with the former part of this Chapter being observed the meaning of them will the more clearely appeare which is briefly thus The Prophet Daniel in the first yeare of Belshazzar had a Dream and Visions wherin the all-disposer of all things was pleased to reveale unto him not for his sake only but for ours also many things which were to come to passe in a very long time after some of which things are not yet but shall be fulfilled in their season The sum of the Vision is this The Prophet saw foure great beasts rise one after another being divers one from another and the first was like a Lion the second like a Beare the third like a Leopard and the fourth beast was such a Monster as he compares it to no beast being unlike any beast that could be named and it s said to be exceeding dreadful and terrible having ten hornes and among these hornes there came up another little horne before whom three were pluckt up and in this horne were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things And at last the Prophet in his Vision saw a finall end of all these beasts and all their Power and Dominion taken from them and saw the Lord Jesus Christ there stiled The Son of man set up to be the only Monarch of all the World The Prophet having seen this Vision and it being dark and mysterious to him he was troubled and desired to know the truth of it whereupon the interpretation of the Vision was given to him as it is at the 16 verse and so on And it was declared to him that the foure great beasts were foure Kings that should arise out of the earth and when the Prophet desired more particularly to know what the meaning of the fourth beast was which was so different from the rest and so exceeding dreadfull and what was the meaning of the ten Hornes which were in his Head and of the other Horne which came up before whom three fell It was revealed to him that the fourth beast should be the fourth Kingdome upon earth which should be different from all Kingdomes and should devour the whole Earth and should tread it down and break it in peeces and that the ten Hornes should be ten Kings which should arise out of it and that the other Horne which came up before whom three fell was another King which should arise after the ten Kings which should be divers from the first and should subdue three Kings c. Now that this Prophesie hath been accomplished exactly clearly and fully in the former part of it viz. in the rising of the foure Universall Monarchs which have acted their parts in the world since the time that the Prophet Daniel saw this Vision The first being the Babylonian which was then in being The second the Persian which succeeded the Babylonian The third the Grecian which succeeded the Persian And The fourth which was the worst the most dreadfull and terrible and the last of the foure was the Roman which succeeded the Grecian I say that in these foure Monarchs this Prophesie hath been in that part of it fulfilled is very cleare and acknowledged by all that acknowledge any thing And moreover in that since the breaking of the great power of the Roman Monarchy there hath risen ten Kings out of it which have been the Hornes which the beast hath made use of to push the Saints those Kings being subject to the Roman Beast which was first Emperiall and afterward Papal that Roman Beast whether Emperiall or Papall having alwaies had when least the number of ten Kings subjected to it Spain France England Scotland Ireland and Denmark being a part of that number In this also is that part of this Prophesie fulfilled which saies that the fourth Monarch should have ten Hornes or ten Kings and this is very plaine and undeniable and confest by all that have explained this Prophesie And thus having observed the Coherence I shall by divine assistance proceed to explaine the remaining part of this Prophesie which is contained in these foure verses And another shall arise after them and he shall be divers from the first and he shall subdue three Kings Having observed how the former part of of this Prophesie hath been already clearly fulfilled and that the ten Hornes were ten Kings belonging to the Roman Monarch and this part of this verse telling us that another King should arise after the other ten Kings which should be divers from the rest and should subdue three Kings And comparing this with the eighth verse to which this verse hath reference where Daniel saies that he considered the ten Hornes and behold there came up among them another little Horne before whom there were three of the first hornes pluckt up by the roots 〈◊〉 before whom three fell as in the â—… verse The result of all will be this that this King mentioned in this verse is the late King that reigned over England Scotland and Ireland and that appeares thus The King mentioned in this verse is said to be among the ten horns or Kings or to be of them and have three hornes or Kings pluckt up by the roots before him ver 8. or to have three of the ten Kings fall before hee comes up and this one to succeed three verse 20. Now this directly was the condition of the late King he came up in the roome of three of the hornes and reigned over three of the Kingdoms * That Kingdom may be said to bee and is indeed subjected to the Roman Beast the Pope when the King or those in authority in the Kingdom gives liberty to Prelates or to any of the Clergy-men as they are called to exercise any unwarrantable power over the consciences of Saints and to binde Saints to worship God in that way and method which they presscribe and no other way but so which God abhors Esa 29. 13. Matth. 15. 9. Exercising Lordship over the consciences of Saints and this is that for which Rome is called Babylon because it proved in this respect a house of bondage to ehe Saints And thus England Scotland and Ireland were subjected to the Roman Beast the Pope untill the late Kings power was taken from him and even so was England as well as the other Kingdomes subjected to the Beast even in Queen Elizabeths daies for though shee was in many respects 〈◊〉 vertuous Queen yet herein shee failed in suffering Bishops to Lord it over the consciences of Saints and therein was England one of the hornes even then as it hath bin ever since untill of late yeers subjected to the Roman Beast and before him three Hornes were pluckt up by the roots For Elizabeth of England and * This was he that caused the combustions in Ireland in Queen Elizabeths time and was wholly overcome at that time Hugh Baron of Dungannon and Earle of Tir-Oen whose predecessors claimed the Kingdome of Ireland and James of
Scotland were all three fallen and the late King was he that came in the roome of these three and entirely possessed the Kingdomes of all three So that this part of this Prophesie is exactly fulfilled in that King and not in any other of the Kings nor in any other person can these things be said to be so exactly fulfilled as in him So that if the Spirit of God here had no further described this little horne it would have been evident that this Prophesie had been fulfilled in this King these three Kingdomes being thus subjected to one King or Prince that formerly were governed by three before whom three were plucked up c. But it is made more apparent that this Prophesie was fulfilled in him by that further description which the Spirit of God in this Scripture gives of the dispositions actions and end or death of this King which we have as it followes Vers 25. And hee shall speak great words against the most High and shall wear out the Saints of the most High c. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ John 15. tels his Disciples that whosoever despised them despised him and whosoever despised him despised him that sent him Whereby its clear that that person that speaks great words against the Saints of the most High doth therein speak great words against the most High That this King did speak great words against the Saints of the most High threatning the ruine and destruction of all Puritans and Round heads as hee termed the saints of God is so well known as there needs nothing to be further spoken to make it appear nor need I mention the the persons which long before the wars which meerely for their being servants of God were persecuted imprisoned fined banished and otherwise threatned and as he spake great words against the most High in his saints so hee spake great words against the Lawes and Ordinances of God prohibiting of them requiring godly and faithfull Ministers to refrain from the worshipping of God from publike praying and preaching of the Word of God upon the first day of the Week Whereas many a poor soul might have been converted to and confirmed in the waies of God in those ordinances but hee constraind as it were the people of the Kingdom to a prophane loose life to dishonour God by inviting and requiring of them to practice prophane and wicked sports upon that day which was appointed for a holy worshipping of God Whereas many poore soules needed rather to haue been encouraged and call'd upon to have more frequently attended upon the Ordinances of God for they perished for want of knowledge And as he thus spake great words against the ordinances of the most High so he nourished and supported many wicked and abominable Priests when many holy and faithfull Ministers of Christ were rejected who did most profanely abuse the Scriptures and despise the very spirit of God and that publikely of which sort there were many among those Centuries of scandalous Ministers that were in the beginning of this Parliament sequestred for their delinquencies Thus in that this King spake great words against the saints and ordinances and spirit of God and had pleasure in such as so did he therein did as here is said of him speake great words against the most high And shall wear out the Saints of the most High Was it not long before the sitting of this Parliament given out by this King that hee would not leave untill hee had left no more Puritans in England then there were Protestants in Rome and is it not generally known what meanes and waies were used to wear them out and to make them weary of living in the Kingdom insomuch as many godly and faithfull people being weary of the impositions upon their consciences of those things which were evill and the prohibitions of them from that which was good as their meetings to call upon the name of the Lord and to confer one with another of the things of God and the repetitions of Sermons did being thus wearied leave their native Kingdom though in all outward respects to their great disadvantage and those that remained how did they groan under their burthens and complain to heaven day and night against the insufferable and wearying proceedings of that unworthy King Thus did hee wear out the Saints of the most high And shall think to change times and lawes and they shall be given into his hand untill c. Therein also he is more exactly characterized and described for it is well known that hee did think and intend to change times and lawes he thought to have made sad times for all circumspect and holy Christians whom he called Puritans and times of joy and rejoycing for all popish and prophane persons And hee thought to have changed those Lawes which had been by preceeding Princes made for the priviledges of the people in civil and spirituall respects and to have imposed lawes destructive to the peoples freedom and liberty and to have ruled all by his own will and made the people slaves thereunto And they shall bee given into his hand untill c. As hee thought to change Lawes and times so he did they were given into his hand for a while he had times and lawes in his hand to change them at his pleasure and he thought to have done so alwaies And to this end consulted with wicked Bishops Popish Lords and profane Judges and to this end also he raised Armies first against the Scots and afterward against all well-affected people in Ireland and also in England Thus this Horn that came up in the room of three did in all things answer this description of him which is given in these 24 and 25 verses and hee comes in no tittle short of it There is but one thing more spoken of him in this Chapter whereby he is any further described then as in these three verses and that is in the 21 verse which I will here take in before I proceed to what followes It is in these words And I beheld and the same horne made war with the Saints and prevailed against them untill c. And herein also did this Horne or King most exactly act according to this which the Spirit of God by Daniel so long since predeclared of him For he did make War against the Saints and that in such a manner as no King Prince or Potentate ever yet did For no History can declare nor in any age or time can it be said that ever armies were raised more properly to fight against and to make war with the Saints as being Saints then these late Armies raised by him and by authority from him have been Many combustions have been in the World and many wars in this and severall other Kingdoms but was ever the quarrell so exactly against Saints and saintship in any War as in this For it was against Saints in a more especiall manner that this horn made War
they shall in these daies abundantly have above all the treasures of the whole world No their hearts shall not Zach. bee set upon the world but their 10. 7. hearts shall rejoyce in the Lord. Fourthly that the advanced saints of God shall not in these daies seeke the wealth of the Nations but the Nations themselves as Paul expresses himselfe 2 Cor. 11. 14. we seek not yours but you that is not their wealth but their weale not their treasure but their safety not their riches but their happinesse not their outward things but the salvation of their souls and they that seek not these things to wit the publike weale and safety and happinesse and salvation of all but that doe covet to treasure up most riches for themselves and to poll and rob and cheat the people to inhance their owne estates and make themselves great in the world and their children gay and splendid amongst men as doe Kings Princes and evill Governours not to mention some sorts of Committee-men these shall become the basest and the vilest among men and their children be despised and contemned for their sakes especially if they walk in their steps Fiftly and lastly it is heaven and not the earth It is the kingdom of God and Math. his righteousnesse that Saints will 6. 33. seek after and these things shall bee added unto them And now having thus premised I shall come to mention those Scriptures which do so cleerly demonstrate that which is here asserted and the truth is the Scripture is so pregnant and so full of such passages as it would be very tedious to mention them all and doubtlesse many saints are very well acquainted with them but for satisfaction to others I shall mention some of them and the first shall be that known place in the second Psalme where it is cleerly asserted that all the kingdomes of the world shall in a most eminent manner be subjected to the Lord Jesus Christ and that hee should rule over Kings Princes and Judges which would not obey him with a rod of Iron and break them in pieces like a potters vessell if they cast not their Crownes at his feet and kisse him with the kisse of faith and obedience In the three first verses of that Psalme the Prophet seemes to have in his eye the rage of the heathen and the fury and the madnesse of the Kings of the earth at that time when God shall set up the kingdom of Jesus Christ over the whole world as if that as soon as they see preparation unto such a thing that their spirits should be presently inraged and they their Kings and rulers especially should set their whole strength consultations and counsels against the effecting hereof as being being resolved not to suffer it and therefore when they see that God is setting up of his Christ or anointed they say among themselves Come let us break their bonds and cast away their cords from us But alas poore wormes what doe they He that sit in the heavens shall laugh saies the Psalmist * vers 4 5 6. The Lord shall have them in derision Yea he shall speake unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure when they shall so doe and notwithstanding hee will set his King upon his holy hill of Sion and shall give him the heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession some of which being pertinacious and obstinate opposers he shall breake with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potters vessell And therefore the spirit exhorts all those Kings Rulers and Judges of the earth to bee wise and receive this instruction even to kisse the Sonne and and to serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling lest the Sonne bee angry and they perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little But for the comfort of others who long to see that day of the King the Lord Christ his exaltation hee addes Blessed are all they that wait for him Thus this Scripture fully concurres with the present Text in asserting this thing That all the Kingdomes of the world shall bee subjected to the Lord Jesus Christ and as it s said here that all dominions or as the word may be more rightly rendred all Rulers must serve and obey him so the same is cleerly declared in this Prophesie of the Psalmist also The next Scripture which I shall quote for the clearing of this point shall be that in the 110 Psalme which is also very full to this purpose for there the Psalmist speakes of a time when the Lord Jesus Christ there stiled a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck should be set up and exalted above all the Kings and Potentates of the world and when he should rule in the midst of his enemies and should have his enemies made his footstoole and should judge among the heathen and wound the heathen and wound the heads over many Countries and fill them with the dead bodies and his people should be willing in that day of his power so that hence it is cleare also that there is a time coming when Jesus Christ shall have the Kingdomes of the world subjected to him And because it is and will be so that when he comes thus to rule and raigne that many people but especially the great ones Kings Princes Rulers and Heads of Kingdomes shall endeavour to oppose the Lord Jesus in so doing therefore it is said here that he shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath and wound the heads over many Countries The third Scripture which I shall cite for the confirming of this truth shall be that in the 149 Psalme a place already mentioned upon another occasion where it is said That the Lord taketh pleasure in his people and he will beautifie the meek with salvation and that the high praises of God shall be in their mouths and 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 in Fetters of Iron to execute upon them the Judgement written This honour have all his Saints Now true it is that almost hitherto since the Primitive times the Saints have been as it were trodden under feet of the Gentiles that is of heathen or profane men and they have trampled upon them and sorely afflicted them For they have both imprisoned them and chain'd fetter'd and whipt and cropt and mangled and rackt and burnt them what not For all the cruelties that wit sharpened with malice could either invent or inflict have the meek the precious ones of God undergone at the hands of their cruell raging enemies BUT here they have a promise that the Lord who taketh pleasure in his people will at last beautifie the meek with salvation And what shall the issue thereof be It shall be this That whereas for thus long time
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 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
is their General said to come ver 11. But it is no wonder for he always walks in the midst of his golden Candlesticks his Witnesses his Saints his Churches Rev. 1. 13. But again these Armies in Heaven are said to follow their General upon white horses As he is upon a white horse which shews his purity so also are they upon white horses which shews their purity For he hath put his own Frame and Spirit upon them which further appears in that they are also said to be clothed in fine linen white and clean which also imports purity and undefiledness And thus we have the Description of the Lord General and his Army on the one side On the other side The chief among them is called the Beast which shews his unworthy filthy beastly nature and with him are the Kings of the earth they are not of heaven but of the earth and of the earth they may be said to be in opposition to the heavenly nature of those whom they oppose And for the Armies that are under them they are said to be Their Armies implying that they were earthly corrupt Armies because they did belong to those that were of the earth And this is all the description that we have in this place of the other General and his Army Now these being thus described It is said that the Beast and the Kings of the earth and their Armies were gathered together to make war against him that sat upon the horse and against his Army It seems they have hopes to overcome him and his Army because they gather together against them The event of the Battel But what is the event of the battel The Beast and his Army are overcome and the Beast and the false Prophet is that with him are taken What this false Prophet is is doutful for there is no mention made of him before this at least not under this Title * The false Prophet not in all the book of the Revelation but it may be it is some new sort of deceiver which he will make use of to deceive the Nations by false miracles when he draws them to ingage in this battel But whether so or no whatever he be when this battel is sought the Beast and the false Prophet that wrought miracles before him are both taken and of them is it said That they particularly were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimston and the remnant are slain with the sword and their flesh is given to the fowls of the aire even the flesh of Kings and Captains and mighty men c. And this is the success of this battel or the event of it as far forth as it is in this place spoken of But because the day of the battel is to be such a great and terrible day to wicked men being that great and terrible day of the Lord so much spoken of by all the holy Prophets and Apostles and Saints of God which day is represented unto us in such a dreadful terrible and glorious manner as if it were the General day of judgement but that it is cleered not to be that day by the declarations of the things that must follow it which are laid down in the several Scriptures which speak of this day I say seeing it is represented unto us in a dreadful and wonderful manner and since so many wonders shall be shewn at that that time and so much of the glory and majesty of God shall then be seen and such strange changes shall then be made in the world I say these things being so wonderful and so glorious I shall be the larger in giving the description of this day from several other Scriptures Thus Of the great day of the Lord. This day is that great day which is called the day of the Lords vengeance and the year of recompences for the controversies of Sion Mentioned Isa 34. 8. That day of which he speaks when he says The day of vengeance is in my heart and the yeer of my redeemed is come Isa 63. 4. For though it be true that he hath already begun to take vengeance upon his and his peoples enemies and to plead the cause of his people and though he hath begun to recompence his wrath upon these enemies for the controversies his Sion hath against them yet the compleatment hereof is reserved unto that day which of all days shall be the most terrible to wicked men because it shall utterly overthrow them and they shall not escape nor avoid it for then he will tread them in his anger and trample them in his fury yea they shall be troden in the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God And their blood shall be sprinkled upon his Garments and he will stain all his rayment As Isa 63. 3. But who shall live when God doth this was Balaams expression when he spake of the ruine of several Nations Numb 24. 23. for let all wicked men look to it when this day comes for to them it will be very terrible For this is the day which is spoken of Isa 66. 15. For behold the Lord will come with fire and with Chariots like a whirl-wind to render his anger with fury and his rebukes with flames of fire for by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh and the slain of the Lord shall be many How terrible will this day be when the Lord shall thus plead with all flesh by fire and sword and render his anger with fury and his rebukes with flames of fire Who shall live when God doth this It is answered by the Prophet in the same Chapter that at the same time The hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants and his indignation toward his enemies and their hearts shall rejoyce and their bones shall flourish like an herb They shall be so far from being quailed or discouraged or amated or terrified when this terrible day comes as they shall then flourish most and be most joyful at heart Again this day is spoken of Joel 3. 9 10. where the Lord summons all the Gentiles to gather together and make themselves as strong as they can for war and says that when they are gathered together round about in ver 11. that thither he will cause his mighty ones to come down at v. 12. That there he will sit to judge all the heathen round about then declares that the Sickle shal be put in to cut down this harvest of wicked men for the wickedness is great and that multitudes shall be cut down when the Lord shall thus judge these men and decide the controversies of his people for which cause it shall be called The valley of decision And then vers 16. The Lord shall roar out of Sion and utter his voice from Jerusalem and the heavens and the earth shall shake This is that once more wherein he will shake not the earth onely but the heavens
also of which Paul speaks Heb. 12. 26. And therefore this is called Joel 2. 31. The great and terrible day of the Lord. But who shall live when God doth this When the Heavens and Earth shall shake c. Why it 's answered in the same 16. vers But the Lord shall be the hope of his people and the strength of the children of Israel Of this day also Paul speaks 2 Thes 1. 7 8 9. Where he says that the day is coming when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power Thus doth Paul render this as a most terrible day and as the Prophet Isaiah in the forementioned place says the Lord will then render his anger and his rebukes with flames of fire So Paul here says that the Lord Jesus shall in flaming fire take vengeance on them that know not God c. punishing them with everlasting destruction from his presence But who shall live when God doth this The Apostle tells us that then the Lord Jesus shall come to be glorified in his Saints to be admired in all them that believe in that day v. 10 The Saints shall then live and glorifie him and admire him Of this day also speaks th Prophet Malachi Chap. 4. 1. For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven and all the proud yea all that do wickedly shall be stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up saith the Lord of hosts that it shall leave them neither root nor branch But who shall live when God doth this It follows in vers 2. 3. But unto you that fear my Name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall And ye shall tread down the wicked for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this saith the Lord of hosts Thus in a terrible manner is this day here also represented being a day that shall burn as an Oven Of this day also speaks the Apostle Peter and represents it in the same terrible manner 2 Pet. 3. 7. But the Heavens and the Earth which are now saith he by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men or as Isaiah says the day in which the Lord will plead with all flesh rendering his rebukes with flames of fire But says Peter vers 10. This day will come suddenly upon men as a thief in the night And indeed this numerous Army that shall be gathered together against the Saints shall little dream of such an overflowing scourge as shall overtake them but rather promise themselves a victorious overcoming of the Saints but alas Miserable creatures this day of their destruction and perdition says Peter shall come as a thief in the night in which the Heavens shall pass away with a noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat The whole world shall be on fire about their ears on a sudden and there shall be an utter destruction of them and their corrupt and filthy courses shall perish with them The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up And vers 12. The Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved But what might some say shall the Elements melt with fervent heat and the Heavens being on fire be dissolved and the Earth with the works that are therein be burnt up Who shall live when God doth this Peter in the very next words seems to prevent this question and says Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness As if he had said it is the perdition and destruction of ungodly men onely that I speak of take notice of that And this day that shall burn as an Oven shall burn up onely such as do wickedly but it shall not in the least manner touch nor trouble the Saints But we when these wicked men are burnt up shall have new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness It shall be a new time to us when these corrupt men shall be burnt up And this we have a promise for And this promise they had in Isa 65. 17. where this day is spoken of the promise runs thus For behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into minde but be you glad and rejoyce for ever in that which I create for I create Jerusalem a rejoycing and her people a joy c. And so he goeth on to declare the happy estate that Saints shall live in in these new Heavens and new a rth But this terrible day to wicked men is again mentioned Isa 33. 14. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire Who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Here are the same expressions or expressions to the same purpose with those we have already mentioned where Malachi says The day that cometh shall burn as an oven and Paul and Peter speak of the Lords taking vengeance in flaming fire on wicked and ungodly men The Prophet having this in his eye cries out Who shall dwell with devouring fire who shal dwell with everlasting burnings When the Lord comes to render his rebukes with flames of fire who shall dwell in those flames But lest the Saints should be discouraged he presently addes That though the sinners in Zion are afraid and fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites yet verses 15 16 c. he that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly he that despiseth the gain of oppressions that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes that stoppeth his ears from hearing of bloods and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil he shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks bread shall be given him his waters shall be sure Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty they shall behold the land afar off c. Thus the righteous upright man that is free from dissimulations is no hypocrite that will not oppress though he may gain much thereby is so far from so doing as he disdains he despises such gain and he that not onely refuses a bribe when it is offered to him but when it 's put into his hand will not keep it shakes his hand from holding of it and he to whom the cruel and corrupt courses of men are irksome even to hear of it or see it and therefore he stops his ears and shuts his eyes from it This man shall hold proof in these times and he shall dwell on high he shall have as sure a defence in these times as the munitions of rocks for he is fixed in the
the resurrection from the dead and they that slept in the dust should awake and sing and the earth should cast out the dead and this should be a joyful and comfortable time which should make amends for all their sufferings And about this time he speaks of the Lords coming out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity and for all the blood of his Saints which they have spilt as appears vers 21. And it 's certain that the raising of the Saints to live and reign with Christ will soon follow upon this Again of this appearing of Christ it is that the Prophet speaks Isai 33. 17 18. when he speaks of him that is fire-proof that shall dwell with devouring fire and everlasting burnings and says he to such a one Thine eye shall see the King in his beauty This is the time when he shall appear in his glory and beauty indeed and his Saints shall visibly see him and then their eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation c. as it follows in that Chapter And further of this visible and corporeal coming of our Lord Jesus doth the Angels speak Acts 1. 10 11. when that our Lord being with his disciples upon the mount called Olivet while they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight and saith the text While the disciples looked stedfastly toward heaven as Jesus went up behold two men stood by them in white apparel and said unto them Why stand ye looking up into heaven this same Jesus which is taken from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven Now they visibly and corporeally saw him go into heaven and in the same manner did they and we are to expect that he shall come again And what but this doth our Saviour himself mean when he says to Philip who wondered that he should know him when under the fig-tree Thou shalt see greater things then these for I say unto you Hereafter you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man Certainly there is a truth in all these things and we shall see greater and more glorious and admirable things then yet we have seen And though the time be not yet come yet certainly it will come Again in Act. 3. 19 20. 21. Peter tells us that when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord which time Saints have long waited for that he shall send Jesus Christ whom the heavens must receive until the time of the restitution of all things That is until he make new Heavens and new Earth restore all things The Heavens says he must retain him until these times which were spoken of by all the holy Prophets which have been since the world began But then Jesus Christ shall appear in that presence which the heavens now do retain which is his corporal presence for it cannot be said of his spiritual presence which is alway with us for which appearing his Saints wait And thus have I laid down the several Scriptures which do cleer this truth wherein it is abundantly proved by several testimonies whereas two or three Scriptures might have been authority sufficient to prevail But the Scripture is full in speaking of it and indeed it was much in the hearts of the Saints in the primitive times as appears by their frequent expressions of it upon all occasions even of this coming of Christ As 1 Thes 5. 23. And the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ And 1 Tim. 6. 14. I charge thee to keep this commandment without spot unto the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ which in his time will appear who is the onely Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords c. And 2 Cor. 1. 14. Ye also are our rejoycing in the day of the Lord Jesus And 1 Thes 1. 9 10. And how ye turned to God from Idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come And 1 Thes 2. 19. For what is our hope or joy or crown of rijoycing Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming And 2 Thes 2. 1 2. We beseech you by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him that you be not soon shaken in minde c. And 2 Tim. 4. 8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me onely but to them also that love his appearing Thus these Saints had much in their eye the day of Christ the coming of Christ the appearing of Christ And the Apostle makes it a principal piece of Religion For speaking of the Thessalonians when they were converted he says They turned from Idols what to do To serve the living and true God and what To wait for his Son from heaven Though that day was far off as the Apostle himself elsewhere informs them yet they did so firmly believe this his coming from Heaven and their being gathered unto him as they might truly be said to be waiters for it Of the manner of the coming of Christ and his Saints and with what bodies they shall come But now this Question may be propounded It being granted to be an undoubted truth thaâ— Jesus Christ shall personally appear on earth and that the Saints departed shall be raised from the dead to raign with him in that day With what bodies shall Christ and his Saints come And how shall they be raised up Doth the Scripture say any thing to that I answer Yes For hitherto I have quoted the Scriptures that speak onely of his coming and the Saints being raised but there are other Scriptures which speak of the manner how as that Rev. 1. 7. Behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him c. And Luke 21. 26 27. For the powers of the heaven shall be shaken and then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory And Mat. 24 30. 31. And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory And he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a trumpet and and they shall gather together his elect c. And v. 27. As the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the West so shall also the coming of the Son of man be So that it is cleer that as the Angels told his disciples when they saw a cloud to receive him out of their sight that he should so appear out of the clouds in like manner as they
shall be seen upon thee And the Gentiles shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising And v. 19 20. The sun shall be no more thy light by day neither for brightness shall the moon give light to thee but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light and thy God thy glory Thy sun shall no more go down neither shall thy moon withdraw it self for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light and the days of thy mourning shall be ended How glorious shall the Church be when thus the glory of the Lord shall be seen upon them in such fulness It is true there is in every true Saint and hath been in the darkest times of Popery in the times of their greatest weakness and darkness some true glory But how hath it been besmeared and eclipsed with their weaknesses and corruptions that have appeared in them But now the Spirit shall be poured so abundantly upon them as they shall arise and shine Now the Sun and Moon shall be no more their light those means and appointments wherein formerly they received light and saw some brightness they shall now be no lights comparatively for being compared with those full pourings out of the Spirit that they shall then have and those immediate inlightnings they shall then receive from God they shall be no lights and be of no use unto them because the Lord will be their everlasting light and their God their glory And it being so their Sun shall no more go down nor their Moon withdraw its self and the days of their mourning shall be ended They shall no more have a midnight of Popery overspreading them nor no more be burthened and bowed down by corruptions nor no more be afflicted by their enemies Their mourning dark days are past away and they shall live in joy light and glory for ever But thus having spoken in the general of the happy condition in which the Saints shall be in regard of the fulness of the Spirit which shall be poured out upon them I shall now proceed to the particular effects which the Spirit shall then work in them as the Scripture declares that the Saints in these days shall be filled with the Spirit 1 By which they shall be filled with knowledge 2 By which they shall be in an humble frame 3 By which they shall be filled with love 4 By which they shall be filled with a holy filial fear 5 By which they shall be enabled to worship the Lord acceptably 6 By which they shall be all united 7 By which they shall be enabled to act justly and righteously 8 By which they shall be put into a meek and sweet frame 9 By which the weak shall be made strong 10 By which they shall be enabled to speak a pure language 11 By which their minds and affections shall be raised and made heavenly 12 By which their wills shall be swallowed up in the will of God 13 By which they shall walk in the integrity and singleness of their hearts 14 By which they shall be enabled to mortifie all corruptions 15 By which they shall appear very glorious in the eyes of all 16 By which they shall be enabled to make a holy use of all the creatures And 17 By which they shall abundantly be filled with divine joy I shall begin with the first That the Saints having an abundant measure of the Spirit shall then be filled with knowledg * How Saints shall be fil'd with knowledge And this appears cleerly in that known place Isa 11. 9 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea This whole chapter is a cleer Prophecie of this time when there shall be new Heavens and a new earth and an universal rectitude shall appear in all the world as appears in that chapter Then shall knowledge abound in the world the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. It is not said With humane knowledge but that knowledge which is infinitely transcendent unto all humane knowledge the knowledge of the Lord yea so full of divine light and knowledge shall they then be as they shall have no cause to complain that they have but little and they want more for if the Sea may be said to want waters then may they complain but they shall have no cause for they shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea in this day when Jesus Christ and his Saints shall gloriously reign on earth And then in a most eminent manner shall that part of the new Covenant be made good which saith they shall no more teach every man his neighbour saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them saith the Lord Jer. 31. 34. Though it is true that in a sence this is now made good to the Saints for the least of Saints hath a true knowledge of God though but in a weak degree but then most eminently shall this promise be made good Again Isai 54. 13. in which Chapter the Lord makes many glorious promises of what he will do for his people in this time wherein he will put more glory upon them then ever he hath yet done At the thirteenth verse it's said And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of thy children Thus with an abundant measure of divine knowledge shall Saints be filled in that time But secondly being thus filled with the Spirit they shall be thereby made fully sensible of their own unworthiness and so walk humbly * That Saints shall be in an humble frame in those times before the Lord. For when they shall consider in that time what great and glorious things God hath done for them how he hath magnified his grace to them in giving of them full deliverance and times of peace and joy for all their times of sorrow and doubling their joys for their sorrow as Isai 61. 7. so as they never underwent so many sorrows but they shall partake of double joys and that everlastingly and when they shall consider that all this is from free love and tender mercy to an unworthy people it will put them into a very humble posture And this is clear Ezek. 16. 60 61 c. where the Lord having promised that notwithstanding all the unworthinesses of his people which are there enumerated yet he will do glorious things for them but he tells them that when he doth so for them that then they shall be ashamed of their ways and remember them and be confounded and never open their mouth any more because of their shame when he is pacified toward them The consideration of the grace of God to such as were unworthy shall so melt and humble their hearts before him the Spirit being abundantly in them as they shall never be lifted up in the pride of their hearts
any more The like we have Ezek. 36. which is a Prophecie of this time where at vers 27. God promises to pour out his Spirit upon them and when he hath so done at the 31 verse he says That then they shall remember their evil ways and doings that were not good and loath themselves in their own sight for their iniquities and their abominations Though these be times in which Saints shall be advanced * The higher the Saints are the more humble higher then ever they were yet being filled with the Spirit they shall walk more humbly then ever and be more little in their own eyes then ever The truth is none but such as are humble shall be the Citizens of this New Jerusalem and therefore Mal. 4. 1. it is said that when that day cometh it shall burn as an oven and all the proud shall be burnt up no proud men must be left it shall be onely such as walk humbly before the Lord that shall live in this Kingdom But thirdly The Spirit being thus abundantly poured out upon the Saints they will be thereby filled * How Saints shall then be filled with Love with love and that in a most eminent manner so that as David being filled with the Spirit says I will love thee O Lord my strength so shall they also most truely and cordially say it with wonderfullyraised and inflamed affections For where much of the Spirit is there must needs be much Love for the Spirit of God is the spirit of Love it self And because of the great love that Saints shall have to God it 's said Psal 149. 3. that the children of Sion shall be joyful in their King he alone indeed shall be the joy of their hearts in him and in nothing else will they be satisfied It is not their corn and wine and oyl it is not all the outward enjoyments which they shall then abundantly have but it is the Lord alone that will be their greatest joy and pleasure and therefore Mal. 3. 1. it 's said The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple even the Messenger of the covenant in whom ye delight There Jesus Christ is set forth as the object of the Saints love and delight It 's true he is so now but in that day will most eminently be so And it 's evident it will be so for if we compare Rev. 19. 7 8. with Rev. 21. 2 3. we shall finde that then the Saints are solemnly taken to become the Bride the Lamb's wife which argues that ardent and entire affection shall then be in the Saints to Christ But then O what mutual exchanges of love will there be between Christ and his Saints And therefore the Lord thus highly and wonderfully expresses himself Zeph. 3. 16 17. which I can never read but with great admiration In that day shall it be said Fear thou not Sion for the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save thee he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his love he will joy over thee with singing What high and marvellous expressions are these that the most high and holy One should thus express his love to poor empty unworthy nothing creatures What that he will rejoyce over them Shall they be a joy to him Nay more that he will not onely love them but rest in his love as being that wherein he can acquiesce rest be satisfied And what be so well satisfied therein as to joy over his Sion with singing O wonderful what can be more said Who can sufficiently admire at the height and depth and breadth and length of this love of God which passeth knowledge And how great must the love of Saints be when they come more fully to apprehend this For this love begets their love His love to them is the spring of their love to him But fourthly Being filled with the Spirit they shall be thereby * What holy sweet filial fear shall be in the Saints then filled with a holy fear of the Lord Not that any distracting disquieting fear shall be upon them or any slavish fear but a holy filial fear shall abide upon them such a fear as will well become the sons and daughters of the Almighty whereby they shall be the better fitted to serve and honour their God and Father And of this the holy Ghost speaks Isa 60. 5. where speaking of these times wherein God will do such glorious things for his people he saith Their heart shall fear and be enlarged It shall not be a fear that shall disturb the Saints or make them walk heavily or straiten them in their services but an enlarging fear Their heart shall fear and be enlarged Such a holy fear the Spirit always puts into the hearts of the Saints to make them fit for the service of God And therefore the Psalmist hath this expression Psal 2. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling implying that such service and such joy is most acceptable is sweetest is best And so again the Prophet Hosea speaking of this glorious time Hos 3. 5. says he They shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the later days It is not that they shall fear the Lord and his wrath that they shall fear the indignation of the Lord no they shall have no cause so to fear his love shall be so visibly and gloriously manifested to them but they shall fear the Lord and his goodness a holy reverential fear under the sence of goodness shall be in their hearts And that such services as have most of this holy fear in them are most spiritual and most sweet is well known to the experience of Saints And that such a fear shall be in the hearts of Saints in that time we are speaking of is also exprest Jer. 33. 9. And they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto them The manifestation of goodness and love shall beget in them in whose heart the Spirit is a holy fear and trembling before the Lord. But fifthly Being thus filled with the Spirit they shall be enabled to worship the Lord acceptably * How Saints shall then purely worship God and purely The worship of God shall then be totally freed from mens inventions and they shall then worship God according to his own will For what his will about his Worship and service shall then be shall be clearly known among his people and be visible to all that truely desire to worship him as appears Isa 2. 2 3. and Mic. 4. 1 2. 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 all nations shall flow unto it And many people shall go and say Come ye and let us go up unto the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of
people who are in this frame and to none but such whose hearts are thus spiritual and who so little regard these things in comparison of spiritual even to such will God in these times we are speaking of abundantly give not onely these spiritual injoyments and priviledges but all other things shall be added unto them that so their joy may be compleat and nothing may interrupt it And now I come to declare how comfortably and if I may so say how happily the Saints shall live in this new world in respect of outwards Concerning which hear how the Lord expresses himself Isa 60. 15. For I will make thee an eternal excellency the joy of many generations It is a short but a full word for speaking of the external glory that he will confer upon his Church he says that his Sion shall have as much outward glory as ever any people had nay he says not onely so but that they that excel others he will make them an external excellency The outward glory that was conferred upon Solomon the type of our King of peace was very great but this shall excel it and excel all kingdoms that ever were before it for outward things as well as spiritual It shall be an exâ—…rnal excellency and it shall be the joy of many generations such outward glory and such excellency above all others shall be conferred upon it as shall be the joy as shall glad the hearts of all that live in those generations or that shall be brought forth in those times while these thousand yeers shall last And what the outward glories of it shall be is in part exprest in the following words For brass I will bring gold and for iron I will bring silver and for wood brass and for stones iron These are the things wherein the external glory of a land consists and he says withal that they shall suck the milk of the Gentiles and suck the breasts of Kings Which imports that the treasures and outward glory of the Nations and of the Kings and great men of the world shall be all drain'd together and brought in to them they shall suck the sweetness of them and shall injoy them all And thus will the Lord make his Sion an eternal excellency in outward respects as well as in inward or spiritual respects But now more fully to declare what this external glory of this new world shall be thus There shall be no outward thing wanting to the Saints that may make their life outwardly comfortable for what is it that can be desired or that heart can think of that ever at any time maketh the lives of people comfortable but the Lord hath promised that his people shall enjoy it in these times And first * Saints shall then have that outward blessing of long life and a comfortable enjoyment of all their relations until they come to a good old age Doth the enjoyment of neer relations without losing of them make the life comfortable Are children outward blessings in which men take much outward content and delight And is it a very desirable thing to have our children the Lords children to be the blessed of the Lord And is it a bitter thing to lose an onely son a sad thing to lose children and neer relations and is the contrary a desirable mercy And is long life a blessing and an outward favour lawful to be desired According to that Psa 91. 16. With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my salvation Why all these things hath the Lord promised to his people in these days when these new Heavens and new Earth shall be as we finde in these Scriptures Isai 65. 17 18 c. Behold I create new heavens a new earth and then what follows I will rejoyce in Jerusalem and joy in my people and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying But if they should lose their children lose their relations before they come to a ful age there would be mourning and weeping for these things usually prove sad afflictions to the best Saints even to Jacobs and Davids But they shall not lose these then for vers 20. it is said There shall be no more thence an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled his days for the childe shall die an hundred yeers old So that this is clear No infant of days shall die none shall die while they are young all shall come to a good old age They shall not be afflicted for the loss of their children for they shall live till they be an hundred yeers old and not an old man shall die that hath not filled his days Again Zech. 8. 3 4 c. Thus saith the Lord I am returned to Sion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem and Jerusalem shall be called A city of truth and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain wherein the Lord will dwell And what follows Thus saith the Lord of hosts There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem and every man with his staff in his hand for multitude of days and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof Thus shall the Saints in those days enjoy those desirable blessings of children and of long life they shall have a numerous issue The streets shall be full of boys and girls and old men and old women shall live till they come to a good old age till they walk with a staff in their hand for age But me thinks as I am speaking of these outward blessings I cannot too often insert this as a caution by the way That to a holy heart these things are but secondary comforts under-comforts their chief comfort consists in spirituals But I proceed In Jer. 33. the Lord speaks of the great things he will do for his people in that day and vers 9. he says They shall be for a name of joy and praise and honour before the nations which shall hear of the good that he will do unto them And vers 11. There shall be heard among them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride and the voice of them that shall say Praise the Lord of hosts c. Thus shall they comfortably enjoy children and all relations and praise the Lord. Nay and to make their children which they shall enjoy a complete blessing and mercy to them indeed it is said that they shall be all holy unto God Isa 65. 23. They shall not labour in vain nor bring forth for trouble for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord and their off-spring with them Their children being thus blessed with them shall be a joy unto them whereas otherwise they might be a grief and trouble to them Again to the same purpose is that Isa 54. 13. and Isa
and they under the notions of Puritans Roundheads and Sectaries So that where ever his Armies came their greatest hatred and malice was against such as they so termed And in Ireland all such as had but the name of Protestants were most cruelly and barbarously dealt withall that they might be sure to cut off all Puritans as the most reall Saints were then termed Thus he made War with the Saints And I beheld and the same Horne made war with the Saints and prevailed against them untill c. As it is true of him that he made war with the Saints so it is true also that he prevailed against them for a time so that many faithfull Saints whose memories are still precious among those that remaine lost their lives in that War and he continued for a time mightily prevailing against them both in Ireland and also in England and had once got such strength both in Garrisons and in the Field when Oxford Bristol Exeter and almost all considerable places in this Kingdome both West and North were in his hand I say he had then got such strength as it was neere to be if it were not put to the vote in Parliament whether all should be delivered to his mercy or not whereby it appeares that he had prevailed far Thus in all the particulars already mentioned was this Prophesie fulfilled in him But to proceed And they shall be given into his hand untill a time and times and the dividing of time This expression of a time and times and the dividing of time is in it selfe a riddle hard to be understood but it is the more easie to unfold because it is againe used in the New Testament in another Prophesie of the same ten Horned Beast that is here spoken of in this Chapter for there this expression which is here in Daniel so hard to be understood is more plainely explained It is in the twelfth Chapter of the Revelation at the fourteenth verse where it is said That the woman fled into the Wilderness from the persecution of the Dragon where she was nourished for a time times and halfe a time and in the sixth verse of that Chapter where there is another mention of the womans flying into the Wilderness where she was to be fed or nourished it is said to be for a thousand two hundred and sixty daies Now what the meaning of these two expressions which are used to express one and the same time is doth more clearely appeare in the 11 and 13 Chapters of that Prophesie In the 11 Chapter at the 13 verse it is said That the holy City that is the Church and people of God should be trodden under foot of the Gentiles forty and two months and at the 3 verse that the witnesses should prophecy in sackcloath a thousand two hundred and and sixty daies which is one and the same period of time with that in the 12 Chapter for a thousand two hundred and sixty daies accounting 30 dayes to a moneth is just 42 Moneths and forty two Moneths accounting twelve months to the yeare is three years and a halfe â—o that these three 1 A time times and half a time 2 Forty two Moneths 3 A thousand two hundred and sixty daies These three are but various expressions of one and the same thing Now in the 13 Chapter at the 5 verse there is againe mention made of this one thousand two hundred and sixty daies for there it is said that the beast that had ten Hornes that was to persecute the Saints was to continue a thousand two hundred and sixty daies that is so long as in the 11 and 12 Chapters the Church was said to be given up to the Gentiles and to be persecuted and trodden under foot Now by this one thousand two hundred and sixty daies is to be understood so many yeares as it is usuall in the Prophets to put a day for a yeare * Ezek. 4. 56. Dan. 12. 11 12. So that when the one thousand two hundred and sixty yeares in which the Romish beast of whom that Prophesie speakes was to continue prevailing against the Saints did expire then the One thousand two hundred and sixty yeares Or Fourty two moneths or Time times and half a time For so it is variously exprest of the Saints suffering persecution did expire also So that this then is the meaning of this expression in Daniel And they shall be given into his hand untill a time and times and the dividing of times That is they shall be given into his hand untill the end of the one thousand two hundred and sixty yeers in which the Romish Beast was to be permitted to persecute the Church or Saints of God and to overcome them and tread them under foot So that so long this horne was to go on speaking great words against the most High and wearying out the Saints and indeavouring to change times and lawes and to have them given into his hand even untill that time was to be expired Now that this one thousand two hundred and sixty yeers in which the Romish Beast was to be permitted to persecute the Church and to tread it under foot is very neer come to a period * As Brightman and Cotton and Archer and others Is the concurrent judgement of all the learned and godly men that have written and publisht any thing of it and also the judgement of many private faithfull and precious Christians in these times But that it is not onely very near but is already fully expired I have already in another Treatise upon another subject * See the Resurrection of the witnesses published in 1648. cleerly declared there laying down my grounds for it to which I shall now only adde this ground which this Scripture in hand presents which is this The Holy Ghost here declares that this horn should continue untill a time times and the dividing of time so that when this Kings power of wearing out the Saints and changing times and lawes and making war against the Saints is taken away then is the time times and half a time or fourty two moneths or one thousand two hundred and sixty daies come to a period For he was to continue untill then But this Kings power to wear out the Saints and to change lawes and times and to make war against the Saints is taken away Therefore the time times and dividing of time or one thousand two hundred and sixty yeeres is come to a period Object But it may bee objected that though this Kings power be taken away yet the Pope the Beast remains and the rest of the horns remain how then is the one thousand two hundred and sixty yeeres of the continuance of the Beast expired I answer that this period of time is expired is clear from the former ground For the Holy Ghost speaketh expstesly that this horn should continue untill a time times and the dividing of time which is to bee understood as is
first is in the 9. 10 11. verses of this Chapter where Daniel speaking briefly of this Vision and the manner how he saw it before the more cleare interpretation was given to him he speakes of this Judgement thus That the Ancient of daies came whose garment was white as snow c. and the judgment was set And further he saies that the Ancient of daies being come and the Judgement being set that then because of the voice of the great words which the Horne spake the beast was slaine and his body destroyed c. Againe in the 21 22. verses where Daniel desires further to know the meaning of what he saw before he speakes thus of it I beheld and the same Horne made war with the Saints and prevailed against them untill the Ancient of daies came and judgement was given unto the Saints of the most High and the time came that the Saints possessed the Kingdome And in the 26 verse after it had been said that the Horne should do so and so as in the two former verses it s here said that the judgement should sit and should take away his Dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end Now these passages being compared together the result of them all will be clearely thus First That because this little Horne should speake great words against the most High and think to change Times and Laws and weare out the Saints of the most High and make war against them that therefore the most high should appeare for to own and deliver his own people And secondly that a certaine number of Saints should be convened together and have a spirit of Judgement by the most High given unto them and power and authority whereby they should take away the Dominion of this Horne to consume and to destroy it unto the end This in briefe is the sense of these verses which I shall more fully illustrate thus I say first that because this little horne should speake great words c. That therefore the most high should appear for to own and deliver his own people Now by this appearing of the most high is meant First his appearing in Secondly his appearing for his people First I say that by the appearing or comming of the most High spoken of in this Chapter is meant his appearing in and among his people and this shall by and by be made evident for though at the first view of the 9 10 11. verses it might seem to bee a description of that visible and glorious appearance of the most high at the great day of Judgement For thus it runs I beheld till the Thrones were cast down and the Ancient of daies did sit whose garment was white as snow and the hair of his head like the pure wool his Throne like the fiery flame and 〈◊〉 wheels as burning fire a fiery stream issued and came forth from before him thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him the Judgement was set and the bookes were opened I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horne spake I beheld even till the Beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame as concerning the rest of the Beasts they had their Dominion taken away yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time I say though at the first view of these words they seem to be a description of the last and great day of Judgement mentioned Rev. 20. 11 12 13 14 15. Yet in observing the last of these verses viz. ver 12 it will cleerly appear that this is not nor cannot bee the meaning of the Spirit of God in this place for there it is said that though by this appearance of God the Beast or little Horne was slain and his body destroyed because of the voice of the great words which the little Horne spake that yet the rest of the Beasts or of the hornes had their lives prolonged for a little season Which could not have been if that had been the generall day of Judgement and this is undeniable But now that this glorious appearance of the most High in garments as white as snow and hair of his head as pure * That is in pure and unspotted righteousness Wool upon a Throne like the fiery flame and wheeles as burning fire with a * That is impartiall and zealous justice fiery stream issuing before him and thousand thousands ministring unto him c. is his appearing in and among his Saints is very clear by observing these passages ver 10. it s said the Judgement was set and the Books were opened and ver 11. that the Beast because of the voice of his great words was adjudged to be slain and was slaine Now the 22 verse explaines the meaning of the judgement here spoken of and saies expresly that Judgement was given to the Saints of the most high So that this appearing of the most high is his appearing in and among his people in giving a spirit of judgement and righteousnesse unto them whereby they shall act so purely and righteously and withall so justly and impartially as that those actions of theirs in themselves shall bee as white as snow as pure wooll and withall to the enemies of Christ as fiery flames and burning fire This is the appearance of God in his people so that when the judgement was set and the books were opened that is all the horrid cruelties and cruell cursed practises of the Beast were declared that then not unjustly or without just cause but saies the Spirit of God because of the voice of the great words which the horne spake the Beast was slaine and his body destroyed Thus God appeares in his Saints Judgement was given to the Saints of the most high and the Judgement shall sit and they that is a company of Saints they shall take away his Dominion to consume and destroy it unto the end So that God giving judgement to his saints he brings to passe the great designes he hath in the world by them as his instruments so that he does it and they do it and they must doe it and are alwaies ready and shall be so For he hath thousand thousands ministring unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him ready to execute his will and do his pleasure But secondly as by this appearance of God is to be understood his appearance in his people so it is also to be understood of his appearing for his people viz. in manifesting evidently manifesting his power and wisdome and faithfulnesse in delivering of them from the tyranny fury and cruelty of their oppressors and owning of them for his own people So that though the Beast seemed to be and was very potent and very great and spake great words and thought not onely to wear out but utterly to root out the Saints in his making War against them Yet God so appears for their help
and their deliverance as he gives them to overcome him and his complices that thought to overcome them And in this worke hee hath thousand thousands ministring unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him hee hath all his Saints all men else and all his holy Angels at his beck to execute his will and doe his pleasure And as once the stars in their courses fought against Sisera so God in doing this great work for his Saints deliverance and making way for the setting up of the Kingdom of his beloved Sonne hath multitudes multitudes both of Celestiall and terrestiall creatures to attend him And certainly such great things could never have been done if the Ancient of daies had not most gloriously and wonderfully appeared for the help and support of his people How could they which are so few in number and in the eies of the world despised and despicable creatures have carried on that work so effectually as to have cut off the late King though it was verily beleeved and it is very probable there was at that very time twenty to one in this Nation of England that were against it had not the Lord assisted them with thousands of Angels and evidently manifested himselfe to bee with them Thus it is evident that by the appearing of the Ancient of daies mentioned in this Chapter is meant his appearing in his people in that spirit of judgement and justice that he gives unto them and his appearing for his people to own and defend and deliver them and to lay their enemies in the dust while hee raises them up and makes them sit in high places Secondly whereas I said that this position was likewise the sense of this verse together with those other verses which I compared with it viz. That a certain number of Saints should be convened together and have a spirit of judgement given unto them by the most High together with power and authority whereby they should take away the dominion of the little horn to consume and to destroy it unto the end I shall illustrate that thus In the 10 verse its said that thousands thousands ministred unto the Ancient of daies and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him the judgement was set and the bookes were opened and because of the voice of the great words which the Horn spake the Beast was slaine Here it is evident that the beast or horne was slaine by some that did sit in judgement before whom the books of his evill deeds were opened because of which his evill deeds and sayings he was adjudged to be slaine And at the 22 verse it is plainely declared who they were that did sit in judgement That they were not Angels but Saints the Saints of the most High for there it s said that the horne made war with the Saints and prevailed against them untill the Ancient of daies came and judgement was given to the Saints of the most high and then was his power taken off for then the time came that the Saints possessed the Kingdome And that those Saints that have judgement given to them and that are said to sit in judgement that they are the instruments by whom the beast was to be judged and slaine is further cleare in this 26 verse where it having been declared in the former verse how evilly the horne should deale with the Saints it s said But the judgement shall sit and THEY shall take away his Dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end Thus it is also evidently the sense of these verses compared together that by the judgment sitting is meant a certaine number of Saints that by the wisdome providence and power of the most High were convened together and invested with power and authority and a Spirit of Judgement for this end to judge this little Horne and do justice upon him and to take away his Dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end And this need not seem strange that the Saints should thus sit in judgement and do such things as these for do ye not know saies the Apostle 1 Cor. 6. 2. that the Saints shall judge the World And verse 3. Know ye not saies he that we shall judge Angels This being a known truth it is no wonder among those that know truth that God should put such power and authority and such a spirit of judgement upon Saints whereby they should be enabled to do these things And to this purpose that passage of the Psalmist is also very considerable Psa 149. 4 5 6 7 8. The Lord taketh pleasure in his people he will beautifie the meek with salvation Let the Saints be joyfull in glory let them sing aloud upon their beds Let the high praises of God be in their mouths and a two-edged sword in their hands to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishment upon the people to bind their Kings with chaines and their Nobles with fetters of Iron to execute upon them the judgement written this honour have all his Saints praise yee the Lord. Now I say since it is certaine that the Saints shall one day judge not only the world but the wicked Angels the Devils also and it being most certaine that this Prophesie of the Psalmist wherein he speaks of a time when God will beautifie the meek of the earth with salvation and put his high praises in their mouths and a two edged sword into their hands to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishment upon the people to bind their Kings and Nobles in Chaines and Fetters of Iron and to execute upon them the judgement written Marke it the judgement written these things being so it is no wonder that this written judgement should be thus executed upon this horne or King Thus it is cleare that a company of Saints convened together by the wise providence of the most high and invested with power and authority and a spirit of judgement were to do this work upon the horne And what particularly they are is by providence now made very conspicuous the things that are here spoken of being now in a great measure accomplished for all prophesies are best understood in the fulfilling of them Namely that they are those precious and gracious ones that by the wise and gracious disposall of the most high have been called to sit in Parliament and the high Court of Justice which they erected who have had a spirit of wisdome of judgement and faithfulnesse put upon them whereby they have acted faithfully and zealously for the glory of God and the peace and welfare of all their brethren I say it is the Parliament and those imployed by their Authority who have hazarded all that was deare unto them rather than to suffer the free people of this Kingdome and amongst them the Saints and people of God to be betrayed or given up to the power of those that would have ruled tyranically and cruelly over them But here let me not
spring as the grasse and when all the workers of iniquity doe flourish It is that they may be destroyed for ever but thou Lord art most high for evermore A new AND MORE EXACT MAPPE OR DESCRIPTION OF New Ierusalems GLORY when Jesus Christ and his Saints with him shall reign on earth a Thousand years and possess all Kingdoms WHEREIN Is discovered the glorious estate into which the Church shall be then put both in respect of externall and internall glory and the time when And also What hath been done these eight yeares last past and what is now a doing and what shall be done within a few years now following in order to this great work Wherein also That great Question whether it be lawfull for Saints to make use of the materiall Sword in the ruining of the enemies of Christ and whether it be the mind of Christ to have it so is at large debated and resolved in the Affirmative from clear Scriptures and all others answered By M. Cary a servant of Jesus Christ Rev. 22 6 7. And he said unto me These sayings are faithfull and true and the Lord God of the holy Prophets sent his Angell to shew unto his Servants the thing which must shortly be done Behold I come quickly LONDON Printed by W. H. and are to be sold at the sign of the Black spread-Eagle at the West end of Pauls 1651. A description of new Jerusalems GLORY when Jesus Christ and his Saints with him shall reign on earth a thousand yeares and possesse all Kingdoms Dan. 7. 27. And the Kingdom and Dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given unto the people of the Saints of the most high whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and all Dominions shall serve and obey him THe Spirit of God in the former verses having declared the rise actions and end of the little Horne that was to afflict the Saints and shewing how that at last the Saints should overcome him Saies expresly They shall take away his Dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end and then saies in this verse that the Kingdome and Dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most high c. The assertion which is laid down in these words is plaine and cleare and needs no explanation at all which is this That not only this Kingdom of England and some few others but all the Kingdomes and Dominions in the whole world shall in a more peculiar and more eminent manner than yet they have been be subjected to the Lord Jesus Christ and by him given to his Saints to possess This same truth likewise is positively asserted in the 13 14 18 21 and 22 verses of this Chapter in the 13 and 14 verses where the Vision it self of which these verses are an interpretation is declared there it is thus exprest I saw in the night vision and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of daies and they brought him neere before him and there was given him Dominion and glory and a Kingdom that all People Nations and Languages should serve him his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which shall not pass away and his Kingdome that which shall not be destroyed So that this is clearly asserted here also that the Dominion not only of some but of all people Nations and Languages should be given to the Lord Jesus Christ who is here exprest by this appellation The Son of man by which he is often exprest in the New Testament and this is to be done after the Beast is destroyed as is here exprest And what is in these verses said to be given to the Lord Jesus Christ is in the 18 20 21 and 27 verses said to be given to his Saints for in the 18 verse it is said that the Saints of the most high should take the Kingdome and possesse the Kingdome for ever even for ever and ever and in the 21 22 verses that the Horne prevailed against the Saints untill the Ancient of daies came and Judgement was giuen to the Saints of the most high and the severall beasts having had the Kingdomes of the world for their appointed times the time then came that the Saints possessed the Kingdome and in this 27 ver that the Kingdom and Dominion and the greatnesse of the Kingdome under the whole heauen should be given unto the people of the Saints of the most High Thus what was in the 18 verse said to be given to the Lord Jesus there called the Son of man is in these severall verses said to be given to his Saints The truth is that which is given to the head is given to the members that which is given to the Husband the wife must partake of for there is nothing that he possesses which she hath not a right unto And the Saints of Christ are the members of Christ they are the Lambs wife and having given himselfe unto them he will not with-hold any thing that is his from them but when all the Kingdomes and Dominions under the whole heaven are given to him they shall possesse them with him Thus is this assertion that is laid downe in this verse confirmed in severall other passages in this very Chapter namely That all Kingdomes all the Nations and Languages and People under the whole heaven shall be in a more peculiar and a more eminent manner than yet they have been be subjected to the Lord Jesus and by him be given to his Saints to possesse And as it is cleare here so there are very many other Scriptures wherein it is as clearly asserted severall of which Scriptures I shall here produce that out of the mouth of many witnesses it may be confirmed against all contradictions which I shall the rather do because this Doctrine is so much despised by profane men who jeering at Saints say these are the meek that must inherit the earth But first let me premise That though it be unquestionably true that the riches of this world which hath been hitherto equally dispensed alike to all shall in a very short time be abundantly given to the Saints of the most High as Canaans Land was to Israel of old which was but a shadow of what shall come to passe in the latter daies that yet First they that are indeed the Saints of the most High and that walke most with God will be the least seekers of this worlds wealth and Secondly They that seeke it least and least desire it shall have more than they that seek it eagerly and also shall injoy it most comfortably and with greatest joy in God Thirdly that those saints that God will most honour though they shall have abundance of the world yet they shall not set their hearts upon it but shall prefer the least degree of the flowings of the spirit of God which
holy one and the Just and kil'd the Prince of Life whom God had raised from the dead by faith in whose Name the lame man was healed hee addes Now brethren I wot that through ignorance yee did it as did also your Rulers but these things which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his Prophets that Christ should suffer he hath so fulfilled repent you therefore and be converted that your sins may bee blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ which was before preached unto you whom the heavens must receive untill the time of restitution of all things which God hath spoken of by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world began Peter here preaching to those that had been the actors of that most unjust and most unrighteous act that ever was acted by the most wretched and most sinfull of the sons of men he charges it home upon them ver 12 13 14 and 15. and having done so he is guided by the wisdome of the Spirit lest they should in the sense hereof be driven to despaire to mitigate the terrour of of it though the sin was so hainous by these two considerations First their ignorance verse 17. sutable to which is that passage of Paul 1 Cor. 2. 8. Secondly by the determinate counsell of God which he then fulfilled in that act of theirs which was in it selfe so hainously sinfull as it came from them And having thus done he presses them to repentance and to an embracing of the Lord Jesus Christ from whom he preaches peace notwithstanding their great sin against him telling them that upon their being converted unto him their sins should be blotted out and tels them withall that though they had crucified him and he according to the counsell of God had suffered death of which all the Prophets had spoken that yet there was a time comming when that Jesus Christ which had been crucified who was gone to heaven and must there remaine untill that appointed time even that Jesus Christ should come again and v. 21. restore * Restore all things that is to restore to his Saints a comfortable and free enjoyment of all the comforts of the Spirit of grace and of all the comforts of the whole Creation and when the Apostle here saies he shall restore all these things he meanes he shall restore them to those that are converted to his Saints only and not to all men as some would have it for that is directly contradictory to other Scriptures that speake of this same time as Isa 65. 13 14. 15 20. Isa 51. 22 23. Jer. 30. 23 24. Rev. 21. 8. Chap. 22. 15. besides many others to this purpose that are as cleare for if this were true then may it be said in this case as Paul in another said if so c. Saints are of all men most miserable in that they suffer sharpe afflictious and drinke many a bitter cup from the hands of wicked men because they will not do as they do and say as they say because they are more righteous and for righteousnesse sake but they it suffer because they know that the righteous Judge of all the earth will quickly come and reward every one as his work shall be Rev. 22. 12. even to them who patiently continue in well doing eternall life but unto the ungodly workers of iniquity indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soule of man that doth evill of the Jew first and also of the Gentile Rom. 2. 6 7 8 9. all things and pardon their sins and refresh v. 19. comfort them and this is that time saies Peter which God hath spoken of by the mouth of all his holy Prophets which have been since the world began and this doubtless is that which is spoken of by the Prophet Daniel in this passage we are treating of And this is that which Paul also speakes of Rom. 8. 18 19 c. in these words The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us for the earnest expectation of the Creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God for the Creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope because the Creature its selfe also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God for we know that the whole Creation groaneth and travelleth together in paine untill now and not only they but our selves also which have the first fruits of the spirit even we our selves groane within our selves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our bodies Here the Apostle speaking of this exalted condition of the Saints in these latter daies doth illustrate it in these 5 particulars by which he sets out what the condition of saints shall be and by six particulars in which he speaks to the condition of the whole Creation The particulars wherein he speakes to the condition of the Saints are these First That the condition of the Saints untill that time come whatever their enjoyments are and how comfortable soever it shall be yet in comparison of that it shall be a sighing a groaning a sorrowing condition for so he saies even we our selves we that are Saints and have the first fruits of the spirit which are exceeding precious to us and in which we have so much joy and peace as Rom. 5. 1 2 3 4 5 11. we groan within our selves are in a sighing sorrowing condition waiting for the Adoption or Redemption of our bodies untill when we shall sigh and indeed so it must needs be for besides outward troubles we meet with from wicked men we the best Pauls Cephas's and Primitive Saints which are indued with the most eminent gifts are also troubled with sin that dwels in us so that when we would do good evill is present with us But Secondly He tels us that at that time the condition of Saints shall be such as that their bodies shall be redeemed from the servitude and slavery in which they have been subjected to men in that over their bodies other Lords have had dominion for that must needs be his meaning in those words Waiting for the redemption of our bodies What shall our bodies have redemption from else but that And that is also the meaning of those words The glorious liberty of the children of God They have not been in their bodies free nor in liberty but in bondage and subjection but then comes the redemption of their bodies and they shall be at liberty And Thirdly They shall also be freed from the power of corruption within as well as from the outward slavery and subjection of wicked men and this is exprest in these words The glory which shall be revealed in us present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the
much more is the Saints meaning in these words when they say Wee give thee thankes because thou hast taken to thee c. Wherein they expresse how they are affected with and doe rejoyce in these things Wee know how David expresses himselfe upon such an occasion Psal 98. 7 8 9. Let the Sea roar and the fulnesse thereof the world and they that dwell therein Let the floods clap their hands and let the hils be joyful together before the Lord for he commeth to judge the earth with righteousnesse and to judge the people with equity David is so affected with this great and glorious dispensation when God comes to reigne and even for to judge the earth with righteousnesse and to decide with justice and equity the controversies of the people as that he cannot be content to onely rejoyce and be exceeding glad thereof himselfe but he also excites the whole Creation to rejoyce in this most glorious dispensation And if these that are still of the world so they be not the desperate and implacable enemies of his Saints shall have such cause to rejoyce when the Lord reigneth because they shall not be at all oppressed nor unjustly dealt with as they had bin before but shall have justice done them I say if these and the whole Creation shall rejoyce when the Lord reigneth much more shall Saints when hee shall come to Judge their cause with righteousnesse and destroy the man of sinne and shall lay all his supporters though Kings and Princes notwithstanding whosoever labours to prop or beare them up in the dust And the Nations were angry When God comes to take his great power and to reigne himselfe the Nations are angry because their vaine customes which they have doated upon must bee laid aside and this great man must be brought downe and that King and 'tother darling and favourite of the Nations for opposing of the Lord Jesus Christ and his Saints must bee destroyed even the * Psal 110. heads over many Countries And thy wrath is come When Jesus Christ comes to reigne hee will breake forth in wrath against his and his Saints implacable enemies and this is that which he speakes of when hee speakes of the yeere of recompences for the controversies of Sion And when he saies the day of vengeance is in his heart * Isa 63. 3 4. and the yeere of his redeemed is come having suffered his adversaries a long time to go on unpunished in afflicting and martyring and oppressing his Saints hee will at last have a time to reckon with them and hee will avenge his Saints quarrell for vengeance is his recompencing all the blood and cruelty of their enemies on their owne heads And he will shew that hee hath not been regardlesse of all the sufferings and sad pressures which his people have undergone from the hands of wicked and cruel men but when the yeere of his redeemed is come then will he recompence his enemies for all their controversies with Sion and as it is Jer. 30. 23. His fierce anger shall goe forth as a whirlewinde and shall fall with pain upon the heads of the wicked For thy wrath is come and the time of the dead that they should be judged When Christ thus comes to avenge his people on their enemies he doth therein give judgement for them for in that those enemies have slain and martyred his Saints long before he herein judges his people that they have slaine with righteous judgement when he passes the sentence of condemnation and executes it upon those that have thus destroyed and had a hand in the destroying of so many innocent and so many righteous soules for all the bloud of all the innocent soules from righteous Abel to the bloud of the many innocents lately shed in Ireland and elsewhere must be charged upon the Pope and that Generation * And thus God judgeth the dead Saints cause for so saies the Text Rev. 18. 24. that in them will be found all the bloud of all the Prophets and Saints and of all that were slaine upon earth And that thou shou dst give reward unto thy servants the Prophets and to thy Saints and to them that feare thy name small and great The time of Christs reigning will be the time of Saints rewarding for all their love and all the labour and sufferings of it There is none that ever did any thing for God or that suffered any thing for God but shall be abundantly rewarded for all their doings and sufferings and for all their shame and sufferings shal have a reward of double joy according to that passage Isa 61. 7. For your shame you shal have double and for confusion they shal rejoyce in their portion therefore in their land they shall possesse the double everlasting joy shall be unto them And the reward which Christ will give when he hath thus brought down his enemies shall be universall to all his Saints not only as some have conceived unto those Saints that have been Martyr'd for Christ but to all his Saints which are here exprest under various denominations that so all Saints may see themselves here included and therefore first it is thus exprest That thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the Prophets by which in generall is meant all Saints for all Saints have in a measure a spirit of Prophesie For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of Prophesie saies the Angell Rev. 19. 10. but more peculiarly by Prophets is ordinarily understood the great preachers and publishers of Gospell-truths those that are gifted and inabled to hold forth publikely to edification exhortation and comfort Gospell truths for this is prophesying as 1 Cor. 14. 3. and now if there had in this place been no other description given of the Saints which should have been rewarded by Christ but only this his servants the Prophets there might have been some question made whether this did include all Saints and it might be taken only for publike officers but it therefore follows and to thy Saints this is a more generall word and herein all saints might be satisfied though they be not so eminently gifted as others are since this word is added and to thy Saints but if any should yet conceive that they are not here included seeing some that are Saints are sometimes under some doubtings of their Saintship therefore it follows And to them that feare thy name so that if they have but a true filiall sonlike feare of God they may hereby be encouraged but yet further that there may not be any discouraged for their weakeness because they are lookt upon as little ones as babes or because they are low in the world it therefore followes and to them that feare thy name small and great all Saints from the most eminent Prophet and Teacher to the meanest and tenderest babe that waites upon and loves and feares the Lord Jesus shall all be rewarded at his comming not that any thing they
that are done unto them and loving their enemies and doing good to them that hate them These things may they do and yet ought they not to leave the other undone But this may by the way bee considered that there hath been times when there was never a good Magistrate in the world and then was it the duty of Saints to bee wholy passive and observe the forementioned rules of patient suffering But when providence so orders it as to place in authority godly men then wee see it cleer that they should neglect their duty if they should not protect those that do well from the wicked cruelties of evill doers and thus the objection is answered and it is cleer that it is lawfull in Gospel times for Saints to fight against such as would murther and destroy them as the Associates of the Beast would Nay it is not onely lawfull to do it but it would bee their sinne if they should not doe it Godly Magistrates would sin if they did bear the sword in vain and did not punish evill doers and godly subjects would sinne if they should not obey the Magistrate when hee requires them to do this lawfull thing which is to bee assistant to him in punishing of evill doers and thus have I answered this sufficiently if I should not adde any thing else in answer But secondly in answer to such as make this objection that though it be true that the Apostle saies that those that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution and it was a truth in the Apostles time and hath been so for almost this sixteen hundred yeeres since that the Saints have suffered persecution either from the Roman Beasts the Emperours or the Roman Beasts the Popes or those that have acted by authority from them yet it doth not follow that this will alwaies hold a truth that the saints shall be alwaies sufferers but the contrary is cleer and I know none that deny it but that as the Saints have had a suffering time so they shall have a time of deliverance and freedome from suffering and the rod of the wicked shall not alway rest upon the lot of the righteous but God will though he have borne * Luke 18. 7. long at last avenge the quarrell of his people upon their enemies and though for this 1500 or 1600 yeers God having appointed his people thus long to a suffering condition he never called his people to do justice upon their enemies as hee did his people of old oftentimes under the Law as in the time of Joshua and of the Judges and David c. Yet it followes not out that hee may do it now For it is no where said that now in the latter daies when the time of the Saints deliverance commeth that they shall not by the sword as Israel of old did subdue the enemies of God which are also their enemies I say it is no where said they shall not so do but in severall places it is said that they shall so doe as in that knowne place in the 149 Psalme which never was yet so eminently fulfilled as it shall be in these latter daies Where the Psalmist in expresse termes saies that the Saints shall execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishment upon the people and bind their Kings in chaines and their Nobles in fetters of iron and execute upon them the judgement written And doubtlesse the time is comming wherein the Saints in a most glorious manner shall have the honour to doe these things And this is cleer likewise in the 110 Psalme where the Psalmist speakes expressely of the time when the enemies of Christ shall bee made his footstoole as appeares in the first verse The Lord said unto my Lord sit at my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footstoole Now Jesus Christ when he ascended up to Heaven is said there to sit at the right hand of God Mark 16. 19. and there he sitteth and there hee must sit untill the time come that all his enemies be made his footstoole saies the Psalmist And in the fifth verse speaking of that time when they shall be made his footstoole he speakes thus The Lord at thy right hand that is the Lord Christ at the right hand of God shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath and he shall judge among the heathen and fill the places with dead bodies and wound the heads over many Countries This is a great work that he will doe wound the heads over many Countries strike through Kings in his wrath but what instruments shall the Lord Iesus use in doing these things he being at the right hand of God that is answered in the second and third verses The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Sion and thy people shal be willing in the day of thy power Here it is cleer that the sons of Sion are shal be the Lords instruments the rod of his strength and they shall be willing in this day of Christs power Another very cleer place to this purpose wee have Esa 54. 15 16 17. The whole Chapter is a Prophesie of the happy estate of the Church in these latter daies But that which is observable to this purpose is in these words In righteousnesse thou shalt bee established thou shalt bee far from oppression for thou shalt not feare and from terror for it shall not come neer thee But how shall this be shall they have no enemies at all to oppresse them nor terrifie them yes they shall have enemies but they shall have no power to oppresse them nay they shall not so much as be any feare or terror at all unto them such confidence shall they have that they shall overcome them for so it follows in the next verse Behold they shall gather together but not by me whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake and no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousnesse is of me saith the Lord. Thus its cleer that though the Church in these times have enemies and though these enemies doe gather together and rise up against them yet Saints shall not feare them nor at all bee terrified by them Why The Lord hath promised that all their enemies shall fall before them and though they make weapons and fight against the Saints yet they shall not prosper But the Saints shall overcome them in all the battels they fight Againe that the Saints shall in these latter daies be the instruments of Christ in subduing his enemies is cleere as in the fourteenth and sixteenth verses of the seventeenth of the Revelation and in the nineteenth Chapter so also in the sixth verse of the 18 Chapter where the Lord gives an expresse commission and command to his people to execute his just vengeance upon
Rock Christ Jesus that cannot be moved and sure provision shall be made for him And he shall see the King in his beauty The Lord Jesus who shall then appear in his glory and his excellent beauty as I shall shew by and by shall this mans eyes behold and these new heavens and new earth that shall then come which in the Prophets days was very far off shall this mans eyes see which land is described vers 20 c. Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation a tabernacle that shall not be taken down not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken and the inhabitant shall not say I am sick and the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity But to proceed Of this terrible day that shall come upon wicked men there is a large description in the whole 24 Chapter of Isaiah but I shall mention but some of the passages of it as vers 1. Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty and maketh it waste and turneth it upside down and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof Here the Prophet shews how the Lord will depopulate the earth making it as it were empty so great will be the slaughter of wicked men and then he shews what changes and mutations he will make in the earth in that he will turn it upside down make it appear no more as it was before but make it a new make new heavens and a new earth But how shall this be done That the world shall be made new and emptied of wicked men Doth the Prophet declare as Peter doth that it shall be done by fire Yes At vers 6. The earth is defiled therefore hath the curse devoured the earth and they that dwell therein are desolate therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men left Thus the Prophet speaks of the destruction of the wicked of the earth by fire There are several other expressions in this Chapter that shew the dreadfulness of this day as vers 19. The earth is utterly broken down the earth is clean dissolved the earth is moved exceedingly As Peter expresses himself Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons c. so doth the Prophet here say The earth is clean dissolved c. But if any should ask the Prophet Why what is the meaning of all these expressions in the declaration of what shall come upon the earth What is to be done Wherefore will the Lord do all these things The Prophet at the first verse tells ye and says That in that day the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high and the kings of the earth upon the earth So that this is the time when he shall wound the Heads over many Countries when he shall strike thorow kings in the day of his wrath when he shall rule them with a rod of iron that will not stoop to the golden scepter of his grace Thus terrible and dreadful will this day be to wicked men And if it should be said to the Prophet Who shall live when God doth this He tells ye in the midst of this declaration of the desolations that are to come upon the inhabitants of the earth vers 16. We have heard songs even glory to the righteous implying that this great day which is the day of wicked mens greatest distress shall be the time of the Saints greatest glory joy and exaltation Now is the time of their singing for joy of heart come But again there is another description of the terribleness of this day in the 50 Psalm which Psalm is a clear Prophesie of this day wherein God will call that wicked crue that have nothing to do to take his Word into their mouthes to an account where the Prophet speaks in the same language with the Prophets and Apostles already mentioned and says vers 4. Our God shall come and shall not keep silence a fire shall devour before him and it shall be very tempestous round about Here also is this day represented to the terrour of wicked men But at the same time the Psalmist says that to him that ordereth his conversation aright he that is the Lord will shew the salvation of God Such a man shall be saved when the wicked shall be devoured Again the terribleness of this day is set out in several other Scriptures But having produced so many already I shall onely mention one more and proceed to what I have further to say and that is Isai 30. 30. The Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard and shall shew the lighting down of his arm with the indignation of his anger and with the flame of a devouring fire with scattering and tempest and hail-stones Thus the Prophet here sets out the terrour of that day when the Lord shall at last be fully avenged on his enemies he shall then shew the lighting down of his arm it shall then appear to be his arm indeed by which his enemies shall be overcome And he shall cause his glorious voice to be heard and manifest his indignation and anger against the enemies of his people with a flame of a devouring fire with scattering and tempest and hail-stones But who shall live when God doth this The Prophet vers 26 27. tells us that this day shall be the day when the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people and healeth the stroke of their wound and that in it unto them the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of seven days So that though it shall be terrible to their enemies yet it shall be the most glorious and happie day to his people that ever was since the beginning of the world and because it shall be so it 's said Isai 24. forementioned that they shall lift up their voice they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord they shall glorifie the Lord in the fires even the Name of the Lord God of Israel in the Isles of the Sea And thus I have laid down that description which is given in several Scriptures of this great day of the Lord wherein he will by fire and by his sword and by tempest and hail-stones manifest his indignation and wrath against the enemies of his people so as multitudes multitudes shall be slain So as the earth shall be emptied of them So many shall be slain as there shall be few men left And that when it 's thus the earth shal be turned upside down and there shall be new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness For the wicked and the wickedness of the Earth shall be so burnt up as in that respect iâ— shall become a new earth and new heavens wherein righteousness shal remain and flourish And now having thus done I should now proceed to shew that immediately upon this day when
all the enemies of Christ are made his footstool that at this very time shall Jesus Christ appear with his Saints to raign on earth Of the time when the full deliverance of the Jews and Gentiles shall be compleated But first a word or two about the time when it shall be that Jesus Christ will work this full deliverance for his Saints from their enemies when this great day of his appearing shall be Now in general the time when this last great overthrow of wicked men and this wonderful glorious and compleat deliverance of the Saints shall be after the Lamb hath overcome the ten Kings And after the Gospel hath been preached to all Nations for the bringing in of Jews and Gentiles and after Rome is burnt as we have already said But some may say But how many yeers may it be before these things shall be done If it might be we would know the direct time for it may be long before all these things may be done before the ten Kings are overcome and before the Jews may be converted and the Gentiles fulness come in and before Rome is destroyed and long before that great day come and according to reason it will be a very long time if we should judge according to sense but that we know that beyond sense and reason the Lord can make a short work of it and cut it short in righteousness But if the Scripture do give any hint of the time we desire to know it To this I answer first that I believe this is enough to satisfie a Saint and to make his heart joyful to know that the time of the prevailing power of the Saints enemies over them is come to an end and that they shall never overcome them any more but the Lamb is already seen to be come upon mount Sion where he hath called out his called chosen and faithful ones with which he will go on conquering and to conquer and by whom he will ruine Rome and execute upon his enemies the judgement written I say this is matter of joy to a Saint to know that Christ is a doing these things though they do not know when he will finish this or that particuler work But secondly and more particularly For the yeer in which or neer to which this great day shall be wherein the enemies of the Saints both Jews and Gentiles that shall be converted shall be I shall here propose my apprehensions and leave them to the judicious wise and intelligent Christian to judge of them * Dan. 12. 10. And for this I must have recourse to Dan 12. a chapter which speaks plainly and particularly of this great day of the final deliverance of the Saints in general though particularly it mention but the Jews for the one cannot be without the other as in v. 1. At that time shall Michael stand up the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a Nation This is that great day we have spoken of wherein there shall be such a dismal terrible time to wicked men in general as never was since the world began But it shall be as I said to wicked men but not to the converted Jews nor Gentiles not to the Saints And therefore it follows in this verse And at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the book When Michael the Prince i. e. Jesus Christ the great Prince of Israel even of all the Israel of God shall stand up for them in this great day then will he vex their enemies put them to such trouble as there never was the like But all his own people who have given up their names to him who are listed in his book shall be delivered This shall be the work of that great day and that which shall follow immediately upon it follows in v. 2 3. of the chap. whereby it is evident that this chapter speaks of this great day of the deliverance both of Jews and Gentiles Though to Daniel being a Jew there is no mention made of the Gentiles but of his people onely Well this being a prophecy of this great day let us now see what in this chapter is spoken of the time Now I finde that this Chapter speaks of three distinct periods of time in which three distinct remarkable things shall come to pass in order to the deliverance of the Saints And the first time mentioned the 6 and 7 verses speak to and in the 6 verse this question is made How long shall it be to the end of these wonders To which in the 7 verse a double answer is given which is confirmed with a very solemn Oath first that it should be for a time times and a half and secondly that when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people all these things shall be finished Now for the first of these answers because I have had occasion already to open the meaning of it * In my book intituled The Resurrection of the witnesses and have shewed that the same expressions in the Revelation and this here agree in one and point at one and the same thing namely the flourishing time of the Beast the prevailing time of the Beast wherein he shall have power to overcome the Saints and to trample them under foot even fourty two months or a time times and half a time And having cleared this and shewed when that time did expire and that after that time neither the Beast nor the little Horn prevailed any more I say having spoken of these things already I shall refer the Reader thereunto where they shall finde that in 1645 the Beast ceased to prevail against the Saints and the time wherein he should tread the holy Citie under foot then came to an end and neither he nor his associates shall ever prevail more And then this is the effect of the first answer to the question That there should be a time times and an half and then an end should come in which time times and half the Saints should be kept under by enemies but then an end should come and deliverance come And the second branch of the answer makes this clearly to be the meaning of the former which is in these words And when he shall have accomplished to have scattered the power of the holy people all these things shall be finished In which first is clear that there should be a time when the power of the holy people should be scattered the Saints should be destitute of power to oppose an enemy and consequently should be kept under by an enemy Secondly This is clear in these words that there should be a time when this should be accomplished or compleated I mean their power being scattered there should be a time when it should be fully done for then a thing is accomplished when it is fully done as much as
can be done or shall be done And thirdly this is clear being plainly asserted that when this scattering is accomplished then these things should be finished that is then deliverance should come So then this first period of time spoken of points at the great thing that should be done in order to the deliverance of the Saints The taking away of the power of the enemy which he hath so long had to tread them under feet so that now he shall do so no more which indeed is a great deliverance to the Saints but yet there remains other things to be done they must be delivered and shall in due time not onely from his prevailing power but from his opposing power But now for the time when that shall be I must proceed to what follows in the Chapter and in vers 8. Daniel says that for the former answer he heard it but understood it not and therefore being very desirous to know he again puts the question O my Lord says he what shall be the end of these things It having been told him that Michael should stand up and his people be delivered he is desirous to know when it should be but in the 9 verse it is said Go thy way Daniel for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end Herein is implied that though Daniel were told these things yet they were as a sealed book to him and they must be so untill the time of the end They are so darkly and mysteriously declared because they must not be understood till the time of the end The words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end But then the wise shall understand but none of the wicked as it is in the 10 vers And then in the 11 and 12 verses this answer is given to Daniel's question about the time when his people shall be delivered And from the time that the daily sacrifices shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days And here are two other Periods of times wherein the great deliverances that are yet to be wrought for the holy people the Saints are to come to pass But what these two Periods of time are and how we may understand these two verses is the great question Now as I promised I shall lay down what my apprehensions of them are and leave it to the Wise to judge And thus I apprehend that by the time here mentioned in which the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up is meant that time when the Emperour Julian the Apostata reigned which Emperour although he had been a great professor of Christianity during the reign of Constantius the preceding Emperour yet when he came to be Emperour he most wretchedly turned Pagan and then the abominations of the Heathens were set up and their Temples and Idol-groves were set wide open in every City which former Emperours had caused to be shut up and Julian himself sacrificed to the Idols And thus the abomination of desolation was set up And then also Julian to vex the Christians and to shew how little regard he had to the truth of the Gospel which abolished Jewish Worship he commanded the Jews to sacrifice again And when they replied that they ought not to sacrifice but in the Temple in Jerusalem he then commanded that the Temple should be built again and allowed that it should be done at his own cost and charge allowing it out of the Publike Treasury which the Jews expecting a time to come wherein the Temple should be built very readily went about supposing that to be the time And when they had begun the work there was a great Earth-quake which shook the old Foundation of the Temple and turned all down to the ground together with the houses adjoyning thereunto and not onely so but a fire came from heaven which burnt all the Tools and the Instruments which had been brought thither to build the Temple And then and not till then was that Prophecie of our Saviour fulfilled that not a stone was left upon a stone And the Jews being astonished hereat never durst any more attempt to build the Temple to offer sacrifice And then from that time hitherto hath the daily sacrifice ceased for then it was taken away with a witness in a most remarkable and miraculous manner And this I am perswaded is the time here spoken of in the Prophet Daniel and this is the judgement of M. Archer and others also And this being granted then we must begin the One thousand two hundred and ninety Prophetical days which are yeers that Daniel here speaks of at the yeer when these things were done which was about the second yeer of Julian for he reigned not full three yeers which was the yeer three hundred sixty six And then to this yeer 0366 if the yeers which the Prophet speaks of be added which are 1290 it makes up just 1656 So that in the yeer one thousand six hundred fifty and six by this account will be the second period of time which the Prophet here speaks of in which there will be some glorious thing done in order to the deliverance of the Jews which we may hope will be their conversion for what will so much tend to their deliverance as their conversion But their conversion or something that will tend to their conversion and deliverance it will certainly be Which is cleer because this is given as an answer to the question that Daniel made When shall the end of these things that had been to him before declared be Or when shall Michael stand up and the children of my people be delivered Now this time being pointed at in the answer it is certain that some glorious thing shall then come to pass in order to their deliverance and though what it will be be not certainly discovered yet we may hope it will be no less then their conversion But this again is cleer that though much may be then done in order to their deliverance that yet it will not be the compleat deliverance which they and all the Churches of Christ shall have at that great day of their deliverance already mentioned for that is reserved for that third period of time mentioned in ver 12. in these words Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days Much may be done and much will be done at the period of the one thousand two hundred and ninety days but how happy will he be that shall live five and forty years beyond that for that is the utmost period of time that is set for the compleat deliverance of the holy people the Church from all enemies whatsoever And blessed is the man that cometh to not onely the one thousand two
hundred and ninety but to the one thousand three hundred and five and thirty days So then the full and compleat deliverance of the Church when this great day will come when all the enemies of the Church will be subdued will be at the period of the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days Now if to the yeer 0366 there be added 1335 it makes up just 1701 And in this year or neer this yeer one thousand seven hundred and one I am perswaded that day will be having my ground of this perswasion from this Scripture as I have laid it down which I leave to the consideration of prudent Christians I shall now proceed And now I come to speak of those things which are to follow immediately upon this great day of which first a word in general and then I shall descend unto particulars But in general thus Immediately upon the ruining of the enemies of Christ and his Saints in the manner we have spoken of and upon the passing away of the old Heavens and the old earth shall be fulfilled that which is spoken in Rev. 21. 1 2 3. And I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth and the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea And I John saw the holy city new Jerusalem come down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband And I heard a great voice from heaven saying Behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God c. That which I take notice of in these verses of which to speak a word in general before I descend to particulars is this That the new Jerusalem here is said to come dome down from God out of Heaven This glorious state and condition in which the Saints shall be put after this great day is to be here on Earth and therefore it is said to come come down from God out of Heaven First in that it is said to come down it argues that it is not above but below for it is to come down from above And secondly In that it is said to be from God out of Heaven it speaks plainly that it is not to be taken for that Glory which the Saints shall have in the * By the Heavens above I mean that place which is far above all Heavens to which the Apostle saies Jesus Christ ascended Eph. 4. 10. Of which Heaven the Lord says it is his Throne and the earth his footstool Isa 66. 1. The height and glory of which place the thoughts of men are alas too shallow to apprehend But the Heaven above it is called in respect of the height and transcendency of the glory of it above the earth that now is or above the new Heaven and the new Earth that shall be in the time we are speaking of which shall come down from God out of Heaven from that inaccessible glory and that unapproachable splendor that none eye hath seen or can see in the beholding of which the Angels do veil and cover their faces 1 Tim. 6. 16. Isa 6. 1. Heavens above to all eternity with God but a glorious estate which comes down from God out of Heaven unto them which they are to injoy for a thousand yeers here below in which time the Tabernacle of God shal be with men and they shall be visibly seen to be his people and God himself shall be among them and be their God and the effects therof shal be glorious as appears by what follows But this onely is that in general which I here take notice of that this new-Jerusalem-glory is to be on earth when there shall be a new molding and a new making of the Heaven and of the earth and of the particular mutations and changes that there shall then be I shall now speak Of the personal appearance of CHRIST And Of the Resurrection of his Saints to Raign with him on Earth ANd in the first place I shall speak of the personal appearance of Jesus Christ and the Resurrection of his Saints to raign on earth with him That Christ shall personally appear is a point that is I know much controverted and is very much doubted by many Saints who are eminently godly and whom I do very much honour and reverence who yet are confident that he will very gloriously appear in the treading down his enemies in the ruining of the Beast and the setling of his people in peace and filling of them with his Spirit but they question whether our Lord Jesus shall any otherwise appear then to be their spiritual eyes and then as now for now they spiritually discern him in his present footsteps in the world And it being thus dubious to many I was inclining to be silent in it but that the light shining so clearly to me in the following Scriptures which I shall mention hath such power and force with me as I cannot but hold it forth leaving it to the more serious consideration of intelligent Christians And the Position that I shall lay down is this That our Lord Jesus Christ having subdued his enemies shall personally appear on earth and shall raise up the Saints before departed out of this world to come and reign with him on earth To prove this we have several Scriptures and I shall begin first with that known clear place Revel 20. The description of the total overthrow of the Beast and all the Armies that were gathered together with him to make war against Jesus Christ and his Saints being laid down in the preceding Chapter in this Chapter follows a declaration of what things will succeed it and that which is to this purpose is in the 4 5 6 verses And I saw thrones and they sate upon them and judgement was given unto them And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God and which had not worshipped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand yeers But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand yeers were finished This is the first resurrection Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection 〈◊〉 such the second death hath no power but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand yeers In these verses this is laid down That the Saints of God which had been Martyrs and sufferers under the Beast should be raised from the dead and be advanced to sit upon thrones and judgement should be given unto them and they should live and reign with Christ a thousand yeers But though the Saints should be thus raised that yet this is not the General Resurrection wherein all the just and unjust shall be raised no for
had seen him go into Heaven and as Angels then attended him so will Angels much more at his appearing attend him and he shall come with power and great glory Now we know that as the Apostle says of the Resurrection of the body that it 's raised spiritual it 's sown a natural body it 's raised a spiritual body it 's sown in corruption it 's raised in incorruption it 's sown in dishonour it 's raised in glory it 's sown in weakness it 's raised in power So we know was the body of Christ after his resurrection it was not a natural body but a spiritual it was not corruptible but an incorruptible it was not mean nor weak but glorious and powerful and being thus a spiritual body and incorruptible c. it was quick in motion upon a sudden appearing to his Disciples and suddenly gone from them again And it was passable to all places it appears to the Disciples when the dores are shut and asccnds up into the Heavens in their sight These things a natural body cannot do but a spiritual and a glorious can And therefore he is said to come as the lightning that quickly shineth from one end of the Heaven to the other so can the body of Christ when he appeareth quickly pass from one end of the Heaven to another to be visibly seen of all his Saints to their joy but to the terrour of their enemies and so he will come in the clouds and every eye shall see him with power and great glory And as the Scriptures speak thus of Christ in his coming so there are Scriptures which speak of the Saints in their appearing with him As Col. 3. 4. When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we appear with him in glory Thus the Saints then were fully perswaded of the appearing of Jesus Christ and spake often of it and knew that at his appearing as he should appear in power and great glory so they should appear with him in glory And so again 1 Joh. 3. 2. Beloved now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is And so again Phil. 3. 20 21. For our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Thus in this manner shall the Saints that come with him appear with him in glory and their bodies being raised shall be fashioned like unto his glorious body And now I shall conclude all that I have said touching this glorious appearing of Christ on earth and the Saints raigning with him on earth with that precious Counsel of our blessed Saviour worthy the dayly observation of all Saints as the use which is to be made of all that which is in Scripture spoken of this appearing and kingdom of Jesus Christ which we have Luke 21. 36. Watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and stand before the Son of man Knowing what he hath said Rev. 22. 20. He which testifieth these things saith Surely I come quickly Amen Even so Come Lord Jesus Of the ceasing of wars and the perfect peace and tranquility that shall be enjoyed for a thousand yeers I now proceed in the further description of this new world the new Heavens and the new Earth which is to follow upon that great day we have spoken of And in the next place shall shew how that after this time and during this thousand yeers of the Saints raigning with Christ on earth all wars shall cease All the enemies of the Church being thus gloriously overcome as hath been shewed there shall be no enemy left that shall ever stir so much as to prepare to make war against the Saints any more And this is cleer Micah 4. 3. and Isa 2. 4. Where it is said that in the last days when the mountain of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountains that then they shall beat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning-hooks Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation neither shall they learn war any more There shall be such peace and tranquility and this peace so firm and they so certain of the abiding of it as that they shall see that they shall have no need of using swords and spears any more And therefore they shall beat these instruments of war which they shall no more use into instruments of husbandry which they then living in peace shall have occasion to use For they shall sow seed and reap it and plant vineyards and drink the fruit thereof And therefore Micah thus expresses the peace they shall have Mic. 4. 4. They shal sit every man under his vine under his fig-tree and none shall make them afraid They shall have no fear of war none shall make them afraid Such peace shall they have And Isa 33. 20. the Prophet speaking of these peaceful times speaks thus Thine eys shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation a tabernacle that shall not be broken down not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken Which fully manifesteth what security or rather what stability there shall be in these times of peace Again Isa 32. 18. the peace of these times is thus exprest And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting places And Isa 60. 17 18. it is further exprest thus In that day saith the Lord to his Sion I will make thy officers peace and thine exactors righteousness violence shall no more be heard in thy land wasting nor destruction within thy borders thou shalt call thy walls salvation and thy gates praise Thus with full and emphatical expressions is the peace and tranquility of the Church in these times set forth There are many other passages to this purpose but these being sufficient I shall adde no more in this place but proceed Of the binding of Satan for a thousand yeers And the next thing I shall speak of as that which is to be done immediately upon this great day of the overthrow of the Saints enemies and the setling of them in peace shall be this That not onely the external and visible enemies of the Saints shall be subdued and put under the * Mal. 4. feet of Christ and his Saints but that also their internal and invisible enemies shall be chained up for now the Saints wrestle not onely with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers and spiritual wickednesses in high places and now their adversary the devil goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour
one of a thousand cannot be said to be All. But when was the Spirit poured out so much as upon one of a thousand Again when was the Spirit so abundantly upon all ages degrees and sexes as that all might prophesie that is in the lowest sence be able to speak to edification exhortation and comfort How few of those that are Saints have the spirit of Prophecie in this sence to any purpose upon them carrying of them forth to publish the Gospel for the edifying comforting or conversion of others The number of those is very small witness the complaints of many Country-towns and Parishes even within this Kingdom which they make for the want of faithful able men to preach the Gospel among them And if there be very few men that are thus furnished with this gift of the Spirit how few are the women Not but that there are many godly women many who have indeed received the Spirit but in how small a measure is it how weak are they and how unable to prophesie for it is that that I am speaking of which this text says they shall do which yet we see not fulfilled Indeed they have tasted of the sweetness of the Spirit and having tasted are longing for more and are ready to receive from those few that are in any measure furnished with the gifts of the Spirit for prophesying but they are generally very unable to communicate to others though they would do it many times in their families among their children and servants and when they would be communicating to others into whose company they come though sometimes some sprinklings come from them yet at other times they finde themselves dry and barren But the time is coming when this promise shall be fulfilled and the * That all ages sexes degrees shall have the spirit of Prophecie in these later days Saints shall be abundantly filled with the Spirit and not onely men but women shall prophesie not onely aged men but young men not onely superious but inferiours not onely those that have University-learning but those that have it not even servants and handmaids For this by the way let me say There is nothing absolutely necessary to the making of a convert and of a convert a publisher of the Gospel which a soul that is but furnished onely with Understanding and Reason is not capable of if the Spirit be poured out upon it whether it be a Heathen so called for distinction sake or one brought up in the profession of Christianity or whether it be learned or unlearned or whether it be male or female I say a soul indued with Understanding and Reason is capable of Religion and all religious performances if it be indued with the Spirit and there is no other thing absolutely necessary thereunto And when the Spirit shall be more abundantly poured out upon Saints this shall be made evident so that according to this gracious promise sons and daughters servants and handmaids old men and young men shall prophesie But some may say This promise was fulfilled in the Apostles times and the Apostle Peter expresly cites it Acts 2. 18. when the Spirit was theu poured out upon them But to that I answer It is true the Apostle Peter cites it there but it doth not therefore follow that this promise was then fulfilled neither was it but the Apostle cites it upon this occasion The twelve Apostles having then received the promise of the pouring out of the Spirit it carried them forth powerfully and wonderfully and in an extraordinary manner to speak forth the things of God which when those that were in Jerusalem both strangers and others saw and heard they began to marvel at it and to say that they were full of new wine But the Apostle Peter understanding this stands up and tells them that they were not drunken as they supposed but cites to them this Scripture whereby he would have them to understand that this need not be so strange to them which they then saw and heard in them if they considered what was promised long ago in the Prophet Joel That the Spirit should be abundantly poured out upon all flesh and considering this they need not wonder thus to see the Spirit now poured out upon a few men But though the Apostle thus to this end there cites this Scripture yet was it not then in the largeness of it fulfilled For in those times though some men young and old and some women some of their sons and daughters did prophesie yet were it very few in comparison of those that did not and therefore it could not be said that the Spirit was then poured upon All flesh but that time is to come and is to be in that day we are speaking of wherein indeed the Spirit shall be poured out upon all flesh in an abundant manner and come no whit short of what this Scripture imports So that though for the time which hath been ever since the Apostles days to this present time it may be said of the Church of the Saints of God that they have lien among the pots that I may allude to that of the Psalmist Psal 78. 13. in respect of that obscurity and deformity in which they have been for want of that spiritual glory which the abundant pourings out of the Spirit will put upon them yet at this time to use the Psalmists expression they shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold that soil filthiness corruption and deformity that hath appeared in them wherein in many respects they have seemed to be as worldlings are covered over with earth and sullyed with the blackness of corruption as having lien among the pots all this shall be done away and as innocent doves they shall mount up and and shine in splendor and purity when more abundantly the Spirit shall be poured out upon them And this time it is that is spoken of Isa 52. 1 2. Where the Lord is speaking thus to the Church Awake awake put on thy strength O Sion put on thy beautiful garments O Jerusalem the holy city for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircucised and the unclean Shake thy self from the dust arise and sit down O Jerusalem and loose thy self from the bands of thy neck O captive daughter of Sion It 's the presence of the Spirit in the fulness of it that beautifies the Saints and cloaths them with beautiful garments and is their strength and by it they arise and mount up above the world and shake themselves from the dust and are losed from all their bonds and are made free This time is also spoken of Isa 60. 1 2. Where the Lord speaks thus to his Church Arise shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee for behold darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people but the Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory
it and the Lamb is the light thereof They shall then have no need of those men that shine as the Sun and Moon to the Church to inlighten others no but then as I have said They shall be all immediately taught of God and they shall not need to teach one another saying Know the Lord but the glory of the Lord and the Lamb shall lighten them And thus as far as I have been enabled and the Scripture giving clear testimony have I answered that Question What Ordinances shall be used at that time and how shall Saints then worship God I proceed Sixthly The Saints being filled with the Spirit they shall then be enabled to worship the Lord with one * The Saints shall then all worship the Lord in one way minde and one heart and in one way It shall not be then as now in these dark times it is wherein one is of this minde and another of that minde and a third of a third minde about several parts of the Ordinances of God and these divisions in Opinion rest not there onely but make divisions in Affection also But then it shall not be so and therefore we finde mention made but of one street in the New Jerusalem Rev. 22. 2. implying that they shall all walk in one way And Zeph. 3. 9. the Lord says that he will turn unto the people a pure language that they may all call upon the Name of the Lord and serve him with one shoulder And this appears also in that fore-mentioned place Zech. 8. 20 21. where it is said that 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 Where it is clear that all people in all Cities and Nations shall be of one minde in the Worship of God And Jer. 32. 39. the Lord there says that in that time he will give his people one heart and one way And seventhly The Saints being thus in that time abundantly filled with the Spirit all * Justice and righteousness shall flourish in those days just and righteous things shall be done by them And this is clear Isai 60. 18. Violence shall no more be heard within thy land nor wasting nor destruction within thy borders Though there hath been violence in the Land formerly yet then there shall be no more but vers 21. Thy people shall be all righteous they shall inherit the land for ever the branch of my planting that I may be glorified And so full of the spirit of judgement and righteousness shall the Saints then be as it is said Isai 32. 16. that judgement shall dwell in the wilderness and righteousness remain in the fruitful field In the verse before it is said that the Spirit shall be so poured out as that those that had been as a barren wilderness should now become as a fruitful field and in this verse it is said that in all whether they were such as had been a wilderness or such as had been a fruitful field judgement and righteousness should dwell And to this same purpose is that Isai 1. 26 27. Afterward thou shalt be called the citie of righteousness the faithful citie The like is said of it Jer. 31. 23. They shall use this speech of thee The Lord bless thee O habitation of justice and mountain of holiness How full are these expressions shewing how glorious for holiness this new world shall be And for this cause it is that when these new heavens and new earth are promised they are distinguished from the old or former heavens and earth by this character WHEREIN DWELLETH RIGHTEOVSNESS Thus the Saints in these times shall be so full of righteousness and judgement as they shall receive their very denomination from it And as it is said of the Lord God Almighty that his Name is holy so is it said of them They shall be called The city of righteousness the faithful city the habitation of justice the mountain of holiness so gloriously shall they then shine in righteousness and justice Eighthly By this abundant pouring out of the Spirit upon the Saints in that time they shall be put into a very * The meekness of the Saints in those days meek and sweet frame of spirit In Psal 149. which is a place I have already cited shewing that it is a Prophesie of these times at vers 4. it is said that the Lord will beautifie the meek with salvation whereby it is clear that they shall be meek spirits that shall then be beautified with salvation that shall be members of that kingdom And indeed it must needs be so for their Saviour is so they do learn and shall learn of him to be meek and sweet and lowly in in their hearts and carriages but not so but as that this meekness shall be consistent with courage stoutness and valour also when God calls them to exercise it And therefore as our Saviour is a Lamb and a Lion so they shall be as meek as * How a Lamb-like and a Lion-like nature may be consistent Lambs and yet as bold as Lions and not fear to do the work about which they are set as appears vers 6. 7. where it is said They shall have the high praises of God in their mouthes and a two-edged sword in their hands to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people to binde their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron Thus meek and sweet in spirit shall the Saints be and withal full of life and courage Again that the Saints shall be full of meekness at that time appears by that speech of our blessed Saviour Matth. 5. 5. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth Now the Saints could never be said so fully to have this promise made good to them as they shall in that time for many of the Saints in a sence never inherited the earth And as their Saviour spake of himself in the days of his humiliation so may it be said of them in these days of their humiliation That they have not many of them where to lay their heads And for the most part wicked men have possest the earth but many of them never had any inheritance in it And I am perswaded that our Saviour had this time in his eye when he said Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth So that though yet this promise was never fully made good yet there is a time coming wherein it shall be clearly and fully made good And of this time also speaks David when he says Psal 37. 11. But the meek shall inherit the earth shal delight themselvs in the abundance of peace He had said in the two former verses that evil doers should be cut off and that though the wicked did flourish for a
while yet it was but for their time and after that they should be no more And in vers 13. that though the wicked plot against the just yet the Lord shall laugh at him for he seeth that his day is coming In all which he speaks of a time and a day when the wicked shall be wholly cut off but saith he the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace And vers 18. The Lord knoweth the days of the upright and their inheritance shall be for ever So that it 's clear that those that shall inherit the earth at that time and be delighted in the abundance of peace shall be of meek and sweet spirits And again ninthly When the Spirit shall be thus abundantly poured out upon the Saints in these times there shall be then no such complaining among Saints as there hath been formerly and yet is That Oh they are weak * Saints shall then have no cause to complain of weaknesses and they are ignorant and they are foolish and they are dull and slowe and lame in duties and many times they are dumb or at least stammerers when they come to pray or prophesie but the Spirit then shall be so abundantly poured out upon them as it shall remove all these impediments from them as appears Isai 35. 1. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad and the desart shall rejoyce and blossom as a rose This is spoken of the pouring out of the Spirit upon those that were as a barren wilderness which shall make them thus to blossom as a rose Well but what follows Vers 5. Then the eyes of the blinde shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped then shall the lame man leap as an hart and the tongue of the dumb shall sing Here then we see that all these complaints shall be removed They that complained of ignorance their complaint shall be removed the eyes of the blinde shall see They that complained of deadness and dulness their complaint shall be removed the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped They that complained of weakness and lameness in duties their complaint shall be removed then shall the lame man leap as an hart A hart is a swift creature they shall have more then ordinary abilities and strength and activity which before were lame and weak The lame man shall leap as an hart And answerable to this is that passage Isa 32. 3 4. And the eys of them that see shal not be dim and the ears of them that hear shall hearken The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly Thus all these weaknesses and infirmities shall be removed and Saints shall be compleatly furnished with abilities whereby they shall be enabled to serve and worship the Lord and they shall no more do it stammeringly and brokenly as formerly they did And this is to be done as appears vers 1. at that time when a King shall reign in righteousness and Princes shall rule in judgement When the Lord Jesus Christ shall be King and of his Saints he shall make * Ps 45. 16. Princes in all the earth Then then it is that all these infirmities shall be removed from all his people This likewise is that which is spoken of Zech. 12. 8. In that day he that is feeble among the Saints shall be as David and the house of David as God as the Angel of the Lord before them Such strength and power will he put upon all his people Tenthly When the Spirit shall be thus abundantly poured out upon his people they shall all speak * They shall speak a pure language a pure language a spiritual language having a holy heavenly stile For as in their actions and doings there will be a glorious reformation so also in their words and therefore Zeph. 3. 9. the Lord saith That in that great day when all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of his jealousie that then He will turn to the people a pure language or a pure lip as the word is which implyeth pure speech There shall be no foolish defiled speech coming from them No they shall have a pure lip and call upon the Lord and this pure language or this pure lip is that which is called The language of Canaan Isa 19. 18. Where it is said That the Egyptians being converted unto the Lord they that are in the Land of Egypt shall also speak the language of Canaan or the lip of Canaan or with this pure lip or this pure speech which the Lord shall give to his people And that by a pure lip is meant a pure speech is cleer Prov. 22. 11. Where Solomon hath this expression He that loveth pureness of heart for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend Implying that from a pure heart proceedeth gracious language such a man hath grace in his lips a pure lip Thus in an eminent manner shall Saints then have grace in their lip have a pure language when the Spirit shall be so gloriously poured out upon them Eleventhly When the Spirit shall be thus abundantly poured out upon the Saints their mindes and affections shall be raised and put into a * The Saints shall be in a rais'd high and heavenly frame heavenly posture It will be much below them to have their mindes set upon vanitie and though it be certain that they shall injoy all outward injoyments to the full yet they shall not manifest that vanity in the use of them as now appears in most people as to observe the fickle nice phantastical and foolish customs or fashions of the time in their cloathing househould furniture and deportments towards each other wherein much vanity and foolery oft-times appears No these things will be far below them * It will be fabelow the Saints to minde vain fashions and fooleries to have such unsetledness and such vanity in these respects appearing in them But they being filled with the Spirit will manifest more gravity sobriety and composedness of Spirit and will not minde such vanity Not that the wearing rich apparel or having rich furniture and utensiis in the house is a sin or unbecoming a Christian for riches they shall then plentifully injoy But deforming apparel and the fickleness of the minde and fancie about these things is I fear the sin of I am sure it is very unbecoming to Saints For Saints to be thus light and vain and every day to be minding the new fashion and altering their apparel several times before it is worn out How uncomely is it And how unsuitable to their high calling as if they had not things of a higher nature to minde Not that in speaking thus I do commend those that keep themselves in such fashions as wherein they appear ridiculous to all others being altogether out of use nor do I say that it
is an evil to come into a fashion after it hath been some time used if it be sober No I say not so for I know no Scripture that so says But I say that it becometh Saints to be more composed then others and not to be so forward as others in minding such vanities and not to put themselves into immodest habits but to do what in them lies to restrain the exorbitances of the times in such things And this I say That they do discover that they have very little of the Spirit that are not able to deny themselves not sometimes in very fooleries in this kinde Not but that rich apparel may be worn and comely ornaments may be used Holy women * Gen. 24. 22 30 47. have been and may be adorned with Bracelets and Rings and Jewels But fooleries and immodest apparel c. must be avoided and when the Spirit is more abundantly poured out it will be so And they will be very regardless of these vanities and be more grave composed and discreet in their carriages For then in all their clothing furniture and necessary utensils shall appear not vanity but Holiness to the Lord. They shall be so clothed and have such furniture as shall manifest that they are not a vain people but a holy people As appears Zech. 14. 20 21. For they shall make an holy use of all the blessings which God shall multiply upon them They shall no more abuse them but they shall be sanctified to their uses so as all shall have this inscription upon them in respect of their holy use of them HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD Thus Saints shall not minde vanity in these times But shall have their Spirits raised and lifted up into an heavenly and holy frame Again twelfthly Another effect of this more abundant pouring out of the Spirit upon the Saints will be this that they shall be more fully centred in the will of God and it shall be their resting place his * How Saints shall will the will of God Will will be their Will and be the satisfaction of their spirits This the Spirit always works in the hearts of the Saints where he comes and the more of the Spirit a Saint hath the more of this appears in him But in those times we are speaking of when the Spirit shall be thus gloriously seen upon the Saints then in a most eminent and full manner shall this appear in them all the will of God shall be sweet unto them And this is intimated in that excellent pattern of Prayer which our Lord and Saviour hath communicated unto his people in these words Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Where our Lord would have us to pray for the coming of this his Kingdom and for the doing of his will on earth as it is done in heaven which will be when that his Kingdom cometh For though now many know their Lords will and do it not yet it shall not be so then but knowing his will they shall do it and delight in the doing of it for his will is their will and theirs it is because it his so that they shall all pray and say Thy will be done and shall have strength to do it His will shall be done in earth as it is in heaven in that day Again in the thirteenth place The Saints in this time being filled with the Spirit shall * Saints shall then walk in the integriâ—y and singleness of heart all walk in the uprightness of their hearts Integrity and singleness of heart shall appear in them and hypocrisie and double-mindedness shall be loathsome to them and be utterly contrary to their natures They are children that will not lye and none but such shall be inheritors of this kingdom as appears Psal 24. 4. where the Psalmist says that none shall enter into this holy hill but he that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully And so also Psal 15. 2. the Psalmist again saith that he that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousnesses and speaketh the truth in his heart shall dwell in it So that such and none but such shall possess this Kingdom And Psal 37. 18. this is again confirmed The Lord knoweth saith the Psalmist the days of the upright and their inheritance shall be for ever they shall possess this inheritance And of the upright ones is it said Isai 33. 15. that they shall dwell on high and shall see the King in his beauty This is their Character They that walk in righteousnesses and speak uprightnesses v. 15. And in the fourteenth place The Spirit being thus abundantly poured out upon the Saints they shall thereby be enabled to mortifie all corruption so that it shall not at * Corruption shall not at all break out in the Saints then all break out in them for though it be true that all that is born of the flesh is flesh and those that are in the state of mortality shall carry flesh about them yet they being all new born shall be then so filled with the Spirit as that they shall mortifie all the deeds of the body and the Spirit alone shall live and act and sway and bear rule in them and they being born of God shall not sin but shall hate every false way and not suffer the least evil motion to take place for indeed it is not possible it should they being so full of the Spirit for Saints do experiment this now that when the Spirit in the power and life and glory of it doth abide in them as some tastes of it some Saints sometimes have O then not the least evil motion will take place in their hearts there is an utter antipathy in their spirits at that time to every thing that is not pure But when this is withdrawn then they are often foiled with temptations and vanity hath too much place with them until a fresh supply of the Spirit come and mortifie it But when the Spirit shall be so abundantly poured out upon the Saints as the Scripture declares What a wide difference will there be between their condition now and their estates then Then shall they always walk up and down in the strength and power of the Spirit and never want its presence and then it shall be their continual delight to walk in the paths of holiness and nothing will be more irksome and more loathsome to them then any sin or sinful thought And though by the first Adam sin came into the world so that all are born sinners yet being new born the second Adam shall save them from all sin and that not onely from the guilt of sin but sprinkle clean water upon them pour out the waters of the holy Spirit upon them and they shall be clean from all the filth of sin in a more eminent and glorious manner then ever they have been so that corruption
outward mercies which we have spoken of So that there is no creature-comfort no outward blessing which Saints shall then want but as the earth which is * Psal 24. 1. the Lords shall be then given to them so also all the fulness thereof all that which may conduce to the making of them fully outwardly comfortable as well as those inward comforts already spoken of So that in all respects the * Psal 118. 15 voice of rejoycing and salvation shall be heard in the tabernacles of the righteous I should now proceed to speak of other things but before I do there will be one Objection and three Queries to be answered An Objection And first some may say It is true they do expect that God will do great things for his people but they expected not these outward things that have been spoken of For how can it be a mercy to the Saints to enjoy these seeing the world and worldly enjoyments usually prove a snare unco them And therefore the Apostle says 1 Tim. 6. 9. That they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition And it is too evident how the world hath choaked the growing of grace in those hearts where eminently it shined before they did possess so much of the world and since they have had much of the world they seem to be more proud and are not in that humble posture as before and they appear to be more cold and formal and can swallow those things which before they condemned in others And it being so though the Lord will do great things for his people yet it is doubtful say some whether it shall be in outward respects which do thus usually prove snares to Saints and did prove so in Constantine the Great his time and afterward when the godly Emperours bestowed great outward possessions upon the godly Bishops then they began to decay and grow cold and corrupt and loose in their lives which made S. Augustine utter this expression Religio peperit divitias filia devoravit matrem that is Religion brought forth riches and the daughter hath devoured the mother whereby he imports that riches had proved a great snare to religious people and eaten out the power of godliness And how then shall we expect these outward enjoyments which have proved and do prove such snares in these glorious times we are looking for The Answer to the Objection To which I answer first That God will do great things for his people in outwards as well as in spirituals is very clear the Scripture being so plentiful and full in the declaring of it And since it is his pleasure in these later days to deliver the creature from the bondage of corruption and to restore all these outward things to their primitive goodness and glory that his people may see how good these lefthand-mercies if I may so term them are which for their use were appointed that so they may be fully sensible of his goodness therein I say since he hath thus appointed and the Scripture fully declares he will do it why should it be doubted But secondly Whereas it is said that these outward enjoyments do prove and have proved snares let that be considered which I have already said how that it shall not be with the Saints in these times as it hath been formerly but that the Spirit shall be more abundantly poured out upon Saints then it hath been and if thou that so objectest considerest that then thou wilt see that the Spirit being so gloriously enjoyed will preserve Saints from being so snared overtaken with the temptations of the world as too many formerly have been And thirdly Whereas thou sayst that many now are snared with the world I desire thee to consider first Whether such as are so snared and carried away with the world from their first love had ever any love to the Lord Jesus in sincerity whether they were not as the thorny ground or the stony ground that never had good rooting never had indeed the Spirit of the Son in them but seemed to receive the Word but it was but with outward flashes of joy Or secondly If they truely had the Spirit of Jesus whether it were not in a weak and a lowe degree for thou shalt finde that those that have a higher measure of the Spirit they though they are great in the world are as full of life and vigour and of fervent love to Christ as those that are mean and walk as humbly as any of them nay some of those that God hath given great outward preferment unto and have much of the world in their possession do far exceed many of those Saints that are of more inferiour rank in the world and go beyond them in zeal and fervencie of spirit and being exemplary in a holy humble and unspotted conversation Therefore if some be corrupt and cold and carnal that have much of these outward things impute it not to those outward things which simply considered in themselves have no evil in them but impute it to that corrupt heart that so abuses these enjoyments Again fourthly Consider what I have already said viz. that the chiefest of the Saints comforts in these times will consist in their inward enjoyments and those that are truely spiritual and shall indeed be accounted worthy to stand before the Lord Jesus in that day shall be such whose hearts are set upon desiring the spiritual enjoyments of this Kingdom above all things else and to such these things shall be added But let such who more desire outward comforts then spiritual enjoyments and manifest it by their present unjust scraping of these outward things together know that they shall in that day enjoy neither the one nor the other comfortably as appears Isai 65. 13 14 20. And so much in answer to this Objection A Querie But secondly It may be queried Whether when the Saints shall enjoy all these things they shall not follow their several employments and vocations as now they do An Answer to the Querie To which I answer Yes it is clear they shall follow several employments as now they do but doubtless in a more regular and more excellent and comfortable way then many now do i. e. some shall not labour and toyl day and night scarce allowing themselves any time to spend in the performance of holy duties or for lawful and convenient recreations to maintain others that live vitiously in idleness drunkenness and other evil practices I say It shall not be thus then such idle and profane creatures shall then have no allowance or sufferance to live such lives as now they do But to the Question That men shall then follow their several employments and callings is clear in these Scriptures Amos 9. 13. Behold in that day saith the Lord the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed
Would live in peace and quietness but he Opposed that and would not let it be But War against the Saints did make that so He might them all destroy and overthrow But now he is destroy'd himself and as He did delight in blood ev'n so blood was Giv'n him to drink are you ev'n you so far From singing songs of praise as that you are Offended at this thing as if you were Of Rome her ruine unwilling to hear O let it not of you of you be said But now do you remember how you 've pray'd Against the Beast the Whore and all the Crew Of their adherents that support them do And give not all the world just cause to say You are not as you were the other day But that whereas you did both pray and fight Against that wicked Crew with all your might You now oppose 〈◊〉 the Saints in the Land Who do unto those first Principles stand Which were for to oppose King Queen and all That did support the Whore that down must fall Which they do still pursue unto the end And wholly unto that their counsels tend But if you will now shew your selves to be The sons of Sion then let all men see That you repent of your evils in that You Camels swallow'd have and at a Gnat Have strained when with foes you have joyned And true Saints have oppos'd because they did Not close with you in ev'ry circumstance And thing that was of lesser consequence But if you do persist herein surely You shall be made ashamed in that day When God shall justly judge between you and His other faithful people in the Land Who always have desir'd your happiness And eke also your liberty and peace If peaceably you would have lived in The place or Nation where you have bin But those that have been medling peace to break Have themselves into trouble put their neck But now if that henceforth you shall no more Support the Beast nor helpers of the Whore But hearts and hands shall joyn with them that do Oppose the enemies of Christ and do Give up themselves to wait upon the Lord And him to serve according to his Word Then upon you shall mercy be and peace And all the Israel of God these days FINIS POSTSCRIPT HAving often referred the Reader in this book unto that intitled The Resurrection of the Witnesses I shall here desire the Reader to take notice That in the last line of pag. 81. in that Book he is for The reign of Phocas the Emperour to reade the reign of Arcadius and Honorius the Emperours There being in that Book a mistake of the Emperours name by reason of a trusting to memory and neglecting to consult the history about it but no mistake of the time for that 's most evident That in the yeer 404 Innocentius being made Bishop of Rome he then first usurped the Papal power and advanced the See of Rome above all other and would have it to be judged by none And presently upon this began the Saints to be persecuted and deprived of their liberties For Innocentius was the first that drove the Novations out of Rome and deprived them of many Churches as witnesses Socrates lib. 7. ch 8. And those that were Novations were the most truly religious people in those times as appears by the several testimonies Historians give of them I will cite but one expression that Socrates hath concerning them lib. 4. chap. 9. The Arrians abhorred them says he because they loved intirely such as embraced the Faith of one substance Those that embraced the Faith of one substance were they that believed the Son of God to be very God and of one substance with the Father and these the Novations loved intirely says Socrates In many other things they are by Historians discovered to be truly religious And these and all that purely professed the truths of Christ from this yeer 404 began to be persecuted and troden under foot by the Popish crew Thus much I thought good here to insert to correct that mistake in the first impression of those books There are two or three other faults escaped in printing but they being not material I shall not trouble the Reader with the mention of them FINIS