assurance of which Enlightens 3. The Apostle according to other Scriptures distinguishes between the day dawning and the Day-Star arising one signifying the succession of the Kingdom of Christ the other the glory of that Kingdom So the Mystery of God is to be fulfilled in the days of the Seventh Angel and then Christ appears in his Glory So the Apostle distinguishes between Christ blasting the man of sin with the Breath of his Mouth which is by the mighty power of the Everlasting Gospel and then utterly consuming and annihilating Him with the Brightness of his Coming or Appearanee 4. The Apostle describes the Apostacy that should so long delay the Kingdom of Christ in mystical Terms under the shade of Nicolaianism and Gnostiscism so fit to type out the Idolatry impurity of Manners and all the Abominablenesses of the Antichristian State of which Antichrist the little Horn in Daniel whose representation Daniel gave as thinking to change Times and Laws until the time of the Kingdom of Christ Now of this very changing Times and Laws is the Second Chapter of this Epistle a delineation and most prophetically and at greatest advantage after the mention of Prophecy it is given 5. His Third Chapfer most plainly and exprsly refers to Time for he answers not as some think the Atheists but the Antichristians Objection those great Burlesquers of Christianity into Fables called therefore Scoffers who say That all things from the Flood having continued as they were there is no such change as of the Kingdom of Christ to be expected and so all that which concerns the Kingdom of Christ hath passed with them for Millenarian Heresie The Apostle hath therefore laid down the Rule and Standard of Time accounting the Six-days of Creation each as at a Thousand Years and in the Evening or as between the two Evenings of the sixth Millenary begins the Sabbatical Milenary or the Seventh Thousand which is with the Lord that is with relation to the Lord or the Lord Jesus Christ in relation to his Kingdom but as one day often called the Day of Judgment and that Sabbath Day in which Saying of the Apostle That a Thousand Years is as one Day there is a manifest foresight of the Diâ—ine Spirit what it would make known by John even that number'd exactly Numbered Time of a Thousand years which the Apostle Peter affirm'd to be with the Lord viz. as Time designed and set out to the Lord as his own Times That one Day Now as this view of this Epistle gives us a clear apprehension how full to the purpose of Prophetical Scripture this Epistle is written how it simpathizes and is contemporate with the whole Scope and Spirit of it so the Words and Sense of Interpretation is exactly fitted to all and no other can fit it For there were two things all the Hebrews both unbelieving and believers were fully agreed in 1. That the Prophecies of Scripture were of Divine Inspiratien that Prophecy of Scripture came not by the will of man but was from the Holy Spirit This the Believing and Unbelieving Jews were both most zealous of 2. That Messiah had a Kingdom assured to him in the Propheâ—ies of Scripture This even the Unbelieving Jews were all in â—ighest expectatâ—on of at that very time and the Believing Jews also were earnestly at that time in expectation of To these the Apostle therefore cannot be supposed to direct the force of his Discourse But that Jesus Christ was not to be owned as the true Messiah the Son of God and the King of Israel notwithstanding his Kingdom did not immediately appear was a Point the Unbelieving Jews are to this day scandalized at even to their rejection of Christ the True Messiah and the Christian Hebrews were very tender in Therefore that Jesus Christ was the True Messiah and that great Prince the Apostle gave first the pâ—oof of the Transfiguration as hath been shewn And that he with James and John were Eye and Ear-Witnesses Three Witnesses in the Mouths of whom it was establish'd and no Cunningly devised Fable to shift off the Scandal of the mean Appearance of our Lord in the days of his Flesh But saith the Apostle We have a more sure word of Prophecy as hath been opened to which you do well to take heed But the Objection still remains That the Prophecys run all upon a Glorious Kingdom of Messiah at that time to appear as the Unbelieving Jews thought and therefore the Scribes Pharisees Chief-Priests Elders their whole Sanhedrim determin'd against him with a high hand that he was a Deceiver The asserting therefore the Divine Inspiration of Prophecy could not be to the main purpose but that it is not of Private Interpretation but that serious Christians may find the sense and meaning of it and that it is not within the Enclosure or Embarasse of any Sanhedrim Council or Infallible Breast This is indeed highly to the purpose and that according to the Sense and Meaning of the Divine Spirit in it one part compared with another by the Assistances of the same Spirit it would appear that as Daniel's Seventy Weeks brought down Time to its fulness viz. at the Death Resurrection and Ascention of Christ that a dark place or Interval of delay and patience for that Kingdom must needs be for a long space but that yet that all Takers heed to prophecy Prophecy leads through the dark place with the Illumination of that Course of Time and how long it shall be until the dawning of the day and the shining of the day Star into the hearts of all his Saints by the glorious appearance of Christ and in the fulness of times or all Times Now all this is very evidently to a great and admirable end purpose and â—ffect in the Apostle's Discourse in this Context and whole Epistle viz. to settle the hearts of the Believing Hebrews and of all Christians in the comfortable Expectations of that Kingdom in the midst of the greatest Darkness of the worst Times and it is with the greatest Wisdom of the Divine Spirit of Prophecy that at this very Advantage the Apostle goes on to set out this Apostacy at this very Joint of Discourse of the dark place which that very Apostacy was to create and at naming of prophecy and tells them that there shall be false Prophets among Christians as there were among the People of Israel of old So the Apostle John in the Revelations joins the Antichristian Beast and False Prophet in several Particulars opposite to the Apostles Doctrine concerning Prophecy and Interpretation of Scripture wheâ—ein they have Antichristianiz'd as the Pharises at that time had Prevaricated 1. In that insolent Pretence to Infallibility of Interpretation by a Pope and Council and their Clergy would engross Interpretation and the Power of Interpreting Scripture as their own Propriety Right and Dominion 2. In their Locking up Scripture from the people under this very Pretence They cannot interpret nor have right to interpret it
and Dishonour under the wrath of God and the Lamb. And of this all the Judgments that have been hitherto in the World have been Parts Peices and Portions also Pawns and Pledges of that State Those Great Judgments therefore on the Fallen Angels on the Old World on Sodom and Gomorrah on Egypt on Corah Dathan and Abiram on Nadab and Abihu have been already instanced in the Destruction of great Armies as most especially in the Valley of Jehosaphat 2 Cor. 20. 24. Joel 3 12. a great Type of that last Result at the Battle of Armageddon is most worthy to be considered and so indeed are All the Judgments we Read of in the Book of God The Book of the Wars of the Lord Numb c. 21. 14. Run down with a strong Stream and Torrent into their Great Sea the last Judgment at the Kingdom of Christ and having all the Nature of Miraculous confirm the Point we are now upon That Miracles and the Kingdom of Christ are closely Connex'd and Joyn'd together Argum. last For a Summary or Recapitulating Argument we may look back on some of the most Remarkable Miraculous Appearances of God in the Old Testament and see what an Illustrious Correspondence they bear to the World to Come or to the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Translation of Enoch that he should not see Death Gen. 5. 22. Heb. 11. 5. That we know was perfect Miracle compar'd with the Present State of Dying Elijah and Elisha's Raising the Dead Types of the Resurrection 1 Kings 17. 17. 2 Kings 4 28. The Dividing the Red-Sea and Jordan Types of the smiting the Egyptian River in the Seven Streams and Destroying the Tongue of it making men go over Dry shod and of a High way for his People as to Israel in the Day he came up out of the Land of Egypt Esay 11. 16. and Like Drying up the Deep and the River and the Pride of Egyptian and Assyrian Departing away when all shall be strengthen'd in God and the people shall walk up and down in the Name of the Lord Zech. 10. 11. c. The giving of Mannah as Bread from Heaven looks to Christ the Bread of Life and the Tree of Life as the Water out of the Rock to the Water of Life But I would especially have Respect to that Standard Miracle of the Sabbatical Year A great Wonder of the Riches and Might and Power of God Every Seventh Year there was a mighty shewing forth of the Power of God For that the Earth brought forth it self so much in the Sixth Year that they might Live upon it without any Plowing or Sowing the seventh Year The seventh Year was to be a Sabbath of Rest unto the Land a Sabbath to the Lord the Children of Israel were neither to Sow their fields nor to Prune their Vineyards nor to Reap nor to Gather but all were to Live alike of what came forth of it self God promised to Bless the sixth Year so that It should yeild meat for three years that so the seventh year might be a year of Sabbath or Rest to them Now let us Consider what the Prophets have spoken concerning this World to Come how exactly suitable and agreeable to this they have spoken of the World to Come From whence I Argue and do appeal to any one whether the Argument be not exceeding great The seventh year among the Jews was a Symbol was a Peice Parcel Portion of the World to Come whereof we speak and of the great Sabbatism of it Amos 9. 11. In that day will I Raise up the Tabernacle of David that it may be Built as in the days of Old That they may possess the Remnant of Edom and of all the Heathen which are called by my Name saith the Lord that doth this And then it follows Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that the Plowman shall overtake the Reaper and the Treader of Grapes him that soweth Seed and the Mountains shall drop sweet VVine and All the Hills shall melt The Earth and the Mountains and the Hills shall Flow out with a great Freedom and Spontaneousness into an abundance for the Servants of God Then shall the full Sense and Meaning of the Sabbatical years be understood Then shall the Full Sum of which that was but a Part and Portion be brought into open View Then instead of the Briar and Thorn shall grow up the Mirtle Tree and the Fir Tree And It shall be unto the Lord for a Sign and a Memorial that shall not be cut off When our Lord was here in the Days of his Flesh he gave an Experiment of Divine Power to the same purpose and it was a Miracle he seem'd to delight in For he several Times Repeated it He fed with a few Loaves and small Fishes so many Thousands and the Baskets of Fragments far exceeded the Principal or very first Provision Now these Things are all own'd to be Miracles let us but ask our selves whether these things were not so If we now in this Nation should let Plowing and Sowing alone for a year would we not look upon it as the Introduction of a Famine but now if God should positively command us and Assure us That there should be care taken in any one year for three years and we should Find it so taken Would we not look upon it as Miracle If any one should Set down so great Numbers of People as Christ did to so small a Provision that every one could not take a little should we not look upon it with as great or greater amazement than the Apostles did upon Christs doing so But if the small Feast in the Beginning should Multiply in the Eating and become More after a plentiful Eating than it was before Eating Should we not look upon it as a Miracle Now All this Imports That a Sufficiency of Food and Durable Cloathing shall be in the Kingdom of Christ that his Servants may Eat and be Satisfied Eat and Drink at his Table in his Kingdom and attend upon the Lord without Distraction that is Fulness of Enjoyment Thus the Miracles Christ did in Healing and Recovering the Sick the Blind and the Lame How did these mighty Acts look to that State of the World to come Revel 21. 4. There shall be no more Sickness Sorrow Pain Death nor Curse but God shall wipe away all Tears from his Servants Eyes The Great Readiness of Christ in shewing his Mercy and Power towards the Blind and Lame that they might be so no longer makes me think of that Glory in the Book of Samuel when it is said of David the Blind and the Lame whom David's Soul hated I only make an Allusion not considering the strict Sense Jesus Christ his Soul hated not the I ame or the Blind but the Blindness and the Lameness the Sickness and the Death His Soul had such a sense that this came upon the World upon Mankind by sin That he Laboured and Travailed in Spirit till he
it Consider it every way and then give me an Answer is it Miracle or not And as it is thus concerning Creation so concerning Providence it is perfect Miracle for what is Miracle but an Effect rising from the immediate word of God now how does our Meat preserve our Life not by it self only but by every word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of God as our Lord hath declared to us So How do our Cloaths warm us How does the whole Course of Nature maintain its Circulation We are as ignorant in all these things even as the Jews were when Christ either Heal'd the Sick or the Lame or open'd the Eyes of the Blind or cast out Devils or whatever were the great things he did and yet still the things were evident Matters of Fact Even so it is in the Dayly Evidences of the Divine Power and Greatness and Goodness in the Creation and Dayly Providence How excellently does David speak upon this Subject Psalm 104. He goes through this whole Oeconomy of Creation and Providence and therefore he begins thus Oh Lord my God thou art very Great Thou art Cloathed with Honour und Majesty who coverest thy self with Light as with a Garment and so on Now if we do really believe that the whole World stands by Immediate Divine Power and that every day the Motions of it come fresh out of the Hand of God and that beyond all Natural Causes or Connexion of Causes then we must acknowledg Miracles every day The Prophet Jeremy tells us Lament 3. 23. It is of the Lords mercies we are not Consumed and because his compassions fail not they are new every Morning We are ready to think the Light and the Life and the mercy of this Day are the same they were Yesterday but if we believe the Spirit of God by that Prophet they are not the same though of the same for Kind yet not the same by any necessary Continuation or Natural Connexion with those of Yesterday but new new every Morning Now if the mercy of this Morning be new why then it is certainly a Miracle because no Power of a Creature could have produced it or brought it forth but an Immediate Act of the Power of the goodness of God And he had not done it so yesterday that he must needs do it to day yet if he did not generally do it and that anew our Life must cease for ever Oh if our Hearts did but Live under this Sense of God how Humble and Dependent would it make us We are ready to think it is the Suns Duty to Rise to Day because it Rose Yesterday and we are too ready to Build upon it that our Life shall be to Day as it was Yesterday but if we could consider that it is indeed a New Life every Day yea every Moment and that whatever Channel it runs through yet that God alone is the Giver immediately from Himself and it is continually a New Gift If a Man were Dead and Raised again from the Dead then every one would look about them and make a great wonder but if we went up to the Fountain Head we should find the very same Power that Raises the Dead giving Life every Moment and if we could see but into that we should see Miracle in the one even as in the other for both are immediately from Infinite Power Both are New Only one is out of the Ordinary Course of Gods Disposal the other not so I would only argue this further on one place of Scripture and so pass on It is said Rom. 1. 20. The Invisible Things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly understood by the Things that are made Even his Eternal Power and Godhead so that they are without Excuse The Apostle affirms The Eternal Power and Godhead are in themselves clearly to be seen round about us by the Works of Creation and Providence and so as to leave without Excuse Although therefore we see not thus clearly even the best of us and so many bruitish Atheistick Men not at all yet this cannot make the Apostle's Words of no Effect They continue Firm The Eternal Power and Godhead are so to be seen as to leave men without Excuse What now can Miracles do more They can only alarm or call us to closer Attendance They cannot more clearly inform inlighten or assure We may therefore justly say of Creation and Providence compar'd with Miracles as the Lord said of Moses and the Prophets compar'd with one rising from the Dead If they will not believe the one they will not be perswaded by the other If not by Creation and Providence no not by Miracles I would therefore consider what is said by the Men of Wit and Reason as they are ready to Esteem themselves They would suppose that Matter and Motion being either Eternal as some would have it or Created by God as others would at least seem to allow and then either by themselves or by a General Concourse of the Supreme Being they could together according to a sort of Mechanick Law do every thing But we see how soon not only the Works of Art but even of Nature Run out of Order or wear out themselves It is True if all things could have produced themselves there were an End of the Miracle of Creation Or if when made they could Govern themselves There were then indeed no Miracle of Providence but what turned Nature wholly out of its Course But to us instructed by the Word of God the whole Frame of Creation is like a well Tuned Instrument every String wound up to its due Tenor but in evèry single String and the whole Harmony the Divine Hand was immediately even wherein any Second Cause had the least Activity Every Wheel in this curious Machine was plac'd by his Finger And when all was put together and so Tun'd All had for ever notwithstanding lain still like an Instrument on which the Musicians Hand never came or was removed Or as a Clock or Watch whose Weights or Spring were never wound up or quite down or taken off And to this Frame and this Motion no Vicarious Hand but the Creator's alone can suffâ—ce He is every moment even a-new the Fountain of Life Being and Motion as the Apostle saith In him we live move and have our Being So that Creation and Providence are still Miracles The Sun and so all other of the Works of Creation in their proportion is prepared as a Bridegroom coming out â—f his Chamber and rejoyces as a strong man to run a Race But in all this the Sun declares the Glory of God alone Oh that therefore our souls could Bless the Lord while we have our Being and all that is within us praise his Holy Name that the meditation of Him and his Works could be sweet to us and that we could say we need not Miracles as further Evidences of his Creating Power or Preserving Goodness but for the Displays thereof to other
hereunto also may be reduced the many Policies and curious Designs of Men of Power and great Motion in the World that amuse ordinary Beholders but all these with the Artifices of men of lower Figure are no moâ—e than greater or lesser Puppet play moving things by Wires unseen and unobserv'd but God does indeed thâ—ngs truly great and New and puts thereby a New Song of Praise into the mouths of his Servants for they are indeed Signs and Wonders and mighty Acts. And they are indeed New because as I have said they are all Peices Parcels Portions of that New Creation the New Heaven and New Earth that New World the World to come the Restitution of All things whereof we speak as is further to be shewn But at the present I rest upon that which hath been already nam'd as the steaddy Representation of a Miracle in strict speaking to us it is the Lords Creating a New Thing in the Earth I only add that proportionably to the New Heaven and the New Earth â—od makes in the Souls of his what he calls A new Creation a new Heart and a New Spâ—rit Old things passing away all becomes New 3. The more proper and Adequate Character of Miracles is that they are Pâ—rtions and Parcels Pledges and assurances of the World to come and of the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ of the New Heaven and of the New Earth of the New Creation of God whoever looks closely and Intentively into them shall find that because the Old Creation as under the Curse through Sin and Apostasy of the First Adam will not cannot serve the Ends of the Glory of God of the Creator and of Jesus Christ the Lord and Heir of All by whom and for whom they were all made and of his Body the Church the fulness of him that filleth All in All. Therefore a new Creation is to be brought in and it is to be brought in by a Dissolution of the Old a Total Dissolution of the Old Creation the World of the First Adam and a Restitution of all things and even an Exaltation into a far Higher and more excellent State than the first Now this is to be done by Immediate Power in both Parts of Mercy and Judgment else neither Could be done No Hand but that which put together this Frame can Dissolve it no Hand but that which holds it together can either let it go or stir up those Tumults and Combustions that shall bring it to its End which is a further Argument that Creation and dayly Sustentation are Miracle Effects of immediate Power for else some however unknown to us Disorders and Crâ—ss and Counter Motions of Second Causes had Defeated the Frst Creation or long since brought this Frame to Ruine if there had been none to Guide or Sustain them but themselves And hereby it is also Evident the low State in which the Creation is is Miracle or Immediate Power of Justice for else the Goodness of the Creator had undoubtedly kept it up to its first Being in all things Good and very Good Infinite Immediate Power hath let it down so low and no lower Again on the side of Mercy and Grace so far and so much as the Creation is gone down and fallen from it self through Divine Justice Retiring the Omnipotâ—nt Conserving Hand of Power that would have kept it up or suffering thosâ— Destructive Counter-Motions in the Parts of it or in the Principles of Motion Omnipotency alone can Repair and Fill uâ— those Gaps and Hollows in the Present State and effect a Restitution of All Things and Deliver the Creation now in Bondage from that Servitude under which it hath so long and yet Grones and much more That Almighty Hand alone can Raise it above what it was at First so that Miracle runs through all Now seeing such a Boâ—h Dissolution and Restitution and Exaltation of the Creation is Decreed by God It becomes him by whom are All Things and for whom are All Things and by whom and for whom this very Dissolution and Restitution is to give warning to make Credit and Assurance of These even of Both and therefore as I have already Argued and shall much further Argue in the Part of this Discourse allotted to it That Miracles are Powers of the World to come every way proper and peculiar to it 4. Miracles are therefore Conjoyned with some Eminent and Notable Appearance of the World to Come As at the bringing of the People of Israel out of Egypt and into the Land of Canaan the Promised Land and so when Christ was here in the World and the Apostles so Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom as if it had been immediately to appear and so much more when that Kingdom shall indeed appear For else Miracles would be as Seals to a Blanck This therefore Detects all False Miracles and Lying Wonders that they are not in pursuance of the Kingdom of Christ And this is most Evident as was said before by our Saviours Inference from the Truth of that mighty work of Casting out the Deaf and Dumb Devil and that is was done by the Finger of God that no doubt the Kingdom of God was come upon them as he shews Luke 11. For Miracles cannot be without the Kingdom of God in Eminent Appearance 5. Miracles must being Parts and Peices of the World to come give greatest Assurance of themselves to be the mighty works of God this Assurance must be given to the whole man to the Mind Understanding inward and outward Senses for this is Assurance to the whole Man The Understanding is oft under Error and mistake wherein it is not Serv'd and Ministred to by Sense Sense is oft deluded when the mind does not make a Judgment When both make a full Judgment This is as great Assurance as the Intellectual sensible Being of Man is capable of and therefore Resistance to such Light is Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which is Blaspheming against full Conviction of Divine Power and Appearance Mat. 12. 31. Mark 3 18. Luke 12. 10. The Miracles therefore proper to the Kingdom of Christ are Armed at all Points by Infallible Proofs as that grand Miracle of the Resurrection of Christ was Acts 1. 3. And thus they ought to be from their Relation to the Kingdom of Christ which shall give all assurance of it self to the whole Man and for ever remove all possibility of doubt from Saints who shall see then Eye to Eye and from wicked Men who would not see but shall see in that day CHAP. IV. Of the Reasons or ends of Miracles as they are generally Assign'd by those who have Writ upon them I Come now to shew the Ends and great Uses and Purposes of God in Miracles what he intends towards the Children of men by them And I will Argue the thing Freely both on the one side and the other because I know the generality of Christians and of the Interpreters and Teachers of the Doctrine of
us that believe in Jesus Christ will deny but own it as an Article of Faith This the Scripture speaks of as a great Miracle For if Jesus Christ had come into the World the ordinary way of mankind It had been a great Argument that there had been no such Relation between Miracle and the World to Come as I now affirm to you But I will make it Evident to you how much though it be a thing we all Profess to believe That Jesus Christ was born of a Virgin The Scripture speaks of it in the High Language of Miracle The Prophet Esay ch 7. v. 11. Commission'd by God proposes to Ahaz King of Judah when there was a Confederacy against him that yet God assured him should have no success To ask of God a sign of it that is a Miracle and God knowing how great a Sâ—gn He intended him a Miracle or Sign Comprehensive of all Signs bid him Ask it as great and wonderful as he could desire either in the Depth or in the Heighth as if God had said I would have thee ask it It shall be a Point of thy Faith and of thy Obedience and thus indeed God offers a Miracle as a Confirmation as hath been allowed of any Declaration of God to man having yet an especial Relation to the World to Come Oh how great is this Goodness of God to Ahaz As if God should say to us in any Extremity or Distress I intend a Glorious Kingdom a World to Come of Grace Mercy and Peace to my Servants brought in by my immediate Hand and Power and you shall have a share of it a Lot in it as God said to Daniel and a part a pâ—wn of it in an Extraordinary a Miraculous Relief of your present Extremity and Distress How great a mercy would we esteem it But Ahaz being of a Perverse Unbelieving Disobedient Temper Oh saith he I will not ask I will not tempt the Lord what do you talk to me of Signs or Miracles I am content with the Even Course of Providence and with the stated Truth of the Word of God And so we are ready to say now What do you talk to us of Miracles They are Fancies and Whimsies of Brain sick Men only Let us keep to the Written Word and to settled Prâ—vidence even thus they will say at a Time when God is giving greatest Proof He will Work and Return on High For else I do acknowledg with all my Heart we must wait Gods Appointed Time But it is great Perversity when we Refuse the Eâ—idence of any thing Written in the Word of God that we might by the Scripture have had patience hope and Comfort in and say We won't tempt God Therefore immediately on Ahaz his Refusal saith the Prophet Esay Hear now Oh House of David Is it too small a thing for you to weary men To weary his Servants the Ministers of these things from God to you but will you weary my God also Tho you are not willing to ask a Sign I 'le single out a Sign for you Behold a Virgin shall Conceive a Son This we know is perfect Miracle It is True This did not appear at that Time to the Senses of Ahaz when it was thus Promised what sensible Symbol God gave of it then I will not now Dispute but This Promise carries our Thoughts on the Very Miracle it self when our Lord came in the Flesh and so we find the Evangelists Matthew and Luke give the History of the Virgin Mary bringing forth the Holy Child Jesus Thus we see in the Person of the Redeemer the very Foundation of the World to Come is laid in Miracle and according to this very Miracle and in Order to that very World he is Emanuel God with us God in our Nature a Miracle beyond all Miracles I 'le give you one Scripture more concerning this very Thing Jerem 31. 22 23. How long saith God wilt thou go about thou backsliding Daughter The Lord hath or will create a new thing in the Eartk a Woman shall compass a Man it is an Expression of the Miraculous Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ his Birth of the Virgin For as I have said the word A New Thing expresses the Nature of Miracle And then it follows They shall use this Speech in the Land of Judah and Mountain of Hoâ—yness which Holy Mount we know is an expression of the World to Come the very Assurance of which satiates every weaâ—y Soul and replenishes every sorrowful Soul and the ground of all this is the Miraculous Birth of the great Redeemer Jehovah our Righteousness According to this Genesis 3. 15. As soon as the present Creation was lapsed and Fallen by the Sin of Man and had sunk utterly intâ— Ruâ—ne if it had not been Shor'd up by the Mediator It is said I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman between her Seed and thy Seed It shall Bruise thy Head and thou shalt Bruise his Heel Here the Woman is taken a part from Adam and between the Seed of the Woman in a Peculiar manner and the Seed of the Serpenâ— is this Enmity Put to express that Miraculous Conception and Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ And indeed if we could lay the thing close to our Hearts God Awakens us to all the great Things of the World to come whereof we speak and shews us plainly that Things shall be lifted up to a far greater and more excellent state he hath given this as a Sign of it A Virgin shall Conceive and Bear a Son Let us consider one Scripture more Esay 9. 6. For unto us a Child is Born a Son is Given and the Government shall be upon his shoulder and his Name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace of the Increase of his Government and Peace there shall be no end Vpon the Throne of David and his Kingdom to order it and to Establish it with Judgment and with Justice from henceforth even for ever The Zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall perform this To us a Child is born a Son is Given Herein indeed is not an express Delineation of the wonderfulness of his Conception and birth but it is implied and Included His Name shall be called what shall it be called Wonderful The Man of Wonders That Wonderful Man throughout he is all Wonderful all Miracle the Counsellor and Mighty God and that which we call Everlasting Father is in the Hebrew The Father of the World to come And of his Government There shall be no End Glorious and Great shall be his Kingdom The Zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall perform this and therefore the greatness of his Power It being all Miracle shall perform this His hand shall be stretched out in it and for the World to Come The Death of our Lord Jesus Christ was stupendious Miracle of Justice and Judgment when the Lord Bruised and put him to Grief and made his
and stable 3. When the Prophetical Numbers being by Fair and Just Commissures Joyn'd to and United with the Plain Historical first Part of the Scripture-Line of Time Run on together in a strait even progressive Motion from the Creation and first Sabbatism so as to Run upon a Last Issue and Event Great enough to be that Last and to constitute a Fullness of Times or of All Times the New Creation and its Sabbatism the Apocatastasis or Restitution of All Things to the First State and much above it the Anacephalaiosis or Bringing All under Christ as the Head And all This as I said in a Strait Even Progressive Motion Taking in at their Just and Proper Seasons All other Great and Cardinal Events Embossing the Line of Time and principally that Great and Soveraign One the Coming Dying Rising and Ascension of our Lord Jesus into Heaven styl'd by the Apostle the Fullness of Time the greatest Honour of Time except the Forenamed Fullness of All Times These Two The Fullness of Time and the Fullness of Times or of All Times stand thus Distinguished Gal. 4. 4. and Eph. 1. 10. and Fix all Time Now This Constant Even Progression of Time keeps All Interpretation at a Gauge and at a Certainty from a Fugitive or Arbitrarious wandring hither and thither and is the greatest security for the Truth of it both to the Interpreter himself and to All that would put his Interpretation to the Test that can be For thus Nothing can be taken in nor thrust out at pleasure nor can there be Any Other Events shuffled in but what are found in that very Just and Natural Order of Time according to all History Thus Interpretation comes to the same Certainty as the Progresses of Time it self from Day to Day Month to Month Year to Year and Century to Century or as the parts of the Body in their True Situation one to another Whereas any other way of Interpretation hath its Starts and Leaps its Subterfuges and Evasions without Certainty or Fixedness 3. Another Standard of Interpretation of Prophecy is when there are found in the Interpretation some surprizing Transcendencâ—es in the Contrivances and as one may humbly say Artifices which the Spirit of Prophecy hath inlaid the Prophetical Frame with and engraven upon it as upon the Stone that hath seven Eyes throughout Perspicuous as well as Perspicacious And these falling in with the more Essential and Substantial Parts of Prophecy and the Events Answering in not only those Substantials but those Extraordinaries as it were Peices of Art in the Frame of Prophecy They must needs give sometimes even Ravishing Transports of Satisfaction and Assurance That one hath the True Key of Interpretation of Prophecy by the Becomingness of the Work to the Great Artist when Materiam fuperat Opus The Curiousness of the Work excells the very Materials wrought upon Even as besides the main Pillars and Rafters of the Creation and the more Bulky Parts of the Animal Creatures such Exquisite Curiosities are found herein They as much as is possible give Scientific Proofs of the Supreme and Divine Workman and when any one hath found them he cannot but break out into a Kind of Ecstatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as Galen I have Found into an Hymn to the Creator upon beholding the Admirablenesses of his Divine Hand in the Animal Contextures For both in the Works of God and in his Prophetick Word such Wonders plainly discovered give greatest pleasure both in regard of the Beauties of the Hand of God and in regard of the Joy that we have receiv'd the Key of Natural or Prophetick Knowledge For these are Great Things we looked not for and meeting with them unexpectedly we become more than Assured even Triumphantly Assured For thus it becomes him whose Vnderstanding is Infinite both in Creation and Prophecy to abound to us beyond All we could Ask or Think and though our Assurance might be solid without these yet it would not be vivid and so high 4. A Fourth Standard of True Interpretation of Prophecy is When there is Found in All Parts of the Interpretation of Prophecy a perfect Agreement between Prophecy Interpreted and the Grand Principles of Scripture which the Apostle calls Prophecying according to the Analogy of Faith When Prophecy is so Interpreted concerning the Kingdom of Christ that it be not Represented as a Carnal Sensual Kingdom but like it self Holy and Spiritual That it Agree with the Apostles and our Lord's Doctrine concerning the Resurrection both as to the Saints dead and sleeping in and by Jesus Incorruptibly Raised and the Living Remaining Saints Changed and as to the wicked Rising to Condemnation to Shame and Contempt that Prophecy is not made to call the Proud happy or to make sad the Souls whom God would not have made sad that Darkness is not put for Light nor Light for Darkness That those Black Names in Scripture-Prophecy as Beast False Prophet Whore Horns Giving their Power to the Beast be applied to such Persons and Things as the Constant and most Avowed Doctrine of Scripture makes worthy to be so Character'd however call'd by Great and Glorious Names in this Dark place of the Apostasy And on the other side that Persons and Things be Cloathed with the Honourable Names Prophecy hath put upon them as the Woman Cloathed with the Sun Witnesses Martyrs of Jesus to whom the same Constant and Allowed Doctrine of Scripture will Allow them although in this Thick and Gross Atmosphere they are Bandenitoe'd with other Names as Hereticks Schismaticks Factious or Fanaticks 5. The Crowning and Topping and most Assuring Standard for the Interpretation of Prophecy is when a Thread and Line is Laid from some Plain and Litteral Interpretation of Prophecy by the Holy Spirit of Prophecy it self in one Place to such Litteral Interpretation in another place till we come at last to that Issuing Point of All Prophecy The Glory of the Kingdom of Christ We have the Beginning of the Four Monarchies in Nebuchadnezzars Image by very Litteral Interpretation settled in Nebuchadnezzar himself For Daniel said to him Thou art this Head of Gold Dan. 2. The Persian and Grecian Monarchies are in the same manner by Littteral Interpretation of Prophecy assured Dan. 8. In the same manner the Epoch of the Revelation is Assured by the Apostles being in the Spirit on the Lords Day of the Resurrection Rev. 1. c. 5. By the Mention of the Lamb Newly Slain The Fourth Monarchy is Assured to be Current in the Time of the New Testament by Augustus Caesar Censing all the World Luke 2. By the Litteral Interpretation of the Great Whore to be the City Reigning then or that at that present was Holding the Kingdom over the Kings of the Earth which could be no other than Rome For no other had then the Kingdom besides the Seven Mountains on which she Sate is Litteral The Seven Successions of Government are given Litterally And that under the