Watch For ye know not the Time Yet I shall shew you That hath quite another sense And that it speaks that every one should look that they have the Truth of Grace and Oyl in the Vessel and the Wedding Garment This is the Watchfulness that the Spirit of God confines us to But in the mean time we ought to be upon our Watch-Tower and to know the Times appointed by God For it is great Hypocrisie However we may think it Great Modesty that we do not Discern the Signs of the Times To be Instructed in the Times from the Signs the Scripture hath given us from Time to Time That we may come to know when this Great Coming of the Kingdom of Christ shall be And that our Hearts may be greatly preparing and in a Readiness for that Great Day c. is one Branch of the great Duty of Waiting for his Appearance SERMON V. Near the Time of the Shaking in London c. On Matth. XXV Ver. 1. and so on to Ver. 13. Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto Ten Virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom THE Words that I shall place the present Discourse upon are those Viz. While the Bridegroom Tarried while the Bridegroom delayed While the Bridegroom Delayed his coming While He whiled out the Time As we in our English Language speak and as the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifys While the Bridegroom Delay'd or Tarried or spent Time They all Slumbred and Slept I have you know in this Parable shewn you the Great Intention of it That it Represents the Glory of that Nuptial Feast That Wedding That Marriage of the Lamb. And I have already opened the several Preparatory Particulars in it I shall now at this Time Discourse upon what I have proposed The Bridegroom Tarried And so I shall endeavour to lay this Foundation That the coming of Jesus Christ hath not been since He spoke this Parable Neither is it yet immediately to be The Bridegroom Tarried And therefore herein I shall endeavour to open to you First How strange it is according to Scripture-Discourse that the coming of Christ has been so long delay'd And I shall Answer to you the Objections that arise from it against the Truth of Scripture concerning the Bridegroom's coming And so how this delay and many Scriptures can be reconciled In the Second Place I shall give you the two Great Reasons especially why the Bridegroom 's coming is Delay'd And then In the Third Place I shall enquire the Signs when this Tarrying of the Bridegroom is like to be at an End And I shall endeavour so to Discourse this as to resolve you concerning the Present Face of the World That we are in a Time you know all very well of very great Commotions of the Nations and as the Scripture Expression is We hear of Wars and Rumours of Wars continually And you know God hath both in other Nations and in a part of this Nation the beyond the Sea given us Great Reason to consider that shaking of the Earth that was so dreadful in a part of our Nation tho beyond the Sea And that gentle Admonition that he hath given us of it so lately in this very place In this very City I would therefore Discourse that point to you how far we may look upon these as Signs of the near Coming of the Bridegroom And then I shall close up the whole in the Application of it I begin with the First And that is to Discourse to you how strange it may seem and disagreeable to Scripture that the Bridegroom hath so long Delayed his Coming And I shall remove the Objectons against the Truth and Verity of Scripture Notwithstanding the Delay of the coming First therefore it seems very strange that such an Evil State of the World should continue beyond the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ Seeing there is such an Infinite Grace of God in a Mediator and that he pleased to give his own Son to Lost Man That whoever believes in him should not perish bat have Eternal Life It is no wonder we may be ready truly to say That the World continued till Christ came till He Dyed and Rose again and till there was an Universal Preaching of the Gospel in His Name But why should it last any longer So Great a Thing was done Then in the World that there can be no Expectation of such another And therefore sure there was nothing now to do but for Christ to have a Kingdom as Great and as Large and as Glorious as the Scripture assures he shall have For as I have noted to you and I desire that you would bear as I have said before That Scripture in your Mind Gal. 4. 4. When the Fullness of Time was come God sent forth his Son It is no wonder that Time should last till The Fullness of Time came But that it should last beyond is very strange God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Children And God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son to all those that are his Children to cry Abba Father These were so Great Things that till this Fullness indeed it is no Wonder at all that God bore up the World because he had such a Great Discovery of his Love and of his Grace to make and by which Men had been Saved all along before even the Fathers in the Old Testament And by which Salvation is to be alone expected and received 'T was no Wonder therefore I say that God bore up the World to that Fullness of Time But now it is strange that it should last any longer than that It is Wonder there has not been a Kingdom of Redemption and of Glory ever since But now to Answer you in that Particular and by a Place of Scripture as Notable as this Fullness of Time is There is another far Greater Appearance of the Glory of the Redemption of Christ For you know All That was in Humiliation It was in an Incognito-State in a Disguise of the Son of God Humbling Himself into the Form of a Servant and to Death the Death of the Cross But All This is to Appear in Glory And as there was a Fullness of Time for that First Manifestation of Christ So there is Ephes 1. 10. a Dispensation of the Fullness of Times not only of Time but of Times or of All Time That he might gather together in One all things in Christ both which are in Heaven and which are in Earth even in Him Till that Date be come the Kingdom of Christ cannot be Let me therefore desire of you That you would keep these Two Places of Scripture always in your Thoughts with Relation to the First Coming of Christ and with Relation to his Second Glorious Coming and Appearance There is the Fullness of Time and
the sure Place nothing of Good can be expected But if you would hang even the least Vessel the Vessel of least Quantity any where hang it upon Christ Hang it upon the Nail in the sure Place And if any of you have any Troubled Thoughts or Contest of Mind about these Things I beseech you That you would go up to this Nail that is fastned in a sure Place For that Vessel that we hang any where else it shall certainly be cut down and the Nail we hang it upon will certainly be cut down or removed for the Lord hath spoken it All our Lamps that shine in their own Light they will go out in that Day at the Appearance of Christ like Sparks that we compass our selves with of our own kindling All that do so shall lie down in Sorrow The Last Objection is But how shall we know that we are in Christ Can we discern it any otherwise than by the Marks and Signs of Grace that we find in our Selves If therefore we find not Faith if we find not Repentance and all the Fruits of Holiness How can we think or dare we think that we are in Christ Now therefore To this I would give you this Twofold Answer First It is certain That the Supream Witness to any of our Souls it must be from the Spirit of Christ it must be from the Spirit of Adoption crying Abba Father He is called the Spirit of the Son I beseech you seriously consider it Gal. 4. 6. Because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father Why does he call it the Spirit of the Son But to shew that it is the Witness coming from Christ If therefore it comes from him The Great Witness of the Spirit is That we are in Christ It doth not come to us in our own Righteousness For then Why should it be called The Spirit of the Son No not in our own Sanctification does it come to us But it is The Spirit of the Son And It 's a sure Testimony of its Glorifying Christ in taking the Things that are Christ's and Giving to us even in its Testimony You may say This may Deceive us And we don't know Whether it is the Spirit or not Observe what the Apostle saith in 1 John 5. speaking of the Witness of the Spirit latter part of the 6th Verse And the Witness of the Spirit is Truth Why does he say The Witness of the Spirit is Truth but to meet with the Things that are in our Hearts that we are ready to say There are other Good Witnesses we dare not Believe the Spirit alone But we have other Good Witnesses and we must bring them in And if they say so too then we may Believe the Spirit or else not Now the Apostle saith The Witness of the Spirit is Truth To let us know there is a separate single Witness of the Spirit of God that is true I know no Reason at all That we should be afraid to Affirm this For If the Spirit of God dwells as Generally the Best and most Judicious Discoursers of these Things allow if the Spirit of God dwell in us Why should it be strange that the Spirit of God should whisper its Witness in this way And the Apostle speaks of this very Witness when he saith The Witness of the Spirit is True But then In the Second Place I do acknowledge this freely and abundantly That the Spirit of God doth make use of this or that particular Grace or Holiness in general in a Saint of Christ As he pleases sometimes he Witnesseth only by himself sometimes by such and such Graces And why Not because the Graces themselves are alone able to bear up the Witness That I plainly deny But then The Spirit Witnesseth not only of Grace of Faith of Repenâ—ance and Holiness c. but as they are in Christ Faith and Love in Christ Jesus And as they are made up of his Righteousness and flow from his Death Resurrection and Intercession And here is that that I said to you Christ takes any Grace of his Servants and shews it at the Day of Judgment Not as it is out of himself but as it is in himself and in his own Righteousness and by his Spirit He now shews to any of his Servants any of their Graces but not as out of Christ but as in Christ surrounded made up fill'd up with his Righteousness As I remember the Expression in the Book of Exodus where the Jewels that were in the Vrim and Thummim in the Breast-plate of the High-Priest Their setting is called Filling up They were filled up in the Gold the Receptacles and Lodgings of them were filled up Exod. 28. So I say In every Grace there 's the filling up of the Righteousness of Christ Take all the Graces of Paul and of Peter or any of the Servants of Christ And if they had not been Set in the Righteousness of Christ if there were not a Filling up by the Righteousness of Christ they would all come to nought And therefore they are filled up with his Righteousness And so I do acknowledge That it may be That the Spirit of God may give his Servants a Witness and a Testimony from their own Graces And so in 1 John 4. 17. Herein saith he is our Love made perfect That we may have Boldness in the Day of Judgment Because as he is so are we in this World There is no Fear in Love but perfect Love casteth out Fear He that feareth is not made perfect in Love Here the Apostle speaks of a Tormenting a Disturbing and Perplexing Fear The Power of Love to Christ drives it out Because as he was so are we in this World That is The more Christ is pleased to Sanctifie his People taking it still for a Sanctification in himself as he is made to us Wisdom in our Calling Righteousness in our Justification Holiness in our Sanctification and Eternal Glory stiled Redemption all in him and from him I shall therefore wind up This in these two Brief Applications The First is You see here as Solomon speaks in another Case When all is spoken that can be spoken We know saith he it is but Man It is nothing but Man That is speaking of the Weakness of Man All that can be said saith he you have nothing but Weak Frail Man And on the other side speaking of Christ There 's nothing to be said but this He is All All in All we are nothing Here 's the Sum of the Matter We are Nothing all that is in us is Nothing All that God or his Spirit hath wrought in us it is nothing if you could take it out of Christ it will be a Lamp put out in obscure Darkness Carry this constantly upon your Thoughts He that hath the Son hath Life And he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life We rest upon nothing when we rest upon our selves Let us
her father and her mother a full month c. From which it may appear as I told you before That God did ordain and appoint under the Law That there should be Thirty Days between the Contract of Espousals and the Marriage Such Time there was at least to be and especially in the case of a Captive But here is the Thing that I intend We are all Captives in a lost and in an undone condition in a ruined state And therefore if Christ hath a desire to any of our Souls in Grace and Mercy and Pity and Compassion there passes such a kind of Preparation such a kind of fitting of us for such an Union to Jesus Christ There is a Shaving of the Head and a Paring of the Nails That is the taking away of the Innate Superfluity of Lust by Regeneration the changing of the unholy and unspiritual and unheavenly Temper of Heart and Mind by Regeneration flowing from the Blood of Christ That it may be brought into a nearness and suitableness to Enjoy Christ And there is the appointment of a Month there is an appointment of Time of Preparation wherein the Souls of his Servants are daily wash'd in his Blood and in the Chrystal Sea before the Throne They generally walk with him and find a Suitableness and an Agreeableness between Christ and them till they come to say they would never be separated any more from him They desire to be joyned to him in an Everlasting Covenant as it is said in the Prophet Jeremy that should never be forgotten They desire to forget all that that they were used to and united to before and to be given up wholly and entirely to Jesus Christ Now as it was under the Law If any Woman being Espoused to a Husband did violate the Covenant of the Espousals and the Contract of the Espousals They were to dye for it The Woman and the Man that did so violate the Covenant of the Espousals Both the Man and the VVoman were to dye according to the Law of God by Moses even as if the Espousals had been fully and compleatly consummated by Marriage There was no Difference in that Case between the one and the other So I say if now in the Time of our Espousals when we are under a Profession of Christ under a Profession of his Name his Gospel and Salvation by him if our Hearts be not true and entire to him and given up wholly to him Our Condemnation will be as Great nay it will be greater than of the Heathen than those of the unbelieving VVorld of those that deny Christ of those that we call Anti-Christians or Professors at large It will be greater Condemnation because we violate the Love of our Espousals Here 's the great VVisdom of God in Representing this thing to us that we may know how to behave our selves and give up our selves to Christ and to devote our selves to him in this State of our Espousals In Psal 45. You have an admirable Representation of this under Pharaoh's Daughter that was an Egyptian Married to that great Prince of the God of Israel of the God that made Heaven and Earth VVhere it 's said ver 10. Hearken O Daughter and consider and encline thine Ears forget also thine own People and thy Fathers House So shall the King greatly desire thy Beauty for he is thy Lord and Worship thou him The Kings Daughter is all Glorious within her Cloathing is of wrought Gold she shall be brought unto the King in Rayment of Needle-Work The Virgins the Companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee With gladness and rejoycing shall they be brought They shall enter into the Kings Palace Instead of thy Fathers shall be thy children whom thou mayest make Princes in all the Earth And so the Psalm goes on in that same kind of Representation which is chiefly intended of Christ and his Church of Christ and the Soul Therefore I say to you I say to every one Hearken O Soul Hearken O Soul and consider Forget thine own People and thy Fathers House That is Forget that State of Sin and Vanity and of the VVorld All that thou derivest from the First Adam thy Father forget it all So shall the King greatly desire thy Beauty for he is thy Lord and Worship thou him And if any thing seem valuable to us in this VVorld Let us forget it all that we may give up our selves to our Espoused King Ay but how shall I leave my pleasures How shall I leave this and that Enjoyment this and that Relation that are so dear to me VVhy saith the Spirit of God ver 16. Instead of thy Fathers shall be thy children whom thou mayest make Princes in all the Earth I will make thy Name to be Remembred in all Generations therefore shall the People praise thee for ever and ever That is there shall be a great Recompence to every one that leaves this VVorld and the things of it in their Affections to devote and give up themselves to Christ Instead of thy Fathers shall be thy children whom thou mayest make Princes in all the Earth Thou shalt have Recompences enough And thou shalt be Praised for ever and ever The Graces the Priviledges the Enjoyments shall be great and thou shalt be Glorious for ever If therefore we could hearken and encline to the Terms of Jesus Christ if we could be willing to shave our Heads and to Pare our Nails and to put off the Garments of our Captivity The King would desire our Beauty Nay indeed He Loves and Does all this for us and makes us willing to have it all done For a Spiritual Captivity is loved while a Bodily Captivity is hated We love the Garments of a Spiritual Captivity even our Lusts and Pleasures and Worldly Enjoyments which are the Garments of our Captivity and They are so precious to us we cannot Naturally endure to part with them to be cloathed with change of Rayment when Jesus Christ the Great Husband and Spouse of our Souls is offered to us And This Perpetuates our Captivity And thus I have made use of the Similitude because the Scripture is so very admirable and abundant in it I 'll offer you One Scripture more and so pass on to the Second Particular Hosea 2. God there compares his Church and so every Soul to an Impure and Adulterous Woman that follows after her Lovers But saith God in the 6th Ver. Therefore behold I will hedge up thy way with Thorns and make a Wall that she shall not find her paths And she shall follow after ber Lovers but she shall not overtake them And she shall seek them but she shall not find them Then shall she say I 'll go and return to my first Husband for then was it better with me than now Therefore saith God in the 4th Verse I 'll allure her That is I 'll speak to her very heart And I 'll bring her into the Wilderness and I 'll draw
with relation to God and Religion a Virgin And yet notwithstanding this because he is a foolish Virgin all the Misery here exprest comes upon him Let us therefore consider our selves I would hope That we might have a very good Title and Pretension to this Stile of a Virgin and that we hold the Truth of the Gospel and the Purity of Worship and the Holiness of Conversation in regard of all outward Appearance and yet let us look well to this That we are not Fools therein And therefore I 'll set out to you in several particulars according to the Wisdom of our Lord Jesus in this Parable I 'll shew you the danger of being a foolish Virgin and in what kind of Circumstances they shall rise and how it shall be with them as it were from first to last as our Lord hath here given to us and yet I 'll do it with brevity for the things will be very plain And if we would be but faithful to our selves in taking notice of them and laying them up in our hearts and examining our hearts according to them There needs not much to be said but thought and considered and meditated upon much by every one of us in relation to each particular The First thing which expresses the circumstances in which foolish Virgins shall arise is this They will presently begin to make the best of that Name of Profession and that Name Virginity that hath been upon them They 'll be ready to say I have had a Lamp I carry that to be sure with me I have had a Name of Profession and Christianity upon me I have Endeavoured to Hear and to Pray and to Receive the Lords Supper and to keep the Lord's Day I 'll be certain to take that along with me for all the Virgins arose and Trimmed their Lamps The wise indeed had Right to do it and they did it upon good grounds and the foolish did the very same thing and therefore it is significantly exprest in the Text All those Virgins not only wise but foolish They arose and Trimmed their Lamps That is they set out their Profession as large and as favourable and with as much advantage as they could Now therefore Here is our great Point to look to this That we have not only the Lamp of Profession but that we have the Truth and Sincerity of Faith and Repentance of Holiness of an Interest in Christ and in his Bloud I 'll give you two Scriptures to this case one on the side of the wise Virgins and one on the side of the foolish Virgins and so pass on And I would desire you would take notice of these Scriptures that may be helpful to bring these things to your Minds That all of us may enter into deep Reflection and serious Examination upon it In the 1 Pet. 1. 22. saith the Apostle speaking of these things seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the Brethren c. Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God and now observe how he had Discoursed of this Point before ver 17. And if ye call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every mans work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear In what fear does he mean not in a slavish fear as I shall shew you presently but in a holy care in a holy awe in a wise and judicious search into things and so he speaks ver 7. That the Tryal of your Faith being much more precious than of Gold that perisheth though it be tried with Fire might be found unto Praise and Honour and Glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ O let every one take this Scripture into Mind into serious consideration and pass the time of our sojourning here in a holy and wise and judicious Awe and Fear That the Tryal of our Faith though it be tryed with Fire c. Observe how notably the Apostle speaks as if he should say Your Faith will be tryed with Fire with the Fire of that Day whether it be true and right Faith or not And it will be tryed in a moment and instantly because a short work will the Lord make upon the Earth For as I told you it will appear presently by the Thoughts we have about us by the Company we come with by the Bodies we have on And this will be in the Face of the Fire you must come and if it be only a drossy-Faith it won't stand the Fire it won't be able to endure If it be only a painted Faith it will presently come to nothing And therefore saith the Apostle look that your Faith be found to Honour and Glory and Praise at the appearing of Jesus Christ And then on the Side of the Foolish Virgins Consider That in the 13th Chapter of Luke 26. Then shall ye begin to say We have eaten and drunk in thy Presence and thou hast taught in our streets They shall begin to say when they find the Door shut upon them They shall begin to say Lord We have Eat and Drunk in thy Presence and thou hast taught in our streets But he shall say I tell you I know you not whence you are depart from me all ye workers of iniquity ver 24. Strive to enter in at the strait Gate for many I say unto you shall seek to enter in and shall not be able I expound it Especially though I don't deny that at this time there are some Half-seekers that cannot enter But it is especially at that time of the coming of the Bridegroom They shall seek to enter and they shall not be able When once the Master of the House is risen up and hath shut the Door c. Then shall ye begin to say We have eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets So here 's the First thing they endeavour to make the best of their profession that they have had here in the World So will all foolish Virgins do in all their Duties of all that they have said for God or any good works but If the power of these things have not been it will not be able to carry any out though we shall endeavour to make the best of our Profession that 's the first Description of the State of the foolish Virgins when they arose 2. I come to the Second thing that our Lord here mentions And that is They shall presently be sensible pray observe that that their Grace doth not hold out that they were but counterfeit that they were but dross that they were but Tinsel For presently they say they want supply Give us of your Oil for our Lamps are gone out It is a sad and woful thing That a Man should lose all the Prayers and all the Profession that he made here in the World And yet when he comes into his Body again though he was sent out of the
Universal Laughter and Rejoycing The Desire of all Nations will Appear at a Set Time this Next Year the very Last of those Three Set Seasons Time Times Half Time Eleven Times expresly or Vertually Recorded in Scripture Prophecy and therefore I can have no Doubt But in the observing These so often Repetitions Remarking close upon Them and on what Accounts They are Recalled and to what Applied and Ballancing These One with Another I have Arriv'd to Full Assurance They are Assign'd to the Papal Last State of the Roman Monarchy the Last of the Four Kingdoms or Monarchies and the Four now Expiring in the Expiration of These Times and Half Indeed I look upon no Truth of Scripture to be more Plain and Certain except the Articles of Faith and Rules of Holy Practice necessary to Salvation Then that Those Four Monarchies are given as a Calendar of Time for the Embarrassment of the Kingdom of Christ or that Glorious State of Christianity which even the Prayers styl'd Establish'd by Law oblige the Belief Desire and Expectation of Scripture takes therefore so particular Notice of the Four viz. the Babylonian and Perfian as is well known and Takes Account of Their Time of the Grecian more obscurely Yet the very New Testament in that Language and the so often Division of the People of that Time into Jews and Greeks is a very undoubted Owning Them as one of the Monarchies Out of which through a Great Part of the 70 Weeks the State of the World had been sliding into the Fourth the Roman Monarchy which Surrounds the whole New Testament History and Prophecy as is undeniable But assoon as ever the Time allowed to the last of these is at an End The Kingdom of Christ will immediately succeed and there can be no Inter-Reign Nor can any other Kingdom Interpose The Vision is so sure and its Interpretation so certain And such a kind of Kingdom it must be as was Congenially to have its succession so Connexed to those before it that tho it is a Holy a Heavenly a Spiritual yet it must be also a Visible Sensible Kingdom as to the Dominion and Glory of it and no Metaphor or Allegorical sense can satisfy without it And we know the Nations to which we belong are a part of the Ancient Roman Empire and Remaine still of the Ten into which it was canton'd Which Division hath been to me an Infallible Reason of Confidence France should no more prevail to an Vniversal Monarchy then the House of Austria hath done And herein for the keeping it within the Figure allowed its King by Prophecy I know God hath made our K. an Instrument All the Iron of it could never break the Northern Iron and Steel of the sure Word of Prophecy But seeing we I say are such a part of the Ancient Roman Empire we are the more concern'd and ought to be the more Awake on the Fullfilling of Prophecy as of the first of the Kingdoms of the World which is to become the Kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ. I have the same assurance that this Time Times and Half Time must be just on the Expiration By Prophecy we might rather have expected their End sooner The Wisdom of the Divine Spirit draws them so very near to the Time of the Roman Empire Becoming Christian in all its Portraitures of the Anti-christian State As I know my self able by Divine Assistance to make out to the satisfaction of Any that will allow themselves the thought they know and yield necessary in any more retired Parts of Science That had I not the Faithful Evidence of the Scripture Line of Time I have already mention'd together with uncontestable Events I should Fourteen Years ago have pitch'd upon some nearer Time For to mention one of the most obvious the very Casting the 1260 and Additional 75 so manifestly into Indictions or Fifteens of Years a Character of Time not Regulated and known till soon after Constantine would have Enclin'd to have commenced them sooner I know the Hope for which I Apologize cannot but Encounter Great Objections but I am assured God hath set it and myself as a Minister of it as a Brazen Wall that tho it be Fought against It shall not be prevail'd over The Objections and Solutions I shall very much in short thus Account for First It will be pretended against it It is a Presumptuous Curiosity to undertake to Pry into Prophetick Times and that it ought to be immediately check'd with that of our Lord It is not for you to know the Times and Seasons which the Father hath Set in his own Power But as to that Particular Scripture it is evident it was an Importune Enquiry of the Apostles not in the order of Scripture Researches nor in the due waiting for of the promise of the Spirit which was the Duty of that very Juncture And therefore tho our Lord is quick upon their disorderly question yet he implies there would be a Gracious method for their Resolution in it and commands them to Jerusalem to wait for The promise of the Spirit from the Father which saith He you have heard of me One Branch of which was The shewing them things to come Joh. 16. 14. And in general we find the search of Prophetick Times is much more under the Favour then the Displeasure of Scripture It is recorded with Honour to the Children of Issachar that they had understanding of Times and knew what Israel was to do Particularly 1 Chron. 2. 32. concerning Davids Kingdom which was the concernment of that Time And in which I doubt not they laid together the Prediction of Jacob and other Revelations of God peculiar to that People and those Times by which they were able to give a Judgment And it is observed Their Brethren were at their Command This sway'd no doubt in the Union of Israel in David The Prophet Daniel was not satisfied with what he found by Immediate C. 9. 1. Revelation but understood by Books of Scripture and civil Records It is a Recommendation of that method the Number of Years God had Determin'd for the Desolations of the Sanctuary The Prophets in the same manner search'd What and what manner of Time the Spirit which was in them did signify The Apostle by 1 Pet. 1. 11. the Spirit Praises the Giving heed to the sure Word of Prophecy as doing well Seeing then the Account of Time is one eminent Branch of that sure Word It is Praise-worthy to give heed to that and no Presumption to do so Our Lord charges it as Hypocrisy not to discern the Signs of the Times those Characters and Notes of Impression God hath set upon them by Prophecy How often is there Encouragement given in that Great Prophecy of the New Testament Blessed is he that Readeth and they that hear the Words of the Prophecy of this Book Let Him that hath Wisdom Count. Here Rev. c. 1. 3 is the Mind that hath Wisdom