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A30152 The holy citie, or, The new-Jerusalem wherein its goodly light walls, gates, angels, and the manner of their standing, are expounded : also, her length and breadth, together with the golden measuring-reed, explained, and the glory of all unfolded : as also, the numerousness of its inhabitants, and what the tree and water of life are, by which they are sustained / by John Bunyan ... Bunyan, John, 1628-1688. 1669 (1669) Wing B5536; ESTC R36063 132,664 312

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and shewed me that great City the holy Jerusalem Having thus told us how and with what he was qualified he next makes relation of what he saw which was that great City the holy Jerusalem Jerusalem in the Language of the Scripture is to be acknowledged for the Church and Spouse of the Lord Jesus and is to be considered either generally or more particularly Now as she is to be taken generally so she is to be understood as being the whole Family in Heaven and Earth and as she is thus looked upon so she is not considered with respect to this or that state and condition of the Church here in the world but simply as she is the Church therefore it is said when at any time any are converted from Satan to God That they are come to Mount Sion the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable Company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born that are written in Heaven to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of Just men made perfect to Jesus and to the Blood of sprinkling Heb. 12. 22 23 24. But again As Jerusalem is thus generally to be understood so also she is to be considered more particularly 1. Either as she relates to her first and purest state or 2. As she relates to her declined and captivated state or 3. With reference to her being recovered again from her apostatized and captivated condition Thus it was with Jerusalem in the Letter which threefold state of this City shall be most exactly answered by our Gospel-Jerusalem by out New-Testament-Church Her first state was in the days of Christ and his Apostles and answered to Jerusalem in the days of Solomon her second state is in the days of Antichrist and answereth to the carrying away of the Jews from their City into Babylon and her third state is this in the Text and answereth to their return from Captivity and rebuilding their City and Walls again All which will be fully manifest in this Discourse following Besides That this holy City that here you read of is the Church the Gospel-Church returning out of her long and Antichristian Captivity consider First She is here called a City the very name that our Primitive Church went under which name she loseth all the while of her Apostatizing and Captivity under Antichrist for observe I say all the while she is under the scourge of the Dragon Beast and the Woman in Scarlet c. she goeth under the name of a Woman a Woman in travel a Woman flying before the Dragon a Woman flying into the Wilderness there to continue in an afflicted and tempted condition and to be glad of Wilderness-Nourishment until the time of her Enemies were come to an end Rev. 12. Now the reason why she lost the title of City at her going into Captivity is Because then she lost her situation and strength she followed others then Christ wherefore he suffered her Enemies to scale her Walls to break down her Battlements he suffered as you see here the great Red Dragon and Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns to get into her Vineyard who made most fearful work both with her and all her Friends her Gates also was now either broken down or shut up so that none could according to her Laws and Statutes enter into her her Charter also even the Bible it self was most grosly abused and corrupted yea sometimes burned and destroyed almost utterly wherefore the Spirit of God doth take away from her the title of City and leaveth her to be termed a wandring Woman as aforesaid The Court that is without the Temple saith the Angel leave out and measure it not for it is given to the Gentiles and the Holy City shall they tread under foot forty and two months Rev. 11. 2. The Holy City shall they tread under foot that is all the City-Constitutions her Forts and Strength her Laws and Priviledges for a long time shall be laid aside and slighted shall become a hissing a taunt and a by-word among the Nations And truly thus it was in the Letter in the destruction of Jerusalem by the King of Babylon and his wicked Instruments by whose hands the City was broken up the Walls pulled down the Gates burned the Houses ri●●ed the Virgins ravished and the Children laid dead in the top of every street 2 Chron. 36. 17 18 19 20 21. Jer. 52. Lam. Chap. 1 2 3 4. Now was Zion become a plowed Field and Jerusalem turned to heaps a place of Briers and Thorns and of wastness and desolation Mic. 3. 12. Isa. 7. 23 24. Secondly The phrase also that is joyned with this of City doth much concern the point she is here called The new and holy City which words are explained by these As a Bride adorned and prepared for her Husband the meaning is That she is now got into her Form Fashion Order and Priviledges again she is now ready adorned prepared and put into her Primitive state Mark though she was in her state of affliction called a Woman yet she was not then either called a City or a Woman ADORNED but rather a Woman robbed spoiled rent and torn among the briers and thorns of the Wilderness Isa. 5. 6. 42. 22. 32. 13 14. Wherefore this City is nothing else but the Church returned out of Captivity from under the reign of Antichrist As is yet further manifest because Thirdly We finde no City to answer that which was built after the Jews return from Captivity but this for this and onely this is the City that you finde in this Prophecie that is nominated as the Antitype of that Second of the Jews wherefore John hath no relation of her while towards the doom of Antichrist and no description of her in particular until Antichrist's utterly overthrown as all may see that wisely read the 17th 18th 19th 20th Chapters of this Prophecie And shewed me that great City The holy Ghost is pleased at this time to give the Church the name of a City rather than any other name rather than the name of Spouse Woman Temple and the like though he giveth us her under the name of a Woman also to help us to understand what he means but I say the name of a City is now the name in special under which the Church must go and that for special Reasons First To shew us how great and numerous a People will then be in the Church the Church may be a Woman a Temple a Spouse when she is but few but an handful but two or three but to be a City and that in her glory it bespeaks great store of Members Inhabitants and Citizens especially when she goeth under the name of a GREAT City as here she does He shewed me that GREAT City Secondly She goeth rather under the name of a City than Temple or Spouse to shew us also how plentifully the Nations and
wonderfully For in thee have they set light by father and mother in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger in thee have they vexed the fatherless and widdow in thee men carry tales to shed blood in thee they eat upon the Mountains and in thee they commit lewdness God hath smitten his hands at thy dishonest gain and all the blood which hath been in the midst of thee God will be avenged of thee but will not meet thee as a man You have cast lots for my People saith God you have given a Boy for a Harlot and a Girl for Wine that you may drink You have made havock of my young Converts to satisfy your lusts therefore What have you to do with me O Tyre and Sidon and all the Coasts of Palestina will ye render me a recompence and if ye recompence me swiftly and speedily I will return your recompence upon your own head I will throw it as dirt in your face again And never talk of what thou wast once for though thou wast full of wisdom and perfect in beauty though thou hast been in Eden the Garden of God yea though every Precious Stone for some time was thy covering and thou the very anointed Cherub that covereth walking upon the Mountain of God and in the midst of the Stones of fire yet because by reason of the multitude of thy Merchandize thou hast sinned and art filled with violence Therefore God will cast thee as prophane out of the Mountain of God and wil destroy thee O covering Cherub from the midst of the Stones of fire yea he will cast thee to the ground and lay thee before Kings that they may behold thee And all they that know thee among the People shall be astonished at thee thou shalt be ● terrour and never shalt thou be any more Ezek. 28. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19. And when thou art spoiled what wilt thou do Though thou cloathest thy self with crimson though thou deckest thee with ornaments of Gold though thou paintest thy face with painting in vain shalt thou make thy self fair thy lovers will despise thee they will seek thy life Jer. 4. 30. And the Kings of the Earth do bring their glory and their honour to it Mark They do not only forsake the crimson Harlot neither do they content themselves with eating her flesh and burning her with fire but they come over they come over to Jerusalem they are conquered by the Grace of Christ and Wisdom of the Son of God They shall make war with the Lamb but the Lamb shall overcome them for he is King of kings and Lord of lords and those that are with him are Called and Chosen and Faithful Now they shall all give way to the Government of the King of kings the Governor of the Jews and shall with gladness delight to see him rule his Spouse with his own Law Rules and Testament they shall play the pranks of Jeroboam no longer in making Calves to keep the People from going up to Jerusalem to worship Now they shall count him also King of Nations aswel as King of Saints and he shall wear the Crowns and they shall seek to him Rev. 19. 12. and 15. 5. Jer 10. 7. Isa. 52. 15. 2 Chron. 9. 23. Vers. 25. And the Gates of it shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there This is the effect of what you read before namely of the coming in of the Kings and Great ones of the Earth to this Jerusalem For when the Whore is made desolate and naked and burned with fire and when the Kings also that loved her and that maintained her are come in and have closed with the Glory and Beauty of this City then what need is there to shut the Gates Alas all the injuries that the Kings and Great Ones of the Earth have done to the Church and Spouse of Christ in these days of the New Testament it hath been through the Instigation and Witchcraft of this Mistris of Iniquity The Horseman hath lift up both the bright Sword and the glittering Spear against the Saints of God by reason of the multitudes of the Whordoms of the wel-favoured Harlot the Mistris of Witchcrafts who selleth Nations thorow her Whordoms and families thorow her Witchcrafts Wherefore I say this Gentlewoman being laid in her grave and all her fat ones gone down to the sides of the pit these Kings will change their mind and fall in love with the true and chast Matron and with Christ her Lord Now when this is thus this City must needs be safely inhabited as towns without walls and as a place neer to which there is neither Thief nor ravenous Beast Persecutors while they remain in their spirit of outrage against the Church and People of God they are frequently in the Scripture compared to the venemous Dragons fierce Lions and ravenous Wolves all which at this day shall be driven out of the World that is so out as never to molest the Church again or to cause a Gate of this City to be shut through fear against them as he saith by the Prophet In the habitation of Dragons where each lay shall be grass with ●eeds and rushes In the habitation of Dragons that is even in the places of Persecutors where each lay shall be food for the Flock of Christ. The Dragon is a venemous beast and poisoneth all where he lieth he beats the Earth bare and venoms it that it will bear no grass as do the Persecutors where they inhabit and lie But behold the dayes do come in which these Dragons shall be removed and the ground where they lay be made fruitful and flourish so that even there shall be places for the flocks to lie down in In the habitation of Dragons where each lay shall be grass with reeds and rushes No Lion shall be there nor any ravenous Beast shall be found thereon but the Redeemed of the Lord shall walk there and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with Songs and everlasting Joy shall be upon their heads they shall obtain Joy and Gladness and Sorrow and Sighing shall flee away according to that of Moses The Lord will give peace in his Land and his People shall lie down and none shall make them afraid For he will rid the evil Beasts out of the Land and the Sword shall not go through it more And my People shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting places And the Gates shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there This word day we may understand two ways either for the day of bringing in to fill this City or for the day of her perfection and fulness Now if you take it with reference to the day in which her Converts are coming in as indeed it ought why then the