shall be made the praise of the whole Earth then there shall be new Heavens and a new Earth created That is there shall be as great a change of things as if there were new Heavens and new Earth created There shall be a mighty glorious power of God manifested towards his Churches as if God were Creating new Heavens and new Earth again Oh! we do not know but that either you or some of your Children may yet live to see such times as these are And it 's another World indeed It 's not the World that we live in now there shall be a kind of new World And therefore some Scriptures that many times we think are meant concerning the Life in Heaven after the day of Judgment because they are spoken of another World they are rather to be understood of the state of the Church here in this World And to the end that I may shew this for otherwise all that 's said is but in vain It may be you will say that the Prophet mean't that State of the Church Triumphant in Heaven And so the Apostle St. John in his reference to what the Prophet saith he seems to mean it of the glorious state of the Church in Heaven And I verily believe the most of you that have read with Observation the latter end of the Book of the Revelations you have thought it hath been meant of the State of the Church in Heaven but that it cannot be be meant I 'le give you a Reason or two why the 21 of the Revelations cannot be meant of the Church in Heaven First Because the Text saith That Jerusalem shall come down from Heaven after he had described it in the 10 Vers He carryed me away in the Spirit to a great and high Mountain and shewed me that great City the holy Jerusalem descending out of Heaven from God That is the Glory of Jerusalem shall not come from the Earth nor from any Earthly means Though men ought to do what they can yet it shall be too great a Glory for any earthly means to be able to bring but it shall come down from Heaven there shall be some admirable glorious work of God from Heaven to bring Jerusalem into such Glory as it shall be brought into And that 's one thing That it is not the State of Heaven for it comes down from Heaven And then besides that that is an undeniable Reason is that which you have in the 24 and 26 Verses And the Nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it and the Kings of the Earth do bring their Glory and Honour into it They do not bring their Honour to the State of the Church Triumphant in Heaven The Saints in Heaven shall have no need of any of the Glory of the Kings of the Earth the meanest poorest Servant or Boy that is Godly shall be more glorious than all the Kings of the Earth ever were in this World but this is such a State that the Kings of the Earth shall bring their Glory to it And in the 26 verse They shall bring the Glory and Honour of the Nations into it The meaning is that when this time comes the Lord will make all the Kings of the Earth and all the Nations of the Earth to be some way serviceable to the Glory of his Churches that 's the plain meaning of it that whereas now the Kings of the Earth and the Nations do persecute the Church generally and as in the second Psalm you have it the Kings of the Earth they combine themselves together against Jesus Christ and will none of his Government but yet for all this the Lord saith that he will set his King upon his holy Hill And then here is the Prophecy that there shall be such a work of God upon the Kings and Nations of the Earth as they shall all come in and bring their Glory to Jerusalem to the Church to do the uttermost they can to make the Church to be Glorious This is in General the state of Jerusalem when it shall be made the Praise of the Earth But now that I might come to move Particulars about this The first thing is this When that time shall come all Tears shall be wiped from the Eyes of Saints the People of God shall be delivered from all Enemies they shall never be any further pestered with wicked and ungodly men to be enemies to them but be fully freed from them all We groan under the burden of the Enmity of wicked Men and their Opposition I but let us be content to bear it and to endure Oppositions from wicked and ungodly Men for there is a time a coming that thou shalt be delivered even in this World You will say when we come to Heaven we shall be above the Malice of all the wicked Men in the World Nay there is a time when the Saints shall be above the Malice of wicked men upon this Earth In the 28 of Ezek. A Chapter that speaks so much of the Glorious Condition of the People of God verse 24. There shall be no more a pricking Briar nor any grieving Thorn of all that are round about them that despised them They shall be so far from having any power to do any mischief to the People of God as they shall not be so much as able to prick them no grieving Thorn nor no bryer pricking of the Saints of God as heretofore they have done It will be a blessed time when the Saints shall be delivered from the Curse of the Earth the Bryers and Thorns it brings forth Where are wicked men certainly those are the worst Bryers and Thorns in the World and do the most mischief here in the World Now the Lord hath promised that they shall be delivered wholly from them Rev. 21.4 There is a Scripture leading to that way And God shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes and there shall be no more Death neither Sorrow nor Crying neither shall there be any more Pain For the former things are passed away This is prophesied of for such times as these are for those that then liv'd the Saints are like to live when Christ shall come in that Glorious state of Judgment and have no pain nor sickness and therefore be delivered from all Enemies and from all evils both from without and within in regard of any pain or misesery and in the 19 of the Revelations we have it there prophesied of Christ that he shall come and have his Vesture dipt in blood in the overcoming all the wicked and ungodly Verse 13. And he was cloathed with a Vesture dipt in blood and his Name is called the Word of God And the Armies which were in Heaven followed him upon white Horses cloathed in fine Linnen white and clean and out of his Mouth goeth a sharp Sword that with it he should smite the Nations and he shall rule them with a Rod of Iron and he treadeth the Wine-press
yet fulfill'd since the time of this Prophecy and therefore is yet to come And so in the 66 of Isa For this Prophet Isaiah is the most Evangelical Prophet that speaks more of the Glory of the times of the Gospel than any Prophet vers 7 8. Before she travelled she brought forth before her pain came she was delivered of a Man-Child Who hath heard such a thing who hath seen such things shall the Earth be made to bring forth in one day or shall a Nation be born at once for as soon as Zion travelled she brought forth her Children Here 's the Number and the Suddenness of it together It shall be done even in a sudden way That Promise shall be then fulfilled to Christ wherein the Lord hath said to him That he would give unto him the Heathen for his Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for his Possession Now though that Promise be made to Jesus Christ yet the Lord is a great while afore he doth make it good to the uttermost that he did intend Well then may we be content to wait for the fulfilling of Promises when as the Promise that God hath made to his own Son he is fain to wait for the fulfilling of it And that 's the fourth thing A great confluence of People shall come into Jerusalem it shall be a great City And then in the fifth place Where there are multitudes coming in will there not be a great deal of dross and filthiness It is usual that a Church while it hath but a few it may continue in some purity but let a Church have many to joyn with it have but any considerable Number it usually doth quickly corrupt There grows a great deal of soyl and filthiness where there are a Number joyned together But now this shall be the Glory of this Jerusalem that though it shall be very great there shall be a mighty Confluence of People yet it shall abide in its purity there shall be a great deal of Purity in the Ordinances that they shall have and in the Professors that shall joyn together And for that we have that Prophecy in the 44. of Ezek. verse 9. which is a place by all Divines understood of the state of the Gospel Thus saith the Lord God No Stranger uncircumcised in Heart nor uncircumcised in flesh shall enter into my Sanctuary Not so much as uncircumcised in Heart ☞ Mark here it seems in the times of the Gospel a meer outward Profession is not enough for one to profess himself to worship God and the like but if he be uncircumcised in Heart he must not enter You will say How can we know the Heart It 's true we cannot know the Heart unless it be some way discovered but if there be any thing to discover wickedness in the Heart such a one in the times of the Gospel must not be received into the Church of God ☞ And there will be a time of greater discerning than now there is and therefore you find it in the 21. of Revel where St. John doth Prophesie of the New Jerusalem at the last verse And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abominations or maketh a lie But they which are written in the Lambs Book of Life In no wise no no there 's two negatives there though we in our English Tongue make two Negatives to be an Affirmative yet the Holy Ghost doth not there shall not not no in no wise shall there enter any unclean thing into it Now it is apparent by divers things in this Chapter that this must be meant not of the Glory that there shall be in the highest Heavens but of some Glory of the Church here For it is said in the 24. verse That the Nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it and the Kings of the Earth do bring their Glory and honour into it Now the Kings of the Earth do not bring their Glory and Honour to the highest Heavens there 's no difference between a King and the poorest and meanest they must there be stript of all their Robes and the Kings of the Earth shall bring no more Glory to that than meaner men Therefore it must be understood of an Estate here where the Kings of the Earth do bring their Glory to it 'T is very hard to conceive that it is impossible for any Hypocrite to get in yet the Scripture speaks so as it shall not be ordinary for an Hypocrite to get in Indeed in the state of the Church as hitherto it hath been or as yet it is there are abundance of Hypocrites and therefore that 's no Argument against labouring to cleanse the Church from prophane ones to say Why the best of all have those that are Hypocrites Though it 's true yet when men do some way or other discover themselves to be Hypocrites they must not be received into the Church But now here 's the Question Whether there should be any but those that should give such Testimony of Godliness as may appear to the judgments of men to be so And if once they appear to be otherwise they should be cast out of the Church This must be a certain Rule those that ought to be cast out if they were in they must not be received in if now they were to be received If no Prophane one but must be cast out if they were got into the Church when they appear to be so why then certainly they are not to be taken in appearing to be prophane We are now to labour what we can to come as near to that glorious Jerusalem as we are able We are now to labour to promote the condition that the Church shall be in then but we cannot expect for to have it yet till the Lord doth put another Spirit upon men than hitherto Therefore when God intends to make Jerusalem as the Praise of the whole Earth there will be certainly another Spirit upon men than yet there is for the present Therefore in the sixth place the Gifts and Graces of the Saints shall be exceedingly raised and enlarged Those that are now poor and low and mean shall be then very much enlarged and raised For that take these Scriptures Isa 65.20 There shall be no more thence an Infant of dayes nor an Old Man that hath not filled his dayes For the Child shall die an hundred years old but the Sinner being an hundred Years old shall be accursed This apparently speaks of an Estate in this World But now the meaning is this That there shall thence be no more an Infant of Dayes that is those that are weak shall be raised to a very high pitch of Ability and Understanding even Young ones shall be raised very high to have the understanding of men in them and so proportionably the gifts of the Saints shall be raised in that time And in the 12. Zech. 8 verse there it 's
that this Scripture in Peter though in some passages of it may seem to referr to the great day of Judgement yet compared with Isa out of which it is taken it appears to be but a very comment upon my Text and I find generally Interpreters do Interpret this of Isa to be meant of the Church of God in this World And so by comparing one Scripture with another we may find out much truth And besides the Prophets did Prophesie very little about the Eternal life after the day of Judgment though something there was about it but very little in comparison and therefore we have a great deal of Reason to think it to be meant concerning this time of this new Jerusalem when God shall make it to be the praise of the whole Earth Lastly This shall add to the beauty of this new Jerusalem that Prosperity shall do it no hurt and therefore as I remember in the 4 th of the Revelat. the state of the Church in this time is compared to an Eagle there were four Beasts the first like a Lyon the second like a Calf the third was like a Man and the fourth was like a Flying-Eagle Noting the four states of the Church and the last shall be as an Eagle that is they shall be lifted above all these outward things At first when the Church was raised from persecution in Constantines time the History of those times tells us that there was a voice heard in the Air To day is Poyson poured into the Church It was at that time when Constantine did endow the Church with great Endowments and we find it now that we have weak stomacks and are not able to bear much prosperity and therefore God hath thought it rather fit to keep his Church low but when that day comes for Jerusalem to be made the praise of the whole Earth there shall be no fear of hurt from prosperity For Christ shall be all in all to them There shall be a more immediate enjoyment of God and that will keep them from taking hurt by what they have in the creature Now let 's put all these together and see what a glorious condition the Saints shall be in surely when all these things shall be fulfilled then you must needs say that Jerusalem will be made a praise in the whole Earth That is First When there shall be a Resurrection a new creation a new world when all Tears shall be wip'd away when all wicked men shall be kept under When the Church shall appear to be the pleasant Portion of God his Inheritance his dearly Beloved his Glory and when all Promises that have been made to them and all Prophecies of their glory shall be fulfilled when there shall be a wonderful confluence of the Nations Jews and Gentiles to them and yet there shall be a great deal of purity in ordinances there shall not be filth among them as now there is And the gifts and graces of the Saints shall be mightily inlarged and raised when there shall be a glorious presence of the Father and of Jesus Christ with them when Godliness and the Saints shall be honoured in the World as much as it is contemn'd when there shall be a blessed Union among all the Churches when there shall be a mighty change of the creatures and when there shall be no fear of any danger of any hurt by any Prosperity that they shall enjoy surely then will Jerusalem be made a praise of the whole Earth Therefore let the Saints give the Lord no rest until Jerusalem be thus made as the praise of the whole Earth You will say are these things so are they so indeed This may seem to be very strange and a strange point to some of you But in former times it was not so accounted those that are learned will find that Lactantius 17. Book 18.23 24. Chapters spends them almost all upon this Argument and he speaks of very strange things which I am loath to mention It may be he might go too far and he liv'd about 1300. Years ago But Justin Martyr that was long before him for he was but thirty Years after John the Disciple speaking about this point that I am speaking of I and all that are Christians of the Orthodox Faith hold this that there is such a time a coming of a glorious condition of the Church I know that this hath been abused by those that they account Millenaries there were some that did abuse this Doctrine and made the glory of the Church to consist in fleshly pleasures and the like and so they were condemn'd But I make the glory especially to consist in Spiritual good yet so as it shall appear to all the World And I find some Expressions in the Revelations where the Holy Ghost speaks of this of Christs coming to appear in this glorious manner he hath another manner of phrase to express it than I find in all the Book of God when other things are spoken of In the 19. of the Revel v. 9. He had spoken before of the Kingdom of Christ And he saith unto me Write blessed are they which are called unto the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me These are the true sayings of God Are there any false sayings of God It were blasphemy to think so one would think that if he did but say these are the sayings of God it were enough or these are true sayings But to make it sure that we may believe it These are the true sayings of God Not only the sayings but the True sayings of God Now if you say How can these things be To that I answer as in the eighth of Zech. v. 6. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts if it be marvellous in the Eyes of the Remnant of this People in these days should it also be marvellous in my Eyes saith the Lord of Hosts It 's marvellous in your Eyes should it therefore be marvellous in my Eyes I am the Lord of Hosts We may be ready to think these things cannot be But the Lord intends to put forth an Almighty power in bringing this to pass and it is that that is much in the heart of God to do These things the nearer the time comes the more they will be known and therefore I think it very useful at some time or other that people should be acquainted only Ministers had need have a Spirit of sobriety and moderation because not yet being fulfill'd they are not throughly understood and therefore we must not dare to be too bold in our guessing at things that are not clear But such things as appear clearly so as we may see there is footing for we should exercise our selves in and labour to make others acquainted with But now If you ask me when shall these things be when shall Jerusalem be made the praise of the whole Earth I Answer thus The Third SERMON IT 's very hard to determine the particular time but surely at the end