And if he does correct his Children with Rods and we may be sure that he never does that but he does it with Justice too then for the same Reason we may believe that he will chastise his Enemies with Scorpions And upon this Account we should take care to hear the Rod and who has appointed it and should make such good use of the Miseries which we suffer in this World as to let them put us in mind to flee from the Wrath to come For if we will not hearken to God's Voice when he chides us we shall at last when he comes to smite us sink under the weight of his Hand and if we neglect his Displeasure we shall fall under his Fury and Indignation 3. If God in the greatest and highest Instance of his Mercy with which he has acquainted us in his Gospel has not allowed us an Absolute Pardon but has even in that his Covenant of Grace required Conditions of us in order to our being made Partakers of that Pardon which is the Purchase of our Saviour then it does highly concern us that we take care to perform the Conditions on our Part that so we be not excluded from the Benefits of such Purchase For tho' it be most certain that we shall not be saved by our Repentance alone yet it is as certain that we shall not be saved without it No! He who has purchased our Ransom has in such his Purchase provided for God's Honour as well as for our Safety and notwithstanding his Purchase has taught us that we shall forfeit the last if we take no care of the first Let us therefore look upon our selves as we are in our selves that is as forlorn miserable Wretches Let us acknowledge our selves such to God Let us quit our Sins which have made us such And as we have by such our Sins hitherto rebelled against him let us for the future resolve to comply with his Will that is to the uttermost of our Power to obey his Laws Let us be heartily sorry that we have been so foolish as ever to have done otherwise And when we have done all this then let us joyfully accept and thankfully acknowledge the Designs of his Pity towards us and the Provisions that he has made for our Safety in a Saviour For this is the Way to bring that Salvation which he has prâ—â—â—ded for Mankind I say to bring it home to our selves and to make it our own And I may add that this is the only way for us to do so For as there is not Salvation in any other but in Jesus Christ alone so there is not any possible Way for us to make our selves Partakers of this Salvation but by Repentance 4. Lastly Because we have seen that the Condition of the faln Angels is forlorn and desperate for want of a Saviour to expiate their Sins therefore this Consideration should enhance and magnifie our Praise to God that whereas he has in his Severity passed by those glorious and exalted Creatures and so has left them to the Stroke of pure and unrelenting Justice yet he has not dealt so with us Men weak and sinful Dust and Ashes Lord what is Man that thou art thus mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou so regardest him Therefore Blessing and Praise and Honour and Glory be to him that sitteth on the Throne and to the Lamb for evermore CHAP. IV. That Person to whom alone the Expiation of Sin is by the Scriptures ascribed is by the same Scriptures set forth to us 1. As God 2. As Man 3. As God and Man united in one Person or God Incarnate No Man a competent Judge of all possible Unions The Incarnation agreeable to the Sentiments of Mankind and variously foretold prefigured and suggested in the Scriptures Some Practical Inferences somewhat enlarged HAving seen in the foregoing Chapter that an Expiation for our Sin could neither be made by our selves nor by any other Creature and that therefore he who could make good such an Expiation must be more than a mere Creature It will be our next Business to search the Scriptures in which as we shall see more fully hereafter the Expiation of Sin is set forth and there to see what Character they give of him who made such Expiation For by that Means only we are likely to come to any true Knowledge and Information in this great Affair 1. Now in such Scriptures we find first that That Person to whom this Expiation is there ascribed is called God the Son of God the Word the Only Begotten of the Father That he is there said to be with his Father before the World began That he laid the Foundations of the Earth and that the Heaven are the Work of his Hand That he createâ— all Things that are in Heaven and that are iâ— Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities oâ— Powers That all Things were created 〈◊〉 him and for him That he is before alâ— Things and that by him all Things consist That to him is given all Power in Heaveâ— and Earth with much more to the same Import and Purpose which we need not repeâ— at present because if we believe so much and we all at least pretend to believe it foâ— the Word of God we may from thence satisfie our selves that he who has such a Character from God must be the True anâ— Everlasting God For so is the Maker oâ— Heaven and Earth and so is he who haâ— all Power in Heaven and Earth For such 〈◊〉 Description does imply in it Omniscience anâ— Omnipotence and such other Attributes bâ— which we do tho' in other Words describâ— the True God both to our selves and to alâ— others But we shall pursue this no farther here because it is not our professed Business at present For we have only mentioned it and confirmed it with some few Texts of Scripture without quoting the Places in order to our full and clear Explication of that Expiation which was made by our Saviour And when we come to do that we shall then more plainly perceive that the Deity of our Saviour and the Expiation made by him do mutually prove and establish each other 2. The Scriptures do acquaint us That that very Person to whom they do ascribe the Expiation of Sin was a true and real Man For they give us an Account of his Conception Nativity Life and Death They acquaint us with his Conversation and Manner of Life with his Natural Actions and Passions and each of them such which are undoubted Arguments of an Humane Nature and Condition Such are his Discourses his Eating Drinking Sleeping Grieving and the like By which Account of his Person we may be as well satisfied of his Humanity under this Head as we may be of his Deity under the last And I may add that if we do with Simplicity and Sincerity receive the Account of his Person and Character that the Scriptures give us
Does God then allow nay require us to imitate him in his prime and leading Attribute and by stooping to our Nature provoke us to exalt that Nature so far as to make our selves like to him in those Things for which his Praise is chiefly celebrated Then let us for once gratifie our Ambition the right way and tho' we are but Men yet let us in this attempt to make our selves like to God as he in his Incarnation was pleased to make himself like to us The Attempt is great and generous and worthy the Endeavours of our best Endowments and most noble Faculties For if we chearfully cast off our Sins and by a constant and sincere Practice of Holiness do make it our Business to be like our Saviour holy and undefiled as he our High-Priest was we shall in some sense lift our selves above the Earth even while we inhabit in it and tho' we cannot get up to Heaven yet we shall by that means bring Heaven down into our Souls and so shall in some measure anticipate our consummate Happiness And since the grand Design of our Saviour's Humiliation in his Incarnation was to engage us to this holy Ambition let us have a care that we do not defeat such his Design and our own greatest Hopes 2. Did our Saviour by taking our Flesh and Blood and so uniting it to himself consecrate our Nature to the great and noble Purposes of Holiness and Mercy And did he also by so doing so intimately unite us to himself that we are Flesh of his Flesh Bone of his Bone and Members of his Body Then this should teach us to have a more sacred and especial Care by no means to pollute That which he has so consecrated And therefore what St. Paul says in the Case of Fornication Shall I take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of an Harlot God forbid that we may say in all other like Cases Shall we take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of a Drunkard of an unclean of an intemperate Person or indeed of any other Sinner whatsoever God forbid For we should be ashamed to abuse our Bodies which by his Incarnation are so nearly allied to his Body that they are the same Flesh and Blood with it I say we should be ashamed to abuse them by such Practices which we must needs know his Soul abhors And this our Shame should therefore be attended with the greater Confusion because whereas he took upon him our Flesh that in that Flesh he might work out our Salvation we when we employ it in any Sin do indeed employ it to its own utter Ruine and Damnation Let us therefore have a care that we be sober chast temperate because otherwise we bring a Scandal upon our greatest Friend and Benefactor For by abusing our own Bodies when we our selves are Members of his Body we do by the Slander of such our Doings abuse his Body also And here I take my self to be obliged to leave a Mark upon one Practice too too general among Christians and that is That when they do professedly pretend to commemorate the Infinite Mercy of their Saviour's Incarnation they are so far from doing it in a way agreeable to his Honour that instead of that they do too commonly do it by Excesses Surfeitings and Drunkenness And so when they pretend to offer to God for their Saviour's Incarnation the Praises of Men by their Manner of doing it do render themselves more vile than Beasts Which Practice as it is in it self profligately vile and wicked so it has brought such a Scandal upon the Duty by such its Wickedness that not a few and those too devout and zealous Christians tho' their Zeal and Devotion does indeed want Wisdom have leaped over into the other Extreme and have utterly disallowed any Commemoration of the Infinite Blessing at all So easily do foolish Men run into Extremes on both Sides and leave the Golden Mean to be practised only by a few that is by the truly Wise 3. Did our Saviour humble himself to our Nature and Condition in order to the working out of our Salvation Then this should teach us to be like him in this very respect and not to disdain to stoop to our Inferiours when by such our Condescension we may any ways advantage their Welfare and real Interest And for our doing so we have in him the most noble Example that ever yet the World was made acquainted with For in this Case we imitate the Condescension of our Lord and Master Nay when our Compassion stoops lowest it only stoops to our Fellow-Creatures those who are made of the same Lump of Clay with our selves and those who as Things may fall out may be as helpful and useful to us again So that when we condescend to relieve them we do by so doing teach them to relieve us if ever the same or the like Miseries with theirs should become our own And we are as sure that Things may so fall out as we are sure that we are Men. Now because our God did condescend to our Nature for the Relief of our Misery when the Condescension and the Kindness was only His and when the Benefit was only Ours shall not we the rather practise such a charitable Condescension when by such our Practice we do commiserate at least our Own possible Condition Shall the Son of God by taking upon himself our Nature make our Condition His in order to his more sensible Compassion of such our Condition and shall not we condescend for the Relief of those of our own Kind which after one Remove is for the Relief of our selves For if we be too proud in the Case to stoop to our Inferiours yet methinks we should not be too proud to imitate our God And if the Infirmities of the one will not engage us to Condescension in order to Compassion yet one would in reason be apt to think that the Example of the other might do such a thing We ought therefore in order to our Exaltation to learn from him that to do any good to our calamitous Brother is not to debase our selves For our Charity is not the less but rather the more noble for being extended to a thatched Cottage and a personal Visit to the meanest Man where it is likely to prove beneficial to him will always wear this Character That it is a glorious Imitation of the Lord of Glory who did not disdain a personal Visit to the meanest of his Creatures whom he had endowed with Capacities of receiving that his inestimable Blessing without which they must have been for ever miserable 4. Did our Saviour not only come to us clothed in our Flesh but did he also put on the Form of a Servant in order to the Purchase of our Redemption Then this his Example should instruct us to do our very best Works with Meekness and Humility We are very apt to think our ordinary Performances if
reckoned a Reward And if that Obedience to which such Reward is by the Law assigned were entirely their own then that Person whom yet the Scriptures call their Saviour could in no Sense be truly so called because in such Case their Salvation would be their own legal Purchase as being the Reward of their own Obedience And lastly to suppose the Saviour to be therefore their Saviour because he bestows upon them Salvation in Consideration of an Imperfect Obedience that is an Obedience which is so far from deserving Salvation that it does indeed stand in need of a Pardon is to suppose him to bestow the Reward there where the Law does not lay it that is upon Supposition that such Law is Just it is to suppose him to be Unjust From all which the Conclusion at last must be That since their Saviour must save them for their exact Obedience to the Law if he save them justly and since we are sure that he does save them justly tho' they have paid no such Obedience that therefore the Method in which he saves them is by entitling them to a perfect Obedience Now how that is done will be our Business to make out as also that the Manner of his doing it is just and righteous and therefore reasonable By which it will appear that our present Way of Reasoning does not want its Weight tho' perhaps it may at present seem too light to demand an Assent But before we proceed to that we shall offer a few Practical Reflections upon what has been already laid down 1. And first From what has been said we may easily perceive that God is not so fond of our Persons or of our future and everlasting Happiness as to provide for such our Happiness by his own Neglect of his own Law For Heaven and Earth shall pass away but one Tittle of his Law shall not do so Tho' therefore we can easily allow our selves to break his Law and make light of his Commands yet we may therefore be sure that he will not do so because his Commands and his Laws are Holy For it is a foolish and vain Imagination to think that essential Justice and Holiness that is in other Words that God will put Slights upon himself to gratifie those with Impunity and much less with Glory and Immortality who put Slights upon Holiness by sinning against his Laws The truth of it is because we are fond of our selves and very desirous of our own Happiness we are ay! and the very best of us too too apt to think that God is so too and in this Case we are foolishly inclined to think him to be altogether such an one as our selves And this makes us to entertain soft and easie Thoughts of his Mercy and in the mean time to have no due Regard to his Justice But if we would but consider that both his Mercy and his Justice are guided by his Holiness and that as he will not punish us without our Demerit so neither will he reward us unless we become righteous I say if we would but seriously consider this it might be an effectual Means to engage us to look better to our Ways lest whilst we think we are on our Journey towards Happiness we be found by Mistake to tread in the broad Road that leads to Destruction 2. From what has been said we may learn where to seek and to find what we do all naturally desire and that is Happiness I say we may learn that it is only to be sought wisely and to be found certainly in the Ways of Holiness For tho' our Sins may be expiated by the Death of our Saviour yet when we have made our selves Sinners we are not sure that we shall be made Partakers of such Expiation and so we are not sure of the Pardon of such our Sins and we are sure that without returning to the Paths of Holiness we shall not be made Partakers of such Expiation and that therefore we shall only enjoy the Benefit of it when we are found in such Paths The most certain Means therefore of making our selves happy will be by keeping our selves holy For so long as we do so we keep our selves within the reach of the Gospel-Promises and tho' our Holiness be not in this World perfect yet as we shall see shortly God will provide a way to make that and our Happiness perfect in another World 3. By what has been said we may learn how it comes to pass that we have no sincere and entire Happiness in this World and that is because we have not here any sincere and entire Holiness For were we freed from all Sin we should be also freed from all Misery For we mistake if we do not think that Crosses Losles Pains Sickness and Death are all of them the Effects of our Sins And we may be sure that they therefore are so because we are sure that when our Sins are done away all these Miseries shall be taken away too No! Sin is mixed with our Life That spots stains and corrupts it and so Affliction and Misery come to be mixed with it too And therefore were Sin once banished out of this lower World and true Righteousness planted in its Place were God's Will done in Earth as it is done in Heaven his Kingdom would presently come and the Glories and Beatitudes of Heaven would certainly flow in upon all those who have arrived to a perfect that is to an Heavenly Holiness Since therefore we may be so easily satisfied that it is Sin and Sin alone that impairs our Happiness and that too that Happiness which most of us love so well our Happiness in this World one would think that this Consideration single and by its self should engage us to hate Sin as much as we love such our Happiness and therefore also to endeavour to encrease our Happiness by destroying our Sins 4. If our Good Works are so full of Flaws and Imperfections that in order to our Salvation it will be necessary that we be entitled to a Perfect Obedience then this may instruct us not to trust in them alone for our Salvation For tho' it be true that we cannot be saved without them yet it is as true that we cannot be saved by them alone because an Imperfect Cause can never produce a Perfect Effect Such Salvation then as the Gospel has taught us to hope and expect God in our Saviour only can bestow but we can never by our Good Works deserve And therefore even he who has wrought out such Salvation for us has taught us when we have done the best we can still to confess our selves unprofitable Servants 5. Lastly If no Man's Obedience be perfect in this World then it will but ill become us to boast of our Perfection here Which in this latter Age has been the known Practice of several proud Seducers and Enthusiasts who have therefore despised all other Christians but those of their own Cast or Sect as
Salvation as he has already done so to some And that he will also make them acquainted with the Conditions that he requires of them in order to their being made Partakers of such Salvation that is he will make them acquainted with Jesus Christ their Saviour and with his Doctrine and Laws And then to come up close to that Design at which we have all along aimed Since we know by Experience that God has not by any Means made all Men acquainted with these Things in this Life that therefore he will do it in a future Life And it seems to me that he has given us sufficient Grounds to believe that he will do so in those very Revelations which he has already afforded us to guide us in the Way of Salvat on For tho' the generality of Christians and by their Way of wording themselves whether in their Popular Discourses or in their Writings one would be inclined to think that the generality of Divines too do conceive that the Resurrection of all Men will be caused at one and the same time perhaps invited to such a Persuasion because as the Scriptures do tell us that a Resurrection is in order to a General Judgment so they do assign but one Day to that Judgment called therefore the Day of Judgment Yet we may do well to consider That short and general Expressions are very seldom compleat and full Narratives And if in this very Case the Scriptures where they descend to a more particular Account of the Matter do give us in a different Information and so do assure us that the Resurrection of all Men shall not be at one and the same time but that there is a distinct Period of Time set out for the Resurrection of some Men from that which is appointed for the Resurrection of others then we hope it will not be thought an Extravagance if we shall assert That there will be more Resurrections than one or which perhaps speaks our Meaning plainer That several Sorts of Men according to the Tariety of their Behaviour and other their Circumstances in this World shall be raised not only in different Conditions but also at differeut Times in the next World And those Times too as will appear from what will be spoken hereafter at Distances considerably remote from each other Now the Scriptures in the Twentieth Chapter of the Revelations do acquaint us with a three-fold Resurrection 1. The First is of those Men who were Martyrs for Jesus and for the Word of God c. ver 4. By which I understand all the Faithful in Christ tho' I do not in this Place contend the Truth of such Exposition because I shall have occasion to speak to it hereafter 2. The Second Resurrection is in ver 5. where we are told that the rest of the Dead lived not again till the thousand Years were finished Now those who are said to be first raised in the Fourth Verse are there also said to reign with Christ a thousand Years Therefore when we are told in the Fifth Verse that the rest of the Dead lived not again till the thousand Tears were finished it is implied that then they did live again So that a thousand Years do intervene between the first and second Resurrection And tho' it follows in the latter end of the Fifth Verse This is the first Resurrection yet it is evident that that cannot be meant of the Resurrection in the Fifth Verse because we had been before made acquainted with a Resurrection which was a thousand Years before it I therefore take the whole Sentence in the former part of the Fifth Verse But the rest of the Dead lived not till the thousand Years were finished to be Proâ—eptical and to come in in a Parenthesis For indeed their proper Place is between the Sixth and Seventh Verses Let us therefore see how the Sense will go if we remove them from the Place where they stand at present and place them between the Sixth and Seventh Verses Ver. 4. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand Years Ver. 5. This is the first Resurrection Ver. 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection On such the secord Death hath no power but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand Years Now if in this Place we bring in those Words in the Fifth Verse But the rest c. the Sense will go thus Ver. 5. But the rest of the Dead lived not again until the thousand Years were finished Ver. 7. And when the thousand Years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his Prison and shall go out to deceive the Nations c. By which it is plain that if the Sentence at the beginning of the Fifth Verse be removed and placed between the Sixth and Seventh-Verses then the Sense and the Discourse concerning both the First and Second Resurrection will be entire and continued and also will be plain easie and natural Now from the Words thus restored to their natural and true Order we do to our present purpose take notice 1. That they who have behaved themselves as faithful Christians in this Life shall be raised first in the next Life 1 Cor. chap. 15. ver 23. 2. That they shall reign with Christ a thousand Years before any of the rest of Mankind shall be raised 3. That they shall reign with Christ here upon Earth because 1. The Dead in Christ shall rise first shall with the Faithful that are alive and remain at the Lord 's coming be caught up in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air From whence we do with Mr. Mead infer That the Lord is at that time coming down to the Earth for otherwise how should they meet him Consult the First to the Thessalonians chap. 4. towards the latter end 2. Because the Saints of the First Resurrection shall after the thousand Years be besieged in the beloved City Rev. 20. ver 9. But such City comes down from Heaven to Earth Rev. 21. ver 2. And it is evident in the First Text that the City besieged was upon the Earth Consult the Second of Peter ch 3. ver 13. 4. That they shall never die more because they shall ever be with the Lord 1 Thes ch 4. ver 17. 5. That they shall with him judge the Angels 1 Cor. chap. 6. ver 3. and probably also wicked Men See the Second Verse of the same Chapter Compare also the Thrones in the Fourth with the great White Throne in the Eleventh Verse of the Twentieth Chapter of Revelations By all which it is at least suggested that the Saints of the first Resurrection shall then be with the Lord Jesus when he shall judge both wicked Angels and Men. 6. That as our Saviour after his own Resurrection continued upon Earth Forty Days and then ascended into Heaven so his People shall upon their Resurrection continue with him upon Earth a thousand Years and
is that roaring Lion who goes about seeking whom he may devour that is that the Business and Design of his Temptations is the Destruction of Souls And for that Reason we may also know that the main Design of his Temptation or Deceit in the Text must be to seduce the People there mentioned from believing in and receiving the Saviour and by consequence from obtaining Salvation From all which we do conclude That to qualifie these People for the farther Mercies of the Saviour over and beyond the Resurrection which I shall in this Place adventure to call his general and unconditional Purchase we may suppose 1. That the Saviour shall be then tendred to them For not having heard of him in this Life they had no Possibility either of receiving or rejecting him here as the rest of Mankind had 2. That after they are upon their Resurrection made acquainted with the Saviour they shall be put upon the same Probation whether they will receive him upon the Conditions of the Gospel as those were who had heard of him and the Gospel-Conditions in this Life 3. That if upon such their Probation they do receive him they shall then be in the same happy Condition in which they now are who did receive him in this Life and who do therefore enjoy the Happiness of the first Resurrection For we may reasonably judge that if upon their Resurrection they did receive him that then they should die no more as they who were alive at his first Coming which Coming does still continue did not die but were caught up to him And perhaps for this Reason the Text does only account for the Death of those of this Second Resurrection who opposed the Saviour and besieged the beloved City And if we suppose such a Process in this Affair as indeed the Circumstances seem to allow us more than barely to suppose it it will upon such Supposition be found exactly to answer and agree with the Proceedings at the first Coming of our Saviour to raise the Righteous For as then they who believed in him and were alive in the Earth did not die at all but were caught up to meet the Lord in the Air so here those who upon their Resurrection received and believed in the Saviour then made known to them shall not die but shall be taken to the Lord and so shall escape that Fire from Heaven which will destroy all the rest who besiege the beloved City Just as the Righteous at the beginning of this our Saviour's Coming were caught up to meet the Lord in the Air and so escaped the general Conflagration which ensued 1. Now from all that has been said the Answer to the first Question will be That they who shall be raised by that which we have called the Second Resurrection are all those who never had had the Offer of a Saviour made to them in this Life 2. From which we may gain an easie Answer to the second Question which is Why the Devil is let loose to deceive them The Reason of which is Because they are to undergo the same Probation upon the Offer of the Saviour to them which those underwent who in this Life had the same Offer For it is just and equitable that they should undergo the same Trial with those of the first Resurrection for this Reason Because all Mankind having by Sin become voluntary Subjects to Satan it is neither agreeable to the Divine Justice nor indeed to the Rules of Reason in general to rescue any of them from such Subjection without their own voluntary Consent For in order to their Return to their Original Subjection to God it is necessary that they become good and holy And in order to their becoming so it is necessary and that too in the Nature of the Thing that they be willing to become so As therefore the Devil first brought them off from their Subjection to God to that of himself by persuading them to consent that is to be willing to the Revolt so God brings them back again only by persuading them to be willing to return For if on one side or the other either God or the Devil should force or compel them to their respective Subjection they could by such Force neither be made good nor bad that is they could not become Subjects to either because there can be no moral Goodness or Badness without the Consent of his Will who is good or bad Since therefore God having made Man a Free Agent and so capable of Moral Goodness did not force them to continue good when the Devil first tempted them to be bad and so did not hinder the Devil from tempting them to be bad at first neither will he for the same Reason hinder the Devil from tempting them to continue so no not when he himself does offer to them a Saviour So that the Offer of a Saviour by God and his Invitations and Persuasions of Men to receive such Saviour on the one Hand and the Devil's Dissuasions and Temptations of them from receiving such Saviour on the other Hand being in some measure a Counterpoise to each other the Receiving or Refusing of the Saviour becomes the Act and Deed of him to whom he is tendred and so in Right and Justice the consequential Benefits of such Receiving and the consequential Mischiefs of such Refusal shall become his just Portion Tho' therefore the Devil shall not be suffered to tempt those of the First Resurrection any more because they had already baffled and overcome his Temptations in this Life and so notwithstanding such his Temptations had received the Saviour on the Gospel-Conditions Yet because the Case of those of the Second Resurrection is upon such their Resurrection and the Offer of the Saviour then to them just the same as was the Case of the First in this Life therefore Satan shall be let loose to tempt them after their Resurrection as he was to tempt the others in this Life God therefore by raising them from the Dead did in a Saviour do that for them which it was utterly impossible for them to do for themselves but still leaves them to do for themselves what they can do tho' as we may suppose not without such Assistance as may be sufficient if they be not wanting to themselves to enable them to conquer the Devil's Temptations 3. The Third Question is Why the Devil is said to be let loose to deceive the Nations In order to the Resolution of which we must take notice that upon the Second Resurrection there was now Two Sorts of People upon the Face of the Earth whereof the first are the Inhabitants of the New Jerusalem the beloved City Now as under Moses's Law the Israelites who were the People of God whose chief City was Jerusalem the Place where God had setled his more Solemn Worship and his more Especial Abode I say as the Israelites are opposed to the Gentiles that is to the rest of the World in