it And our experience may shew us that some times we think to speak to God and we find our selves such strangers to him or at such a distance that we flie to Christ and cry Lord shew us the Father and Lord teach us to Pray as John taught his Disciples Yea and better too as Thou art a better Teacher At another time it may be we bow down and think to speak to Christ and then perhaps we find a damp upon our spirits unto him and some estrangement from him so that we flie to the Father and cry Good Father shew us Thy Son Draw us to thy Son yea draw us heartily that so we may know him more and better then ever for we are strangers to him And I have known some that usually began their prayers unto Christ or at least bowed their spirits silently to him before they spake to God and desired Christ both to help them expresse their own wants and then also present them to His Father Praying in them to His Father while they bowed in his spirit crying as he bad his children say Abba Father for all persons and for all things they ought or might pray for which perhaps are more then they are Tied to and so usually they concluded with the plainest sence rather than words of the Lords Prayer Which also seemeth to have been a more ancient custom in the Church than only of late when some discoursed only what they wanted or would beg of God Which yet I should not disallow if done with such an Heart and life and Power and Spirit as it may and yet I hope it will be done among the Churches of Christ. But I may sum up all in this the good Father by the Holy Ghost in his Ordinances first breaks the Match to the Virgin soul and shews her great want of an helper in her wretched and forlorn estate He tells her also he hath a Son who will use her kindly and tenderly if she will accept him Then he sends the Son a woer and till all be agreed for portion and joynture and other things the Treaty is much with the Father who also giveth assurance of his hearty consent to the match and to his making good all the Son shall promise and indeed is as it were his Sons surety to the poor soul. And when the Son is admitted yea and contracted he still useth his Fathers Name and bids the spouse be confident of all his Father ever promised And if there do arise any doubt or scruple in the matter or manner of contract dowrie or the like the soul hath not onely leave but most great encouragement to go and speak to the Father as also to reconcile any difference or strangenesse that at any time shall rise or seem to be between the parties But when they be married or espoused the Son useth her so sweetly and kindly that she never hath occasion much lesse cause to complain to the Father which yet she might freely do upon any cause but she is so wholly taken up with the spouses affection and most hearty love that her main converse and solace of her life is with Him Though she often ask her Father Blessing and very often bow to him with most child-like Reverence and dutiful Love rather then fear which if servile or slavish is exceeding much displeasing unto God and Jesus Christ and to the true genius of a Christian established with a free Noble Royal spirit Have we not a Type and Emblem of this or somewhat more in Caleb and his son and daughter Achsa Caleb As the Heart it signifies and may shadow out the Heart of God whom he wholly followed with an honest plain upright which in scripture Language is a perfect heart He saith who ever conquers Kiriath Sepher which may note the book of scripture which was also called Dehir that is the Oracle shall have my Daughter and my blessing with her Othniel conquers it and afterwards is made a Judge and saves his people from the cruel Tyrant and he getteth Calebs Daughter Who first moveth her Husband to ask a field of her Father and afterwards freeing her self from her Asse or bestial nature she boweth her self to her Father and asks him in her own person saying O my Father Thou hast given me a piece of Earth O but give me thy Blessing with it and a spring of Water So he gave her both the Upper and the Lower Springs An History so repeated in the Bible that I have often thought some great matter is in it Besides that it cleerly shews us the Heart of God such an infinite Fountain still flowing up and flowing over that he is so far from being drawn dry by our sucking or from being displeased at our Asking and Begging of him that he expects rather that all we have received from him even by his Sons Asking should but encourage us yet to ask more and more still as we receive more from him And when he hath given us a Field or a piece of Earth He expects we should ask his Blessing even the rather and the Springs of Water Even as our Father Abraham when God came to him after his great deliverance from the four great Kings which may be Types as their names import of the four great Monarchies that should captive his people and the good men of the world also till He should bring back their Captivity and the Captivity of Sodom also to be paralel'd with the 16. of Ezekiel just before the appearing of Melchizedech resembling Christ in his second Coming Pursuing them to Dan even to the great Judgment as the place imports And when God might so justly expect that Abraham should have been bowing down in great Thankfulness for That deliverance Abraham saies not a word of That but is Begging a new boon O the mans confidence and cries Lord God what wilt thou give me as if he had received nothing yet or at least very little in comparison of That he knew the Infinite Heart of God still had for him and was straitned till it was more drawn and sucked And the Mothers Breast is somtimes so full that she is glad of a strangers child to suck that which her own child cannot master And when it might have been expected of the Daughters of Zelophehad that the modesty of their Sex should have kept them silent or the shame or sorrow which they should have born for their father being cut off in the Wilderness and dying in his sin and they left Orphans and Virgins Yet they sue for their Inheritance And the Lord heard it and it pleased him so that upon this occasion he Enacted a new Law very beneficial to Women who had therefore much cause to remember and bless the memory of these Daughters And God was so far from upbraiding them or their father that he answers They have well done or well said and rightly too in what they say in that they do not judg themselves unworthy
lose her two Sons for bondslaves which may be a great Mystery and how he gave a Son to a barren VVoman and then raised him from the Dead and how he Healed the Pottage when Death was in the Pot and fed a great Multitude with a few barly loves and Healed Naaman the Syrian Lepar and struck Gehezy with Leprosie for seeking things of the VVorld in an ill time or season And How his dead bones raised a dead man and many other things we might observe in this great Type of Jesus Christ. But especially His striking his Enemies blind and then bringing them into Samaria and when the King of Israel said shall I smite them my Father shall I smite them He said Noe. Wilt thou smite them whom thou hast taken Prisoners with thy sword and thy bow Set bread and meat before them c. And I have often heard one say he knew not that he ever had a sweeter return from Christ then when once in great anguish he could onely say Now shew thy Kindnesse to thy Poor Enemy Whom thou hast taken Captive with Thy sword and thy bow And the King of Israels Feasting Those Prisoners for he made great provision for them may be more considered hereafter and compared with That of Solomon if thy Enemy hunger feed him and the Lord shall not onely requite but reward thee and this History may be the more considerable because it may perhaps be found the most desperate or most forlorn condition here on earth VVhen a man Degenerates into a judicial blindnesse Except it may yet be worse to come unto a Beastly Spirit and Nature VVhich is when after great and perhaps very long Abusing Light and Love shewed from God and Christ a man doth not only disobey but grieve and quench that good spirit so much and so long that at length it leaves him to degenerate into a blind and seared conscience and a Bruitish Nature till he becomes as a Dog biting and snarling at all about him and returning to his vomit and as the Swine to wallowing in the mire and also Turning and Tearing those that lay good things before him Who now tramples them under his feet and offers despite to the spirit of Grace and accounteth his Saviors blood as unclean and profane This was It perhaps the Psalmist so prayed against not only when he cries against Presumptuous sins but Then also perhaps when he prayeth so earnestly to be kept from the Dog or Dog-like Nature of which he speaketh divers times And This it may be is also in the Revelation under the Notion of Worshiping the Beast and receiving his character where it is also said that All the world should so follow the Beast but those that were written in the Lambs book of Life From the Foundation of the World And I have somtimes inclined to believe that Christ is not only the True Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world but that he Truly loves every man as he loves himself so long as he is a Man But when he degenerates into the Nature and spirit of a Beast and it may be the evil spirits are in the species of Ravening Beasts as good Angels in others and when one so degenerates into the Beastly Nature Then one falls out of Christs Neighborhood Yea and it may perhaps come so far that they may be no more warned lest they Turn and Tear those that cast such precious Pearls before them And in such a forlorn case it may be hard to shew why they should or how they can expect any more favor from Christ than a Beast or why so much And It may be This is That Sin unto Death of which the Apostle speaks when he addeth also that for such He doth not say that one ought to pray But yet he Doth not say One ought not to pray even for such also Which is One of the reasons why I pray for All I ought and All I may pray for When I am crying to an Infinite God for All my Relations and Truly they are very many as I somtimes say to God for I am Related to the whole Creation of God and yet farther than I can express and I know not But I may somtimes pray for some That I am not Tyed in duty or by express Command to pray for But I am still Tyed to Love my Neighbor as my self and so is Christ also I Trust or else I lose one of the sweetest pieces of the whole Bible and himself also brings the Notion of a Neighbor out so large that it may not only include Strangers but Enemies also And when a mans waies please the Lord he will make his Enemies his greatest Enemies to be at peace with him And if an Angel or if God himself forbid a man to pray for such or such a person City Nation or number of men yet This may be but to draw him larger out by shewing the danger of such persons As we see in the Prophet Jeremy and others that never prayed more sweetly than when they were forbidden to pray for such or such and yet they prayed Then most because they saw there was most need And Gods commands never do never will forbid us to Love our Neighbor as our self And that No man may ever despair we found Gods Love of pity and compassion so to reach to Beasts also that his great Command is that They also must be brought to keep the Sabboth and to rest the Rest of God and a good man and Christ is the Best of men must be and will be Merciful to his very Beast also Yea to the Beast of his Enemy and Him that hates him as we see commanded And for Those also that degenerate into the Beastly Nature lest They also should at length despair not to speak how often men are invited in the Prophets and the Revelation to come back again from the Beast and out of Babylon which shews they might return Repent and live we see How graciously God dealt with Nebuchadnezzar Though he so degenerated into a Beast which may be much worse than to be made a Beast at first and so born How Wisdom also crieth unto Scorners and How it is promised She Shall yet cry even unto Scorners may be here again observed out of the Proverbs To be compared with the 48. of Esay sweetly calling inviting and wooing the most obstinate sinners and Treacherous Revolters Yet for my Names sake and again for my Names sake I will resrain For How shall I cut thee off O that thou hadst or wouldst yet hearken For He speaketh in the present Tence I am yet teaching thee c. And how shall I give away the Glory of my Patience and my Goodness Shall I be weary also of well doing and having begun in the spirit of Goodness shall I also end in a fleshly Wrath or Passion God forbid The Psalmist also saith He received Gifts for Rebels also even for Rebels as we saw
will come as the Latter Rain before the Former O but what shall I do to thee O Ephraim What O Judah Your Goodness or Mercy as a Cloud as a morning Dew Passing away Therefore or because I have â—ewed them â—y the Prophets and slain them by the words of my mouth That as the Latine Vt thy judgements might be Light going forth as at first Creation or in the Morning For I desired Mercy Chesed and not Sacrifice and the knowledge of God before Burnt-Offerings Though They passed the Covenant As Adam There they Cloathed or dissembled against me But in the Close He hath set an Harvest for Thee O Judah in my Turning the Captivity of my people Which we saw before in the Moed of Tabernacles In the next Chapter Ephraim is as Jonah going to Nineveh or Assyria But I will spread my Net 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Rest As on That Whale Vomiting Jonah after 3 dayes and bring them down as the Fowls of Heaven Orydem Asyrem as alluding to Assyria By which I will Chasten them according to the Report of their Witnesses or Congregaton of Witness As alluding to the Law and their constant Custome That when any one was chastened There were Judges and Witnesses standing by to reckon and report and record the number of strips That they might not exceed 40 How great soever the fault was He that had Many Stripes might have but 40 Least Thy Brother Yet Thy Brother Though but now a wicked man Left thy Brother should be Vile in thy eyes As we saw before Bot woe unto them Though I have or will Redeeme them Yet they speak lies against me Or as Moses song They are Lying Children forgetting their Father that first made them and then also Redeemed them saying Surely They are Children that will Lye no more I will hearken for he will speak peace That they may no more return to folly O Lord I have waited for thy salvation I bound or instructed and at the same time I strengthned their Armes or Strong Sowers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But they Plotted Wrong to me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as alluding to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used before for Binding up contrary to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Yoak a Beast and make it Tame as a Lamb which is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is also Money as stamped with it or exchanged for it As of old Pecunia from Pecus They returned from Assyria or Babylon But not to the High it may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are like a Deceitful Bow Their Princes shall fall by the sword For the Rage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 677 of their Tongue Psal. 12. 73 8. And that we cited from Daniel 11. 36. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Till the Rage end for the Determined must be done Then the Trumpet for Alarm and the Roman Eagles As our Saviour also Comments on it Except it be the Caldeans as Types of some other And the very sound of Samariahs Eagle or Calf as we touched in Eglon may allude to those Eagles coming against them Yea and against the Temple also where the Golden Eagle was a sad Omen And they shall say to the Mountains Cover us and to the Hills Fall upon us To be compared with That in the Gospel and Revelation But how shall I give thee up O Ephraim O Israel How shall I give thre up As Admah How shall I put thee as Zeboim My Heart is Turned quite Turned on me My Repentings are kindled together I will not execute the â—ierceness of my Anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim for I am God and not Man the Holy One in the midst of Thee And I will not become a Bear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Bruit Beast Cruel and Devouring And yet They shall run as Lacquies after the Lord and he shall shew or shout as a Lyon Arie we touched it too much already in Aries Then shall the sons be afraid or run as an Heard yea and carking care or charge may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flying to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As Zippora the Bird or the Goat or Saphira with Moses from Aegypt and as Jonah from Assyria I will House them again in their own Houses saith the Lord. I will make them sit or Turn them again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1329. How near to Daniels 1335 or Twice 666 Is Judah also One of the Faithful Witnesses in the next Verse and Then Jacobs Birth and Life and Travels and Weeping and Wrestling at Mahanaim And of Succoth Moed of Tabernacles as before with Labans service and Lebana and Aegypt again They shall be as a Cloud and a morning Dew Their sin and their Punishment and as Moats 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Grain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as smoak Ashan as the English Ashes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet I am the Lord thy God from Aegypt And thou shalt know no God besides me For there is no Saviour besides me made under all those Commands also From the Hand of Seol Grave and Hell as St Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will redeem them From Death I will ransom them As Goel the Kinsman that had Right and Command of Redemption as we saw before And Gole is also an English word as Goal I will be thy Plague O Death to devour or speak down as before in the Psalms O Seol I will be â—hy Cut off or most Deadly destruction Being promised to Break the serpents Head to loose all his knots and to destroy his works and Him that had the Power of Death which is the Devill Apoc. 20. 14. Repentance shall be Hidden from me Issater 670. with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it makes 1328 we touched it in Hester As God himself in Moses song Esterah where also the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is final as before to make Hester just 666 and again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the same song It shall be a Mistery to you a Promise rather than a Threatning As Paul also going to cite This place of Hosea saith Behold I shew you a Mistery or The Great Mistery With â—hee the Orphan shall be made Perfect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall finde most tâ—nder Compassions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only the Womb or Bowels but Their own Spirit also I will heal their Backslidings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1342. and with 1348. I will Heal leads us to Arphaâ—sad I will loose or dissolve as the Destroyer But also I will Heal As Shaddai the Almighty I will be as Good as Great or Powerful And that for my Names sake The son of Sem the great Name They that know it shall finde Rest or Noah Sem they say was the great Melchisedeck the King of Righteousness and Peace which is Salem But sure
OLBIA THE NEW ILAND LATELY DISCOVERED With its Religion and Rites of Worship Laws Customs and Government Characters and Language With Education of their Children in their Sciences Arts and Manufactures with other things remarkable By a Christian Pilgrim driven by Tempest from Civita Vecchia or some other parts about Rome through the Straits into the ATLANTICK OCEAN The First Part. From the Original For Samuel Hartlib in Ax-yard Westminster and John Bartlet at the Guilt-Cup near Austins-Gate London and in Westminster-Hall 1660. The sum of this Discourse HAving lost his Father and other Relations about the great Sickness in Naples the Author becometh a sad disconsolate Pilgrim all alone by Land till unexpected dangers force him from Rome or there about to the Sea Where in a great Storm and Tempest he falleth into unexpressable Horror and Anguish of Minde till at length by Shipwrack losing all his Company he is cast on a scraggy Rock and There by a Religious Person as an Hermite entertained till recovering his Peace and strength with a quiet minde he also Learned the Religion Laws Customs Language and Characters of That New Iland fully described in the Books following this First Part. In which the Father discourseth the Danger of wrong Judgeing our selves or others with the way to a right understanding and Judgement the great Work of the Spirit promised to the World by Jesus Christ Who was sent to Redeem our souls from All Deceit and violence and to offer sacrifice for every one that Erreth and for him that is simple Cleered from Ezech. 45. 20. with Psal. 72. Of our Access and addresses to Him by Prayer As Saint Paul Learned from the first Martyr at his Death and thence made it the great Character of a Christian cleered from His Epistles and the Acts with the Revelation and other Scriptures in Harmony to the Psalms and Canticles Conversing with Christ and Praying to him From the 17. page to the 44. How Christ taught his Disciples and others to pray Our Father c. How He prayed to His Father and How a Christian to Christ and the Father in and through Christ. As Calebs Daughter to Her Father by her Husband and Her self Of Zelophehads Daughters and Edoms Widows and Orphans from Jer. 49. 11. from 44 page to 53. The great Arguments to be pressed on Christ as our Brother Born for a Day of sorrow made of a Woman made under the Law to Redeem them under the Law How the Law lay upon Christ as the great High Priest and Prophet promised to Moses to be raised from our Brethren and Like us in All things and so in the Law also And as our King to write out the Law by which he Ruled and to keep it all his Dayes that so he may do it and prolong his Dayes and Reign in the Heart of his People Where also the way to settle a perpetual Monarchy to a King and his Sons for Ever As God to Moses Joshuah David Solomon or others from 53. to 59. How the Suffering part of the Law lay upon Christ and sor whom but especially the Doing Part. How All was by himself summed up into Love and that but little if onely to Persons Lovely and Loving again How God Commended his Love to the worst of men to whom the Law it self saith I am the Lord Thy God and I have Redeemed Thee and therefore thou shalt Love me and worship me and Glorifie my Name and keep my Rest because I have provided it for Thee and Do and will both Love Honour and Glorifie Thee from 59. to 64. and 94. to 101. How Gods Jealousie speaketh his Love and all his Visiting from 64 to 70 How God Threatned Adam in Paradice and how he visits to fulfil those Threatnings on Him or others from 70 to 77. How much better for us that infinite Goodness and Riches now fill a Finite Nature that longeth to be sucked as a Breast ready to break with fulnes still flowing up still flowing over and a Drop that runneth over can Enrich our Souls and make us ever Bless him who hath said It is a more blessed thing to Give than to receive And He that hath received freely must give freely Of his having All Power in Heaven and Earth being the Wisdome and Power of God and Better for himself to use it for Edification rather than Destruction from 77 to 81. How Christ Loved the World and Prayed for the World how not from 81 to 86. 94 to 101. Of Gods Hating Cursing in order to a Change and how Places or Persons Hated or Cursed may be Recovered Blessed from 85 to 149. 161 308. Of the Earth cursed for Man but Washed or Baptised by the Flood And of Baptising Children how Holy things of old belonged to every one redeemed by the Priests or born in their Families 18 120 186 365. How cursed Canaan was blessed again 122 c. And cursed Jericho Recovered 128 129. And Gibbeon And Aye And Sodom Moab and Ammon Edom and Amaleck of Esau. Egypt and Assyria with the Philistines Of Death and Hell in Saul conquered by Love in David bound up for 1000 Years As coming loose again in Saul of the same Tribe struck down as with Lightning and Named Paul after Sergius Paulus that Prudent Roman Deputy Of Shimei Cursing David or other Shimeis and of Judas and Pauls rising in the House of Judas Of Aeneas Ananias and Saphira Tabitha Dorcas or others Recovered by the Apostles Of Christs Love to his Father and duty by the Law requiring him to propagate his Fathers Love with all his might and manifest his Name and True Worship to bring in all his Children servants sons of his handmaids Strangers and Cattle also to keep the Sabbath to Rest the Rest of God from 100 to 117. 141. Of the Law of Redemption Laid upon Christ as the Kinsman that is able and hath Power and Riches in his Hand and a Tender Heart and Eye when he doth but see the naked and miserable that hath No Helper though they cannot weep it out to him or do not see him who will not hide himself from his own flesh when their Land or Person but especially their pretious and immortal Soul is Sold or pawned or mortgaged or forfaited How he hath promised to draw All men to him and to make All things new 56. 107. 124. to 163. How a man may put himself out of Christs Neighbourhood by degenerating from a Man to a Beast and of Worshipping the Beast receiving the Name Character Image or Number of the Beast Serpent or Dragon and how all the World worship the Beast but those that are written in the Lambs Book of Life How God with all his goodness knoweth how to punish the wicked but especially those that walk in Lust of the flesh and speak Evil of Dignities the sin of Corah c. the crying sins of the last dayes and how there was no sacrifice for
wilful sinners Of the patience of Christ to a man turning into a Beast and how he deviseth Devises to prevent it or recover him How he fulfilled the Ceremonial Law also and how he was in all the Sacrifices as a Lamb for the Lambs and as a Goat for the Goats Of Benjamin the Son of the right hand with other Children of Rachel a sheep in Hebrew at his right Hand and of the Children of Leah or others at the Left Hand where also of Seir a Goat and of the Goats offered at the New Moons solemn Feasts c. and of the Rams of Ishmael accepted on the Holy Alter Of Gods face in Scripture toward the East and of Bowing to the East and of his Right Hand to the South and Left to the North and of Northern Judgments turned to Mercies and Blessings and of great and good things to come out of the North in the Latter times of the World as from Babylon at the return from Captivity How Christ came in the fulness of time Of Seven Ten the full Rich Numbers of their Powers Compounds for Ages Ever or eternity which yet in Scripture oft hath such or such an End or Revolution in such or such Generations How Christ came out in several Ages and Persons of Note in the Bible to do the Great things of Gods Power Wisdome and Goodness for Man To Man and in Man through all the Times and Seasons of the Scripture and in special the Times of the Witnesses In Heaven the Father and the Word Dabar Bar Bara Creating Heaven and Earth where also the Spirit of the Messiah as the old Jews call it on Gen. 1. 2. Mooving on the Waters an other Witness and parting them by A Dam and Adam of Adama dryed Red Earth akin to Dam in Hebrew Bload the other Witness John 5. and Acts 17. Of one Blood he made all Nations of men and determined the Times appointed and bounds of their Habitations which in parting the sons of Adam he bounded according to the Number of the Sons of Israel Deu. 32. which were 12. and to be measured by the 12 Hours of Day and Night Shadowed on the Tabernacle by the Cloud Pillar of Fire for Light that Beginning of the Creation and works of God and in its outer Court by the Laver of Water and Blood on the Alter of Witness as That called Ed a Witness by the waters also of Jordan where afterward the Baptist heard or saw all the Witnesses of Heaven and Earth to which he bare Record or was made a witness also as divers other in several Ages And All the 7 Washings or Sprinklings of Blood or Water so often required in the Law to represent the 7 Nights and 7 Dayes of the Week As the 7 Lamps in the inner Court or Holy Place as the visible Heavens with its Planets about the Sun in the midst as the greatest Lamp was in the middle of the other 6 or 3 on either side by the 12 Cakes of Shewbread changed every 7th or Sabbath day and made of 24 Omers out of 24 Seahs as the Jewes 24th of Leviticus for the 24 hours of Day and Night Made by the Sun mooving 2 of His Diameters the Moon 24 of Hers in each diurnal motion of 24 Hours parted into 4 great Watches as the 24 Elders in the Revelation had also 4 watchers with 6 wings a piece as in the Prophets And in the Temple also there were 24 courses of Priests and of Levites 24 of Porters and 24 of Singers and 24 courses of Standers or men of the Station representing all the People or 12 Tribes as in the 12 Cakes of 24 as 12 Sons of Jacob or 12 Hours of Light came after the 12 hours of Darkness or 12 Sons of Ishmael or Esau for the 24. Elders And as God gave 24 things to the Priests so they gave 24 to him in their dayly Minha of 12 Rouls at morning and 12 also at Evening And the Seventh in Hours also is very Signal as in Days and Moneths and years by the great Rest and Turn of Sun and Moon as Water and Blood also in the Sea and bodies of Animals after every six hours with Them and All that accounted Lilith that is Night the first Wife to Adam and do call her Eve or Even to the Day As it is to them that are about the Aequator and to All at either Aequinox when Time seemeth to begin And beginning at Sun-set as the Jewes and many other Nations did the First six Hours brought down the Sun to the Midnight Nadir and six more brought it up to the Morning Horizon and six more to the Noon or Zenith and six more to Setting again So that every seventh Hour made a Pauz and Turn And Sabbath is Both in Hebrew As if the watchers stood at the four Corners of Earth or quarters of the Heaven which are called Winds and Spirits also in the Scripture alluding perhaps to the four watching Spirits or Angels to Turn the Sun and Moon or Hour-glass of Waters or Clepsydra in the Seas c. After every six Hours of Day and Night the walks of the Sun and Moon but shadows of the good things within the Vaile or 3d Heaven where the 2 Cherubins of Glory shadowed the Mercy Seat or Heavenly Throne over the Earth or Ark of the Testimony also or Witnes with its 2 Tables or Testaments also For the 2d Covenant as in 29 of Deuteronomy was both Law and Gospel also written in the Ark of the Heart of Christ and all his Members after the first Tables of Stone were broken and disanulled being never put in the Ark or in our Hearts For know you not that your Bodies are the Temple of God As Paul speaketh to the Gentiles also Where our Heads as the Heavens above with two Eyes or Cherubins of Glory The Mercy seat or Throne of God and his Rainbow as in all the Scriptures like our Eye And our Heart Or Altar of Incense As the Earth beneath in the middle Court or 2d Region with its Pericardium of Water and Blood in the Pleura with twelve Ribs on either side and seven distinct from the other Nothi As also the seven Rackets of the neck with its spirit or spinal marrow from the Cerebellum As the Brain hath also seven spirits or pair of Nerves with Animal spirits Veyles and Ventricles which are shadowed in the Lower Regions both of the Earth below in the Heart and Waters under the Earth in our Bowels where the Duodenum and Ilea with all the Rest are but shadowes of things above As of the Laver or Molten sea or great Ocean with its Ebbings and flowings as the Earning of our Bowels and the Altar of Burnt-offerings in our Stomack with its heat or fire never quenched and the seven Planets with the Firmament of the Midrif parting between the Bowels or Waters under it and those above it as high as the Brain
no evil against your Neighbour as before in that and the former Chapter All these 10th or Fasting Dayes might be Hinted in the 10th of the first Month when the Thick Darknesse began of 3 Dayes and a Half as the Poets long night of 3 Nights together when the Paschal Lamb was Tyed up and prepared to be slain in Hour 333 just Half 666 or the Evening of the 14th Day which ended in Hour 336. And 337 the next Hour or first of the 15th which was a sad Night to All the first born in Aegipt is just the Number of Seol the Hebrew Word for Death and Hell or the Grave All typed out in Aegipt as Leviathan also with the Dragon in the Sea Giving power to the Beast or Image of the Beast as Psalms 74 106. Comming first from Babylon to Aegypt and thence to the Wilderness and thence to the Calves at Dan and Bethel whence back again to Babylon and There it became an Image of 60 cubits High and 6 in breadth till at length it came to be 666 which is here Discoursed 360 or 6 times 60 Hours come just to Sun set of the 15th Day when Israel was driven out and pursued so on the 3d day they say that on the 4th morning 3 Dayes and Half from the Passeover the Aegyptians are drowned as Job 34. 20. and 26. 12. adding the crooked Serpent in the next Verse and Israel cometh up from the Red sea that great Type of the Last Witnesse or Blood of all the Witnesses singing the Song of Moses and the LAMB in Hour 420 which is 3 and an Half of 120 or Moed in Hebrew made of 3 times 40 4 times 30 6 times 20 10 times 12 or 12 times 10 and 3 times 420 make 1260 in the Revelation alluding to This of Egypt and the Wildernesse in Divers places being but 30 years after Daniel's 1290 beginning at the sack of Jerusalem that is 3 times 430. As a Memorial of these 3 dayes and Half they have 3 more days of Thirst and then come to Marah that is Bitternesse Healed by a Tree And then they find 12 Fountains for 12 Tribes 12 Apostles answering to the 12 Hours of Light and 70 Palms as 70 Elders and 70 souls of Jacob in Egypt shadowed by the Palm-trees in the Temple-Courts as Tamar in Hezron as the Hebrew may intimate This 21st Day began at 480 Hours As the Temple began 480 years from Egypt so that its Feast of Dedication in the 7th month of Tabernacles answered to the Great Feast of Unleavened-Bread or Last of the Passover week in the 21st Day of the Month. By this Thread the Author goeth through All the years from Egypt Whose Dark times might be shadowed in the Philistins and others oppressing Israel Freed by Samson that is the Little Sun setting as many years from Egypt as their year had dayes Saul might be born 337 years from their Entring Canaan as the numher of his Name And Elies 40 years might answer Aarons 40 from Egypt where he was chosen to be Priest as God told Eli 1 Sam. â—27 40 more for Saul and Samuel as Act. 13. bring us to David that is Love Conquering Saul or binding him up for 1000 years when the 12 hours of day and night ran through each other at Gibeon with 360 Dayes of the Year then ending to begin a New Year a New Heaven and a New Earth as a New Jerusalem which David Took from the Jebusites who Trod it down as the name in Hebrew intimates 444 years from Egypt that is 2 Thirds of 666. When David had also reigned at Abrahams Hebron 7 years and 6 months being the 7th son of Jessi My Essence in Gods Language and from Abraham the 14th as from Noah the 24th or last Hour of That day setling the Temple Courses by 24 as his Name in Hebrew may be 24 and 14 as from Abraham he was the 14th Generation Matth. 1. And Davids 70 years an Age or Generation Psal. 90 is the 14th 70 from Abrahams Birth Who received the Promise and came from Haran at 75 Gen. 12 and before their coming out of Egypt just 430 years as Exod. 12 and Then 480 to the Temple in Solomons 4th 1 King 6. So that David dyed in 476 from Egypt and from Abraham's Birth 980 years which is just 14 times 70. 6 times 70 more carry them to Babylon and 7 times 70 bring them home again in the 10th Jubilee from David 490 but from Abrahams Birth the 30th Jubilee 3 times 490 that is 1470 which is the 3d 7th 70 or 21 times 70. And from the First Temple to the Second in the 2d of Darius Hystasp were 70 years Or to Ezra's going up in the 7th of Artaxerxes Long Twice 70 and 7 times 70 more as in Daniels Weeks or 490 years which are 10 more Jubilees bring us to our Saviors Death and Resurrection on the 3d Day as the Barley sheaf or first of First-sruits was heaved up the 3d day after the Passover And his sending down the First-fruits of the Spirit in the Pentecost Acts 2d 1537 years from Egypt as the Day of Pentecost the 65th of the year or 50th from the morrow after the Passover on the 14th began in Hour 1537. As also the First of the Great Moed for Mans Repentance of 120 years began in 1537 of the World and of Noah 480 As the Temple was 480 from the Law And Thus between the Two Great Sacks of Jerusalem and of Both Temples by the Caldeans and the Romans are just 666 years 666 being the Number of Change to the World and in special to Jerusalem which was as the Sun to his Moon as Jericho may signifie being made of 6 the first number of Turn and Change in the Sun and Moon or Heaven and Earth and the Great Ocean or Waters under the Earth And 6 is the First Midnight and 4 times 6 end the first Day and Light was first Turned into Darkness in Hour 25 the least square Root of 666 the Great Number of Darknesse or Change in all its principal parts As we saw in 55 CXI 222 the 10th Midnight or Number of Jerecho 333 the slaying of the Passover 444 in the 19th and 555 the first Watch of the 24th Night as the Last Hour of that Day and 666 comes just to the Sun Darkned by the Moon under his Rays 666 Hours the Middle of the 28th Day or the 3d sixt Hour of the 4th seventh Day which is just 29 Days and 12 Hours the Middle point of Sun and Moons Conjunction allowing 42 Hours for the Moons Hiding the number of Cled or Clade in Hebr the Lowest Age or Hour of Darkness or Temptation being the 24th part of 1008 as the Jewes Clakins were 1080. But Half 84 Hours which are in 3 days and a half the longest stay of the Moon in the Suns Rays in slowest motion Which is very different both in Sun and Moon and so are their Diameters yet so proportional to
seemed Thus. Divine Sophia Though I spraul in Clay Yet Thou art neer ally'd and for a Day Of Wo Made of Woman Reach out thy skirt Bow down thine Hemm For It can Heal my Heart Vouchsafe to know me and to let me know Thee When thou hast thy Blackest Mask and though My guilt present thee Frowning Let me see The Frowns I fear are Love that Vaileth thee Made under That most Royal Law of Love That bids thee Love us Heere as Those above Thy Neighbour As thy self And who is He The Stranger Any Man in Misery 'T is Little Love to Love our Like or Friend And Less to Love one Lovely Fair and Kinde All Sinners may do This and Hypocrites Thy Law is Love thine Enemy that fights And Hates Reviles and Offers All Despites Yet if he Want Or if his Ass but stray Thou saist Relieve him Lead him to his way Nor may we stay for Tears But Misery Must melt our Eyes and Heart to Sympathy How dwelleth Else the Love of God I am That Behemoth That Beast that stray's That Ishmael Wild Asses Colt that bray's For want of Fodder Thou art sent to Seek and Help and Save All Lost and Needy That No Helper have To Comfort All that Mourn To Sacrifice For every One that Errs or is Unwise And to Redeem their Soul Their Precious Soul From All Deceit and Violence Thou hast Received Gifts Then Freely Give It makes thee Blessed more then to Receive And Thou hast Gifts for Rebbels And Thy Breast By Flowing alwayes Out is more increast And every little Drop that falleth over Is so Precious that it can recover Any fainting swooning Heart and can stretch out My Narrow Soul As All the Heavens about Thou art gone Over All that Thou mightst fill All Things with Good Then do his Holy Will That sent thee with Eternal Love to Dwell In us to Conquer Wrath and Death and Hell As David Saul To Break the Serpents Head And All his Works and Power To raise the Dead And make All new Which Thou hast also Promised Upon thy â—rone and Lifted up to Draw All Men To Thee Then Do it As Thy Law Requires of All. My Son Give me thy Heart Do Heartily And Do not Act a Part. Nor offer with an Evil Eye lest All Abhorr Thy Dainties Do To All men As thou wouldst be Done unto Or if thou Hate Us Love thy Fathers Name With All thy Might and Propagate his Fame And Manifest his Love As Thou hast said 'T was written in Thy Heart and seen and Read Of All that Reade Thy Words But do the same Do it again 't is sweet Declare his Name In us We shall believe Thou wilt not cease Till Thou hast brought Us All to Rest in Peace Thy Children and thy Servants Hand-maids Child The Strangers in Thy Gates and Cattle wild Must Rest the Rest of God and Sabbath keep Then see our Woful Miseries and Weep With All that Weep And let thy Bowels yearn To Pitty and thy Patience make us Learn It s perfect Work And when we Most thee Grieve O Then Most sweetly Teach us to Believe And know Thy Heart is Love And when we Hear Thy Loudest Thunders and do feel or fear Thy smartest Lightnings Make us sweetly Bow And silently adore and pay the Vow We made thee in our Youth or fears And Pray And Praise for what and whom we ought or May While in us Praying Thou dost say the same Our Heavenly Father Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdome Come and let Thy Will be Done On Earth As it is in Thy Heavenly Throne Give us this Day the Bread we need to Live And As We Debtors So do Us Forgive Into Temptation Lead us not But Free Us from The Evil Evil One. For unto Thee Belongeth Kingdom Power and Majesty Through All Eternity Eternity THE Translator also being a Stranger would bespeak his pardon if in any thing his Language shall not suit the Reader or the Subject which yet he hopeth may be the more excusable because he durst not hide some particulars of this following discourse which it may be some after ages may improve or at least excuse the Authors well meaning in describing some of the many things he met in so strange a way So much speaking the goodnesse and bounty of God the great Giver with the Liberal hand upbraiding none nor accepting Persons but in all Nations devising how to keep his Banished from perishing as the woman of Tekoa spake to David and still accepting and rewarding those that fear and diligently seek him hoping in his goodnesse through Jesus Christ the onely way of pleasing him to whom be given as of right belongeth Kingdom Power and Glory through all ages for ever more Amen Touching the Author it may be we should not ask or enquire his Name Nation or Quality seeing himself so Silent in it and it may be as unlawful to pry into others secrets especially of their mind and spirit as to unseal a Letter break open an house or discover that which is committed to ones greatest Trust. Yet by some passages he seemeth to intimate his Parents Christian and Religious who bred him tenderly and yet strictly in the best way they could both in Learning and Religion which seemed to have taken a deeper impression in his tender years then he well retained afterwards in the croud of this World and worldly employments both in War and Peace with many Civil Relations In all which he found himself so much entangled beyond his expectation or desire that for some years together it seems he wrestled with something within him that oft moved him to a more retired life which yet seemed to flie from him the more he pursued it About the height or greatest heat of the late Plague in Naples having lost his Father with other near and dear Relations he became so disconsolate that in a sad forlorn manner he wandred a while rather then Travelled all alone till among other places coming at length too neer the great City of Rome in that contagious season when he hoped for some little rest he fell into great danger of Death among some strict searches for suspected Persons from infected places But by great mercy escaping that danger also he was yet it seems so followed by the al-seeing eye that he was scarce got out of sight of Civita Vechia or some other place about that City whence he might escape by Sea But in a terrible storme and Tempest he was also seized and arrested with many privie Seals on his Conscience in most unutterable pangs of fear Terror and amazed Horror with a most heavie weight of guilt from all his former course of life which then lay gnawing on him with a grim vizage of death that King of fears staring and gaping on him with its open jaws ready to devour him This grew up to that height at length the storm still lasting and encreasing that there needed no other Processe or
witnesse Judges or Jury to Indict arreign condemn and execute this Malefactor but Himself and his own hands in his own bowels had not some over-ruling secret Power restrained him or prevented opportunities Which ere long yet might seem to be offered when he heard the sad doleful shreekings of his fellow passengers while All at once saw their hopes and ship broken together spliting on a scraggie Rock where they all bid adieu to themselves and Time Now lanching out as they all thought into the boundlesse Ocean of Eternity Wearied with expectance and pursuit of death which they feared and he wished as a little pauze to that Horror which he judged worse than Death rather then struggling for life he lay gasping on the top of a scrag somewhat higher then his fellows where those waves that had cast him up seemed to leave him a while as stepping back a little in regret rather then pitty that with greater and renewed force as he was like enough to fear they might return again to assault and afflict him In these hoping fears and strength enough to recollect so much of his bewildred reason as to think he yet lived though he knew not how or where a grave aged Person came or was rather sent from some higher power that had seen and pittied him it seems as having been a mournful spectator of that shipwreck After some real expressions of most cordial sympathy with his sad forlorn condition which came out in sighs and groans and Tears rather than words the grave Hermite for such he seemed carried rather then led him into his Cell which was hard by the place and in the same Rock where the proud swelling waves had been commanded so to leave him As he was preparing such repast as that distance from the World could afford he perceived such a meen and carriage with other characters in his wearied Guest as made him much guesse of his native Countrey and Education to which therefore he suited his Language as he judged likest to be understood by his Stranger Who yet replyed little but so many sighs and broken groans onely as with piercing looks might intimate he was very sensible of his goodnesse and compassion but that it could not avail him now since he was become the most wretched object of the Creators wrath and the whole Creations scorn and hatred There needed no more to melt the good Fathers heart and make his bowels yern over his Strangers soul and spirit more then before on his broken and distressed body Yet it was some comfort to discern such a sense of his sore and what it was For which also he was the better prepared by the like workings and sufferings in his own spirit which by many years experience of much affliction and sorrow had been taught to sympathize with all dejected spirits and to long much for their cure and healing To which therefore he now soon applied himself after some few questions onely to discover more clearly the breadth and depth of the wound that so he might more perfectly discern what Teincts Plaisters or other remedies were proper for his oure The poor Soul had very few words to answer any question not that he would not but he could not speak his grief and sorrows of a heart too full to vent it self in ought but Horror and amazement when a necessity of Breathing sometimes forced out such sighs and groans as otherwise were unutterable In those breathing pawses when he had not strength enough to weep more his eyes and spirit rather then words expressed such an ingenuous willingnesse to speak his heart without any reserve or such shinesse as is usual to strangers that the Father had no need to presse him to Confession which he waved rather seeing his poor Guest ready enough to pour out his soul when ever he could and in some things which he thought not meet to hear much lesse to presse him to All particulars which might occasion such Horror as was like enough to overwhelme his soul and body both so that he thought it very requisite to apply Cordials as soon as he might seeing him ready to faint and swoon away in his spirit almost every moment Here the Authour craveth pardon if he be forced to be more confused then becomes so great a Subject But the poor soul being then in great sorrow and confusion of spirit could not keep method in asking questions or returning answers or be clear in stating their discourse It being written also some pretty time after so that he cannot be punctual in saying this was first and this next His intent being matter and substance much rather then Manner or circumstance Nor must the Reader wonder if he sometimes find a long discourse of many things added together which came out by degrees at several times and occasions as their mutual discourse or dialogue invited or lead rather then drew them although one part of the Dialogue Questions and Objections be omitted now He is also desired to consider All things are better much in their Original or native dresse and Language then they well can be in a Translation and from such a Language as constraineth the Translator to conjecture that I say not divine at the Authours meaning in some places Where haply also a broken line and points may hint the Original there imperfect or somewhat wanting Which yet possibly might be supplied from some other copy which is not yet found and the characters of this in some places also scarce Legible Yet All things material and of consequence are as faithfully represented and expressed as they well may be from such a discourse as sighs and great pangs of sorrow and perhaps also some other causes make abrupt and broken more then is usual especially in the first Book which is therefore presented by way of Abstract rather then a literal Translation and as the Ancients did their Parables To all the poor soul said against it self it was replyed to this purpose All this may arise very much from mistakes of God and your self and although you cannot have too great and high thoughts of God in any thing yet you may have too great thoughts of your self in every thing yea in your very sins God hath made all our hearts so much alike that there is perhaps no great difference in Temptations Thoughts or Actions but what is common unto men And to think our selves better or worse then other men may be from Ignorance of our own and other mens heart which is general and special is so desparately evil and deceitful above all things that it may be worst when we think it best and it may be best when we judge it worst Yea it may be great Pride and no Humility to judge one self a greater sinner then others from conceit of having greater Light or Love then our neighbours have Or if you think you have more abused these though not more of these then others yet in this also you may be
deceived and God needeth not your Lye for him or against your self in any thing And if you judge amisse of your self God is so Holy and Just that you never need fear that He will confirm or execute your wrong Judgement And if you judge rightly of your self you are not so miserable as you conceive your self but as you do that which is one of the Highest and Hardest Acts possible which is to judge ones self rightly so you have one of the Greatest Bbessings which God giveth to the Sons of men or to his own Son which is a right understanding of a right Judgement which was the Great Argument used by the greatest and best man that ever lived to prove that he was of God and had His Spirit and a Will also moulded into His Holy Will for else he saith he could not Judge Righteous Judgement And who ever doth this of himself and his own sins is in a special manner partaker of the Holy Ghost whose proper work is to convince us rightly of sin Righteousnesse and Judgement and who ever judgeth himself rightly shall not be judged of God Here he stopt and sweetly bowed and turned aside a little but returned soon again looking as cheerful as he could well force himself It being not very easie so to clear up his eyes and face but that it might be seen though he hid it that he had wept Which also pierced his Guest both to see the Fathers affection and his own misery Who was still so unhappy as he some way expressed to be a burthen to himself and all he conversed with supposing he had grieved or displeased him by some of his expressions But when the Good Father perceived those thoughts with a most sweet tender and melting look he replyed No my Dear Brother no you do not burthen me at all or in any thing displease me But as my general duty bids or helps me in some measure to mourn with every one that mourneth and to weep with every one that weepeth So my particular respect and affection now forceth me if at least it can be force upon a Fathers tender bowels to yearn over his son or a brother over his own dearly beloved brother Yet there is somewhat in You that maketh me melt in Joy rather then sorrow tho it may be unutterable for I cannot expresse it I saw you were my Neighbour at the first as a Man and so I found my self obliged This is Little and low both to Love and Honour you for that Image of God I ought to acknowledge in you and the great Law of Love that commands Brotherly kindenesse bids us adde Love also yea and to strangers also for the same chapter that bids us Love our Neighbour as our self bids us Love a stranger also as we love our selves And among divers reasons why we should love strangers it is sometimes added Because God loveth strangers Yea and we are bid to entertain them so As if they were or might be Angels seeing some had unawares so entertained Angels But now I see somewhat more in you not onely a Man and my Neighbour but a Christian also and my Dear and pretious Brother whom the Angels do attend and love and honour as a lively Image of their great Lord and Master Jesus Christ. And how is it that the Brother of my Lord thus cometh to visit me And you are so far from having committed that great sin against the Holy Ghost which you so much fear that you are still under the most gracious workings of that Holy Spirit Whose great work is to convince the world even the world and not onely the Apostles or Disciples but the World of Sin Righteousnesse and Judgement which is also promised to the World even to the World and is fulfilled in you who are thus under the convincing spirit of Promise And it will also comfort you for the same spirit that convinceth is also the Comforter and where it wounds it heals and when it hath convinced both of Sin Judgement and Righteousness which is there promised it will also comfort It being the promise or indeed the property and nature yea and heart of God to heal and quicken whom he wounds and kills which from Moses Song runs all along through the Psalms and Prophets Who tell us If he wound he will heal Yea though he kill for two dayes He wil revive and quicken on the Third For he will turn again and have compassion on us because he delighteth in mercy though he cause grief for a while and yet not willingly or from his heart afflicteth the children of men which is his Strange work But Mercy is his Child his Son and comes as naturally from him as a child from any father For he is the Father of Mercy yea of a multitude of mani-fold Mercies which are also One with the heart of Christ for He is the onely begotten of the Father and yet His Father is also the Father of Mercies so that Christ and Mercies lay together in one womb and indeed are the same for how else is Christ the Onely begotten of the Father And you are under the tender mercies of Christ even that Christ who is Mercy it self and this holy Spirit of Promise will certainly be your Comforter being already I see your Remembrancer to bring to mind his words one of his proper Works having also convinced you of Righteousnesse enough in him Everlasting Righteousnesse to satisfie God and sanctifie you And I hear you not onely acknowledge him to be the Son of God and sent of God to be the Saviour of the World but also you are convinced of sin because you have not believed on him the great promise of that Comforter and are made most truly and highly to value defire long and pray for him and To him which you could not but by the gracious workings of that Holy Spirit of promise whose great work was and still is to set up Christ as he set up his Father Which Character given by Christ of his own spirit is repeated also by the Apostles And St. John gives it as the Touch-stone whereby we should try the spirits saying Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus is come in the flesh is of God and again he that confesses that Jesus is the Son of God dwelleth in God and God in him and again whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and again He that is born of God sinneth not that sin or worketh not sin which is a common phrase in the Language of the Law of Moses and other places of Scripture Doeth not sin So but that the seed of God still remaineth in him as the sap of an Oake or Teile when it casteth its leaves as the Prophet Isaiah in that most remarkable Chap. cited in the six first books of the New Testament For the Jews rejection and return again as an emblem of the whole Worlds Restoring or Resurrection it being plain in the
Prophets and our Saviour also that God would never deal worse with any then with that Nation And the Prophet Ieremiah saith he that believeth shall never cease from giving fruit and the Psalmist that his leaves shall never quite fall off and Christ saith that he which beareth any fruit in him shall be purged that he may bear more In him is all our fruit found and in him we go in and out and still find fresh pasture and he that once drinketh of His living waters never thirsteth more or is quite dry but still findeth a fountain in him flowing up to Eternal Life And St. Paul saith If thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the Dead thou shalt be saved For which also he citeth two great Prophets Isaiah and Joel which is cited also by St. Peter in his first publique Sermon For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved For this Jesus is Lord of All even Davids Lord also and Rich unto All that call upon him And Paul also saith that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost Which was oft no little stay to one I sometime knew in great anguish fearing the good Spirit had forsaken him And to all that so acknowledge Christ for their Lord and as their Lord worship him as the Psalms bid us and call upon him the same Apostle saith that no temptation comes but common unto man And that God is faithful and will not suffer them to be Templed above their strength but with the Temptation will provide an Issue that they may be able to bear it Which is also the last Petition in Our Lords Prayer and so sure to be granted And to All so acknowledging Christ St. John saith If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse And to All such he saith If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our sin and not for ours onely but for the sins of the whole World which are some of the sweetest places in the Bible and belonging to All that call on Jesus of Nazareth which I see you do And to All such and therefore to you also St. Paul the great Teacher of the Gentiles writeth as from God in Heaven and his Son Jesus the Judge of all men and Angels also that if we judge our selves as I see you do we shall not be judged by him which is one of the greatest and highest Prerogatives or Royalties a mortal man can be capable of The Jews speak of it as one of the first things delivered by God to Moses and by him to Joshua and so down through all their Elders and Wise men in all ages to be Slow to judge or very slow in judging and it is one of the greatest and most difficult things in the world to be a righteous Judge in any matters of concernment more of our selves and yet more in matters of another world and yet most of all for all eternity so far above our sence and reason also that we know not how to guess about it but by Revelation The great thing foretold of Christ in the Psalms and Prophets is That he was to be the great and most supream Judge of all Persons in all Causes Which we might track through all the Bible up as high as Enoch Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute judgement upon all c and for this he received a most solemn Commission and was fitted and filled also with the spirit of Wisdom Knowledge Understanding Councell Power and Fear of-the Lord yea to make him very quick or tender in the Fear of God that he might judge righteous judgement And this was one great reason of his being made Man that he might be our Peer and an equal daies-man between God and us that should not make us afraid with his Terror when he judged us it being so consonant to Reason and to Scripture also that the Power Legislative Judiciall and Executive should be in distinct persons and run in distinct Channels God would have it so in himself also and came out in the person of the Father giving the Law though indeed the Free persons that receive and submit even the Law-takers are the great Law-makers But the Sonne is the Judge and the Spirit executes his judgements For the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father For as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself and the Son quickneth whom he will and hath given him authority to execute judgement also because he is the Son of man Jesus Christ therefore being the great and only Judge having all judgement committed to him no man may pre sume to make himself a Judge or take it on him but when Christ committeth it and then onely As he commandeth and directeth Let me therefore first desire you to consider that you run not on a Premunire or be Anti-christian or a Traitor against the main office of Christ while you judge your self or any other for who hath made you a Judge or a divider If you say Christ hath bid you judge your self you must be sure of your Commission that you have it and can read and understand it also For his own general rule out of his own mouth was Judge not that ye be not judged And he that taketh upon him to judge and condemn another or so much as to think evil of his neighbour and t' is worse of a stranger whom he knoweth not speaketh evill of the Law and judgeth or condemneth the Law yea and it may be the Law-maker also And though Christ did promise first to his twelve Apostles Judas also it seems being among them that they having followed him in the Regeneration should sit on twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel And afterwards even after his last supper before his death he said to them Yee are they which have continued with me in my Temptations and I appoint you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom and sit on Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel there being then also it seems twelve with him and so Judas also though Saint John saith he went out immedately after the sop Yet this was not to be till he himself was to receive his Kingdom and As he did receive it at his Fathers hand and appointment which was not till after Death and Resurrection and Ascention to his glory Then he received gifts for men and for the Rebel also Then and not till then he gave out the Spirit which was not to be
given while he was not glorified Or till he was exalted and set on the right hand of God and made a Prince and a Saviour for to Cive repentance and remission of sins Nay he never speaks of himself as a King or Judge till his second coming Being as himself said to go a great journey to receive a Kingdom and after a long time to come again and call his servants to account And if the wicked servant shall say in his heart My Lord delayeth his comming and shall begin so much as once begin to beat or strike his fellow-servants for the Lords servant must be gentle towards all and be no striker when he shall but begin to strike his Master will come when he looketh not for him and will cut him asunder and give him his portion with Hypocrites the Doom of Antichrist who thus took on him so before his time to sit and rule and judge before his master gave him power or leave or indeed was come to sit and reign and judge in his own Person Which was not till other Thrones be cast down or set as we read in Daniel and the Revelation For he must sit at his Fathers Right hand till all his enemies be put under him and then his Throne and Judgement shall sit and judgement shall be given to them also that shall sit with him who still called himself the Son of man and never a King or Prince or Judge till That Comming and That judgement And then he saith They shall see the Son of man come in the Clouds with great power and glory and when you see those things and that sign of the Son of Man comming in the Clouds Then know the kingdom of God is come even at the very doors Then and not till then it is come actually come and till that time but comming and he bids us pray and say Thy Kingdom come And then shal the Son of man send forth his Angels which before he called his Fathers Angels and the holy Angels now His Angels the Son of Man shall send forth His Angels and they shall gather out of His Kingdom which is Then his Kingdom all things which offend and them which do iniquity And then and not till then the Son of Man shall sit upon the Throne of glory and then the King shall say to them at his Right hand and again the King shall answer them But to the goats at his left hand He shal say he saith not the King shall say as if he were only a King to the sheep or they only were members of his Kingdom but to the goats he saith Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels For as the Son of Man hath his Angels so the Devil hath his Angels also of which we read again in the Revelation Where as also in Pauls great charge to Timothy several other Texts of Scripture we read of his Kingdom joyned or annexed to his second comming or appearing again after his Ascention at which time he was asked If he then would restore the Kingdom unto Israel which he doth not deny but waveth only forbidding their curious prying into times and seasons which the Father yet had kept so secret that the Son then knew them not but had them afterwards it seems by Revelation Which God gave him also to shew unto his servants unto whom he saith it was given to know the secrets or the mysteries of that Kingdom and to search them out also by that Spirit which was given to make known the things which were freely given them of God yea and to search the hidden Depths or Baths of God as that Apostle saith who also tells us The natural man believeth not the things of God or of the Spirit of God nor can he know them being only discerned spiritually And no man can so much as see the Kingdom of God till horn again of that Spirit which the World as such neither knoweth nor receiveth but it is promised to the World also and to convince the world also and when a worldly carnal man is born again of the Spirit and so made Spiritual then he also judgeth all things but himself is judged of no man Nor may any man judge another man or any person whatsoever or can judge himself rightly till he be made spiritual and so fitted by Christ the great and only Judge of all Causes and of all Persons And to whom and in what cases Christ committeth this Prerogative of judging either themselves or others I know not any hath declared better then Saint Paul in divers places of the same Epistle But as Christ gave that general rule Judge not according to appearance and then surely we may not judge things that appear not or things of another world and for all Eternity Whereas the Wise man saith A man cannot know Love or Hatred and much less Eternal Love or Hatred by all before him or appertaining to him So Saint Paul giveth us that generall Rule Judge nothing even nothing at all before the time That is as himself addeth Till the Lord come For his comming is the time of judging and his Kingdom as we have seen from that Apostle and from many other scriptures And I would to God your time were come that you might judge and reign that we might reign also But the Kingdom of God and this judging also is not in word but in Power As our Lord taught us Thine is the Kingdom the Power and Glory And in the Revelation Now is salvation and strength the Kingdom of God and Power of his Christ for the Accuser of our Brethren is cast down For Christ also maketh the kingdom of God to be a Power to cast out Satan by the spirit or finger of God and when Judas was gone out as a Type of Satan or Antichrist he saith Now is the Son of man glorified and God glorified in him And so Christ said Some standing there should not taste of death till they saw the Kingdom of God come with Power Which another Evangelist expresseth by the Son of man comming in his Kingdom And S. Pet. One of the Eye-witnesses of that glorious Transfiguration which was an Emblem or preludium to his Kingdom calleth it The Power and coming of our Lord Jesus And himself being asked if he would restore the Kingdom bad them stay till they received Power from on High or the Power of the Holy Ghost coming on them which he also calleth the Promise of the Father For the Spirit of Promise which is to be given to all the Lord shall call yea to be poured out on all flesh is called by Esay the Spirit of Power and it is so observed of them that received it in the Acts that they were full of the Holy Ghost and Power And Saint Paul also calleth it a spirit of Power and Love and of a sound mind and saith he came with demonstration of the Spirit and of
Power And again when you meet with my spirit and the Power of our Lord Jesus Christ. That this was a Judging Power is plain by all that Chap. speaking of casting out and judging them which are within while God only judgeth them that be without And in the next Chapter Do you not know The Saints shall judge the world Are you not worthy then to judge the smallest matters Know ye not that we shall judge Angels how much more things that pertain to this life Set ye them to judge who are least esteemed in the Church Is there not a wise man among you not onethat is able to judge between his Brethren And in that very Chapter you presse so much against your self he saith Judge in your selves Is it comly that a woman pray to God uncovered And of their Church-meetings he saith If ye speak with Tongues speak by two or three at most but if ye Prophesie do it by two or three at the least for so seems the opposition and let the others judge For you may all Prophecy and you should all desire earnestly and pray that you may Prophecy even above all other spiritual Gifts but it must be in order and not confusion while some Iudge and still the spirit of all Prophets are subject to the Prophets both old and now also while you be in Churches you must keep Church Order and your spirits must be subject to the Prophets before you and among you also But of the Sacrament he saith You must here Iudge your selves and be not concluded by others Judgement But let a man examine himself and so let him eat and drink For He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh Damnation or at least Judgement to himself and for this cause are many weak and sick and many sleep For If wee would judge our selves we should not be judged but when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World Which is one of the most sweet and comfortable places in the whole Bible as before we observed in this Epistle also about Temptation Which also may and should comfort you So far are you from being condemned as you think by God who will never confirm or execute any wrong judgement though you give it against your self And yet you should be tender how you judge your self unworthy of Eternal Life which is the free gift of God least the spirit say as Paul and Barnabas to the Iews Seeing you put the Gospel from you and judge your selves unworthy of Eternal Life Lo we turn to the Gentiles But if you judge a wrong judgement God is so merciful and just also as not to confirm it And if you judge Rightly you are so far from being so wretched and miserable as you think your self that you are one of the happiest men in the World and not onely still under the gracious Spirit of Promise convincing you ofsin and also of righteousnesse setting up Christ in you and making you bow and long for him but also receiving from him one of the greatest and highest gifts possible which is a right Judgement and a power and priviledge to judge your self the hardest and highest work in the world so that you never shal be judged by the Lord. A Royalty not given unto any but the Kings and Princes or first-born of Jesus Christ his Churches as at Corinth or the members of them or such as are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints and to such as in any place call upon the Name of Jesus Christ the Lord both theirs and ours as I hear and see and know you do And therefore I pronounce it written to you also as a letter from Heaven or the Throne and Heart of God in Jesus Christ our Lord and yours whom you so call upon and trust in For how could you call upon Him if you had not believed on him As you may read in the Tenth of the Epistle to the Romans compared with the beginning of the first Epistle to the Corinthians which we now speak of Nor do I wonder Paul should put such a stresse upon calling on Christ when by his own experience and observation of all Christians he had found it the great Badge of a Christian and the greatest Character he could well expresse of one taught and drawn by God to come to Jesus Christ who though the Mediator to God yet indeed is the end also of all the Teaching and Drawing of the Father which I will therefore on this occasion more largely insist upon as one of the greatest and sweetest things I can declare to you especially in this great hour of darknesse and temptation When Paul saw Stephen the first Martyr stoned consenting to his death and standing by keeping the clothes of them which stoned him he might easily observe and remember that he died calling on Jesus Christ and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit And again kneeling down he cryed Lord lay not this sin to their charge and saying this he fell asleep He might very well wonder that in the very Infancy of Christian Religion any could so quickly speak and pray to Christ and that also with such courage and boldnesse as daring to die in it and to desire no other rest or happinesse then that Jesus only should receive his spirit and forgive his stoners Doubtlesse it could not but take deep impression in so wise a man as Paul or Saul was And so it seems it did for presently he went and got a Commission from the Rulers to bring bound to Jerusalem all that he should find calling on Jesus Which he could not but see a most distinguishing Character between Jews and Christians for the Jews also called on God but the Christians only called on Jesus Christ and by that character he might easily discern who were only Jews and who were also Christians and so binde All he found calling on Christ. And when Christ appeared to Ananias in a vision he bad him Enquire in the house of Iudas Which we may consider again when we see Paul rising up in the room of Iudas and of Saul also being of the same Tribe much about a Thousand years after David that is Love had cast him out and bound him up as Satan must be bound for a Thousand years and then perhaps struck down as Saul here was by fire from heaven Saul also signifying Hell or the Grave and so might well be an Emblem of Satan which is the very Phrase used by David of Abishai to which Christ also might allude when he called Peter Satan And when Ananias or the Lords grace was sent by Christ to look out Saul he said Lord I hear he hath authority to bind all that call on thy Name To which Christ replyed Go for he is a chosen Vessel to bear my Name to the Gentiles and to Kings and the children of Israel though the Jews shall reject and persecute him yet he shall bear
fulness of Christ. And concludes that Epistle Peace be to the Brethren and Love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Grace be with All them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Amen So to the Philippians every where Especially in that famous place of Bowing in the Name of Jesus paralel to that of the Psalm Early will I seek thee and ever will I bless thee and lift up my hands as here bow the knee in thy Name when I pray I will pray in thy Name and confesse to the glory of God which Christ challengeth to himself in the Prophet Isaiah and at conclusion The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen And in the Epistle to the Colossions For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell and having made Peace by the blood of his cross by him to reconcile All things unto Himself by Him whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven Which to the Ephesians is according to the good pleasure of his will which he had purposed in himself that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather All into One in Christ All things in Heaven or Earth even in him And to the Thessalonians Now God Himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way to you and the Lord make you to increase and abound in Love to One another and to all men even as we to you that he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God And again That the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in Him according to the Grace of our God and the Lord Iesus Christ. And again Now our Lord Iesus Christ himself and God even our Father which hath loved us for the Father is Love and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and work And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and patience of Christ. Now we command you brethren in the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ that you withdraw from every brother walking disorderly yet count him not an enemy but admonish him as a brother Now the God of Peace himself give you Peace alwayes by all means The Lord be with you All. The salutation of Paul with mine own hand which is the token in every Epistle so I write The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with you all Amen And it may also be observed that what we read be with you might be read is with you and so it is not onely a prayer but a promise and assurance that the grace of Christ is with All calling on Christ and so believing on him for how can they call on him on whom they believe not And Timothy This is a faithful saying and worthy of All Acceâ—ation as much or more then all the Mazoreth or Kabâ— that Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners of whom I am chief Now unto the King Immortal Eternal Invisible the onely wise God which Jude also calleth Our Saviour speaking in the language of this very Text be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen Which he subjoyns on this Great Cause I obtained Mercy that in me first Iesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a patern to them even to all them that should hereafter believe on him to Eternal life So that Christ did not mainly mind Paul in shewing him that patience and kindnesse but did it to Him that he might be a patern unto others even unto all others that should ever after believe even to all Eternity And to the same Timothy he writeth Flee also fleshly lusts but follow Righteousness Faith Charity Peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart And concludes the Lord Iesus Christ be with thy spirit Grace be with you Amen The great businesse of St. Peters Epistle is to presse forward in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and so he concludes Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ to him be glory both now and for ever Amen Which also runs very much through the whole Epistle The Revelation of Jesus Christ wch God gave to him to shew to his servants is ful of prayers praises blessings of and from and to the same Jesus Who so plainly calling himself the first and the last which is and was and is to come the great Iehovah Lord God Almighty leads us plainly to the paralel places in the Prophet Isaiah where he saith the same of himself adding also that there is no other God or indeed no other True Being besides himself Representing himself in several species or Idea's For Plato was not the first that taught there was but One which yet was All. And yet again in the same chapter of that Prophet he saith Lo here I am and His spirit hath sent me even the Lord God and His Spirit though I am God and there is none besides me or none else but I and in me and One with me as the Root and every Branch is One with the Vine And in the same Prophet It is this One True God the First and the last and so All True Being which yet is sent by God and anointed by his Spirit and so the Messias or-Jesus Christ which plainly sweareth by Himself and therefore hath no greater that every knee shall bow or pray to Him and every tongue shall confess to Him which the Apostle citeth in that noted place of praying in the Name of Jesus and confessing to the glory of God even the Father also And may we add or may we not add what Christ of himself said If God be glorified in Him or in Them will not God also glorifie Him or Them with Himself Yea he will shortly do it nay he hath already done it before any other can glorifie Him for who can give him first or lend to him that it may be paid again To this also we might refer those passages of holding fast his Name and not denying his Name and confessing his Name as he will also confesse their names before his Father and the holy Angels both in the Gospels and Revelation and the call and Counsel of Christ as also the Fathers Drawing being that we come to Christ and learn of Him and buy of Him and open to Him that is still knocking to come in till his locks be wet with dew and his spirit be not onely abused but dispised and blasphemed argue much our speaking praying to him as well as hearing him who indeed is the end of the Fathers Teachings and Drawings so that he that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh wil come to Jesus Christ and converseth with him as a man with his friend whom he most loveth and honoureth also And the Angels of Heaven for they are all bid to worship him as we
unto all the Lord should call For it was then but the Feast of Pentecost or fiftieth Day of first Fruits and that but of Barley O but now we wait and hope and expect the Feast of Tabernacles also and the latter Rain as the former little drops even the greatest Feast of Tabernacles which all Nations also must keep with Israel when they shall joy as at Harvest even at the end of full Harvest when all the fruits of the Earth shall be gathered in and all Nations also shall come flowing in as the fruits of all the Earth in that solemn Feast Which was acted also in a Type as we may say of somwhat to come when in the last and great day of the many Feasts of that great Feast of all the Feast of Tabernacles Christ stood out and cryed as the Gospel saith O every one that thirsteth come unto the Waters and he that believeth on me as the Scripture saith out of his belly shall flow Rivers of Living Water as alluding both to their custom of drawing and powring out Waters from Siloam with joy from the wells of Salvation and also to the most remarkable place in Zech where all Nations are invited to that Feast that they might have Water and the Rain of Heaven And it may be he that can rightly count the time between the Feast of Pentecost and Tabernacles may guess also when that latter Rain or fuller powring out of the Spirit shall be Which in general was in the seventh Month yet by another reckoning at the end of the yeer as the seventh Day was the end of the week Even as Gods appearings and Angels also were generally towards the end of the day or about the evening Sacrifice which is one of many Reasons why I think the Lords Supper was and now should also be at Supper or at Evening rather then Morning And to all yet said to perswade us in our prayers to direct our hearts and words to Christ and to God only as he is in Christ as of old in the Tabernacle between the Cherubims of Glory over-shadowing the Mercy Seat covering the Ark I may add That Prayer is a Dialogue between our Soul and God indited by the Spirit of Christ which differeth from the Spirit of God as being That cloathed with flesh and actually united to a Humane Spirit which the Spirit of God as God or of the Father as such is not Which distinction it may be St. John observeth by the Holy Ghost in Heaven One with the Word and Father and by the Spirit on Earth or in the fleshly Members of Christ. Now as Christ in the daies of his flesh did offer up strong sighs and groans and tears and prayers yea and himself also by his eternal Spirit unto him that was able to save him and was heard in all he feared or prayed So doth he now by the same Spirit in the hearts or flesh of his Members which are here on Earth Yet so as all those Members give up their Spirit to their Head As the Elders also in the Revelation present their Vials full of Prayers of Saints to the Lamb and he as the great Angel of the Covenant mingles them with his dayly Incense in his Temple and presents them all even all the Prayers of all Saints to his God and his Father and their Father in and through him They all being indeed but his own sighs and groans or motions of his own Spirit in his Members That we may yet more cleerly understand this let us first consider how Christ prayed to his Father and then how the Christian prayeth unto Christ or to his Father through Christ. As the Apostle saith God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself so in a right sence I may say God was in Christ Praying or speaking to himself even as our Soul communes with it self or as a man communes with his own Heart a Phrase we find in the Psalms or other places of Scripture and we may use it to illustrate This. For which also I may cite that notable passage of our Saviour which I somtime look upon as one of the Keys to open and discover the rich but hidden Cabinet of the Mysterious Scripture where he doth so plainly tell us that he never said one word of himself and yet he said all that was ever said by God for he is the only Word and Mouth of God and in the Prophet Esay he tells us plainly that he said all that was ever spoken and yet now he tells us that he never spake one word of that is From Himself or of his own but of and from his Father and what He said yea and As He spake it unto Him so he repeated it Being as it seems but Gods Holy Echo to repeat those Words and only Those his Father speaketh of himself and in himself and to himself As if Christ also compared with God were such an Infant that he could not speak one sentence word sillable or letter but as God sounded it before him and In him and To him and so He only Ecchoed back some little part it may be as the latter end or loudest part of that Infinite Discourse the Father had and hath to Him from all Eternity to al Eternity Thus when God saith in and to Christ My Son Give me thy Heart Christ then as it were ruminating or repeating in himself what the Father saith He Ecchoes back Give me Thy Heart And so it sounds as a Prayer To Bow down He cries Bow down To Seek my Face Seek my Face And at length his Spirit cries in his Members also Thy Face I will seek Lord Hide not thy Face from me So that the Head only properly speaketh in Prayer but His Members draw also by the spirit of the Head resting and sighing In Them Thus we have seen a tender Mother or a Father Teaching their children to speak and do and go by speaking To them in them as it were and going bowing kissing their hand and Doing All before them and as much as they can in them That they would have them to Do and say Bow down They say and kiss your Hand and say I am your servant or the like by doing and by saying what they mean their child should do or say And then he stammers after them and after many Essaies comes at length to stumble on that gesture posture carriage word or work the Parents have been often Teaching Him or speaking In him For one may speak his heart out to a child or other person who will never learn and Do till he have the Fathers or the Teachers spirit or his meaning and his Meen by accent gesture or some other way rather than by word only impressed on him So that we see our children and such as are acquainted with our spirit can discern and understand our minde by becks or nods or looks or otherwise somtimes without words and somtimes directly against our words and quite
Neighbor and it took in a Samaritan with one of Jerusalem though at more defiance and distance of heart and affection than of Place or Nation For this also see the 2. of the Hebrews and the 10. last verses And we may see what a stress God himself put and would have Us put upon This that Christ is our Brother by That Great Promise in Moses cited so often in the new Testament I will raise them up a Prophet from among their Brethren like unto Thee which words are also expressly repeated several times in the Acts. A Prophet of your Brethren like unto me Which is also the more considerable because in the very next Chapter before This Promise of Raising up a Brother Prophet It is also strictly commanded that when at any time they desired a King they might not choose a Stranger which was not a Brother but from among thy Brethren shalt thou set a King over thee Which is also several times pressed and repeated with an especial Emphasis on that of a Brother and from among your Brethren So that I may now tell Christ that I neither do nor may receive him either as a Priest or Prophet or King but as he is and so must be My Brother Else he is not That Prophet which the Lord promised to raise nor may I choose or set him King over me except he will own himself to be my Brother and so carry himself towards me and must not exalt himself above his Brethren Which was read it seems at the Coronation of their Kings and the Jews tell us of such piercing looks at the Reading of This before Agrippa was admitted or Crowned for their King that Himself also could not hold from Tears because he was not their Brother Born but only made And when their King was chosen and set over them He is bounded and limitted in that Law and the great Reason is added that his Heart be not lifted up above His Brethren One of the great things required of the King set over them was This That when he sate on the Throne of his Kingdom he should write him a Copy of the Law out of that which was before the Priests and he must read therein all the daies of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this Law and these statutes to do them as we read expressly in the 17. of Deuteronomy The Phrase of Writing when he sate on the Throne of his Kingdom hath made me remember that when the Revelation hath with very great solemnity brought Christ or the Lamb to the Throne of his Glorious Kingdom He that sate upon the Throne said Behold I make All things even All things New Write saith He to St. John For these words are true and faithful And is it not a most sweet Promise seeing All in Christ Jesus must be New Creatures that Himself promiseth to make All New Yea and that also sitting on his Throne and bidding it be written with a Behold also before it as a faithful and True saying of Him also who before his death promised that being lifted up he would draw all men to him And being lifted up and set on his Throne instead of Writing the Law in Tables of stone or other materials he promiseth in the Prophets to Write it in our Hearts and by that also to make us New and to give us a New Heart and Mind and Spirit yea His Spirit in us and by This to make us New Another great matter to be pressed also upon Christ our King sitting on the Throne of his Kingdom out of that very Law of Moses is this That he must so Write the Law for himself that he must study it and Keep it also all his life Even the very same Law he gives and governs by he himself must Write it and study it and Keep it To us all his daies Which St. Paul also hath taught us saying That he was not only made of a woman as we observed before but also Made Under the Law and that he was made Like us in All things but sin and therefore in Obedience also Nay as if it would be vain to promise the Law written in our hearts before it was written in his own he professeth in the fortieth Psalm that it was written of him that he should do the Will of God even the whole Will of God yea it was written in his heart also so that he came to do it and delighted in it even with his whole heart As we also find the Law written over a second time by God himself in the new Tables also that Moses as the forerunner of Christ had prepared after he had broken the First Tables made and written by God as an Emblem of our Hearts written and broken also yea and renewed too by the Law new written in them and put in the Ark a Type of the Heart covered by the Mercy Seat representing Christ also covering and comprehending the Law over-shadowed also with the Cherubins of Glory as the Seat and Throne of God dwelling between the Cherubins who stand prying into the Ark or Heart of Man and the Law in it seeing by the Churches the manifold Wisdom of God is made known to the very Angels who thus pry into the mysteries of Christ. This I take to be one of the sweetest things I ever learned or can teach another that the same person who is to Teach and judg and govern me is made under the same Law with me Yea rather more than I or the first Adam was who was Put or Brought under the Law rather then Made under it as Christ Was. So that he can as soon cast out his own Being as he can cast out the Law of God or any one Title of it from his own heart Which hath it All so moulded and rivetted into it self that Heaven and Earth shall pass away much sooner than any one Tittle or Jota of the Law of God pass away or be unperformed by him For he came not to disanul the Law but to perform it in his own person most of All. And while others dispute for whom he did it I ask only Whether we think or doubt he did it not in his own person Which is one of the greatest things I therefore study that by seeing All the Law in its greatest Latitude I may see the Duty of Christ for I may so speak with Reverence and his great Obligation both to God and Man and his Joy and Delight being written in his Heart to do the whole Law of God So God spake to Joshua that great Type of Jesus Thou shalt divide the Land and make them possess it only be strong that thou mayest observe to do All the Law of Moses my Servant that thou mayest be wise or prosper in all thou dost which is Thence in the Psalms and to Solomon divers others and I will never leave thee Which is also applied to us
more than That I will not be your God or I will not shew you mercy Or Thou shalt Die and thou shalt not Live as it was said to Hezekiah and yet he did not Die but Live Or that to Samuel or Jeremiah Thou shalt not Pray for This man or This people Which yet it may be made them Pray More than they did before and so perhaps was One good means to recover them that else might have been so irrecoverable And so This very saying of Christ if he had so said I will not Pray for the world might have been a great means to save the World and to recover them by convincing them of their forlorn and desperate estate For This may be one great End of the heaviest Threatnings in the Scripture not only to shut men under fear and guilt that so they may be fitter Objects of Pity and Mercy but to Convince them also that they may be in a way for mercy It being the great Art of the Holy Ghost to work along with the Word sutable to the Subject and Object it hath to work upon And in a sharp Threatning it is as Vinegar or burnt Allum or some Corrasive to putrid flesh that must be taken off And How will a poor Soul Tremble under This That Christ who is Love it self should once say I will not Pray for you As every one is ready to apply it to himself while under the Convincing Work of the Spirit which is promised to Convince the world also of sin and Righteousness But he doth not say I Will not Pray for the world but only I Do not Just perhaps as in the Chapter before he said to his own Disciples I do not say I will pray for you for the Father himself loveth you And in That day you shall ask me Nothing And hitherto you have asked Nothing Which are Negatives comparative not absolute And why not This also I do not pray only or mainly and chiefly for the world but for Those thou hast given me out of the world And it may be Christ finds enough upon him as a Man and so only he Prayes to mind his Elect and care for Them Though God and He also as God Loveth the world also and the Peoples in distinction from Israel as Moses expresseth it Yea and He was given also for the world and sent to bear away the sins of the world and not to condemn but save the world and to be a Propitiation for the sins of the world As we read with many such passages in This very Apostle who records This Prayer And if we take the words asstrictly as we may being only in the Present Tence I do not yet Pray for the world We know not how soon he yet might pray for the world also Though he Now did not Seeing in this very Prayer towards the end he prayed for others Many others then he Now Prayed for at the beginning of it And I know not but the VVorld might Then come in also if I should grant it did not Now. Epecially seeing One great End of all he asked for his Disciples also and for all others was that the World may come to know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me And in the beginning of this very Prayer Christ sheweth that it is Eternal Life to know God and Him whom God had sent And by this he proved that his Disciples knew the Name of God and kept his Word because they now believed that God sent him and knew surely that he was come out from God And yet in the latter end of this Prayer he beggeth so and so for His and all that should believe that the whol World also might come to know that God had sent him and had loved them as he loved him Which may be added to That we noted in the chap. before VVhen the Comforter shall come to You he shall Convince the VVorld also of sin and of Righteousness And yet as himself and St. Paul also said the World as the World and the Carnal man as Carnal did not receive conceive or understand the Spirit or the things thereof So in a safe sence also we may say Christ did not Then Pray for the World that As the World they might be saved or be Happy while they remained Such But that they might be changed and called out of the World and so Turned from Darkness to Light from the Power of Satan unto God and then might also receive an Inheritance among them that are sanctified through Faith in Christ. Which was the sum of This Prayer it may be and the great Commission given by our Lord himself when he sent Paul to the Gentiles and made him a Minister and Witness or Martyr also to the whole World And He gives us This Sum of the Gospel he was to preach That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself and Not imputing their sins And the Mystery of Godliness God manifest in the Flesh and believed on by the VVorld And if any take the VVorld here for the Systeme of Elements and not for Men of the World I may say Christ also might mean only the Worldly Systeme which he prayed not for but for all men of the world and in the world But St. Paul in several places saith and that also in the Spirit or person of Christ whom we found before as Ezekiel the strong God and yet the Son of Man to be the great Watcher and Warner for every man and as Ezekiel bid to order a Sacrifice for every one that erreth and is simple he was Warning every man and Teaching every man in all Wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus And he bids us Love All men and prayes they might Love All men even as He loved them Yea and we are bid to Honour All men For Man is the Image and Glory of God And directly against the sence which some suppose in Christs words I pray not for the World but for These St. Paul exhorts first of all That Prayers Intercessions Supplications yea and giving of Thanks also be made for All men Which he saith is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour Who Will directly Will have All men All men to be saved and to come unto the knowledg of the Truth For there is One God and One Mediator between God and Men All Man-kind the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for All for he is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole World to be testified or witnessed or manifest in due season or its proper seasons For it is plural in the Original expressing divers several and proper seasons for the manifestation of That Truth to the World Of which we may speak again in Times and Seasons And yet also in a True and safe sence we may say Christ loveth not the World as the World nor
Precious in his eyes shall be their Bloud and yet more precious their souls which himself said was so exceeding precious as not to be compared with the World must it only be precious in our own eyes and shall it not be so in his also Let us then bowe down to him as the third Captain of 50. did to Elijah saying Let my soul be precious in thine eyes and the soules of thy servants for so the words are in the original And himself summed up all the Law into Love adding also that it was a little love to love a friend or one that was lovely or like us fair and beautifull kind and thankfull even sinners and Hypocrites do so but I say unto you love your enemies and them that hate you pray for them that persecute you revile you blaspheme and offer all despite to you Blesse them that curse you yea blesse and curse not be ever blessing and never cursing In a word Be mercifull as your Heavenly Father is mercifull and then addeth Judge not that you be not judged Which is the more to be marked because himself so often intimates that although the Father hath committed all judgement to him and authority to execute it also as we shewed before yet that he neither came to judge the world nor will judge it or any man it may be in his own person but will commit it to his Children who shall judge the world and Angells also and then the Son of man shall sit on the Throne of his Glory to seperate those that are judged And there also none are condemned but those that justifie themselves for if we could or would Judge our selves we should not be judged Yet even then also we are judged by the Son of man For we must all stand before his judgement seat who yet loved our nation and our nature and was made our Advocate and under the same Law with us The same Law of Love And did any man ever Hate his own flesh though he may chasten it and keep it in subjection Plucking it under the eyes as some render the Apostles phrase Or if he could hate his own flesh will he not love his own Spirit and his owm Image Will not That love seek to propagate it all he may he hath received the Spirit without measure He is infinitely full of that as Elihu speaks which is as New Wine yea as Fire in his bones and heart which as the Spring in the watch is ever clicking and the cause of all the beating in the Arteries and all the Pulses and it must have vent he cannot hold it in So it hath now pleased infinite Wisdome and Goodnesse to screw it selfe into the finite heart of Christ in his humanity so that he cannot hold it in or stifle it if he would as that which is infinite might have done and so swallowed it up as that we might never have seene or felt or any way enjoyed it But infinite is now so riveted into finite that this finite cannot comprehend it or detain it if he would He cannot detain it in unrighteousnesse not so much as he may the wind in his hand or all the great Ocean in his bowels So that if his eye were evil or his heart hard and narrow when he seems so kindly to invite and call and woo us to his dainties which the Scripture yet forbids us once to tast from an evil eye or from one that cryeth eat and drink but his heart is not with us which the soul of God abhors Yet indeed if Christ do but love himself and his own Spirit and his own ease he still will and still must give out freely having received that which is too great and strong for him to hold in and keep down if he would being an infinite Fountain still flowing up and still flowing out with Rivers of living water round about him So it is in all that do but receive some little drops of it from him How much more is it so in himself that hath it without such bounds and limits O how is he straitned t is his own expression till he poure out himself and his Spirit among us It cannot be taken from him against his will and yet it cannot be held in but is as an Ointment or a sweet perfume in ones hand the more it is pressed and heated the more it flows out and sends forth it's sweet Odours And she came behind him saying If I can but touch him or so much as the hemme of his Garment I shall be healed and vertue went out at every touch As the sweet perfume and precious Ointment on the Sacrificers head it drencht his Beard even Aaron's beard which yet was but an Excrement and to be cut off with every Sissors and it ran down through all his Garments and to every hemm and Fringe of them although to be changed and laid off very many times besides every nights rest And the Laver of old in the Tabernacle had no cover how much lesse the great Molten Sea in the Temple which had such a Fountain or Fountains still flowing up in it or into it as the very words in the Hebrew may teach us Have you not seen a tender Mothers breast so full and swel'd for want of sucking that she hath been glad of a strangers Child to draw it when her own could not or would not So and much more is it with the full breast of Jesus Christ which is such an infinite Fountain that the more it gives the more it may And if thou knewst the gift of God and who it is that giveth thou wouldst ask and ask again and never give over asking as we found before in Acksa and divers others till he filleth thee also with the upper and the lower springs Rejoyce yee then and be glad with him all yee that love him rejoyce with him all yee that mourned after him that you may suck and be satisfied with those breasts of Consolation And a drop that runneth over for he hath enough for his Children Servants Strangers Cattle all his Creatures every drop hath power enough to make us hunger and thirst and long for more till it may stretch out our narrow hearts and make them as wide as the very Heavens And he hath received gifts for Rebels also and his own Law was he that received freely mâ—st give freely yea and he said It is a more blessed thing to give then to receive As if he thought himself also and made himself more blessed by giving out freely then by receiving all the fulnesse he hath which would be a burthen to him if he could not did not give out freely as he receiveth And for more clear expressing his own mind and heart and will for doing good according to his Power which is still the measure of goodnesse also He hath not only promised to receive All that come to him and by no means no means to cast them off or out but also to
draw All men to him and to make All things new being as the Psalms expresse not only to satisfie the desire of every living thing which is no great matter except also they have great and good desires for else I know not ought I feare or more oppose or pray against then his giving me the desire of my own foolish narrow heart but also that he shall give forth Good and goodnesse so that all things shall be filled with it As we may find by comparing the 85. Psalm concluding thus Yea the Lord shall give forth Good or goodnesse and Righteousnesse shall go before him and direct or set us in the way of his steps with the 104. and 145. Psal. which of all is to be marked most as that which giveth name to all the Book of Psalms as the Jews tell us being thence All called Praises or Songs of blessing The Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy the Lord is good to All and his tender mercies are over All his works All thy works shall praise thee O Lord and thy Sainis shall bless thee The Lord upholdeth All that fall and raiseth up all that are bowed down which is again so repeated and enlarged in the next Psalm also that it may teach us how Christ put himself under that Law also to mourn with every one that mourneth and to weep with every one that weepeth yea and to make us sensible of our own wants and emptinesse that so he may fill us being sent to comfort every one that mourneth and to replenish every empty soul. At this I awaked and my sleep was sweet to me as the Prophet expresseth it Yea and Christ is such an Head to every man as Paul expresseth and such a Root to all our soules and Spirits that our mourning and our sufferings reach and pierce his soul also And in all our afflictions he is afflicted For if any one member suffers all suffer but especially the head and heart and if one be honoured all rejoyce with it The strength of a King is in his Subjects and his glory in their multitude and greatnesse Riches Honour Happinesse and Freedome it being more honour also to govern one freeman then many slaves And it is a union with free Subjects that maketh a King so strong that as Solomoâ— saith There is no rising against him Where the Arabick also may help us to a better sence and notion of Alkum then is yet common May we not all say to our Saviour as Abigail did to David When my Lord shall sit on the throne of his Rest and when the Lord hath done to my Lord according to all he promised shall it indeed be any offence or grief of heart to my Lord that he spared us and did not shed our blood or avenge himself which is so much forbidden or reserve a grudge in his heart against the Children of his people When he shall see us all come bowing to him to his glory and his Fathers glory also who is glorified he saith when we bear much fruit And is not he so also When He beareth much And as much as he can If he could have been contented to be happy glorious all alone he never needed any world of men or Angels But O! how was he straitned in himself till he had found a means to multiply himself his Image Happinesse and Glory by Creation How much more than by Redemption while we live we shall praise him and shall ever bless him if he save us But the grave cannot praise him death cannot celebrate him the living the living shall praise thee as Hezekiah said And what profit is there in our bloud He did not care to drink the bloud of beasts doth he now delight in eating mans flesh and drinking mans bloud Or what doth he gain by losing us Can the enemie give a recompense for us As Esther spake of Haman And if he cut us off will he not look in the morning and when he sees our places empty will he not have desire to the work of his own hands as Job and the Psalmist to that needle work he curiously wrought in his closet When he hath ground us to powder will he not say return again againe yee sons of men O that God would perswade us even in suffering according to his will to commit our souls to his keeping as to a Faithfull Creator Can he be angry more in time then from eternity before he made the World or ought that could provoke him Or if he can may little children so provoke him with their raising dust or dirty pies against him that he must also turn and curse them in the name of God and give them up to Bears to teare them will he offer children also and his own to Moloch Or with musick drown their yellings in Gehinnon or in Tophet which he so much hates and threatens and his soul abhors so much in others Or if fury can be in him which yet himself denyeth in the Prophet Isa. can it rest in such a bosome When as Solomon saith it resteth in the bosome of fools Can it remain in such a soul which hath so often spoken it self well pleased satisfied and infinitely delighted in himself and his Image his Son and his own most glorious and most gracious Righteousness Can the Sun go down upon his wrath Or if he must for some great reason act a part awhile and wear a mask or frown and cast abroad his Thunderbolts and shew the fierceness of his sore displeasure or the Power of his anger or wrath can it be shown upon a moath a bubble nothing weaker than nothing will he also set his eyes or heart or heavy hand on that which is not What Glory Honour Profit Pleasure can the Power and Wisdom that we lay aside awhile the Goodness of an Infinite God beget it self in crushing us Will the King of Israel hunt a Partridge in the Mountains or pursuite a fly will he prosecute dry stubble or the little moats of dust in the balance can his Almighty Arm delight to strangle little worms or wrestle with a shadow will he create a mighty whirlwind to contend with nothing less than nothing and lighter than vanity when his very thoughts may easily create the Angels and his Word this glorious World and think it down again at pleasure Drawing in his breath or spirit and they perish and then giving it out again and they are created as the Psalmist shadoweth out his Respiration or his hearts Diastole Syslole VVill his sore and great and strong sword contend with feathers or lead captive atomes will it boast it self in cutting little straws or glory in a Triumph over that which is more feeble than the tender grass when yet it might awake against a man that is his Fellow and his equal match Mighty to bear his weight and power and wrath and strongest blowes when we are all to him as
our Hearts do also signifie the sprouts of the Earth That Earth which the Lord Cursed But Noah found grace with God which may allude to his Name being the very same Letters which in Heb signify Grace He is called the eighth Preacher of Righteousnesse being the eighth from Enos When it is said Men began to Preach or Proclaim the Name of the Lord. The same phrase with Gods Proclaiming his own Name to Moses Though it be often used also for Calling on his Name As in the 80. and 79. Psalm Pour out thy Wrath upon the Kingdoms or Families that call not on Thy Name Till they seek Thy Name O Lord as we read in the 83d which may be added for calling on Christ and Praying to Him For among other Arguments There why he should not be Angry for ever or remember their Ancestors sins He cryeth Help us O God Our Saviour or our Jesus for the glory of Thy Name and Deliver us and Purge away or atone and expiate our sins for Thy Names sake VVhich as in the 65 Psalm and many other places is a sure Character of Christ in his Priestly Office being a Phrase so proper to the Priest in making Expiation for sin and the Mercy Seat and great Day of Atonement is from that VVord through all the Law of Moses And if I should so paraphrase the Words that Noah was the eighth from Enos who began to Preach Jesus Or to own him so as to call upon his Name I might not onely shew many Scriptures alluding though we now render them by Man and the Son of Man Where in Heb it is Enos or the Son of Adam But I might also bring great Arguments to prove Jehovah there used to be most proper to Christ Or the great Angel Jehovah as he is called in Zech. as alluding to the Angel so often speaking to Moses and giving the Law at Sinai out of the Burning Bush and Sinai is my Bush or my Thorns or my Sin or my Hatred as it is written or at least sounded in the Heb. And That Angel speaking to Moses when he was first made to turn aside and say he would consider that great thing a Bush Burning and yet not consuming as Christ also was plainly telleth him He was the God of his Fathers and appeared to them as t is said the Word of the Lord appeared to Abraham and the old Chaldee Paraphrase useth it very often where we read the Lord Though it was onely by his Name of Elshadday or God Almighty which we found the Object of Abrahams Faith but not yet as Jehovah speaking his Will also with his Power Ehje asher Ehje I will be what I will or can be Which now God would be in Christ delivering them out of Aegypt which in Heb is Misery as he speaks in the Law calling himself Jehovah the Lord thy God And This Name also may seem to be foretold to our Grand-mother Eve and that He should come from Her and she could not hold it in her Name being Chave which may also signifie a Tatler and as soon as Kain was born she cries I have kuned or kinned the Man Jehovah See the same Idiome particles and accents in Ezech. 4. 1. But as Seth was Set the Saxon English is very much Hebrew and a kin to Abraham in the room of Righteous Abel whom Kain slew So there was a Righteous Man also to rise up and be set in the room of Kain the Murderer and Brother Hater Which might be hinted perhaps when Kain named his Son Enoch sounding alike to Enos the very same name with the Blessed Patriarch Enoch That is the Chatechist or Catechumenus As is touched also in Abrahams taking out his Enochs or his Catechised servants against the four great Monarchies And Enoch was a great Type of Christ Walking with God and was not because God took him but before his Translation he had this Testimony that he Pleased God Living also 365. years as there be Dayes in a year And so long also did Christ remain in the Purity of the Primitive Church as the Oracle answered That Christian Religion should remain but One Great or Prophetick year and then came up That Grand Apostacy so much spoken of and ushered in by Him that through all ages since is Called The Apostate For Julian was about 365 years after Christ of which we may discourse again in an other Season When Enoch was Taken away and Seth Dead Noah is Born So Gracious is God in raising up other Comforters as our Saviour speaketh when it is expedient that some be taken from us Who is to be set in the room of Kain and his issue called the Children of Men in opposition to the Sons of Enos Named the Sons of God as some will have it Then began Men to be called by the Name of God All Kains Issue was washed off by the Floud so that all men now are the Children of Seth as we read in Scripture as well as Children of Noah And as we see the Justice of God in washing away the Sons of Cursed Kain so we may see the goodnesse of God in bringing us all since from Blessed Noah while also our sins as the Sons of Kain are washed off by the Blessed Flood of Baptism by Water and the Spirit Which must move on those Waters also as at first on the great Waters till it bring forth a New Heaven and a New Earth in which Righteousness shall dwell I do not Here stay to compare Noahs Ark with Peters Sheet having all kind of beasts Unclean and Clean which He must slay and eat and Turn into himself and his own spirit And from This he is Taught at length to call No Man Common or Unclean Seeing All are together and may be alike as they were in the sheet and in the Ark Resembling Christ with Rest also as the Name of Noah signifies Which was therefore given him because He shall give us Rest or Comfort in our Toyl because of the Earth which the Lord hath Cursed To which also the Prophet Micah may allude This Man shall be Our Peace whon the Assyrian Overflows our Land For so also Esay Prophesied that Assyria should rise up as a Flood and overflow the breadth of the Land of Emanuel as Antichrist the Church of Christ. see also Jer. 47. 2. But Christ shall give us Rest as himself also promiseth when he calleth all that are laden and that Labour as alluding to That of Noah I will give you Rest and again you shall find Rest to your Souls And the flood so Baptised Noah that God blessed Him and his Sons also which was more then we read done to Adams Children Yea Noah had a greater blessing then Adam had as may be shewed in divers Particulars and an Everlasting Covenant so established with Him and his Seed also that it is made the Pattern of all Covenants with Israel or any other as we may find in divers places And the
Lord. For he Cometh He Cometh to Judg the World The Lord Reigneth let the Earth rejoyce and let the many Isles be glad The Heavens declare his Righteousness and all the People see his Glory Which in the next Psalm is All the ends of the Earth have seen the Salvation of God As in Luke also All flesh shall see the salvation of God Which in Esay is Thus The Glory of God shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together And in the same Prophet Sing O Heavens for the Lord hath done it Shout O lower parts of the Earth break forth into singing ye Mountains O Forrest and every Tree therein And again Look unto me and be saved All the ends of the Earth For I am God and there is None else I have sworn by my self for there is No Greater that to me every Knee shall bow and every Tongue shall swear and pray and praise and confess to the Glory of God and my Father who said Ask of me and I will give thee the utmost ends of the Earth And while our Saviour lived on Earth he travelled to Aegypt and to other places about the Holy Land As taking possession of them Blessing them also by his blessed presence For the time was coming yea and Then come when not only at That or other Mountains of that Holy Land but in All places men should Worship God in Spirit and in Truth For the Father Seeketh such to worship him Yea and Those Lands also that had so afflicted and oppressed the People of God in all Ages even Aegypt and Assyria must come to sharers with the Land of Israel it self in the greatest Blessings For in that day shall Israel be a Third and but a Third with Aegypt and Assyria even a Blessing in the midst of the Earth whom the Lord of Hosts himself shall bless saying Blessed be Aegypt my People and Assyria the work of my hands as we read in the Prophet Esay to be compared with other places And the Reason given in the very Law of Redemption speaketh This because the Land was Gods Land and they were but Gods Tenants in it though in the Best and freest Fee for it was given to Abraham and his seed for Ever who was Heir of the World as the Apostle speaks And yet So that they must still acknowledg God to be their Lord Paramount their Grand Landlord And They might never give or sell or aliene no nor forfeit it which is very comfortable but so that it still must and should and shall be Redeemed again by the Tenant himself or his Kinsman Or however which was still to be observed it must go out Free wholly Free at the great Year of Jubilee of which more ere long And the Reason was This Because the Land was Gods Land and He would still retain his Right to it and in it and would still dispose it as he pleased whatever the present Tenant did And doth not the same Reason hold for All the Earth Yea did it not hold from the very first Fall of Adam and Man-kind in him Was not Then also the Earth even the whole Earth the same Landlords Had he not as much Right to it as to This Land of Canaan Would he so easily quit his Right in it Though Man a weak and vain and foolish Creature made a Forfeiture of His Possession or His Right shall it not then be as it was divers times with this Land of Canaan that when he shall have purged out the filth thereof by the spirit of Judgment and of Burning That which remaineth shall be Holy And why may it not be Thus also with our bodies and our flesh which hath so long been As the accursed Earth Yea as Babylon it self an Habitation of unclean spirits and a Cage of all unclean birds Why may it not also become the blessed Land of Promise and the Land of Rest Yea the Holy Place and Temple of the Lord of all the Earth Which is a Phrase very much to be marked As a name in which the Lord himself seemeth to glory being also the same Lord that is stiled the God of the Spirits of All flesh Which may be the Foundation of That Prayer and That Promise also that All flesh may and shall be brought to praise and bless the Lord as also that All the Earth must be full of the Glory of God For the place of his very Feet must be Glorious And what Glory Then will be upon This Earth when the Curtains or Canopy of the Heavens shall be drawn and the Glory of God shall appear and will the Earth as his chiefest Residence Will he not Then Give the Greatest Honour to the Weaker Vessel and the more abundant honor to the most uncomly parts or That which lacked most before It might be added also that the very City Jerusalem was not only Accursed as the rest but longer than other parts of the Land Trodden down by the accursed Jebusites which had their very name from Tredding down as the Revelation also seemeth to allude and These Jebusites grew up to be so Odious that before he conquered them 't is said His Soul even Davids Soul that is Love it self Hated them Even Them who possessed That very Fort which was afterwards his Darling and the dearly beloved of his Soul Yea That which God Chose-above all the Gates or Cities of Judah Yet in it self besides its accursed possessors it was but a dry barren Rock and so called Zion Drought or a Dry barren place And Morijah also where the Temple stood was but the Threshing place of one of these accursed Jebusites though as a Liberal Prince to David himself And though in Hebrew it may signifie the Lords Teaching yet others bring it up to Myrrh or Bitterness and in Greek it signifieth Foolishness to which also the Apostle may allude in several places And by This time I may conclude this Discourse of Turning accursed places or unholy into Blessed and Holy with That solemn saying of our Saviour The last shall be first and the first last Which he repeated so that I often think it might intimate a greater Mystery than I am yet sensible of As if All the Course of Gods Providence were as a Wheel in constant Motion pulling down the high Spoaks and bringing up the low ones Which Moses also long before described in his Psalm of Nature Grace and Glory Thou turnest man about as grinding him with the upper and the lower Milstone of Grief and Pain to clay or dust and Then thou sayest Return again Again ye Sons of Man Return again O Lord How long and let it repent thee concerning thy servants That is Make them Turn and Repent as we find it plain enough in the 80. Psalm and divers other places that Gods Effects In Man are expressed as His Affections To Man O satisfie us with thy Free Grace in the morning when our Night of pain and sorrow is past For Though sorrow
siner Loaves at Pentecost were but the first fruits of all the Increase of the Earth which was not gathered All in till the end of all the Harvest and Vintage also about the great Feast of Tabernacles at the End of the yeer Which yet is called on the New account from Exodus the Seventh Month. Which also made every Seventh Month Holy As also every Seventh Year was especially the seventh Seventh as we shall find in the Jubilee and every seventh Week or every seventh Day or Sabboth and perhaps every seventh Hour also in each Day As we see it makes a great Turn in the Sun and Moon beginning our reckoning from Sun-set as the Jews and many other Nations did which we see Dayly attended also with a constant Ebbing and flowing of the Sea six Hours apiece in the great Ocean as we may discourse more largely in the place of Times and Seasons I might add also that although the Curse that was due enough to Man fell on the Earth in general our common Mother crying to us as Rebecca did to her son Jaacob Thy Curse be upon me my son yet there have been several places which in several Ages have been especially under this Curse and yet none of them lay so under it but that they grew up to be Blessed again Yea it may be the more Blessed because they were once so Cursed For it was not only Micha's Mother that blessed her son in the name of the Lord because she had cursed so before but even God himself doth so earnestly Remember One that he hath spoken against as himself saith to Ephraim that his Bowels do the more yern over him and it may be blesseth them more because they were formerly cursed That is under Sorrow as we find the Curse of God so rendered in the Lamentations Give them O Lord thy Curse even Sorrow on their heart And our first Parents had sorrow and sweat and pain for their portion when the Curse fel on the Earth bearing Bryars and Thorns Thistles and Nettles to express this Curse or Wrath of God as the very name of a Nettle in Hebrew may import If there be any place in all the Law more under the Curse than the Land of Canaan it seemeth to be Idumea one of the Neighbor Countries which is expressly called the People of my Curse and threatned to Perpetual desolations when the whol Earth shall rejoyce Edom must mourn and be so cursed also that it is the very Type of Hell as may plainly appear by reading the 34. of Esay It being also the Land of Him or them that God so Hated as was toucht before And yet I know not one word in all the Curse of Edom that we do not also find Inflicted and not only Threatned on Jaacob and Israel Whom God himself saith he had given or devoted to the Curse by that very phrase which is used in that place where Edom is called the People of my Curse And what more frequent than Jerusalem it self to be a Scorn Reproach and Curse yea a Curse to all Nations Yea â—nd Perpetual Desolations never to be Built again or more Inhabited And yet we find That Ever or Eternity run out at the end of seventy years Captivity in which not only the Threatnings but Curse also was accomplished and powred out as we find in that remarkable Prayer left us in the 9. of Daniel to be compared with That of the Apostle Wrath is come upon them to the uttermost and Then it is a Blessed Land again and a Blessed People and a Blessing also to the World and Nations round about For It shall come to pass that As you were a Curse to the Heathen round about so shall you be a Blessing as we read in Zechary yea and a Blessing to All Nations as the Promise is in Malachy and divers other Prophets who doth not only shew them a way how from a Curse they should come to be Blessed and a Blessing also to All Nations But in the very close of that Prophet and so of the whole Law God himself provideth a Cure for the Earth also Lest he should come and smite the Earth with a Curse Even the Earth which was That which God had Cursed so much more than Adam Yet Elijah must come lest That very Cursed Earth should be smitten with the Curse And as the Jews repeat That verse of Elijahs Coming after the last verse lest the Scripture should end in Curse so it seemeth God also meant to repeat His Coming Or to send him or his spirit Twice Or before the latter Coming of Christ as before the Former There being also Two daies of the Lord There spoken of One is called Great and so was his first Coming and the other Dreadful or Terrible which seems the Epithet of his latter Coming much rather than his former And it may be marked that after John the Baptist was dead even at our Saviors coming from his Transfiguration which was such a Type of his second Coming and Kingdom He Then promiseth that Elijah Shall first Come and Shall restore All things Which is a Proverb with the Jews to this day and was also the constant Belief and Expectation of the Primitive Church of Christians as may be shewed by a full Jury of Ancient Fathers of the Christian Church And as John the Baptists Time was called the Day-spring from on High So it may be Elijahs second Coming also before the second coming of Christ is hinted in all those Scriptures which speak of a Morning Star to appear before the Sun of Righteousness which is also the phrase used by the same Prophet Malachy who promiseth the coming of Elijah And the Revelation plainly promiseth That Morning Star in the dark time of Jesabel and in Jesabels time Elijah slew her Prophets and the Prophets of Baal and so made that great change both in Church and State that in the Revel may be hinted by a Power to break the Nations Though That phrase reach up as High as Josuab breaking the seven Nations As the Manna in the Church before may intimate their passing through the Wilderness towards Canaan And that phrase of Breaking the Nations being coupled with that Promise of Elijahs coming under the Notion of the Bright Morning Star may put us in mind of a speech of God himself to Job Hast thou considered the Day-star or the Day-spring which I have made to shake the wicked out of the Earth They shall be turned as wax to the seal c. And when the wicked are cut off Thou shalt see those Promises fulfilled that the Meek shall inherit the Earth As we read in the Psalms and in our Saviours Blessings also and the Revelation addeth to That Blessing that there shall be no more Curse No more Curse For the very Leaves of the Trees about the Waters of Life shall heal the Nations And those Waters flow out round about Even to the Dead Sea or Lake of Sodom for even
before the worst of sinners And we see how gracious Christ was also to the Woman of Canaan although she were as a Dog or one degenerate into a Dog-like spirit and nature Yet the Dogs also enjoy Crumbs and in great Families and Christ is Lord of All the Family in Heaven and Earth The very Dogs have better Diet than it may be Children have in other houses And That Dog-like Woman of Canaan was received into favor and had great Grace and Faith given her though a cursed Woman under the greatest Curse both of God and Man Noah cursed her and God also cursed her so that he commanded all his people to hate and curse her Nation so that they might neither Treat with them nor seek their good all their daies Which we see how Christ observed towards her when he would not so much as Treat with her or speak to her till his Disciples as the Representatives of his Church interceded with him for her or it may be against her for the Text is somwhat doubtful Yet by Faith Her heart also is purified and there is No difference between Jew and Gentile No not a Cursed Canaanite Which might also be seen long before when the high and proud and stout Gibeonites some of the chiefest of those cursed Canaanites bowed down and though by a Wile only they got into a Covenant with Joshua a mighty Type of Jesus yet they could never be cast off No by no means by no means But when Adonizedech the Lords Justice King of Jerusalem and other Kings with him would have chalenged them back again as to have brought them back into the Curse again Joshua must not only stand up and rise early Yea and march all night in defence of these poor late accursed Canaanites but also the Sun and Moon must stand still over Gibeon and the course of Nature must be changed rather than Gibeon must be deserted or so much as left into the hand of Gods Justice in his own Throne which is Adonizedech King of Jerusalem And Gibeon is not only made one of the greatest Scenes of Gods presence a long time together as we often find in Scripture before it was Solomons greatest High Place Where God also appeared to him after such great Sacrifices in Gibeon But also This very History of the strange Works of God in defending Gibeon is made the Type of what God means to do Hereafter also I suppose for his People and his Enemies also When he shall rise up to do his great and strange Work of Gibeon or as he did at Gibeon or Mount Perazim Where also at Davids coming up the five great Lords of the Philistins rose up against him as at Gibeon the five great Kings of the Amorites or Canaanites against Joshua And about Gibeon also the great Quarrel was ended between David that is Love and the House of Saul that is the Grave or Hell Acted by Abner the Fathers Light or Understanding and by Joab his Will or Affection which were here reconciled and a New Heaven and Earth brought up As afterwards the New Jerusalem when David beat the Jebusites which had their name from Treading down for the Holy City must be Trodden down till the Times of the Centiles be fulfilled And a Type of This Fulfilling of Time might be in That when the twelve men of Joab and Abner ran through one another as the twelve hours of Day and Night and there fell down slain on Sauls side 360. For their common Year had so many Daies in it And though Saul himself was dead cut off by God because he sought to the Devil and would not seek to God as we read in Chronicles although he complained that God would not answer him But the Truth was he would not seek to God who could yet have pardoned All but he would not ask it and God therefore cut him off and for his sparing Amaleck himself was slain by an Amalachite if at least he Lyed not to David who could not be quiet in the Throne till he had also cut off the Amalachites whom Saul spared even after Sauls Death His House and Family was sorely punished and Davids Kingdom also afficted with divers years Famine for Sauls afflicting the poor Gibeonites though it were in Zeal to Israel So much doth God abhor All Cruelty and hard Usage of any poor men though in never so much Zeal for God or his Cause or any of his People Which the Lord make me and all mine and all His still to remember in all my Actions lest I afflict some poor Gibeonite in Zeal to Israel and thinking I do God good service By All which we may also learn that even Those that are most Hated or cursed by God as These Gibeonites and Canaanites were and Children of Wrath and curse as much as any Nation or People we read of Yet they may come to be Blessed and Loved by the same God who so hated and cursed them And yet He changeth not himself but Them whom he first cursed and so shut them up in guilt and sin and sorrow That their cries that is His in them might draw out his own bowels and compassions more to them by how much more he had cursed or afflicted them Which is one of the great Mysteries of the Gospel running Through the Law and the Prophets and the Curses thereof Which should teach us not to despair under the hardest and worst words God doth or ever will speak against us while we live O do not say This Evil is from God and why then should I wait or Hope on Him Yea rather make hast to bow down and Worship and seek his face as the 3d Captain to Elijah For the King of Israel is a merciful King He is a gracious God and He delighteth in those that sear him and Hope in his goodness Trembling at his Word For it is still good for a man to Hope and patiently wait for the salvation of God Let me also tell you It is an honor that God will speak to us though he do but chide us Threaten us sharply rebuke or chasten us which himself and we may call Hating or cursing us But His Frowns and Chidings and Hatings and Cursings as we may interpret them may be better than the Smiles and Loves and Embracings of the whole World besides And we do not only read him saying I have forsaken the dearly beloved of my soul as we see Christ himself was so forsaken but also that he Hated Her even the dearly beloved of his soul as we read in Jeremy and did not only strike her with an hard and sore and Cruel stroke as an Enemy but even Curse her and make her a Curse As we know he dealt with Christ himself his dearly beloved Son and as a Type of Christ with Israel Because he knew them and they should have known him above All Nations of the Earth Therefore he would punish them above All Nations So that he never
are by Thee Thou shalt not press him with Usury or be as an Userer to him nor any way Hard for if he Cry unto me I will Hear for I am Gratious and will God Hear when we cry of a man oppressing or pressing us and will he not hear us against the Devil also and our spiritual pressors or Oppressors seeing he Fxecutes Judgement for All that are Oppressed And His Word is as pure silver seven times refined from Earth sweetly applyed to this very thing If thou meet thine Enemies Ox or Ass going astray and in another place This Enemy is called a Brother which may shew us how far that Phrase of Brother or Neighbour reacheth even to an Enemy and One that Hateth us As also Christ sheweth us in his Parable of the good Samaritan and divers other places Where he tells us 't is â—a little Love to love a Friend or one that is like us or friendly to us Thankful and Kinde which even sinners and Hypocrites use to do in Their Love But his Children and Servants and himself also must love Enemies and such as hate backbite blasphem and offer all despite unkind and unthankful and all this that they may be like their Heavenly Father Who with love of delight and complacence loveth only himself and his own Image but with pitty and compassion which may be a better or a kinder kind of love he loveth and is kind and Merciful to his very enemies and those that are unlike him froward and unthankful Yea to their very Ox and Asses also even as the Law here bids in Exodus If thou meet thine Enemies Ox or Asse going astray thou shalt surely bring it back to him again If the see the Asse of him that hateth thee lying under his Burthen Thou shalt surely leave thy businesse or lay aside thy Garments to help him up or help with him Which may be improved much in our addresses to Christ. For we may justly tell him Our poor souls are as the very Asses of his Enemies and those that hate him nay yet worse as the wild Asses Colt as the Scripture expresseth it and that is more unserviceable then the Ox or Asse or other beast of burthen is I am Behemoth with thee as the psalmist expresseth it But though I stray yet Thou hast put thy self under That Law which bids us help a straying Beast and much more when he lies under an heavy Burthen under which he cannot stir much lesse come to Thee as thou callest All that are heavy laden Now sherefore shew thy pitty and compassion to the poor Asse or the poor soul the bruitish Heart of him that is thy Enemy and Hateth Thee And I know one that said He never received a more sweet and kind return from our Saviour then when in great anguish of spirit he bowed unto him crying onely This Now shew thy kindness to thy Poor Enemy the Kindnesse thou hast spoken of to a Poor Enemy which is now at thy foot and mercy whom thou hast taken captive with thy Sword and thy Bow and while I am speaking Thus I think also of That spoken by the Prophet to the King of Israel when he had so many of his Enemies at his Mercy in the midst of his great City Shall I smite them my Father shall I smite them and the Prophet answered No by no means wilt thou smite them thou hast taken captive with thy sword and thy bow give them to eat and drink and let them go and he prepared great provision for them and sent them away so overcome with this Kindnesse that they could hardly be drawn to come any more as Enemies against the King of Israel who was so Merciful a Prince And Mercy doth preserve and establish a Kings Throne more then any thing in the World as Solomon shews and David also in divers places and so it doth and still shall establish Christs Throne also Which is a white Throne even when he cometh to Judgement and Mercy shall still go before him and be the stability of his Throne and Kingdom and blessed be they that hear and know and believe that joyful sound which is sweeter then all the Trumpets or the Bells about the fringe of Aarons Garment Which yet had a better Ornament even that sweet perfume of the Good Oyntment a meek and quiet spirit as Saint Peter expresseth it and the Psalmist compareth it to Love which with God is of great value and it drencht his beard throughout even Aarons Beard which was yet but an Excrement and often to be cut away and ran down through all his Garments even to the seams and fringes also round about And as if God had not yet enough provided for the Poor through all the Laws in Exodus and Leviticus He repeateth and addeth in Deuteronomy Thou shalt not harden thy Heart or shut thy hand from thy Poor brother As if all shutting of hands came from Hardnesse of Heart and that This also was mainly or onely against a poor man But thou shalt open thy hand wide and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in That which he wanteth Beware there be not a word or thought in thy wicked heart saying the seventh year the year of Release is at hand and thy eye be evil against thy poor brother and thou givest him Nought and he cry unto the Lord against thee and it be Sin unto Thee Thou shalt surely give him which before was lend him but at or near the year of Release it was a gift because to be forgiven then and Thy Heart shall not be grieved when thou givest to him a most sweet Command and Promise because that for This thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in All thy Works and in All that thou puttest thy hand unto VVhich is the great promise to the Reading and Observing of the whole Law so that love and pitty to our poor Neighbour is rewarded as keeping of the whole Law As Daniel also to Nebuchadnezar even when the decree was made against him I councel thee to break off thy sins by justice and by shewing Pity to the poor And when the people asked John the Baptist What shall we do He said nothing but Pity the poor And so our Savior also to the wicked Pharisees Give Alms of all you have and All things shall be clean to you And lest All This might yet be too little or too narrow because it begun with a Poor Brother It concludes as general as well can be expressed Thou shalt open thy hand wide unto thy Brother to thy Poor and thy Needy in the Land Which Phrase is remembred to Christ several times in the Psalms crying Thy Poor and Thy Needy and forget not the Congregation of Thy Poor c. Where it is also Kite as the English sound the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Kite or Knite the Beast or Beasts of thy Poor As alluding to the Oxe or Ass or wild Asses Colt
for such is mans heart And So was Ishmael foretold to be in the Original as was touched before And the 72. Psalm and divers other Scriptures shew us how Christ also was made under All those Laws that concern the Poor and Needy And we should urge and press them All on Him Yea especially to make us Poor in spirit or rightly sensible of all our wants which indeed may be one of our greatest wants and That for which Christ especially calls us to Him As we may see in that most remarkable Epistle to the Church of Laodicea in the Revelation which shews us the Heart of Christ even unto those that are not senfible of their wants But He sees them and remembers the Law If thou see the Naked in Esay or thy poor Neighbor want as we find in St. John and James Yea though they do not weep or word out any of their wants Yet if thou do but See them and thou must not Hide thy self from thy own flesh Which have been exceeding sweet to me in many cases when I could urge them on Christ also and Tell him he hath said a Brother is Born for a day of Sorrow And the very Sigh by which God hath taught us all to express sorrow which is Ah Ah in Hebrew and most Languages I know in Gods Language is Brother Brother to which he seems to allude in Jer. 22. and divers places As if he would have us in all our sorrow cry out Brother brother Help us And Christ was not only sent to Preach the Gospel to the Poor and to comfort All that mourn but also gave That as the demonstrative Character to Johns Disciples that he was the True Messiah That the Poor were Gospelized or Turned into the Gospel As the Phrase imports And himself read his Commission not only to Preach Deliverance to the Captives or opening of prison to them that are bound but also to Deliver and set at Liberty those that are Bruised which is less than Broken with which he began saying he hath sent me to Heal the broken Hearted Or the shivered from the Heb. shiver as in English also to break into atomes or Moats which is also an Hebrew word And though the Prophet speak of a Day of Vengeance where also the word is akin to Repentance and Comfort also yet Christ omits That in his reading it and speaks not a word of Vengeance though but a Day But the Acceptable Year of Jubilee O How Acceptable it is to God! And the Poor were so much upon Gods Heart when he gave the Law that he begins all his Judicial Laws in the 21. of Exodus with the case of a Poor man or woman sold to be a Servant As the Foundation of the great Law of Redemption which is the Gospel And in the next chapter he calls them His People with an especial Emphasis If thou lend mony to any of My People the Poor with thee And again If thou take thy Neighbors Garment for a Pledg Thou shalt deliver it to him again by Sun set For it is his Covering and wherein he sleeps and if he cry to me I will hear For I am Gracious For I am Gracious O how sweet is That to a Poor Soul That also of Delivering the Pledg by Sun set which in the Repetition of that Law is said should be their Righteousness before the Lord a strange expression may occasion us to remember How the same God also commanded that He that was Hanged up as a pledg of the greatest Wrath and Curse as we find in the Law and in Christ whom the Jews to this day call the Tall or Lifted up or Hanged person must be taken down by Sun set As Joshua practised diverstimes at the Going down of the Sun To which it may be That also may allude Let not the Sun go down upon your Wrath nor give place to the Devil the Prince of Wrath and Darkness Which hath also put me in mind that the word Wrath in Heb signifies somwhat that in God also I hope more than any man is to Pass away and not to Endure for Ever Which is one of the first Articles God seems to hold out of our Faith and Hope in Him Who is Wisdom it self Pure and Peaceful Power and Goodness But Wrath resteth only in the Bosom of Fools And is their Weakness also As we read in Solomon And the Prophet Micha saith I will bear the Indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him till he return c. And concludeth Who is a God like unto Thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgressions of the remnant of his Heritage He retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy He will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast Their sins into the depths of the sea Thou wilt perform the Truth to Jacob and the Mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworn unto our Fathers from the daies of Old And the very next chapter in Deuteronomy limits the punishing of a wicked man Which must not exceed forty stripes though he that knew his Masters will may be beaten with many stripes but not above fourty And the reason is yet better Lest Thy Brother should seem Vile unto thee And yet stripes were for the fools back and for the vilest slaves they might not touch a Roman and they are here appointed for a Wicked man and yet how careful is God that a Wicked man even a VVicked man for he is still a Brother by this very Law may not be made too vile in the eyes of any Judg and so of Christ also the great Judg But made under this Law also And it is considerable that this number of 40. is the Trying Tempting Punishing number much through all the Bible Fourty Daies in the Flood divers times And so for Purification after a male child and twice forty for a Female Fourty years for Canaans Repentance and Israels wandring in the Wilderness and Fourty years for Judahs sin in Ezekiel and fourty daies or years of Nineveh and of Jerusalem about our Saviors Resurrection and Ascention after fourty daies and the City stood but fourty yeers after And Thrice fourty yeers was the Tryal of the old World or their Day of Repentance And Then the Flood by fourty and fourty daies And though Moses make our longest age but twice fourty or eighty years yet he lived Thrice fourty years and Fasted Thrice fourty daies it may be Representing both Elijah and Christ also fasting fourty daies That which followeth in the same chapter of the Kinsmans raising seed to his dead Kinsman For it is not a Brother only in Hebrew and we see it in Ruth at a greater distance may be applied to Christ also for a spiritual seed to God Seeing the first Adam in us dieth childless Nor may he plead I shall mar my own Inheritance or Family I have a wife or children of my
find in the Revelation We have seen the Passover fulfilled in our Blessed Saviour And his Bones are Whole though his Flesh Torn even to the Bone in his Members that are to fill up the measure of his susserings As the Children of Israel from Isaac till the 430 years were fully out and Then and Then We have seen the First of First fruits the Barley sheaf first Heaved up on the Third day after the passeover was slain as an Emblem of His Resurrection who was That Sire also not onely a Goat as before but Barley also the rough hairy bearded Goatish kind of Seed of which also before and in Elijah John the Baptist and his rough Garments and his Meen Seeming so Austere Yea and the first fruits also the Biccurim Elect of God and the first born of which we spake also at the Pentecost But the promise is to you and to yours and to All that are afar off even as many as the Lord not onely hath but shall call through all Ages and Generations Doth it not plainly lead us to the Feast of Tabernacles For Then not onely They and Their Children but their strangers also yea and all their Neighbours round them yea All Nations were not onely called but Commanded to that Feast of Tabernacles As the Jews observe it to this day for building their Booths abroad in open ayr as commanded not onely receiving but inviting strangers to them As we found also in Zech. and divers Psalms and Prophets cited before with 31 of Devt 12 verse to be compared with the 29 and 16 Chapters And least their solemnMeeting at Jerusalem should be clogged with contests or suits of Law there is added also at Close of That Law of those Feasts another Magnale imperii and their Politicks were such that all Nations should say they were wise and had a wise God appointing both Judges and Officers which were both distinct from their Sanedrin and King As we found the Power of making Laws Judging and Executing Law or Governing by Law to be distinct to be kept in Distinct Persons as in Esay 33 divers places And in All their Gates or walled Towns they must have Judges more then One and never lesse then Three As they all note on That of the Psalm the Lord sitteth among the Gods which must be Three at least they say and rightly for their Plural is never lesse or Fewer then Three And why then may not This also note a Trinity of Persons in the God-head also seeing Elohim is Plural and as Their Judges must be Three at least So their Church Meetings must be of 10 at least As they note also from the 10 Searchers called a Church or Congregation and many other waies Yea for Officers also They had usually Three Elders and Seven Deacons in their Synagogs And never less than three that I find There also to be Judging Elders As in all their Gates Three Judges And now seeing we may fix one Foot of our Compass on the Feast of First Fruits at Pentecost in the second of Acts May it not be possible to stretch it out to the Certain time of the Feast of Tabernacles also which must be in the Fourth Month after That And if it be given in from the Grace of God upon the Prayers of all his people with the supply of the spirit of Jesus of Nazareth Why may it not be spoken also or written to some few when we have found a Private Character to expresse our Thoughts more speedily and secretly then yet is Common One of the many greater things our God is doing and now happly bringing forth also for as Babilon falls so will Babling also and stammering tongues In the mean time why may I not say these few words more That whatever Changes are yet to come before that last and great and good change in the last Seventh month or End of the year Or Feast of Tabernacles at the great Harvest or Vintage also or In gathering of All Fruits of the Earth or Restoring all things As our Saviour speaks There are but Three New Moons between the Pentecost and Month of That Great Feast which we now speak of And one of the Three was very probably in That Great Change of Jerusalem and its Polity by the Romans With Baalam Cittim But he shall perish My Ever or to Ten Adi 12 times 7 And Jacob shall destroy the Reliques of the City and in Daniel Tsiim Cittim And the King shall Act his Will by his own Reason His common phrase 8. 3. 11. 4. 16. 36. and the very name of Rome or Romans may be hinted in the next word ending in Romem or Romam He shall not regard the desire of Women to be compared with the Doctrine of Daemons 1 Tim. 4. nor Any God but shall Exalt himself above All that is called God or Worshiped 2 Thes. 2. But for God he shall honor Mauzzim 5 times in this chap. for a Fort a Maze Mews or Muse a strange God And the worst kind of Strangers For they were bid to love a stranger Ger and Hager as Themselves or Angels But Avoda zara strange Service is still forbidden Cursed And yet This Here is worse Being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As alluding to That Great and Fundamental Law Deut. 17. 15. Thou Mayest not set a Stranger It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Rule over thee which is not thy Brother Of which we spake so much before And he shall prosper till the Wrath appointed it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Numerals 677 be finished For That which is appointed shall be Done And at the Time of the End The King of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind with Chariots and Horsmen and with many Ships and as Jordan shall Overflow For He shall plant the Tabernacles of his Wrath or Face of Judgment Between the Seas and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do make 665. In the Mount of Goodly Holiness A Phrase no where else I think in all the Bible Were not Tsebi used in This Prophet and This Chapter also for the Pleasant Land very probably of Israel I could suppose it here an Irony For it may be rendered Swelling or Goatish as well as Goodly Holiness But if it be of the Turk As the Seas give us the site of Constantinople or New Rome with its 7 Hills also This Mountain of Goodly Holiness may be That Famous Hill Athos not far from the Great Port which in all Ages was called The Holy Mountain As at this Day Monte Santo Yea and some write of so much primitive simple True Honesty amongst the Kalloiries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of That very Mountain yet as may be worth more looking after But He also shall come to his End and None shall help him But This Casteth Him also into the Arms of God and Christ. For All Kings shall Worship Him and All Nations shall serve him For This For may change the World He
of Iohn lead us plainly to the Feast of Tabernacles and its Evening Songs and joy for Drawing of Water as the Jewes expresse it in their Talmud Adding also That He that never saw That Drawing of Water never saw Ioy in all his Life for more could hardly be expressed on earth then was expressed There And themselves confess it was to shew the Pouring out of the Spirit on All flesh in the Latter Daies which we saw beginning at Pentecost As the fiâ—st Drops of the Former Rain was followed by the great showrs of the Latter Rain After That Feast to prepare the Earth for the Wheat Then to be sown As Barley in the Spring Yea the Prophet Zechary tels us that the very Fast of the 7th Month How solemn and How strictly commanded should be Turned into Ioy and Gladnesse and Solemn Feasting And Then Many peoples plurall and Inhabiters of many Cities Yea the Rabble as the word soundeth shall Goe and say Come and let us Go speedily to seek the faee of God the Lord of Hosts and the Lambs Bride and the Spirit also will say I will Go also Yea Many People and strong Nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem Yea and Damascus it self shall become his quiet Rest his Menu hath when the Eyn of Men or Mankind shall be to the Lord as All the Tribes of Israel And He that remaineth shall be for our God Yea as a Governor in Judah And then are Both Comings of Christ described as before in the second Chapter First on an Ass the Foal of an Ass of which before on the Fourth Command â—nd other places of the Law And then he shall speak peace to the Heathen and have Dominion srom the River to the Ends of the Earth And to Them afar off in the Sea Which we touched before in America And yet Farther And As sor Thee also by the Blood of thy Covenant I have sent forth thy Prisoners out of the Pit where there is no Water Turne ye to the strong hold O Prisoners of Hope even to day do I declare that I will render Double to Thee And then follows the Conquest of Turk or Greece c. And Then the Lightning from the East So shall his coming be we must touch it again in our Discourse of Barak the word here used And Then the Feast of Trumpets in the Seventh Month and so of the Year of Release at the solemnity of Tabernacles As Moses expresseth it And the Jews bring it as High as Isaacs Release for the Ram and Thence they blow with Rams Horns the Jobelin alluding also to the Turnings and overturning of Jericho that is His Moon before the Sun of Josuah Then follow the Songs and other solemn shoutings of That Feast of Tabernacles of which also Lament 2. 7. and it may be Psalm 74. 3 4. Where Perpetual Desolations shall be Ended And the Chapter concludeth How Great is his Goodness How Great his Beauty Corn shall make the young men speak or sinq and New Wine the Maids A sure Character of That Feast at the Great Vintage of which also before in that chapter and the next and 12th also And in That day I will make the Governors of Judah like a Torch in a sheaf another Character of Harvest And the Lord shall save the Tabernacles of Judah first another Character that David or Jerusalem do not glory or exalt themselves against Judah And I will pour on the House of David and Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and Supplication and they shall look upon me It is Jesus who speaketh This and All whom they have Pierced Of which also St John in his Gospel and yet again how often in the Revelation And we may touch Megiddon again in our Paralels of Kings and Judges And in that day there shall be a Fountain opened for Uncleanness And I will 〈◊〉 off the Names of Idols And then again of Both Comings of the Man that is Gods Fellow And of that Great Feast of Tabernacles which himself also cited or remembred on the Last and Great day of That Feast as we spake before And again in Hosea Great shall be the day of Jesreel it signifies the Seed of God But I will first take away her Corn and Wine and Oyl in the Moads or Seasons thereof and will cause her Mirth to cease her Sabbaths Moons and solemn Moads But I will allure her into the Wilderness and There I will speak comfortably to her And I will give her Vineyards and the Valley of Achor for a Door of Hope How Gracious and she shall sing There as in the Daies of her youth when she came out of Egypt and dwelt in Tabernacles as we read in That Prophet also And in That Day thou shalt call me Ishi my Man and Husband and shalt call me no more Baali my Lord or Master for I will take away the Name of Baalim or Lords out of her mouth and they shall be No more remembred by Their Name And I will hear the Heavens and they shall hear the Earth and This the Corn and Wine and Oyl and All shal hear Jesreel But the children of Israel shall abide many daies without a King and without a Prince and without a Sacrifice But afterwards they shall return and seek their Lord and their God and David their King and shall fear the Lord and his Goodness in the latter daies or End of the Year And as That greatest Feast of Tabernacles was at the End of the year so was their Greatest Meal at the End of the Day Whence we read of the Lambs Supper and the Lords Supper rather than Dinner which with Them was slight and little or nothing else but a Break fast As the Ravens brought the Prophet Flesh at the Morning and Flesh at the Evening Yea and God also had a Lamb at the Morning and another at Evening And Blessed is the Land whose Princes are Noble Offering Tamid before Break fast and Minha before Supper As the old Targum and other Jewish Writers on That of Solomon And although there were 12 kinds of Minha Yet That in Evening and Time thereof alone was called The Minha Being offered at the End or Evening of the Dayes As we read in Abels Minha or â—ains in Gen. 4. being just at the Time of the Evening Incense the Ketureth As Abrahams Evening Marriage if we may so call it of Keturah brought him More sons then his Morning Marriage of Sara Let my Prayer come like Ketureth and the lifting up of my Hands As the Evening Minha And the Priests of Baal cryed till Minha Then and not till Then God shewed himself by the Prophet Elijah Who was Then As the Evening Star Though in the Revelation compared to the Morning Star scattering the dark Clouds and Nightbirds of Jesabels time as we saw before in the Fourth Church And Then Elijah Treadeth Carmel or Cramel the Vintage of God which from Esay 63 and
Seriah was also Menuah from Noah Rest a Meek and Quiet Prince As Christ speaketh of Moses and of Himself Rejoyce O Zion For thy Prince is Meek and Lowly which with God is of Great Price and Value As Saint Peter speaketh Who yet struck down Ananias and Saphira But this Boanerges must become a Barnabas Ye know not what spirit You must be And Barnabas Took Saul and knit him to the Church of Christ who sent him back to Tarsus his Native Countrey As Israel to Babylon the Hole or Pit whence they were taken and called And then was Great Peace and Comfort of the Holy Ghost for Jerusalem it self was scattered through All Judea and Samaria and Galilee of the Gentiles also the three Regions of Heaven and Earth and the little World also as we have touched divers times And Then Peter also must come down to Lydia as alluding to Lud with Tarsis and Ludi and Lydia Saint Pauls Convert of Thiatire Divine Tyre or the Sacrificer For Her Hire also must be Holinesse to God and Sarran Tyrian or Sharon of which before with Carmel For That also must blesse Him and Hermon the Cursed Hill And Tabor the very Navel of the Belly or the Lower VVaters Here must Christ be Transfigured an Emblem of this Kingdom and Then must cast out the Foul Spirit which so Mastered All his Apostles Till Himself came down and found the people in a very hot dispute with his Apostles about a Devil they could not master And yet at his going up He had given them Power over All Unclean spirits But This was Beelzebub it seems the Prince of Devils with his Legions Every one 6000 and 666 also If a great Author besides Hesychius do not deceive us A strange spirit with Three Epithites in Three Evangelists As if Cerberus with his Tripple Throat The Devil in the VVorld Or Utmost Court and Antichrist in the Church or Temple But the Old Man in our Heart There the Dragon Then the Beast and the Image of the Beast and the False Prophet also directly opposite to God and Man who was made to Rule the Beast with the Image of God in Man or God-Man and the True Prophet the Holy Ghost See Ja. 3. 16. 1 Cor. 3. 3. Rom. 8. 6. But How long Ever since there was a Childe In the VVaters Above As the Crossing Serpent which we shewed before in Shemes Samson and his 12 Labors also through the Zodiak full of Beasts Aries Taurus Cancer Leo worse In the Earth Below Even in Paradise The Serpent the most subtile Beast and Head of all Beasts Turning Isha into Eva 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Before whom Adam only conversed with Lilith the Nights Darkness and Dreams which the Jewes call the Mother of Hobgoblins and make a white Circle with Chuts Lilith Out Night In the Waters Below Leviathan and Tannin the Dragon in the Great Depth or Bottomless-pit as Esay 27. with Iob of Behemoth Leviathan and the Revelation But He shall be cast out of Earth also as first he was out of Heaven Whence he fell like Lightning Though That but as a Prophecy before Apoc 11 and 12. Which brings up the Kingdom of Christ with Casting out Satan As Christ also said If I by the finger of God Cast out Beelzebub Then know the Kingdom of God is very near you But you must say Let it Come on Earth as it is in Heaven Where yet Satan came among the Angels to accuse and resist the Brethren as we may find in Job with Dan. Zech. But at our Saviours coming from the Mount All the three Foul Spirits shall be cast out Yet they may Tear us first and leave us as Dead But for Three dayes and Half and Then Come up hither And the Father said with Tears Lord I believe Help thou my Unbelief Being told that All things even All things are possible to Him that Believeth The same Works Yea and greater Works For I go to my Father And a Grain of True Faith can remove This Mountain also where I was transfigured while Peter would have built three Tabernacles Howbeit This strange and strong and last kinde of Devils go not out but by Fasting and Prayer Yet They had Oyl and so raised the Sick and laying on of Hands Cast out Devils For it was and still is and will be and appear a very Mighty Name of Jesus of Nazareth And Peter at length coming to Japho the old Town of Japhet Who began it before the Flood as hinted in Heathen Authors Having first healed Aeneas Aeneas And after eight years By the same Name by which Himself and Iohn had cured the Cripple at the 9th Hour the Time of Prayer As to Cornelius also the first fruits of the Gentiles He findeth Tabitha Dorcas a Doe of a Goat which in Hebrew and Syriac is also Saphira 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Raiseth Her also from the Dead A greater work perhaps than curing a Daughter of Abraham whom Satan had Bound Lo and Behold these 18 Years And another with the Bloody Flux of which before for 12 years And a Third Talitha 12 years old Here are three Twelves and an Half And a man at the Pool of Bethesda the House of Chesed Tender Mercy 38 Years Here are three Twelves and two also for a Cheâ—si Which I note the rather because it was first shewed Abraham in a Map that his Friends and Tenants of Promise and Sodom also must serve the four Monarchs 12 Years And not be delivered till the second after the 12. or second Sabbath which is the 14th Year as Assyrians broken in the 14th year of Ezekiah as the 14th of Genesis And the 14 Teeth of either Jawe may represent Years also as we shewed before from Shinim Teeth and Shenim Years Where we touched the Turtle and the Pigeon as the two little Witnesses preserved undivided which is their only way of safety between the Divided Heifer and the Ram and Goat also and All of Three years old And Then the Fiery Furnas and Great Horror But at Evening or Sun-setting God speaketh to him in a Vision which he saw not till he had said to the King of Sodom Thou shalt never make me Rich. And After Those words God came in a Vision and said Fear not Abraham for c. And they brought him to an Upper Chamber it is oft spoken of and should be marked where the women were and shewed the Coats of Dorcas For she also loved us and helped to build us a Tabernacle As we touched before in the Curtains or Coverings of Goats-hair and Badgers-skins But He put the Women All out O Woman what have I to do with Thee And Touch me not for I am not yet Ascended Which he had learned also from Him that so Acted before Him and James and John which were His three VVitnesses generally Who put them All out and cryed Talitha Kumi May it not be Rise up the Third Day or Year or Moed As They
he was the near Ancestor of Selah or Siloah Rising up 35 years after his Father Arphaxad and 3 and an Half also The great Reconciler of the Sun and Moons Motions more perhaps than 19 or any other Number Half 70 5 times 7 And next to 6 times 6 perhaps the just Age of our Saviour at his Death In Hours it brings us to the Light of the 2d Morning 36 As 360 Dayes bring up the second Year I will love them freely Though before he had said From my House I will drive them Agarsem As Hagar from Abraham and I will not add to Love them Oseph As minding Joseph sold to the Stocks c. All their Saras are Sorerim Sorry Sirs As the English Proverb to this day They shall be Nodding and Noddies Among the Gentiles Gogim perhaps of Gog and Magog also Both in England and other Northern Countries As we finde in Heathen writers But return O Israel to the Lord thy God Even yet Thy God! As Jeremy 3. and many other places And the great Complaint in Zephany is that the Polluted and Rebellious City would not trust in the Lord Nor draw near to Her God As Manasseh but a Type of their Return though They thought themselves Forgotten as that name may intimate after All his sins Yet Bowed to His God and his Fathers God who Heard him Take words and say Take away All Iniquity Not Ours onely but All. O let the Iniquity of the Wicked wicked also come to an end And He was Heard in what he prayed Receive us graciously This Tob mindes me of Tobiah the Lords Goodness There are strange things in that Book and of These Dayes perhaps in the true Hebrew Copy I will be as a Dew to Israel yet the great complaint and punishment was That His Goodness and Mercy was but a Dew He shall flourish as the Lilly Or as Shushan of which before and in Ester 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 661. Or as Susanna Recovered by Daniel from the Elders as Shushan by Ester and Mordecai There is another Mistress also First His Roots under Ground and out of sight like Lebanon Then his little young Suckers Yonikothau as Younger is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 66. 588. His Glory or Beauty or Head Hodo As India How like to Judea Hodi in Ester also And in English Hoddy is joyful and glad As the Olive-Tree and his Reak as Lebanon Jasuâ—u Joseve Betsillo And again His memorial as the Wine of Lebanon From me is All thy Fruit found See Esay 26. 19 20. and Psalm 107. 40 41 42 43 and 91. and 37. 34. with the close of This Prophet Hoseah In the Prophet Joel we have a Form of Prayer prescribed before the Spirit be poured out as There also promised And Esay 32. My Land shall be desolate for ever c. Till the Spirit shall be Poured from on High And then the Wilderness shall be a fruitful Field and That which is Now fruitful shall be accounted but as a Wilderness And Then you shall sing as in the Night of the solemn Moed Chap. 30. to be added to that before of the Feast of Tabernacles And Chap. 59. They shall fear the Name of the Lord from the VVest and his Glory from the Sun-Rising when the Enemy shall come in like a Flood to end That Generation Then even Then the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a Standard against him And the Redeemer or Goel and Kinsman shall come to Zion or out of Zion and shal Turn away Ungodliness from Jacob. As St Paul renders the words in Rom. 11. applying it to the Fulness of the Gentiles as the Resurrection from the Dead when All Israel shall be saved For This is my Covenant with them when I shall take away their sins My Spirit upon thee my words which I have put in thy mouth for the word which I Covenanted with you in your coming out of Aegypt and My Spirit is still standing in you Fear yee not Hag. 2 They shall not depart from Thy mouth or from the mouth of Thy seed or from the mouth of Thy sâ—eds seed saith the Lord from now and for Ever And though they Rebelled and Vexed his Holy Spirit so that he turned to be their Enemy and fought against them yet he remembred the dayes of Old Moses and his people saying VVhere is He that brought them up out of the sea with the Shepherd of his Fock and where is He that put his Holy Spirit within him And again The Spirit of the Lord caused him to Rest c Chap. 63. And then followeth a most sweet and pathetical Prayer for the time of their Captivity to be Paraleld with that in Joel 2. And Then the Lord will be jealous for his Land or for his Earth and will pity his People Yea the Lord will answer and say Behold c. And fear not O Land Be not Tyred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be glad and Rejoyce For the Lord hath been Great to Doe or to work Great things Be not afraid ye Beasts of the Field Be Glad then O children of Zion and Rejoyce in the Lord your God He hath given you the Former Rain for Righteousnesse and He will bring the showre also the gushing waters as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may sound in English the former Teaching Rain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and That also which filleth up the straw or the stalk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in the first Month or beginning of the year which was also the End of the year before And you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the Name of the Lord your God that hath been so Marvellous for you and my People shall never be ashamed And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel and that I am the Lord your God and none else and my People shall never be ashamed And it shal come to pass Afterward Afterward I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh c. And I will shew Wonders in the Heavens and in the Earth the Sun shall be turned into Darknesse and the Moon into Blood and may not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the Great and Terible Day of the Lord come and it shall come to passe that whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord Iesus as is plain by This cited in Rom. 10 shall be saved or delivered As Paul at Melita which in Greek may be Care but in Hebrew Cure and Deliverance For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be Deliverance Here is also Pelitah which we had before in Paltiel as the Lord hath said and in the Remnant whom the Lord shall call And Peter by these words proveth that This was only begun in Act. 2. and that the same spirit of which They had Then the First fruits as Paul also speaketh was promised to Them and Their Children and to All to All that are afar off even All the Lord shall
34. Gen. 15. 9. cometh up to minde them of their Golden Calf while Moses was in the Mount as many Daies from the Law as now perhaps he had been Years in Heaven And Eglon was destroyed by Josuah 10 34. But about the Evening Minha of the 6th Day Ehud helpeth them and Shamgar so that they Rest from That Moed all the 6th and 7th or Sabbath Day Which may be observed also in all the Sabbaths of those Daies or Years which we are now measuring by Hours of the first Month. Othniels 40 Ehud and Shamgars 80 make up 120 Years the Great Moed for Man as we saw before And 120 Hours make 5 Daies which added to Moses and Josuahs 2 Daies bring us quite through the Sabbath or 7th Day into the 8th And Then Jabin Instructeth or Teacheth them to understand as the word may intimate akin to the Hebrew Phrase we saw before to Correct and Instruct As the men of Succoth were Taught with Briers made to Know Judg. 8. 16. and Jabins 20 bring us about the Morning watch of the 9th Day And Then Awake Awake Deborah Awake Awake As there were 4 Hours to the Morning Utter a Song Arise Arise O Morning Star or Bright and Light Barak Lead Captivity Captive Let All thine Enemies fall O Lord as Saul with Lightning But his Lovers be like the Sun in his brightness For This Barak was also the son of Abinoam the Fatbers Brightness or Beauty As we saw before in glancing on That song in Judges 5. Barak and Deborahs 40 made them Rest till about the end of the 10th Day And Then the Lamb is prepared for the Passover As being Then tyed up by Midian oppressing them And now comes out Gideons Fleece as alluding to That Lamb and his Lamps also in Earthen Pitchers as St Paul remembers and the Barley Cake rouling in a Dream at the Middle Watch or soon after Midnight For the 7 Hours or Years of Midian came to Midnight and an Hour after And Then Gidion as a little Kid Rising by night to destroy Baal Lord of Darkness is Jerubbaal and the Watchman of Israel for That morning and offers the 2d Bullock yet akin to Eglon that Calf and his 40 giveth them Rest till the 11th Daies Evening There is more to be spoken of the Times of Sibboleth and Shibboleth and of Abimelech or King Father and of Sechem and Dinah Judgement and Jotham the Orphan If indeed you dealt kindely with my Father for he did deliver you Then c. But Quis talia Abimelech dwelt at Aruma from Rome to Roam and Ramp in Hebrew letters 254 which may be the very year of his Coming up though others make it about 260. And so with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 added as Verse 31 it will be near 666 when he slew his 70 Brethren of which again His 3 and Tola's 23 and Jairs 22 make up just 48 as 48 Hours of two Daies more which bring us to the 14th Day or 2d Sabbath It had a very sad Night to paralel the Time when Angry Pharaoh said to Moses Get thee from me see my Face no more but Dye So God himself frowned on Israel in that Night of Darkness under Ammon son to Lot the Veyle as we saw before saying Go and and see my Face no more Or Go and cry to the gods which you have Chosen Let Them deliver you in the time of your Tribulation For you have forsaken me and Feared other gods of whom I said You shall not Fear them as it is often pressed and given for the great Reason of their final Captivity 2 Kings 17. from Judges 6. 10. and 10. Therefore I will deliver you no more As in Hosea I will no more have mercy on you and you shall be no more My People Loammi and Loruhamah and I will be no more your God As bad or worse I think them That I do not yet Pray for the World Of which so much before But the Children of Israel said unto the Lord as Job saith it is still meet to say I have sinned I will bear the Rod till he turn and have pity on me For He will will Turn again and have pity on us and Who is a God as Thou art that is Micha Do unto us what seemeth good in thine own eyes If he will he can bring me back and shew me his Arck also and the New Jerusalem but if not and that he have no pleasure in me which yet is worse much worse than Brown bread and my own Tears for Water Here I am by his Grace I will not worship the Golden Image or of the Beast slain with the sword but his Deadly wound was Healed and the World all worshipped but Those in the Lambs Book of Life Let him do what seemeth good in his own eyes Father if it be possible it is possible Save me from this hour of Temptation But However let Thy will which is Holy still and wiser and better also for me than my own will Let Thy will be done and not mine in My Earth as in thy Heaven So we Chatter as a Crane or a Swallow when we cannot mourn as a Dove even Then when we reckon at Morning He will break all our Bones And they put away the strange gods from in and among them and served the Lord And his soul was grieved sor the Misery of Israel It shortned his very Spirit and Breath as in us when we would sigh and cannot O! how is our Heart Burnt as bound and straitned in us O! How am I straitned till it be Accomplished we saw it before Then Ammon encamped in Gilead thestones of Witness and Israel at Mispa the Watch they prayed and also set the Watch and we shall come to Mahanaim For we are already at the times when Jacob said The Lord Help me and watch over me and Laban also God is my Witness and These also for there be Witnesses in Heaven and They are All One as on Earth they agree in One And to what But That Haran or Wrath shall pass away but never Pass over these Stones of Witness to do me Hurt and that I never pass These Witnesses to grieve thy Spirit or to wrong thy Daughters Though thou hast changed my wages 10 or 12 times as often as the Moon or Lebana Now Jephta was a Mighty Valiant man but the son of a common woman which they call an Harlot though the greatest Norman Princes came from Arlott the Mother to That English word And Boaz also that mighty man of whom before in Ruth the Jewes count him Ibsan the Judge was son to Rahab the Harlot as she is called but the mother of Christ in David so that it is almost impossible there should be 580 Years from Aegypt to Solomon or Solomons Temple As that great man will have it from Acts 13 with other Arguments And God perswaded Japhet or his Anagram and Names-sake Jephta to dwell in the Tabernacles of Sem and to
will not forsake his People for his great Names sake because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his People Moreover as for me God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you but I will Teach you the good and the Right way Onely fear the Lord and serve him in Truth with all your Heart as Davids Dying words to Solomon and Christ also God is a Spirit and they that worship him must do it in Spirit as here with All the Heart and Truth also For Such the Father Seeketh to worship Him And such he will finde For consider How great things he hath done for you But if you will still do wickedly you shall be consumed both you and your King There is yet much more in That History of Nahash of Ammon of Lot the Veyl which must be separate from the face of all people As at first from Abraham as we saw before from Esay and divers places And now Here also he would not onely cover their Eyes but put them quite out or at least their Right Eyes and that also must be A Reproach for All Israel Though This was onely at Jabesh-Gilead the Reliques of that woful business at Gibeah which did not onely cut off Benjamin but Jabesh-Gilead also by 12000 chosen men of Israel as the first Fruits to God and the Lamb as we may see in Judges 21. Where also both Gilead and Mispeh lead us to the Watch and Stones of Witness we saw before in Jacob their Father and Laban when Rachel was going to her long home at Bethlehem Ephrata with this Benjamin the youngest of her sons for whom she wept so much and so long because They were not Joseph was not and Ephraim was not see 1 Chron. 7. 21. and now they Take Benjamin also All these things are against her And yet little Benjamin that had so ruined Jabesh-Gilead must now save it by Saul the first King of that Tribe coming up because of Nahash besieging Jabesh-Gilead And the men of Jabesh-Gilead said Forbear us 7 Dayes and if none can save us we will come out to thee Then came Messengers to Gibeah of Saul That very Gibeah which had caused all the mischief both to Benjamin and Jabesh-Gilead also Then the people wept and Saul yearneth over their Tears so good it is to go or be with a Mourning weeping people of God For who can tell but their tender Eyes may affect and soften our hard Heart and Then the Spirit of God came upon him and remembring that All the mischief came by hewing a woman into pieces He now slayeth the Beast and heweth it into 12 pieces and by Those summons the 12 Tribes as One man with one consent or as the Prophet speaks with One Sechem He had now 300000 of Israel and 30000 of Judah a bad Omen that they should be so Divided and they must be Parted into 3 Bands and by Night also as Abraham his 300 and Gideon his 300 and Jacob his at Mahanaim and Joshuah his at Gibeon and David his for Ziglag and again As Jacob at Mahanaim and in the Morning Watch as before in the Red Sea and Barak or Gideon against the Midnight Midianites who though so near akin to Abraham and Isaak and Moses yet had been the Buyers of Joseph in the Pit and Sellers to Aegypt so that Moses must not dye before he had avenged God on Midian and recovered such a spoyl as possibly may help us to number all the Times and Numbers in their Bondage ever after Now is Nahash defeated and his Ammonites scattered so that two remained not together while Israel was as One man the onely way to destroy the Serpent and to break his Head And when also They shall be As a Beacon on an Hill the Lord will Wait that he may be Gracious to them and Therefore be exalted Therefore That he may have mercy on them and on All that wait for him For the Lord is a God of judgement Blessed are All They that wait for him As we read in the 30th of Esay How Jabesh-Gilead remembred and requited This of Saul even to his Dead body we observed before How David also blessed them for it when he shewed the kindness of God to the House of Saul Dead Saul And which is yet stranger even to this very Nahash or his Son or Namesake King of Ammon also Till they so abused his Embassadors An History that may be more considered And the people said to Samuel Who is he that said shall Saul Reign over us Bring the men that we may put them to death But Saul said There shall not a man be put to death this day for to day the Lord hath wrought salvation in Israel And David also in his sweet Return after his Banishment from his Kingdom would not slay Cursing Shimei because he knew he was That day King of Israel As we saw before with divers circumstances Then said Samuel to the People Come and let us go to Gilgal and Renue the Kingdom There Even There where God in Joshuah Rouled away the shame of Israel And now They rouled away This shame also of Nahash the Serpent on All Israel Though I add not here again how Circumcision it self was a Type or Pledge of their cutting off Nahash or the Serpents Head in every Age and World and Region also of the little World as we saw before How David or any other of the Kings cut off this Serpent or Nahash also in that remarkable History 2 Sam. 10. we leave for another season as God shall please And though Solomon had but One War as we saw before with Hamath Zoba the Wrath of an Army or fighting Rage or Fury Yet These also as All within the River Euphrates became his Servants or his Tributaries Even to the River of Aegypt whence he married his Queen as we saw before Of Solomons Temple I have little to add to Those Excellent Books lately written by English men also of Both Temples with That of a very Learned man before the Great Bible there also published That may never dyâ— Or Those that did or yet do labour to perfect it But I suppose Many if not All the Numbers we have spoken of may be in those Temples also with the Tabernacle and Noahs Ark in proportion to a mans body with its Three Regions also 30 Cubits High and 50 Broad and 6 times as Long. 300 by 50 is 15000 and the Waters prevailed 15 Cubits Upwards and that by 30 is 450000 filled up with 8 Persons and Beasts Unclean also with their Food and Ayre and other requisites of which again as God shall help us The Tabernacle 30 long and 10 broad that is 300 as the Ark and 10 high 3000. And its Court 100 long and 50 broad 5000. As we touched before in the 5000 fed by our Saviour as after by Peter Ranked by 100 and 50. Solomons Temple Double to the Tabernacle 60 long and 20
first Day from Babylon But at Ahava fasteth and chooseth his 12 Apostles or Elders on the 12th of the first going Thence to Jerusalem on the first of the 5th Month and stayed 3 Days and Then to the Great Feast of Tabernacles in the 7th Month. As also in Cyrus at the 7th Month they came as One Man and kept the Feast of Tabernacles as it was Written But the Temple was not founded Ezra the 3d much less come to that End or Motsa of which Ezra 8. 9. and 10. with Neh. 8. 9. 10. which may also lead us from the 7th Month to the 10th in Ester and in Maccabes also for the great Dedication which our Saviour himself pleased to Honour with his Presence in Iohn though not required by God but by the Jewish Church As also That of Purim which they keep with great Solemnities to this day I have not yet said that These great things done in the Womens Court might be but shadows of That yet to be Done by Them also when he shall pour his Spirit on their Daughters and Handmaids also and They shall Prophecy And God shall give a Word and great shall be the Feminine Preachers And so he cries Receive the Law of thy Mother That I say nothing of Miriam Deborah Sampsons Mother or Lemuels Hannah and Anna with Elizabeth and our Saviours Mother with Priscilla Lois Eunice and the Brittish Claudia in a better Calender than Martial with other Women Prophets or Writers of Scripture From the Middle Gate Leading into the Womens Court 135 Cubits to the Gate of Nicanor and 135 years from Nehemiahs coming up in the 20th of Artaxerxes To Seleucus Nicanor the Jewes friend and His Greek Era so much used in the Maccabes And if you please to turn again as they often did in this Court 135 Years more bring us to That Little Horn or Great Type of Antichrist or Antikeimenos Antiochus Epiphanes from 137 of That Era to 145 he confirmed the Covenant as the Learned Diatribe for That Week or for 2300 Natural Days But Then Prophaned the Temple for 1290 Days although there be not so many from the 15th of the 9th of 145 to the 25th of the same Month 148 when it was clensed as we read 1 Mach. 1. and 4. Yet the Weeks may be just 62 to his coming up if we grant them to begin 70 Years before Cyrus in 140 Nabonassar and Epiphanes in 573 7 more for the next week make 580 and 3 Years more and as many Days as from the 17th of the 4th Month in which they fast for the first Temple to the 25th of the 9th Month in which they Feast for the 2d clensed by Judas Machabeus make up near half another Week in the year 444 after the first Temple which may make it the more considerable because it is 2 Thirds of 666 of which again But if Ezekiels 390 Days of the last siege of Jerusalem from the 15th of the 3d Month to the 9th of the 4th in the next and last year of Zedekiah as the Great Primate of Learning and Religion hath observed were as Types of those 390 Years from the great Schism to the Temples End Why may not these also in Antiochus be Types of Years in Antichrist and All Defiling of the Temple to its clensing Seeing Daniel himself is bid to shut or Seal them up being for many Dayes or Years to come as that Phrase of Dayes is in many places we saw before Even Then when the Angel speaks of Evening and Morning the usual Character of Natural Dayes Which we may consider again But first we may note That as first This Gate of Nicanor might remember the first Nicanor their Friend so it might not forget Nicanor their Enemy slain Here as Some or near Jerusalem As 1 Machah 7. by the same Judas about the End of the 64th Week from the Captivity Or 151 of Selâ—ucus soon after Antiochus And from this Last Nicanor Then slain to Herods Samaria finished or Caesarea Or the Temple begun may be just 135 Years As from Epiphanes first to Herods first 135 Years As 135 Cubits from the Middle-Gate to Nicanor From which Gate of Nicanor began the next Court of Israel and the Priests being 187 Cubits as there were 187 Years between That Nicanor slain and our Saviours Baptism Or Pontius Pilate that put him to Death As also from the Death of Antiochus the Great Dan. 11. 19 to our Saviours Birth 187 Years And if we look on Hours as Years The first 7 Hours make the first Rest and Turn of the Sun from the Nadir towards the Morning Horison and 7 Days make the Sabbaths Rest and the first 7 Days of a Woman before her Son Circumcised The first 14 Hours come up to the Morning Sacrifice when it was appointed and their longest Night was 14 Hours the Hiding Resting Slaying Sleeping of the Witnesses And 14 Days brought up the Passover The first 40th Hour is the 2d Morning Tamid or their Breakfast As 40 Days the Womans first coming to the Sanctuary after a Son As their 40 Years before Canaan were for a Son the first-born Son For Out of Aegypt have I called my Son my First-born 49 Hours begin the Third nights Rest as 49 the Jubile 65 Come up to the Third Days Noon or Dinner as the 65th Day is the Pentecost 72 Hours closed the 3d Day as 72 their Sanedrin 80 Hours the 4th Morning Watch and 84 Sun-Rising as the 4th Day from Creation brought up Sun and Moon as the two Witnesses of Heaven measure to All other Witnesses on Earth 120 the number of Moed in Hebrew letters the Hours in 5 Days before Man and Woman Created If about the Tamid Hour of the 6th Morning it might be in Hour 135 As the Men and Womens Court 135 Cubits 144 Hours the square of 12 close the 6th Day and begin the 7th or the Sabbath and their Clakins or Jewish Minutes of 144000 as the First-fruits of Time to God and His Lamb shadowed by the Lamb of the Sabbath distinct from the Daily Tamid 240 Hours close the 10th Day And from Aegypt the Pascal Lamb was Tyed up from the 10th Day of the Month as 3 Daies and Half before he was slain in Hour 333 the Evening Minha of the 14th Day Ending in 336 Hours But they went not out of Aegypt till the close of the next or 15th Day at Sunset which was Hour 360 as Daies in their Year And so Years from This Exodus out of Aegypt are reckoned as Hours from the beginning of their Year to the Passover Pentecost Tabernacles and All their Feasts 1200 Hours in 50 Dayes between the Passover and Pentecost Whose Morning was in 1548 Hour of the Year And so the Great Pentecost Acts 2d might be 1547 or 48 Years from Aegypt If there were 70 Years between the first Temple and Cyrus taking Babylon in 210 of Nabonassar That is 480 from Aegypt to the Temple in Solomons 4th 1 Kin. 6.