an earthy bottomless and Babylonish wilderness Now the woman could not be in the wilderness while her officers were in heaven but they must both fall together 2. This mournful season emphatically stiled by our Saviour the time of tribulation Mark 13.24 must initiate with the first of those three grand woes sounded by the Angel flying in the midst of heaven and that began with the fifth trumpt Chap. 8.13 The former four were gradual preparations the fifth the full accomplishment of that great defection The begining of this time The same as I conceive took its exordium about the yeer 390 after Christ at the time the Bishop of Rome by the general consent of the Asian Affrican and Europian Bishops obtained the priority and Bishoprick of the first seat which is the sole interest and proper centre of Jesus Christ And where this universal primacy was granted to a bare creature Christ would not give his glory to another but wholly departed and left it empty whereby it became meerly humane and bestial The Duration thereof The duration of this time is declared in the Revelations to be 1260 dayes or fourty two moneths which taken according to the Egyptian and Jewish account thirty dayes to a moneth make up exactly the former number of dayes the like doth time times and an half Chap. 15.3 the beast had power given him to make war or prevaile for so is the original forty two months also Chap. 11.2 the nations so long trod the holy City under foot likewise vers 3. the witnesses prophesied clothed in sackcloth the same space of time Chap. 12.6 all this time the woman was in the wilderness which in vers 14. is described to be time times and half a time answerable to the former account which raken prophetically a day for a yeer as this book is delivered in the highest majesty of a prophecie constitute 1260 yeers The computation 0390 1260 nbsp 1650. Now to reckon up the period of this season if we add to 1260 the foregoing time of 390 we may finde the expiration thereof to be about 1650. Many arguments may be produced to prove these dayes to be prophetically a day for a yeer but it hath been done by others and most that are judicious by pondering the hight and order of this prophecie with the event successively answering will proprio nisu of their own voluntary consent agree with me and them in this particular What remarkable turnings and alterations of affaires there were about 1650 in all our dominions even in these ends of the earth with the subsequent success is shewed in Parag. 4. 2. The second material passage to be expostulated is what is the dispensation now approved of God in this next revolution after the former season of adversity Quaere 2. whether by new erecting of visible Churches or by separation without stating waiting till the Lord begin it or thus whether the time for the return of visible marriage be now or hereafter For the resolving of this Gorgian knot See Parag 4. we may propose to our selves a twofold rule First Whether there be a call to foot any Church-constitution in our time or in a time to come Secondly what is the next immediate cause to give vital being to the same 1. For the first we observed by searching the Scriptures that every thing belonging to Church-order either at its first rise or after a general long and total loss was grounded on the written word of God and manifested by the spirit of Prophecie Surely the Lord will do nothing in this but he reveales his secrets to his servants the Prophets Amos 3.7 that the book of the Revelations compiling in a certaine method the several changes and administrations time after time must as well inform us when this manifest kingdom reverts as it doth teach us when and how the primitive was dissolved and became Babylon and upon strict inquiry we could not espie the least hint either by type or vocal expression for any approved visible Church-marriage in the age we live in but that the Revelations together with the old Prophets agree with one accord that the time for this noble work is to be fulfilled in an after-age The signes to know this magnificent fabrick to be to come are these 1. The destruction of the Antichristian enemies and removing obstacles out of the way as Hos 2.18 The Lord will make a covenant for them with the creatures and will breake the low sword and battel ouâ— of the earth and make them to lie down in safety and then verse 19 20 I will marry thee to me for ever also Mat. 13.30 43 the tares are first cut down before the wheat is gathered into the barn so Revel 11.18 19. Chap. 15.8 there is no visible temple in heaven opened till the were destroyed who destroyed the earth even till the destruction of the great City mentioned Chap. 16.19 and Chap. 18. likewise Chap. 19.7 8 9. there is no marriage specified till the Hallelujahs be sung for the finall ruine of Babylon and the glorious reign of God Almighty and then Zech. 14.9 when the Lord only is king in all the earth the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife prepared for her husband then she hath a new grant of his beautiful wedding-garments whereby she shall be outwardly Isa 611 10 covered with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroome decketh himself with his ornaments and a bride adorns her self with her jewels then is there a new call to the Marriage-supper of the Lamb. Thus we may note that this illustrious prophecy given by Christ to shew to his servants future events leads us as by a hand-dyal to the time when the primitive was cast out and to the very season when it returns in its own supernatural lustre 2. The next signe is the call of the Jews and those Eastern parts as Psal 50.1 The Lord hath called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof and then God will shine out of Sion the perfection of beauty vers 2. So Matth. 24.27 28 when there is a true manifest gathering to the dead carcase Christ noting a stating work then he will manifest his shining dispensation from east to west like lightning and thus Rom. 11.12 15 speaking of the Jews concludes What shall their receiving be but life from the dead 3. The last signe is the visible effusion of the Spirit which being more properly a cause then a signe I shall refer the proof thereof to the Rule next ensuing The final subversion of-Antichrist the call of the Jews and the eastern parts and the open pouring of the Spirit are all as yet unaccomplished 2. The next rule of Trial is what gives life and present existence to a visible Gospel-constitution and the keys thereof Under this notion we examined the common received Maxime of all the lesser independent bodies which is this That in times of Apostacie as this of
sense give a solid interpretation of that Scripture There be some other places rightly pointed out which you pass over with utter silence though very material to this case namely those produced to prove a new pouring out of the Spirit when the marriage again comes as Isa 32.15 Ezek. 37.9 Mat. 24.27 28. Psal 97.4 answerable to that in the primitive Acts 2. Ezek. 1.4 1 Timoth. 4.14 We cannot omit another passage Your book is not dated in the beginning according to the usual manner but at the end of your Epistle and there bears date August 18. whereas it came not out till December neer four moneths after Whether this be double dealing to make the Reader believe that we are tardè in our reply is best known to your own conscience Thus far in answer to your Epistle A Glass of some new DISCOVERIES SIR THe discoveries and new breakings forth of light after great and epidemical Apostacies have always met with strong oppositions and sharp encounters and though Truth at first be still blamed with the names of Novelty Errour and what not yet as unashamed it hath been bold as a lion to face against all discouragements and at conclusion carried with it the triumphant palm of Victory This is that Jewel we are now contending for the original of which contest was a Letter sent me by you to request me to impart those points I had newly taken up and what my opinion was about your Presbyterian way To satisfie your desire I returned you a brief account of what you required in writing and to avoid the long tediousness of the Pen invited you to a more full and ample discourse on the subject now in debate by word of mouth Your Manuscript coming since declares that your leasure would not permit a Verbal dispute which I conceive had been far easier then to answer so largely in writing You tell me withal that you received my Letter as a testimony of my good opinion of and good will towards you but upon deliberate perusal profess that my Principles appear not so solid as you can close with them Had it not been for the cause above expressed I should have been more full methodical and clear in committing my Pen to Paper but what I sent I assure you came from the right hand of true affection and it may be that ancient and long fixed Principles may reject as unsound the Orthodoxal Truth of Jesus Christ He that hath drunk old wine doth not straightway desire new but thinks the old is better However the solidness of those tenents will appear when they come for trial to the Touch-stone of the Word of God I desire that in combating for the Truth we may keep the Royal law of love and shall endeavour as to be free from bitterness and passion so to avoid the other extreme of Partiality and soothing and in a medium betwixt these two Rocks faithfully dispense that talent the Master hath given me The main Queries controverted betwixt us are these two First 1 Querie Whether a true constituted Church with true Office and visible Membership together with the Ordinances proper to such a Gospel-stating as Confirmation or laying of hands on Members Ordination or laying hands on Officers Suspension Excommunication Admission Absolution retaining of sins c. continued true by a line of succession from the Primitive time downward to our times or whether it were not interrupted by the Romish Apostacie Secondly 2 Quaerie If they did there intermit when they return again to their first glory whether now or hereafter and what is the dispensation now approved by the Spirit It will be requisite to clear up these two together as a preparative and ground work to our ensuing Discourse We will begin with the First Cessation and evidence the Cessation of visible Church-constitution in mystical Babylon We shall lay down this for a sure Maxime That every thing hath its being and continuance from the Word of God Now whatever in Gospel-times if fore-declared and promised in the Scripture for abiding that did not fail but was upheld by the power of the Word through all the times of this Apostacie as the Ordinances of Ministery Prayer and Praises Baptism the Communion 1 Thess 5.16 17 18. Rev. 9.13 Chap. 11.1 Heb. 13.15 Isa 55.13 Chap. 56.5 Matth. 28.19 20. 1 Cor. 11.26 as also a sealed elect number with their spiritual union Rev. 7.4 5 6 7 8. Chap. 9.4 Chap 11.1 Chap. 14.1 likewise the being and profession of faith duties of charity with all moral precepts 1 Cor. 13.13 Matth. 16.18 Rev. 11.3 Matth. 5.17 18. Heb. 13.1 with whatever else is promised to continue But what is not so perpetuated in the Word as Confirmation Ordination Church-Censures with the primitive order or Church-stating was corrupted and turned into confusion by the great Antichrist it wanting the same Word and Promise to uphold its abiding For proof whereof we will begin with Isai 56.5 which was a prophecie beginning with the primitive Gospel-Church and the ingrafting of the Gentiles thereinto as appears vers 1. by the salvation coming and the righteousness the Gospel-Ministery then revealed also the stranger then joyning himself to God and the Eunuch the dry tree before then taking hold of the Covenant vers 3 4. must allude to the Gentiles who in times past were dead without Christ and hope aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel strangers from the Covenants of promise Eph. 2.1 12. and were then ingrafted into the true Olive-tree Rom. 11.17 19. the sons and daughters must be the jewish Church who before was a married wife and her members children Gal. 4.27 Isa 54.1 Matth. 15.22 24 26. again vers 8. the gathering of others besides those who were before gathered shews them to be the primitive Gentile-Christians compared with Joh. 10.16 To this Eunuch these Gentiles are fore-prophesied that they shall have a place and a name better then the sons and daughters the Jews the event declares that they had both in the primitive according to this prediction but afterwards when the Spirit annexeth a perpetual succession it singles out the name by it self leaving the place behinde I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off The word interpreted place is in the Hebrew sad which signifies a hand as alluding to Church-power Now why should not the place be said to be everlasting as well as the name especially being before both joyned together if the Spirit had not seen the fail and interruption of the chain thereof This also fell out answerably for the name Christian or Israel remained but the visible Church-order became Babylon both which shall be proved in their place From thence turn to Matth. 16.18 where you may observe that to the profession of Peter's saith and Christ the Rock believed is forespoken that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it but vers 19. the keys of binding and loosing opening and shutting are set after
deceits and thereby free his people from defilement and bondage That the tallest cedars for parts and piety have been much blinded by the mystery of iniquity the following of whom in a higher light hath procured the fall of many That Antichrist is not fully unmasked at once but gradually by a consumption and hence there must be new and further discoveries of him the first breaking forth whereof will be dissonant to the maximes of the age preceding Amidst these and such-like distracting and dissenting motions I was as a ship betwixt two seas sometimes tossed one way sometimes another my affections inclined more to the Independent Church-order the strength of argument seemed rather to prevail against it and could finde no way out of this Meander till entring into a nearer communion with my God I received answer by a light of Spirit beyond mine owne that the way to be resolved in the case I desired was to abstract my thoughts from all former conjectures of my self and others and look nakedly into the Prophecies speaking of the Antichristian times the age we live in and that to come compared with the primitive In the managing of which task the same Spirit who only knows the mind of God directed and seconded my labours with such success as made facile and easie what seemed before impossible and revealed the sense of those Scriptures which were till then sealed up from my apprehension If my opposers deride the Lord lay it not to their charge However to the ingenious pious and impartial reader I speak You may view the most and clearest of those Scriptures in the insuing manuscript I shall advise you to take the counsel given to me and you may perhaps reap the fruits of your indeavours I found upon diligent search that there was a sinke and dissolution of the primitive Order That Rome alone was not the whole woman Babylon as hath been commmonly conceived but that she contained besides the grand one many harlots distinct in their form as daughters from the mother and were after in time and so younger which must be new modelled Churches one differing from the other Rev. 17.5 that of all these were many defiled women chap. 14.4 that every one of these had for their foundation a false Christ or Antichrist and false Prophets and so the woman being many the false Christs and false Prophet are many accordingly Mat. 24.24 That this whole Babylon both mother and daughters boasting her self that she sits a Queen in a visible married constituted order is a plain property note and mark of a false Church from the end of the primitive day till the true marriage descends from God out of heaven Rev. 19.7 Againe I considered that the Scripture holds forth not a reformation of but a direct separation from those defiled women and false formed Churches and that the next path and way of Gods people after the 1260 yeers of tribulation specified in the following book is to reduce themselves in their walk to the imitation of these types and parables Rev. 7.9 chap. 14.2.3 4 5. c. chap. 15.2.3 4. Math. 25.1 7. Luk. 15.20 which we have endeavoured to the utmost of our power Moreover I observed in minding the Scriptures that there is in the entrance of the time of separation a new returning Ministery as a little book opened and a pure Gospel segregated from those Antichristian mixtures published in the foregoing times of the Apostacy proved besides many other place by these texts Rev. 10.4 Isa 29.9 10 11 12 18.19 Rev. 14.6 7 8 9 10. chap. 18.4 Math. 25.6 Isa 28.23 chap. 30.29 c. chap. 41.18 19 20. chap. 48. 20 21. chap. 45.19 20. Ier. 31.10 Hos 14 5 7 9. and 2 Es d 11. 38 39 c. chap. 12.32.33.34 This is called Zeph. 3.9 A returning to the people a pure language thereby implying an impure before and is stiled a judging work Psal 96.13 Rev. 15.4 Deut. 32.36 Isa 26.8 chap. 4.4 because of its discovery of righteousness and declaring the judging wrath of the vials it is also termed a new song Rev. 14.3 Psal 98.1 2. Isa 42.9 10 11.12.13.14 and a song chap. 24.14 16. chap. 30.29.30 31. new as it answers to the new work then arising Isa 43.19 and for that it is a pure Gospel-song which beats the glory of newness in respect of the old waning apostated ministery and a song because of its gladsome tidings and the melodious joy that it bringeth and worketh in the hearts of the hearers I gathered that the sum and substance of this Ministery was to reduce all to God and Christ onely both in Doctrine and Government to cry down Babylon in her utmost extent to denounce the judgement written against the Beast his Image and Mark in its whole latitude also to unmask the spiritual drunkenness fornication blindness slumbering and sleeping of the Babylonish Nations likewise to teach the coming and neer approach of the bridegroom and the going forth to meet him by separation And withall to teach up the finishing of the Mystery of God as is evangelized for so is the original by his servants the Prophets Rev. 10.7 that is to explicate the prophecies pertaining to our times and the fulness of the dispensation to come and to expound the old Testament by way of allegories and allusions bringing all the outward and historical narrations to a Gospel-unfolding as looking into the mystery contained within the veil of the letter and so to know the distinct times of the Prophets both those of their proper literal fulfilling and that of their allusive sense and accomplishment extracting the quintessence of all and applying it to our owne age and that succeeding For this Ministery in its upshot beholds the eyes of the old Scripture in its furthest extent as if the aspect of its Evangelizing did centre in this last age and therefore called the finishing of the Mystery That as the primitive Christians backed their Ministery by the Prophets and explained the old Testament by way of Allegories so these returners confirme their everlasting Gospel by the Prophecies and unfold the things of God in a figurative interpretation and as they then did thereby convince that of Judaisme so these discover more largely both it and that of Antichristianisme too wherein the deepest mystery of deceit resideth The dispensers of this last Ministery must have the testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of Prophecie Rev. 19.10 whereby to understand the minde of the Prophets both for matter and time being herein like to the men of Issachar who by a secret dictate were taught to be skilful in the â—imes to know what Israel ought to do which kind of people though now despised by the Formalists of our dayes will I believe in few yeers be counted very pretious and of high esteem This finishing of the mystery is now but in its entrance and will not have its compleature of dispensation till the marriage come Rev. 19. which was my next
as having no such promise annexed to them and why should this be but to shew that these keys in the Churches hand should receive a sink and loss of their efficacie for a time For certainly the Lord knowing the apostated times if they had continued through the Babylonish defection would have added some word of remaining to them as well as to the profession To these we shall annex that Zech. 4.2 12. in which we may behold that related as evidently as the face is seen in the glass The Angel vers 2. sets before the eyes of Zechariah the image of the primitive Apostolical Church the like was also seen of John Rev. 1.12 20. onely here was the difference the Prophet sees the type of one Candlestick as representing the Church in her unity John beholds seven he writing to the seven Churches and here in vers 12. is pictured out a platform of the dispensation of the sealed elect number during the times of Antichristianism That the Candlestick vers 2. did embleme the primitive Churches we render these reasons 1. From the Angels answer vers 6. that this was not built by might or by power as outward Zerubbabel's temple was but by the Spirit as without hands by Christ the true Zerubbabel 2. From the head-stone of this spiritual building vers 7. which was the Lord Jesus 1 Pet. 2.6 Psal 118.22 Isai 28.16 Matth. 2◠42 Act. 4.11 3. From the shout and cry which was not Works works but Grace grace the manifest difference betwixt the Law and the Gospel 4. From the despising of small things the Jewish Ceremonies and the sight of the Plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel Christ vers 10. which teacheth the coming off from Mosaical rudiments to that of Christianity 5. From the seven eyes opened to be the Lambs eyes and for time in the primitive Rev. 5.6 and the seven Lamps vers 2. agreeable to Rev. 4.5 That the two Olive-branches and the two golden pipes vers 12. pertain to the next following Antichristian times is apparent by the decrease of the former fulness and the answer of the Angel vers 14. which can aptly be applied to no other time then that of the elect in Babylon From hence we shall evince this argument That there was a fulness of Ordinances in the primitive Age there were seven pipes to the seven Lamps vers 2. the number seven notes out a perfection the Pipes signifie Ordinances Luke 7.32 these being the organ by which the light and oil of Ministery is displayed whereas in the Antichristian season there are seen but two pipes that had golden oil the least of numbers and yet sufficient to testifie the truth of inward grace Now why should there be seven at the first and but two at the last but to set forth the cessation of the former five in their efficacie and power as being dead empty and without golden oil viz. Ordination Confirmation with the other stative Ordinances and that Ministery Prayer c. being predicted of God for abiding must as the two golden pipes remain and the two anointed ones by these empty themselves as the two Olive-branches In Rev. 7.1 the four open windes which are causa procreans conservans the begetting and preserving cause of these visible keys Ezek. 1.4 5. Act. 2. were by reason of the falling away wholly with-held from their apparent blast and the cause failing the effect must also cease this Spirit of life being restrained they must needs be meerly formal That as in the Scriptures before cited they were not promised to abide so the Spirit doth here desert and leave them empty of its lively influences In Chap. 9.1 2 3. the Angel who had usurped all Church-power into his custody totally apostated from heaven to earth becomes a meer earthly Angel by which that Church-policie that before was a kingdom of heaven is become a bottomless pit or a false Church without any bottom of Truth in her order and in stead of the keys of the celestial kingdom was another contrary key of the same bottomless pit the key being the same with the Church in the room of that sweet recreating winde or lightsome smoak descending from Gods glory to beget the truth of Office was the dark and delusive smoke or dispensation ascending from this bottomless furnace which ingenders none but locusts a degenerate brood of false Officers Here we may take notice of the effects that ensue upon the former with-holding of the windes God having forsaken and left it void Satan hath full power gives another key with other smoke whereby of Christ all is become Antichrist and bottomless of Truth In Chap. 11.2 where though the Temple was measured of which we shall speak anon yet the onward court was excluded and forbidden to be measured for so saith the Spirit The court without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies cast out That this outward court must belong to the visibility of Church-government may be cleared by these Arguments 1. Because this as opposed to the Temple within must be the exteriour outward part and who knows not that the Order of Ecclesiastical Government is the outside or visibility of the Church 2. Because this here excluded was given to the Nations the inward rooms of true grace with Worship flowing from those internal springs was never in the power of man to intermeddle with but the outward court of Church-Regiment was in the hands of Nations for many generations and nowhere else 3. Because the Nations by enjoying this outward court did tread the holy City under foot Now woful experience hath taught the Saints that that by which Antichrist hath trampled upon the godly was by sitting in the externality of Ecclesiastical Discipline in Spiritual Courts and Classes The four windes above restrained must be from this rejected Court the bottomless key pit and smoke in this unmeasured to Truth In Chap. 12.6 14. the same externality given to the Nations and mixed with worldly things becomes a worldly wilderness into which the woman fled That this wilderness is the National Babylonish Church is proved at large by Scripture and the analogie in Sect. 5. of the first Paragraph In Chap. 13. the Principality or chief of the power ruling here is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wilderness-beast compared with Mark 1.13 answerable to those false christs and false prophets which our Saviour foretold should be in the wilderness Matth. 24.24 The second Beast is here called a false prophet inferring the first to be a false christ or Antichrist as is shewed in our answer to him on Matth. 24. In Chap. 17. the Church born up by this Beast is called Mystery Babylon as being another and distinct from Sion in her very foundation who also was seen of John in this wilderness To sum up all if we consider the Gospel-times aright as they are pourtrayed in the Prophecies we shall finde that in the primitive there was the smoke of Gods glory preceding Isai
for this later coming of the Bridegroom by the pouring glory of his Spirit shall go in with him to the Marriage and not all they but properly the wise virgins shall be thus immediately invested from heaven * See Parag 4. Matth. 25.10 what may be afterwards by the sons of the Church we leave to the times to manifest If you will bring all our new-stated Churches to this touch-stone you may finde them to be of a different metal from the true and however so neer the primitive they seem to be in the outward shell yet in reality to be grounded upon another foundation to wit upon believers not possessed with such a power visibly sent down from heaven Now that faith or the profession thereof without such a divine call and spiriting cannot be a ground-work for stating Churches I shall further prove by these following Arguments 1. Faith must foot on a call as done in obedience to the heavenly voice but now there is no call for visible Church-marriage as is declared in our first Rule and no call no faith nay it wanting that must bottom upon our own call name and time which is presumptuous disobedience 2. God having promised to spirit this again faith must rely upon the same promise till fulfilled and not upon its own power the hundred and twenty were believers and yet begun not any constitution by vertue of that but waited till the keys were given 3. Profession alone can no more give life unto Ordinances from which the glory of God is departed then it can infuse a living soul into a dead carcase It is God's sole prerogative to create their breath of life which he will do in his own season according to what he hath promised Faith and profession are but effects and to attribute such a causal vertue to them is to confound and turn the causes upside down and to set the creature in the place of his Creator 4. This pretended saith void of the call and promise of God and the vital influence of its prime original cause is but a meer work a bare creature-foundation by far too weak to lay a Gospel-fabrick upon and being but humane must in divine things be bottomless and whether the smoke or dispensation arising thence be not then that of the bottomless pit we leave it to wise men seriously to consider We are sure that this is the proper distinguishing character to difference the true from the false The true begins with the smoke or winde Gods glory inspiring the follow the keys opening and entering and by that it becomes a spiritual building the false begins with the key the smoke ensueth and thence is it a building made with hands grounded on tradition Rev. 9.1 2. The true is as smoak descending from heaven the false as smoke ascending from an humane bottom I shall now speak a little to you of the Separation who are modeled into the form of stated Churches I know there are many precious Saints amongst you in whom the character of Jesus Christ is printed and confess that some of you have been instruments to bring to light some solid Truths and prepared way for greater You hold a Separation from all National Hierarchies according to the Scriptures have in part cleared that the Beast reacheth further then the Papal Chair of Rome have renounced prelacies and precedencies have vindicated the consciences of the godly from the Laws and Canons of Courts and Classes maintain the Gospel to come in the liberty and power of the Spirit have rightly pleaded that members of true Gospel-Churches must at least have a visible Saintship have to this day been real and cordial in that noble Cause beginning in our ends of the earth For these good things found amongst you I protest in the presence of the great Tribunal I am obliged by the bond of entire affection and desire your spiritual welfare as my own salvation Yet I must not dare not flatter or dissemble in matters divine but because I love I am compelled to deal plainly and faithfully resting confident that those who are truely pious will desire to see their combustible works burn by the fiery trial of the Vials What I shall expostulate with you I have already convinced in my self Consider seriously whether consultations be not weak grounds to bottom Gospel-Churches or whether the primitive the patern you labour to model by was ever laid upon such sandy foundations or whether these your actings do not contradict many of your own tenents before named Did the Kingdom of God in that first day come by observations or by the descending majesty of the Spirit Or will Christ think you be less glorious in this later Reformation then in the former View I beseech you the Scriptures treating of the dignity of this later marriage Or if you cannot search primarily into the cause look into the effects that follow these your undertakings For knowledge in the ordinary way comes to us secundum posterius so that by those signes or symptomes which break out in manifestation we are directed to look into the fountains whence they issue forth Why was there so great efficacy in the outward order of the primitive Government but because it proceeded originally from the manifest blast of the Spirit Why is there so little in your externalities if not because arising from weak humane principles You that are most discerning do you not see too much of formality too little of power Nay why was that one and the same in every particular drawing the flock of Christ into a general unity unless because it footed in the Spirit which by its illuminating glory virtual operation and perswasive attraction congregated the whole body of Sions sons unto it Why are yours manifold disagreeing and occasions of dividing the Saints but because basing on obscure carnal apprehensions Experience informs us that your various constitutions have rent the Lords people in pieces and are as so many walls to keep them asunder and that which divides is carnal Tell us To which of you shall we joyn to come to the general Assembly Yea to what form shall we come and not in the very act of sitting down sequester our selves from the major part of the godly By a narrow search you may finde your union to ground in division your gathering in scattering View Ezek. 34.5 6 and compare them to your divisions Peter James and John chosen vessels were like in their minority to fall into the same relapse Matth. 17.4 Master if thou wilt let us build tabernacles but alas they knew not what they said understood not that Gospel-tabernacles were not to be made with hands but by the powerful dispensation of the Spirit Much like to this do you Let us build temples let us erect Gospel-Churches Well if you must needs be doing the proper work of your Master observe what censure he gives of such designes Matth. 24.23 24 26. Iuke 17.20 21 22 23. Mark rightly the secret chambers
symboles accompanying his Ministery and the peculiar effects thereof wrought in the manner of the Corinthians conversion sealed his Apostleship and not their bare conversion as is apparent by comparing this text with 2 Cor. 12.12 The signes of an Apostle were seen amongst you in all patience in signes and wonders and mighty deeds 2. Bare conversion without such singular gifts and fruits argues not any particular no nor any Office at all For men in every one of those five degrees nay such as had no Office were instruments in this honourable designe and a common effect proves not a particular cause Paul's argument had been weak and groundless to demonstrate himself to be an Apostle by such a signe as was common to all other Officers nay to private Christians 3. The Witnesses in mystical Babylon whether in Rome or elsewhere received a gift from Christ tending to convert and edifie Now the conversion wrought by those godly men did not confirm the warrantableness of membership and orders in the false Churches they lived in for their outward clothing was black deformed sackcloth it onely evidenced the truth of that inward grace and power given by Jesus Christ I hope you will not affirm that those good fruits issuing from the Ministery of Sylvester Savanarola Wickliff Huss Luther with others of the Romish Clergie as also Latimer Ridley Hooper with sundry other Bishops ratified the Office of Friers Monks Priests and Diocesan Bishops as that of Paul did his Apostleship we say It sealed onely their gifts We shall here sift another argument of yours against this gifted Ministery instanced in page 23 of your Book Object If such a gifted Ministery be currant and sufficiently authorized for administring Word and Sacraments then there was no need of an Official Ministery and Christ it seems ordained therein a superfluous Ordinance for Frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora It is a vain thing and not beseeming a wise man to use many ways to do that which may be done by sewer Answ This your Philosophical Maxime is not generally true in Divinity but must admit of many limitations For God is a free agent and may work by more or fewer nay without mediums and in some seasons administers a greater variety and fulness for satiety and delight Prov. 9 1 2 3. Cant. 5.1 Matth. 22. Revel 19.9 in other times he useth a more sparing dispensation onely to maintain some being and life of grace When the Temple was destroyed and the vessels thereof lay void and were of no use for Gods service in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar yet the Lord then was to them a little Sanctuary in the truth of Grace Ministery Prayer c. You cannot from hence conclude that the same Temple and vessels as were made consecrated and used in Jerusalem were superfluous Ordinances neither is it safe to charge Wisdom it self with vanity and indiscretion for effecting that by more which he might have and did accomplish by fewer means So when the outward court of Church-government was given to the Nations and in the possession of Antichrist Christ did and might in point of honour and justice leave it and distribute his grace by a more retired and inward way as is at large declared in the Cessation Therefore this your assertion is both untrue and dangerous it intrenching upon the absolute and unlimited Royalty of the great King Object Lastly if the holding of the four windes be understood of the holding of the Spirit from breathing in Ordinances for others carry it fairly in another sence then 1. there is nothing said how long the restraint should last much less that it lasteth during the apostacie Answ 1. That the winde metaphorically signifies the breathing of the Spirit is apparent by these Scriptures Joh. 3.8 Ezek. 1.4 Acts 2.2 Ezek. 37.9 14. and it cannot here be fairly applied to any other sence it belonging to Israelites and the restraint being hurtful to their earth sea and trees that winde must needs be favourable and reviving whose detaining is hurtful 2. The text implicitely concludes the restraint to last during the time of the hurt which is the whole Antichristian age and after that the four windes shall again be loosed to animate what lay before spiritless as is shewed on the second Querie in the Cessation Object 2. Then it must be meant of a more sparing breathing in comparison of the primitive times not of an utter restraint 3. If it be an utter restraint then take notice that the restraint is general and cannot by any circumstance of the text be confined onely to Official preachers and preaching but as fully reacheth to the gifted men as to them and so doth conclude an utter ceasing of the Spirit now or then from breathing in or by any Ordinances Answ To begin with the last of yours 1. This withholding and the hurt thereby may be gathered by a circumstance of the text not to be so general as utterly to debar the Elect from some more secret and inward inspirations for vers 2 3 the four Angels are forbidden to hurt by this restriction till the Angel of the East had sealed the servants of God in their foreheads which infers a care and some provision for the spiritual subsistence and breathings in upon and by the elect hereupon it reacheth not to the gifted men for they had a power given immediately from Christ which breathed forth in Ministery Rev. 11.3 and as there was an inward Temple and Altar so there was approved Worship therein flowing from the truth of grace vers 1. 2. The restraint was total in respect of outward Order and Church-constitution For first Therein succeeded another key also that was cast out and became Babylon as shall be shewed in the two next Sections and the Spirit cannot breathe in that which is wholly corrupted and becomes another especially in what it excommunicates Secondly The winde here expressed was utterly detained from blowing on the earth sea or any tree which must imply it to be in some sence general Thirdly All save the Elect were hurt thereby and subverted vers 2. which dis-interesses other common Israelites from those outward priviledges they enjoyed while the visibility was true From hence we gather that the open windes deciphered Acts 2.2 which gave being to the external keys of Church-government were altogether bound up from their manifest blast but yet a still and secret influence coming more immediately from Jesus Christ which never was wanting from Adam's time remained and this was more sparing and narrow in comparison of the primitive both in its measure and degree and the number of the Ordinances which it occupied The windes here kept back are said to be four in regard of the generality thereof reaching to the four quarters also the windes of the earth it being an administration more visible here on earth thus the power of binding and loosing by these more external keys is said to be on earth
tribulation out of which the godly at last do come nor doth the figure of the wilderness and secret Chambers fitly allude to those who took on them to be Christ in Person but all these properties with the rest above specified most exactly concur with the great Antichrist whether Romish Episcopal or elsewhere and none but in him As for Bencocab he was a Jew and seduced none but Mosaical Jews who soon found him as you confess to be an impostor and therefore called him Bencosban the son of a lye his deceit was to the Jews only of short continuance and did not at all indanger Christians much less the elect amongst them As for Hacket he was an obscure man and did not involve England much less the Christian world in his private error which was not known of most or if it had was too too gross to delude so universally The special warning of Christ to beware infers a greater and more mystical subtilty then were Bencocabs or Hackets Object But say you this false one in the wilderness cannot be applyed much less appropriated to the Roman Antichrist who hath not acted his part in a desart but hath set as God in the Temple of God 2 Thess 2.4 and ruled with pompe over nations Answ 1. We did not appropriate him to the Pope but granted the Bishops and national Presbyters also to have an interest in him who mingled all together compleat this false Christ in the wilderness 2. This wilderness is not a proper as you carnally apprehend but metaphorical speech and alludes to such a way as resembles a desart which is cleared above Now though such worldly pompe may appear very majestical to flesh and blood yet in the Spirits judgement and in a mystical sence it is a desolation being barren and voide of spiritual fruitfulness Thus outward Babylon was the glory of kingdoms the golden city anc very magnificent in the eyes of natural reason yet together with her nations is called a wilderness as before So Rome the head and mother of this mystical Babel is as you assert to a carnal judgement a great and stately City and ruled over multitudes of people yet together with her nations compared with the primitive heavenly glory of Christianity is a meer desart as saith the Prophet Isa 65.10 Sion is become a wilderness That Church which in the first Gospel-day was Sion in the beauty of apostolical order afterwards having such a desolation and confusion of her first Gospel-order so great a famine of the word of God so many thornes and briars in her and usurping a terrene national hierarchy with multitude of ravenous devouring beasts together with a pompous shew of humane Ceremonies Canons c. might most fitly be stiled an earthly wilderness she being worldly in her foundation and whole artifice The place in 2 Thes 2.4 in which Antichrist sits is called the temple by a Synecdoche the whole for the part to wit for the outward Court for no more was given to the Nations over whom he rules as God then the outward Court Rev. 11.2 but the temple vers 1. within to wit the inward roomes of the hidden man that beast never reigned over it being sustained by Christ and this you must assent to unless you make Rome to be a true Church and to have true measurement this text of the Apocalypse interprets that of Paul and the same outward Court was by the Antichristian impietie made a wilderness You grant That the Brownist Dippers c. invite into secret chambers Answ If so then surely it is very improbable that Christ should pass over in utter silence the great beast of Rome the head of all the rest which for many ages did so universally deceive the world and hint only upon the last and least It is not safe to tax Wisdome it self with such an oversight not to close up your eyes against the light of so clear a prophesie You further inquire Whether the calling of men into houses parlors and Chambers do not reflect c. Answ These Chambers are not proper but figurative Chambers as before is shewed and preaching and praying in houses are not as barely considered these false narrow roomes for the Apostles went about from house to house and Christ hath promised his Spirit to those who truly worship him in any place whatsoever You tell me That mutato nomine de me fabula narratur the fable may be told of me Answ If any can tax me with false doctrine or touch us in out call for or walke in separation let him come forth we do not bring Christ to any particular stating so to say Lo nor bottom our union on a narrow corporation but separating from all these restraints we bear up our spiritual relation with all the godly wherever scattered and indeavour to bring them off from these bestial formalities which bondage the Saints and divide Christ to Lo here Lo there that renouncing these they may joyn together with one consent in the way of separation wherein Christ is gone forth that so they may get full victory over the beast and this is not to bring into but pull men off from their inthralings either in the wilderness or secret Chambers I will not say Fabula de te narratur as making the oracle of Truth to be an old wives fable which your inversion against me is but whether for you to take up a new power to state Churches and to make members and officers upon your own call name time spiriting and to shew such signes and wonders in inspiring you stative Ordinances some whereof are meer inventions for you I say to begin such a narrow limited obscure and unwarrantable work upon your own observation as a false Christ and teach it up as a false prophet be not numbered amongst these secret Chambers we leave it for wise and impartial men to determine You indeed plead for national Churches and are officiated from their hierarchies being in your confession in the wilderness but in your walk as those in the narrow roomes Conclusion For conclusion and close of this subject we acquainted you that these latter Ordinances of Ordination Confirmation c. have a being in the Scriptures and the mind and desires of the faithful and that we carry them along with us in our journey of separation as the Israelites of old did the vessels of the temple out of outward Chaldea but dare not officiate in them within the territories of Babylon in which we are till we have passed by the sixth vail over the river Euphrates Object If they have a being in the Scriptures then are they the institution of Christ and ought alwayes to be taken up in practice proved from Mat. 28.20 Answ Those Ordinances which have their constant existence perpetuated in the word by institution and promise are ever accompanied by the same Word and the Spirit thereof for their continued use in all convenient times and places as you affirme
to follow the concurrences of the Prophets then to wander with others though never so learned Indeed Mr. Brightman with many that tread in his steps was necessitated to uphold Protestant Churches to tye up in a manner all this last noble work to the Jewish Nation and so to disinterest the Christian Gentiles from this glorious marriage and the City Jerusalem But how then can the stone fill the whole earth Dan. 2.35 or the kingdome under the whole heaven be given to the most high Saints chap. 7.27 or the kingdome of the world become the kingdomes of Christ Rev. 11.15 or the Lord onely reigne therein in all the earth Zech. 14.9 Surely this must be universall to all the Saints wherever inhabiting Object You in the close of this subject wish us to consider this saying of Iraeneus That Prophecies are dark and aenigmatical till fulfilled Answ We agree to the rule of Iraeneus considered with this limitation That prophecies cannot be compleatly known till cleared by the Event and the further off the same time is the greater veil lieth over them But withall we do maintaine that some degree of light may be gathered by viewing the prophecies with their times also by comparing Scripture with Scripture and by minding types and things that are past we may the better conclude what the like allegories represent in matters to come when the Spirit who searcheth all things even the deep things of God directs us in these mysteries Besides some events being gradual and coming one in the neck of another as these of the vials are hang together as it were in one chain in which the beginning presents some aspect of what will be in the end Hence Jeremiah fore-speaking of the day of vials saith chap. 30.23 24. chap. 23.19 20 When the fury of the Lord falls on the head of the wicked figured out by a whirlwind that in the latter daies ye shall consider it and at last perfectly to wit the thoughts and itents of his heart and his great works to come Consideration implyes a comprehension to the same time of that which could not by reason of the covering be considerably known before the Revelation likewise informs us chap. 15.4 That then his judgements are made manifest Moreover this last separation consisteth in the understanding of things past present and to come past as to number the beast from whom they distinguish in his rise foundation and whole latitude present whereby to know the way and walk now approved and to come so as to have an eye to the Saints and Sion and marriage which is terminus ad quem the end scope or resting place which this their passage aimes at A traveller hath some apprehension of the place he travels to Therefore have they their station on a glassie sea Rev. 15.2 and are promised to see eye to eye when the Lord returns again Sion Isa 52.8 This will be fully at the upshot and yet so far for the present as to guide them in their walk and almes Object You further charge against us that these prophecies are subject to various interpretations and that the mistakes and differences of other learned men may teach us not to build such lofty opinions upon c. Answ The plainest texts of Scripture are subject to various nay dissenting interpretations as well as these hence arise so many differences about Episcopacie Presbytery Independencie Poedo baptisme Predestination with innumerable others yet these divided principles ought not to weaken the force of any truths drawn from those texts The same Spirit that reveales the mind of other Scriptures may unclock the mystery of these 2. The cause of such variety and mistakes of the godly in former ages is the veile foretold to be cast over men during the time of tribulation But now the Lord hath promised to remove this covering from his returning people And this will have more force to highten us in searching into these profundities then all the discouragements of men to beat us back If it be true that nihil datur frustra nothing in the ordinary course of providence be vain is it then safe to imagine that the solemn Gospel-promise chap. 1.3 can be a meer empty sound and such as drives men to bare conjectures and trifling probabilities unmeet to lay the weight of any real determinations upon Or is the book opened chap. 10. without any certaine discovery of the mystery therein comprehended Or did the same Spirit which invites to count the beast chap. 13.18 lay insufficient grounds and rules to find out his number Or is that mighty voice and call from heaven chap. 18. Mat. 25.6 void of light and efficacy to dictate what they ought to separate from the way they should walk in and those nuptials they are preparing for We rather believe the sayings of this book to be the true sayings of God chap. 19.9 and to be true and faithfull chap. 22.6 and to contain matters of transcendent worth and solid foundations for knowledge practice and argumentation And though the spirituality thereof lie deep as things of rarest excellency usually do yet such of wisdomes children who are divinely inspired with an understanding Spirit will by vertue of that power assisting them thence draw out those precious truths which will confound and put to silence the wisdome of the world It is very remarkable that the testimony of Jesus in these latter ages is called the Spirit of prophecie chap. 19.10 The reason is because the prophecies hold forth that very dispensation and those Judgements of God proper to our owne generation which rightly teach us how to distinguish the times and to know the things that belong to our peace in this our day the ignorance whereof may occasion the misery of man to be great because he misseth his time This and all your other arguments of the same nature are no other for substance then what were formerly made use of by the Papists and Episcopalists against your selves which have not the least might to dishearten or strip us of our birth-right in this prophecie though coming from Mr. Elmestone I shall wish you for the future either to disprove our interpretation and give a better and clearer sense or forbear to speak evil of what you know not Now come we to your concluding argument specified in the 36 page of your book wherein you lay a high charge against our way and Tenents as if they were against the second and fourth Commandments the three first Petitions and a hinderance to mens salvation Answ We have already removed the violence of all this after-charge in severall passages of this treatise This general return will here suffice in which we utterly deny your accusation and affirme that to follow Christ in the path of separation to exercise in this our journey those ordinances now inspired by his Spirit both in private as also in our publique assemblies especially on the Lords day with a forbearance of the rest for the present
compel doth testifie still retaining their old mustie store and sowre wilde grapes of Antichrist your Ministery is foully corrupted with guile and false principles about discipline accompanied with bitter and odious invectives against these harpers Lastly let us examine your National Churches above-named by Chap. 15. They stand not simply upon a sea of glass the word only purely sensed but upon the more gross interpretations of the Fathers and other learned men in darker times from whom they esteem it presumption to differ though to the native Truth as your sharp and frequent reproofs of me for differing from them doth demonstrate they have not obtained a conquest over the Beast but have erected a Beast in Episcopacie Presbytery c. his Image in their Canons and other Ordinances changed into his likeness his Mark by a subjection thereto nor are their members in distinct congregatings as being off from the number of his name but are all numbered to him And those who now adhere to these National Hierarchies are so far from harping out this triumphant song of victory by separation and war and singing True and righteous are thy ways herein thou King of Saints as they are secret mourners having a wound in their spirits at these his just proceedings and his judgements now made manifest witness of late the dolour for the overthrow of the Scots who fought in the Presbyterian cause your publike reproaches against the Separation with inward torments for their freedom together with many other passages which shew how this great work of God now beginning is closed and fast locked up from your understandings We desire from our souls that the Lord Jesus who hath the key of David would open the door of your hearts whereby his admired designes changes and works to be done might enter In the mean time you may behold your folly in bringing those texts to convince us and prove your practice every circumstance whereof agrees with the way of separation and riseth up as so many witnesses against yours You ask us Whether the Ordination of Ministers in such National Churches be a mark of the Beast Answ Seeing the Churches themselves are not these harpers but such as stand under a bestial power the Ministers must be of the same nature with the Churches And your Ordination whether by Bishops or preaching Presbyters coming from the corrupt key of Rome though done by fasting and prayer must carry with it the mark or brand of the same Beast or if the man be truely pious his outward livery And thus to judge is neither ignorance nor malice as you charge it but the discovery of Christ in his Revelation who through our sides you are pleased to defame with black terms of obloquie To your next we say that you are not clothed with the white garments of the harpers but with the black habit of sack-cloth You tax us with omitting singing of Psalms Answ For mine own particular I question not the Ordinance of vocal singing of Psalms though some do scruple the manner thereof as conceiving it to be much abused Albeit this harmonizing here is not tyed to metre but is the inward joy wrought in the hearts of Gods separated Saints for their noble redemption from the Beast and the new mercies bestowed on them which breathes forth either in secret ejaculations or acts more openly in Ministery Prayer Thanksgiving c. Object You quaere How we can be in our return from Babylon and yet within Babylons territories Answ A man may be returning from London and yet within the line of Communication so in this gradual separation we cannot go clear off at once but by degrees See Parag. 4. Reas 7. Before we conclude give us leave to propound a few Quaeries very material to be considered of 1. In general for all 2. In particular to you The general shall be a brief contracting of the whole body of this Controversie and are as followeth 1. Whether the being of yours or any other Office with us passing by succession from the Primitive came by a Lineal descent from Rome or not If some say Not then whether any can prove their Genealogie distinct and apart from her If from Rome as you confess then whether the essence and foundation of Office be true there or not If true then whether she must not radically be a true Church and a Sion If she be in her constitution false bottomless and Babylon whether there were not a dissolution of your line and chain 2. Whether a true congregated Church set in a right and compleat order of discipline in our Western Horizon can be proved from the Apostolical times to be distinct from the Romish Synagogue If not as the Scripture and the event doth clearly manifest then must there be a cessation and departure of Gods glory from this visibility proved from these Scriptures Rev. 7.1 Chap. 9.1 2 3 c. Chap. 11.2 3. Whether the primitive order sinking there must not be a new call and spiriting from God for the first restoring and beginning of this work whereby his glory may return to make it a true spiritual and heavenly building 4. Whether such a visible administration that gives being to a true pure genuine and single Gospel-marriage be to be seen in the first initiation of any of our new-built Church-formes or can be evidenced by Scripture to be existing at this present or whether this same be not prophesied not to return till after the downfall of Babylon by these Scriptures Rev. 19.2 3 6 7 8 9. chap. 11. 19. Hos 2.19 20. Isa 62.4 5. chap. 14.15 Mic. 4.3 8. Mat. 25.10 5. Whether if so all our visible constitutions must not be man in their ground-work and so numbered to that beast Rev. 13.18 6. Whether then the way prepared cast up approved of and called unto for his Servants now to walk in be not a separation with distinct Congregations without sitting down as Queens in visible constitutions I shall desire the Godly seriously and impartially to examine these Quaeries by the word of God We were all in a spiritual sense asleep and it is no shame but a honour to yeild to the conquest of truth and suffer it freely to triumph over our former misleadings and wanderings The Quaeries in particular to you are these 1. Whether as above your Office of the Ministery the corner-stone of your outward building being derived from the national hierarchy which successively came from the Pope be not one of Babylons stones and whether it be not against this text Jer. 51.26 They shall not take of thee a stone for foundations but thou shalt be desolate for ever saith the Lord. 2. Whether your gathering of Gospel-Churches out of true Gospel-Churches which you acknowledge the national to be be warranted by the Scriptures if so we desire your proofs for it 3. Whether your making of Elders without laying on of hands be agreeable to the primitive practice 4. Whether the receiving in of members made by your selves be taken from the primitive pattern that is whether such a Covenant and subscription thereto was the Ordinance by which men entred into Church-fellowship in that Gospel-day or whether members were not then received in by laying on of hands if by such a Covenant we desire your Scriptures to warrant it 5. Whether all this be not to omit or transgress the lawes and change the ordinances Isa 24.6 Yet one thing more You have taken a great deal of pains through your whole Book to prove a true visible stated Gospel-Church thorowout the Gospel-times but all this while you have not shewed us which of all the several forms is that true stated Church Rome arrogates it the Lutherans usurp it the English Episcopacie plead it the Presbyters and you chalenge it the Dippers appropriate it those called Brownists claim it as their sole interest the Independents assume it And truely the wisest man in Europe taking a thorow view of every one of these Church-models will be at a stand certainly to determine which of them is the true and right and which had its lineal descent in the rectitude of Order from the Primitive The more accurately he examines the greater occasion he may finde to question all Sir I beseech you not to take in prejudice what I have here presented in benevolence For though many things may appear something strange at first yet I hope upon second thoughts you will finde them no other then the real truths of God delivered by the Prophets Apostles and the Lord himself I presume you will not adjudge him who hath been and is your cordial friend to become your enemy because he tells you the truth and that in the same language the Spirit in Scripture speaks Indeed I may seem to some to be over-sharp but the discoveries by the vials are so imparted by the Spirit as at the one side to increase the torments of the marked souldiers of Antichrist so on the other side thorowly to searse and eat out the mystery of that deceit too deeply riveted in the mindes of many vessels of honour For though the Spouse was not totally deceived so as to be struck at the heart or killed yet was she so much deluded as to receive a wound Cant. 5.7 which cannot recover a perfect cure but by a searching salve And for my self I dare not daub in the things of God nor call evil good nor darkness light nor soothe up with flattering titles left my Maker should destroy me When I see my brother straying I am commanded to rebuke with plainness and not in any wise to suffer sin to rest upon him to omit which duty were a symptome of hatred Lev. 19.17 And I will assure you they are no other then the faithful wounds of a friend which in receiving may carry the vertue of an excellent oil that will not break your head but onely remove such putrefaction as might otherwise procure your loss at the day of Jesus Christ FINIS
during the time of their administration and thus were the former fort of Ordinances as Ministery Prayer c. But for others that are so upheld though their being may remaine in the Scriptures yet their vital existence by some occasions and in some seasons may faile lie deserted and their dispensation resolve into its prime original cause from whence till it flow forth againe into these chanels they cannot be made use of without presumption as bottoming on the name and power of man Thus the vessels and ordinances proper to the legal temple even when that was destroyed and the vessels carried into Babylon had an institution and being in the Scriptures and minds of the godly yet lay void of their ministration and could not be officiated with either there or after in their journy of separation till they were come to Sion and there sanctified Thus also under the Gospel Ministry and Baptisme were foretold to be successive as we have shewed from this text of Matthew and from Isa 55.11 and Chap. 56.5 and in that last Scripture Chap. 56.5 which foretels the continual succession of Baptisme the place or hand is secluded from the same promise Nay when the externality of government was ruined by antichrist and made a desolation then the administration of Christ was withheld from it then did the key become another then was it cast out by God Rev. 7.1 Chap. 9.1 2. Chap. 11.2 and cannot be assumed but upon an humane bottomless key till the Lord return into them by the visible blast of the Spirit Isa 32.15 Hence the Lord Jesus himself Mat. 24.26 Mark 13. 23. warnes us to beware of these visible Lo's as delusive and shews that such as build them be antichrists during the antichristian time And this command of Christ is to be taught for as his dispensions are various so are his precepts and commands thereunto parallel when Christ and his Spirit were in them he chargeth his people to observe them when he had left and antichrist had surprised them he commands his servants to beware Object You tell us That herein the example of the Israelites will not help us because the use of those vessels was confined to a certaine place the Temple at Jerusalem but now God may be worshipped in any place Answ Many of those things which were literal and local to the Israelites under the Law are by way of an allegory and in a mystical sense fulfilled on the Israel of God under the Gospel For as then the temple vessels and the use of them were confined to a certaine place mount Sion so Gospel-constitutions with the ordinances proper thereto are limited to a more manifest dispensation which makes them a stated visible Sion and this is confined to the two daies of Christ the primitive and his last coming like lightning it cannot but upon an antichristian root be taken up when the kingdome is more retired and neither of these two dayes are to be seen Luk. 17.22 As Babylon then was an outward place without the precincts of the land of promise so is it now a confused Church-state without the limits of a Gospel-order then the king of Babel ruinated Jerusalem and the outward temple carried the vessels thereof into the house of his idol-gods where they were abused as quaffing bouls to the praise of graven and molten images now antichrist the destroying king hath made desolate the outward couâ—t troden the holy city under foot introduced a false and bottomless key into Church-government whereby the ordinances of Ordination Confirmation c. are changed into the image of the beast then the Jewish Church was carried from their native country Canaan into the wilderness of Babylon where she was a captive in a foraign Country in which she was to abide for the space of seventy yeers now the woman declined from her own heavenly order into the wilderness of Babylonish constitutions where she was an exile in a strange land and there trampled upon by other lords in which condition she was to remaine for 1260 yeers then the Lord provided a little sanctuary for them in the place of their captivity Ezek. 11.16 now he had a spiritual place or mystical abode for his scattered sealed ones then the date of those seventy yeers being expired they were called to come out from Chalaea now the 1260 yeers of the Saints thraldome being finished Christ calls Come out of her my people then they had a long and local journey to return to their own resting place in the way to which they passed over proper Euphrates and so at last to Sion now the Saints have a spiritual journey of separation by the vials or a way cast up for them in the which they shall go over the figurative Euphrates and thence forward till they come to the visible Sion of their own native order Revel 16.12 and that this passage answers to theirs towards outward Sion is further evidenced Isa 48.20 21. Chap. 43.14 19. Chap. 35.8 10 where the Saints go out of captivity to a Sion they were absent from before then they in their voyage did bear the Lords vessels up to Sion which were of no use in their travel till that was accomplished and they sanctified in their peculiar place now we carry the Ordinances of external Church-government as the Lords vessels in our minds but dare not officiate in them till God smoke them from his glory and power according to that precept given to the separation of our time Isa 52. 11 12. Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord by way of allusion to that of old Thus we may take notice how the wise distributer of the times doth so order his dispensations in suting season to season that what was more outward of old doth under shadows and vailes figure out what is now under the Gospel he so declares the end from the beginning that there is nothing altogether new under the Sun Isa 46.10 Eccles 1.9 Chap. 3.15 though there be something peculiar to this latter as every thing hath its appropriated difference and I do foresee wherein Master Elmestone doth think to evade but when he publisheth his oppositions I shall be willing if the Lord please to meet him and declare from Scripture the grounds of some dissimiltudes I shall now proceed to resolve some doubts made by you in the 9 and 10 Pages of your book about my study of the Revelations which I will here divide into a distinct Paragraph Paragraph II. I Acquainted you that the reason of my diligent search in the Revelation was because it being a prophecie of all Gospel-times contains the full testimony of Jesus wherein as in a cabinet Gods several dispensations proper to every period with Satans opposite works are included c. You wish me in searching the visions of the Apocalypse together with the prophets to do it with humility and self-denyal as not having any conceit that I have a more excellent spirit of revelation then