to lightning now what form hath lightning but only glory now what glory do we see in any one of these professions above others only as one man exceeds another in gifts of nature education or learning so they excell one the other but not as I am able to comprehend in any other outward glory Besides mark in the first times there was abundance of outward glory the Spirit sat upon the Apostles like to fire and they were filled with the holy Ghost and did work miracles but this second appearing of the Lord Jesus will have much more glory as was seen by Peter James and John in the 17. chapter of Matthew but among these professions I doe see no glory to be compared with these first times And therefore I doe conceive this is not the appearance of Jesus Christ And thus much to these texts Thirdly I shall come now to prove that the posture the people of the Lord must wait in in this sleepy condition is watching and prayer without the benefit of ordinances in their purity untill the Lord appear from the Lords threatning to overturn his own dispensations which is cleer from Ezekiel the 21. 27. where it is said I will overturn overturn overturn and it shall be no more untill he come whose right it is and I will give it him now what can be more cleerly spoken then here it is that the Lord will for the sins of his people destroy all his outward dispensations and it is with a threefold overturn which I expound thus first the Lord will overturn his first Temple built by Solomon secondly the Lord will overturn his second Temple built by Zorobabell and thirdly the Lord will overturn that outward worship which was first set up in Gospel order and all this for the sins of his people and all this experience teacheth if there were no other proof for it in Scripture and saith the text it shall be no more untill he come whose right it is and I will give it him from whence I conclude that the Lord will overturn his own worships for the sins of his people then much more these worships which are set up by men without any Scripture Rule which I can as yet see produced for their practice And it shall be no more from whence I inferr that there is a time wherein there will be no outward worships and dispensations of God in their purity but his people must ly in bondage and captivity and to wait by watching and prayer untill he come whose right it is and then the Lord will give it him and this is fulfilled unto the Jewes without contradiction for they are dispersed among the nations and touching the believing gentiles I hope I have sufficiently proved it already in my answers unto all the objections I have yet met withall and shall goe on further to cleer it But it may be objected that this is not meant the Lords overturning his owne dispensations but such as are set up by men without any warrant from his word To which I answer and desire all men to consider the text it self where it is said And thou profane wicked prince of Israel whose day is come when iniquity shall have an end thus saith the Lord God remove the diadem and take off the crowne this shall not be the same where I appeal to any mans conscience if any thing can be here meant but the taking away both of kingdome and priest-hood Beside the very experience of the doing of it will evince this to be a truth Secondly the Lord having by Zorobabel builded a second temple which for the sins of his people is destroyed and his people captivated And for the third which is that mysticall temple I mean those outward dispensations wherein the people of Jesus Christ did walk in Gospel order in the first times hath not antichrist defiled them and set up that abomination which hath made all the outward worship desolate and so the glory is departed from it as experience teacheth also so that now it remains the third overturn being past that it shall be no more untill he come whose right it is and then the Lord will give it him in the mean time let his people be but diligent in those two duties of watching and prayer and then I suppose wee need not so much press for outward discipline as to make it so essentiall as that the people of the Lord cannot be delivered out of Babylon without it Fourthly I shall now come to prove the posture the people of the Lord are to wait in is watching and prayer without the benefit of ordinances in their purity from the Lords being weary as it were speaking after the manner of men with reverence be it spoken of setting up any more shepherds over them in any outward order or dispensation which I shall prove from Zechariah the 11. 9. where it is said I will not feed you that that dieth let it die and that that is to be cut off let it be cut off and let the rest cat every one the flesh of another Where note in the 4. verse the Lord Jesus takes upon him to feed the flock whose possessors slay them and hold themselves not guilty now saith he in the sixth verse I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land as much as if he should say I will no more take care over you by shepherds but loe I will deliver the men every one into his neighbors hand and into the hands of his king and they shall smire the land and out of their hand I will not deliver them and this I suppose is spoken touching the destruction of the Jews and their worship Now marke what he saith in the 7. verse And I will feed the flock of slaughter even you O poore of the flock And I tooke unto me two staves the one I called Beauty and the other I called Bands by Beauty and Bands I understand the ordinances of the Gospel which were Beautiful and binding then saith he in the 8. verse Three shepherds also I cut off in one mouth and my soule loathed them and their soul also abhorred me as much as if he should say those shepherds which I set up in Gospel order did in time forget their charge and neglect their duty and I cut them off now he comes to say in the 9. verse Then said I I will not feed you that that dieth let it die and that that is to be cut off let it be cut off and let the rest cat every one the flesh of his neighbour the residue of the chapter shews the breaking of the two staves and a prophesie of raising up a shepherd in the land which should not visit the flock which I take to be that man of sin spoken of in the 2 Thessalonians 2. 4. where pray note for the sins of the people of God he leaves them void of shepherds that shall take care of them and suffers a
he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth and if we in outward carriage towards men do watch over our own corruptions and order our lives and conversations aright and in our worship towards God use prayer and praises from a pure heart which is the only sacrifice he accepts we have his promise which cannot ly that unto such he will shew the salvation of God Psalm the 50. 23. And so much for this sleepy and dead condition of the people of the Lord Jesus Christ. It hath been a question put by some to me how I proved the four beasts which did give glory to God upon which I grounded my book called Some Discoveries of the mysteries of the last times to be four dispensations of the people of God under which they ly in severall shapes or conditions which to satisfie all men that doubt of the truth of that exposition I desire such men to look Revelation the 5. 8 9 10 verses where it is said And when he had taken the book the four beasts and the four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb having harpes and golden viols full of odours which are she prayers of the Saints and they sung a new song saying Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seales thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reign on the Earth which proof through a mistake was left out which now I have inserted to satisfie all men which doubt the truth of it I shall now in the fourth place speak of the fourth particular in order That the Lord Jesus will appear most gloriously to deliver his people by himself And this all the prophets bear witness unto As first the prophet David in the 50. Psalm and 2. verse where speaking of the Lords glorious appearing saith Out of Sion the perfection of beauty hath God shined Our God shall come and shall not keep silence a fire shall devour before him and it shall be very tempestuous round about him The like in Psalm 45. 3. he saith Gird thy sword upon thy thigh ô thou most mighty withthy glory and majesty and in thy majesty ride on prosperously The like he saith in Psalm 72. speaking of the peace and righteousness which should flourish in Christs kingdome in the type of Solomon the 9. verse And blessed be his glorious name for ever and ever and let the whole Earth be filled with his glory amen amen So in the 97. Psalm the prophet saith speaking of the glory and majesty of Christs Kingdome The Lord raigneth let the earth rejoyce let the multitude of the Isles be glad thereof clouds and darkness are round about him righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne a fire goeth before him and burneth up all his enemies his lightnings lightned the world the earth saw and trembled The like Isaiah speaking of the glory of Christs kingdome in chapter 4. 2. and 22. 22 23. and 63. 1 2 3. in all which places of the same prophet mention is made of abundance of glory at the Lords appearing to deliver his people So likewise Ezekiel chapter 43. 2. and Daniel chapter 7 14. Hosea 6. 3. Micah 4. 1 2 3. Nahum the first and 3. Habakuk 3. 2 3. in all which places there is mention made that when the Lord appears and restores his people there will be abundance of glory Secondly I shall proceed to speak of that glory that is set forth in the new Testament as Matthew 17. 1. Mark 9. 2. Luke 17. 24. Matthew 24. 27. 2 Thessalonians 2. 8. Rev. 14. 15. and 14. 1. and 18. 1. and 19. 11 12 13. In all which places there is mention made of that glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus when he comes to deliver his people Now it being so that the next appearing of the Lord Jesus will be with abundance of glory according to his own speech unto his disciples Matthew the 16. 28. which was performed unto Peter James and John in Matthew 17. 2. and according as those texts before mentioned do abundantly prove It will be therefore necessary to see and consider whether there be any glory at present any way answerable to these texts of Scripture above quoted or any way coming neer unto it among the severall professions of this age as for those single congregations which go under the name of Independent or Baptist or any other which profess to walk in the way of the Gospel no nor yet the Seekers they ascribe unto themselves no such thing But for those men which go under the vulgar name of Ranters they do ascribe unto themselves a great perfection namely that they are come to Sion and enjoy God perfectly and that God is all in all unto them and that the Son in them hath delivered up the kingdom unto God the Father as may be seen in their books therfore let us examine what sign of glory is so excellent amongst them As first to begin with their persons as they are men I am not able to discern as yet but that they are men subject to the like passions as other men and therefore in that respect no such glory as for those miseries which are incident unto mans life as hunger thirst cold heat sicknesse and diseases which are common to men they have their part as other men for ought I can yet see and therefore no such glory As for those gifts and graces of the spirit as faith hope love self-deniall meeknesse temperance patience I see no greater measure in them then in other Christians and therefore no such glory As for perfection and a life free from sin and uncleannesse I see no such excellency in them more then in other sorts of Christians as it were boasting that they can do such and such things which are in themselves wicked and yet unto them without sin therefore in that respect no such glory As for any spirit of infallibility in them speaking as the oracles of God more in them then in other Christians I see no difference nay what prophesies of theirs are come to passe therefore no such glory in the least degree Therefore I conceive I may conclude with this argument against them that the first appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ both in himselfe and in his Apostles was glorious witnesse the spirit descending like a dove upon him and also upon his Apostles there did appeal unto them cloven tongues like unto fire and sat upon them and they were filled with the holy Ghost Acts 2. 3 4. But the second appearance of Jesus Christ will be with much more glory as may be seen Mathew 17. 2. But that perfection and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in those men as they pretend comes short of the glory of the first times as experience witnesseth therefore I conceive I may safely conclude
this is no appearance of that second glory which shall be revealed which the Lord hasten in his due time I shall now in the fifth place speak of the suddenesse of the Lord his appearance therefore pray mind the Prophet Isaiah in his 66. 7 8. where speaking of that marvelous change which shall be wrought in the world at that great restoring of all things saith before she that is the Church travelled she brought forth before her pain came she was dilivered of a man child and then he calls upon all to take notice of this strange work saying who hath heard such a thing who hath seen such a thing shall the earth be made to bring forth in a day or shall a nation be born at once for as soon as Sion travelled she brought forth her children shewing the suddenness of that marvellous work which the Lord will perform when he delivers his people out of their captivity wherein they have lain captivated among the nations for so many ages So the Evangelist Matthew speaking of the suddenness of the Lords appearing in chap. 24. 27. saith For as the lightning cometh out of the East and shineth unto the west so shall the coming of the son of man be now what can be more sudden then lightning for mark the effects of lightning it is a glory so sudden and so quick as a man cannot compare any thing to be so sudden for it spreads in a moment so speedily as a mans thought cannot be more sudden or speedy so in the same chapter the 44. verse he saith therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as you think not the son of man cometh The like Marke 13. 35. speaking of the sudden approach of the Lord Jesus he exhorteth them watch ye therefore for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh at even or at midnight or at the cock crowing or in the morning lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping So Luke the 12. 39. where exhorting them how they should carry themselves in regard of the Lords sudden appearing he saith And this know that if the good man of the house had known at what hour the thief would come he would have watched and not have suffered his house to have been broken up be you therefore ready also for the son of man cometh in an hour when ye think not on The like warning gives the Apostle Paul the first Thessalonians 5. 2. in his exhortation unto them he saith For ye your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord cometh as a thiefe in the night for when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction as travell upon a woman so likewise the same Apostle Paul in the first of the Corinthians 15. 52. where speaking of that great change which should be wrought upon those that are alive at the Lords appearing saith In a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump In all which places it is cleer from the word of God without contradiction that the Lords appearing will be sudden and unexpected I shall now in the sixth place speak of the severall enemies the people of the Lord Jesus have had in these severall dispensations As first no sooner did the Lord Jesus appear to go about to exercise his ministry and to gather disciples and to make himself known to the world but the divell under the notion of the Dragon by his head which I conceive were the Emperours and by his tail which were false Ministers with the Scribes and Pharisees did go about to persecute him untill hee had by his instruments wrought his death and so he was caught up to heaven Revel the 12. and 5. So likewise after our Saviours Ascension into heaven and the promise of the holy Ghost being come upon the Apostles and the Church being cloathed with the sun or spirit and having a crown of twelve starrs that is the Apostles beginning to exercise their Commission in distributing the Ordinances and in gathering of Churches immediately the Dragon transforms himself into an Angel of light and creeps in amongst them and doth trouble and afflict them in their Ministry and this all the Apostles complain of in their severall Epistles And these false Apostles which were crept into the Church I conceive to be the tail of the Dragon by which he did draw the third part of the starrs of heaven and did cast them unto the earth Secondly the Dragon not being content in persecuting the Church by false Ministers which were his tail but he likewise falls to persecute them by his head which is the Emperour and the Magistrate of the Empire which lasted three hundred yeers all the time of the Ten persecutions and by troubles and afflictions he doth waste and spoil the Church of Jesus Christ which time I conceive to be that battell which was in heaven wherein Michael fought and his Angels and the Dragon and his Angels in which battell the Dragon is cleerly cast out of heaven For whereas before when there was but little persecution in respect of the heat which was during the later persecutions the Dragon had still some false Ministers among the saints under the vizard of true Christians now in the heat of this persecution they all not being sincere did not abide the tryall but like as chaffe in a fresh winde is divided from the good seed so in the violence of persecution the good seed continued immovable but the chaffe was scattered and so the Dragon was cast unto the earth and his Angels were cast out with him And yet notwitstanding all this the Church increaseth and goeth on conquering in despite of the dragon for it is said Revel 12. 21. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto death Which shews plainly that notwithstanding the Dragon did what hee could by his head and tail yet neverthelesse the people of Jesus Christ did still prevail to the overthrow of the Dragon and his Angels by the help of Michael which is Jesus Christ and did cast him and his Angels out of heaven unto the earth And for the exposition of the Dragons head to be such as are in Authority and for his tail to be false Ministers it is the exposition of the holy Ghost by Isaiah in the 9th chapter and 15th verse The ancient and honourable he is the head and the Prophet that teacheth lies he is the tail And thus the Dragon did afflict the people of the Lord Jesus in the first dispensation which lasted according to the accompt of Mr Fox in his Acts and Monuments of the Church of England to the yeer from the Nativity of Christ 324 in the first Volume pag. 520. Now the Dragon having received this repulse being cast unto the earth he now tryes another course for whereas he failed by his subtilty in thrusting in false Apostles amongst the Churches and also
and the Calf the young Lion and the fatling together and a little Child shal lead them and then there will be such a judg as shall not execute Judgment after the sight of the Eyes neither reprove after the hearing of his Eares but with righteousness shall he judg the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the Earth and he shall smite the Earth with the Rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked Isaiah the 11. 1 3 4 5 6 9 13. untill which time the defenced City shall be desolate and the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness there shall the Calfe feed and there shall he lie down and consume the branches thereof Isaiah 27. 10. Now to both the wise and unwise I say First what I have done is in love to the truth and to all men not envying the happiness of any in their wayes of worship if they find what they professe but I fear they build again the things which God will have destroyed and secondly to be true to the principles within me that is to discover the talent which God hath lent me and put it out to profit that when the Lord comes he might have his own with vantage And to cleer my self that I have done it in love I appeal to the men of every profession that have any commerce with me if they find any spirit of evill against them in my carriage towards them but alwayes loving the Image of God in any of them I write not this to advance my reputation but to take off all prejudice from my person that so my worke may take the better effect Thirdly in the following Treatise I have not built upon another mans foundation that is discoursed of things made ready to my hand but I have for the most part opened such Scriptures as I never met with any exposition to my best memory of them and though I could have wished some abler pen might have opened them that had been better furnished with gifts and learning and time convenient for the performance of so weighty a task being exceeding unfitting for such a labour yet nevertheless considering the great necessity of the matter being a thing of great weight and not looked into namely how the Lord would have his people walk in their waiting for his coming in the last times wherein I beseech thee to consider that I have not laid down my grounds and Reasons as infallible verities but propounding them to the Judgment of all men to examine with all the meekness I could fearing to give offence either to God or to the Christian in any dispensation and I hope it will be accepted accordingly Thus I have made an Apology for my person and practise Now I come to make an Apologie to the entrance of the matter of my Treatise therfore Christian Reader I desire thou wouldst seriously consider these few particulars First that the Lord having establish'd Circumcision in the generation of Abraham and upon this penalty that the soul whose foreskin was not circumcised should be cut off from his people Gen. 17. 14. yet nevertheless in case of necessity the Children of Israel were tolerated touching this duty during their travell in the wilderness for the space of forty years as may be seen Joshua 3. 5. So likewise though the Lord Jesus did establish the ordinances to be continued in his Church by way of succession yet nevertheless they being polluted and in case of necessity he will doubtless bear with his people though they cannot practise ordinances in their purity especially there being no word for their restoring in that pure way wherein they were delivered Secondly the Lord having commanded Moses to make all things after the pattern shewed to him in the mount touching the sanctuary Exodus 25. 40. And also the pattern of the temple unto David 1 Chron. 28. 11. and commanded the practice of the worship unto the Children of Israel in their generations yet in case of necessity when the temple was destroyed and the people captivated he bears with them touching those things even now doubtlesse though the Lord did command his people to walk in Gospel order untill his Appearing yet nevertheless they being captivated and having lost their power to Reform he bears with them though they cannot practise ordinances in their purity Thirdly that as the fews in the time of the standing of the temple did presume upon the promise of Gods presence unto that place yea though their works were most wicked Crying the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord Jeremiah 7. 4. Even so it is well known how the Catholicks have boasted of the Church of Jesus Christ that the gates of hell should not prevail against it applying it to the Church of Rome yea though their works were most wicked And I fear me in all our Reformations we are apt to stick too much to outward order contenting our selves if we have but the form and want the substance and so suddenly fall to loosnesse as the experience of these few years have made apparent Fourthly as the Jews in the time of the standing of the temple were exceeding zealous of their outward ceremonies and neglected the weightier matters of the law as Judgment and mercy as may be seen Mat. 23. 23. Even so it is to be feared that in the time of the Gospel we are more zealous of form and order then of that great commandment of love which is the fulfilling of the Law Fifthly that as the Jews were reproved by our Saviour Mat. 16. 3. Saying O ye hypocrites you can discern the face of the skie and cannot you discern the signes of the times Even so we in this age are better able to discern what was done in the first age of the Church in respect of outward order yet neglecting the inward graces of the spirit as it was then but noting the order that was among the Christians in that time and contending for it now unto bloud and never regard the diverse dispensations wherein the Lord is pleased to shew himself unto his people in these last ages nor once to examine the prophesies of the last times what shall be done then but still urging for forme and order in outward things till we endanger losing the life of Religion namely Faith and a good Conscience Sixthly that as the Jews in contending to keep up their Sacrifices and Ceremonies and temple when the glory was departed from that ministration and in striving so long about it untill their City and Temple was destroyed and themselves scattered among the nations the prophesies being fulfilled upon them Even so we in this age strive so much for form and order in outward things when we may plainly see the glory to be departed from it as it was in the first Gospell times until we shall give such an encouragement to the rising of the beast out of the Earth For we not being
the utmost parts of the world and this is that time as I conceive of that battell which was in heaven in which the great dragon was cast out that old Serpent called the divel which deceives the whole world he was cast into the earth and his angels were cast out with him Rev. 12. 9. and this flourishing condition of the people of the Lord Jesus is fully set forth in those severall places Rev. 6. 2. 11. 1. 12. 1 2. in all which places there is mention made of a building and increasing condition of the Church of the Lord Jesus and to this particular I have met with no objection But secondly That the Church did by degrees decline and fall into a slumbring condition is a truth which needs some cleering therefore pray mind our Saviour Mat. 13. 25. speaks of the servants being a sleep and in his 25 Chapter and 5th verse he speaks that while the bridegroome tarried all slumbred and slept which cleerly shews that there was a time in which the peace and tranquility of the Church by that Riches which did come into her by means of Constantine the first Christian Emperour did cause her to be negligent and to forget her watchfulness and by degrees to suffer Antichrist to get possession of her and this is set forth by Saint Paul 2 Thes. 2. 3. where speaking of the day of Christ he saith that that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition and is further set forth though mystically Rev. 8. in the sounding of the 2. 3. 4 and 5 trumpets I shall speak of the trumpets as they ly in order where in the 8. verse it is said And the second Angel sounded and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the Sea and the third part of the Sea became bloud and the third part of the Creatures which were in the Sea and had life died and the third part of the ships were destroyed which as I conceive at the sounding of the second trumpet the Roman Empire under Constantine being the great mountain which is a phrase usuall in Scripture was cast into the sea that is as I conceive into the Church which is compared unto the sea by reason of the many afflictions which like waves follow one in the neck of another burning with zeale like fire and the same Emperour granting such priviledges unto the Churches as immediately the third part of the Creatures which were in the sea and had life died and the third part of the ships were destroyed that is the third part of the particular Churches of Jesus Christ began to fall away and decline from the truth of the Gospel by means of that outward peace and riches which now they had gained in the world by favour of Princes towards them But it may be asked this question what proofe I have to compare the Churches to ships To which I answer that Isaiah in the 33. Chapter of his prophesie compares the Church to a ship which will be a sufficient answer as I conceive And then in the tenth verse it is said And the third Angell sounded and there fell a great star from heaven burning as it were a lamp and it fell upon the third part of the Rivers and the fountains of water and the name of the star is called Wormwood and the third part of the waters became wormwood and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter which as I conceive the starr was the Bishop of Rome beginning to apostate and by degrees to corrupt the Scripture with his false glosse and corrupt doctrine in so much as many seeming Christians died of the waters that is of the corrupt glosse and false interpretation of the Scripture And then at the sounding of the fourth Trumpet it is said And the third part of the Sun was smitten and the third part of the Moon and the third part of the stars so as the third part of them was darkned and the day shone not for a third part of it and the night likewise that is as I conceive the third part of the spirit began to be darkened in respect of its operation unto the Lords people as it was in the first Gospel times that is in respect of those miracles and gifts of the spirit which the former Christians were indued with and the ordinances like unto the Moon which received their light from the sun or spirit began to be corrupted with mens traditions for a third part of them and the third part of the eminent Christians began to lose their beauty and luster wherein they shined unto the Church and the day and night not shining for a third part I take to bethe Church in generall losing the third part of her beauty in all which places is laid down though mystically the declining condition of the Lords people and how by degrees the people of the Lord Jesus did fall to a slumbring condition and did suffer themselves to fall off from the integrity of the Gospel And to this also I have met with no objections being so known as that it is scarce denied by any man except it be by Chatholicks I shall now come to speake of that third particular namely That sleepy or dead condition of the people of the Lord Jesus and for proof of this pray take notice of these places for to this condition almost all the Prophets bear witness namely Isaiah 6. 13. the Prophet compare the Church unto a teyl-tree or an oak in winter time when they cast their leaves shewing that the deadness of this condition of Gods people will be such as it will have no outward beauty but be like a tree in winter time without leaves yet nevertheless it shall have its substance in it for the holy seed shall be the substance thereof So likewise Isaiah the 10. 25. and 28. 22. the prophet fore-tels that there shall be a consumption in the midst of the land that is as I conceive a sleepiness or deadness upon the outward face of all the Administrations Likewise in Cha. 32. 13 the prophet foretels that upon the Land of my people speaking in the person of God shall come up bryers and thornes yea upon all the houses of joy in the joyous City and then in the 14. verse he shews how it shall come to passe that is because the palaces shall be forsaken the multitude of the Cities shall be left the forts and towers which I take mystically to signifie the Churches shall be for dens for ever a ioy of wild asses a pasture of flocks And in the 15. verse he shews the time how long it shall be which is untill the spirit shall be poured upon us from on high and the wilderness be a fruitfull field and the fruitfull field be counted as a forrest thus much for Isaiah Now let us here what the Prophet Ezekiel doth
speak concerning this matter for in Chap. 34. 12. speaking of this condition of the people of God he compares the time therof to a cloudy and dark day wherin the people of the Lord were scattered so likewise in his 37. Chapter and 11. verse the Prophet brings the people of God complaining saying behold our bones are dry and our hope is lost we are cut off for our parts They acknowledged that they had lain so long in captivity and scattered among the nations that they began to doubt of the promises of God for their restoring And then in the 12. verse he saith in answer to their complaint Behold I will open your graves and cause you to come out of your graves which shews that they were in a dead condition and also it shews plainely that all this time they were out of order as touching the worship or else as touching any Gospel order Thus far Ezekiel Daniell in Chapter 7. 25. speaking of that little horn which I take to be Antichrist that he should think to change times and Lawes and they should be given into his hands that is as I conceive he should have power to change the times and lawes which are the ordinances of the Gospel and to sit in the temple of God shewing himself as if he were God and to deaden all the outward worship of God by changing the ordinances of God the like to this effect the same prophet speaking of the prevailing power of Antichrist over the Church of Jesus Christ in the last times in chap. 11. 45. saith He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain And thus much for the prophet Daniel to confirm this thing Now for the prophet Hosea in Chap 2. 3. of his prophesie where in the person of God he expostulating with his people threatens to strip her naked and set her as in the day in which she was born and make her like a wilderness and set her like a dry land and slay her with thirst and then in the 14. verse compared with Ezekiel 20. 35. and Rev. 12. 14. the judgment is fulfilled upon her for her sins Where pray mark in the Judgment which is threatned upon this people if they did not repent the Lord tels them by his prophet that he would make her like a wilderness and dry land and it is added and set her as in the day when she was born now how was it with the people of God in the day before they were born I mean that new birth being born by their calling out of the world being applied to Israell after the flesh or Israel after the spirit As for Israel after the flesh the prophet Ezekiel sets forth their condition in Chapter 16. 3 where he saith thy birth and thy nativity was of the land of Canaan thy father was an Amorite and thy mother an Hittite shewing that there was little difference between the gentiles and them untill they were separated asunder by his love towards them and by that outward order as Circumcision and Sacrifices and the worship of the law So likewise in respect of Israel after the spirit there was no difference between the beleevers and unbeleevers untill the Lord called them out by the preaching of the Gospel as is cleer by all the Epistles of the Apostles unto the severall Churches And thus much for Hosea touching this thing The like hath the prophet Amos speaking of this sleepy or dead condition in respect of outward order in his 8. chapter and 9 10 11 12 verses where in the former part of the chapter having set before the people their sins and wickednesses and their oppressions of the poor he saith in the 9. verse And it shall come to passe in that day speaking of the bloudy day saith the Lord God that I will cause the Sun to go down at noone and I will darken the Earth in the cleer day and I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentations and then in the 11 verse it is said Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will send a famine in the Land not a famine of bread or a thirst of water but of hearing the word of the Lord and they shall wander from sea to sea and from the North even unto the East they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it Lo here friends what can be more plainly spoken then this prophet speaks of that cloudy day and dark wherein as the prophet Micah in chapter 3. 6. and the Sun shall go down over the prophets and the day shall be dark over them Implying thus much that in the last ages of the world during the death of the witnesses and the time and times and half time there shall be no appearances of God by gifts and ordinances but all things in respect of the outward administrations shall be dead and in a barren condition about the woman that is the Church in this dead and sleepy condition of the Lords people To the like matter the same prophet saith in chapter 9. 9. where he saith For loe I will command and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations as corn is sifted in a sieve which sheweth their dispersion and captivity among the nations without any order in respect of Kingdome and Priesthood or injoying God in his ordinances in the purity of them And so much for the prophet Amos. Now for the Prophet Micah pray hear what he saith concerning this condition of the Lords people in cha 2. 10. where speaking in the person of God saith Arise and depart for this is not your rest Why what is the matter he saith because it is polluted it shall destroy you with a sore destruction shewing that their polluting of the ordinances of God was the cause of their destruction and captivity for he saith in the 12. verse I will surely assemble O Jacob all of thee I will surely gather the remnant of Israel The like is said to the same effect in chap. 3. 12. speaking of the cruelty of the Princes and falsness of the Prophets he saith Therefore shall Sion for your sake be plowed as a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forrest thereby shewing the desolations which should lie upon all the face of the outward administrations So likewise the same Prophet in his 7. chapter and first verse speaking in the person of the Church in her complaint saith Woe is me for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits as the grape-gleaning of the vintage there is no cluster to eat my soul desired the first ripe fruit thereby shewing that in the last times the people of God should be like the summer gatherings and that there should be no cluster that is no assembly or Church congregated together in any Gospel order but that they
should be scattered amongst the Antichristian state as is cleer in the 2 verse where it 's said The good man is perished out of the Earth and there is none upright amongst men they all lie in wait for bloud they bunt every man his brother with a net And thus much for the Prophet Micah Now pray hear what the Prophet Zephaniah saith touching this day or the time of this dispensation of the Lords people in his first chapter and 15. verse he saith That day is a day of wrath a day of trouble and distresse a day of wastness and desolation a day of darkness and gloominesse a day of clouds and thick darknes and then in the 17. verse he saith I will bring distresse upon men that they shal walk like blind men and the reason is given because they have finned against the Lord. Now heare what the Prophet Zechariah saith touching this dead time of the Lords people in chapter 14. 5 6. he saith speaking of the last times And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal yea ye shall flee as ye fled from before the earth-quake in the dayes of Uzziah King of Juda And then in the sixth verse it is said And in that day the light shall not be cleer nor darke but it shall be one day known unto the Lord not day nor night but it shall come to passe that at Evening time it shall be light Thereby shewing that in this gloomy day the people of God shall be in darkness in respect of the light of the spirit compared to the sun as it was in the first Gospel times and all outward administrations shall in that day be darkened upon them And thus much for proofe from the Prophesies in the old Testament of this sleepy or dead condition of the people of the Lord Jesus in the last times in which I have quoted but few of the many places which speak of the desolating of the outward administrations of the Lords people and the withdrawing of his spirit and captivating of his people among the nations and antichristian state before that bright day of the Lords appearing to deliver them out of their bondage and captivity in which the Earth shall be filled with the knowledg of the Lord as the waters cover the sea I shall now proceed as the Lord shall enable me to prove the truth of this sleepy or dead condition from the new Testament therefore pray mind our Saviour Mat. the 25 in the parable of the ten virgins saith While the bridegroome tarried all slumbred and slept thereby shewing that when the bridegroom should appear the people of the Lord Jesus should be asleep as touching any outward worship distinct from other Professors The like also doth the Lord Jesus foretell Matth. 24. 15. where he saith When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place then let them that be in Judea flee unto the mountains that is as I conceive when you see all the outward worship polluted then shift for your selves into the mountains as the Jews were to shift for themselves into the mountains of the earth or among the nations of the earth and those mountains unto which those Christians are exhorted to flee unto I conceive to be the mountains of the Protestant Churches for as Rome may be accounted a great mountain so the Protestant Churches may be termed lesser mountains unto which the people of the Lord are exhorted to flee So also he saith in ver 29. speaking of the darkness of the last times before his appearing The Sun shall be darkned and the Moon shall not give her light the Starrs shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be shaken thereby shewing the darkness which shall be upon the outward Administrations of the Gospel So likewise in the 37 38 39 40 41 verses speaking of the dark times at his appearing As it was in the dayes of Noe so shall it be in the day when the Son of man shall be revealed then shall two be in the field the one shall be taken and the other left two women shall be grinding at the mill the one shall be taken the other shall be left Implying thus much when the Lord shall appear all things shall be in a mingled condition and the people of the Lord Jesus in the same work with the world and no such difference as is pretended by gifts and ordinances So in Luke 18. 8. Our Saviour in his exhortation unto his disciples to watch and pray foretels that the darknesse will be such before his bright appearing that he puts this question for saith he Neverthelesse when the Son of man cometh shall he finde faith on the earth And if faith be so scanty then doubtless the ordinances in their purity So in Luke 17. 22. our Saviour tells his disciples The dayes will come when you shall desire to see one of the dayes of the Son of man and you shall not see it which shews that his people should desire to walk in Gospel order but saith he you shall not see it So the Apostle Paul 2 Thess. 2. 3. where he saith Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he sitteth in the temple of God shewing himself as if he were God That is as I conceive in sitting and ruling in the Church of God and defiling all the whole worship of God so that by degrees the Son or Spirit forsakes that worship and so the people of the Lord Jesus are asleep or dead in respect of that outward order which was in the first Gospel times by gifts and ordinances in their purity which is cleer from the 7. verse where it is said For the mystery of iniquity doth already work onely he who now letteth will let untill he be taken away that is as I conceive untill the Lord have called back all the outgoings of his Spirit from the outward administrations of the Ordinances And for the cleering of this to be a truth pray look back unto the Prophet Ezekiel chap. 10. 18. where it is said Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house and stood over the Cherubims And then in the 23d verse of the 11th chapter it is said And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the City and stood upon the mountain which was on the East side of the City So that the glory of the Lord was now departed for the sins of his people from all that outward worship which is that sleepy or dead condition which we are now treating of The like we have to the same purpose Rev. 9. 1. when St John saw a starr which was
fallen from heaven which starr I take to be that starr which fell from heaven in the 8th chapter and 10th verse which I take to be the Bishop of Rome and as saith the text to him was given the key of the bottomlesse pit and he opened the bottomlesse pit and there arose a smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace and the sun and the air was darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit that is as I conceive the spirit and whole worship of Jesus Christ compared to the air wherein the saints lived spiritually as their bodies lived in the air naturally so that now all the outward worship of God is darkened and his people are asleep or dead in respect of outward order To the like purpose you have Rev. 11. 2. where the Angel saith But the Court which is without the temple leave out and measure it not for it is given unto the Gentiles and the holy City shall they tread under foot forty and two monthes thereby shewing that the ordinances which I take to be the outward Court should be defiled by men which are gentiles in manners and to be trodden down and the ordinances to be polluted and the holy City to be trodden under feet forty and two months during the dead condition of the people of the Lord Jesus Another text to the same purpose you have Rev. 11. 7. where speaking of the witnesses he saith And when they shall have finished their testimony the beast that doth ascend on t of the bottomless pit shall make war with them and shall overcome them and kill them and their dead bodies shall ly in the streets of the City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt As much as if he should say when Antichrist shall have prevailed over the worship why then the Lords people shall be among the Antichristian state as though they were dead in respect of any outward order as Lot lay or dwelt in Sodom and the children of Israel in Egypt waiting for their Deliverer Another text to the like effect you have Rev. 12. 14. where he saith And to the woman meaning the Church were given two wings of a great Eagle that she might flee into the wilderness into her place which shews that the woman which was the Church was retired and not to be seen or discerned Thus having proved and I hope cleered that the third dispensation is a sleepy and dead condition wherein the people of the Lord Jesus must live in captivity under the Antichristian state without the spirit and ordinances in that purity as was in the first Gospel times having no other note upon them but what may be in Earth or having no other form but as having a face like unto a man So that here will arise a question necessary to be discussed and that is what posture the people of God must waite in untill their Deliverer do come and deliver them out of this captivity To which I answer That all the posture which I find in Scripture for the Saints to wait in during their sleepy or dead condition is waiting for the Lord Jesus by watching and prayer and this is cleer by these Scriptures Isaiah 8. 17. Micah 7. 7. Mat. 24. 42. Mar. 13. 35. Luke 12. 36 37 39. Rev. 16. 15. and in handling of this particular that is the sleepy or dead condition of the Lords people which is the dispensation which doth precede that glorious dispensation of the Lord Jesus by himselfe unto his people I shall the Lord enabling me answer all the objections which are made against this discourse As for objections against those texts I have alleadged out of the old Testament I have not met with any it being a truth confirmed by experience of all ages that the Jews and Israelites after the flesh have lain among the nations captivated without any temple or worship or kingdome and priesthood for many ages that prophesie being fulfilled upon them Hosea 3. 4. where it is said For the Children of Israel shall abide many days without a King and without a prince and without a sacrifice and without an Image and without an ephod and without a teraphim which is a Type as I conceive of that spirituall captivity of the Lords people under Gospel dispensations which truth is abundantly confirmed by the Prophets and acknowledged almost by all the learned only herein as I conceive they mistake in that they endeavour to deliver themselves out of this bondage and captivity by themselves that is by their own gifts and abilities without that pure Anoynting of the Spirit which is prophesied to be poured out in the last times upon the Lords people when they shall see Eye to Eye when the Lord shall bring again Sion And therefore as to the old Testament I shall passe it by it being not objected against and as for objections against those texts that I have alleadged out of the new Testament there are many as first it is objected concerning the parable of the tares that though it be true say they that it is the Masters saying that the tares should grow with the wheat unto the harvest yet nevertheless this should be in the world and not that they should both grow together in the Church for if they should then it would contradict Scripture Rule which is that the Lord Jesus left power unto his Church to purge themselves and not to suffer the tares to grow among them To which I answer first pray mind how the Lord Jesus sowed good seed in his field and gave his servants power to water it and to weed out all such bad weeds as might grow amongst them now pray mark those servants in processe of time fall asleep and in time forget and neglect their duty the Divell taking this occasion soweth his tares amongst them which when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit then appeared the tares also and in time grew too many for the good seed Secondly The servants in processe of time begin to wake and finding the tares by their works to be tares indeed they begin to be offended at them whereupon they go to the housholder and say unto him Sir didst not thou sow good seed in thy field whence then hath it tares he said unto them An enemy hath done this The servants said unto him Wilt thou that we gather them up But he said nay left while you gather out the tares you roote up the wheat also let both grow together untill the harvest at which time I will say to the Reapers Gather together the tares first and bind them in bundles to burne them but gather the wheat into my barn It is objected again True they may grow together in the world which as the Lord Jesus expoundeth it is the field but they may not be permitted in the Church together To which I answer and desire all men to consider the difference of times for it is not now as it
was in the first Gospel times the servants now have been asleepe and the Church hath lost her power the number of tares are above the number of the wheat besides the servants have lost that spirit of discerning as they had in the first times the Sun now is darkned and the powers of the heaven shaken that is removed and there is not that spirit of infallibility as was in the first Gospel times wherein the spirit or pure Anointing was able to try who were tares and who were good seed as is clear by our Saviour's words in verse 29. where he saith Nay least while yee gather up the tares yee root up the wheat also with them Secondly The Lord Jesus doth now expound the world to be his kingdome whereas before it was the Church which was particularly Christ's kingdome for in the same Chapter where this parable is set forth in verse the 38. he saith The field is the world and then in the 41 verse it is said And they shall gather out of his kingdome all things that offend and them that doe iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of fire This is also confirmed in the same Chapter in the parable of the draw-net which is cast into the sea which when it is full men draw to land and gather the good into vessels and cast the bad away Even so shall it be in the end of the world the Angels shall come forth and sever the bad from among the just It is further objected that whereas the Lord Jesus saith that he will gather out of his kingdome all things that offend and them that do iniquity this kingdome say they is that kingdom which the Lord Jesus will purge in the new world wherein there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord. To which I answer that although Antichrist hath gotten possession and doth Rule and Raigne in the Church yet the Lord doth call it his Church which I prove from these Scriptures Isaiah 27. 10 where he saith yet the defenced Citie shall be desolate and the habitation forsaken and left like a wildernesse there shall the calfe feed and there shall he lie down and consume the branches therof and 33. 14. where he saith The sinners in Zion are afraid fearfulnesse hath surprised the hypocrites who among us shall dwell with devouring fire which thews that there was sinners in Zion and hypocrites in them that walked in outward order for he saith who amongst us shall dwell in devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings he doth not say he that goeth out of this Sion in this or that order but he that walketh uprightly and speaketh righteously he that despiseth the gain of oppression that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes that stoppeth his eares from hearing of bloud that shutteth his eyes from seeing of evill where note here is no difference between the people of God and the sinners and hypocrites in Zion but Righteousnesse and yet Zion the like Isaiah chap. 49. 17. speaking of the Restoring of the Church he saith Thy children shall make hast thy destroyers and they that made thee wast shall go forth of thee which thews plainly that the enemies of the Church were possessed of her and did destroy her and make her wast The like you have Eezekiel 9. when the Lord sends to mark his people and to destroy those that had polluted his worship in an extraordinary measure which will bear a Type of the last times which I suppose cannot be denied where he saith unto them in the sixth verse which had the charge to destroy the city slay utterly old and young both maids and little children and women but come not near any man upon whom is the mark which shaweth they were mingled one amongst the other and begin at my Sanctuary where note notwithstanding this people had so much polluted his worship as is fully set forth in the foregoing chapter yet the Lord is pleased to call it his sanctuary and beside we read of no other sanctuary of the Lords at that time and therefore the enemies of the Lord were possessed of his Church and sanctuary the like you have in express termes the 2 Thessalonians 2. 4. where it is said speaking of the man of sin who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God shewing himself that he is God Now what can be plainer spoken that notwithstanding antichrist had gotten possession in the Church of God and ruled as God therein yet the Apostle cals it the temple of God Another objection is made touching the Virgins for say some men it is said in the text Then shall the kingdome of heaven be likened to ten Virgins which tooke their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom so say these men this going forth is as we do now out of Babylon by the ordinances of the Gospel as baptizing laying on of hands and all those ordinances which the Lord Jesus hath commanded his people to walk in untill his second coming To which I answer that I do believe that the going forth of the Virgins was out from the world to professe the name of Christ and not going out from Babylon which I shall further cleer but pray mark it is said while the bridgroom tarried all slumbred and slept so that here was a slumbring and sleepy condition between the going forth and the bridegroom 's coming which as I conceive is that slumbring and sleepy condition which I have proved from Scripture Secondly it is said and at midnight there was a cry made Behold the bridegroom cometh go ye forth to meet him where pray mark here is a midnight spoken of and I thinke there is no man will say that this midnight was either friday or saturday night that is one of these naturall nights wherein we take our rest but I conceive it is that midnight or darknesse which lies upon the Church of Jesus Christ immediately before the Lords bright appearing Thirdly it is said Goe yee forth to meet him I suppose no man will affirm it is meant going forth out of a mans house but it is that going forth out of Babylon or the Antichristian state by the beleeving Gentiles which lay in captivity among the Antichristian state and that going forth of the whole Israel of God after the flesh from among the nations in which they lay scattered so many ages to meet the Lord in Zion at the voyce of the great trumpet when he shall gather together his Elect from the foure windes of the heaven Isaiah 11. 12. and 27. 13. Mat. 24 31. and that voice of the second Angel mentioned Rev. 14. 18. and 18. 4. where it is said come out of her my people that you be not partakers of her sins and receive not of her plagues It is further objected that in all ages there have been such
in the Church of God as have been but outward professors and therefore this makes not but that there may be a Church of Jesus Christ distinct from the world or that of antichrist and so his people may be in a Church order notwithstanding those proofes you have brought to the contrary To which I answer that there was as many foolish as wise but marke the posture they where in during this time which was that while the Bridegroome tarried all slumbred and slept Now if it be said they were asleep in spirit that is in such graces of the Spirit as love to the Lord Jesus as faith hope humility selse-deniall and all the graces of the Spirit wherein they were inwardly alive unto God in this sleepy condition if so then sure there was no difference between the wise and the foolish and then the wise must be in the number of those upon whom the day of the Lord did come and find them sleeping that is unprepared which sense being granted will overthrow the text it self for it is said that their lamps were not out whereas it was otherwise with the foolish for it is said that their lamps were out so that it must needs follow that the true sense of the place must be this That both wise and foolish were asleep in respect of outward order according to the first Gospel times or pattern and so lay together mingled under the bondage of Antichrist and so in that sense the wise were asleep as well as the foolish ut in respect of those inward graces of the Spirit as faith hope love selfe-deniall humility meekness and all those graces of the Spirit they were before the foolish virgins and this exposition is made good from Canticles 5. 2. where the Church professeth that she is asleep but her heart waketh And thus much to this objection Another objection is made against the abomination of desolation spoken of Mat. 24. 15. for say some men that the abomination spoken of in that place is the destruction of Jerusalem which fell out some forty years after our Saviours ascension for say they it is an answer to his Disciples which made the question touching the temple and besides it is said Luke 21. 20. when you shall see Jerusalem compassed about with armies then know that the desolation thereof is neer To which I answer and say that this objection seemeth to have some weight for I do believe that the destruction of the City and temple is there meant but that there is another thing meant I do also affirm which I shall thus prove Therefore pray mind in the beginning of the same chapter there are three questions demanded by the disciples one of the destruction of Jerusalem and temple a second of the signes of the Lords coming and a third of the end of the world and in the same chapter there is an answer given to either of them but in Luke the 21. there is but one question demanded by the Disciples touching the destruction of the City and temple and an answer given unto it by our Saviour and some little hint of the signes going before the Lords second coming And then look into the 17. of Luke and 20 and you shal find a question propounded by the Pharisees and an answer given unto them that is That the Kingdome of God is within you and that the kingdome of God cometh not with observation neither shall they say lo here and lo there for behold the kingdome of God is within you As much as if he should have said unto them think not that the kingdome of God cometh with the vain pompe of the world or with the observation of the Sacrifices of the Temple or the Ceremonies thereof which are now ended but saith he the Kingdome of God is within you when you do justice and love mercy and walk humbly with your God and when you fulfill that great commandment which is to love God above all and your neighbour as your self as it is cleer from all the Prophers which call upon them to do Justice and to love mercy Psalm 51. 16 17. Isaiah 33. 15. and 66. 2. Micah 6. 8. Zechariah 8. 16. 17. And likewise ver 23. there are instructions given unto his Disciples how they should behave themselves unto his second coming when once the abomination was set up for he saith The dayes will come when you shall desire to see one of the dayes of the son of man and you shall not see it Implying thus much You shall desire to return unto the wayes of the Lord Jesus but you shall not for they are polluted And you shall have such as shall say unto you see here and see there but he gives the warning saying Go not after them nor follow them for as the lightning that lightneth out of one part of heaven shineth unto the other part under heaven so shall the son of man be in his day which compared with Mat. 24. 24 25 26 27. veries fully agree together So that to me it seems cleer that there is some other thing meant besides pray look in my booke called Some Discoveries of the mysteries of the last times and you shall find five Reasons given why the polluting of the ordinances is there meant It may be further objected that in regard the Lord Jesus gives warning when his Disciples shall see the abomination set up that they should flee to the mountains how I can give it a mysticall meaning seeing the words are plaine compared with Luke 21. that it is the besieging and destruction of the Temple and City For answer unto which that there is a mystery in the words I have partly declared already and shall further cleer it as first I desire it may be considered that the Gospel as touching the believing part is altogether in a mysterie secondly consider that all the Prophesies and predictions of the Gospel are mysteries and not to be fulfilled in the letter which is cleer from those places in the same chapter as verses 26 27 28 29. with the whole following chapter Thirdly consider it had been to little purpose for our Savionr to have exhorted his Disciples and the Jews to have fled into the mountains of the Earth for they must then have perished for want of subsistence or else have fell into their Enemies hands for the Romans would not suffer the Jews to inhabit any part of Judea until they had submitted themselves un to them for Josephus Of the Wars of the Jews makes mention of a part of the Jews which were fled into a wood for succour and the Romans made warr against them and destroyed almost all of them as may be seen in the history of their Wars which place having not the book in my hands I cannot direct the Reader unto therfore it must necessarily follow that it was to the mountains of the nations unto which they were exhorted to flee It may yet further be objected how I can
prove the nations or the governments of the nations either temporall or spirituall to be mountains To which I answer that the Prophets usually apply the name of mountains to the nations or government and magistracy of the nations as may be seen Psalm 72. 3. Zechariah 4. 7. Daniel 2. 45. Rev. 6. 15. with divers the like places now it being so that the Jews were permitted to flee unto the mountains of the nations when their City and Temple were destroyed to hide themselves from the fury of the Romans their Enemies in like manner I conceive the beleeving Gentiles have the like permission to flee to the mountains of the protestant Churches to shroud themselves from the fury of their oppressing Enemies the Christian Romans when once the Abomination makes the whole worship of the Lord Jesus desolate of the Spirit of God and they cannot in conscience submit unto it and the fury of the beast being such as they that did not submit unto his worship they were to lose their lives as the Jews were sure to be cruelly handled if they did not submit to the government of the heathen Romans And so much to these objections Another objection is made against my exposition of Mat. 24. 29. of the sun moon and stars with the powers of the heavens some saying that there is meant those created lights of the heavens which guide the times and by the providence of God enlighten the Earth naturally others say the sun signifies Magistracy and the moon the Ministry To which I answer and say that the Scripture is full of such expressions as the sun moon and starrs and for the cleering of this figurative speech I shall be forced to set forth the severall Acceptions wherein the sun moon and stars is taken in Scripture First sometime the sun moon and stars is taken for those glorious lights of heaven as Josuah 10. 13. and Isa. 38. 8. with divers the like places where the sun is taken for the light of heaven Secondly somtime the sun moon and stars are taken in a figurative sense as that which is most excellent amongst men as the sun signifies that spirit of government which naturaly al men that have any excellency of nature fit for government are indued with as the spirit of counsell prudence and fortitude and the like which are vertues fit for government and may be in a naturall man the moon to figure out the laws of the nations which are divers according to the policy of every nation and are changed according as the state of things require like unto the moon and receive their light from that spirit of counsell that is in those law-makers which are indued with it the stars to signifie those eminent counsellers which shine as starrs in any common-wealth the powers of the heavens to be that Rule of government which is especially exercised in any nation where those lights are applied unto and of those sort are these Scriptures Isaiah 13. 10. and 34. 4. Ezekiel 32. 7. Joel 2. 31. and 3. 15. Rev. 6. 12 13 14. with divers other the like places and for proof of this that this is the meaning of the holy Ghost in these places pray take notice of Isaiah 34. where the same figurative speech is used in ver 4 5. it is said my sword shall be bathed in heaven behold it shall come down upon Idumea and upon the people of my curse to judgment And then in the 12. verse it is said They shall call the Nobles thereof to the Kingdome and none shall be there and all her Princes shal be as nothing Which shews plainly what is meant in the 4 verse where the like figurative speech is used And observe also Isaiah 13. 10. Rev. 6. 12 13 14. in which places there is mention made of the destruction of the nations but especially of Babylon Thirdly sometime the like figurative speech is used and applied unto the people of God and then the sun signifies the Spirit of God which his people are indued with the moon the ordinances of God as the tabernacle temple and sacrifices of the law in that standing and to the ordinances of the Gospel in the time of that standing and hath been changed according to the change of times which the Lord hath been pleased to alter in his Church in severall ages the starrs to those eminent Saints of God which as stars did shine in severall ages in the Church of God the powers of the heavens to be that Ruling power of the Lord Jesus which his people did act by his Authority in the time of the Gospel which was in the Church of Jesus Christ wherein they did receive in and cast out all such as were meet to receive or unmeet for their spirituall society and of this sense are these places of Scripture Isai. 5. 10. Joel 2. 10. Micah 3. 6. Matt. 24. 29. Rev. 8. 12. and 9. 2. In which places it is to me evident that those things are meant But it may be objected that this is but my exposition without any Scripture proof for it To which I answer and desire all men to weigh diligently those places of Scripture as Isaiah 60. 19. 20. where the prophet speaking of the glory of the Church in her Restoring saith The sun shall be no more thy light by day neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee meaning as I conceive when the Lord restores his Church and people they shall need none of those secondary means to enlighten them with but the Lord shall be unto them an everlasting light and thy God thy glory and then in the 20. verse it is said Thy sun shall no more go down neither shall thy moon with-draw it self in which texts are two things considerable to this purpose first that the Church hath a sun and moon secondly that this sun hath gon down and this moon withdrawn her self and I think that no man can find out any fitter exposition to the sense of the text then this is and to the order of the Church in all ages which some time hath been flourishing with abundance of the Spirit of God and the laws of the Administrations touching outward order especially kept and the Church being crowned with her twelve stars which abundantly did shine in her and encrease her glory Sometime again she hath been in captivity and her temple and ordinances destroyed and made desolate of the spirit of God and the glory of God in respect of outward administrations by degrees leaving her for her sins as it is plainly set forth Ezekiel 10. and 11. chapters besides the experience of things in all ages doth confirm this truth as is cleer unto us in these dayes and explained by me in my book of some discoveries of the mystery of the last times page the 14. Secondly pray take notice of Rev. 12. 1. where Saint John saw a wonder in heaven a woman cloathed with the sun and the moon under her feet
and upon her head a crown of twelve starrs now I think no man will deny but the Church which undoubtedly was the woman which was cloathed with the sun when she had such abundance of the spirit that it sat upon them as fire and they were filled with the holy Ghost and spake with tongues and were enabled with power to distribute the ordinances of the Gospel unto whom they did appertain and when the Church was crowned with twelve stars namely the twelve Apostles But it is yet objected Be it so that this is true yet is there no workings of the spirit are all things so dead as there is no appearance of God by gifts and ordinances I answer I do beleeve that there are some breathings of the Spirit in the Saints for it is not said the sun is wholly darkened but darkned that is doth not give that light as it did in the first Gospel times and this the very experience of times doth evince but for the ordinances which are likened to the moon they are in a manner wholly darkened from that they were in the first times and as for the stars the third part of them was darkned in the sounding of the fourth trumpet Rev. 8. 12. and 12. 4. and they which persisted in the faith are killed by the beast Rev. 11. 7. It is further objected that though it be said The powers of the heavens shal be shaken yet it follows not that they are removed no more then trees that are shaken of a mighty wind are removed To which I answer that shaking in Scripture sense is removing and this is cleer from that of Haggai 2. 6. where it is said for thus saith the Lord of hoasts yet once it is but a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land which shaking is expounded by the Authour to the Hebrews to be a removing Hebrews the 12. 27. And thus I hope I have fully answered these objections Another objection is made against that exposition which I make upon that text Luke 17. 34. where it is said In that night there shall be two men in one bed the one shall be taken the other shall be left which say they is meant when the Lord appeareth then shall one that is a Christian be at work with an unbeliever and where it is said There shall be two in one bed the one shall be taken the other shall be left say they it is meant the husband may be a believer and the wife an unbeleever as it was in the first Gospel times To which I answer That the text saith it is two men and two women and therefore it cannot be meant of that matrimonial coupling of man and wife and touching the two men being in the field together as it is Matth. 24. that it may be expounded at work together the one a beleever the other an unbeleever this the words going before will cleer for it is said Luke 17. 26. As it was in the dayes of Noe so shall it be in the dayes of the Son of man likewise as it was in the dayes of Lot they did eat and drink they bought they sold they planted they builded but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone and destroyed them all Now we all know there was no difference between Noe and the world and Lot and the Sodomltes in any outward worship but onely they were preachers of righteousnesse which is cleer by that speech of Abraham where he prayeth for Sodom Gen. 18. 24. and saith Peradventure there be found fifty righteous so likewise in the dayes of the coming of the Son of man those that are truly Christians and watch and pray cannot but be preachers of righteousnesse forasmuch as that man that is addicted to sin and uncleannesse cannot be said in reason to watch over his actions and he that is praying or prepared alwayes to pray cannot be voyd of righteousness towards man Another Objection is made touching the raising of the Witnesses for say they It is true the Witnesses are to lie dead but there is a time for their raising again and this is our practice sor we are raising the Witnesses from death to meet the Lord in Sion To which I answer That it is true that the Witnesses are to rise and to stand upon their feet but the question is when this should be which I beleeve upon examination will appear to be when the Lord appears from heaven which I shall prove thus as it is said Rev. 11. 11. and after three dayes and a half the Spirit of life from God entred into them and they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon all that saw them which compared with Ezekiel 37. and Rev. 20. 5. will appear to be that resurrection spoken of in those two places But it may be said Those places speak of the raising of the dead out of their graves to meet the Lord in Sion but this of Revel 11. must be meant of the raising the people of the Lord Jesus out of that darkness wherein they lay in the Antichristian state To which I answer It is true it seems to be so but mark well the sense of the place and you shall finde it is at the Lords appearing as to mee it seems cleer from the 12 verse where it is said And they heard a great voice from heaven saying Come up hither and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies beheld them which compared with 1 Thes. 4. it will appear to be when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven with a shout and the voyce of the archangel as it is in ver 16. besides mark the effects that did follow upon the rising of the witnesses for it is said verse 13. And the same hour there was a great Earth-quake and the tenth part of the City fell and in the earth-quake were slain of men 7000 and the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven so that I think no man will affirm there is any such effects wrought by any arising from death of the witnesses in these our days and thus I hope I have answered this objection It is yet further objected that the changes that are wrought in this nation are some tokens of the Lords hand for we may plainly see that there be many men that were before wicked persons both swearers and lascivious in their lives and conversations that upon their coming in are changed in their lives likewise there are many young men that were of no gifts and parts in the sight of the world are now able to dispense the word and to pray very heavenly somtime to the admiration of the hearers insomuch as they are forced to say God is in you of a truth and therefore this must needs be a testimony that the hand of God is in this work and that he will prosper it To this I answer
that corrupt channel of the Church of Rome therefore it must needs follow that insomuch as the Scripture is acknowledged to be our director in all things by all Reformers and for so much as all that enter not by the door are theeves and robbers John 10. 1. and for as much as none can preach except they be sent according to the doctrine of Paul Romans the 10. 15. and for as much as the prophet Isaiah sends us to the Law and to the Testimony and saith If they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Isaiah 8. 20. and the Apostle Saint Paul in the aforesaid text of the Romans alledgeth Scripture for his and others preaching the Gospel and saith As it is written how beautifull are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace and bring glad tydings of good things therefore I say If we will reform being the lesser part we must necessarily have some Scripture for our warrant to shew that the time is out for our deliverance and some mention made in Scripture of some Anoynting to reform the Church of Jesus Christ after the ordinances are corrupted or changed as is acknowledged which if it can be produced either by plain letter or by consequence that when once the ordinances are changed or corrupted that they are to be restored in their purity and that the people of the Lord Jesus are to gather themselves out of Babylon or the Antichristian state wherin they lay in captivity among all sorts of men in visible bodies with all those officers as Apostles Pastors Teachers and Elders as they were in the first Gospel times before the Lords appearing to restore his people I shall by the help of God subscribe unto them and confess my Errour yet nevertheless there are some texts alledged for the maintenance of it I shall name them as I go and examine them according to my understanding and leave them to the men that alledged them to judg The first text which is aleadged for the raising of ordinances is from Psalm 75. 2. where the prophet speaking in the person of God saith when I shall receive the congregation I will judg uprightly whence is inferred that when the Lord Jesus doth appear there will be a congregation To which I answer and do confess that the Psalmist in that place speaks of the appearance of Jesus Christ as is plain from verse the first where it is said for that thy name is neer thy wondrous works declare but touching that 2 verse from whence that inference is taken I conceive the true sense is no other but that before the Lord appeare the congregation is judged unrighteously by the men of the world or by such as Rule in the Church of Jesus Christ having no commission from him or as it is in Matthew the 24. 48. and Zechariah 11. 16. by that evill servant which saith in his heart my Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to smite his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken but when the Lord doth appear he will take the government of the congregation to himself and will judg uprightly Agreeable to those texts of Scriptures Isa. 11. 4. Micah 4. 3. The second text is from Isaiah 10. 27. where it is said And it shall come to passe in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulders and his yoake from off thy neck and the yoake shall be destroyed because of the anyonting from whence is inferred that in the last dayes the Lord will anoynt his people by his Spirit so that they shall by degrees gather themselves out of Babylon or the antichristian state into bodies or single fellowships to meet the Lord in Sion For answer unto which pray note the text it self for it is not said thou shalt deliver thy self because of the anoynting but it is said In that day his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder and the yoake from off thy neck and the yoake shall be destroyed because of the annointing which argueth thus much that the Lord will deliver his people by the hand of some extraordinary messenger that he wil appoint for that purpose which I conceive is the Lord Jesus for he alludes unto the deliverance of his people out of Egypt and to that deliverance from Midian at the rock Oreb as it is in the foregoing verse being the 26. Now it is known to all men that in those deliverances there was Moses and Gideon extraordinarily sent to deliver his people and can it be thought that in that great deliverance of all the deliverances that have happened unto the people of God that deliverance from sin and death only excepted wherin Ephrahim shall no more envy Juda nor yet Juda vex Ephrahim and that from thenceforth the wolf and the lamb shall feed together and that from thenceforth they shall hurt nor destroy no more in the mountain of Gods holinesse that the Lord will deliver his people by themselves contrary to his practice in all ages as may be abundantly proved from Moses Joshua Jeptha Deborah Barak unto Zorobabel which were all types of that great deliverer of his people as may be seen Haggai 2. 23. where Jesus Christ is set forth under the name of Zorobabel Beside pray mark the 33d verse of that 10. of Isaiah where it is plainly said Behold the Lord the Lord of bosts shall lop the bough with terrour and the high ones of stature shall be hewen down and the mighty shall be humbled and he shall cut down the thickets of the forrest with iron and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one Now let any man judge if this be meant his people by themselves or else the deliverance to come by some extraordinary messenger The next two texts which are alleadged for the raising of ordinances I put them both together because I suppose they aime at one and the same thing are the 2 Pet. 2. 11 14. and the Epistle of Jude ver 20 21. where it is said Wherefore beloved seeing you look for such things be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse And then in Jude it is said But ye beloved edifie your selves in your most holy faith praying in the holy Ghost and keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternall life From whence is gathered that in the last daies the people of the Lord Jesus Christ must walk in Gospel order being baprized and gather themselves into visible bodies to meet the Lord in Sion To which I answer and desire all men to take notice of the scope of the Apostles in these two places namely to arme the Christians unto whom they wrote to take heed of false teachers which were crept in amonst them to beware of them and to be watchfull over themselves and that they should build up themselves in their most holy
plain by those places Lev. 6. 22. and 7 34 35. Jer. 33. 21. and 35 19. But fourthly if all these considerations fail then let this answer suffice namely by these mens judgments confessed that whereas there is a promise annexed to the commission that they meaning his Apostles and their successors that if they failed not to do their duty in going and teaching all nations baptizing them in the purity of the ordinances that the Lord would not fail to be with them unto the end of the world but they having failed as is acknowledged by all our reformers therefore the Lord is not ingaged to his promise and is not with his people as must be acknowledged by all men as he was in the first Gospel times in respect of the purity of the ordinances It is yet further objected that if the ordinances are polluted or changed some of them then it is likely they are all corrupted and then watching and prayer being also ordinances of Jesus Christ are also corrupted To this I answer and shall make a distinction between the ordinances as first there are ordinances which for the performance of them there were officers appointed to the dispensation of them and these officers had a peculiar charge given them and had more then an ordinary Spirit given them for the performance of that worke as may be seen Acts the 2. 4. and their office was to preach baptize lay on hands and administer the Sacrament and these also were to chuse able men and to appoint ministers from hand to hand to after times by way of succession which is cleer from the first of Tim. 4. 14. and 2 Tim. 1. 6. and 2. 2. in all which places there is mention made of the Apostle and Presbitery in ordaining others for the Ministry and these had a singular ministry and commission given them for this work as may be seen Matthew 18. 19. and those that came not into the fold this way were theeves and robbers John the 10. 1. Romans the 10. 15. now if those that restore the ordinances and are the reformers in this age can shew that they received their office of ministry for the dispensation of ordinances from hand to hand by succession from the Apostles without interruption or without corrupting both the ministry and ordinances by coming through that corrupt channell of the Church of Rome why then I do beleeve they have power to set up the ordinances in their purity and we are bound to submit unto it but it being acknowledged there hath been an interruption and cessation in them by most of our reformers therefore it remaines that there should be some text or texts of Scripture which should speake of their Restoring after the cessation or corruption at the least by way of consequence but as yet I find none produced or else we goe not to Scripture Rule for all our practises But secondly concerning watching and prayer that although I do consess them to be ordinances yet they were not delivered by way of succession but may be in any man it being a gift given by Gods Spirit without any outward means concurring with it and was bestowed upon the Gentiles as well as the Jews in the time of the Law witness Job and Elihu and was bestowed indifferently upon all men without the outward means of laying on of hands in the time of the Gospel either in a gueater or lesser measure according as the spirit of God was pleased to breath in them and this may be seen in the example of Cornelius and of the Eunuch of Ethiopia though I do acknowledg those gifts and graces of the spirit were highened and enlarged by the practising of the ordinances Gods Spirit concurring with the outward means whilest the ordinances remained in their purity and also did continue to breath in the people of God after their ordinances were corrupted and doth yet without the ordinances in their purity It is further objected that if the people of the Lord Jesus are to ly scattered among the antichristian state without the benefit of ordinances in their purity or without any Gospel order contrary to the common multitude of Christians that then how can that saying of Saint Paul be fulfilled which saith he that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution First to this I answer that persecutions in some measure shall cease and this is no more then what hath been foretold by the Prophets and by Saint John in his Revelation as may be seen Hosea 2. 14. compared with Revelation 12. 6. 14. where it is said therefore Behold I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her now what can be here meant but that the Lord having poured out upon his people the fierceness of his wrath and visited upon them the days of Balaam and hath executed his judgements upon them as it is in the former part of the Chapter now he begins to speak comfortably unto her and gives her leave to flye to the mountaines and to nourish her in the wilderness for a time times and half a time from the face of the Serpent Zech. 14. 5. Mat. 24. 16. Revel 12. 14. But secondly though persecution in some measure doth cease yet it doth not fully cease for it is said Revel the 12. 17. and the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make warre with the remnant of her Seed which keep the Commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ in which text pray note two things First that the Church is retired into the wilderness and but a remnant left Secondly this remnant keep the Commandements of God and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ. From the First I observe that there is no being of any visible Church having the Ordinances in their purity upon the face of the Earth during the time times and half a time and from the Second I observe that notwithstanding there be no visible Church upon Earth yet there is a remnant that keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ which Commandments I take to be to love God above all and our neighbours as our selves or if you will having Faith Love Self-denyall Humility Meekness Temperance Patience Justice and Righteousness and by these things give testimomy that they own Jesus Christ and to such men it is unpossible but that Satan will raise up persecution for that of Solomon doth in all ages prove true Prov. the 29. 10. 27. the bloud-thirsty hates the upright and he that is upright in his way is abomination to the wicked and this we finde by proof in these days that let men be upright in their conversation these men are alwaies envied of their neighbours and the good man is alwaies hated of the wicked for there is a great difference between them but for that persecution which doth arise unto men because they walk contrary to the practice of the common multitude that by
for their restoring and to shew some proof from Scripture Rule for their practice lest haply they may lose their labour and their work prove but a spark of their own kindling and this is profitable counsell unto them besides the Lord did not build the second Temple under the law immediatly by himself but stirred up Cyrus and Zorobabell for to perform that work which were men of infirmities besides they had many Enemies which did resist and discourage them as it is cleer from Ezra and Nehemiah but for the deliverance of the beleeving Gentiles out of mysticall Babylon the Lord Jesus hath promised to do it by himself when he comes to destroy Babylon by the Spirit of his mouth and with the brightness of his coming of whom literall Zorobabell was a type as is cleer from Haggai 2. 23. where it is said In that day saith the Lord of hosts will I take thee O Zorobabell my servant the son of Shealticl which speech hath reference to the foregoing verse where the Lord saith And I will overthrow the throne of the Kingdomes of the heathens which was not at that day performed therefore it remains to be preformed when the Lord Jesus shall appear from heaven with his mighty Angels to destroy Antichrist and all those nations which have been enemies unto his people Rev. the 6 12 13 15 16 17. Thus I have answered all the objections I have met with to my best memory touching those Scriptures I have alledged to prove the people of God to be in no other posture in respect of ordinances in their purity but watching and prayer untill the Lord appear and deliver them out of their spirituall captivity under the Antichristian State after the abomination that maketh the ordinances desolate is fully set up and the sun darkened Therefore I shall now come to prove this truth namely their watching and prayer during this sleepy and dead condition from certain promises of God unto his people they being out of order As first the Lord promises his protection unto all such of his people as during this desolate condition did sigh and mourn for all the Abominations that were committed which is cleer from Ezekiel 9. 4. compared with Revelation 7. 3. where the Apostle seeth in a vision a man with a writers Inkhorn by his side and the Lord said unto him Go through the midst of the City through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the forcheads of the men that figh and cry for all the Abominations that are done in the midst thereof where pray note he doth not say go and set a mark upon al those or some of those that walk in outward order which the Lord himself hath set up and appointed his people to walk in but upon all those that sigh and cry for all the abominations that are committed by those that did walk in the order or should have done which the Lord hath appointed as is cleer from verse the 6. where he saith And begin at my Sanctuary Now if it be objected that we do acknowledg that the Church in all ages have had such as have done abominations in the midst of her and therfore this makes not but those men that did sigh and mourn did walk in the outward order of God in his Temple and worship To this I answer that this people which the Prophet speaks of had corrupted the Temple of the Lord as is cleer from Ezekiel 43. 8. and 44. 8 9 10. and that the glory of God was departed from his Temple and worship as is plain from the 9. chapter and 3 ver where he saith And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the Cherub whereupon he was unto the threshold of the house And from chapter 11. 23 where he saith And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the City and stood upon the mountain which is on the East side of the city where pray note the glory of God notwithstanding it was departed from his whole worship and from his people being departed out of the city yet notwithstanding the Lord is pleased to call it his Sanctuary and that also although the high Priest and such as were leaders of the people had corrupted his ordinances as it is in chap. 44. 8. where he saith and ye have not kept the charge of my holy things but ye have set keepers of my charge in my Sanctuary for your selves which I suppose bears a fit resemblance in the Church of Rome Secondly the Lord promiseth his people that he will not reprove them when he comes to judg them although they did not at all times perform his outward worship in offerings and sacrifices as is plain from Psalm 50. 8. where he saith I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices and thy burnt offerings to have been continually before me as if he should have said notwithstanding thou hast at somtimes neglected my commandments in respect of outward order in regard of the ceremonies and sacrifices therof so as thou hast offered God thanksgiving and paid thy vowes unto the most highest and call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me in the same Psalm 14. 15. verses Much more then I suppose the Lord will not reprove us in this sleepy and dead time of the Gospell wherein all things are corrupted and changed in respect of outward order and not so much as one text to be found for their restoring if we walk without the ordinances in their purity by watching and prayer keeping Faith and a good Conscience waiting for the Bridegrooms coming Thirdly the Lord threatens all such as walke in outward order and are wicked Psalm the 50. 16. and promiseth salvation unto such as without order walk uprightly in the same Psalm verse the 23. Where he saith whoso offereth praise glorifieth me and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God I shall now proceed as the Lord shal direct me to prove that the people of God must wait for the Lord Jesus by watching and prayer without order in the purity thereof in this sleepy and dead dispensation from the Lords dehortation of his people from setting up any temple and worship during their captivity and desolate condition wherin they lay scattered among the nations which to me is cleer from Isaiah 66. 1. where it is said Thus saith the Lord the Heaven is my throne and the Earth is my footstoole where is the house that you build unto me and where is the place of my rest for all these things hath my hand made and all these things have been saith the Lord. Where pray note this people are disswaded from building again any Temple or house of God when once the glory of God is departed from it for he saith all these things have been now what can be more plainly spoken then here it is for you had a Temple and it
shepherd to rule over them which should destroy them and of evill shepherds you may read fully in Jerem. the 23. and Ezek. the 34. I shall in the fifth place come to prove the people of Gods posture to be watching and prayer without the benefit of ordinances in their purity during the dead condition from the Churches owne confession walking in outward order which I prove from Isaiah 26. 19. where it is said we have been with child we have been in paine wee have as it were brought forth wind we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen as much as if the Church should have said we have strived to deliver our selves out of our captivity by walking in that order which we have set up but we have brought forth nothing but wind neither have we wrought any deliverance in the earth neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen we have desired to destroy Babylon and to deliver our selves but it comes to nothing and to no effect And then in the next verse The Lord Jesus as I conceive answereth her saying Thy dead men shall live together with my dead bodie shall they arise Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust as much as if he should have said although that you now seem dead and lie in the dust in respect of outward order according to the first Gospel times yet when my dead body that is the Church shall arise why then awake and sing Now if any should ask any of our professours if they did not travell to bring forth our Lord Jesus and to destroy antichrist by their walking in those professions doubtlesse they would answer yea for it is the principle of every profession Sixthly I shall prove the people of Gods posture to be watching and prayer during the dead condition from the condition the people of God shall be in when he appears and destroyes all their enemies and restores them they being like a wildernesse and all false waies in a flourishing condition this is proved from Isaiah 29 19. where it is said Is it not yet a very little while and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitfull field and the fruitfull field shall be counted as a forrest compared with Revelation the 12. 14. and Isaiah the 32. 15. where it is said Vntill the spirit be poured out upon us from above and the wilderness be a fruitfull field and the fruitfull field be counted as a forrest now what can be more cleerly spoken then this touching this thing for it is the principle of every profession at this day for they say that the waies we now practise are the waies by which the Lord Jesus will more and more draw out his people into Gospel order untill he have fully brought them out of Babell and prepared them to meet him in Sion and this is the saying and tenent of every profession whereas contrariwise he saith by his Prophet that at the time when the spirit is poured out from on high his people shall be like a wildernesse and the false worships be counted as a fruitfull field and then is that great change wrought But it may be objected that before we tooke upon us the profession of the Gospel we were like a wildernesse but since we came into Gospel order we have been like a fruitfull field and this change is now a working To which I answer that this change shall not be wrought untill the Lord destroyes Babylon or the antichristian state and this is cleer by Isaiah the 35. and the first and so forth for in the foregoing chapter being the 34. the Lord sets before us the destruction of all nations but especially of Idumea which I conceive in the mystery to be antichrist or false brethren as Edom was to Israel and in the 14. verse he comes to say as it were that now the people of God are delivered out of her The wild beasts of the desart shall also meet with the wild beasts of the islands and the satyr shall cry to his fellow which compared with Revelations the 18. 2. doth fully agree now mark what followes in the 35. chapter where it is said The wilderness and the solitary place shall he glad for them that is for their destruction and the desart shall rejoyce and blossom as a rose So that I conclude from this text if there were no more that before the Lord destroys antichrist with the spirit of his mouth and the brightnesse of his coming the people of the Lord Jesus shall be in respect of outward order and discipline like a wildernesse and desart and Babylon and all false waies shall be in a flourishing condition like a fruitfull field And thus much to this proofe While my cogitations were exercised about this Treatise there came to my hand a little book written by Thomas Vane Doctor of Divinity and sometime Chaplain to the late King of England intituled A lost sheep returned home or the Motives of the Conversion to the Catholich Faith of Thomas Vane penned in Paris in the yeer 1648. Which book having read and diligently considered I found that he did propound to consideration severall marks of the true Church where in the 17 and 18 chapters he makes conversion of Kingdoms and Monarchs and sanctity of doctrine and life to be marks of the true Church and applyes it to the Church of Rome which having diligently considered I was at a pause but weighing well what this sanctity of doctrine and life was I found it was chiefly in instructing her children in not onely confessing themselves to God but also confessing to the priests not onely sorrow for sin but also doing penance for the same and such as the Church injoyneth obliging to set times of fasting and prayer and magnifying the merit of good works commending the sublime acts of voluntary poverty chastity and obedience and the exercising of other great acts of austerity for to subdue sin in the sleth and to professe our love to Christ in these things which having diligently considered mee thought he had almost forgot the true duties of christian Religion mentioned in those two places Isai. 58. 6 7. and James 1. 27. where the Prophet saith thus Is not this the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness to undoe the heavie burdens and to let the oppressed go free and that you break every yoak Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bring the poor that is cast out to thy house when thou seest the naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh Where note one of the duties of Christianity is to do good to our own flesh which cannot well be done by afflicting our bodies by unnecessary fastings and great austerity And the Apostle St. James saith Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherlesse and widows in their affliction
the country of Pledmont what wars and bloud-shed there hapned what extremity the poore people were put unto by the Lord of Trinity his Army may be seen in Acts and Monuments the 2 volume page 202. 3. What misery hath befallen in the realme of France touching dissention about Religion between the Papists and Protestants containing some Kings raigns what bloud was shed in those battels and wars between the two parties may be seen in the Soveraigne power of Paliaments and kingdomes the 3d part written by Mr. William Prin page the 34 and so forth 4. What wars and bloudshed followed in Germany of late years about Munster between the common people and the nobilitie about matters touching religion is best known unto those that have read the history Lastly What wars and miseries have followed in this nation within this few years experience hath taught us the principle quarrell being about religion and although I do not dispute the lawfulnesse of the Parliaments just warr in respect of civill rights having my selfe taken part with the Parliament and by their Authority born arms to defend my civill rights yet touching religion when I consider the Lord Jesus being king of peace me thinks there should no arms be taken up to defend religion and although I do acknowledg that it is our Saviours words that he came not to send peace on the earth but the sword that is after the preaching of the Gospel there would follow wars and combustions among the nations yet I do not find that he left any example by any of his messengers that private subjects should defend their religion by the sword neither do I question but that lawfull Authority may defend their religion by armes but this I find that in most of our Reformations England onely excepted where the change hath been made by the Prince or State that at one time or other the subjects have taken arms to defend their religion against Authority These things being considered diligently I leave it to the judicious reader to judge whether that of the Prophet Isaiah may not be applied unto all our Reformations I mean in outward discipline and order in his 50. chapter verse 11. Behold all ye that kindle a fire that compasse your selves about with sparks walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled this shall ye have of my hand ye shall lie down in sorrow and I shall leave it also to the people of God themselves to consider if the reformers in those severall ages may not justly take up that complaint of the Church in that 26. of the Prophet Isaiah verse the 18. We have been with child we have been in pain we have as it were brought forth wind we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth neither have the inhabitants of the earth fallen which experience doth fully teach in all those Reformations for the inhabitants of the world are not yet fallen which all the foregoing premises diligently considered makes me undoubtedly be perswaded that the Lord will not deliver his people by themselves in any of those waies which are now practised but will deliver his people by himself in some extraordinary manner at his next appearing which will be like lightning Now the summe of all that hath been said gathered up together is this that during the sleep of the people of God the enemies came and sowed tares among the wheat the servants neglecting their duty of being watchfull these tares are grown too many for the good seed and have got possession in the Church and have captivated the people of God and have brought them into bondage under which they must lie untill the great deliverer come to deliver them But me thinks I heare a question put which hath already been put to me that is What profession is this man of for he seems to be contrary to all men this seems to us to be strange doctrine that the people of God must lie in bondage under the antichristian state and may not deliver themselves by Gospel order what profession is this man of To which I answer that I am a man which desires so farr as my infirmity will give me leave and the Lord inable me against it to keep faith and a good Conscience and by watching and prayer to wait for my Masters coming and if for my admonition I gain nothing from the men of every profession but evill will and it may be reproaches which have happened already I passe not if I be judged leaving the matter to God However I have not hid my talent in a napkin but have declared that light I have received wherein I have not presumed to a prophets office that is to declare hidden things but what is I conceive revealed in the word though mystically and I do not remember that ever I heard or read of any that treated of this mater which did incourage me in the work And if as I say I gain evill will for it it is no more then what the prophet Jeremiah met with which he complaines of in chapter 15 10. where he saith Wo is me my Mother that thou hast born me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole Earth I have not lent on usury neither have men lent to me on usury yet every one of them doth curse me which shewes that he had done nothing in the world worthy of blame but had behaved himselfe honestly among all men yet neverthelesse because he taught them to submit themselves where God had subjected them therefore he complaines that every one doth curse him which if it be my lot I have done my duty and shall leave the issue to God But it may be objected if we may not look to have the ordinances restored again in their purity because the glory is departed from them why what is then to be done To which I answer that I have propounded my light that I have received desiring no man to follow it further then he seeth it to be truth in the mean time I leave every man to walk in humility according to the dictates of his own conscience and where his conscience leads him let him practise but let him beware he do not say See here is Christ and see there is Christ for the next appearing will be a glory so excellent as it will bury all earthly administrations and let him also remember that it is not Circumcision nor uncircumcision that availeth any thing but a new Creature And for as much as I as yet can find no Rule in Scripture concerning outward administrations for the people of God to walk in after the abomination is set up which makes the ordinances desolate of the Spirit of God and drives the glory of God from all outward administrations as experience teacheth us therefore my admonition will be this That let every man strive earnestly by watching and prayer giving the Lord no rest till he establish and till
mystically commanded to fly to the mountains Matthew the 24. when speedily followed the waking of the servants in which they did desire to deliver themselves and began to see the grosse and wicked idolatry which was committed and began to fly and avoid it and did hope to gather thetares from the good seed or at least to separate them and to draw themselves out from amongst them but alas too late for antichrist had goten possession then immediately followed persecution in such a measure as I think there was more bloud shed for cause of conscience then there was in any time of the persecution of the Empire heathen as it is yet fresh in memory and may be abundantly seen in the Acts and Monuments of the Church of England Now sixthly as the servants began to wake and to look about them and to increase in knowledg and the time of the prosperity of the beast began to be at the height and should decay Martin Luther steps forth and fulfils that prophesie Revelation the 13. 3 for he gives a wound unto the beast for whereas the doctrine of merits by works was one of the principal heads of the beast and the greatest of all his power this Martin Luther did oppose with great might and with much successe insomuch as he gave a deadly wound unto the beast but we have sinc eseen by experience this deadly wound healed and all the world wondreth after the beast in a manner for they see order in the Church of Rome though by a wrong power but amongst us nothing but disorder and this we may speak with grief of heart and there is reason for it which I have abundantly proved already and may further God assisting me cleer it hereafter besides the loosnesse of Protestants at large as I may term them and our divisions and loosnesse in our practices makes him get heart and to hope to gaine all againe of what he hath lost or at least to hold that which he hath and this St. John seems to intimate unto us in Revelation the 17. 8. where he saith When they beheld the beast that was and is not and yet is shewing as I conceive that at the change of the beast he should so lose his power as he should as it were seem not to be and yet after he should recover strength againe and have a being untill the Lord destroy him with the spirit of his mouth and with the brightnesse of his coming Isaiah the 11. 42 Thes. 2. 8. which can in reason be expounded to be no other but Rome under the Pope as I have proved by ten reasons Now forasmuch as there is one principal text Matthew 24. 15. upon which text dependeth almost all the following part of the chapter as an exhortation of the Lord Jesus unto his disciples how they should carry themselves when once the abomination which makes desolate is set up and therefore I shall shew what I take this abornination to be and therefore pray mind I take this abomination not to be the destruction of Jerusalem which did follow within 40. years after the passion of Christ as I have already proved But I take this abomination of desolation to be that Idol of the bread which in the Church of Rome is transubstantiated into the reall body of Christ as the Papists teach or in short the real presence of the sleshly body of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar as they call it which Idolatry I take to be the grossest Idolatry that ever was committed by any civill or religious nation or nations and about which there hath so much bloud of the Saints of Jesus Christ been spilt in the kingdome of the Pope as the like hath not been seen in any age for one thing But because this is a matter of much consequence I shall produce severall reasons for the proofe thereof Wherefore my first reason shall be from the text it self where it is said When you shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet standing in the holy place that is something that standeth in the holy place which drives the presence of Gods spirit out of that place that was once holy A second reason I take from that text Daniel the 11. 31. which is the place of the prophet as I conceive which our Saviour meant where it is said speaking of Antiochus And armies shall stand on his part and they shall pollute the Sanctuary of strength and they shall take away the daily sacrifice and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate Which text was fulfilled the first of Maccabees the first chapter 54. ver which was a type of that abomination which our Saviour speaketh of meaning as I conceive that of Daniel the 11. 31. now as Antiochus by his power did pollute the temple of the Lord by commanding the daily sacrifice to cease and did set up the Idol of abomination upon the Altar of God where by the spirit of God departed from that worship even so in the mystery the Pope hath changed the communion into the sacrifice of the Masse and real presence in the Sacrament and caused the people to worship it so that by reason of that idolatry the spirit of God is departed from that administration Thirdly that whereas the Lord Jesus having instituted his last supper to be practised in Remembrance of his death till he come and made no mention of worshipping it the Pope contrarily maketh it a sacrifice and commandeth the people to worship it thereby forcing the spirit of God from that worship Luke 22. 19. 1 Corinthians 11. 24. Fourthly That whereas the Lord hath commanded Exodus the 20. that his people should make no graven image nor the likenesse of any thing in any place thereby to worship it the Pope contrary to his command maketh the reall presence in the Sacrament daily under the form of bread and commandeth the people to worship it without any warrant from the word for their practice thereby forcing the people to commit Idolatry and so driveth the spirit of God from that dispensation Fifthly That as the Jews in time of the standing of the Temple by their Idolatry and by their setting up the image of jealousie in the temple did cause the spirit of God to depart from that worship Ezekiel the 8. 5 6. even so the Pope and his clergy in the mystery hath set up the image of jealousie in the Church in turning the communion of the Lords supper from its first Institution into the real presence of Christs fleshly body in forme of bread in the Sacrament and commanded the people to worship it thereby grieving the Spirit of God and causing it to depart from that worship Sixthly that as the pastours or shepherds of the Jewes in the time of the standing of the Temple did eat up the good pasture and drank the deep waters which I conceive was the ordinances of the Temple with the sacrifices and did tread
or Madrid which are the head cities of these three nations but Saint John treats of things in a mystery speaking of materiall things which have a spirituall sense and this is eleer in Revelation the 10. 7. where he saith But in the voyce of the seventh Angel when he shall begin to sound the mystery of God shall be finished as he hath declared by his servants the Prophets wherein is plainly declared that the prophets in severall ages of the world have for the most part declared their prophesie in a mystery and for proof of it I shall alledg two places of many namely Mat. 2. 15. where it is said That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet out of Egypt have I called my son And in ver 17. it is said Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah saying In Rama was a voyce heard In which two places can in reason be no other but a mysticall sense meant and are taken out of Hos. 11. 1. Jer. 31. 15. Now to speak something of this Beast I desire that these severall places of Scripture may be considered as touching the rising of this beast for it is said Rev. 9. 11. speaking of the Locusts that they had a King over them which is the King or Angel of the bottomless pit and then in chap. 11. 7. it is said And when they shall have finished their testimony the beast that did ascend out of the bottomless pit shall make warr against them And in chap. 13. 11. he saith And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two hornes like a lamb and he spake like the dragon which three places I suppose mean one and the same beast which may be seen by the coherence and the agreement of the three texts being duly considered Now whether we may take the two hornes to signifie strength as two Kingdomes or whether we may take the two hornes to mean some mysticall things I dare not judg for so much as I suppose the beast is not yet fully appeared but only a preparation for him but this we may remember that in the last times according as our Saviour foretold there should arise false Christs and false prophets and shall shew great signes and wonders that if it were possible they should deceive the very Elect Mat. 24. 24. and Rev. 9. 7. And the shapes of the Locusts were like unto horses prepared to battell and on their heads were as it were Crownes of Gold and their faces were as the faces of men and they had haire as the hair of women and in chap. 13. 13. And he doth great wonders so that he makes fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men and in chap. 16. 13. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the false prophets In all which places there is mention made of false prophets which should deceive the people and should stir up the nations to fight against the Lord Jesus in his people saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an Image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live and he had power to give life unto the Image of the beast that the Image of the beast should speak and cause that as many as would not worship the Image of the beast should be killed All which things considered and insomuch as we are fallen into the last times notwithstanding I dare not a ffirm any thing of certain by means of the darknesse of the mystery so that untill the prophesies are fufilled we cannot attain to the opening of them yet neverthelesse these exhortations will be necessary for all men to take notice of first that insomuch as there shall come such false prophets as if it were possible they should deceive the very Elect and that the beast which did arise out of the Earth had two hornes like a lamb and that by Saint Johns words he should cause fire to come down from heaven in the sight of men that is the spirit as he pretends therefore that they would be very wary whom they trust And secondly that within the compasse of this ten years we have had such fair pretences made of reformation among the clergie and yet I beleeve had the time suted with them they would something have spoken like the dragon in persecuting such as could not submit themselves to their reformation as may be seen fully if men diligently consider their carriages in this age And thirdly I shall admonish all those of the nations which have the rule of the government in their hands that they would beware what government they set up in the worship of God and that for these reasons First left they make an Image of the beast which had a wound by a sword and yet did live Secondly that they beware of all such as come in sheeps cloathing and inwardly are ravening wolves left by their perswasion they cause the Image of the beast both to speak and to cause that as many as would not worship the Image of the beast should be killed that is by inciting the magistrates to fall to persecuting and killing the servants of the Lord Jesus which cannot submit to their government in spirituall things which is set up And thirdly for so much as the government of the nations ceases to bear the image or any image of the beast so long as they do Justice and relieve the distressed and defend their people committed to their charge and for bear to persecute for cause of conscience in spirituall things because it is the nature of beasts that prey upon others to devour and kill the innocent sheep and other creatures that are subject to their tyranny And thus much by way of Exhortation to all men that they be no occasion of setting up the beast I shall now come to speak of the time of standing and prevailing of this beast which I take hath his time of beginning though not yet discerned at the decaying of the beast which did arise out of the sea which was according to my former accompt in the yeer 1584 according to Rev. 13. 18. which will be the yeer of our Lord according to our vulgar accompt 2250. And this I shall prove from the prophesie of Daniel in chap. 8. 13. where it is said Then I heard one saint speaking and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation to give both the sanctuary and the hoste to be trodden under foot And he said unto me unto 2300 dayes then shall the sanctuary be cleansed And it is said Hos. 6. 2. After two dayes will he revive us in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight Where pray take notice a day for 1000 yeers
and to keep himself unspotted of the world Which having further considered I began more fully to understand the sense of those three places of that most Evangelicall Prophet Isaiah in his 29th chapter and 17th verse where it is said Is it not yet a very little while and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitfull field and the fruitfull field shall be esteemed as a Forrest and that text in the 32. chapter and 15 verse where it is said Vntill the Spirit be poured out upon us from on high and the wildernesse be a fruitfull field and the fruitfull field be counted as a Forrest and that text in his 35. chapter and 7 verse where it is said And the parched ground shall become a poole and the thirsty land springs of water in the habitation of dragons where each lay shall be grasse with reeds and rushes In all which places the Prophet testifieth that in that great change when the Lord restores his people by pouring out his Spirit from on high there shall be a fruitfull field which will then be counted as a Forrest which according to this doctrine I suppose cannot well be applied to any but to the Church of Rome it so flourishing by converting of nations and by the sanctity of doctrine and life of the chiefe professors thereof and this I am induced to believe from those two places Matthew the 23. and 15. where it is said Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you compasse sea and land to make one proselite and when he is made ye make him two fold more the child of hell then your selves And that of the Apostle to the Romans chapter 10. 2. where he saith speaking of the Jews For I bear them record that they have zeal of God but not according to knowledg from whence I inferr that in a corrupt Church there may be a zeal of God though not according to knowledg which may reach to the converting of nations and to abundance of zeal in works of the flesh such as man is able to devise of himself and also in that great change there will be a people that in the esteem of the world and in these actions which are set forth as marks of the true Church in this book and place thereof that before men will be counted a fruitfull field which shall then prove the Forrest so much doth the Lord reject mens performances devised by themselves But I am not ignorant that it may be readily objected that those places of the prophet Isaiah have reference unto the Jewes which esteemed themselves as a fruitfull field and counted the gentiles as a Forrest and by our Saviours and his Apostles preaching were converted and became the fruitfull field and the Jewes became the forrest For answer unto which I do acknowledg that the prophet Isaiah hath prophesies touching the same thing but those three places speak of that great change at the Lords bright appearing to restore all things which I shall prove from the texts themselves where note in the 29. chap. and 20. verse he saith for the terrible one is brought to nought and the scorner is consumed and all that watch for iniquity are cut off which is not yet performed for there are many that yet watch for iniquity and many scorners not cut off And then in the 22 verse it is said Therefore thus saith the Lord who redeemed Abraham concerning the house of Jacob Jacob shall not now be ashamed neither shall his face wax pale which shews cleerly that this change was to be wrought when the Lord restored the house of Jacob and I beleeve no man will say that Jacob is yet restored And in the 32. chapter and 13. verse it is said speaking of that desolate condition of the Jews and I conceive mystically also of the beleeving Gentiles Upon the land of my people shall come up thornes and bryers yea upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city and in next verse he shews the reason because the palaces shall be forsaken the multitude of the city shall be left the forts and towers which I conceive are mystically Churches shall be dens for ever a joy of wild asses a pasture of flocks But after the Spirit is poured out in the 18. verse he saith And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting places which cannot yet be applyed unto the Jews nor yet to the beleeving Gentiles And touching that text in the 35. chapter pray take notice that the prophet having in the 34. chapter spoken of the destruction of the nations but especially of Idumea or mysticall false brethren comes in the 35. chapter to say The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them that is for their destruction and the desart shall rejoyce and blossom as a rose and then in the second verse it is said The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it that is to the wildernesst and I am sure this is not yet performed neither to the nations nor yet to the Church which in this chapter is compared to a wilderness and parched ground therefore I conclude these texts are no way appliable to the Jewes and Gentiles at the Lords first appearing And thus much by way of digression now again to my former matter Seventhly I shall prove that the people of the Lord Jesus must wait for their Master by watching and prayer in this sleepy and dead condition without the purity of ordinances by that deaf lame and blind condition that they shal be found in when the Lord destroys Babylon and delivers them and this I shall prove from Isa. the 29. 18. and 35. 5 6. in which places it is said Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped then shall the lame man leap as an hart and the tongue of the dumb sing and why what is the cause of this great change he saith for in the wilderness shall streams break forth and waters in the desart and all this to follow the destruction of the nations and false brethren as in the foregoing chapter Now if it be thus that when the Lord delivers his people by destroying their Enemies they shall be blind lame and deaf and like a wilderness which I think no man will be so impudent as to affirm that the people of the Lord Jesus shall be blind lame and deas and like a wilderness in respect of the graces of the spirit as faith hope love self-deniall and meekness but in respect of outward order and discipline how comes it to passe that we have so many men that boast of the spirit that they be come to Sion and enjoy God perfectly and are not sensible of any sin and how comes it to passe that we have so much boasting of the purity of ordinances and of Apostles and Prophets as it was in the first Gospel times I profess that if any have
such gifts as they professe that they do enjoy and have such abundance of the spirit as that they are perfect as is boasted of really and indeed I do acknowledg I come short of them for I feel no such thing in my selfe in the mean time God assisting me I shall not envy their happiness but nevertheless I advise them that they look diligently about them and be sure on their hand that they be so indeed lest they prove to be such as our Saviour forewarneth us of Matthew the 24. 24. where he saith For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall shew great signes and wonders that if it were possible they should deceive the very Elect. And I suppose it is contrary to those Scriptures I have alledged and many more Eightly I shall prove that the people of the Lord Jesus must wait by watching and prayer out of Gospel order in its purity during their captivity for their deliverer by the Lords own speech where he wondereth that there was no intercessor and saith he I looked and there was none to help Isaiah the 59. 16. and 63. 5. thereby shewing the scarcity of such as should intercede for their deliverance and how few there should be of such as should lay to heart the judgments of God now if it be so that the Lord when he comes puts a question whether he shall find faith on the earth Luke 18. 8. and that there will be none of the great ones which are as shepherds upon the earth to be an intercessor for his peoples deliverance and that he that departeth from evill maketh himself a prey Isaiah 59. 15. Then how comes it to passe that we do vaunt of such Revelations and of such perfection and of such Church order as is pretended Which if the principles of those men be true which say that the order which we practise is the way by which the Lord will draw by degrees his people out of Babell into hodies or single fellowships to meet the Lord in Sion which if so there will be abundance of intercessours and many to help forward the work which the Lord professeth in those two places he is left to do alone namely to deliver his people Ninthly I shall prove the people of the Lord Jesus must wait by watching and prayer without the benefit of ordinances in their purity during the sleepy and dead condition by the Lords promising to bring the blind by a way that they knew not and I will lead them in paths that they have not known Isaiah the 42. 16. now the wayes that are now practised are not wayes which have not been known but they are such wayes as the people of the Lord did walk in in the first Gospel times or at the least an imitation of them and these may be in a sense called old wayes but the wayes which the Lord will deliver his people by at that great restoring will be new wayes and such as have not been known therefore according to this text these are not the wayes the Lord will deliver his people by Tenthly I shall prove by way of probability that it is the will of the Lord Jesus that his people must wait by watching and prayer for their Lords appearing during this dead condition without the benefit of ordinances in their purity from that evill successe and those sad effects which have befallen the people of God in all their reformations since the rise of Antichrist I shall begin with the evill successe As first where is that Reformation begun in Bohemiah in that Kingdome is it not come to nothing or at the least wise growne to a customary performance and much short of that perfection which we now talk of and strive so diligently to obtain Secondly what is become of the reformation begun by Waldus of Lions of whom came the Waldenses and Albigenses which spread abroad in the country of France Tholouse Piedmont and other places of Germany is it not come to the bare name of Protestants and though they are something refined from Rome yet do they fall short of that true reformation which we do see apparently to be necessary if we could attain unto it Thirdly if we look upon that reformation begun by Martin Luther which was the most excellent of all other being as I conceive that wound which was given unto the beast Revel the 13. that did arise out of the sea which nevertheless did live of which reformation we in this nation have had proof that it was growne to nothing a most but formality and we are returning back with hast to Rome again as is witnessed by many godly men observing it and complaining of it in our dayes Fourthly I appeal to any mans experience what is become of that reformation which was pretended for in the beginning of our troubles how zealous were our Ministers for a Reformation in stirring up the Parliament and people for a Reformation by displacing our popish and Episcopall Ministers which being in part performed and those Ministers got up in their places how soon did the generallity of them grow cold and negligent in their duty how busie have they been to look after their profits and preferments and what hunting of men for tithes and other duties and what complaints put to the Committees against such men as would not answer their demands in things pertaining unto this life I leave it to the magistrate and to any godly man to judg Fifthly Notwithstanding that I honour and love the image of God in men of every profession yet should the State take part with any one of our severall professions and set it up as a State Religion I much doubt lest in compass of an age or two it would decline and grow into formality as hath been seen by the foregoing Reformations I write not this to undervalue mens persons or religion that they professe but lamenting the miseries we lie under and grieving to see the little trust that is in man and how few there be that having attained to that they desire stand steady in their profession without wavering I mean not in their profession of outward discipline belonging to outward order but that Essence and life of Religion I mean faith and a good conscience Secondly I shall prove it by the sad effects which have followed upon all our Reformations as 1. What miseries did befall that Reformation begun in Bohemia what cruel wars and bloud-shed did follow upon it in that nation and the Germanes in opposing them is best known unto those that are acquainted with their history Insomuch as their captain Scisca doth boast unto his souldiers that he had led them to eleven battels and in every of them he went away victor and yet after his death those Bohemians were overcome not without much bloud-shed on either side 2. What miseries did befall the people of the Waldoys or Waldenses in the valleys of Angrogne Luscerne St. Martin Perouse and others in