the Lord their God and will hear them and they of Ephraim shall bee like a mighty man and their heart shall rejoyce as through wine yea their children shall see it and be glad and their heart shall rejoyce in the Lord I will hisse for them and gather them for I have redeemed them and they shall increase as they have increased and I will sow them among the people and they shall remember mee in farre countries and they shall live with their children and turn again and I will bring them again out of the Land of Egypt and gather them out of Assyria and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and place shall not bee found for them And I will strengthen them in the Lord and they shall wal up and down in his name saith the Lord. Here are cleer promises that they should be brought out of Egypt and Assyria and from the far Countries whither they had bin carried and brought into their owne Land again and there should be strengthned in the Lord and walk up and down in his name that is his name and feare and Spirit should bee upon them all which shall come to passe in his due time And now by these severall witnesses it is evident that the Jewes in particular shall be converted and bee distinct from the Gentiles under that notion of the anciently beloved people of God the seed of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and that they shall possesse their owne land even the land given to their fathers to possesse the which very many other Scriptures do affirme which I forbear to multiply as conceiving it needlesse And thus having made it cleer how that the Jewes shall bee called I should now come to speak more fully of the calling of the yet unconverted Nations of the Gentiles also But there is one remarkable thing which concernes the Jewes which when they are converted shall be done of which a word or two in this place and it is this That when the Jewes shall be converted and returne to their owne Land as the Lord of old when hee wrought deliverances for them caused them to passe through the red Sea Exod. 14. 22. and through that mighty river the river Jordan Josh 3. 17. on dry ground wherein hee gloriously appeared unto them so will hee now also dry up the tongue of the Egyptian sea to make way for them as appears Isa 11. 11 12 c. And it shall come to passe in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria and from Egypt and Pathros and from Cush and from Elam and from Shinar and from Hamath and from the Islands of the Sea and hee shall set up an Ensigne for the Nations and shall assemble the out-casts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the foure corners of the earth And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea and with his mighty winde shall shake his hand over the river and shall smite it in the seven streames and make men go over dry-shod and there shall bee an highway for the remnant of his people which shall bee left from Assyria like as it was to Israel in the day that hee came up out of the Land of Egypt Here it is plain that thus the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian Sea and smite it in the seven streames for this very end that his people the people of Israel and Judah whom he intends to gather out of the four corners of the earth where they have been scattered may have way made for them at least those of them that must come that way who are in Assyria that they may come into their owne Land again This is plainly asserted likewise in Isa 27. 12 13. And it shall come to passe in that day that the Lord shall beat off from the chanell of the river unto the stream of Egypt and yee shall bee gathered one by one O yee children of Israel and it shall come to passe in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown and they shall come which were ready to perish in the Land of Assyria and the out-casts in the Land of Egypt and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem This is also a cleere Prophesie of the calling of the Children of Israel to the obedience of Christ their Lord and ours and of the bringing of them when they are thus converted into their owne land for which end the river of Egypt is to be beaten off that so clear way may be made for them to go over dry shod for when God will work who shall let it and when he will bring his people to any place it is not vast and great rivers that lying in the way shall hinder it But wee finde that when the Nation of the Jews and all the seed of Jacob shall again be converted unto the Lord that that great worke shall not be too hard for God to do but he will do therein that which shall be too hard for men to beleeve As that a Nation shall be born at once That they shall come to the birth be brought forth in one day And that before Sion travelleth before the Church doth any thing considerable in order to the converting of a Nation to Christ it shall be done * It may bee before any considerable numbers of Gospel Ministers are sent to preach the Gospel to them many thousands may be converted by the preaching of one or few and the the spirit be richly poured out upon them she travelled she brought forth These are things too hard for men to beleeve but not too hard for God to doe for when the Lord undertakes the worke all obstructions shall bee removed and the Lord will suddenly and wonderfully convert these Nations and being converted they must be brought into their own land and if he will have it done who or what shall let it If the river of Egypt even the tongue of the Egyptian sea be in the way he wil beat off from the Chanel of the river unto the stream of Egypt yea he wil utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea and with his mighty winde shall shake his hand over the river and shall smite it in the seven streames and men shall go over dry-shod So that as the red sea and the river Iordan could not hinder the passage of his people that were to passe that way when he brought them out of Egypt so neither shall the river of Egypt hinder his people now from their passage into their own Land But it may bee queried why should the river of Egypt bee dried up to make way for the Israelites comming into their own Land rather then any other river that may lie in their way I answer first That though the Scripture mention not the drying up of any river but the
they have been in a mourning and a sad condition wearing sackcloath for a time times and halfe a time Now the high praises of God shall be in their mouths and whereas the heathen viz. profane men have trampled upon them and made them as the filth of the world and as the off-scouring of all things Now they shall have together with the high praises of God in their mouth a two-edged sword in their hands to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people to bind their Kings in Chaines and their Nobles with Fetters of Iron to execute upon them the judgement written This honour have all his Saints Thus Kings and Nobles and mighty men are to be subjected to his Saints This honour have all his Saints The fourth Scripture which I shall produce for the illustrating of this truth shall be that in Isa 51. 21. c. which is a promise to this purpose also in these words Heare now this thou afflicted and drunken but not with wine Thus saith the Lord the Lord and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people Behold I have taken out of thy hand the cup of trembling even the dregs of the cup of my fury and thou shalt no more drink it again But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee which have said to thy soule bow down that we may go ever and thou hast laid thy body as the ground and as the street to them that went over Here it is expressy said that the cup of trembling and fury should be so taken out of the hand of the Church as they should never any more drink it againe and not only so but that it should be put into the hands of them that afflicted her So that those great and wicked ones that most ragefully and most bitterly have afflicted and destroyed the Saints of God must now drinke off the dregs of that cup both that scarlet Beast the Pope and all those Kings Princes Prelates and inferiour persons that continue implacable enemies of his Saints Another cleare passage to this purpose is in Isa 51. 8 c. in these words Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice with the voice together shall they sing for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring againe Sion break forth into joy sing together ye wast places of Jerusalem for the Lord hath comforted his people he hath redeemed Jerusalem The Lord hath made bare his holy arme in the eyes of all the Nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God Here then its cleare that not only some but all the Nations shall see the glory and all the ends of the earth the Salvation of our God He will make bare his holy arme in the eyes of every Nation and People under heaven and they must all stoope to the Scepter of his Son Another clear confirmation of this truth we have Isa 60. 1 2 3 c. in these words Arise shine for thy light is come for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee for behold the darknesse shall cover the earth and grosse darkness the people but the Lord shall rise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee and the Gentiles shall come to thy light and Kings to the brightnesle of thy rising Then thou shalt see and flow together and thine heart shall feare and be inlarged because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee They shall bring Gold and Incense and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord. Surely the Isles shall wait for me and the ships of Tarshish first to bring thy Sons from far their silver and their gold with them unto the name of the Lord thy God and to the holy one of Israel because he hath glorified thee and the Sons of strangers shall build up thy walls and their Kings shall minister unto thee and the Nation and Kingdome that will not serve thee shall perish yea those Nations shall bee utterly wasted The sonnes also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet and they shall call thee the City of the Lord the Sion of the holy one of Israel whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated I will make thee an externall excellency the joy of many generations Thy people also shall be all righteous they shall inherit the Land for ever the branch of my planting that I may bee glorified a little one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong Nation I the Lord will hasten it in his time These words are a Prophesie of the glorious estate which the Church must in these latter daies after all her sufferings be advanced unto And first it is said of the Church that is the saints of the most high that the Light of the Lord shall rise upon them and his glory shall bee seen upon them and that so evidently and cleerly as that the Gentiles i. e. the prophane men of the world shall come to that light And not onely the poore and the mean among the Gentiles but some of their Kings and great ones shall be converted and imbrace the light and come to the brightnesse of the saints rising And secondly as abundance of the heathen shall bee converted so those of them that have formerly afflicted the saints of the most High shall come bending unto them and those that despised them shall bow themselves downe at the soles of their feet and that out of pure love to them because they shall see that they are the people of the Lord and the Sion of the holy one of Israel And thirdly those converted Gentiles shall further manifest their love to the saints of the most High by bringing in their wealth their riches their treasures their silver and their gold to them and by building their wals for them in this also their Kings ministring unto them And fourthly the Church the saints of God seeing these things and being thus favoured and blessed of the Lord shall be in in a sweet frame of spirit being filled with joy and therewith inlarged and heightned and this joy mixed with a holy feare and trembling walking altogether in the paths of righteousnesse And fifthly the Church or saints at this their rising shall grow so potent as that a little or despised one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong nation And sixthly The Nation and Kingdome that will not serve Sion i. e. the saints shall perish yea those nations shall bee utterly wasted And seventhly whereas the saints have been during the time of the prevalency of the Beast a despised and a contemned people they shall now be an eternall excellency and the joy of many generations Thus in this Scripture is this truth most evidently demonstrated That there must be such
and having salvation and he shall speak peace unto the heathen and his dominion shall be even from sea to sea and from the river even to the ends of the earth And Zech. 8. 21 22 23. The inhabitants of one city shall go to another saying Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts I will go also Yea many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and pray before the Lord. And in those days men shall take hold out of all languages in the nations even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying We will go with you for we have heard that God is with you Thus the Spirit of God in Scripture hath cleerly set forth the conversion of the Gentiles together with the Jews in these several Scriptures that I have mentioned And as it is cleer in these Scriptures so there are several other Scriptures wherein it is as cleer but I shall adde onely one more and it 's a Scripture that speaks of the conversion and turning to God of two particular Nations which at this day are yet Idolaters as well as many others and in the state of gross darkness and unbelief and they are the Egyptians and Assyrians Isa 19. the Prophecy hereof begins at vers 18. In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan and swear to the Lord of hosts one shall be called the city of Heres or of the Sun or of shining glory In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord and it shall be for a signe and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors and he shall send them a Saviour and a great one and he shall deliver them and the Lord shall be known to Egypt and the Egyptians shall know the Lord at that day Yea they shall vow a vow unto the Lord and shall perform it and the Lord shall smite Egypt he shall smite and heal it and they shall return unto the Lord and he shall be entreated of them and shall heal them In that day there shall be a high-way out of Egypt to Assyria and the Assyrians shall come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria even a blessing in the midst of the land whom the Lord of hosts shall bless saying Blessed be Egypt my people and Assyria the work of mine hands and Israel mine inheritance In this Prophecy it is very cleer that there is a time to come wherein the Jews shall again be the beloved people of God for never yet was there a time when Israel Egypt and Assyria were all together at one time acknowledged to be the people of God but the time is coming when it shall be so when not onely the Gentiles alone but the Jews also and not onely the Jews alone but the Gentiles also shall be the people of God and when in particular the Egyptians and the Assyrians which are now so deeply involved in darkness and blindness and have no knowledge of God shall be a people blessed of the Lord. For there are in these verses such expressions as do very plainly and cleerly speak the conversion of these Nations As that the Lord shall be known to the Egyptians and the Egyptians shall know the Lord and that they shall engage themselves to the Lord which is expressed under the terms of swearing to the Lord and vowing to the Lord which do cleerly hold forth the engaging of their hearts to the Lord. And again it is said that the Egyptians being oppressed shall cry unto the Lord but they shall not cry in vain for in answer unto their crying he shall send them a Saviour and a great one and he shall deliver them And besides it is said that the Egyptians being smitten of the Lord shall return even to the Lord and he shall be intreated of them and heal them and that the Egyptians being thus converted they shall then and therein be in fellowship with the Assyrians and the Assyrians with them and they both with Israel And thus now is it cleer in these several Scriptures as well as in many others which I forbear to mention to avoid prolixity that the Gentiles shall be plentifully and abundantly brought in to the obedience of Christ whose dominion must be from sea to sea from the rivers unto the ends of the earth and that not onely some Nations but all Nations shall seek after the Lord And that not onely the mean and inferiour sort of the people of the Nations but some of their Kings and Queens and the greatest among them shall come and see the glory of the Lord and become his servants and be supports under him to his people Kings shall be their nursing fathers and Queens their nursing mothers and bring their forces to their support and they not weak ones but many people and strong Nations saith Zechariah in the place forementioned shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts And now having shown that the preaching of the Gospel to all Nations is to follow upon the Lamb his overcoming the ten Kings and that this will probably be the time of the bringing in of Jews and Gentiles because that by the Lord Jesus his so gloriously appearing for his own people and against that scarlet whore Rome and the beast and all that crew way will be made for the coming in of Jews and Gentiles But this by the way I desire may be taken notice of That as many of the Nations as the preaching of the Gospel shall not prevail with to bring them in to the obedience of Christ for multitudes as I have made it evident must come in that way them shall the sword of Justice subdue both before and at and after the ruine of Rome Those whom the grace of the Gospel the tenders of love and the offers of peace win not them vengeance and wrath shall overtake If they will not listen to that voice of the Spirit that says to the Kings of the earth Be wise now therefore O ye Kings and be instructed ye Judges of the earth kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish c. then shall he speak unto them in wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure and he shall break them with a rod of Iron and dash them in pieces like a potters vessel Thus he will do with the ten kings and thus he will afterwards do with the other Nations But if any of these ten kings that yet stand out shall be overcome by his love and by receiving the cleer light of the Gospel for there is no question but those his called
the text expresly says that the rest of the dead were not raised until this thousand yeers were finished and therefore this resurrection which shall be when Christ and his Saints must reign on earth is called The first resurrection and it 's said that no wicked one shall have part herein but onely they that are holy and blessed and who shall never die the second death but shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand yeers and others are not to be raised till the end of the thousand yeers What can be more clearly asserted or what is more clearly asserted in Scripture then this truth is in these three verses It is so clear as I must profess that for my part had I no other Scripture to back it yet having no Scripture contradicting I am perswaded that I should not dare to deny it But we have besides this several other Scriptures to this same purpose The next I shall mention shall be that Rev. 5. 9 10. where we finde that the four Beasts and the Elders which were the representatives of the Churches of the Saints and which were redeemed unto God by the blood of the Lamb out of every kindred and tongue and nation and people that they singing to the Lamb praise him saying For thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth This is spoken in the future tense as being to come We shall reign on the earth which that they may do they must be raised from the dead as it is clearly said in the fore-mentioned place they shall And it is likewise as clear Dan. 12. 2. where it is said that when Jesus Christ shall stand up to save his people and to perplex and destroy his enemies it is said that at that time many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake Observe this is a time when many of them shall be raised but not all But whereas it follows that some of them shall be raised to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt whereas there is no such thing mentioned Rev. 20. that any shall be raised to shame and contempt but it 's said Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection for on such the second death hath no power the truth in both these Scriptures may very well consist together For though John there mention onely the resurrection of Saints yet doth he not say that others are not raised to shame to be sent into shame and confusion presently as doubtless they shall For some particular persons may be raised to be judged and condemned for their wickednesses and cruelties and outrages against Saints and sent presently into the place of torment as the Beast and the False Prophet are said to be though there be no mention of it Rev. 20. but the Saints onely are said to live They lived and reigned with Christ c. And whereas it is said that blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection that crosses not this in Daniel for if some of the wicked be then raised to be judged yet have they no part in the first resurrection for the dead in Christ shall be raised first and it 's they onely being blessed and holy that shall then live and reign with Christ but none others shall and so have not others any part in this resurrection And another clear place that speaks both of the personal appearing of Christ to reign on earth and to judge those that shall then be raised is that in 2 Tim. 4. 1. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom Here the Apostle speaks expresly of a time coming wherein Jesus Christ must appear and take his kingdom Now he always hath his kingdom in the hearts of his people and appears to them always in the Spirit but this is another manner of appear and another manner of taking his kingdom which Paul here speaks of for at this appearing and at this kingdom he must judge the quick and the dead Those his enemies that are then alive he will judge and some of those that were then dead he shall judge but the rest shall not live again until the thousand yeers are finished and his Saints that were dead he shall raise and give them everlasting life and grant them to reign with him a thousand yeers Again Zech. 14. 5. The Prophet in that Chapter speaking of that time when the Lord shall be King over all the earth and there shall be one Lord and his Name one says he there And the Lord my God shall come and all the saints with thee This is to be at that time when all the Nations must yeeld obedience to Christ and whosoever of all Nations refuses to worship him shall be plagued with a fearful plague as appears in that Chapter Thus is the Position that I have laid down in these Scriptures clear That Jesus Christ shall come with his Saints to reign on earth But again we have Paul speaking of it 1 Thess 3. 13. where he prays that the Thessalonians may be established in holiness before God even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints Here the Apostle expresly speaks of the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his Sains which confirms what is said That there is a time to come for it is not yet come wherein Jesus Christ will come on earth and bring his Saints with him And this is that which is also hinted at Isa 26. 19. Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust for thy dew is the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead This is brought in as a comfortable promise to the Saints who are complaining in the former part of the Chapter that though they have laboured yet have they not wrought any deliverance in the earth neither have the inhabitants of the earth fallen which seems to look like the times that were before the yeer 1645 when Jesus Christ began to set his people at liberty from their enemies then they laboured but all in vain to free themselves from being under the power of the Beast they laboured but they had not wrought any deliverance in the earth neither were the inhabitants of the world fallen but now this is brought in as a comfortable promise to the Church who are complaining of these things Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust c. implying that though these were their complaints for a time that yet it should not be so always there should a time come when their dead men should live and together with the body of Christ should be raised he being the first-fruits of
now severall queries that may be made about severall things which are such as these How and by what meanes shall the kingdomes of this world come to bee possessed by Christ and his Saints Whether at all the material sword shall be made use of in the cutting downe the power of men When Christ shall begin to take the kingdoms of the world into his possession Whether or no he shall take them into his possession all at once or when shall the time be when the work shall bee compleatly finished Whether multitudes of the Gentiles shall not bee first brought into the beliefe of the Gospel and the obedience of Christ and when the Jews shall be called Whether at the time of Christs taking the whole world into his possession hee shall not personally appeare on earth Whether his saints that have been sufferers for his sake shall not then be raised and reign on earth Whether or no the world shall then bee burnt with fire Whether temporary enjoyments shall bee enjoyed by saints when Christ shall take the world into his possession Whether the Saints shall then practice any ordinances How long this Kingdome of Christ is to continue and what is to succeed it Now to all these questions I shall give full and cleere answers which that I may do the more cleerely and without confounding of one thing with another I shall not observe that method of answering them particularly as they are laid downe but which will bee more cleare and pleasant and satisfactory when it is done I shall give a generall description of the state of the Church from the Yeere 1645 already past unto the day of the last generall resurrection In which description all these Queries and many others which might be made shall bee answered Now the description or map of this new world from the first entrance into it unto the utmost borders of it as farre as I have yet discovered or rather hath been discovered to me from the Scripture in my weake travels inquiries searches into it followes after this short preface The Preface When the Lord shall build up Sion saith the Psalmist then * Psal 102. 16. hee shall appeare in his glory Implying as if the Lord did never appeare so gloriously as then he doth when he standeth forth to build up his Sion And indeed it is very true that when the Church of God is in a desolate afflicted condition when the enemies of the Church triumph over them and make them as vassals and slaves to them and tread them under their feet as if they were the off-scouring of the world then is the glory of God much obscured and the world cannot at all see it nor is it so visible to his Saints as it shall be But when God arises to shake terribly the earth and to visit the inhabitants thereof for their iniquity especially for the cruelty and malice and inhumanity they have exercised against his own people his peculiarly beloved ones who bear his owne stampe and image and name and nature of whose soules he is the beloved and who are the beloved of his soule Then when he commeth to visit wicked men for these things and to owne his owne people as he did the Israelites of old when hee brought them out of Egypt and to manifest to all the world that they are indeed his people and that hee will avenge their quarrell and when hee comes to rebuke destroy and scatter the Kings and the great ones of the earth for their sakes and when he sets his people at perfect liberty and crownes them with gracious blessings and destroyes all the Nations that indeavour to injure them or disturbe their peace Then I say when the Lord doth these things doth hee appeare in his glory and so hee did when he brought the Israelites out of Egypt and so in a more glorious manner then ever will he do when he buildeth his Sion now in these latter daies wherein hee hath spoken of doing greater things for them then ever hath been done from the beginning of the world as wil appear in the following discourse The description of the new JERUSALEM THat I may set out the more cleerly what the condition of the Church shall be in these glorious times it will bee requisite that I briefly take notice of the condition the Church before this time hath been in as the Holy Ghost hath declared it in Scripture of which having already spoken in my discourse on the former part of the eleventh Chapter of the Revelation and also hinted at it in the beginning of this Book I shall therefore here but nominate some particulars to which I will referre the Reader that so I may avoid unnecessary prolixity Onely necessity compels me for the cleere and orderly proceeding in this present discourse to recapitulate some particular heads of that of which I have already more largely discourst as thus I have shewed that the beloved people of God stiled by the Holy Ghost The Holy City The two witnesses The Olive trees and The two Candlesticks who witnesse too and prophesie the truths of Christ have for above 1200 yeares by divine appointment and decree been kept in a low condition in a despicable sackcloath mourning wildernesse-condition and that so long they have been warred against and overcome by the Beast the Pope and his crew I have shewne and that the ten Kings under the Popes Jurisdiction have been of one mind with him in this trampling upon and persecuting the Saints and that for this end have the ten Kings given their power to the Beast I have also shewed that the King of England was one of those that was of one mind with the Beast and that having one mind with the Beast he persecuted the saints and made war against them and overcame them for a season as the Beast did I have shewed also that the time of this prevalency of the Beast and the Kings under him over the Saints and making war against them and overcomming them was a limited prefixed time and that beyond it they could not go nor have power to overcome the Saints after that time was expired I have also shewed how long time it was that the Scripture declares that the Beast and his Associates should have power to persecute the Saints and prevaile over them and that was 1260. years after which terme was expired they were to prevaile no more I have also shewed when that time expired and that was in the yeare 1645. And now I proceed from this yeare to describe the state of the Church In this yeare as I have said did the time of prevalency of the Beast and his Associates over the saints cease and though those enemies of the Saints do not cease to be after this yeare but they do and shall remaine yet longer yet they cease to overcome the Saints and instead of prevailing they shall be prevailed against and instead of overcomming they shall be overcome by the
be preached to all nations how that when the Lambe had overcome the ten Kings that then before the ruine of Rome the Gospell should be universally Preached unto all Nations and this is cleer Rev. 14. In the five first verses of that Chapter we have a declaration of Jesus Christ his standing upon mount Sion his appearing for to own his people and of his peoples being gathered unto him which are described to be pure and undefiled and redeemed ones to God and to the Lord Jesus and they are said to be the first fruits and to follow the Lambe wheresoever he goeth implying that they are the first of those that were called to waite upon the Lambe in the services that he hath to do for them in order to the setting up of his Kingdome They were brought in to him before the everlasting Gospel was generally preached and before the fall of Babylon They were the first fruits Now who are these first fruits that now stand upon mount Sion with the Lamb and follow him whithersoever he goeth Doubtlesse those whom he hath now called forth to follow him and those that he will call out of the rest of the ten Kingdomes Well what follows In the 6 7 and 8. verses And I saw an Angell flye in the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospell to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people saying with a loud voice feare God and give glory to him for the houre of his judgement is come and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountaines of waters and there followed another Angell saying Babylon is fallen is fallen that great City c. Here we see that before the fall of Babylon and yet after the first fruits are come in to the Lambe the Gospell must be preached to all Nations and doubtlesse glorious and wonderfull will be the proceedings of Jesus Christ in the world now that he hath begun to take the Kingdomes and Dominions thereof into his possession he hath done great things in some Kingdomes already and he will do the like in others shortly and will powre out his spirit withall upon them and so cause the light to appeare unto them as shall effectually discover unto them the basenesse the viciousnesse the filthinesse and the abominablenesse of the cursed Doctrines of the Beast and the whore and cause them to loath them and to publish and manifest their dislike and hatred of them to all the world and with much zeale and fervency of spirit will all such as shall bee enlightened and thereunto qualified preach and publish the cleare truths of the Gospell in opposition to the false Doctrines of Antichrist in all parts of the world and unto all nations discovering also unto them the glad tidings of the Gospell to the saving of their soules and the turning of them from Idols and vanities to serve the true and living God Of the Jews Conversion ANd by this meanes way will be made for the bringing in of the Jewes who are at this day earnestly expecting of and waiting for the comming of the Messias Christ the anointed to bee their King their Saviour and their Prophet But before the ten Kings doe hate the Whore and before they manifest to all the world a detestation of her they cannot come in but then shall the everlasting Gospell be preached to all Nations Jewes and Gentiles and a spirit of zeale for Christ will bee then upon the Saints so as they shall not bee able to withhold from preaching the Gospel more generally in all the world But if now any faithfull and able Minister of the new Covenant which is the Ministration of life and the Ministration of the Spirit should goe and preach Jesus Christ unto the Jewes and publish glad tidings to them and tell them that the Messias is come and that Jesus Christ is he who will bee their King and Lord and Prophet and Saviour and will save them from all their sinnes if they beleeve in him and that he will restore all things to them and do glorious things for them alas they would scarce now say of such Blessed is hee that commeth in the Name of the Lord and why because they cannot beleeve that the Lord Jesus Christ in whom we beleeve and rejoyce and glory and who is our light and life and peace and joy and strength and all in all is indeed the Messias and the Saviour of all the ends of the earth as we know and beleeve he is and why cannot they beleeve it because that great Whore the City of Rome who pretends to have power over all that are called Christians is such a filthy abominable hatefull strumpet such a mother of harlots and abominations * What is the present let of the Iewes cunversion Whereas the Jewes keep close to the Old Testament and to the Law contained therein which is holy just and good And they know and are assured in the Old Testament that when the Messias comes hee will turne away ungodlinesse from Jacob he will cleanse them from all their corruptions and all their waies that are not good and that they that are his shall be a holy people a people taught of God and therefore they cannot beleeve him to be the true Messias whom such polluted openly profane and impudently filthy creatures as the Romanists are professe to bee their Saviour For besides many others there are five things especially which the Jews take offence at in the practises of that cursed crew as First their worshipping of Images and statues and crosses and crucifixes and such like trumpery Secondly their loathsome hatefull and excessive giving up of themselves unto uncleane lusts tolerating and allowing themselves and others in them as in fornication adultery sodomie and beastiality practises which the very heathen abhor and yet these abominable sins the Popes Cardinals Bishops and Priests and others of all ranks are frequent in the practice of granting liberty to all that are under their jurisdictions to live in the practice of them if they do but purchase a pardon with mony from the Pope for them Thirdly frequent murthers teaching it to be no sin to murther an Hereticke and tolerating such as are murtherers Fourthly Their tolerating of drunkenness and oaths Fifthly Their allowing of sorcery and witchcraft most of their Priests being sorcerers For these things especially but for many others also are the Jewes offended and cannot beleeve him to be the true Messias that shall be the Saviour of such prophane persons for they are assured that such persons cannot be the people of God They know that Adulterers and Idolaters and Sorcerers and Murtherers and Swearers and Lyers shall not enter into the Kingdome of God None shall come into his holy * Ps 15. 1 2. and 24. 2 3. Hill saies David but such as have cleane hands and a pure heart and this they know and therefore do
hate the Popish crew But when the Lamb shall have overcome the ten Kingdomes and shall have put them into a new frame and posture and when his glory shall be wonderfully seen among his people and all the world shall heare how gloriously he shall manifest himselfe among them in giving of his people miraculous victories over and unheard of successe against the Beast and his Associates and that in such a wonderfull manner as the like hath not been heard of and when the Jews shall heare of this and heare how the Kingdomes are fallen from the Beast and how they loath those abominable practises with a perfect hatred and how that they do all set themselves against that cursed company and intend to make them desolate and utterly to destroy them as the enemies of him who is the true Christ At this time I say way will be made for the bringing of them in and then the Gospel in the purity of it shall be preached unto them being wholly freed from the imbasing mixtures of Romes inventions and the pure Gospell of Jesus Christ shall in the preciousnesse and sweetness and glory of it be cleerly heldforth unto them and they then will begin to be convinced seeing that our Lord Jesus Christ doth manifest his wrath and displeasure against that prophane sort of men and ruines them and destroyes them and takes vengeance on them for all their abominations that they have committed and all the murthers and cruelties that they have exercised upon his holy people whom now he ownes and gloriously goes on to save them with outward and externall salvation as well as inward and giving of them to tread upon the necks of their enemies and to be exalted above the Nations Then I say cleere way will be made for them to be brought in and to beleev the Lord Jesus to be indeed their King and Saviour and Prophet and to give up themselves to him and to his protection and when they shall thus do they shall have the spirit abundantly poured out upon them and they shall bemoane themselves for their folly in that they have so long rejected Jesus Christ and shall then look upon this Jesus whom they have pierced and shall mourne for him as for an only son as appeares Zach. 10. and that Scripture seemes to import that such shall be the spirit of grace and supplication and so strongly shall that spirit work in them as they shall therein exceed us for grace shall be so powerfull and love shall worke so wonderfully in them and so melt their hearts as that they shall be so deeply afflicted for their having rejected Jesus Christ as they shall be in bitternesse as one that is in bitternesse for his first borne and being so in good earnest it is said that each soule shall mourne apart * Of the admirable manner in which the Jews shall be converted And for the manner of this their unfaigned conversion the Holy Ghost speakes as if this worke should be done very suddenly and very admirably as appeares Isa 66. 7 8. Before Sion travelled shee brought forth before her paine came she was delivered of a man child who hath heard such a thing Who hath seen such a thing Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day shall a Nation be brought forth at once For as soon as Sion travelved she brought forth her children Here it is clearely implyed that the work shall be very admirable and be very suddenly strangely and unexpectedly done It shall be done as it were before any work is visibly begun and before those ordinary preparations to such a worke that do use to precede the same work in others at other times when others have been begotten and borne to Christ there hath been a long travelling in birth for them before they have been brought forth and the paines and the pangs of the new birth do ordinarily precede the bringing of it forth in some more in some lesse in all some but here it is said Before she travelled she brought forth before her paine came she was delivered O what a wonderfull what an admirable thing is this and therfore in the next verse it followes by way of admiration who hath heard such a thing who hath seen such a thing as if it had been said this is a thing which hath not been heard of these are things that never have been seen and can ye beleeve such things Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day Shall a Nation be borne at once And shall these things be so indeed Yea they shall for it follows As soone as Sion travelled she brought forth her Children The worke of the birth of a Nation shall be very sudden The earth shall bring forth in one day Zion no sooner travelled but she brought forth her Children it was so soon and her travell so quickly over as it may in comparison of others be said to be no travell but to be done before travell and before paine came a paralell place to this we have Isa 49. Where the Lord saies that though Sion said my Lord hath forsaken me and the Lord hath forgotten me that yet he had not forgotten them but they were graven upon the palmes of his hands and that their wals were continually before him and that the time should come when he would wonderfully enlarge them and therefore saies in the 20. verse The children which thou shalt have after thou hast lost the other shall say againe in thine eares the place is too straight for me give place to me that I may dwell And at the 21. verse Then shalt thou say in mine eares who hath begotten me those I have lost my children and am desolate a captive and removing to and fro and who hath brought up these behold I was left alone these where they It is a broken expression for thsre is no other word added in the Heb to where they shewing amazedness at the miraculousnes of the thing It shal be of such a sudden that those multitudes shall be brought in after the Churches being desolate a Captive and being removed to and fro up and down at the pleasure of tyrants when her children seemed to be all lost and none of the Sons of Sion could as it were visibly appeare that she shall say in her heart who hath begotten me these Or how came I so suddenly to have so many Children Who hath brought them up Or what shall I say Where they What a miracle is it that I should have such a multitude of Children on such a sudden after my desolated captivated and wandering condition Thus in these Scriptures it appeares that this worke shall be very sudden in a very short time it shall be done a Nation shall be borne at once and the Earth shall bring forth in a day which implies a very short time but to consine it to a naturall day consisting of 24 houres I see no reason nor necessity
river of Egypt yet it doth not follow but that there may bee other rivers besides this dried up to make way for them if any other rivers shall be in their way although the Scripture be silent in it and mention not particularly any others But secondly the river of Egypt is chiefly mentioned as that it shall be dried up because that lieth in the way in which they must come when they come out of the land of Assyria where its probable that greatest numbers of the Israelites are for though the two Tribes may be scattered and are scattered in all parts of the world yet wee know that the ten Tribes that were first carried captives into the Land of Assyria were never brought forth from thence so that it is probable that there may bee and is a greater number of the Israelites there then in any part of the world besides and that may bee the reason why the Scripture when it mentions any particular places from whence the Children of Israel shall be gathered when they shall bee converted It doth chiefly speak of Assyria as Isa 11. 11. And it shall come to passe that the Lord shall set his hand againe the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria and from Egypt and from Pathros and from Cush and from Elam c. Here Assyria is chiefely mentioned and so again in this place Isa 27. 12 13. It is said Ye shall be gathered one by one O ye children of Israel and they shall come which were ready to perish in the Land of Assyria and the out cast in the Land of Egypt and shall worship the Lord in the holy Mount at Jerusalem and so againe in Zach. 10. 10. I wil bring them again out of the Land of Egypt and gather them out of Assyria and will bring them into the Land of Gilead c. In all these places Assyria is especially mentioned from whence the Children of Israel must bee brought And because of the great number which must bee brought out of the Land of Assyria the river of Egypt is to bee dried up to make way for them to come to their owne Land that they may againe inhabite Jerusalem and the Mountaines of Israel according to the many promises which are made unto them to that purpose as Ezek. 36 2 3 c. And Jer 32. 41 42 c. and Zach. 10. 10. And so much shall suffice to bee spoken of the conversion of the Jewes Of the Gentiles conversion ANd thus having discoursed of the conversion of the Jews I now come to describe also the conversion of the Gentiles which about this time are also abundantly to be brought in For so I made it evident before out of the fourteenth of the Revelations that after the Lamb hath overcome the ten Kings or part of them before the fall of Babylon that the everlasting Gospel is to be preached to all Nations and Kinreds and Tongues and People Now as the preaching of the Gospel at that time will be the more effectual upon the Jews because then the wickednesses of Babylon shall be declared against and detested and Jesus Christ shall manifest himself against that wicked crew so also will the preaching of the Gospel be the more effectual upon the Gentiles because then the judgements of God will be so terribly manifested against the Idolatrous sinful and prophane practices of wicked men For mark in that fourteenth of the Revelation where it is said that the everlasting Gospel is to be preached to all Nations which shall teach men to fear God and to give him glory and to turn from Idols and to worship him that made the earth and the sea and the fountains of waters the motive that is given to prevail with men to receive the Gospel is this ver 7. Because the houre of his judgement is come And if we would know what is meant by the hour of his judgement it follows in the eighth verse Babylon is fallen is fallen Herein the judgement of God will be evidently manifested against prophane ungodly men when he comes to ruine that great whore who corrupted all Nations So that the light of the glorious Gospel now shining forth and the judgements of God being evidently manifested against wicked men doubtless the Nations that are yet unconverted shall then also be abundantly brought in to the obedience of Christ And the Scripture everywhere plentifully speaks of this abundant bringing in of all Nations As Isa 2. 2. 3. And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountains and what then not onely the Jews nor onely some of the Nations but all nations shall flow unto it and they shall not come in by drops scatteringly one now and another then but they shall come in by multitudes they shall flow unto it That which comes flowing in comes in abundantly Again Isa 60. 1. It is said to the Church Arise shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee This Chapter all along describes the rising and shining glory of the Church I have already quoted it I shall here onely mention those passages in it that speak to this present purpose And vers 3. It is said And the Gentiles shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising And vers 5. The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee and the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee And vers 9 10 11. 14. 15 16. It 's said that the Isles shall wait upon the Lord. And again 't is said that the Kings of the Gentiles and the forces of the Gentiles shall come in to the Church and be ready to serve and minister to it Again Isa 62. 2 3. where the glory of the Church is also described it is said thus to Sion The Gentiles shall see thy righteousness and all kings thy glory and thou shalt be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name and shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord c. And Isa 49. 23. Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and their Queens thy nursing mothers and they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth And Isa 66. 12. It 's said that the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream shall come into the Church And vers 18 19 20. I will gather all nations and tongues and they shall come and see my glory and I will set a signe among them and I will send those that escape unto the nations to Tarshish Pul and Lud to those that draw the bow to Tubal and Javan to the Isles afar off that have not heard my fame neither have seen my glory and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles And Zech. 9. 9 10. Rejoyce O daughter of Sion behold thy King cometh unto thee he is just
and chosen and faithful ones those first-fruits whom he hath now called forth and engaged in his works shall having the Spirit of their Lord upon them do according to his ensample first * What course the Armies of the Saints under Jâ—sus Christ first will take with the Nations or ten Kingdoms offer peace and publish the cleer light of Gospel to them that if possible they might be that way won I say if any of the ten Kings shall this way be brought in they wil doubtless be very acceptable to Christ And who knows whether or no the Lamb may overcome some of them this way Whether Spain and other kingdoms may not be so gained to Christ and made to hate the whore But if not so then will he deal with those that are implacable of them in the way of his justice and overcome them I mean those of them that are implacable for some of them shall hate the whore when they are overcome in his wrath and sore displeasure as he hath already done with those that in maintenance of the beast stood it out against him making his people to execute upon them the judgement written for overcome them he will Of Romes ruine And thus having shewn how that the Lamb will overcome the ten Kings and that about that time when some or all the ten Kings or kingdoms are overcome and made to hate the whore the Gospel shall be universally preached all the world over I now come to shew that when the Lord Christ hath thus in larged his kingdom and diminished the kingdom of the beast he shall then go on to cause his people those especially of the ten kingdoms to go on in their work of breaking down the strength of the beast and bringing it to nothing that the Lord Christ may be all And in order thereunto they shall be the instruments of the utter ruining of Rome which is that whore mentioned Rev. 17. 1. As appears vers 18. The woman or the whore which thou sawest is that great city which raigneth over the kings of the earth which Rome then did I say the Saints of the ten kingdoms about this time when these things are done shall then be instruments of ruining this whore And this appears Rev. 17. 10. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast these shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire Where it is very cleer that the ten Kings being overcome by the Lamb they shall have such a cleer sight of the light of the Gospel as shall not onely cause them to forsake the principles of darkness that are imbraced by Rome but they shall hate those principles and hate Rome for her filthiness and cursed lewdness and shall manifest their hatred in disrobing her of her strength and glory and pomp with which the text says she is decked Rev. 17. 4. All which they shall take from her and make her naked And shall that be all they will do No for they will not onely make her naked but will eat her flesh will make her destitute not onely of her outward robes of pomp and glory but will eat her very flesh that is they will devour and consume that without which she can as little consist as a man can whose flesh is consumed So that they shall so far manifest their hatred to Rome as they shall reduce her to the greatest straights that can be imagined And shall they leave there No but they shall burn her with fire And that the Saints shall deal thus with her is again expressed in chap. 18. vers 6 7 8. Where the people of God are bid to reward Babylon that is Rome even as she hath rewarded them and double unto her double according to her works in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double how much she hath glorified her self and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her For she saith in her heart I sit a Queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow therefore shall her plagues come in one day death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burnt with fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her Thus it 's cleer that the Saints in the ten kingdoms shall so hate Rome as they shall plague her make her desolate expose her to great misery and utterly burn her with fire And when this City is thus burnt with fire * Rev. 18. 6. because she hath made her self drunk with the blood of the Saints and the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus and because she hath made all Nations drunk with the wine of the wrath of her fornication * vers 2. and the Kings of the earth have committed fornication with her and because that when she comes to be destroyed * vers 24. in her will be found the blood of Prophets and of Saints and of all that were slain upon the earth therefore when she comes to be destroyed she shall be made a monument of vengeance as being the most cursed City in the world and therefore it is said that when Babylon is fallen she is become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird Rev. 18. 2. And the voice of harpers and musicians and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee no crafts men of whatsoever craft he be shall be found any more in thee And the sound of a milstone shall be heard no more at all in thee and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee for thy merchants were all the great men of the earth for by thy sorceries were all Nations deceived Thus Rome when it is destroyed shall be no more inhabited by the sons of men it is such a cursed City but on the contrary it shall become the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird and the wild beasts of the desart shall lie therein and it shall be full of doleful creatures Owles and Satyrs and Dragons as it is at large exprest Isa 34. 9 10 11 c. And Isa 13. 19 20 c. Thus Rome shall be ruined and over it's ruines shall the Saints rejoyce as Rev. 18. 20. Rejoyce over her thou heaven and ye holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on her But her confederates will greatly lament and bewail her As vers 9 10 c. Thus much for Romes ruine Of what is to follow Romes ruine But the enemies of Jesus Christ and his Saints are not wholly ruined when Rome is thus destroyed but many will be left to bewail it and amongst the rest it appears that the Beast viz. the Pope still remains undestroyed for he is one of the last that shall be
But secondly To answer the ground of the Objection thus I see no reason why any should conclude that mans making use of the creatures in a reasonable and a moderate manner is that bondage of corruption that Paul speaks of For it is cleer that â—t is no burthen to the creatures to be in subjection to man and to serve man when men are not unmerciful to them as we may see by the readiness of some creatures as it were by a natural instinct to serve man willingly But if any thing in or about mans using the creatures may be said to be a part of the bondage of corruption it is in regard of mens unmerciful dealing with many creatures in laying more burthen upon them then they can well bear and putting of them to do more then they can well do but this bondage will then be removed from them But thirdly What most properly may be said to be the bondage of corruption that now is upon the creatures I have already spoken of and that is that enmity which is in many creatures each to other and to mankinde or that hurtfulness that is in them and this they shall be delivered from in that day And that this is the genuine sense and meaning of the Apostle when he says that the creatures shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption in that glorious time of the manifestation of the sons of God is cleer my ground is this Because I finde the Scripture declaring that in that day this enmity and hurtfulness shall be removed from them as appears in those places I have already quoted viz. Isa 11. 6 7 8 9. And Isa 65. 25. And this is the main if not the onely thing in which the Scripture declares that the changed condition of the creatures in that day shall appear and nowhere it is said that the creature shall not then be for the use and service of man but the contrary is cleer But fourthly That some creatures are killed for the use of man what bondage is it for them For what other burthen is it for one creature to be killed then for another creature to die a natural death Is it not a silly thing to conceive that a violent death should be worse to them then another death is because it is so to man seeing these creatures that are not reasonable the thoughts of death are not terrible to them as to man they be for they fear it not nor know not what it is in regard they are not rational Doubtless it were a weak thing to conceive that this kinde of death should be more burdensome to them then a natural death and consequently to think this to be the bondage of corruption spoken of by the Apostle But fifthly As to that of Adam's eating fruit in Innocencie Who can say that Adam in Innocencie did eat onely herbs and fruit For though there be no mention of his eating flesh yet might he not eat flesh though the Scripture be silent in the mentioning of it But if it should be granted that Adam continuing but a little while in innocencie did not feed upon flesh but upon herbs and fruits at that time Doth it therefore follow that if he had continued longer in innocencie that he would not have eaten flesh at any time Was he at all forbidden to eat flesh Would it have been a sin to eat flesh We know that all creatures were made for his use and put in subjection to him and we know that of his two eldest sons the one was a tiller of the ground and the other was a keeper of sheep And why was Abel a keeper of sheep if they were not of use unto them for food as well as the fruit of the ground But doubtless the sheep which Abel kept were of use for food unto them Thus is there nothing of force in that supposition that Adam did eat no flesh in Innocencie Neither may it at all be argued that these creatures shall not be made use of in this time of the restitution of all things But it remains clear as the Scripture declares it that in that time the Saints shall have a comfortable use of all creatures in a more pure mannder then ever And thus much in answer to this Querie And thus having shewn as briefly as I could what the glorious condition of this New Jerusalem shall be both with respect to its internal and external glory which is to continue for a thousand yeers * A declaration of what is to follow after the thousand yeers are expired I shall now come to shew as far as it is revealed unto me from the Scriptures what shall follow after this thousand yeers are finished In which I shall be very brief for the Scripture is but brief in speaking of these things they being things that are very far off But doubtless more may be revealed of them before that time come but for the present thus the Scriptures declares That after these thousand yeers are expired Satan which as we have shewed during this thousand yeers must be bound and shut up in the bottomless pit must be loosed again for a little season and this appears Rev. 20. 2 3. where it is said that he was shut up for a thousand yeers and after that he must be loosed for a little season and being loosed we shall see what work he does in the world vers 8 9. And he shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth Gog and Magog to gather them together to battel the number of whom is as the sand of the sea And they went up on the breadth of the earth and compassed the camp of the Saints about and the beloved citie and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them Thus it is here declared what work Satan is to do after he is loosed viz. He will go up and down again in the world among the Nations that are in the four quarters of the earth that is those of the Nations that are unbelievers that are said to be without the holy City being none of them but being subjected to them and put under them and of these there will be in the whole world at that time a very great number for although all Nations shall be converted to Christ yet all persons in all Nations shall not but many of them shall be those that are said to be without the holy City Rev. 22. 15. For without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lye And these shall Satan after he is loosed go up and down among and deceive them gathering them together to battel perswading them to joyn all their forces together and once again to make a desperate attempt against the Saints but in so doing says the text he will deceive them for they shall be drawn to their own destruction and such fools will the devil make of