necessarily retain a gradual Imperfection throughout And they will be sure to pitch on that Degree that is most for their own ease and the satisfaction of their own Lusts. Sophr. This is a very searching Doctrine indeed Philotheus But what do you drive at an absolute perfection quoad partes quoad gradus as the Schools phrase it Philoth. I drive at an absolute Sincerity by this Doctrine O Sophron that a man should not allow himself in any known Wickedness whatsoever but keep an upright Conscience before God and before men Forasmuch as his own Conscience tells him by virtue of this Doctrine that if he be not wanting to himself God is both able and willing by the Assistence of his Spirit to free him from all his Corruptions And the Scripture plainly declares that this is the end of Christ's coming namely Tit. 2.12 That denying all ungodliness and worldly Lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world Ver. 13. looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity according to that exhortation of S t. Peter Wherefore gird up the loins of your minde 1 Pet. 1.13 c. be sober and of a perfect hope in the grace that is brought to you through the Revelation of Iesus Christ As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to former Lusts in your ignorance But as he that has called you is holy so be ye holy in your whole Conversation in every thing you doe Because it is written Be ye holy for I am holy And our Blessed Saviour in his Sermon on the Mount Matt. 5.48 Be ye perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect And S t. Paul to the Ephesians witnesses for our Saviour that this was the end of his giving himself as a Ransome or of dying for his Church Eph. 5.26 27. namely That he might sanctifie it 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 like the Lamb's Wife in the Revelation which is the new Ierusalem Sophr. I must confess Philotheus these places sound at an high pitch of Sanctity which Christians are called to and yet fall so infinitely short of Philoth. That is for want of this Faith I plead for a Faith in the Power of God and in the Spirit of the Lord Iesus for the purging away all our Corruptions For the New Birth is the Son of the Promise and is that Isaac the Joy of the whole Earth But he is conceived by Faith in the omnipotent Spirit of God who from the four winds blew upon the slain in the Valley of dead mens bones Ezek. 37.9 and made them stand up a numerous Armie who gave the promised Seed to Abraham Rom 4.18 c. who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many Nations For he considered not his own body now dead nor the deadness of Sarah's wombe he staggered not at the Promise of God through unbelief but was strong in Faith giving glory to God being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform This Faith therefore in the Promise of the Assistence of the Spirit of Christ in the new Birth is that which must renew the World into the living Image of God and make all the Nations of the Earth blessed which must bring the new Ierusalem from Heaven and will call down God himself to pitch his Tabernacle amongst men Phil. 4.13 I can doe all things through Christ that strengthens me Euist. Even wonders of wonders I think But this Faith Philotheus in the Power of God and in the Assistence of his Spirit to enable us to extirpate and mortifie all our Corruptions to an happy Resurrection to Life and Righteousness was not the Faith that our first Reformers were so zealous in How was it then I pray you that they should miss of so useful a Truth Philoth. They did not wholly miss of it XXXII The Doctrine of Faith in the Power of God's Spirit for the ridding us of Sin why not so much insisted on at the beginning of the Reformation Euistor in that they did zealously call to men to relinquish humane Tradition and to betake themselves to the pure Word and to the Belief and faith of the Gospel according to that more infallible Rule Wherefore that Faith which they preached having for its Object the pure Gospel of Christ the Doctrines according to Scripture this Doctrine of Faith in the omnipotent Spirit for the vanquishing of Sin being also contained in Scripture must be part of the Object of the Faith which they preached Euist. That is I acknowledge O Philotheus in some sense true But their zeal ran mainly out in declaring and crying up that part of Faith which respects onely Iustification in the bloud of Christ and free Remission of our sins Philoth. And it was very seasonably cry'd up as being a very plain Gospel Truth and such as was trode down under foot in the Church of Rome for the more absolutely enslaving the people of God and holding them under an hard Bondage in that Mysticall Babylon or Land of Egypt they laying many heavy burthens of Superstition upon them onely to advance the King of Egypt's Interest and so to extinguish the Light and Comfort of the Gospel Wherefore that Truth of Iustification by Faith being so accommodated to shake off the Roman Yoke it is no wonder it was so zealously insisted upon and so generally inculcated by the first Reformers Sophr. But this was not all Philotheus For severall things passed from some of them who were otherwise very successful Instruments in the Reformation that seem not onely to favour humane Infirmities and to dishearten men from attempting any such Conquests over our Lusts and Corruptions as your Doctrine animates us to but also on the contrary to savour much of rank Antinomianism as ill a disease as can seise on the Church of Christ. Philoth. I acknowledge O Sophron that Divine Providence might permit such misinterpretable Expressions in some of the first Reformers But you know Luther himself who is most suspected yet wrote against the Antinomians and the Harmonie of Confessions of all the Protestant Churches adjoyns the Doctrine of Sanctification or a Good life to that of Justification by Faith But that such a pitch of Holiness as we now treat of should have been exacted so zealously by the first Reformers from their Followers seems not congruous nor seasonable for those Times The over-severe Inculcation of such Doctrine in opposition to the false Righteousness of Romanism would have drawn away but few Auditours from that Church whose Sanctity was onely carnal They would have thought they had been
some time But Carnality and Externalness especially after the Reign of Constantine quickly over-ran all But however the pattern of Perfection was again recorded in the Vision of S t. Iohn Apoc. 4.2 wherein he saw the Throne of God in Heaven the four and twenty Elders and the four Beasts full of eyes For even in this he was shown also things which must be hereafter Ver. 1. For this is the Heavenly Idea of that state of the Church which will be actually on Earth when the new Ierusalem descends from Heaven and the Tabernacle of God is amongst men and that he dwells in them by his Spirit and by his living Presence Which Community of God's people some conceive may be in some sense represented also by the Sea of glass like unto Crystall before the Throne Ver. 6. as well as by the four Beasts Because Sea signifies the Collection of people into one Kingdome and the fixedness and pellucidity of this Sea may denote the steddiness and purity of the hearts and consciences of God's people whom his Spirit penetrateth and possesseth and the Light of his Presence doth comfort and irradiate and expells out of them all mistiness and darkness of sin and errour Their Conflation is as that of Glass by fire by the fire of Zeal and Charity which has rectified and reduced what-ever is foul and opake but their purity solidity and transparency is as that of Crystall Philop. This were congruous enough if Sea were here understood as in the Prophetick style For those Interpreters that so understand it look upon it as a fixt crystalline Sea But surely this Sea here alludes to the Sea in Solomon's Temple 1. King 7.23 Philoth. In all likelihood Philopolis that is likewise alluded to Apoc. 4.5 the seven Lamps being also mentioned But though we understand this Sea of Crystall in such a sense as the Sea of brass is meant in the Temple of Solomon yet it will again respect the Community of God's people it being that Sea wherein they are baptized into one body It will notwithstanding prove that effectuall Laver of Regeneration that Baptism of Christ which is with the Holy Ghost and with Fire 1 Cor. 12.13 For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body and have been all made to drink into one Spirit And our Saviour Christ declares John 4.14 Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life But this he spake of the Spirit as it is said elsewhere Apoc. 22.4 And the River of water of Life clear as crystall is said likewise to proceed out of the Throne of God as this Sea of glass to stand before it Philop. 2 Chron. 4.6 But the brazen Sea of Solomon O Philotheus to which this Sea of glass answers was for the Priest to wash in Philoth. I deny it not Onely remember Philopolis that outward washings profit little but that it is the Spirit that cleanseth This is the Laver of the New Birth whereby we are baptized into one body and into one Spirit and into one holy Community of Saints the light of the glorious Presence of God shining quite through this pure Sea of Crystall So that this Spirit of Regeneration and Purification being the same that this Laver or Sea of crystalline water and residing in the Saints of God the Saints of God again or the pure Church is this Sea according to the Prophetick style And the Sea of Solomon seems to have born the title on purpose to meet with this happy Allusion at last I am sure Aretas upon the place saith expresly That Sea signifies an immense multitude So that so far as I see this Type may bear a double Allusion one to the use of Solomon's Sea the other to the signification of the name in the Prophetick style Philop. Nay I am of your minde Philotheus And you know all true Christians are a Royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 and no man is wash'd by the Spirit but drinks in the Spirit for the Spirit washes us not without but within Philoth. But mistake me not Philopolis I do not mean that the Sea of glass stands primarily for the Hieroglyphick of God's people for the four Beasts are plainly the Hieroglyphick of that Communialty but it stands for the Laver of the Spirit into which the people of God are baptized Which Laver of the Spirit is set off by the effects thereof in that it makes the people of God as this Sea of glass like unto crystall the light of the Spirit of Life penetrating and possessing their pure and pervious hearts and minds as the beams of the Sun do the clearest and most transparent Crystall Philop. I commend your care and accuracy of judgement O Philotheus for you lose nothing of the usefulness of the Representation and yet decline that harshness as it may here seem of having one and the same thing represented by two several Hieroglyphicks in one and the same Vision Philoth. You understand me aright Philop. But I pray you what is the meaning of those seven Lamps of fire burning before the Throne Apoc. 4.5 which are said to be the seven Spirits of God Philoth. To omit all conjectures touching the seven last Sephiroth I shall onely return this answer for the present That the number Seven need not here signifie Numerically but Symbolically denoting the Purity and Immateriality of those Angels or Spirits that watch over the Church and minister to it when that shall be fulfilled in that glorious degree that is foretold Apoc. 21.3 The Tabernacle of God is with men Here the Lamps are distinguishable from the four Beasts but in Ezekiel's Cherub-Chariot the living Creatures themselves are resembled to Lamps Ezek. 〈…〉 because that Vision represented also the actual Kingdome of Angels But yet the Beasts here are described almost just in the same manner the Cherubims are in Ezekiel's Vision which denotes the Angelicalness of this last and best state of the Church The quadriform Genius of those of the Angelicall Kingdome I need not here repeat the Application is easie I will onely pick out some of the most useful Observables in this present description and then goe on As first Apoc. 4.6 That the Beasts are said all of them to be full of eyes before and behinde Which implies that they look backward and forward into the History of times past and into the Prophecies and Predictions of things to come and compute in counsell all possible futurities the better to manage the present affairs of Christ's Kingdome and be provided against every Emergency For in this consists all useful and practicall wisedome Apoc. 4.8 Secondly They are said to have six wings Undoubtedly for that use the Seraphims are said to make of them in the Prophet Isay Isay 6.2 With twain to cover their
Philop. Cuphophron will have his conceit on every thing be it never so serious Let him call it what he will I pray you Philotheus reade it leisurely and distinctly Philoth. XXXVIII Theomanes his Vision of the seven Thunders I shall Philopolis The Title is The space of the seventh Trumpet dividing it self into the seven Thunders with their previous Coruscations in order as follows It begins with a straight stroke and broken line abruptly after this manner And the first Coruscation cast forth its Light which shone from one end of the Heaven to the other Whereupon a most dreadfull Thunder uttered its voice insomuch that the Earth shook and trembled and shrunk under it Wherewithall the Clouds were discharged of a most noisome and prodigious Rain of Bloud of Fire of Hail and infectious Dust with other such like Plagues of Egypt insomuch that men were exceedingly tormented and enraged by reason of the intolerableness of the Plagues Philop. This I believe is but a more broken and confused Representation of the Effusion of the seven Vials or of something synchronall thereto As you have already declared that the seven Vials are Synchronall to the first Thunder Philoth. It may be so Philopolis Philop. But I pray you go on I shall not again interrupt you Philoth. After this I looked up and behold in the East a large white Cloud which came sailing as it were with a cool and refreshing gale of wind toward an exceeding high Mountain at a certain distance from which the second Coruscation discharged it self from this Cloud Whereupon I heard a more chearfull Thunderclap re-echoing through the Air and the Cloud breaking a-pieces I saw a most glorious City lightly descending carried in the stream of this cool breeze obliquely downward and so settling at last on the Top of this high Mountain But I had not long fed mine eyes with so beautifull a Sight when unexpectedly from over the City a bright Coruscation broke forth so great and so glorious from the pure Sky that the light of the Heavens was sevenfold more clear then the light of the Sun Upon which immediately I heard from thence the voice of the third Thunder and thereupon as it were the voice of a Man tunable and articulate saying Hallelujah Apoc. 19.6 The Lord reigneth And suddenly after a whole Quire of voices seconded this first Voice saying Hallelujah Psalm 87.3 Glorious things are spoken of thee O thou City of God The Mountain of the Lord's House is established on the top of the Mountains Isa. 2.2 and all Nations flow unto it Apoc. 21.24 The Nations of them that are saved walk in the light of it and the Kings of the Earth do bring their glory and honour unto it Hallelujah Which Heavenly and enravishing Melodie was heard from the Holy City for the space of four hours After this I cast mine eyes toward the West and I saw a large Cloud of two colours black and pitchy on the West part thereof and of a bright shining colour toward the East And lo of a sudden the fourth Thunder uttered its voice from the West-side of the Cloud and discharged it self upon certain hollow Rocks and Mountains tearing them a-pieces and rending open their infernall Caverns While in the mean time there issued out on the East-side a strong Wind but pure and refreshing which dividing into severall parts that turned round became so many innocuous Whirl-winds of sincere Air tinctured onely with a cool refreshing smell as if it had passed over some large field of Lilies and Roses Which Whirl-winds moved from man to man lifting them somewhat from the Earth and so letting them easily down again but left a Mark upon the Bodies of every one they thus lifted and a sweet Savour on themselves and on their Garments And the number of them thus lifted and marked is the number of the Companies of the Lamb and their number was 1728. But in the Western part of Heaven the Air was ill-sented by reason of the Fumes from those dark Caves out of which were seen to come many direfull and dismall Forms with part of their melted Chains which the Thunder-clap had broke a-pieces hanging upon their bodies Which Hellish Shapes ran up and down after men upon the face of the Earth catching them and breathing upon them a poisonous breath that corrupted their bodies and made them look black and deformed like Devils But the lifted Companies were too light-footed for them neither had they any power over them because they bore the Mark of the Lamb upon their bodies These things I saw under the voice of the fourth Thunder After which I beheld and lo the whole Heaven was overcast with Clouds especially toward the bottom And immediately the fifth Thunder uttered its voice And there was a re-echoing noise round about the Heavens like the beating of Drums Whereupon I saw innumerable Armies of men from the four Quarters of the Earth marching up toward the Holy City to lay close Siege unto it Apoc. 20.9 And they encompassed the Camp of the Saints round about And I was in an exceeding great fear and trembling But in the midst of this solicitude there came a large flash of Lightening from the East which shone unto the West and the sixth Thunder uttered its voice And I saw the Clouds rent from the Horizon upwards and they were parted toward the North and toward the South like the Curtains of an opened Tent or Canopie Whereupon a marvellous Light sprung up very fast from that quarter and the voice of the Thunder was immediately drowned with a terrible sound of a Trumpet which filled the whole Concave of the Heavens and made the Ground tremble under mens feet Apoc. 20.11 And lo there suddenly appeared a great white Throne arched like a Rain-bow with the Son of man sitting upon it with glory and great majesty from whose face the Earth and Heavens fled away and there was found no place for them And the dead all appeared before the Tribunal of God and the Books were opened And they whose names were written in the Book of Life their strength was renew'd unto them and they mounted up with wings like Eagles and associated themselves with the Angels of God But the Hypocrites and Prophane were condemned whose hearts grew more heavy then lead and became the dregs and sediment of the World Fear and Despair sinking them down while Joy and Assurance lifted up the Sincere into those more defecate Mansions For the whole Sky was filled with Myriads of myriads of Shapes in this great Compearance where the purer Spirits ascended upwards and the more gross were precipitated downwards by the stupendious operation of the great Refiner of the Universe And I saw the Good perfectly separated from the Wicked and the King of Glory rise from his Throne And this general Assises was turned suddenly into a Triumphal Pomp to the Godly they marching orderly in the open Sky with the
of Christ the murthering of his members of which the earliest example is this of Abel and Christ you know Acts 9.4 cried out to Saul Saul Saul why persecutest thou me when he onely persecuted his Members Euist. O Bathynous how kindly could I embrace thee for the great ease and pleasure thou hast done me in this Notion I have been infinitely puzzl'd at the Grammatical sense of this Passage and could never be driven into the allowance of false Greek for all the Authority of that great Critick Hugo Grotius I could never understand that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can be all one upon any terms And therefore I am highly delighted with the starting of this new Notion or signification of the Lamb according to the Prophetick style And even that other sense you offer'd at is far more tolerable then to make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have the signification of futurity Bath XII Of Christ 's appearing in humane shape to the Patriarchs before his Incarnation It would be so indeed Euistor if the Soul of the Messias had preexisted before his Incarnation Euist. Why the Fathers do expressly declare that it was Christ that appeared to Abraham to Moses to Ioshua and to others if that will help on the credibility of the second sense Bath But I believe that they may understand it of the Preexistence of the Eternal Word which they say was also employ'd in the ordering of the World at the Creation as well as in the superintending of the affairs of the ancient Patriarchs and the people of Israel appearing notwithstanding ever in humane shape as he did particularly to Ioshua and under the title of the Captain of the Lord's Host Josh. 5.13 14. when there was close siege laid to Iericho Hyl. But when this Doctrine could pass so glibly with the ancient Fathers without the taking notice of the Preexistence of the Soul of the Messias how glib how easie and how natural would it have been upon this Hypothesis and how credible would that second sense be of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world he suffering so timely in his Members But it is more harsh to conceive that the pure Eternal Word can suffer any thing Euist. I confess Hylobares that the Word appearing so often in humane shape it were very natural in that regard to suppose also that it was joyn'd with the humane Soul of the Messias But that the humane Soul of the Messias had ought to doe with the six days Creation that again seems more hard and incredible Hyl. Why Euistor why should this seem so hard and incredible that the same Messias that shall put a period to this stage of the Earth as at the Conflagration should be allow'd to have been active at the ordering of the Foundations thereof that He from whose mouth must proceed the last Pereat should have pronounced the first Fiat he being also styled so frequently in the * Apoc. 1.8 and 11. Ch. 21.6 also 22.1 Apocalypse Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the Ending the First and the Last Besides what is expresly said in the Epistle to the Hebrews in a complex sense of the Messias not of the separate Word Heb. 1.2 God in these last days has spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds And of the same Christ or Messiah he cites that of the Psalmist Heb. 1.10 11 12. Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the works of thy hands They shall perish but thou remainest and they shall wax old as doth a garment and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed But thou art the same and thy years shall not fail Here both the Creation and the Conflagration of the World seems to be given to the Messias Philop. What strange and unexpected fluskering conceits flie up into the youthful imagination of Hylobares upon his late persuasion of the Soul's Preexistence But what is this to our present purpose or what use at all of such Curiosities Sophr. The usefulness of this Theory O Philopolis I conceive is more apparent then the truth thereof because it conciliates more honour to the Person of our Saviour and is a firm barr against the abhorred boldness of some high-flown Enthusiasts who once phansying themselves to be partakers of the Divine Nature though but in a moral sense straightway set up for an equality with Christ and will be as much God as he some of them more and pretend themselves the Beginners of a more holy Dispensation then the Son of God himself brought into the world whom they could not thus confront and vilifie by either equalizing themselves to him or preferring themselves before him if that of the Authour to the Hebrews were understood in such a sense as Hylobares drives at But the ordinary recourse to the Communication of Idioms breaks the force of all the Arguments he offers at though I must confess it does not destroy their Concinnity Insomuch that I should think it hard for any one upon the concession of this double Hypothesis namely the Pre-existence of Souls and the continual Literal truth of the six daies Creation to stick at the Conclusion Hylobares aims at But I am too heavy to be haled into the belief or concern of such needless Curiosities Philop. And so am I too O Sophron and therefore I must take the freedome to give a stop to this digression and hasten Philotheus again into the way Philoth. XIII Thy Kingdome come in what sense meant in our Saviour's time and afterwards I have stood in it all this time O Philopolis expecting your commands I have carried on briefly the Succession of the Kingdome of God till our Saviour's time What do you demand farther Philop. I pray you tell me Philotheus if the Kingdome of God was in the world when Christ came into it why did he teach his Disciples to pray Thy Kingdome come Or why does he encourage his little flock saying Fear not Luke 12.32 little flock for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdome Or why is he said to preach the Gospel of the Kingdome Mark 1.14 15. declaring that the time is fulfilled and the Kingdome of God is at hand I know not what Kingdome he means Philoth. You are to understand O Philopolis that the Kingdome of God in the New Testament signifies variously Sometimes Physically as I may so speak and is the same with that externall happiness we hope to enjoy in Heaven sometimes Morally as where it is said to consist in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 and sometimes Politically in which sense also I conceive it to be understood in all those places you alledge And it is that very Kingdome upon Earth which Daniel foretells of Dan. 2.44
and is also the Kingdome of Christ or of the Messiah and is likewise styled the Kingdome of Heaven even in a Politicall sense as where it is compared to a Net Matth. 13. and elsewhere This Kingdome of Christ is the Kingdome of God in a more eminent and illustrious signification not onely for its holiness but also for the vast extent thereof according to the Hebrew Idiom For at long run it is to take in all the Kingdoms of the Earth But there is a more particular occasion of the styling of it the Kingdome of God from that passage in Daniel Dan. 2.44 And in the days of those Kings shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdome which shall never be destroy'd From hence the Kingdome of Christ is called the Kingdome of Heaven and of God Now this great and notable Kingdome of the Son of man or the Messias was not present in our Saviour's days though it was in a near approch And therefore the Disciples might very well be taught to pray Thy Kingdome come and our Saviour preach that the Kingdome of God was at hand and encourage his little flock his few Followers in that at last the Roman Empire would fall into their hands as it did under Constantine the Great when Christianity became the Religion of the Empire But in that he saith Mar. 1.15 The time is fulfilled and the Kingdome of God is at hand that undoubtedly relates to the Seventy weeks of Daniel Dan. 9. which were upon their expiration about that time that Christ preached the Gospel of the Kingdome that is a little before his Suffering ver 25 26. For after seven weeks and threescore and two weeks that is sixty nine weeks the Messias was to be cut off and the people of the Iews cease to be God's people any longer under the Mosaicall Dispensation and the everlasting Righteousness ver 24. or the Eternal Law or Religion of Christ to be brought in and the Iudaicall Sacrifices to cease the Son of God being once made an Oblation upon the Cross for the sins of the whole world This is the Inchoation of the Kingdome of God so much spoken of in the Gospel which though it was at first but as a grain of mustard-seed Matt. 13.31 yet in a little time spred far and wide in the Roman Empire and was at last made Master thereof For I must confess I understand that Parable of the Mustard-tree in a Politicall sense not in a Moral and compare that which our Saviour adds by way of illustration of its greatness so that the birds of the air lodge in the branches thereof with that propheticall expression in Daniel where Nebuchadnezzar's Kingdome is also resembled to a wide-spreading Tree Dan. 4.12 The Beasts of the field had shadow under it and the Fowls of the Heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof And thus was Christ's promise made good to his little flock to whom he had declared that it was his Father's good pleasure to give them the Kingdome Luk. 12.32 Philop. This is handsome and to me not unsatisfactory O Philotheus so far as it goes But did not the Church of God both in Constantine's time and after pray Thy Kingdome come Philoth. I doubt it not Philopolis and it will never be unseasonable so to pray in the Moral sense either for our selves or others but hitherto it has been also seasonable in the Politicall For though the Church where uncorrupted with Idolatry and other gross Pollutions has been the Kingdome of God ever since it had a being whether in prosperity or persecution yet it has been hitherto but Regnum Lapidis not Regnum Montis and therefore in a Politicall sense they might ever pray that that might be fulfilled which was spoken by the mouth of the Prophet Daniel That the stone cut out without hands might smite the Image upon the feet Dan. 2.34 35 44. and become a great Mountain and fill the whole Earth and be a Kingdome that shall stand for ever a Kingdome of God's setting up that shall never be destroyed that is to say shall never relapse into Idolatrous practices nor be under their lash and subjection that do No power shall be able to persecute them for the purity of their Religion For it is the Kingdome of God triumphant and permanent that Daniel seems chiefly to point at as if that short stay of the Seventh King mentioned in the Apocalypse were scarce worth noting in these more compendious Visions Apoc. 17.10 Which seeming omission in the Vision of the Statue is more palpably repeated again in the Vision of the Four beasts For though the Kingdome of the Son of man was in the Reign of the Seventh King in a triumphant state yet because it was so short and unpermanent the Prophecy seems to take no express notice of it but to begin the Inauguration of the Son of man into his Kingdome upon the destruction of the little Horn which destruction is not yet compleated When Dan. 7.21 22. because of the great words the Horn spake the Beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame namely the Beast with this little Horn with eyes in it which little Horn is more fully and distinctly represented in the Apocalypse under the figure of the Two-horned Beast then Daniel saw in the night-Vision and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of Heaven and came to the Ancient of days and they brought him near before him And there was given him Dominion and Glory and a Kingdome that all people and Nations and languages should serve him His Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which shall not pass away and his Kingdome that which shall not be destroyed which therefore is not so properly the Kingdome of God under the Seventh King but that Dominion of the Saints which emerges upon the Beast that is not and yet is his going into perdition Do you understand me Philopolis Philop. Very well XIV The Easiness of the Prophetick style and I think your Notion mainly solid Nor do I finde it any difficulty to converse with men touching these Propheticall Mysteries since I have pretty well conn'd the Prophetick style the knowledge whereof in my mind is as well more easie as more usefull and pleasant then Heraldry which yet every ordinary capacity is easily master of Philoth. I am exceeding glad to hear you say so O Philopolis and wish all the Gentlemen in Christendome were of your mind They would find such Conviction in the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse that I dare say we should in a short time be all of one opinion in matters of Religion Philop. I wish with all my heart they would set themselves to this so easie and pleasant kind of seriousness Bath Sensuality Levity and Profaneness of spirit makes holy things though of themselves very easie and pleasant both unpleasant hard and tedious to such unmoralized minds
description of this future state of the Church from innumerable passages of the Holy Scripture What can be a more glorious or desirable state of the Church of Christ then that described by Isay ch 11. v. 4 c where speaking of Christ's Reign With righteousness saith he shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the Earth and he shall smite the Earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins and faithfulness the girdle of his reins The Wolf also shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid and the Calf and the young Lion and the Fatling together and a little Childe shall lead them The sucking Childe shall play on the hole of the Asp and the weaned Childe put his hand on the Cockatrice den They shall not hurt nor destroy on all my holy Mountain For the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea Philop. This is an excellent state of the Church indeed Philotheus Sophr. Psal. 87.3 Glorious things are spoken of thee O thou City of God Philoth. Isa. 2.2 c. Again chap. 2. And it shall come to passe in the last days that the Mountain of the Lord's House shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the Hills and all Nations shall flow unto it And many people shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the House of the God of Iacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths For out of Sion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Ierusalem And he shall judge amongst the Nations and rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares and their spears into pruning-hooks Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation neither shall they learn war any more O house of Iacob will the Nations say come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Sophr. Like that concerning the new Ierusalem in the Apocalypse And the Nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it Apoc. 21.24 and the Kings of the Earth do bring their glory unto it Philoth. But that of the Apocalypse seems more expresly to allude to that of the 60 th of Isay Ver. 1 c. Arise O Sion shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee For behold the darkness shall cover the Earth and gross darkness the people but the Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee And the Gentiles shall come to thy light and Kings to the brightness of thy rising And at the latter end of that Chapter The Sun shall be no more thy light by day Ver. 19 21 22. neither for brightness shall the Moon give light unto thee but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light and thy God thy glory Thy people also shall be all righteous they shall inherit the Land for ever the Branch of my planting the work of my hands that I may be glorified A little one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong Nation I the Lord will hasten it in its time Sophr. I believe to this time also may belong that of Isay 30. Isa. 30.26 Moreover the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold as the light of seven days in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people and healeth the stroke of their wound As also that of Zacharie Zach. 12.8 In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Ierusalem and he that is feeble amongst them at that day shall be as David and the house of David shall be as God as the Angel of the Lord before them Euist. The Hebrew has it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where Drusius renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sicut Dii understanding thereby Angels Bath John 1.11 As it is said in S t. Iohn that to as many as believed on him he gave power to become the sons of God And our Saviour Matt. 11.11 though he declared that among them that were born of women there had not risen a greater then Iohn the Baptist yet notwithstanding saith he he that is least in the Kingdome of Heaven is greater then he Philoth. That is a shrewd Note of Bathynous his upon the Testimonie of our Saviour touching Iohn and such as should urge a man to search deep into his own Conscience as well as it will instruct him how little hitherto there has been of the Kingdome of God in the World But in the mean time Philopolis I think it is pretty plain already what in the general the state of the Church will be in those glorious Times we speak of viz. That there will be spiritual Strength and Righteousness and Peace and Ioy and Security from Wars within the Church and from any Persecution of God's people This for the Quality of the Church VII The Extent thereof But for its Extent it is insinuated that it will be exceeding large as if it would spread over the face of the whole Earth Isa. 11.9 For it is said The Earth shall be full of the Knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea and that is far and wide And again that the Mountain of the Lord's House shall be established on the top of the mountains Chap. 2.2 and that all Nations shall flow unto it Also in that expression A little one shall become a thousand Chap. 60.22 and a small one a strong Nation c. To which you may adde what is foretold by Daniel chap. 2.32 And the Stone that smote the Image became a great Mountain and filled the whole Earth And again chap. 7.26 But the Iudgement shall sit and they shall take away his dominion to consume and destroy it to the end And the Kingdome and Dominion and the greatness of the Kingdome under the whole Heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High whose Kingdome is an everlasting Kingdome and all Dominions shall serve and obey him Accordingly as those voices in Heaven do declare upon the sounding of the seventh Trumpet Apoc. 11.15 The Kingdoms of the World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever Philop. These things Philotheus in the general are very plain and clear But are there not more particular Prefigurations in the Prophetical Writings touching the state of the Church you now discourse of Will the one and twentieth Chapter of the Apocalypse afford no more Particularities then thus Philoth. Probably it may VIII A more particular description of the
future state of the Church out of the Apocalypse Philopolis What you can recall to minde I pray you propound Philop. More comes to my minde then is needfull I will omit therefore those passages which import but the same things you observed out of the old Prophets The Righteousness and Purity of that Holy City there described implied in the exclusion of every thing that defileth and figured out by those precious Stones and pure transparent Gold and in that all tears are said to be wiped from their eyes Apoc. 21.4 it is an intimation of Peace and security from Persecution And all the whole description of it is so full of Glory and Light and Joy that no man can miss of that character But I would ask you Philotheus the meaning of other passages as Why this Holy City is called the new Ierusalem Ver. 2. Why said to come from Heaven Why said to have twelve Gates with the names of the twelve Tribes of Israel thereon Ver. 12. and why the Wall of the City to have twelve Foundations Ver. 14. and in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb Why the City is said to be measured with a golden Reed Ver. 15. and why found to be twelve thousand Furlongs Ver. 16 17 and the Wall an hundred forty four Cubits What also is the meaning of that saying Ver. 3. Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and yet that there was seen no Temple there Ver. 22. because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it and again What the genuine sense of that sixth verse And he that sate upon the Throne said It is done I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely And lastly of the last verse And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a Lie but they that are written in the Lamb's Book of Life Philoth. You have congested a number of things together Philopolis but however I shall return answer to them as orderly and as briefly as I can I conceive therefore to begin with the first that the City which Iohn saw is called the new Ierusalem in counterdistinction to that old Ierusalem where our Lord was crucified Apoc. 11.8 whether understood literally or typically as also because its Citizens have put on the new man Eph. 4.24 which is framed according to Righteousness and true Holiness because they are the sons of the new Birth or new Creation of God But it is said to come down from Heaven in such a sense as the Doctrine of Iohn is said to be from Heaven Matt. 21.25 and agreeably to that passage in the Apostle that the Ierusalem that is above is free Gal. 4.26 which is the Mother of us all That actual City of God consisting of Saints and Angels in Heaven this new Ierusalem which S t. Iohn describes being so like to them in Purity and Holiness it is therefore said to descend from Heaven as being a Copy or Transcript of that Heavenly Perfection To all which you may adde that what the Prophets have seen in Heavenly Visions touching this City it being thus at last accomplished upon Earth it is therefore said to be a City descended from Heaven And this is that very City Ezekiel saw Ezek. 48.31 of which he says And the Gates of the City shall be after the names of the Tribes of Israel three gates Northward one gate of Reuben one gate of Iudah one gate of Levi and so of the rest three gates of a side in all twelve gates as it is said in S t. Iohn's Vision that the City had twelve Gates and the names of the twelve Tribes of the Children of Israel written thereon This among other things intimates that Ezekiel's City and this of the Apocalypse is all one City And in that the Apostles Names are said to be writ on the twelve Foundations of the Wall that shews jointly considered with the other that Ezekiel's Prophecy must have its completion in the Iews Conversion to Christianity viz. when Iew and Gentile are gathered together under one Head Christ Iesus and become of one Faith and one Church which is this Holy City But the Apostles Names are said to be in the Foundations of the Wall because their Doctrine is the Foundation of the Church into which the Iews are to be graffed and through that Mercy that is communicated to the Christians may also finde mercy at that day This comparing the Church to a Building is very usual in Scripture S t. Peter tells the Believers 1 Pet. 2.5 that they as living stones are built up a spiritual House And S t. Paul to the Ephesians Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreiners Eph. 2.19 c. but fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth into an holy Temple in the Lord In whom you are also builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit And in this is that expression fulfilled Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men And the name of Ezekiel's City is also Iehovah shammah Ezek. 48.35 The Lord is there And yet there is no material Tabernacle nor Temple where he might be conceived to rest him and toward which the people should worship But the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple thereof that is to say In this new Ierusalem there will be no visible Fabrick toward which men will affect to worship but with bended knees and pure hearts and hands and eyes lift up to Heaven where Christ sits at the right hand of God shall men worship the Father in spirit and in truth Joh. 4.23 Philop. And yet God says to Ezekiel before that accurate description of the Temple and City and all the Iudaicall Ordinances Ezek. 43.10 Thou son of man shew the House to the house of Israel that they may be ashamed of their iniquities and let them measure the Pattern This seems to be quite contrary to this new Ierusalem described by S t. Iohn Philoth. The summarie sense of that accurate description of the Iudaicall Oeconomie in Ezekiel is onely this interpreted plainly by S t. Iohn That when all the glory and exactness of the Iudaicall Dispensation is set off to the utmost the measuring of the Pattern the matching and fulfilling of it is that state of Christianity which will appear after the effusion of the seven Vials when Iew and Gentile become one Church one holy Temple and City of God Which spiritual meaning betrays it self even in Ezekiel's own description of things For what other sense then a Mysticall one can be made of the holy
thereabout For in that the Church was then measured by a man Apoc. 11.1 but this new state of things by an Angel that simply with a Reed Apoc. 21.25 17. this with a golden Reed it implies that this new state of things will as much surpass that state though the best the Church has yet been in as Angels do Men and a golden Reed an ordinary combustible one Assuredly there was something in thosedays though much better then then when the Church did grossly apostatize that will not abide the fire but consume into smoak and vanish But all in this new Creation is like the Measure it is measured with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle somewhere speaks such as will abide the fire without wasting Thy word is very pure saith the Psalmist Psalm 119. And again Psal. 12. The words of the Lord are pure words even as the silver that is tried from the earth and purified seven times in the fire It is therefore the precious Word of God or pure Law of God which David esteems above thousands of gold and silver which is this golden Reed to which the new Ierusalem is commensurate Psalm 119.72 Nothing is retain'd as having an authentick stamp upon it in this new Dispensation but what is plainly agreeable to the Word of God 1 Cor. 3.12 All the hay and stubble of humane Traditions and Institutions will be burnt up and the pure and Apostolick Doctrine and Discipline will be the sole Measure of all So that the measuring of the City with a golden Reed and the hundred forty four Cubits and the twelve thousand Furlongs end all in this sense That the Constitution of things then will be purely Apostolicall squared all by that Doctrine by that Spirit which is the eternall Spirit of God the Fountain of all holy Truth and Divine Reason Philop. Indeed Philotheus these Interpretations of yours seem to me very natural But are there no farther Characters of this excellent state of the Church in other Visions or Prophecies Philoth. X Several passages of the Mercavah expounded or the Vision of Cherubims seen by Ezekiel There are Philopolis but it were an endless thing to pursue all And yet I cannot abstain from giving you some Intimations from Ezekiel's Vision of the four Cherubims or Chariot of God with which the Throne of God in Heaven amongst the four Beasts seen by S. Iohn has no small correspondency For this you are to understand Philopolis that the great purpose of that early-begun and long-continued Negotiation of the Son of God with us terrestriall Creatures has been the enlarging the Kingdome of God even to these earthly Regions that the Kingdome of Heaven may be also upon Earth perfectly corresponding to the Heavenly pattern thereof And this is that which we are taught to pray for by our Saviour Thy Kingdome come that is to say Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven namely by his holy Angels And therefore the ultimate end of the Dispensations of Divine Providence is as I noted from the Angel's measuring the new Ierusalem to reduce the Church to an Angelicall state or condition that it may answer that Heavenly Pattern in the Visions of God Philop. I do not yet well understand you Philotheus Philoth. But you will do Philopolis if you do but attend to the orderly process of my discourse I say therefore in the first place that the Vision of the Cherubim or Chariot of God seen by Ezekiel but not first by him Ezek. 1.4 for I doubt not but the same appeared also to Moses and Aaron on the Mount Exod. 24.10 is the Pattern of the Angelicall Polity over which God immediately rules Psalm 68.17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand even thousands of Angels and the Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place Now the great design of all is that in the fulness of time the Church upon Earth may be his Chariot as fully and commandingly as the Angelicall Orders in Heaven Philop. Why how fully is that Philotheus Philoth. That methinks the Vision of Ezekiel does lively describe though I will not omit other observables in my brief passage through the Vision and yet think it needless to touch upon all Ezek. 1.4 I looked saies he and behold a Whirlwinde came out of the North a great cloud and a fire enfolding it self and a brightness about it and out of the midst thereof as the colour of Amber out of the midst of the fire This colour of Amber out of the midst of the fire I cannot but parallel to that description of the new Ierusalem Apoc. 21 18. And the City was pure Gold like unto transparent glass Think with your self how near in resemblance Philopolis transparent Gold and Amber are one to another Philop. Very like one another surely But what is the meaning thereof Philotheus Philoth. The fire and the light is the Spirit throughly penetrating and possessing this pure amber-like or transparent Gold as Iron it self looks in a manner transparent when it is ferrum candens which they ordinarily call red-hot Isa. 33.14 Who shall dwell with devouring fire who shall dwell with everlasting burnings Philop. Pure Gold certainly though as transparent as Amber and such as has lost all its Dross They must be of a pure Angelicall nature indeed For God is a consuming fire to whatever is contrary to his own Holiness Deut. 4.24 Philoth. Wherefore there being nothing to resist in this Cherubick Chariot of God they are perfectly obedient to his Will and he has an absolute empire over them they are wholly guided by his Spirit as is also intimated in the Vision more then once Ezek. 1.12 And they went every one straight forward whither the Spirit was to goe they went And in that it is said they went straight forward and that they returned not when they went this signifies the peremptory and irresistible progress of Divine Providence administred by his Angelicall forces Ver. 18. For in that the wheels of his Cherubick Chariot are said to be full of eyes I conceive this is meant thereby That the Circuits and Periods of times and Ages are carried by a special Providence of God who oversees all things And whereas it is said Ver. 19. And when the living Creatures went the Wheels went by them and when the living Creatures were lift up from the earth the Wheels were lift up this signifies the Adnexion of the Dispensations and Periods of times to the Ministry of the Angelicall Hosts and that they spirit actuate and animate all such Circuits and Periods The matter is by the decree of the Watchers Dan. 4.17 and the demand by the word of the holy ones Euist. I had thought Philotheus that these Wheels with eyes might have been the starry Heavens turned about by the Intelligences Philoth. That 's a phancie as far dissonant from the ancient wisedome of the Iews
faces with twain to cover their feet and with twain to flie Which implies a reverence of the Divine Majesty an activity and readiness in his Service and a carefulness over our Affections that we walk in clean paths For upon the mention of the six wings all the four Beasts are said to be full of eyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Grotius well and skilfully draws those two together without and within And therefore they with one eye regarding the outward Objects and with another eye their own Nature and so comparing them together they will ever behave themselves decorously and becomingly with due reverence to what is above them in Dignity and Excellency and at a due distance from those things that are unworthy of them and beneath them They will not commit any thing unworthy of the excellencie of their own nature nor admit of any thing repugnant to the innate Light and immutable Principles of an Intellectual Creature And therefore if any such thing be offered them without their eyes within will easily discern the Proposer to be either a Fool or an Impostour Thirdly As the Sea of glass like unto crystall signifies our being baptized into one holy Community so the Lightnings and Thunders and Voices over this collected Body of the Church the four Beasts and the twenty four Elders signifie their joint-Instruction and Guidance by the fiery Law of the Spirit in which Dispensation they live According to that promise of the second Covenant Jer. 31.33 I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people This is the City which Ezekiel calls Iehovah shammah Ezek. 48.35 not for any visible symbolicall Residence of God there but for the abode of him in the hearts of men by his Spirit by which they have one common mind and one motion as it is in the Angelicall Kingdome in the Cherubims of Ezekiel Ezek. 1.11 12. Their wings touched one another and whither the Spirit was to goe thither they went And the twenty four Elders and the four Beasts be thus of one spirit For when the Beasts worship God Apoc. 4.9 10. the twenty four Elders also cast down their Crowns before the Throne acknowledging from whom and for whom they reign even for the manifesting of the glory and honour and power of God in the Kingdome of his Saints Cuph. But I pray you Philotheus how can the Beasts be said never to rest day nor night Ver. 8. saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty and yet the twenty four Elders as oft as they doe thus to cast their Crowns before the Throne For one casting would serve for all and their Crowns would ever lie before the Throne of their own heads Philoth. These things O Cuphophron are by no means to be so grossly understood For their never ceasing day nor night from saying Holy Holy Holy signifies nothing else but a perpetuall declaring the Holiness of God in whose presence they walk by the constant purity and holiness of their own Conversations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as there is this one continued tenour of Holiness in the people so likewise is there one continued correspondency of humble Devoutness in their Rulers who live in a perpetual sense of their Office and Duty casting down their Crowns before the Throne of God acknowledging thereby that the measure of their Rule and Government ought not to be their own Interest but merely the Interest of Christ and his Kingdome that they reign wholly through him and for him and therefore are not to seek themselves This is the inward meaning of that externall Representation of their worship which reaches the inmost life and spirit and is not a shadow of a shadow Philop. This is a sufficient solution of Cuphophron's Quere Philotheus But I pray you why are those crowned Elders being that they wear golden Crowns like Kings said to be clothed in white like Priests Apoc. 4.4 and why placed next to the Throne of God and why four and twenty Philoth. By their golden Crowns and white Raiment joyntly considered it is signified that in their respective Kingdoms all power is in them as well Sacerdotal as Secular that is to say In all causes as well Ecclesiasticall as Civil they next to Christ are supreme Heads in their own Principalities And therefore their Thrones for so they are called in the Original are placed next to the Throne of God That is also a farther Intimation of their Sacerdotality in that they are thus placed about the Throne it seeming to allude to the Levites pitching their Tents about the Tabernacle Num. 1.50 But in that they wear white Raiment it signifies also their Innocency Uprightness and Sanctity their Sacerdotal Piety and Devotion in their solicitous Addresses to the Throne of Grace in the behalf of themselves as Rulers and of the people committed to their charge And lastly they are said to be four and twenty 1 Chron. 24.4 18. it 's likely in some allusion to the distribution of the Courses of the Priests and Levites into that number which again shews the Sovereignty of these Kings in Sacerdotal affairs as if they were the Princes of these Divisions But I must confess I think that which is mainly aimed at is this viz. An intimation that this glorious state of the Church will be then when Iews and Gentiles are become one Sheepfold That this is the state of the new Ierusalem Apoc. 21.12 14. that has the names of the twelve Patriarchs inscribed on her as well as of the twelve Apostles This I conceive may be the account of the four and twenty Elders For I doubt not but the number here signifies Symbolically not Numerically Philop. This Interpretation indeed seems to be of more importance it implying both the Conversion of the Iews and the Apostolicalness of these Times of the Church at once Well Philotheus you have described out of the Prophets an excellent state of things which being so eminent that it transcends the power of speech nor can be set out according to its due worth by all the words and phrases I am master of I will be content to contract it for my memory sake into as few as I can which briefly are these Apostolicalness of Doctrine and Worship Integrity of Life and Security from Persecution for Conscience sake and from intestine Wars and Troubles For thus it will truely become the Kingdome of the * Dan. 7.13 Son of man whenas the four Kingdoms hitherto have been justly compared to four ravening and devouring Beasts 2 Esdr. 13.10 11 12. and such as have been so mad as to tear their own flesh But this Angelicall Kingdome as you call it wherein God's will is done on Earth as it is in Heaven is a Kingdome of Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost O how am I transported with the view of so glorious a
most delicious and Seraphick Lives that I could ever imagine any to doe upon this Earth The Prelibation of those future Joys and Glories that you in a manner make present to you by so firm a Faith and clear Prospect of things is an Anticipation of the Happiness of Heaven at least of that Heaven that is to be upon Earth when the new Ierusalem shall descend from above I am so infinitely transported with your excellent Converse that I am almost out of conceit with my own condition of Life and could wish I had never been engaged in the care of a Wife and a Family or any other Secular Occasions that I might joyn my self for ever to your blessed Society Of such unspeakable pleasure has this five days entertainment been to my minde Philoth. God forbid Philopolis that the Sweet of Contemplation should ever put your mouth out of tast with the savoury Usefulness of Secular Negotiations To doe good to men to assist the injured to relieve the necessitous to advise the ignorant in his necessary affairs to bring up a Family in the fear of God and a chearful hope of everlasting Happiness after this Life does as much transcend our manner of living if it ended in a mere pleasing our selves in the delicacy of select Notions as solid Goodness does empty Phantastry or sincere Charity the most childish Sophistry that is The exercise of Love and Goodness of Humanity and Brotherly-kindness of Prudence and Discretion of Faithfulness and Neighbourliness of unfeigned Devotion and Religion in the plain and undoubted Duties thereof is to the truly regenerate Soul a far greater pleasure then all the fine Speculations imaginable Philop. You 'll pardon this sudden surprise Philotheus for your wholesome Instruction has reduced me again to the right sense of things I am fully convinced that all Speculation is vain that tends not to the Duty of Practice nor inables a man the better to perform what he owes to God to his Prince and Countrey to his Family Neighbours and Friends Which is the onely consideration that makes my parting with this excellent Society any thing tolerable to me at this time being so fully instructed by you that I am not to live to please my self but to be serviceable to others And therefore I shall endeavour not so to leave you as not to carry away the better part of you along with me Cuph. XLIII His Complement to Cuphophron and his Friends with Cuphophron 's return thereof upon Philopolis You mean Euistor and Hylobares do you not Philopolis Philop. I mean not Persons but Things the endearing memorie of the sincere Zeal and sound Knowledge of Philotheus the free and profound Judgement of Bathynous the Prudence and Sobriety of Sophron and the Gaiety of Temper and singular Urbanity of my noble friend Cuphophron to whom I return many thanks for his repeated favours and civilities since my arrival hither as I do to Philotheus also and the rest of this excellent Companie for their great Obligations and shall impatiently expect an opportunity of making some requitall In the mean time I leave my thanks with you all and bid you farewell Cuph. Not the Memory O Philopolis but the Reality of all those Accomplishments you reckon up of right you carry away with you because you brought them along with you hither Nor will we take leave of so accomplished a person till needs must We will wait upon you to morrow morning to see you take horse and then wish you a good Journey In the mean time we onely bid you Good-night Philop. That will be too great a favour Philoth. That 's a Civility very well mentioned Cuphophron We will at least doe that if not carry them part on their way Hyl. And I will defer my manifold Acknowledgements to Philotheus till then THE END A brief DISCOURSE Of the true Grounds of The Certainty of FAITH IN Points of Religion FAith and Belief though they be usually appropriated to matters of Religion yet those words in themselves signifie nothing else but a Persuasion touching the Truth of a thing arising from some Ground or other Which Persuasion may be undoubted or certain to us that is to say We may be certainly persuaded without any staggering though the Grounds be false and the Thing it self false that we are thus firmly persuaded of So that the being firmly persuaded is no sure sign to others nor ought to be to ourselves that either the Grounds or the Belief it self is true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may very well arise from an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peculiarity of Complexion or the Besottedness of Education may be so prevalent as very forcibly to urge Falshood upon our belief as well in things Natural as Religious either upon very weak and false Grounds or no other Grounds at all but that of Complexion and Education Passion or Interest or the like But the true Grounds of the Certainty of Faith are such as do not onely beget a certain and firm Faith but a true one and this in virtue of their own Truth and Solidity as being such as will appear true and solid to all impartial and unprejudiced Examiners that is to say to all such as neither Complexion nor Education nor Passion nor Interest does pervert their Judgement but have their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clear as the Eye to discriminate Colours Whence it is plain that the first and most necessarie Preparation to the Discovery of the true Grounds of the Certainty of Faith is Moral Prudence in such a sense as the nature of it is described in a late Moral Discourse entitled Enchiridion Ethicum lib. 2. cap. 2. This ought to be antecedaneous to our judgement touching either Autority or Reason But for a man of a polluted spirit to take upon him to dissent from the Constitutions of the Church he is born under is a very rash and insolent Attempt As if God were more bound to assist a single Wicked man for the finding out of Truth then a multitude or as if a man could more safely or more creditably err alone then with a company that has the stamp of Autority upon them But if thy endeavour be to perfect Holiness in the fear of God and to walk in all Humility before him and before men thou mayest by such rational Grounds as these examine the Fidelity of thy Teachers and the truth of their Doctrines of Religion First then It is plain that Certainty of Faith presupposeth Certainty of both Reason and Sense rightly circumstantiated For forasmuch as Faith properly so called is nothing but an unwavering Assent to some Doctrine proposed upon the ground of infallible Testimonie there must be some Reason to persuade us that that Testimony is infallible that is to say that they that testifie are neither obnoxious to Errour in the things they witness of nor have a mind to make others to erre or
no-where owes its birth to Rebellion and that the doctrine of Rebellion upon pretense of Religion is universally exploded by the publick Confessions of all the Protestant Churches but both professed and practised by the Janizaries of the Bishop of Rome The Title of the Book is A vindication of the Sincerity of the Protestant Religion in the point of Obedience to Sovereigns Cuph. Very good Philopolis I thank you for your information I shall enquire for the Book and at first leisure from my Philosophicall Speculations I shall give my self the satisfaction of perusing it In the mean time therefore I shall give you onely this one trouble touching a point which cannot be denied by Euistor nor any Historian of them all Did not the first Reformers rebell against the Sovereignty of the Pope Philop. O no Cuphophron they resisted or cast off the pretended Sovereignty of the Pope but that was not to rebell but to repell a wicked Usurpation For first that Christ never constituted the Bishop of Rome the Successour of Peter and his infallible Vicar-general of Christendome appears in that there is no such Doctrine in the ancient Fathers nor any such timely appeal to this Bishop's Infallibility nor any such thing recorded in Scripture which had been such an high Point that if it had been true it could never have been left out Nay on the contrary it witnesseth against this pretense for Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians doth plainly declare himself inferiour to none of the Apostles Chap. 1. and 2. And though Peter was present yet Iames did confessedly preside in the Council at Ierusalem Besides that the Uncircumcision was the Diocese of Paul but Peter's the Circumcision which certainly was the less Circuit of the two Not to adde how Paul withstood Peter at Antioch which suits ill with Peter's Superiority as Peter's being at Antioch as well as at Rome with the Superiority of the Roman Bishop above him of Antioch For that Peter was at Antioch is out of question but whether Peter was ever at Rome is still questionable among the Learned And lastly if Peter was so much taller by the head and shoulders then the rest of the Apostles why did he give the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and Paul Then again in the second place No secular Sovereign can forfeit his Sovereignty to any Spiritual pretended Superiority or Superintendency unless we admit that Principle of Wickleffianism Dominium fundatur in gratia which the Iesuites themselves so loudly hoot at when they please and is unfeignedly to be hooted at by every one that has an honest and upright heart Bath But do you not observe Philopolis how this Argument will also protect the Subject as well as the Prince from all wrong and violence from a spiritual Tyranny Philop. You say right Bathynous But so be it protect but my Sovereign safe from all injuries I am none of them that shall envy the overplus of good it may doe in behalf of Subjects that any-where may be thought to fall short of that grace of Illumination that others pretend to have when indeed they are wholly overwhelmed with gross Errours Superstitions and Idolatries And thirdly and lastly Suppose his Holiness of Rome had once a Sovereignty over all the Churches of Christendome in ordine ad Spiritualia which is the onely plea that can with any colour be pretended when his spiritual wares are so infinitely poisoned and corupted that the Religion he requires obedience to is as gross as any Pagan-Idolatry as most certainly Romanism is he does most assuredly lose his right of Sovereignty or Command in Spirituals unless he has a right to command us to disobey God and Christ whose Vicar he pretends to be and losing his right of Spiritual Sovereignty the Temporal Appendages thereto appertaining must likewise fall with it This methinks must seem very clear to an impartial eye Philoth. It must so Philopolis and yet I will cast in a fourth Argument of undeniable evidence to them that understand it Every Secular Prince nay every private man has a commission from Heaven to cast off the yoke of Rome as being that Mysticall Babylon mentioned in the Apocalypse of whom it is said Apoc. 18.4 And I heard another voice from Heaven saying Come out of her my people that you partake not of her sins and that you receive not of her plagues Philop. That 's well thought of Philotheus That 's an invincible Argument indeed to as many as are convinced that by Babylon there is meant Rome Christian or if you will Pagano-christian as I profess that I am very well satisfied it is by what I have read in late Authours who have demonstrated that Truth so plainly that I think no man that has but the patience to understand it and 't is no such great Riddle can ever have the face to deny it What say you Cuphophron to it Cuph. I say Philopolis that I have not yet had the patience to understand it But yet I understand so much from the present discourse as silences all scruples in me against Reformed Christendom's being the Kingdome of God so that Philotheus may pass to your Third Quere if he will Philop. I thank you for that good news XX What success the Kingdome of God has had hitherto in the world and how correspondent to Divine Predictions Cuphophron I beseech you therefore Philotheus take my Third Quere into your consideration and tell us What success the Kingdome of God has had hitherto in the world Philoth. I am glad we are come to this Point Philopolis as well for Hylobares his sake as your own For there is not a more illustrious Specimen of Divine Providence then the Progress of the Church or Kingdome of God judiciously compared with the Prophecies from its first commencement to this day Hyl. Though I am God be thanked O Philotheus very well settled in my belief of the Divine Providence yet as men do not drink of wholsome and pleasant wines merely for necessity but indulge something to delight so though this farther satisfaction be not altogether needfull as to that point yet the pleasure of the instances of a Truth of so great importance you may be sure will be very acceptable to me besides that it is a main ratification of the soundness of our Religion Upon which account I shall be still your more diligent Auditour Philoth. And the consideration of so serious and ingenuous an Auditour makes me with the greater alacrity betake me to my task which yet I must by reason of the time perform with all possible brevity To omit therefore that first Prediction of the Incarnation of Christ according to the more mysticall sense Gen. 3.15 that The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpent's head we will take notice in the first place of that ancient Promise of God to Abraham Gen. 12.3 In thee shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed as also in
another place where God is said to bring Abraham forth abroad and to say unto him Gen. 15.5 Look now towards Heaven and tell the Stars if thou be able to number them for so shall thy seed be And in the same Chapter a deep sleep falling upon Abraham at the going down of the Sun and an horrour of great darkness seising upon him the Lord said unto him in a Vision Gen. 15.13 c. Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a Land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years And also that Nation whom they shall serve will I judge and afterwards shall they come out with great substance And thou shalt go to thy Fathers in peace thou shalt be buried in a good old age But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again that is to the Land of Canaan For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full And in the seventeenth Chapter more expresly touching that Land And I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the Land wherein thou art a stranger all the Land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God And upon Abraham's willingness to offer up Isaac the first Promise made to him has a very high and pompous Ratification Chap. 22. By my self have I sworn saith the Lord For because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son thine onely son That in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the Stars of the Heaven and as the sand that is on the Sea-shore and thy seed shall possess the gate of his Enemies And in thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed because thou hast obey'd my voice Hyl. You have produced abundant testimonies of God's timely Promise to Abraham O Philotheus but in what considerations do you conceive it to have been performed Philoth. The Numerousness of Abraham's Offspring is notorious even in the more carnal sense For the people of the Iews properly so called are very numerous not onely in the Turkish Empire but in Christendome it self as Travellers observe Besides that vast plenty of Abraham's bloud that may run in the veins of Nations of a disguised name as amongst the Turks and did amongst the Saracens without disguise not to adde all Christendome to which in a better and more mystical sense the completion of the Promise is applicable For all Christians in this sense are the seed of Abraham How will then the seed of Abraham be multiplied when all the Kingdoms of the World are become the Kingdoms of Christ the son of Abraham and how compleatly will then that be fulfilled And in thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed which has in a good measure been fulfilled in all Christendome already And what-ever is commendable in the Morality or Religion of the Turks it is plain they owe it to Moses or Christ. And what-ever was illustrious and laudable amongst the Heathen Nations heretofore in Vertue and Philosophy the first seeds are credibly conceived to have been fetched from the posterity of Israel Euist. The ancient Fathers harp much upon that string as if Pythagoras and the wisest Philosophers of Greece had all from that Fountain Bath I and the marvellous applicability of that ancient Philosophy to the three first Chapters of the first Book of Moses which are all Philosophicall does wonderfully ratifie that Conjecture of the Fathers Cuph. But that Vision of Abraham at the going down of the Sun has an interpretation and completion more express touching the affliction of his offspring in Egypt and their redemption from that bondage after four hundred years saving that it was penn'd after the Event Bath That in my judgement O Cuphophron is a very disingenuous Exception whenas you see so plainly that those Prophecies also are verified that reach some thousands of years beyond the time of Moses By this cavill Moses should have omitted all Predictions whose Completion was before his own time nor have recorded either the Dreams of Pharaoh or of Ioseph himself Philoth. Indeed Cuphophron this fetch of yours is over-fine and witty and next to the distrusting of the whole History of Moses But the truth of the Prophecies that point at Events some thousands of years after Moses's time countenances also the History As in that notable Prophecy of Iacob Gen. 49.10 The Sceptre shall not depart from Iudah nor a Lawgiver from between his feet till Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be Which Prophecy plainly points at the time of the coming of the Messias and Conversion of the Nations to him which fell out accordingly Philop. It is very true Philotheus Philoth. But that also is very wonderful and observable which Saint Paul intimates XXI Historicall Types of what was to befall Christ and his Church As the Sufferings of Joseph and his Exaltation that the Actions and Accidents that befell the seed of Abraham are Prophetick Types touching Christ and his Church It were an endless business to number up all but not amiss to give you an instance or two As the Conspiracy of the chief of Iacob's Family against Ioseph their brother to put him to death Gen. 37.19 Behold this Dreamer cometh Come now therefore let us slay him A fit Figure of the Conspiracy of the Scribes and Pharisees and the Rulers against Christ who by Divine Revelation knew himself to be the Messias as well as Ioseph by his Dreams was fore-advertised that he should be exalted to that honour that his Father and Mother and Brethren should bow down themselves to the Earth to him and worship him as his Father declared from his Dream of the Sun and the Moon and the eleven Stars doing obeisance to him And from the Dream of the Sheaves his brethren said unto him Gen. 37.8 Shalt thou indeed reign over us Wherefore for these things they envied him to the death But after his Sufferings his descent into the pit and his garments dipt in bloud which are not unsignificant of the death and burial of our Saviour Christ he was not onely raised out of the pit again but highly advanced into the Political Heaven in the Court of Pharaoh which bears an Analogie to the Ascension of Christ and his Apotheosis For as even those that crucified Christ after adored him as the Son of God so those that conspired the death of Ioseph after did the lowliest obeisance to him and as Iacob speaks in the interpretation of his son's Dream they bowed themselves down to the Earth before him And also as the death of Christ tended to the Salvation even of them that crucified him so that Conspiracy against Ioseph and the Affliction they brought him into proved at last the Conservation of the Conspiratours And lastly as it is said of Christ Isa. 53.10 When thou shalt make