with the Gospel which shall now begin to flourish when the tenth part of this City is fallen When the City begins to fall the Gospel shall begin to rise in equal proportion and never fall again There will be no Balm for this bruise no Cordial for this Consumption the great Whore shall now begin to abate of her flesh by that time that this Earthquake hath done reckoning with her her Arm shall be so broken that there shall be no Roller to bind it that it may be healed and strengthned And thus you have heard the first Effect of this Earthquake opened the next followeth 2. And in the Earthquake were slain of men seven thousand The New Translation rendreth it Capita hominum heads of men The Old Nomina hominum Names of men and so the Original hath it the meaning whereof is by an Hypallage Men of Names i. e. famous men The Grecians I suppose borrow the expression from the Hebrews who call eminent and renowned men Men of names as you may see 1 Chron 5.24 and 12.30 The Text there compared with the Margine in your Bibles where Men of names in the Hebrew are called famous men in the Text. And hence men of no name in the Hebrew are called base men by the Translators Job 30.8 By this then you see the meaning of the expression in my Text for these seven thousand men of Names are Viri nominati as Junius and Tremelius render the same word named or famous men They are therefore men of eminency and fame as if one should say Dukes and Earls and Lords and Knights and Esquires and Gentlemen and Prelates and Judges and Counsellours and Doctors and Collonels and Captains and Magistrates Officers c. Now of these men of Names there are slain in this Earthquake seven thousand i. e. very many Seven being a number of perfection and often used in this Book of the Revelations as seven Spirits seven golden Candlesticks seven Seals seven Trumpets seven Angels seven Vials so here seven Thousand i. e. a great number And of these it is said That they were slain in the Earthquake the Spirit of God perhaps alluding to such an effect of natural Earthquakes as when they throw down Towns or Cities and bury many of the Inhabitants in the ruines For this here is called a great Earthquake and therefore whenever and wherever it comes there will be a terrible shake both of Persons and Things viz Houses Inhabitants Lands Goods Moneys Inheritances Callings Trade Liberty Health Relations Life and many other Comforts Mens hearts will shake fear and tremble and some perhaps will cry to Rocks and Mountains It maketh me to think of the case of the Philistines 1 Sam. 14.15 16. when God committed them among themselves and when they sheathed their Swords in one anothers bowels there was a trembling saith the Text in the host in the field and among all the People insomuch that the Garrison and the spoilers also trembled and the Earth quaked so that it was a very great trembling or a trembling of God and the multitude melted away and they went on beating down one another Such a kind of Earthquake peradventure it may be when the Mighty man and man of Name shall stumble against the mighty and both fall down together Briefly It will be such a shake as will make a man to eat his bread with quaking and to drink his water with trembling and with carefulness as sometimes the Prophet did Ezâ—k 12.18 At what time the Sword shall devour flesh and be drunk with the blood of the slain from the beginning of revenges upon the Enemy And when shall this be Upon the back of the Witnesses Ascension when once a Reformation on their part riseth upon their rising for then and not till then will this Earthquake be which yieldeth some matter of Comfort to the People of God that they are so well prepared against such a shaking time for now that they are drawing nearer to God he will be their strong Tower to which they shall run and be set aloft Wherefore though the Heavens and the Earth shall shake the Lord will be the hope of his People and the strength of the Children of Israel So much for this Effect of the Earthquake And the remnant were affrighted This is the third Effect of it The Remnant Here is Mercy in the midst of Judgment that all in this tenth part of the City are not slain a remnant liveth and escapeth God is so far here from destroying the whole City that he destroyes not all the Street But yet the Remnant are affrighted flying like as the People fled from the Earthquake in the daies of Vzziah Zach. 14.5 Or as the Israelites that were round about the Tents of Korah and his Company fled when the Earthquake swallowed up the Rebels saying Lest the Earth swallow us up also Numb 16.34 This is the case of this Remnant who are not simply afraid but affrighted and e'en at their wits end they are not slain with the Earthquake but almost kill'd with fear yet spared and have their lives given them for a prey God might justly have destroyed the whole Street where his Witnesses were slain and lay dead but he is satisfied with the Sacrifice of the lives of Seven thousand men of Names and it is somewhat what a considerable price for if so many men of Names fall how many thousands of little or no name are slain together with them As Ahasuerus said to Ester The Jews have slain five hundred men in Shusan the Pallace and the ten sons of Haman what have they done in the rest of the Kings Provinces But God's Eye is especially upon the Fatlings and the best of the Flock that they may be offered up in sacrifice to him and it is somewhat like his sacrifice in Bozrah and his slaughter in the Land of Idumea where his sword is filled with blood and made fat with fatness with the blood of Lambs and Goats and with the fat of the kidneys of Rams when the Unicorns come down with them and the Bullocks with the Bulls in the day of the Lord's Vengeance and the Year of Recompences for the controversies of Zion Isa 34.6 7 8. And it is also considerable that what is wanting in the Number of the slain is made up in the fall of the Tenth of the City a part only are slain but the whole City falleth in a degree 4. And they gave Glory to the God of Heaven This is the last Effect of the Earthquake But how do they give God glory 1. By confessing their Sins especially in ought that they did relating to the slaying of the Witnesses My Son saith Joshua to Achan give glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him Josh 7.19 2. They repent also of the sins which they confess for therein also is God glorified Rev. 10.9 3. They give God the glory of his Patience and tender mercy in sparing them
the Revelations relating to the sufferings of the Church viz. 1260 days and 42 months and time times and half a time i. e. three years and an half For so many days are so many months and so many months are so many years a day being put for a year so that there is a singular answerableness in these numbers and therefore if we extend the three days and an half i. e. three years and an half to four years and an half we break the proportion and correspondence that is between these three numbers 2. How will this notion hold if at the end of four years and an half there should be no more shew of a Resurrection than there was at the end of three years and an half I come therefore to an Affirmative Answer First There are several Resurrections mentioned in the Scriptures 1. The Resurrection of the Soul from the death of Sin to the life of Grace 〈◊〉 5.25 Eph. 2.1 2. The Resurrection of the Body at the coming of Christ 1 Thess 4.16 And theâ—e two Resurrections are in instanti or in a very short and quick time as it is said of that great change 1 Cor. 15.52 In thâ—â—twinkling of 〈◊〉 3. There is the Resurrection of the Jews at their Conversion â—for so it is calied Ezâ—k 37.12 13 14. Rom. 11.15 4. The Resurrection of the Witnesses in my Text. And these two last are not so peedy as the two former but have their gradual Process and â—eâ—â—ral â—ucceeding steps For as touching that of the Calling or Resurrection of the Jâ—ws 1. There is a noise 2. A shaking Ezek. 37 7.-11 3. A coming together of Bone to Bone 4. Sinews and Flesh coming upon them and skin â—â—veâ—ing them 5. The breath of Life coming into them 6. Their 〈◊〉 upon their feet as an exceeding great Army So for the raiting of the 〈…〉 1. The Spirit of Life from God entreth into them 2. They fraud upon their feet 3. They hear a great voice from Heave saying Come up hither Secondly I answer that the Resurrection of the Witnesses seems to answer to the coming of the Children of Israel our of Egypt for spiritual Babylon is called spiritual Egypt ver 8. Which Deliverance was a kind of Resurrection as appears from the resemblance there made to Abraham in a vision Gen. 15.9 10 11. Now the Children of Israel arose our of their bondage by degrees for their Resurrection was not complete till they rose out of the Red Sea and sang the song of Moses Ex. 15. For till then they were not quite free from the â—â—yptians They made several steps out of Egypt to the other side of the Red Sea viz. from Rameses to Succoth from Succoth to Etham from Etham to Pihahireth from Pâ—hahiroth to the red Sea Numb 33 5-9 And therefore that remarkable day spoken of Exod. 12.40 41 42. is not to be understood of Israels complete Resurrection but that day was remarkable for the beginning of it 3ly There is a great Analogy between literal and spiritual Babylon and the coming of Gods people out of that and of the rising of the Witnesses and their deliverance from this Now the people of God arose gradually out of literal Babylon For 1. When the seventy years of their captivity were fulfilled Jer. 29 10.-15 the Text tells us that they must call upon the Lord and go and pray to him and seek him and search for him with all their hearts and then he would be found of them then they should do it i. e. at the end of the 70 years This then was their first motion in their Resurrection they must first of all rise upon their knees And Daniel did his part in this Calling Praying Seeking Searching And when did he do it In the second year of Darius the Son of Ahasuerus of the seed of the Medes in which he was made King over the Realm of the Chaldeans Dan. 9.1 This then was after the accomplishment of the 70 years because the Kingdom of the Chaldeans was now at an end For note what Jeremy saith It shall come to pass when 70 years are accomplished that I will punish the King of Babylon and that Nation saith the Lord for their iniquity c. Jer. 25.12 It is apparent therefore that the 70 years were now ended and that the time of the Jews deliverance was come and yet you see after that very time did Daniel thus call pray seek and search This I say is remarkable as also that after this time it was that our Lord Jesus Christ the Angel of the Covenant made intercession for the deliverance of his people Zach. 1.12 Saith he O Lord of hosts how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the Cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years God therefore seemed to delay a while some may say after the 70 years were ended that our Lord Jesus saith How long when the years were expired Yea but God did not delay one moment Hab. 2.3 for the Jews Resurrection was now begun for they were upon their knees and Christ was interceding for them and in them The Spirit of Life from God acted this way in them in their first motion their rising was somewhat like as when a man riseth out of his bed and falls down upon his knees by his Bed-side and prayeth If any man now should enquire and say is such a man risen it might truly be affirmed that he is so though he be down upon his knees at present Isa 26 1â—9 It was prophesyed of the coming of the Jews out of Babylon that their dew should be as the dew of the herbs and that the earth should cast forth her dead Their Resurrection out of Babylon should be like the Resurrection of Herbs in Spring which arise out of the earth by degrees And also when they did come out of Babylon they came not out all at once but at several times some of them in the first year of King Cyrus upon the Proclamation which he made Ezr. 1. Others in the Reign of Artaxerxes came out with Ezra the Scribe Neh. 2. 7.7 which was 13 years after Ezra's coming forth Neh. 2.1 with Ezr. 7.7 8. Ezr. 7.1 Others with Nehemiah in whose days also the bondage was not quite ended Neh. 9.36 37. So that it was upon that account also a kind of gradual Resurrection or coming forth It is true there was liberty of returning granted by Proclamation in the first year of King Cyrus but there fell in certain impediments that hindred both the speedy progress of their coming forth and also of their carrying on of Religion when they were come unto Jerusalem for fear was upon them Ezr. 3.3 and much opposition they met with for some years for the people of the Land weakned the hands of the people of Judah and troubled them in building and hired Councellors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days
set on by their Kings and great men and rich men and chief Captains and mighty men That is the Informers and Catch-poles and Jaylors and poor Souldiers were but as a company of boudmen to the Kings great men and men of Names and they must do what the Powers will command them but you see that will not excuse them when the Earthquake cometh but yet the Grandees are the men in the Van that are most eminently shaken and thrown down thereby they shall pay for it to the purpose 8. We may here behold the riches of God's grace that he not only spareth a Remnant of his and his Witnesses Enemies that they are not slain with the rest in the Earthquake but he giveth to them also the grace of repentance They might have drunk of the same Cup with those men of renown as being a Remnant of them especially as to their enmity but God lets them live to repent and give him glory I suppose these to be such as were persecutors as well as those others but they did it ignorantly in unbelief and therefore they obtain this mercy peradventure the other at least many of them are such as transgress of malicious wickedness and rebell against the light which is a very high provocation They are nothing like so ignorant as malicious and despighthful being desperate sworn enemies to Jesus Christ his People Cause and Interest Yet even the spared Remnant are bad enough as known and professed enemies to the God of Heaven to whom now they give glory whose glory and honour they never cared for before O the riches of the glorious grace of God that he should save such as these not only from the destruction of the Earthquake but of Hell it self Let us exalt this inestimable grace and believe love and praise and give glory to the God of Heaven for their so doing and in the mean while let none despair when such men as these repent 9. They that are the People of God and dwell in that bloody Street may have hopes that God will not utterly destroy it seeing there is a Remnant that will be spared which shall be as the shaking of an Olive-tree and the gleaning of Grapes after the vintage is ended You know what devastation God maketh by his four sore Judgments Ezek. 14.22 And yet saith the Lord A remnant shall be left and they shall come forth unto you and ye shall see their way and their doings and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon you Isa 6. ult God will not u utterly forsake that Street but yet in it shall be a tenth and it shall return and shall be eaten as a Teyl-tree and as an Oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves for so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof God will as it were tithe this tenth part and consecrate it and the land unto himself for some signal and singular service to his Name And as God will destroy the Microcosm and little world in that land by this Earthquake viz. the Sun Moon Stars and Heavens and Earth thereof so he will create new Heavens as I may say and a new Earth therein and the former shall be remembred no more Lastly We see what a shaking world we live in Let our hearts therefore hang loose to the things of this world to which they are so apt to adhere How soon God may shake us we know not and shaking especially of the earth is in order to the removing of the things that are shaken Hebr. 12.26 27. And when men are sorely shaken they had not need to take hold on things that shake and which are ready to remove away from under them they have need to lay hold on stable and abiding things that will stand fast and not forsake them If any should say This shaking may be far enough off from us Let no man think so For admit that this be not the time nor place spoken of in Rev. 11.7 8. Yet where there is any thing like it there will be that also which is as like unto this Earthquake Ezek. â—3 10 13. What saith the Lord to Ezekiel If a righteous man beget a son that is a robber a shedder of blood and that doth the like to any one of these things viz. there spoken of he shall not live he shall surely dye his blood shall be upon him That doth the like c. He doth not say That doth the very same If an Hue and Cry pursue after a shedder of blood and find a man that is very like him and apprehend him upon suspition and it falleth out upon examination that the person apprehended hath also shed blood in like manner though he is not the person that shed the blood inquired after yet he shall not live he shall surely dye his blood shall be upon him Even so c. God will never put up the slaying of his Witnesses though perhaps it may not be that slaying here spoken of but only the like unto it There is no satisfaction to be taken for the life of a murtherer nor is there any City of Refuge appointed in the law for him Numb 35.31 Deut. 21 1.-10 he must be taken away from God's altar or slain at it as Joab was otherwise the whole land lyeth under the guilt of blood You know what Hanun did to David's Embassadors who were sent to him in meer love and good will He did not slay them but shamefully abused them 2 Sam. 12.30 31. O how was the land of the children of Ammon shaken for this abuse The Kings crown was taken from his head and set on David's the Ammonites slain Rabbah sacked and plundered and the people of the Land put under sawes and harrows and axes of iron and made to pass thorow the brick-kiln And yet what is this abuse of David's Embassadors to that of Christ's which we have lived to see And what will the Lord then do how dreadfully will he avenge the high and horrible contempt of his Messengers Prepare therefore for times of great concussions perhaps they may prevent some of your deaths if not prove also the cause of them Hang loose I say to the world and be in the number of the ascenders get up above the Earth and approach nearer unto Christ in Reformation and Holiness and then if the worst should come you may sing Luther's Psalm Ps 46. And be not so sollicitous about the Earthquake as about the Ascension that immediately precedeth it for the Earthquake must come but wo be to them when it comes who are not got above the Earth It is the great mercy of God to defer the Earthquake till after the Ascension for the greater safety to his people which I conceive to be a special reason why it is deferred till then though another may be That a foundation may be layd for the carrying on the work of Reformation the better when the Earthquake is at an end And it promiseth well to the Street that God will not utterly destroy it nor take away his Gospel from it 1. In that he still continueth his Witnesses in it 2. Because Reformation and Holiness are ascending when the Earthquake cometh Now therefore let it be the care and endeavour of the People of God 1. To rise 2. To ascend 1. To rise what is that To hold forth the Spirit of Life from God They must walk in opposition to their slain condition now they were slain by the loss of spiritual life courage and activity therefore they must rise by a contrary Spirit 2. Let it be their endeavour also to ascend i. e. to reform viz Churches Families Hearts and Lives And if we must thus ascend then it will follow that we must not stay at that pitch of Reformation to which we have already attained but must yet get up higher there is a great deal more yet to be done For perhaps some may say Are we not ascended already No we are not yet come to the utmost of our Resurrection which as we have heard is gradual True there hath been a kind of rising and ascending of late years for wherefore are the Witnesses slain but for their climbing up so high in their Seperations and Professions And yet you see they must ascend up higher For we are not risen up so high above former times as we must yet rise up higher above our present selves God will not be satisfied with our Resurrection when it is come to its utmost degree but then he requireth also an Ascension which will be gradual likewise unto the time of the pouring out of the seventh Vial. FINIS