into a Condition to meet the Bridegroom with Oil in their Vessels as well as in their Lamps Argum. 3. There is such a Space of Time Determined by God Settled Fixed and Declared in the Sure Word of Prophecy Lin'd out by Four Monarchies that must Runn out Themselves And there is a Particular Assignation of Time to the Last State of the Fourth the Last of Them Viz. Time Times and Half a Time Expounded into One Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty Days of Years Revel 12. 6. 14. And in this Time Wickedness Fills up its Ephah or Measure and is carried as by the Wings of a Stork and Settled for Ever upon its own Base And to this Assignation of Time Jesus Christ Consented and Testified his Consent by Lifting up Both his Hands to Heaven and Swearing There should be this Time Times and Half And therefore no Injury is Done to Him And that then and not before All the Wonders of his Kingdom shall be Finished On this very Account the Apostle so Solemnly Declares 2 Thess c. 2. 1 c. That That Day of Christ could not come Except that Apostacy the Last State of the Fourth Monarchy was Revealed and Blown off by the Spirit of Christ's own Mouth and at Last utterly Consumed by the Brightness and Glory of his Appearance at that his Coming Before it could come to this those Times and Half must be Expired Immediately therefore after the Death and Resurrection of Christ Vision and Prophecy were Sealed Daniel 9. 24. with Relation to that Greatest and Richest Effect of Prophecy Viz. the Kingdom of Christ It was Sealed But then Immediately at the very Beginning of Half Time Christ took the First Opportunity of making a Seizure viz. at the Reformation and of Swearing there should be Time of such sort no more but in the Days of the Seventh Trumpet When he shall begin to found the Mystery of God Viz. The Kingdom of Christ shall be Finishing as he hath spoken by all his Servants the Prophets Which shall begin at 1697 So near approaching All which things have been fully by the Assistances of God made out and publickly set forth And are now onely so far briefly Represented as to give satisfaction to this doubt How comes it to pass that the Coming of the Bridegroom hath been thus long Delay'd And no further Insisted upon in these Sermons Sett for Preaching the Gospel especially under the Grace of the Divine Spirit to work upon the Heart and to engage in all Holiness of Conversation I come therefore to the Practical Reflection on what hath been spoken in these short Applications Appli 1. That we would take heed of the Atheistick and prophane boldness of Scoffers Who because the Bridegroom on so Holy and Wise Reasons as Scripture hath given us Delays his Coming say where is the promise of his Coming They believe no such thing And indeed all Discourses against the Kingdom of Christ and the Prophesies of Scripture or turning them into Allegory and Metaphor Give Countenance and Assurance to such Prophaneness and Boldness of Scoffing Let us aherefore be mindful of the Words of the Holy Prophets and of the Doctrines of the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour 2 Peter c. 3. v 1 c. Appli 2. Let us beware of the Accounting the delay of the Bridegrooms Coming to any thing in the Course of Nature or as if the World could bear up it self or Perpetuate it self As they of whom the Apostle speaks who are willfully Ignorant that the World by the very Word of God was settled so out of and yet in such a Neighbourhood to the Water that it depended wholly on the Word of his Power not to be overflown by it And that the Heavens and Earth that now are are so Reserv'd are Treasured up for Fire at the Time Appointed by God for Perdition of such and of All Ungodly Men That we may be in a continual Dependence upon Him and Preparation for the Bridegroom 's Coming Applicat 3. Let us have Just Apprehensions of the Patience and Long-Suffering of God in the Delay of the Bridegroom 's Coming And that it is no Sluckness concerning his Promise As if He were altogether such a one as our Selves And Let us Account it Salvation And so it will be if we are His For He will let None of His Perish but Every One of Them shall come to Repentance But if we are not His though we Know it not Yet His Goodness Leads to Repentance by its Gracious Invitations and Excitements And if through our Hard and Impenitent Hearts It does not Lead us so we Treasure up Wrath against the Day of Wrath and the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God at this Coming of the Bridegroom Rom. 2. 3 4 c. Applicat 4. Let us not Think it Boldness or Presumption to Search the Scriptures and 2 Peter 1. 19 c. to Give Heed to the Sure Word of Prophecy as to a Light that shineth in a Dark Place Till the Day Dawn and the Day-Star Rise in our Hearts Especially to that Line of TIME Times and Half Time For our Lord charges it as Hypocrisie not to Discern the Signs of the Times That is the Characters of Time Scripture hath Impress'd upon it And though there are many Providential Signs as Wars Commotions Earthquakes Yet these will not Define Time to us Onely the Line of Time can Do that And let us Humbly wait upon God therein and take in All Other Marks God hath Given by His Providence therein But as I say The Line of Time is the Sure Rule by which we are to walk and I have full Assurance if we behold according to that the Course of Scripture-Prophecies the Emblems or Prophetical Types and Figures given therein the Numbers of Time proportion'd to and Running all along from Time to Time through those Figures and compare All with the Providences and Great Events God hath taken Care should be Recorded in History brought to our Knowledge or be coming down to our very sight we may be fully Confirmed as by a Threefold Cord not to be Broken and that it is a Line Reaching to 1697. Applicat 5. Let us have Continual Apprehensions of the Glory and Greatness of That Day Let us consider That Day Malac. 3. 18. When we shall Return and Descern between the Righteous and the Wicked Him that Serveth God and Serveth Him not Him that Sweareth and Him that Feareth an Oath and between the Wise and the Foolish Virgins and not put off the Thoughts of it Because we see the World so Earnest in Eating and Drinking Buying and Selling Building and Planting Marrying and Giving in Marriage For so it was in the Days of Noah and of Lot until the very Day And so our Lord saith It shall be in the Day of the Son of Man Applicat 6. Let us so Consider and Apply our Selves to the Examining what manner of Men we ought to be in All Holiness and Godliness
have the Bible in English or the New Testament in their Houses Then it was a certain sign That that Man was in danger of his Life to have it so Why did not God give it with that freedom as we have it And then if you look back to Sixteen Hundred Years ago there was nothing in the World at large but Idols and serving of Devils And the Gospel was not Preached Till after the Apostles Times it did not come into these Islands of Britain It is not for us to know how to Rule and to Govern Times and Seasons But God hath disposed of every thing Blessed are your Eyes for you see and your Ears for they hear But I would but only give you one or two Scriptures of the great advantage if we should but live to see the Kingdom of Jesus Christ And therefore I beseech you all That you would earnestly pray That that Kingdom may be coming forth In the 29th of Isaiah if you observe the reading at the 15th Verse you shall find that there was a Book offered and the Learned said it was sealed and therefore say they How can we read it And the unlearned said we cannot read it for we are not learned If learned Men cannot read it how should we read it But saith God in the following part of the Chapter This very Book shall be opened it shall come to pass in that day that is when the Kingdom of Christ shall come The deaf shall hear the words of the Book and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness that is There shall be so mighty a change of things that that Book that the learned and the unlearned could not meddle with the very deaf shall hear the Words of this Book It is a very wonderful Scripture to this purpose it shews us plainly the great things that shall be done by God at that Day And I make no doubt but that these Scriptures that Men are afraid that any should meddle with and they think it Presumption And how should we meddle with such hard Scriptures I make no doubt but the Eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness And so Isa 35. 8. And an high way shall be there and a way and it shall be called the way of holiness the unclean shall not pass over it but it shall be for those The way-faring men though fools shall not err in that way So great a Light of the Gospel shall shine out Pray therefore don't be so against the Preaching of the Kingdom of Christ in your Judgments or in your Discourses but rather bow your Knees and buckle your hearts and your thoughts down to the very lowest at the Throne of Grace to desire that this Kingdom may come Why do you envy one another the great Happiness that shall be in the Kingdom of Christ For a great Offspring like the Drops of Dew from the Womb of the Morning must at that time be brought home to Christ And many of those that are Virgins but in Form must come to have it in the Truth and Reality and Sincerity of it And therefore let us earnestly pray according to that Prayer stiled the Lords Prayer Let us with earnestness and understanding pray Thy Kingdom O Lord let it come c. SERMON X. On Matth. 25. 13. Watch therefore for ye know neither the Day nor the Hour wherein the Son of Man cometh I Come now to the Use or as we speak Application which our Lord makes of this Great and Excellent Parable Watch for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man cometh And it may be upon the hearing of the Words you may be ready to say That I am upon a Scripture that overthrows the Attempts of drawing such a Scripture Line of Time as I have endeavoured to hold out and to perswade the Truth of as should lead to the very Coming of the Bridegroom the great Son of Man But indeed the intention of it as I shall shew you is quite another thing and does not concern it self in that matter either one way or other The main Point in it is that great practical one That every one of us ought to be upon our Guard upon our Watch while we are here in the World in relation to that great Appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ We are to wait all our days according to our opportunity of enjoying the Gospel in the compass of Time God gives us which may as you know be longer or shorter as our Lives are in the dispose of God he may take us away this very Night if he pleases and yet for all this we must have made such a provision and preparation for the Coming of the Bridegroom which will else be with a dreadful and ruinous surprise upon us whensoever it be We are infinitely obliged give me leave to use so great a Word in so great a Point we are I say infinitely obliged therefore to take heed in so great a matter If it was as many Years to the Coming of Christ as it hath been since he spake these Words and though we were sure it would be so That therefore which I will propose to open to you shall be summ'd in this main Doctrine Doct. Every one that hears the Word of the Gospel concerning the Coming and Kingdom of Christ take it in your own sense as much as you please is bound to watch as if it might be the very next Day and Hour yea though he had lived in the days of Christ and had then known certainly that that Coming and Kingdom should not have been in so many Ages as have run out since For the knowing what Day or Hour is not a knowing or not knowing by Computation or Account of Time but by an effectual providing a Treasure of Oil that we may not be found foolish Virgins at that day Our watchful knowing is knowing by Union to the great Son of Oil Christ himself And if any Man did know never so certainly the precise time of the Coming of the Bridegroom yet he would not know in our Lord's sence at what hour he 'll come but would be in the same surprise as if he knew nothing at all That Day most certainly comes unawares upon all overcharged with furfeiting and drunkenness and Cares of this Life upon all that sleep and are not watchful by Faith and Holiness It comes at a day when it is not looked for and at an hour the evil servant is not aware who eats and drinks with the drunken They only know that day whose Loins are girded and whose Lights are burning who when their Lord cometh upon account of the Wedding open to him immediately Blessed are those servants whom their Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Verily saith Christ he will gird himself and will make them sit down to Meat and will serve them be ye therefore ready for the Son
are To hear a Man swear against their Religion profanely and to see a Man Drinking and Carousing and saying according to the very usual ways of Mens Discourse To drink as it were Healths to Protestants Is not this an abominable Shame and that speaks our great dishonour And that may make even Papists scandalized at the loose and licentious way of those that call themselves Protestants To hear Men Swear and Damn and blaspheme and yet at the very same time to profess a Zeal against Popery Certainly this we ought to take care of That we are not carried away by the Name of a Wicked Licentious Blasphemous and Prophane Protestantism And beyond this we should look That that Pride Vanity Cruelty Earthliness and Oppression and whatever the Sins are that are among us that we do not cover them and disguise them under the Name of this Why yet for all this I am not a Papist I am a Protestant surely God will Tear that Name out of the Mouths of such Protestants As he saith in Ezekiel You sow Pillows and Kerchiefs that is some Disguising things upon their heads And saith he I 'll tear these Kierchiefs Ezek. 13. So God will tear off from those that have the Profession of Protestantism but have nothing of the Power Life and Zeal of the Reformation and their Open Testimony for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ that very Profession from them In the last Place that I may draw to a Conclusion Notwithstanding all that I have said to you concerning the Thoughts of Death and of Judgment and of Heaven and Hell yet I would desire that we may have a sence of the Glory and of the Kingdom of Christ that is to appear and that you would look to have it in your hearts to have the Kingdom of God in your hearts Let me propose a great Scripture to you upon this account And after a short Explanation of it I 'll conclude in a few Words Luke 17. 20. There was a great Question put to Christ in this case He was demanded of the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God should come he answered them and said The Kingdom of God cometh not with Observation Neither shall they say lo here or lo there for behold the Kingdom of God is within you That 's the Kingdom of God For in some way certainly there 's none of us but Profess it else why do we pray it should come When that which is the Great Petition the very Central-Petition of the Lord's Prayer surely that 's the very Key that turns all about Now I say if you would believe a Kingdom of God in any sence And that you will be ready to say When shall that Kingdom come Remember what Christ saith it does not come by Observation for Men shall not say Lo here or lo there Though indeed it shall be a Glorious Sight a Glorious Shew as the Apostle saith which in his Time he will shew Yet for all that you shan't say Lo here comes Christ and here come such and such Saints And here comes such a Glory and Heaven and Earth glowing in a flame You shan't say here or there thus and thus it is though you shall have reason to say so yet saith Christ the main thing is The Kingdom of God is within you What will you be the better for that Kingdom of God if it be not within you You must bring it to that Day The Kingdom of God comes not with Observation it does not come with a shew without us but our God will come and all his Saints shall come with him They shall come with Bodies of Glory and Bodies of Light Bodies full of Glory it does not come with an outward shew but within us Every one that hath not the Kingdom of God within him at that Day they will appear by that very thing to be foolish Virgins for they must bring that Kingdom in the Righteousness of Christ with peace of Conscience through his Bloud by Grace and by Vertue of his Holy Spirit And now I beseech you That you would ballance these two things continually one with another You pray that the Kingdom of Christ may come The Kingdom of Christ comes when his Day comes when the Day and Appearance of Christ comes 2 Tim. 4. 1. Now Amos. 5. 18. Saith God Wo unto you that desire the Day of the Lord to what end is it for you the day of the Lord is darkness and not light As if a man did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall and a Serpent bit him It is just such a thing saith the Prophet as if a man in a storm should go into a house and take shelter there and when he found the storm ready to carry him away he goes and leans upon a Wall and there a Serpent comes out of a Hole and bites him to Death Even so shall the Kingdom and Day of Christ be It is in vain to say Thy Kingdom come If that Kingdom be not within us for It comes not with Observation but it is within us O Therefore That we could be perswaded to get out of the formality of that Petition and to look for that Kingdom within Thy Kingdom come by my Enjoyment of such a presence of thy Kingdom within my own heart That when it comes I may come with it and it may come along with me for else I say it will be darkness and not light I make no doubt there was a great many that the Prophet spake usually to them of the Day of the Lord. You know it is an usual expression in Scripture The Day of the Lord And upon the often hearing of it Men come to say We would fain see it And so many are ready to say concerning that Kingdom if it be such a Glorious State and Thing we would fain see it Now remember it comes not with observation but you must have it within you for if you have it not within you it is in vain for you for for what end do you desire the day of the Lord To shut up this in a brief Recollection of all In the First Place I desire you seriously often to meditate upon this Parable as I have in some weak manner endeavoured to open it to you And to remember also That even my Christianity say to your selves will not do me any service I had as good have been a Heathen as to the main purpose of my Eternal Condition if I have not Oil in my Vessel if I have not truly a great replenishing of my Soul from the Great Son of Oil And so if you speak of Protestantism If you have not Oil in your Vessel it will be but a very empty thing and do you no good except you have Oil in your Vessels except you are united to Jesus Christ except you have the Kingdom of God within you And then In the Second Place Another great Use for
THE Parable of the Ten Virgins In its Peculiar Relation to the Coming and Glorious KINGDOM OF OUR Lord Iesus Christ OPENED According to the Analogy of the whole Parable and of Scripture in General and Practically Applied for Exercising all the Churches to Holy Watchfulness Mark iv 13. WITH AN APOLOGY for the Hope of the Kingdom of Christ Appearing within this Approaching Year 1697. Wherein some of the Principal Arguments for such an Expectation are briefly Couch'd and the Greater Objections Answered Presented to the Notice and Examination of the Arch-Bishops and Bishops Now in PARLIAMENT Assembled By T. BEVERLEY Ezek. 10. 13. As concerning the Wheels It was cryed to them in my Hearing Oh! Revolution LONDON Printed for and Sold byWill Marshal at the Bible in Newgate-Street and John Marshal at the Bible in Grace-Church-Street 1697. A TABLE of the Principal Doctrines of each SERMON The Sermons are Divided into Five and Six Each Part viz. The first Five begin with Page 1. and so go on And the Six Last also with Page 1. and so go on The Doctrine of the First Sermon Page 1. THE Kingdom of Christ is in every Thing and throughout The Kingdom of Heaven SERMON II. Page 21. There is a Marriage-Union betwixt Christ and his Church and every Particular Believing Soul SERMON III. Page 39. The Preparation for the Glorious Marriage-Solemnity is Now and All Christianity looks to that Solemnity SERMON IV. Page 59. All those that are Christs are to hold the great Feast of the Supper of the Lamb to Jehovah SERMON V. Page 74. That the Coming of Jesus Christ hath not yet been since He was here on Earth neither yet is it immediately to be The Bridegroom Tarried The Second Part. SERMON VI. Page 1. While the Bridegroom tarried All these Virgins both the Wise and the Vnwise Slumber and Sleep SERMON VII Page 18. In the very same Circumstances wherein any of us lye down in the Grave in the very same we must be awaken'd and Rise up again SERMON VIII Page 38. It is a Point of great Consideration What the difference is between the Wise and the Foolish Virgins SERMON IX Page 58. It must be sadly Acknowledged and every one is to take it to himself That a Virgin if a Foolish Virgin shall not be admitted nor suffered to enter into the Glory of that Marriage-Feast the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb. SERMON X. Page 24. Every one that hears the Word of the Gospel concerning the Coming and Kingdom of Christ is bound to Watch as if it might be the very next Day and Hour yea though he had lived in the Days of Christ and had known certainly that his Coming and Kingdom should not have been in so many Ages as have run out since SERMON XI Page 87. The Whole is drawn up into Practical Application and Inference A Catalogue of Mr. Beverley's Books Sold at the Bible in Newgate-Street and at the Bible in Grace-Church-Street 1. THE Catechism of the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Thousand Years Shewing by Scripture 2. That the great Articles of Redemption 2. The Resurrection 3. The Mystery of the Saints not Dying but Changed 4. The Judgment 5. The Delivery up of the Kingdom to God All in All cannot be Explained at full Dimensions without it The Second Edit with Adis Price 6 d. 2. The Kingdom of Jesus Christ entring its Succession this 1697. According to a Calendar of Time Price 1 s. 3. The Scripture Line of Time from the first Sabbath to the great Sabbatism of the Kingdom of Christ with the Vision of the Wheels explain'd c. Price 6 d. 4. A fresh Memorial of the Kingdom of Christ demonstrated Price 6 d. 5. 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Where you may be likewise Supplied with Mr. Rich's Testament and Psalms in Short Hand bound THE Parable of the Ten Virgins Opened and Applied SERMON I. On Matth. 25. from Ver. 1 to 13. 1. Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be
worthiness of those that Speak or for the Ability with which they speak but the Source of all is this excellent Doctrine of the Gospel that we have in the Word of God And indeed If we had not a Tongue to speak it or Ears to hear it yet to behold the mighty Government of God and Christ the evil of Sin and the excellency of Grace and of the Spirit of God and of the Salvation of Christ throughout it is to put you into Heaven to introduce you into Heaven even while you are here upon Earth Do not think that it is a small thing that these excellent Promises these excellent Doctrines these excellent Exhortations and Counsels are Administred unto you For it is even Heaven upon Earth this very Word of God and for the preaching of it that is only a further Ordination of God that every one may have it spoken unto them and be persuaded In season and out of season and that there might be a more forcible Application upon the Souls of Men. But if we have but the Word of God this Scripture lying in our Houses we have the Kingdom of Heaven I may say lying in our Houses in this Sense I am now speakjng of it to you You have it because you have this excellent Doctrine of Christ And there are Scriptures there are many Scriptures that are so exceeding clear and plain that he may run that reads No one that hath but this Book of God either that he Reads or that is ordinarily read to him but he may say I am exalted herein to Heaven because I have such an excellent Scripture such an excellent Gospel continually before me So the very Sound of it the very Motion of it in the World it is the great Happiness of those parts of the World that have it And we have great Reason to say in this place in this City in this Nation and especially wherever God lights up a clearer Taper and Torch of his Gospel we have Reason to say That Heaven is come down to us and that we can go when we please and Read one of the excellent Sermous and Discourses of our Lord Jesus in the Gospel That we can go to the Epistles and read those admirable Things that the Spirit of God hath given out by the Apostle Paul James and John These things you do not Apprehend the great Advantage of them We talk of Heaven and we would be glad to go to Heaven and Heaven is the great Burden of all our wishes and all our hopes Behold saith Christ the Kingdom of Heaven is here among us the Truth of his Word lying open to us How dreadful therefore will even that Dust that gathers upon our Bibles from day to day be I say what a Testimony will it be And as our Saviour saith to those that he sent out to Preach his Gospel It shall be more tolerable saith he for Sodom and Gomorrah than for those that refuse it And the very dust of your feet saith he when you depart out of that City shake off as a witness against them Mat. 10. 14. So the very dust of our Bibles will rise up in Judgment against us because when God hath opened the Windows of Heaven to us in it we have refused and scorned and despised and to Speak in our ordinary Language counted it as a Book out of date because we have had it so long O! If you did but know what a value the Martyrs in the Days of Queen Mary set upon it when the Light was but just sprung out what a value did they put upon the Scriptures And indeed if God were cutting us short and a Famine of his Word coming upon us we should then say what a great Treasure is God taking from us And yet how many Hours do we pass in the Day and not read of Christ and of the Kingdom of Heaven that is so pourtrayed and explained in the Gospel to us There is a Time that is set out to us by Prophecy and there 's great Reason to hope that it is very near when this Kingdom of Heaven in the Everlasting Gospel shall Ride as it were Circuit or rather at one time be heard from the midst of Heaven throughout the whole Earth Rev. 14. 6. I saw an Angel fly through the midst of Heaven having the Everlasting Gospel to Preach unto them that dwell on the Earth and to every Kindred and Tongue and People This Everlasting Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven It shall be preached to every Nation and Kindred and Tongue and People Whereas now in many parts of America and whereas now in the whole Plat of the Regions where the Mahometan Power is and where Antichrist is There is a concealment of this Gospel a denial a shutting of it up from the Acquaintance and Knowledge and Reading and Hearing of the generality of the People it is here Preached in such a way as to make known the great Counsels and Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven to Men. But In the Second Place The Kingdom of Heaven is in the mighty work and operation of the Gospel of Christ upon our Hearts Then when we find Christ to be the Pearl of great Price and sell all to buy him when we look upon him as the onely Treasure and the onely Riches when our Hearts are under the beginnings of Grace and the powerful Operations of it then is the Kingdom of Heaven come to be within us Matth. 13. 31. The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of Mustard-seed which a Man took and sowed in his Field which indeed is the least of Seeds but when it is grown is the greatest among Herbs and becometh a Tree so that the Fowls of Heaven lodge in the Branches of it This is an Expression of the Preaching of the Gospel which if it be received and taken in in the power of the Gospel upon the Heart It is indeed a little thing in the beginning but it spreads more and more upon the Heart and Life And the Kingdom of Heaven ver 33. is like unto Leaven which a Woman took and hid in three measures of Meal till the whole was leavened This is the Preaching of the Gospel and also the power of it upon the Hearts of Men. And when it is a Seed that takes upon hearts and brings forth abundantly Fruit to Eternal Life that also is the Kingdom of Heaven And ver 44. The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hid in a field the which when a man hath found he hideth and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field Again the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Merchant Man seeking goodly Pearls who when he had found one Pearl of great price he went and sold all that he had and bought it This is the Kingdom of Heaven coming within a Man giving him such a value of Jesus Christ that he looks upon all things else as the Apostle saith
you could follow them into all the Retirements of their Thoughts and Ways you would see that there is a Deadness there is an Emptiness of God There is a Low State wherein they now are taâ—â—n up with many thoughts with Variety of Imaginations here against which they wrestle and are in Combate And though it is most Desirable to Them to be Holy and Religious to the very uttermost yet alas This Uttermost here is such a Nothing compared with what shall be That we have Reason earnestly to look to that Great Festival to that great Marriage-Supper And to desire that things might be Brighter Clearer and Purer and more Transcendent than ever they have yet been Surely there is some Divine purpose tho we may not easily find it VVhy the Divine Spirit of God makes so great the Feast and Preparation of Ahasuerus Esther 1. 1. Ahasuerus which Reigned from India even unto Ethiopia over an Hundred and Seven and Twenty Provinces That in those days when the King Ahasuerus sate on the Throne of his Kingdom which was in Shushan the Palace c. VVhen he shewed ver 4. the Riches of his Glorious Kingdom and the Honour of his excellent Majesty many days even an Hundred and Fourscore Days and when those days were expired the King made a Feast unto all the People that were present And there was the most excellent Furniture the most Splendid and Glorious Furniture and Entertainment All that they were served in were Vessels of Gold And Royal Wines in abundance In all this State of it Surely there is a Diviner purpose in Scripture relating it Tho I shall not venture to give any Judgment concerning it Yet I make no doubt that it was Intended to be a Representation of the Glory of the Kingdom of Christ For Indeed those four Monarchies tho they have kept the Kingdom of Christ thus long from its Glory and from its Appearance yet there was some kind of Image and Representation of the Kingdom of Christ in them And it is very observable that the Persian Monarchs above all others Were greatly serviceable to the Temple of God the Type of the Kingdom of Christ And so God chose I am perswaded I will not engage far in it this great Feast of Ahasuerus with such a care of Sobriety And it was given to Represent the Glory and Riches and Magnificence in a Spiritual sense wherein the Marriage Supper of the Lamb shall be held So I say All is a signification of that Life of that Light of that Glory of that Blessedness of that Holiness of that Purity that shall be in the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ It Represents that exceeding Joy As it is said in Psalm 16. Thou wilt shew me the Path of Life In thy presence is fullness of Joy And at thy Right Hand there are Pleasures for evermore Indeed it is first applyed to Christ and in him to all His Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy one to see Corruption For at this time The Lord our God shall come and all his Saints with him All his Dead Saints shall be raised to this great Feast He will not leave their Souls in Hell nor suffer his Holy ones to see Corruption He 'll swallow up Death in Victory In that Feast he 'll shew them the Path of Life And the Entertainment of that Feast is fullness of Joy and Pleasures for evermore And so in that Place of Isaiah I read to you Where God wâ—â—es Tears from all Faces And the reproach and rebuke of his People he shall take off All the Glory of the whole Creation of God and of his mighty Power in it is made use of to set forth a visible State of Joy and Glory It shall be on purpose brought out for that day for the Glory and for the Honour of that Feast 2. In the Second Place Hereby is signified to us that even this Festival it is but for an appointed Time It is for a Limited Time In regard of the manner of it in regard of the visibility of it As it is a thing to be seen so it is for a Limited Time For it is received into absolute Eternity And the Kingdom is delivered up As the Apostle speaks to God and to the Father It is for a Limited Time and it is in Preparation to that Union with God to all Eternity And therefore it is Represented to us by a Thousand Years It is a Feast of a Thousand Years As Ahasuerus held a Feast of One Hundred and Fourscore Days Jehovah for Jesus Christ his Son for the Nuptials betwixt him and his Church holds a Feast of a Thousand Years And when that is at an End Then as the Apostle speaks in the 1 Cor. 15. That most Notable Place of Scripture that I have so often endeavoured to Imprint the Sense of upon you Then cometh the End Verse 24. when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God even the Father when he shall have put down all Rule and all Authority and Power And Then Verse 28. when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be all in all So I say It is a Limited Time Even though That be a Great Time and it is called a Kingdom that never ends because the Glory does not go off But as when the Nuptial Feast is over Persons of Great Condition and of Princely Estate you know They are still in Glory and still in Lustre though it be in a more setled State So Christ and all his Saints they are in a perpetual Joy in perpetual Happiness that does not end But only the Glory and Magnificence of the Wedding and Nuptials ends I shall now endeavour to parallel to you the Feasts of the Old Testament and to shew you That the Spiritual Sense and the Spiritual Meaning of them is This Great Solemnity of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ That you may know therefore That those Feasts that we read of in the Old Testament are truely and indeed the Emblems and the Figures and the Types and the Shadows of Spiritual Things Even of this Great Kingdom of Jesus Christ I shall give you that Standard of Scripture that ought to be a Rule to us in all things concerning the Types of the Old Testament Saith the Apostle Heb. 8. It is a Thing he often takes notice of Verse 5. Which serve unto the Example and Shadow of Heavenly Things As Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the Tabernacle For See saith he that thou make all things according to the Pattern shewed thee in the Mount Because God understood his own Kingdom and this Great Feast that he would hold Moses was to do nothing without special Command and Precepâ— and Direction for it All was to Answer Exactly to what was to come All was a Shadow and Example of Heavenly
indeed we see in the very best to this day Therefore the Observation that I shall lay down and endeavour to open to you is this That Christianity in regard of the present state of Christians and as they have been since Ephesus Rev. 2. left its first love since there was a decay of the Glory and. Purity and presence of the Gospel from the Apostles Time Since then I say Christianity in the Power and Spirit of it though it hath not downright slept yet it hath been as in a slumber For indeed I have often said it and I cannot be in a remove from it That Christianity is not as it was intended by Christ it should be We have not seen the State and Glory of it And therefore I shall make it my business to represent to you by such Representations as the Scripture hath given us how the Power of Christianity hath faultred thus long and that it will come to its perfectly awakened State when the Kingdoms of this World are Proclaimed to be the Lord's and his Christ's And I shall date this failure especially to two Times and one of them will fall directly upon our selves First of all the Time when the Mystery of Iniquity was working in the Apostles days For you may plainly behold that by the very express words of the Apostle that in his own Time there was a working of the Mystery of Iniquity Then began the great decay and bringing down of the Glory of Christianity 2 Thes 2. 'T is a Scripture that I have often turned you to and therefore I hope you are acquainted with it I am perswaded the first Christians in the Apostles days needed as much to be restrained in thinking that the Day of Christ was at hand as we have need to be spurr'd on and to be provoked and to be earnestly perswaded to think that the Day of Christ is at hand For so the Apostle writes We beseech you saith he as if he was in a business of greatest earnestness and that he could not tell how he should prevail enough upon them to whom he wrote in it ver 1. We beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him That ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by Spirit nor by Word nor by Letter as from us as that the Day of Christ is at hand They were ready to think The Day of Christ was to come just then Therefore the Apostle makes this earnest entreaty of them that they would not expect it You see what a different posture we are in now It is a hard matter to perswade any one to take off their hearts from the World and from loving it too deep and from thinking here 's a security in this World and we may do as our Fathers have done before us for so many Hundred Years in the Profession of Christianity We may be buying and selling and getting Estates and laying a foundation in this World Who is it that doth not count it a sort of Madness to disswade them from such a thing But the Christians of that Time they needed as earnest a perswasion That they might not think that the Day of Christ was so near at hand And so Christ in the 19th of Luke speaks that Parable that they should not because they did think The Kingdom of Heaven was nigh at hand He spake a Parable on purpose to assure them that it was not so nigh But Alas we need strong perswasions to the contrary And I may say the contrary to the Christians of this Time I beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus and by our gathering together unto him that you would not be shaken in mind by the general way of Peoples Profession and Preaching and Hearing as if the Day of Christ were not at hand And as the Apostle saith Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that Man of Sin be revealed the Son of Perdition So I say to you That day is near approaching For that falling away that Apostacy from Christianity it hath been and it is now very near to its expiring And therefore the great reason why it could not be then it is now a reason why it must speedily be because the Apostacy hath been so long because the Time and the last Date by God and by Christ is almost run out and expired that is the Time Times and half Time Here therefore to speak and bring home the thing to the present purpose I am upon Since this Apostacy began to work since that very Time Christianity hath been in a slumber For in this second Chap. v. 7. saith the Apostle the Mystery of Iniquity doth already work Now as soon as ever the Mystery of Iniquity began to work immediately there began a slumber upon the Christian Religion And therefore one would wonder Indeed it is a place that one would wonder to read and to find in the Epistle to the Philippians what the Apostle speaks Chap. 2. 20. For I have no man saith he like-minded speaking of Timotheus who will naturally genuinely sincerely care for your state For saith he All seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christ's I speak of him as an extraordinary Person saith the Apostle By this we may plainly see it was a great variation from what you read in the second and third Chapters of the Acts where they minded nothing but only the Promotion of Christianity No one called any thing their own they minded nothing but Christianity it self But Christianity hath been in a slumber ever since or else we should be Christians of another Life of another Spirit of another Power I say were it not that Christianity hath been in a slumber so long And this is with a great deal of spiritual Wit if I may so speak and a great deal of spiritual Elegancy set out to us in the Song of Solomon I shall have occasion to make great recourse to the Description that is there given to us Sol. Song c. 5. v. 2. I sleep but my heart waketh it is the voice of my Beloved that knocketh saying open to me my Sister my Love my Dove my undefiled for my Head is filled with Dew and my Locks with the Drops of the Night What 's the meaning of this Indeed I know Men are ready to say That these things are only Imaginations and Whimsies and Apprehensions of ones own that speaks of them But I have found a clear Thread and Line drawn from David's time till the very Glorious Coming of Christ in this very Song of Solomon And I find that the Time when the Apostacy came in is just under the very description that we here have As therefore when after a clear Day a Sun-shiny-day at Night the Drops of Dew you know they fall thick upon the heads of those that are in the Air. So
and so far as any of us have Opportunity to Propogate the koowledge of this thing among all the Prophane and Wicked of the World so far as I say they will bear it or that we can have place to speak so much to them To consider if foolish Virgins will not be accepted in that Day O! What will be the End of those that are so boldly and insolently prophane and wicked It were a happy thing indeed in regard of the present state of things and of the hopes of something better That we could prevail upon Persons that we know are prodigiously Contemners of God and bold in Sin and Railers at and Scoffers of every thing that is good and that wallow like Swine in the Mire and that are drinking up the Vomit of their Sins perpetually and doing the same things over and over again O that Persons would be prevailed with to read the First of the Proverbs And to draw the Land-scaph of their Case by looking upon Belshazzar and reading his Story I say That they would be prevailed with Men that are Carousing and shewing their Contempt of God and of every thing sacred Oh that they might be prevailed with For as the Apostle saith If the righteous be scarcely saved and foolish Virgins perish where shall the Wicked and Vngodly appear And 2. In the Second Place Then let every one of us as I hope upon the generality there may be drawn this Title of a Virgin without any injury done to Christ I hope we do make a Profession of God and Christ seriously We do Pray and Hear and wait upon God in his Word and read the Scripture and we are serious in drawing nigh to Christ at his Table I say I hope the Title of the Virgin may be put upon many of us in these regards But Let it not be grievous to any of us either Hearer or Speakers to consider this That there are Foolish Virgins as well as Wise You may have a very desirable and commendable Profession of Christianity upon you We may have this and yet be foolish Virgins Consider seriously If there be folly in our Virginity it will utterly spoil it it will be such a Dead Fly in the Ointment of Virginity that it will certainly spoil and poison all As our Lord speaks If the Salt have lost its savour The Word in the Greek is if it be foolish Salt it goes to the Dunghil There may be Virginity but if it be foolish Virginity it will come to be said Our Lamps are gone out We have heard and profest Christianity with you but lo now Our Lamps are gone out We cannot hold out Immediately the Fire of that Day as we say the Sun will put out those little Fires So the Fire of that Day the Glory of that Day will put out our Lamps But this is that Point That I shall especially Discourse to you next To shew you Wherein is the difference between a Lamp that goes out and a Lamp that is furnished with the Treasure of Oil still within it self That hath still new supply that hath a Fountain to supply it That doth not go out upon the very spot as we say And if the Lord enable me to clear so great a Point to the Conviction of every one that both hears and speaks How great might the advantage be For I would not discourage any from his Profession God forbid that any one should be stopp'd or hinder'd in the way of Christianity so far as they have proceeded but yet you see this is a necessary faithfulness to be told of our danger and perswaded and convinced of it if by any means we might escape out of the Snare that the Snare might be broken and we escape The Third Application I make is this 3. That according to the assurance I have given you and that I profess in the Presence of God with greatest sincerity upon duest Consideration to be more and more assured That the Kingdom of Jesus Christ draws very near and very hard and very fast upon us That therefore you would have another Consideration of these things than those that lived a great way of of the Time For though it is true if any of us come to die it will be the same case as if the Day of Judgment were just now upon him but yet still the Scripture makes use of this as a further and higher Argument It is high time now to awake the Night passeth the Day is at hand your Salvation is nearer And therefore I beseech you That you would seriously take it into Consideration and to Heart That the ends of the World must needs be upon us For if the Apostle said that the Ends of the World came upon them so many Hundred Years since how can it be but that the Ends of the World must be upon us We are on the very last Sands of the Glass of the World And therefore Let this Preaching of John the Baptist and Christ be in all your Ears and Hearts Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Look to be wise Virgins for the Bridegroom will not long delay his coming He hath delay'd it so long but will not delay it long now And then 4. In the last Place I beseech you be not so afraid of the Coming of the Kingdom of Christ This will be your great advantage If any would choose they would choose to see the Kingdom of Christ in its succession For I have always taken care to distinguish to you these two There is a great Difference betwixt the Kingdom of Christ coming in its Glory as it shall be at the Time designed by this Text and Parable and another thing intended by its Succession Rev. 11. 15. As a King Entring upon his Reign which you know is immediately and as soon as the former King went off and as they speak Demised It is another thing his Inauguration You know there is a distance of Time between the Entring in of the Reign and Succession and the Coronation the great Time of Glory And so there 's a difference betwixt Christ's coming when the Midnight-Cry shall be and his coming into the Succession of his Kingdom For there shall be a wonderful pouring out of the Spirit of God as soon as ever the Kingdom of Christ shall come into its Succession There shall be a mighty Preaching of the Everlasting Gospel Christianity shall grow much higher much more pure much more efficacious there shall be bringing in multitudes of Gentiles that are now Unbelievers in Christ Mahometan or Pagan Antichristians and the Ancient Israel coming in as I have often said Who then can be perswaded that it shall be possible to see the Jews and Gentiles flocking in to Christ and that there should be any that should not believe in Christ and receive his Gospel And therefore I say know assuredly That it will be a great advantage to you And for my part There 's nothing that I more earnestly
riches of his Glory to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inner man That Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith I look upon this to be Oyl in the Vessel It is Christ abiding in the heart For tho indeed the Vessel is not the Fountain yet it speaks the Vessel closely conjoyned with the Fountain and the Fountain continually springing into 't Another place of Scripture that I would give you You know Faith and Love they are much required and insisted on in the Gospel now observe what the Apostle saith in the 1 Tim. 1. 14. And the Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus Where is the Treasure of Faith and Love It is in Christ Jesus it is never out of him the Spring of it is never out of him Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus The Spring overflows to the Vessel with Faith and Love but the Spring and the Fountain is Christ himself And so 2 Tim. 2 1. Thou therefore my Son be strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus Be strong in the Grace that is in him It is never out of him though it flows to the Souls and Spirits of Believers yet it is never out of Christ So that here is the Oyl in the Treasure of it it is when the Soul is united to Christ the Fountain of it here is the Oyl that is able to bear up For in two things I think the comparison lies that our Lord intended in this Parable between Grace and Oyl First It must needs be of such an excellent quality that it can bear up with the Glory of that Day And then In the Second place It must be so abundant that it can last with the Glory of that Day For if the Oyl be not of the high and excellent kind it will presently go out As you know the higher Light of the Sun it puts out the lower Light of Fire or Tapers that we have below so the Glory of that Day will put out any Light but only the Light of the Righteousness and Grace that is in Jesus Christ and none else will last There 's no Spring of Light but only that which comes from him Heb. 7. 16. who is after the power of an endless life It is only Christ that is Oil in the Treasure Therefore take the most Excellent Grace That 's the Point that I would endeavour to carry out to you Take the most Excellent Grace if it be out of Christ if it be only in the Person himself it is a Lamp that will go out but if the Vessel be at the Fountain Head and is joined to the Fountain then it is able to supply to the Glory of that Day And I shall represent it to you therefore by a History of Scripture that may serve as an excellent Parallel to Expound the Parable that I am now upon In 2 Kings 4. 1. There cried a certain Woman of the Wives of the Sons of the Prophets unto Elisha saying Thy Servant my Husband is dead and thou knowest that thy Servant did fear the Lord and the Creditor is come to take unto him my two Sons to be Bond-men And Elisha said unto her What shall I do for thee Tell me What hast thou in the House And she said Thine Hand-Maid hath not any thing in the House save a Pot of Oil. Then he said Go Borrow thee Vessels abroad of all thy Neighbours even empty Vessels borrow not a few And when thou art come in thou shalt shut the Door upon thee and upon thy Sons and shall pour out into all those Vessels and thou shalt set aside that which is full So she went from him and shut the Door upon her and upon her Sons who brought the Vessels to her and she poured out And it came to pass when the Vessels were full that she said unto her Son bring me yet a Vessel And he said unto her There is not a Vessel more And the Oil stayed Now this is the thing only That I would represent to you That to us that are in a miserable and needy and wanting condition and in danger to be Bond-Men and Bond-Women to the Wrath and Justice of God for ever Here is the Oil multiplied The Oil multiplies from the Fountain from the Infinite Grace that is in Jesus Christ that we may stand at that Day And therefore That which I would advise and press upon every one of us from this very Point is That above all things we would mind our being in Christ I shall endeavour to free it from all Objections that you may be ready to make before I close the Point But to give you a Parable or a Representation that is nearer and does indeed intend this very thing If you look into the Prophet Zachary you shall see what it is to have Oil not only in the Lamp but in the Vessel that is to have a continual supply For though indeed this Parable seems to go no further than Oil in the Vessel yet when we come to enter into it we must needs find that it must be Oil from the Fountain alone that can do us good Zach. 4. 1 2. And the Angel that talked with me came again and waked me as a Man that is wakened out of his sleep And said unto me what Seest thou and I said I looked and behold a Candlestick all of Gold with a bowl upon the top of it and his Seven Lamps thereon and Seven Pipes to the Seven Lamps which were upon the top thereof And two Olive-Trees by it one upon the Right side of the Bowl and the other upon the Left side thereof And it came to that The Sons of oyl as they are called v. 12. through the Golden Pipes empty the Golden Oil out of themselves into the Golden Bowl Now What 's the Meaning of all this Not by Might nor by Power but by my Spirit saith the Lord that 's the Meaning of all They Empty the Golden Oil out of themselves That Golden Oil by which our Lamps will bear up and shine at that Day it must come from those Sons of Oyl That is From those Olive-branches Both which are only a Representation of Christ's Fulness in his Righteousness and in his Spirit So that here is that that alone can bear us up and bear up the Shining of our Lamps in that Day of the Glorious Solemnity of the Marriage of the Lamb That which alone can bear us up is the Righteousness and Spirit of Jesus Christ Which are always Connected and Joyned one with another And Proportionable hereunto are other Similitudes The Wedding-Garment that we read of Matt. 22. which a Man not having on when he came to the Wedding he was sound Speechless That is Nothing but the Garment of the Righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Graces of his Spirit The King came in to see the Guests he saw there a Man which had not
do for that After-State let us do it now For in dying Spirits going out of Bodies enter into their Determinative State They enter in the State they were in here They carry out the Oil they have whether only in the Lamp of their Profession or in the Vessel the Heart united to Christ the Fountain And so they must abide so they must appear when the Bridegroom cometh This is the holy and wise Decree of God concerning the Human Spirit and who dare controll it From hence then it necessarily follows That this Watch is to be maintained in this Present State and that it can be only here and that therefore it is only in order to and with relation to the Coming of the Bridegroom but not with relation to the Time of his Coming for then the Doctrine of Watching had not been proper to Persons living so many Ages before it but because every person successively living since the Time our Lord spake these words is in the Time of his Life to exercise this Watch that is to see he hath the Oil in his Vessel and not in his Lamp only that he may stand before the Son of Man at his Coming Therefore it is a Doctrine necessary to every Age as well those furthest off as those nearest to his Coming because every one hath but a Life-Time to Watch in and he is much more to be wrought upon by the sence of the shortness and incertainty of his own Life than by the nearness of the Bridegrooms Coming and the incertainty of the time of that as we plainly see by every Days Experience And this is much the more uncontestable by observing the Apostle Paul's earnestness against the Christians of those Times thinking the Day of Christ was then at hand which he solemnly affirms could not be till an Apostacy of 1260 Days of Years should have come in and that not immediately neither and have run out Yea our very Lord himself when They thought the Kingdom of God should immediately have appeared Luke 19. 11 c. gives the Parable of a Nobleman going into a far Country and returning importing a distance of Time all which had been a contradiction to watching because we know not the day nor hour if the meaning had not been a making provision in the present Life for the Bridegrooms Coming how many Ages after soever it should be and that else it would come upon us at unawares and on the sudden and find us unready unprovided for it Argument 2. It further appears That Watching is the making such provision in this present Time for the Bridegrooms Coming as will bear up to the Glory of that Time because in the same State wherein we lie down we shall rise at that day whenever it be and openly appear therein in the face of Heaven and Earth The Judgment of Spirits though it be before God and Christ and Aangels and Saints yet Scripture speaks of it as of a private Judgment for the Day of the Appearance of Christ is spoken of Rom. 2. 5. as the Revelation or uncovering that righteous Judgment of God which as pass'd upon Spirits returning to God that gave them is as covered and secret There is greatest reason to be assured That when Spirits of Saints come into the hand of Christ there is joy in Heaven for if there be joy at their Conversion in the presence of the Angels of God and so of Saints there is much more so in the coming of Spirits to Glory but this Joy and the Shouts of it are not heard down on Earth But at that Appearance of Christ they are presented with exceeding joy before Heaven and Earth And so are All not in Christ with contempt and dishonour And this is the great Mystery and Wonder of the Oeconomy the Order of that Day That persons rise in the very same State wherein they lie down God will have it so for the clearness of his Judgment though persons die in the corner of a Bed as the Prophets expression is yet they shall openly appear in the same circumstances they died God will have every ones Judgment as in all orderly Governments to be sub Dio openly in the Face of Heaven and Earth they shall all appear as in the Fact 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus he will be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe in that day and justified in the Condemnation of all whom he condemns If God should dispose of some to Hell and some to Heaven and that there were no publick account of the matter we might think they were so disposed of by God as by an Arbitrary Power and in secret and so his Justice called in Question But when Spirits that have been so disposed of in private both Spirits so publickly and Bodies are called for together and the Judgment affirmed This is clear and open proceeding and therefore a Day of Judgment and of Resurrection is so often spoken of All shall be brought Face to Face and we shall not only know one another who have conversed together but even of all Ages Abraham Isaac and Jacob Cain and Esau Saul Achitophel and Judas All shall be known and we shall know what becomes of every one to Eternity Death here and Spirits entring into their everlasting state is not All of which we may say Who knows the Spirit of a Saint of a wise Virgin that goes upward of a wicked man of a foolish Virgin that goes downward But at that Day shall be known All the Good Men we have read of in Scripture or in true Accounts of History And the Evil Men and Hypocrites Each Company and Person apart and apart God and Christ will pass upon all openly and in Publick And that which I would further urge every one shall Rise in the very Fact the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which they lay down Belshazzars in their way Diveses in their way the Worldlings in their way and the Foolish Virgins in their way Crying Lord Lord without Truth and Power as here The great Tyrants Enemies of the Kingdom of Christ in their way To that purpose they are describ'd as having laid their Weapons of War under their Heads with their Iniquities upon their Bones Ezek. 32. 17. and so they 'll come to the Battel of Armageddon The Iniquity and the Bones the Persons and Weapons of War will appear together in that Day of the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God as even then in actual War against the Lamb and his Saints This is the Great and stupendious management of the Day of Judgment of that Day and Hour of which in this Sense especially and not as relating to Time no one knows no Angels no not the Son as Man The Father only the Eternal Beeing alone had Wisdom to find out Authority Dominion and Power thus to execute It is therefore the great Point of watchfulness to Live so and so to Dye as we would desire to Rise and
may be accounted worthy to escape those things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man You see here that ye may stand before the Son of Man there must be a watching to prayer and a watching upon this very account O! that we could be sensible of that Day and stir up our supplications in that very point So the Apostle Peter For I would endeavour to argue the Scripture upon you that the great Intention and Earnestness of our Prayer should run to that very Point of the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 4. 7. The end of all things is at hand and therefore watch unto Prayer Let us be continually watching unto Prayer upon this very account because the end of all things is at hand If we considered that it would engage and stir up our Prayers Be sober and watch unto Prayer for our Prayers will meet us then we shall rise in them at that Day 3. In the Third Place Our Watchfulness should stand in this in a constant living sence of the Word of God especially in this great point upon us That we should have a Meditation upon the Word of God It is a very hard thing for us to entertain our thoughts in the Night when we are awake or when we are alone it is a hard thing to know how to employ our Thoughts and to engage them And therefore if we could take the Word of God That would keep us in an awful sence of God and of eternal things David often speaks of his Meditation in the Word of God Psal 119. I meditate in thy Word I meditate in thy Statutes it is my meditation all the day And Psal 1. 1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly c. but his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in that Law doth he meditate Day and Night Saith David I stir up my self I awake in the night that I might meditate in thy statutes If we could seriously bring into our thoughts the Meditations of the end of all things but we are so concern'd for this little spot of Time even for that next Moment that is before us what we shall eat and what we shall drink and what we shall put on and how this and that shall be maintained If our hearts were but suitably and proportionably fixt upon that What shall we do for our Eternal Condition How shall we bear that Day Would not any one set that Day before him if he were really possest of it If a Man were to Plead his Cause and whole condition in this World who of us could keep his Heart and Thoughts from oft running into 't Now if we could keep our Meditations upon those Scriptures that speak of this Eternal Condition I beseech you endeavour to get up your selves and to aspire to it by the Grace of God and that you would meditate on these things as the Apostle Paul teaches Timothy Meditate on these things that thy profiting may appear to all men He speaks indeed there of the preparation for the work of Preaching of the Gospel But let us apply it for we are every one concerned in this Great Point to be Preachers to our selves Certainly if every one be not a Preacher to himself all other Preachers can do him no good at all And the Excellent Truths that lie in the Word of God can do no good till a Man comes to Preach them to himself The Book of Ecclesiastes is in the English of it the Book of the Preaching soul that Book of Solomon which we call the Book of the Preacher it was the Book of the Preacher first to himself Eccl. 1. 1. It is observed by Learned Men the Word signifies The Preaching Soul Every one should be a Preaching Soul to himself and Preaching this Great Point Of the Coming and Kingdom of Christ And this would engage our Watch this would be like the snuffing the Lamps of our dark Apprehensions and blowing up the Flame of our cold and benumm'd affections It would make the Light more clear and it would be like the blowing up the fire it would enflame and warm us with the strength and vigour of those great apprehensions that pertain to the Coming of Christ Indeed it is very sad That the present state of the World is so covered and so darkned and so eclipsed and so chill'd and even frozen in these things We can go into no Company nay we our selves though we are sensible of these Truths we speak them and hear of them yet we don't know how to converse like the Servants of God That we might be all Preachers to our selves and one to another in them It is earnestly to be hoped and prayed for That a betterstate of things may come on and that the Spirit may be poured out abundantly And Would as Moses said all the Lords People were Prophets I cannot reasonably think that Moses spake of a thing that was impossible But surely there shall be a time that every one of the Servants of God shall have something to say as Prophets of the Lord one to another And this is the time that is earnestly to be expected and to be Prayed for I make no doubt but the World shall have such a Time of preparation in order to the Great and Glorious Coming of Christ Acts 2. 17. Pray observe God will pour out his Spirit to this very end to this very purpose saith the Apostle I will pour out my Syirit upon all flesh and your Sons and you Daughters shall Prophesie and your young men shall see Visions and your old men shall dream Dreams Every one shall have something to offer to another concerning God And on my servants and on my hand-maidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit and they shall Prophesie And I will shew Wonders in Heaven above and Signs in the Earth beneath c. And the Sun shall be turned into Darkness and the Moon into Bloud before that Great pray observe that before that Great and illustrious Day of the Lord come He will come in the still Voice of his Spirit poured out and of every one being enabled as Moses saith as a Prophet For would Moses do you think have said Would every Atome of Dust upon the Earth could be a Star he would not have wish'd such a thing or That all the Drops of Water in the Sea might be turned into Gold and Pearls These things would have been strange in Moses because they are things that never shall be But now That all the Lord's People shall be Prophets That 's a thing God will certainly do and awaken the World with before that Great and Illustrious Day of the Lord come In the mean time Let us endeavour to be Preaching-Souls unto our selves This is a thing I am sure that no one can have reason to be offended at Let Men be never so severe that none must Preach but such and
Express Scripture End Three Years and Half or Half a Week from the Death of Christ And then we know a Time there must be from the Beginning of the 1260 of some distance of Space from the End of the Weeks Because from the Three Years and Half after the Death of Christ so many more Years then 1260 are now passed and yet the Great Events at the End of the 1260 not yet come to pass and therefore not the 1260 themselves And yet that space must take hold of the End of the Weeks Because the Half Week Ends a Three Years and a Half Half a Week from the Death of Christ The Seventy Weeks Notwithstanding They are divided into Joynts yet are as close as the Joynted parts of any the same Member of the Body being together the Seventy Weeks The Seventy Weeks lay an Indisputed Claim to whatever Time went before to Cyrus And every part must be Joyned Each to other Because all the several Portions of Time stand United in the 2300 And seeing so much Time hath already passed since the End of the Weeks as leaves no more then 75 before the Weeks of the 2300 to Cyrus we are sure there can be no more I confess there may be Fewer and so more of the 1260 to Run out then to 97 But so far as we can be sure there can be no more than 400 before the 1335. We may be sure there can be no Fewer than 75 before the Weeks From Cyrus backward must be the 40 of Judah's Sin Born Lying Close to the End of the 390 Days of Israel's Sin Born which Bring back to the Division of the Tribes into the Two Houses of Israel and Judah All which Things have been and are Ready to be Fully made out to any who Desire it in particular The Undoubted Emblems of Scripture Answering to these Numbers of Time may be Accounted for with the same Evidence in this Retrospective Motion as in the Progression For the very End of the Wonders is plac'd in the Beast and the False Prophet cast alive into the Lake And the Glory of Christ's Appearance and the Armies of Heaven for whom Thrones were Set and They Sate upon Them and They Lived and Reigned with Christ a Thousand Years were such as did not Worship the Beast nor Receive his Mark c. The Vials that Brought in the Thousand Years are Noted to Fall on the Beast and them that Worshipp'd the Beast and had Receiv'd his Mark The Voices that prepar'd for the Vials and at the End of which the Vials Began were also upon the Beast and the Witnesses coming out of the Death the Beast had laid them under plainly Entwist the Vials and the Voices with the Beast and the Witnesses and so their Times one with another viz. with the 1260 Days the 42 Moons the Times and Days and Half And in this same manner the Dragon and they that were Beheaded for the Word of God and for the Testimony of Jesus and the Dragon cast down and the Martyrs of Christ Overcoming by the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of his Testimony and not Loving their Lives unto Death Seeing the Dragon Gave his Power and his Seat unto the Beast shew very Evidently that the Moons of the Gentiles and of the Beast Began at the End of the Seals Even as it is most clear in a Progressive Motion the Seals Issue into the Trumpets by the Seventh Seal conveying to them The Trumpets into the Voices by the Seventh Trumpet the Voices by the Seventh Voice into â—he Vials the Vials by the Seventh Vial into the Thousand Years The Seals Run plainly Back into the Weeks Beginning in the Confirmation of the Covenant by that Preaching of the Gospel by the Apostles Emblem'd by Christ Riding out on his White Horse conquering and to conquer at the Ending of the Weeks The Weeks Run back into the Time of the Word Going forth for the Restoring Judah and Jerusalem from whence they are Dated The Going forth of the Word into the Babylonish Captivity which gave Occasion to the going forth of that Word and the Last Forty Years of the Babylonish Captivity which was the Ground of Bearing the Iniquity or Punishment of the House of Judah clasps Fast with the 390 of Bearing Israel's Sin because God commanded Ezekiel when He bad Born the sin of Israel on the Left side without any Intermission to Turn on the Other side and to Bear the sin of the House of Judah on the Right side and the Bearing the Sin of the House of Israel goes back to the Division of the Tribes into Two Houses at Solomon's Death In the Last Place I dare Appeal to the Greatest Chronologers or Historians whether our General Accounts do not within some Fair Proportion Allow the Years of the Papacy of the Pagan Power of the Roman Empire of the Grecian Persian Babylonish Kingdoms to serve these Prophetical Accounts and so backward by the Kings of Israel and Judah to the Death of Solomon Now all these Things were there Room to Represent Them clearly particularly and in Full would Give such certainty in these Points according to the Exactness of Scripture-Time as would amount to the Justification of the Great Hope I so publickly make Offer of and against which in every minute Particular I Humbly Pledge my self to be Ready to Receive Exceptions and to Return Due Satisfaction and therefore shall now Return to the more General Objections This way of Endeavour to Justify every Thing by Plain Accounts and Arguments of Reason Approachable by every Ones Reason and Subject to the Examination of every Man whoever will take so much Thought and Care of Tryal and Just Judgment upon Himself may take off much of that Exception Why should All This be Reveal'd to you more than to Any Other For The Answer I would give is Because God hath engaged my Heart and Thoughts to this Inquiry And it hath been the Principal Subject of my Intellectual Inquiries though I hope not in a Neglect of other Points of Theology and Scripture-Knowledge But by this means I have been looking every way into All the Advertisements of Scripture-Prophecy comparing Prophetical Things with Prophetical and any of the most Accurate Memoirs of History and Chronology I could Arrain And This is no other than what Any Other Studious in these Things might have Attained and much Higher according to the Advantages of Learning more enlarged Capacities of Mind Clearness of Expression as is most experimental in that Excellent Person The Annotator on the Revelation and his Annotations Published about Four Years ago The Only Thing that I pretend to of Peculiar Favour herein from the Most High is That he hath thus engaged my Heart and Thoughts to separate my self and to Intermeddle with this Wisdom and Assisted me so far therein When any one vouches any Immediate Revelation that cannot be disprov'd by its plain Disagreeableness to other Sealed Parts of Divine Revelation though
indeed from God He and his Revelation are Inaccessible but by the same Spirit of Revelation in some suitable Efficacy of the same Spirit enabling to discern or to feel the Vertue of it As in the Apostles Days When the Prophets spake one by one 1 Cor. 14. 29. Then the Rest Judged that is Discern'd the Divineness of the Revelation by the Participations of the same Spirit in themselves But when Any offer the Interpretation of written Prophecies or Prophecies of Scripture by the Assistance of the same Spirit that gave them this Interpretation if Just and True and according to the Sense of the Divine Spirit is the Spirit of Prophecy Because it is the Testimony of Jesus which is the very Essence of the Spirit of Prophecy Now this is plainly Approvable by All who wait upon the same Word of God by the Assistance of the same Spirit I do not therefore in Any of these Prophetical Discourses offer at any such thing as in which the Spirit of the Lord passing by others should have spoken to me but what every one hath the same Riht and Open Door to and Freedom of and what every one hath a Riight to Examine and Accept or Reject according to the Evidence he finds of an Agreeableness with the Sure Word of Prophecy or not That onely I stand up for is That He Judges as a Prophet according to the measure of that Dispensation of the Blessed Spirit now vouchsefed to his Servants That is that he Judge by the Due Compare of Prophecy with Prophecy by Attendance to every Hint and Indication of the Prophetical Mind Flowing from that Spirit and that he lay this First as a Foundation that the Prophecies of Scripture ought to be Given Heed to and that they may be understood as a Light shining in a dark place And whoever doth not thus address himself can no more Judge then any one could of the Revelations then made by the Spirit to the Prophets of these First Times when they met in thâ—se Prophetical Exercises without the Communication of the same Spirit to themselves or then an Illitterate or unknowing Person in any Science or Art Can Judge of the Exercitations of the most knowing Persons or Artists when they meet together for the Communication of their most Elaborate Exercitations therein And so I do indeed Claim and Insist on this Priviledge That none undertake to Judge of what I have offered in these things but by such Prophetical Preparations and Attendances upon Scripture Prophesies that are indeed open to every one that Desires to enter by the Key of Scripture Prophetical Knowledge and shutt to others And this is no more Presumption then what every one thinks his Priviledge that no one Judge of his Art but He that Understands it first Himself And this I hope Vindicates from any undue Assumption of any more then the Gracious Direction of my Heart and Thoughts to that Book of Scripture Prophecy that Lies open to every one that draws nigh with due Preparation And that every one may Judge of by the same Preparation It may be further Objected that yet it is very hard if not Impossible to attain the Sense of the Divine Spirit to a Year or any such Precise Definitive Account of Time To this I Answer It will easily be allowed that the Divine Spirit hath Determin'd and knows according to that its Expression of it self to the very Self same Day And therefore seeing it hath given Numbers of Time it must be to the very Self same Day For the end of every Number is so Precise and Definite That It must needs be to the very Self same Year and even Day if we could have as Punctual Account of Days as of Years But I find not the Holy Spirit ordinarily is more particular then Days of Years By therefore a due Poize of that Trine Aspect of Prophetick Emblems Prophetick Numbers and Providential Effects in Event and Matters of Fact of the Records of which It hath taken Care by General History and Chronology we may come to know to a Year And of this Besides several other Assurances that Require more Discourse There is that Time of the Reformation more Easy and Immediate to every Observation wherein Divine Super-Intendencies upon all Historians concerning it to Fix the Beginnings of it in 1517. does so assure the Beginning of Half Time as to assure also the End of Half Time as of an 180 Years and so of Time and Times at 1697. and therefore the Beginning of Times or the Two Times at 797. and of the First Time at 437. The Times and Half are contrived therefore into such Large Cantons of Time as One Time Two Times and Half a Time that They may be seen in so Large Spaces and so much together and yet in such Minute Exact Divisions as Days of Years especially and on purpose that they might be fully known and exactly understood all along and at the End which with so many Concurrences before-nam'd and of which I should be most Ready to Give the particular State more at large to a Free and Desirous and a Judicious Recipient does not make it strange to determine so particularly upon 97. and may free from that Objection But what is there of Preparation to so great a Change or what Instruments in view for such Effects may it be said To which this Answer is to be given That when we have to do with Him who Planted the Heavens and Laid the Foundations of the Earth who telleth the Number of the Stars and calleth them All by their Names and appoints them every one their Course to Fight in Nothing is Hard. Or how wonderful soever it be in our Eyes can it be so in His Who works his signs and his wonders in Heaven and on Earth and none can stay his Hand or say unto him what doest thou who works and none can let it Hath he spoken and shall he not do it Is Any Thing too hard for me sath our Jehovah And as to Means and Instruments altho he could raise them if he pleas'd Yet His Word of Propheby so expresses the doing of it as if he would make use of No Hand but his own The Stone cut out of the Mountain is not in Hands That Power that stands up against the Prince of Princes shall be broken without Hand Now this without Hand is a manner of speaking the Spirit of God is pleased as by the Translation of it from Daniel into the New Testament to Apply a Tabernacle made without Hands the Circumcision without Hands the House not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens appears to be an Expression of God working by an Immediate Power of his own and by Himself It is by a Spirit of Life from God and by a Voice from Heaven The Four Wheels of the Four Monarchies are brought into the Temple under the Cherubims and without any more ado It was cried concerning them in my Hearing the Hearing of