness This therefore apprehend within your selves The Kingdom of Heaven as Christ speaks it does not come with observation that Men should say Lo here or lo there but saith he The Kingdom of God is within you Luke 17. 21. He was demanded When the Kingdom of God should come ver 20. And he answered and said The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation neither shall they say Lo here or lo there for behold the Kingdom of God is within you So I say we should look for Heaven within us We can never go to Heaven for that is but an Expression in Comparison except Heaven come down now into our Hearts and except we carry Heaven into Heaven within our selves within our Spirits This as I say is that Oil within our Vessels that will keep up the State of Heaven in us and to us not by any vertue of its own but as it is a Grace given and a Light given from that Supream Light from that Light as the Apostle John saith that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World Let us not therefore say Here or there is that Kingdom but let us look what we have of it in our selves That is the Lamp of Profession only when we speak of a Kingdom without us That is the Vessel fill'd with Oil within when we have this Kingdom within us The Kingdom of Heaven as it is a meer Profession it is Separable from us we may be parted from It and It from us It shall be taken from you as Christ saith and given to a Nation bringing forth the Fruits thereof So all the Kingdom of Heaven in the profession of it will be taken from them that have it as the Talent was taken from the unprofitable Servant That which we have as Christ speaks is taken from us And therefore if any of us say O how ezcellent is it to hear or to speak of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ or of the Kingdom of Heaven It is our Great Delight Then look to this that you have it within you For that Outward Kingdom though you delight in it never so much it shall be taken from you As the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Loâ—d are these And yet that Temple was taken from them So it may be said the Kingdom of Heaven Are These But we must so hear and so speak and so converse as having it within us Else remember the Kingdom will be taken from you separated from you for ever and you cast into that Kingdom of Darkness and Misery to all Eternity 3. The Third Expression with which I will shut up this Discourse concerning the Kingdom of Heaven You must not think that the Kingdom of Heaven lasts onely while you are in the present State But the Kingdom of Heaven will be even throughout that Glory of its Appearance And it is not seen nor known like it self till it be known in that Glory and in the Separation which shall be between the Wise and the Foolish Virgins and between those that have had onely a Profession and those who have had the Power For the Kingdom of Heaven hath its greatest Work Its greatest Effect to shew yet upon every one of us It never ceases to be a Kingdom no not when it hath made this Separation between the one and the other For then it takes into it those that are its own and will throw out of it self those that tho they seem to be of it for a Time yea when all things come into enquiry into that Great Re-search It shall be made known at that Day that they did not indeed pertain to the Kingdom who had it not within Observe Mat. 8. 12. The Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into utter Darkness That is they that have had this Kingdom in Perfection but not the Power of it within them So that I say the great Manifestation of the Kingdom of Heaven is when it comes to sepparate between the one and the other and to have its own for ever within it self Observe therefore Matth. 13. Our Saviour compares the Kingdom of Heaven to such kind of things that still it may be known that it is not a Kingdom in its Glory till it comes to this Separation of things We find ver 24. saith our Lord The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a Man that sowed Seed into his Field But while Men slept the Enemy came and Sowed Tares among the Wheat and went away But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit then the tares appeared also So the servant of the house-holder came and said unto him Sir didst not thou sow good Seed in thy field From whence then hath it tares And he said An enemy hath done this The servant said unto him wilt thou then that we go and gather them up But he said nay let both grow together till the time of harvest and in the time of harvest I will say to the Reapers gather you together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn So you see here that there is that great difference between the Kingdom of Heaven now and the Kingdom of Heaven as it shall manifest it self It takes in Tares now as well as Wheat And so in the same manner it is compared unto a Net that drew in both good and bad into it self But then it came to that that the good are separated from the bad and the
Christ doth declare A night should come at that time upon his Church My head saith he is wet with the drops of Dew of the Night Because Christianity was drawing its Ceremonies long they began then at that very time they begun then to draw out the shadows of the Evening A great many Ceremonies came into Christianity and a Form and Way of Prayer suitable and agreeable to it and such ways of Preaching as prepar'd for it And then they came to be more intent upon the Remembrance of such a Saint and such a Martyr and keeping their Days and drawing as many outward Forms and Ceremonies of Religion as they could and they neglected the Power of it And this Christ observes and calls it the Drops of Dew the Drops of the Night upon his Head And then the Church of Christ began to slumber And this is the first Time that is to be taken notice of in regard of the slumbering even of the wise Virgins Of which I shall speak presently more particularly to you The Second is this And I desire that none would be offended or think me censorious in speaking of it For I design nothing I can truly Appeal to God but only to speak the Truth and the Reality of Things in a Point where Scripture calls for the speaking of it That is This Slumber hath been since the Reformation As soon as ever the first Power had shewn it self There was indeed a mighty Spirit of Truth and Spirit of Holiness in the first Reformation Men and Women were then Christians of a high Rate of a high Degree of a high Excellency How willing were they to suffer in the days of Queen Mary in our own Nation How did they love one another How did the Power and Glory of Christianity appear in them But I hope it will be no scandal to say this That it hath been in a decay for a Hundred Years For it is the very express words of one that is Dr. Burnet that we know by the Name of the Bishop of Salisbury he spake it plainly and openly in this City That the Reformation has Sermon Of not falling out by the Way been losing ground for these Hundred Years And whence is this But only a great slumber hath fallen upon the Profession of the Protestant Religion for a Hundred Years And the Glory and Power and Excellency of Christianity we have not yet restored to its own Beauty and to its own Glory And this I have endeavoured several times both in Discourse and in Writing to make plain That the Church of Sardis is the Representation of the Generality of the Christian Churches under the Reformation And I desire that you would but read and weigh the Description that is given of that Church Rev. 3. 1 2. And to the Angel of the Church in Sardis write These things saith he that hath the Seven Spirits of God and the Seven Stars I know thy works that thou hast a Name that thou livest and art dead Be watchful saith he and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die Be watchful What 's the meaning of that But only to shew that the State of the Protestant Churches had fallen into a great slumber a great drowsiness And therefore it is that we know so little of the Power of Christianity at this day And saith he I have not found thy works perfect before God Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent If therefore thou shalt not watch observe that I will come on thee as a Thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee if thou dost not watch Here we plainly see what is opposed to slumbering it is watching And when Christ saith Watch so often and so much it signifies that his Church would fall into a slumbering condition it had a Name to live it was not perfectly dead But it was not vigorous and powerful in the ways of Christianity And therefore watch and strengthen the things that remain which are ready to die I 'll give you only two Arguments why I am of this Judgment That this very Parable I am upon does look directly upon the state of the Protestant Churches and so upon our selves as in the Profession of the Protestant Religion at this very Time I 'll give you the two Arguments and then I 'll go on in a more practical way of discoursing the particulars of this slumbring of Christians in the Profession of Christianity The First Argument I give you is Because it is now the Time It is now the Time especially when our Lord delays his coming For there shall not be Time Times nor so much as half Time any more whole and entire For at the Reformation Christ began to make an appearance of his Kingdom and of his Coming And it is certain the bringing in of the Reformation as all true Protestants own it was one of the greatest Works of Providence that ever hath been known in the World and especially since the days of Christ It was strange and wonderful in the Times when God did it that he should bring in a Reformation against such high Pretences as that of The Catholick Church as Rome was called and against the Papacy and Hierarchy that took upon themselves to be the great Patrons of and Pretenders to Christian Religion and the true Votaries and Servants of it to have all things good within themselves Now That such a poor inconsiderable Person as Luther was should make opposition to such a Body when as the Kings and Princes of Europe were utter Enemies to the Reformation It was a Mighty Power of God And as I have often shew'd Rev. 10. is the very Representation of the Reformation Christ came down from Heaven clothed with a Cloud and with a Rainbow upon his head And he set his right Foot upon the Sea and his left Foot upon the Earth and cryed with a loud Voice as when a Lyon roareth and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever That Time and Times and even of half Time that it should be no longer Who would not I say but have expected that Christ should immediately have come and changed the World and brought in his Kingdom But our Lord delays his Coming only till the Hundred and Eighty Years are made up of which there wants only now but Five Years And at the present there is a great delay though I make no doubt It will not be long But yet Men think Christ hath delayed his Coming and where is the Promise of it and that he hath quite forgot it In this Time therefore of the Lord 's delaying his Coming there is such a great slumber upon the Christian Church In the second Place I have this great Reason that moves me much to think that the present delay that the Parable speaks of under that spiritual slumber of the Churches of Christ hath run along with the Time since the