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
7. And again Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee in whose heart are thy ways Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a Well and the rain filleth the pools with water They go from strength to strength till every one of them appear before God in Sion By which is intimated that firm Faith and holy desire brings us at last to the fruition of God and his Kingdome To all which I need not adde for a conclusion the perpetuall and constant performance of what-ever we find our selves able and bound in duty to perform For he that has this Faith and sincere desire can never sin against the Power of God and the Dictates of his own Conscience This Philopolis is a brief but faithfull direction for the obtaining that great prize the Kingdome of God within us Philop. And I am infinitely obliged to you Philotheus for your hearty and serious Instructions in so important a Mysterie I hope they will never slip out of my mind Cuph. I am sure his Indoctrinations touching the Centre of the Soul in the Heart stick so fast in mine that I shall never forget them But I beseech you Philotheus what will become of that Centre of the Soul in the other state when we have left our Hearts behind us Philoth. It is much O Cuphophron that your Philosophy should scruple at this unless you be also at a loss what will become of the other Centre of the Soul because we leave our Brains behind us They retain the same offices still the one to joyn us with the Spirit of the World or else with the Spirit of God the other to be our common Percipient Philop. This is a Curiosity which I for my part took no notice of X The externall Kingdome of God properly so called what it is And I pray you Philotheus be no farther engaged in the point but proceed to the externall Kingdome of God and declare to us what it is Philoth. The External Kingdome of God amongst men is much-what the same in a larger acception of the word that the pure and true Church of God is Which is a body of such people as make profession of the onely true God the Maker and Creatour of all things and the Supervisour of all the affairs of the Vniverse a Punisher of offenders and a Rewarder of all those that seek him This profession of one God joyn'd with the pure worship of him devoid of all Idolatry and gross Superstition as also of all Cruelty and Barbarity and of all foul and unclean Customs but on the contrary it being a declared Law amongst them That they ought to love this one and onely true God with all their heart and all their Soul and their neighbour that is all mankinde as themselves and to deal with others as themselves would be dealt withall they in the mean time living in no opposition or defiance to any sufficiently-revealed Law of God This profession I say does constitute any Family Countrey Nation or Kingdome the Church of God or Kingdome of God In which description O Philopolis if you rest satisfied it will be easie according to the sense thereof to answer the first part of your second Quere namely When the Kingdome of God began Philop. I am not so curious as not to rest satisfied in this description XI When this Kingdome of God began O Philotheus and therefore I desire you to proceed to the second Quere Philoth. It is manifest therefore O Philopolis out of this description that the Kingdome of God began as timely as the first Family of the world and was continued in the succession of the Patriarchs before and after the Floud to Moses and through the Mosaick Polity which some in a more peculiar manner contend to be a Theocracy to the coming of Christ. Philop. But what shall we think in the mean time therefore of the ancient Philosophers which had nothing to doe with either the Patriarchs or Moses and yet believed One onely true God the Authour and Governour of the Universe and were singularly good and vertuous in their conversations were they any part of the Kingdome of God Philoth. That the Philosophers had nothing to doe with Moses and that their wisedome derived not it self from that fountain is more then I dare averr But if they were such as you describe for profession and life and communicated not with the Idolatries and pollutions of the Gentiles I should look upon them as very much a-kin to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and dare not debarr them from being certain scattered Appendages to the Kingdome of God Philop. If you think so favourably of them Philotheus for my part I cannot be of so sour and severe a temper as to grudge them that honour In the mean while I am not onely satisfied touching the so timely commencement of the Kingdome of God or the Church but of the succession of it to the coming of Christ which answers to the second part of my second Quere Where it has been to be found since its beginning And truly that God had his Church so timely seems to be intimated by that timely Martyrdome begun in it in the Murther of Abel Matt. 23.35 from whose righteous bloud Christ seems to begin the Martyrology in his commination to that murtherous City the carnal Ierusalem Bath This is notably well observed of Philopolis O Philotheus and puts me in minde of something a dark passage in the Apocalypse which haply may receive light from hence namely Apoc. 13.8 there where it is said That all would worship the Beast whose names are not written in the Book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world that is à mundo condito Which passage I conceive alludes to the murthering of Abel it being so early an example of the wicked martyring the good And therefore by the Lamb is here understood according to the Prophetick style the whole succession of the holy ones or elect of God spotless in life and invincible in their patience no persecution being able to subdue their minds to evil or to make them violate their Consciences For there is no deceiving or overcoming the Elect whose Names are written in the Book of Life which Book is called the Book of the Lamb or of the Elect of God because their names are enrolled there and this Lamb said to be slain from the foundation of the world because the example of the wicked murthering the innocent and just began so early in Cain's murthering of his brother Abel But to understand by the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world the Lamb that was to be slain is so bold an abuse of all Grammar and Logick that I must confess till this consideration came into my minde the Text seemed to me to be of a desperate obscurity unless we should have taken the liberty to understand by this slaying of the Lamb in the ordinary sense that is
Empire in Constantine's time became the Kingdome of God but were no particular members of the Church at that time in any thing reprehensible Whether the Reformation cease to be the Kingdome of God for the wickedness of some of that denomination let our Adversaries be judges who never spared to style themselves Holy Church for all the abhorred ungodliness of the Heads their Holinesses at Rome and universal pollution of the members and that because they took themselves to be the true Christian Church and to hold the right Faith and to retain the Rites and Religious Practices as to the externall Worship of God though they were indeed an Antichristian Church and all overrun with abominable Doctrines and Idolatrous Practices and Diabolical Cruelties against the true Worshippers of God Of how much more right therefore ought the Reformation to be held the holy people of God and his peculiar Kingdome who profess the Apostolick Faith entire without any Idolatrous superadditions who murther no man for his Conscience and make the infallible Word of God it self the Object of their Profession and the platform of their Religion Cuph. The truth is the disparity is infinitely great if the Roman and Reformed Church stood in competition which of them two should be the Kingdome of God Bath But it being so plain that the Reformed Church is the true Externall Kingdome of God forasmuch as they make pure profession of the Gospel of the Kingdome cleared from all the gross Corruptions of men and teach Christ merely according to the Word of Christ and that also in this regard the Church of Rome by their Antichristian Doctrines is really a contrary Kingdome thereunto that is the Kingdome of Antichrist how abominably nauseous O Cuphophron must Indifferency in Religion be amongst Pretenders to Protestantism whenas the Romanists themselves scarce in the worst of times would have laid down their zeal in the behalf of that Christianity against Turcism though Turcism ought not to be more abominable to them then their Antichristianism ought to be to us XVII The Charge of Antinomianism against th Reformation For what can be more contrary then the Kingdome of Christ and of Antichrist Cuph. This would bear more weight with it Bathynous if there were no gross flaws in the externall Profession of the Protestants and that they were right in their declared Opinions For in my judgement Antinomianism and Calvinism I mean that dark Dogma about Predestination are such horrid Errours that they seem the badges of the Kingdome of Darkness rather then of the Kingdome of God Bath What you mean by Antinomianism O Cuphophron I know not But so far as I know there are but these two meanings thereof either a conceit that we are exempted by the liberty of the Gospel from all moral Duties a thing exploded by all the Protestant Churches as you may understand by the Harmony of their Confessions or else it signifies a disclaim of being justified by the doing our Duties and an entire relying on the Satisfaction or Atonement of Christ which rightly understood has no evil at all in it but is an excellent Antidote against Pride For those that profess such an Antinomianism as this and declare they look to be saved by Faith onely without the Works of the Law will not deny but that they are to live as strictly and holily as if they were to be saved by the integrity of their conversations and yet when they have lived as precisely as they can that they are wholly to relie upon the mercy of God in Christ. How lovely how amiable is such a disposition of a Soul as this who taking no notice of her own innocency or righteousness casts her self wholly on the Goodness and Merits of her Saviour and so like an un-self-reflecting and an un-self-valuing childe enters securely and peaceably into the Kingdome of God and into the choicest mansions of his heavenly Paradise Cuph. Nay if that be the worst of it Bathynous I am easily reconciled to Protestantism for all this Bath This is the worst of it O Cuphophron so far as I can understand And you know the orthodox Protestants universally adde their Doctrine of Sanctification or a good life to that of Justification by Faith onely so that I dare say they dealt bonâ fide but by a secret Providence directed so their style and phrase as was most effectual to oppose or undermine the gainful traffick of that City of Merchandises where the good works they ordinarily cry'd up so were nothing else but the good and rich wares those cunning Merchants purchased at cheap rates from abused souls the increase of whose sins were the advance of the Revenues of the Church and their externall good works as they are called an excuse for their want of inward Sanctification and real Regeneration the main things the Protestants stand upon which can be no more without Good works in the best sense so called then the Sun without Light Cuph. But are there then Bathynous no Antinomians in the ill sense amongst the Protestant Bath No otherwise Cuphophron then there were Gnosticks and Carpocratians in the Apostolick times There are but disallowed by general suffrage Cuph. Let that then suffice XVIII The Charge of Calvinism against the Reformation But this dark Opinion of Predestination how dismall does it look Bathynous black as the smoak of the bottomless pit out of which the Locusts came Bath What do you allude to the Turks and Saracens Cuphophron The Turks indeed are held great Fatalists whence some in reproch call this Point of Calvin Calvino-Turcism Who would have thought Cuphophron so Apocalyptical That you take so great offence at Predestination in that rude and crude sense that some hold it I do not at all wonder for it has ever seemed to me an Opinion perfectly repugnant to the nature of God that he should Predestinate any Souls to endless and unspeakable misery for such sins as it was ever impossible for them to avoid This is a great reproch in my apprehension to the Divine Majesty But that there is an effectual Election or Predestination of some to eternall life I must confess I think it not onely an Opinion inoffensive but true which seems to me probably to be intimated from such passages as these Apoc. 13.8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship the Beast whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world And again in another place of the Apocalypse And they that are with him are called Apoc. 17.14 and chosen and faithfull And also in the Epistle to the Romans Rom. 8.28 29. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them that are the called according to his purpose For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate and whom he did predestinate them he also called c. These places considered together want not their force
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
waters issuing out of the Sanctuarie in Ezek. 47.1 12. the form of a mighty River and of the Trees bringing forth fruit according to their months the fruit whereof should be for meat and the leaves for medicine Is not this perfectly answering to that River of Water of life Apoc. 22.1 2. clear as crystall proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb and to the Tree of life on either side of the River yielding her fruit every month whose leaves also are said to be for the healing of the Nations Philop. I must confess it is exceeding probable Philoth. Now they being one and the same Vision as to the Object of their Prediction the new Ierusalem and the River and the Trees being mystically to be understood Ezekiel's Vision also is to be mystically understood Philop. As for S t. Iohn's Vision methinks it is a marvellous childish conceit to expound it literally as if there should be a City made of diaphanous Gold the Wall of precious Stones and the Gates of Pearl Philoth. And yet methinks this is more marvellous That the City should be as a Cube Apoc. 21.16 as high as it is broad or long And yet it is so declared and twelve thousand furlongs is the Cubical measure thereof Philop. What then is the meaning of that passage I pray you Philotheus Philoth. I think two things are hinted thereby The one I have noted already That this City cannot be understood literally The other is what was intimated before by the names of the Apostles This solid Cube twelve thousand signifies that this City will be wholly and entirely Apostolicall in Life and Doctrine and Discipline The square Root also of the measure of the Wall 144 Cubits intimating the same Apostolicalness of Dispensation For the saying a hundred forty four Cubits is the measure of the Wall Apoc. 21.17 implies that it is 12 cubits high and 12 cubits broad nor could the intimation reach any farther speaking suitably to the nature of a City wall For what kinde of City must that be the compass of whose Wall is but 144 Cubits Philop. Some say Philotheus that the Root of that Cube you mentioned being extracted and so the Perimeter of this City S. Iohn describes discovered it is found to be the same in a manner with the Perimeter of that City Ezekiel describes Ezek. 48.35 What does that signifie think you Philoth. I know not what else it should signifie but that these two Visions aim at the same thing and that the meaning of that also in Ezekiel is spiritual and that those Prophetick Figures that strike the phancy and the flesh are to be fulfilled in the dispensation of the Spirit which the whole Iudaicall Oeconomy seals to as a Type to the thing typified And from hence is to be interpreted that sixth verse And he that sate on the Throne said It is done All is finished now Now we are come to the Dispensation of the Spirit all is fulfilled I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End I began with that Mosaicall Oeconomie which consists most-what in Figures and carnal Formalities which was in a manner revived again in an exteriour Christianity but this oldness of the Letter is to be done away and all shall be ended and accomplished in the dispensation of the Spirit and by the real Renovation of the humane nature into the new Creature the living Image of God according as it is written And he that sate on the Throne said Behold I make all things new These are the days in which the Lord has promised that he will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Iudah Jer. 31.31 33 34 namely that he will put his Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts so that they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord For they shall know me from the least of them to the greatest Apoc. 22.4 For as S. Iohn saith they shall see his face and his Name shall be in their foreheads According as our Saviour has foretold Matt. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God All which denotes the Dispensation of the Spirit According as Ezekiel also witnesses of these Times Neither will I hide my face any more from them Ezek. 39.29 for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel saith the Lord. This therefore is the meaning of that passage in the sixth verse Apoc. 21.6 And I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of Life freely viz. I will freely communicate unto him the power of my Spirit According as Isay likewise has foretold Isa. 44.3 For I will pour water on him that is thirsty and flouds upon the dry ground and I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thy off-spring Whence I should interpret the crystalline River S. Iohn mentions of externall Prosperity also Apoc. 22.1 the Joy and Peace and Security of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To all which you may adde that our Saviour compares the Spirit to living waters John 7.38 Philop. I remember it very well Philoth. And now for that last verse Philopolis I see little difficulty in it Abomination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it usully signifies an Idol And the sense I conceive is That all Idolaters and Impostours or Liars in any sense will be excluded the Holy City nothing being admitted there but Truth and Simplicity of Life onely those that are written in the Book of Life of the Lamb. Philop. I what 's the meaning of that Philotheus Philoth. Onely the Elect of God Bath It is much that such an innumerable company of Souls should be all of the number of the Elect such as of whom it is said Jer. 1.5 I sanctified thee from the womb and knew thee before thou wast born Philoth. I call all Elect that upon the privilege of their new Birth or the retaining of the Divine Life have their names enrolled as Citizens of the new Ierusalem in the Book of Life of the Lamb. Philop. A sober Interpretation And now Philotheus I warrant you you think you have run through all the Particulars I proposed Philoth. Why have I omitted any of them Philopolis Philop. IX The Angel's measuring the City with a golden Reed what the meaning thereof Onely one but that a main one I think viz. Why the Angel is said to measure the City here with a golden Reed whenas S. Iohn is said to measure the Temple of God and the Altar and them that worship therein simply with a Reed Philoth. This is well recovered Philopolis For it is in my apprehension a notable testimony of the transcendent condition of the new Ierusalem even above those Times of the Church which were accounted symmetral viz. the first four hundred years or
rest of the Army of the great King with such splendour and luster as is ineffable their Mouths also being filled with Songs of Victory and their Ears with the Echo of their own Melodie For the Air was miraculously tuned into Musicall Accents to their Divine Ditties as if some invisible hand had play'd upon the Concave of the Heavens as upon some well-strung Harpsicall or Theorbo So that my Soul was so enravished with the sight and with the Musick that my Heart melted mine Eyes flowed over with tears and my Spirits failed within me for very excess of Joy Philop. Certainly Theomanes was in a very great Rapture when he was thus affected Philoth. And he was thus really affected Philopolis as he told me and I dare believe him for he is a man of the greatest Simplicity imaginable Philop. But I have interrupted you again Philotheus before I was aware I pray you go on Philoth. But part of this pleasure was quickly intercepted by a sudden overcasting of the Heavens as it were with an universal thick Cloud of a rusty hue But I heard the Musick still whereby I might discern the motions of that Triumphal Pomp. But a more dreadfull noise presently put an end to that Rapture also For this Cloud of Night broke into a Chasm near the celestial Army which was instantly filled with a most glorious Light and through that lucid passage I heard a mighty voice like the sound of a Trumpet saying I am Alpha and Omega the First and the Last the Beginner and Continuer and Ender of Ages I am he that lived and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore and have the Keys of Hell and Death Whereupon the Chasm closed again and the Souls of the forsaken were filled with horrour For they presently expected the execution of that dreadful Sentence Matt. 25.41 Go ye accursed into everlasting Fire And indeed after some pause and silence wherein I again heard that Heavenly Melodie but a little farther off that Triumphant Company ascending higher and higher through the bright azure fields of peacefull Bliss the arched roof of this hollow Dungeon seemed all on fire with cross Flashings and Lightenings running all over Which had no sooner ceased but the seventh Thunder uttered its voice which was accompanied with a rowling and tearing noise every way over the whole Sky Whereupon the Clouds set a-raining one continuall sad and direful showr of Fire and Brimstone upon this forlorn Crew till the whole Earth became but as one round Lake or Pond of burning Sulphur Apoc. 20.15 And whosoever had not his name found in the Book of Life his portion was in this Lake of fire burning with Brimstone Apoc. 21.8 which is the second Death This is Theomanes his Vision O Philopolis of the seven Thunders Which contains in it the most distinct order and succession of Affairs in the Church from the beginning of the seventh Trumpet to the end of all things that I ever met with I must confess the Distinctions are but general but if I had had any thing more precise and particular that great sincerity and nobleness of spirit and hearty love and zeal for the Interest of the Kingdome of God which I persuade my self I discern in you would have obliged me to have imparted it to you with a very good will Philop. I give you many thanks Philotheus for your good opinion and bountiful intention But what you have imparted is more then I could merit or hope to obtain from any other hand and such as I must acknowledge my self competently well satisfied with as having some guess what every one of those Thunders mean but should be better confirmed in my apprehensions thereof if you would briefly communicate your thoughts of them Philoth. That I shall doe XXXIX A brief Explication of Theomanes his Vision and very briefly O Philopolis These seven Things therefore are orderly contained in the seven Spaces of the seven Thunders In the first the Effusion of the seven Vials In the second The settling or establishing of the Church into the State of the new Ierusalem come down from Heaven In the third That more full and universal Reign of Christ called the blessed Millennium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in a more proper and eminent sense In the fourth The loosing of Satan or the visible vergency of the World to another Degeneracy or Apostasie from the Kingdome of Christ. In the fifth An Attempt of the apostatized part of the World to get the Dominion again over the Godly and the danger of the Wicked's again captivating the Iust. In the sixth The visible appearance of Christ in the last Judgement wherein he gives Sentence upon both the bad and the good In the seventh and last The Execution of this Sentence the Godly and sincere Believers ascending with the holy Angels towards their Heavenly Inheritance prepared for them while Hypocrites and Unbelievers are tumbling with the Devils in the Lake of Brimstone burning with Fire Philop. I thought there was some such meaning of this Vision and plainly see through the Symbols and Iconisms of it that there is nothing contained in it that is at all dangerous or Heterodox But the manner of his being affected in his receiving these orderly-ranged Truths seems to me something extraordinary Does not Theomanes highly relish such a peculiarity of Dispensation O Philotheus Philoth. XL The important Usefulness of Theomanes his Vision together with the Iustifiableness of his yielding to such an Impression Not at all Philopolis so far as I can discern He onely expresses himself well pleased with the Reasonableness and Usefulness of the Vision For he professes it consonant to both Scripture and Philosophy and has taken notice severall times in my hearing how useful it is both for the digesting all those Visions in the Apocalypse that appertain to the last Trumpet into their right Order according to Synchronism and also to discover the Ignorance of some that have pretended to Inspiration who guessing that the last Trumpet is the Trumpet of the last Judgement in a Politicall sense but not discerning these distinct parts of it I mean the distribution thereof into the seven Thunders have adventured to conclude to the prejudice of the Apostolick Faith that there is no other Judgement but this nor any other Trumpet to raise the Dead and to summon them before the Tribunal of Christ then the Evangelization of a certain Doctrine of their own broaching But assuredly Philopolis that Resurrection which S t. Paul treats of in his first Epistle to the Corinthians is not a Moral nor Politicall Resurrection as cannot but be palpably manifest to any one that impartially peruses his Discourse and therefore the last Trumpet there mentioned cannot bear a mere Moral or Politicall signification As it is manifest that cannot in his first to the Thessalonians For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout 1 Thess. 4.16 17. with the voice of