that wee may take with us the full meaning without addition or diminution Observing this rule that what agreeth not to the Type must be meant of the thing typified and what is not fulfilled at one time must be fulfilled of the Church at another time First of all it cannot be denyed that he points in some sort at the restitution of the Temple worship of God and City of Jerusalem after the captivitie as a type of the Church of Christ for though many things in the vision do not agree to that time as hath been proved yet some things doe agree this as it is least intended in the Vision so it is not fit for me at this time to insist upon it But he that would understand the forme of the Temple of Jerusalem the severall parts and excellent structure thereof will find enough b written of that subject Secondly this and other prophecies of building againe the Temple may well be applyed to the building of the Christian Church by the Master-builders the Apostles and by other Ministers of the Gospel since their dayes Let us heare but two witnesses of the Apostles themselves applying those prophecies to the calling of the Gentiles the one is Paul 2 Cor. 6. 16. For ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people The other is James who applyeth to the converted Gentiles that prophecie of Amos After this I will return and will build again the Tabernacle of David which is fallen down and I will build again the ruines thereof and I will set it up Act. 15. 16. But there is a third thing aimed at in this prophesie and that more principally then any of the other two which is the repairing of the breaches and ruines of the Christian Church and the building up of Zion in her glory about the time of the destruction of Antichrist and the conversion of the Jewes and this happinesse hath the Lord reserved to the last times to build a more excellent and glorious Temple then former generations have seen I meane not of the building of the materiall Temple at Jerusalem which the Jewes doe fancie and look for But I speak of the Church and people of God and that I may not seeme to expound an obscure Prophesie too conjecturally which many in these dayes doe I have these Evidences following for what I say 1. If Paul and James in those places which I last cited doe apply the prophesies of building a new Temple to the first fruits of the Gentiles and to their first conversion then they are much more to be applyed to the fulnesse of the Gentiles and most of all to the fulnesse both of Jewes and Gentiles which we wait for Now if the fall of them x saith the Apostle speaking of the Jewes be the riches of the world and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles how much more their fulnesse And y again If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead Plainly insinuating a greater encrease of the Church and a larger spread of the Gospel at the conversion of the Jewes and so a fairer Temple yea another world in a manner to be looked for 2. The Lord himselfe in this same chapter vers. 7. speaking of the Temple here prophesied of saith The place of my Throne and the place of the soles of my feet where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever and my holy name shall the house of Israel no more defile neither they nor their Kings c. Which as it cannot be understood of the Jewes after the Captivity who did againe forsake the Lord and were forsaken of him as Hierome noteth upon the place so it can as ill be said to bee already fulfilled upon the Christian Church but rather that such a Church is yet to be expected in which the Lord shall take up his dwelling for ever and shall not be provoked by their defilements and whoredomes againe to take away his Kingdom and to remove the Candlestick 3. This last Temple is also prophesied of by z Isa. 2. 2. And it shall come to passe in the last dayes that the mountaine of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountaines even as here Ezekiel did see this Temple upon a very high mountaine chap 40. 2. and shall be exalted above the hils and all Nations shall flow unto it c. a And they shal beat their swords into Plough shares and their speares into pruning books nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more Here is the building of such a Temple as shall bring peaceable and quiet times to the Church of which that Evangelicall Prophet speaketh in b other places also And if we shall read that which followeth Isa. 2. 5. as the Chaldee Paraphrase doth And the men of the house of Jacob shall say Come yee c. then the building of the Temple there spoken of shall appeare to be ioyned with the Jewes conversion But howsoever it is ioyned with a great peace and calme such as yet the Church hath not seen 4. We find in this vision that c when Ezekiels Temple shall be built Princes shall no more oppresse the people of God nor defile the name of God chap. 45. 8. and 43. 7. which are in like manner ioyned Psal. 102. 15 16. The heathen shall fear the name of the Lord and all the Kings of the earth thy glory when the Lord shal build up Zion he shall appeare in his glorie verse 22. when the people are gathered together and the Kingdomes understand here also Kings as the Septuagints doe to serve the Lord Which Psalme is acknowledged to be a Prophesie of the Kingdome of Christ though under the type of bringing back the Captivity of the Jewes and of the building again of Zion at that time The like Prophesie of Christ wee have Psal. 72. 11. All Kings shall fall down before him all nations shall serve him But I aske have not the Kings of the earth hitherto for the most part d set themselves against the Lord and against his Christ And how then shall all those Prophesies hold true except they be co-incident with Revel 17. 16 17. And that time is yet come when God shall put it in the hearts of Kings to hate the whore of Rome and they shall make her desolate and naked and shall eate her flesh and burne her with fire It is foretold that God shall doe this great and good work even by those Kings who have before subiected themselves to Antichrist 5. That which I now draw from Ezekiels vision is no other but the same which was shewed to John Rev. 11. 1 2. a place so
have now chosen a Text which holds forth a remedy for this malady a cure for this case That is that if we will c humble our uncircumcised hearts and accept of the punishment of our iniquity If we be d ashamed and confounded before the Lord this day for our evill wayes if we judge our selves as guilty and put our mouth in the dust and cloath our selves with shame as with a garment If wee repent and abhorre our selves in dust and ashes then the Lord will not abhorre us but take pleasure in 〈◊〉 to dwell among us to reveale himself unto us to set before us the right patterne of his owne House that e the Tabernacle of God may be with men and pure Ordinances where before they were defiled and mixed f He will cut off the names of the Idolls out of the land and cause the false Prophet and the unclean spirit to passe out of the land and g the glory of the Lord shall dwell in the land But withall we must take heed h that we turn not againe to folly that our hearts start not aside i like a deceitfull bowe that we k Keep the wayes of the Lord and doe not wickedly depart from our God Thus you have briefly the occasion and the sum of what I am to deliver from this Text The particulars whereof I shall not touch till I have in the first place resolved a difficult yet profitable question You may aske what House or what Temple doth the Prophet here speak of and how can it be made to appeare that this Scripture is applicable to this time I answere l some have taken great paines to demonstrate that this Temple which the Prophet saw in this vision was no other then the Temple of Solomon and that the accomplishment of this vision of the Temple City and division of the Land was the building of the Temple and City againe after the captivity and the restoring of the Leviticall worship and Jewish Republike which came to passe in the dayes of Nehemiah and Zorobabel This sense is also most obvious to every one that readeth this Prophecie But there are very strong reasons against it which make other Learned Expositers not to embrace it For 1. The Temple of Solomon was 120. cubits high The Temple built by Zorobabel was but 60. cubits high Ezra 6. 3. 2. The Temple of Zorobabel m was built in the same place where the Temple of Solomon was that is in Jerusalem upon mount Moriah But this Temple of Ezekiel was without the City and n a great way distant from it Chap. 48. verse 10. compared with verse 15. The whole portion of the Levites and a part of the portion of the Priests was betwixt the Temple and the City 3. Moses his greatest Altar the Altar of Burnt-offerings was not half so big as Ezekiells Altar o compare Ezek 43. 16. with Exod. 27. 1. So is Moses Altar of Incense much lesse then Ezekiells Altar of Incense Exod. 30. 2. compared with Ezek. 41. 22. 4. There are many new ceremoniall Lawes different from the Mosaicall delivered in the following part of this vision Chap. 45. and 46. as p Interpreters have particularly observed upon these places 5. The Temple and City were not of that greatnesse which is described in this Vision for the measuring Reed containing sixe cubits of the Sanctuary not common cubits Chap. 40. 5. which amount to more then 10. foot the utter wall of the Temple being 2000. Reeds in compasse Chap. 42. 20. was by estimation foure miles and the Citie chap. 48. 16. 35. six and thirty miles in compasse 6. The vision of the holy waters chap. 47. issuing from the Temple and after the space of 4000. reeds growing to a river which could not be passed over and healing the waters and the fishes cannot be literally understood of the Temple at Jerusalem 7. The Land is divided among the twelve Tribes chap. 48. and that in a way and order different from the division made by Joshua which cannot be understood of the restitution after the captivitie because the twelve Tribes did not return 8. This New Temple hath with it a New Covenant and that an everlasting one Ezek. 37. 26 27. But at the return of the people from Babylon there was no new Covenant saith q Irenaeus onely the same that was before continued till Christs comming Wherefore we must needs hold with r Hierome s Gregory and other latter Interpreters that this vision of Ezekiel is to bee expounded of the spirituall Temple and Church of Christ made up of Jewes and Gentiles and that not by way of allegories only which is the sense of those whose opinion I have now confuted but according to the proper and direct intendment of the vision which in many materiall points cannot agree to Zorobabels Temple I am herein very much strengthned while I observe t many parallel passages betwixt the vision of Ezekiel and the Revelation of Iohn and while I remember withall that the Prophets doe in many places fore-tell the institution of the Ordinances Government and Worship of the New Testament under the termes of Temple Priests Sacrifices c. and do set forth the deliverance and stability of the Church of Christ under the notions of Canaan of bringing back the captivity c. God speaking to his people at that time so as they might best understand him Now if you aske how the severall particulars in the vision may be particularly expounded and applyed to the Church of Christ I answer the Word of God the River that makes glad the Citie of God though it have many easie and knowne Foords where any of Christs Lambs may passe thorow yet in this Vision and other places of this kind it is a great deep where the greatest Elephant as he said may swim I shall not say with the Jewes that one should not read the last nine Chapters of Ezekiel before he be thirty yeers old Surely a man may be twice thirty yeers old and a good Divine too and yet not able to understand this Vision Some tell us that no man can understand it without skill in Geometry which cannot be denyed but there is greater need of Ecclesiometry if I may so speak to measure the Church in her length or continuance through many generations in her breadth or spreading through many Nations her depth of humiliation sorrowes and sufferings her height of faith hope joy and comfort and to measure each part according to this pattern here set before us Wherein for my part I must professe as Socrates in another case Scio quod nescio I know that there is a great mystery here which I cannot reach Only I shall let forth unto you that little light which the father of â—…ights hath given me I conceive that the Holy Ghost in this Vision hath pointed at foure severall times and conditions of the Church
like to this of Ezekiel that we must take speciall notice of it and make that serve for a Commentary to this And there was given me saith Iohn a Reed like unto a Rod and the Angeâ—…stood saying Rise and measure the Temple of God and the Altar and them that worship therein But the Court which is without the Temple leave out and measure it not for it is given unto the Gentiles and the holy City shall they tread under foot forty and two moneths This time of two and forty moneths must be expounded by Revel. 13. 5. where it is said of the Beast power was given unto him to continue forty and two moneths which according to the Computation of Egyptian yeares reâ—…koning thirty dayes to each moueth make three yeares and a halfe or 1260. days and that is e the time of the witnesses prophecying in Sackcloth and of the womans abode in the wildernesse Now lest it should bee thought that the treading downe of the holy City by the Gentiles that is the treading under foot of the true Church the City of God by the tyranny of Antichrist and the power of his complices should never have an end in this world the Angel gives Iohn to understand that the Church the house of the living God shall not lye desolate for ever but shall be built again for the measuring is in reference to building that the Kingdome of Antichrist shall come to an end and that after 1260 yeares counting dayes for yeares as the Prophers doe It is not my purpose now to search when this time of the power of the beast and of the Churches desolation did begin and when it ends and so to find out the time of building this new Temple onely this much I trust I may say that if we reckon from the time that the power of the Beast did begin and withall consider the great revolution and turning of things upside downe in these our dayes certainly the work is upon the wheele the Lord hath pluckt his hand out of his bosome he hath whet his sword he hath bent his bow he hath also prepared the instruments of death against Antichrist so saith the Psalmist of all Persecutors Psal. 7. 12 13. but it will fall most upon that capitall enemy Whereof there will be occasion to say more afterward Let me here only adde a word concerning a fourth thing which the holy Ghost may seeme to intend in this Prophesie and that is the Church triumphant the new Ierusalem which is above unto which respect is to bee had as Interpreters iudge in some parts of the vision which happily cannot bee so well applyed to the Church in this world Even as the new Ierusalem is so described f in the Revelation that it may appeare to be the Church of Christ reformed beautified and inlarged in this world and fully perfected and glorified in the world to come and as many things which are said of it can very hardly bee made to agree to the Church in this world so other things which are said of it câ—…n as â—…dly be applyed to the Church glorified in heaven as g where it is said Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men having come downe from God out of heaven and hee will dwell with them and they shall bee his people and God himselfe shall be with them and be their God h Againe And the nations of them that are saved shall walke in the light of it and the Kings of the earth doe bring their glory and honour into it But now I make haste to the severall particulars contained in my Text I pray God i saith the Apostle your whole spirit and soule and body be preserved blamelesse And what he there prays for this Text rightly understood and applied may work in us that is gracious affections gracious mindes gracious actions In the first place a change upon our corrupt and wicked affections If they be ashamed of all that they have done saith the Lord Secondly a change upon our blind minds Shew them the forme of the house and the fashion thereof c. Thirdly a change also upon our actions That they may keep the whole forme thereof and all the Ordinances thereof and doe them For the first k the word here used is not that which signifieth blushing through modesty but it signifieth shame for that which is indeed shamefull filthy and abominable so that it were impenitency and an aggravation of the fault not to be ashamed for it I shall here build onely one Doctrine which will be of exceeding great use for such a day as this If either we would have mercy to our selves or would doe acceptable service in the publike Reformation we must not onely cease to doe evill and learne to doe well but also be ashamed confounded and humbled for our former evill wayes Here is a two-fold necessity which presseth upon us this duty to loath and abhorre our selves for all our abominations to bee greatly abashed and confounded before our God First without this we shall not find grace and favour to our owne soules Secondly wee shall else miscarry in the worke of Reformation First I say let us doe all the good we can God is not pleased with us unlesse we be ashamed and humbled for former guiltinesse Be zealous and repent l saith Christ to the Laodecians be zealous in time comming and repent of your former lukewarmnesse What fruit had yee then in those things whereof now yee are ashamed m saith the Apostle to the Saints at Rome of whom n he saith plainly that they were servants to righteousnes and had their fruit unto holinesse but that is not all they were also ashamed while they looked back upon their old faults which is the rather to bee observed because o it maketh against the Antinomian error now a foot It hath a cleare reason for it for without this God is still dishonoured and not restored to his glory O Lord p saith Daniel righteousnesse belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of faces Those two go together We must be confounded that God may be glorified Wee must bee judged that God may be iustified our mouthes must be stopped and laid in the dust that q the Lord may be just when he speaketh and cleare when he judgeth And as r the Apostle teacheth us that if we judge our selves we shall not be judged of God and by the rule of Contraries if we judge not our selves we shall be judged of God So say I now if wee give glory to God and take shame and confusion of faces to our selves God shall not confound us nor put us to shame But if we will not be confounded and ashamed in our selves God shall confound us and powre shame upon us If we loath not our selves God shall loath us Nay let me argue from the manner of men as s the Prophet doth offer it now unto
sake who through the presumption and unhumblednesse of their spirits will acknowledge no fault in any thing they have formerly done in Church matters I cannot leave this application to the Kingdome till I inlarge it a little further There are foure considerations which may make England ashamed and confounded before the Lord 1. Because of the great Blessings which it hath so long wanted Your flourishing estate in the world could not have countervailed the want of the purity and liberty of the Ordinances of Christ That was a heavie x word of the Prophet Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God and without a teaching Priest and without Law It hath not been altogether so with this Land where the Lord hath had not onely a true Church but many burning and shining lights many gracious Preachers and Professors many notable defenders of the Protestant cause against Papists many who have preached and written worthily of practicall Divinity and of those things which most concern a mans salvation Nay I am perswaded that all this time past there have been in this Kingdome many thousands of his secret and sealed ones who have been groaning under that burthen and bondage which they could not help and have been y waiting for the consolation of Israel Neverthelesse the Reformation of the Church of England hath been exceedingly deficient in Government Discipline and Worship yea and many places of the Kingdom have been without a teaching Priest and other places poisoned with false Teachers It is z said that all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord when they wanted the Ark twenty yeeres O let England lament after the Lord untill the Arke be brought into the own place of it 2. There is another cause of this great humiliation and that is the point in the Text to be ashamed of all that you have done Sinne Sinne is that which blacketh our faces and covereth us with confusion as with a Mantle and then most of all when we may read our sinne in some judgement of God which lyeth upon us Therefore the Septuagints here in stead of being ashamed of all that they have done a read accept their punishment for all that they have done Which agreeth to b that word in the Law If then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled The Greek readeth there ashamed and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity This is now Englands case whose sinne is written in the present Judgement and graven in your calamity as c with a pen of iron and with a point of a Diamond to make you say d The Lord our God is righteous in all his workes which he doeth for we obeyed not his voice Did not the land make Idoll Gods of the Court and of the Prelaticall Clergy and feared them and followed them more then God and obeyed them rather then God so that their threshold was set by Gods threshold and their posts by Gods posts as it is said v. 7. I speak not now of lawfull obedience to Authoritie Is it not a righteous thing with the Lord to make these your idols his rods to correct you Hath not England harboured and entertained Papists Priests and Jesuites in its bosome Is it not just that now you feel the sting and poison of these vipers Hath there not bin a great compliance with the Prelates for peace sake even to the preiudice of Truth Doth not the Lord now iustly punish that Episcopall peace with an Episcopall warre Was not that Prelaticall government first devised and since continued to preserve peace and to prevent Schismes in the Church and was it not Gods iust iudgement that such a remedy of mans invention should rather increase then cure the evill so that Sects have most multiplyed under that Government which now you know by sad experience Hath not this Nation for a long time taken the Name of the Lord in vaine by a formall worship and empty profession Is it not a iust requitall upon Gods part that your enemies have all this while taken Gods Name in vain and taken the Almighty to witnesse of the integrity of their intentions for Religion Law and Liberty thus perswading the world to beleeve a lye What shall I say of the Book of Sports and other prophanations of the Lords day This licentiousnesse was most acceptable to the greatest part and they e loved to have it so Doth not the great famine of the Word almost every where in the Kingdom except in this City make the Land mourn on the Sabbath and say f I do remember my faults this day Yea doth not the Land now enioy her Sabbaths while men are constrained not only to cease from sports on that day but from labouring the ground and from other works of their calling upon other dayes What should I speak of the lusts and uncleannesse gluttony and drunkennesse chambering and wantonnesse prodigality and lavishnesse excesse of riot masking and balling and sporting when Germany and the Palatinate and other places were wallowing in blood yea when there was so much sinne and wrath upon this same Kingdome Will not you say now that for this the Lord God hath caused g your sun to go down at noon and hath turned your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation Or what should I say of the oppressions injustice cousinage in trading and in Merchandise which your selves know better then I can do how much they have abounded in the Kingdome Doth not God now punish the secret injustice of his people by the open iniustice of their enemies Doe ye not remember that mischiefe was framed by a Law and now when your enemies execute mischief against Law will you not say Righteous art thou O Lord and iust are thy iudgements One thing I may not forget and that is that the Lord is punishing blood with blood the blood of the oppressed the blood of the persecuted the blood of those who have dyed in Prisons or in strange Countries suffering for righteousnesse sake h He that departed from evill did even make himselfe a prey There was not so much as one drop of blood spilt upon the Pillory for the testimony of the Truth but it cryeth to Heaven for precious is the blood of the Saints Doth not all the blood shed in Queen Maries dayes cry And doth not the blood of the Palatinate and of Rochel cry And doth not the blood of soules cry which is the loudest cry of all God said to Cain k The voyce of thy Brothers blood cryeth unto me from the ground the Hebrew hath it thy brothers blouds which is well expounded both by the Chaldee Paraphrase and the Jerusalem Targum the voyce of the blood of all the generations and the righteous people which thy Brother should have begotten cryeth unto me I may apply it to the thing in hand The silencing deposing persecuting imprisoning and banishing of so
Let all things be done to edifying l It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth or is offended or made weak m Let every man bee fully perswaded in his owne minde To him that esteemeth any thing to be uncleane to him it is uncleane The Text giveth some clearing to this point There is here shewed to the house of Israel a patterne of the whole structure and of the least part thereof and all the measures thereof yet no patterne is given of the kinde or quantity or magnificence of the severall stones or of the instruments of building The reason n because the former is essentiall to a house the latter accidentall the former if altered make another building the latter though altered the building is the same Therefore where we have in the Text the formes thereof the Septuagints read {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the substance thereof But to cleare it a little further I put two characters upon those circumstances which are not determined by the word of God but left to be ordered by the Church as shall be found most convenient First they are not things sacred nor proper to the Church as hath beene said they are of the same nature they serve for the same end and use both in sacred and civill things for order and decency the avoiding of confusion and the like are alike common to Church and Commonwealth Secondly I shall describe them as o one of the Prelates hath done who tells us that the things which the Scripture hath left to the discretion of the Church are those things which neither needed nor could be particularly expresse They needed not because they are so obvious and they could not both because they are so numerous and because so changeable I will not insist upon questions of this kinde but will make a short application of the Doctrine unto you Honourable and Beloved you may plainly see from what hath beene said that neither Kings nor Parliaments nor Synods nor any power on earth may impose or continue the least Ceremony upon the consciences of Gods people which Christ hath not imposed Therefore let neither antiquity nor custome nor conveniency nor prudentiall considerations nor shew of holinesse nor any pretext whatsoever plead for the reservation of any of your old Ceremonies which have no ground nor warrant from the word of God Much might have beene said for the high places among the Jewes as I hinted in the beginning and much might have beene said p by the Pharisees for their frequent washings which as they were ancient and received by the traditions of the Elders so they were used to teach men purity and to put them in minde of holinesse Neither was their washing contrary to any Commandement of God except you understand q that Commandement of not adding to the word which doth equally strike against all Ceremonies devised by man r A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump and a little leak will endanger the ship Theeves will readily digge through a house how much more will they enter if any posterne be left open to them s The wilde beasts and boares of the forrest will attempt to break downe the hedges of the Lords Vineyard how much more if any breach be left in the hedges If therefore you would make a sure Reformation make a perfect Reformation lest Christ have this controversie with England Neverthelesse I have somewhat against thee Rev. 2. 4. And so much of our duty The second Doctrine concerneth Gods decree and it is this It is concluded in the Counsell of heaven and 〈◊〉 hath it in the thoughts of his heart to repaire the brâ—… of his house and to build such a Temple to himselfe as is shadowed forth in this vision of Ezekiel For the comparing of this verse with vers. 7. in this same Chapter and with Chap. 37. 26 27. will easily make it appeare that this shewing of the patterne and all this measuring was not only in reference to Israels duty but to Gods gracious purpose towards Israel According to that Zechar. 1. 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies my house shall bee built in it saith the Lord of Hostes and a line shall be stretched forth upon Ierusalem Now this vision cannot be said to be fulfilled in Zorobabels Temple as I proved before Only here take notice that the second destruction of the Temple by the Romans was worse then the first by the Babylonians That desolation was repaired but this could never be repaired though t the Iewes did attempt the building againe of the Temple first under Adrian the Emperour and afterward under Iulian the Apostate the hand of God was seene against them most terribly by fire from heaven and other signes of that kinde And about the same time to observe that by the way the famous Delphick Temple was without mans hand by fire and earthquake utterly destroyed and never built againe To tell the world that neither Judaisme nor Paganisme should prevaile but the Kingdome of Iesus Christ Where then must we seek for the accomplishment of Ezekiels vision I meane for the new Temple in which the Lord will dwell for ever and where his holy Name shall be no more polluted Surely we must seek for it in the dayes of the Gospel as hath beene before abundantly proved But that the thing may be the better understood let us take with us at least some few generall observations concerning this Temple of Ezekiel as it representeth what should come to passe in the Church of Christ First of all there is but one Temple not many shewed to him which is in part and shall bee yet more fulfilled in the Church of the new Testament according to that Zech. 8. 9. And it shall be in that day that living waters shall goe out of Ierusalem Which is the same that we have Ezech. 47. 1. Then followes And the Lord shall be King over all the earth in that day shall there be one Lord and his name one The like promise we finde elsewhere u I will give them one heart and one way It is observed that for this very end of uniformity the Heathens also did erect Temples that they might all worship the same Idoll God in the same manner The plague of the Christian Church hitherto hath beene Temple against Temple and Altar against Altar x But thou O Lord how long Secondly Ezekiels Temple and City are very large and capacious as I shewed in the beginning and y the City had three gates looking toward each of the foure quarters of the world All this to signifie the spreading of the Gospell into all the earth Which is also signified by z the holy waters issuing from the threshold of the Temple and rising so high that they were waters to swimme in God hath said to his
of the Beasts reign about the time of that Councel the end of it will fall in at this very time of curs But I dare not determine so high a point Gods work will ere it be long make a clearer Commentary upon his word Only let this bee remembred we must not think it strange if after the end of the 1260 yeares Antichrist be not immediately and utterly abolished for when that time is ended he makes warre against the Witnesses yea overcommeth and killeth them But that victory of his lasteth only three dayes and a halfe and then God makes as it were a resurrection from the dead and a tenth part of the great City fals before the whole fall See Revel. 11. 3. 7. 11. 13. Whether this killing of the Witnesses which seemeth to be the last act of Antichrists power be past or to come I can not say God knowes But assuredly the acceptable yeare of Israels Jubilee and the day of vengeance upon Antichrist is comming and is not farre off But now is there no other application to be made of this point Is all this said to satisfie curious wits or at the best to comfort the people of God Nay there is more then so it must be brought home to a practicall use As the assurance of salvation g doth not make the child of God the more presumptuous but the more humble neither doth it make him negligent h but deligent in the way of holinesse and in all the acts of his spirituall warfare so that i every man that hath this hope in him purisieth himselfe So answerably the assurance of the new Temple and of the sweet dayes to come serveth for a twofold practicall use even as David also applieth Gods promise of Solomons building the Temple 1 Chron. 22. 10. for thus hee speaketh to the Princes of Israel ver. 19. Now set your heart and your soule to seek the Lord your God arise therefore and build yee the sanctuary of the Lord God And this is beside the charge which he giveth to Solomon First then yee must set your heart and your soule to seek God forasmuch as you know it is not in vaine to seek him for this thing k When Daniel understood by books that the 70 yeares of Jerusalems desolation were at an end and that the time of building the Temple againe was at hand then he saith I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackloth and ashes O let us doe as he did O let us l Cry mightily unto God and let us with all our soule and all our might give our selves to fasting and prayer Now if ever m the effectuall fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much Secondly and the more actively you must goe about the bunesse n Be yee stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as yee know that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord What greater motive to action then to know that you shall prosper in it o Arise therefore and bee doing And so I am led upon the third and last part of the Text of which I shall speak but very little The Doctrine is this Reformation ends not in contemplation but in action The pattern of the house of God is set before us to the end it may be followed and the ordinances thereof to the end they may be obeyed p Give me understanding saith David and I shall keep thy law yea I shall observe it with my whole heart q If yee know these things saith Christ happy are yee if yee doe them The point is plaine and needeth no proofe but application Let me therefore Honourable Worthies leave in your bosomes this one point more Many of the Servants of God who have stood in this place and could do it better then I can have been calling upon you to go on in the work of Reformation O be s not slothfull in businesse and forget not to do as you have been taught Had you begun at this work and gone about the building of the House of God as your first and chiefe businesse I dare say you should have prospered better It was one cause among others why t the children of Israel though the greater number and having the better cause too did twice fall before Benjamin because while they made so great a businesse for the villany committed upon the Levites Concubine they had taken no course with u the graven Image of the children of Dan a thing which did more immediately touch God in his honour But I am confident errours of this kinde will be now amended and that you will by double diligence redeem the time I know your trouble is great and your cares many in managing the warre and looking to the safety of the kingdom yet mark what David did in such a case Behold in my trouble a sayth he I have prepared for the House of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of Gold and a thousand thousand talents of silver and of brasse and iron without weight David did manage b great wars with mighty enemies the Philistines Moabites Ammonites and Syrians beside the intestine warre made first by Abner and afterward by Absolon and after that by Sheba Notwithstanding of all this in his trouble and poverty the word signifieth both he made this great preparation for the House of God and if God had given him leave he had in his trouble built it too for you well know he was not hindered from building the Temple by the warres or any other businesse but only because God would not permit him Set before you also the example of the Iewes when the Prophets of God did stirre them up to the building of the Temple Ezra 5. 1. 2. they say not we must first build the walles of Ierusalem to hold out the enemy but the Text saith they began to build the house of God f They were not full foure years in building the Temple and finished it in the sixth yeare of Darius Now all the rest of his reigne did passe and all Xeâ—…xes reiâ—…re and much of Artaxerxes Loâ—…manus his reigne before the Walls of Ierusalem were built a for about that work was Nâ—…hemiah from the twentieth yeare of Artaâ—…s to the two and thiâ—…tieth yeare And if b great Chronologers bee not very farre mistaken the Temple was finished fourescore and three years before the Wals of Jerusalem were finished It is farre from my meaning to coole your affection to the Iawes Liberties Peace and safety of the Kingdome I desire onely to warm your hearts with the zeale of Reformation as that which all along you must carry on in the first place One thing I cannot but mention The Reverend Assembly of â—…ivines may lament as Augustine in another case Heu heu quam trade jestino Alas alas how slowly doe I