mistaken in this matter and so are all others who have wrote on this Subject which the Reader must of necessity acknowledge if he impartially peruse what I have wrote The liveliest Emblem of Death Resurrection which I know of is a Silk-Worm In its first state 't is a crawling Worm of a greenish colour and the whole business of its Life which may instruct Christians is to prepare for Death for spinning a Noble Coffin it dies laying it self therein and after some time it comes forth of this Mausoleum a perfect New Creature of Whitish colour with Wings and Legs The Death and Resurrection of the Witnesses ought to hold a due Conformity thereto They ought to be in two differing States in two differing distinct Bodies attended with two clearly differing Circumstances The Old Witnesses ought to have no Life no Power no Model or Form at all but their Constitution is to be absolutely dissolved and lie dead dead dead Then the Spirit of Life and Power is to enter into them and give them a New Life Model and Constitution perfectly New in substance and circumstance in all points and respects differing from the former This has not been done yet in any part of the World but in England and here it has been done and is lifted up as an Exemplar for all the World to copy after What has been done in other places has been only a Field of Corn raised up after it has been flatted by some boisterous wind of Persecution this amounts not to a Resurrection it being the same Old Corn not risen but raised But here our Harvest has been cut down and our Wheat cast into the Ground for a New Crop which we can say is not raised but risen one implying help the other none and it cannot be said that ever any one helped our New-Risen-Witnesses to Rise 'T is purely Gods Work and is marvellous in our Eyes England is reaped but wo to the Vintage Wo to all the Constitutions of the Earth For the Angel with his Sickle will cut all down before him And where he pulls down there will he build and where he reaps there he will sow For the Doctrine of Restoration must be spread over all the World God has promised he would make all things New which He will not do but by pulling down the Old Happy England above all the Nations of the World who art first visited by the God of Heaven England Scotland and Ireland are the Reubenites Gadites and half Tribe of Manasseh which first have their Lot in the promised Land on this side Jordan But what they did so must we We must pass over Jordan and assist our Brethren to overthrow the Canaanites before we can enjoy our Possessions Reading the Revelations through I observe the True Church or Witnesses to have several Appellations and to wear several Suits of Apparel fitted to the differing Ages and Circumstances they are in In Chap. 7. they are The Sealed Number of one hundred forty four Thousand In Chap. 11. the Two 〈…〉 in Sack-cloth In Chap. 12. A Woman going into the 〈◊〉 In Chap 14. The same Number of one hundred forty four Thousand with their Fathers Name written on their Forehead standing on â—ount Sion being delivered out of all their Calamities And in Chap. 19. as an Army fighting under their General the Word And lastly in Chap. 20. Every one standing in their proper Colours concerted into a regular Body of the Church Regenerate Landed safely in the Millennium Thus Si liccat parvis componere Magna Caius goes to his Diversion to the East End of an Oblong Pool where he chooses several smooth Stones and marks them with a particular mark then slides them over the surface of the Water where they dive many times by the way but at last Land on the Western Shore where Julius going by he calls to him aloud to throw him back his Stones telling him they have such a particular mark the which he doth And this is the state of the Church and Witnesses before and during the Millennium For in their passage they met with many Troubles and Perplexities by the Way but in their Return they are free from all OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CHRIST taking Possession of the Kingdoms of this World as Heir and Conqueror thereof and the Church being brought to bed of the New-Risen-Witnesses these things make such a great Alteration that there is said to be a New Heaven and a New Earth All things in Church and State receive a New Face And things are so turned up-side-down that This State is called by the Apostle to the Hebrews The World to come But it is not well Translated for the Original is not Cosmos but Oceonimia which is Dispensation so ought to be rather Dispensation to come of which we speak The Millennium doth introduce a New Dispensation but not a New Gospel by Dispensation I understand a Publication of all New Discovered Truths and an Errecting up a New Outward Administration suitable thereto Light and Truth breaking forth they ought to be Published and Children being Born they must be Provided for The New Bride must have a New House built for her and it was never known that a King took the Field but he had a Royal Tent pitched for him 'T was the custome of the Warriers of old as soon as their Armies were Mustered to Erect a Pavilion for their General called the Praetorian Tent which being pitched in the middle of their Camp all Commissions and Orders were Issued out from thence and the whole Camp Addressed themselves thereto in all their Affairs of Concern and Moment The WORD is in the Field Riding upon his White Horse and his Army of White Linnen Followers are Mustered but there is no Tent Erected for the Lamb there are Muster-Masters but no Quarter-Masters and every one bears his own charge in the War this ought not to be the Apostle saith No man goes to War at his own Charges 't is a shameful thing that the Generalissimo should lye out in the Field there was never any Army yet but had some Head Quarters In all the Dispensations that have hitherto happened There was some principal place appointed for God and Religion Moses built God a Tabernacle and Solomon a Temple and it has been the confusion of the World that Christianity has had none appointed for it in this last Dispensation The Christian Dispensators having no peculiar Lodgings appointed for Them fell into the Baudy House of Rome and so She that was at First a Pure Virgin became a Prostitute and is now that great Whore of Babylon which must be turned out of doors to make Room for the True Bride This Great Neglect of not making due Provision for Gods Servants will cost the World dear for all that Irregular Building that Vile Mixture of the Sons of God with Men is to be pulled down and Men must do what they ought to have done before They must build a
The TEMPLE Opened OR THE GREAT MYSTERY OF THE Millennium AND The First Resurrection REVEALED And Found to be Different from all the Accounts that have been given Thereof by Any who have hitherto wrote on the same Subject More Fully and Plainly Opening the Nature of the Death and Resurrection of the Witnesses AND The State of the NEW JERUSALEM Than has ever yet been Done Humbly Presented to the KING and PARLIAMENT By THOMAS BROOKHOVSE LONDON Printed by George Larkin Jun. And are to be Sold at his House over-against the Hat and Feather upon Addle-Hill And by J. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall 1696. To the King Great Potentate under the Administration of JESUS THis Address at first may seem an Enthusiastical Strain but upon farther perusal it will be found otherwise Christ being Adult or of Age in his Church in her Favour gives the Kingdoms of this World to whom he pleases During His or Her Minority SatanVsurped the Power and Let his Whore a Lease thereof for 1260 Years But these Expiring All the Kingdoms of the World Devolved upon him as Lord in Chief Heir of All Things and Head over All to the Church The Time of this Grand Devolution happened in the Time of our late Harvest when He sent a Bold Herald to Claim His Right and to Demand of The Guardians or Two Old Anointed Ones their Staves of Authority These Staves are Power Spiritual and Temporal called by the Prophet Beauty and Bands These the Herald took and Cut in Sunder before all the People thereby Cancelling the Old Covenant which God had made with them This Publick Act was a most Solemn Act of Abolition and Abrogated Representatively all the Powers in the World The Old Cedar and Vine being thus Lopt the immediate succeeding Powers were to be considered no otherwise but as Parents or Adminicula to the Two New Branches or Two New Anointed Ones represented by the said Prophet by Two Olive Branches The Power and Promises belong to These who are to Minister or Stand before The LORD of the Whole Earth under the Dispensation of a New Covenant These are foretold by the Man whose Name is the Branch and Joshua The One is to be a King on his Throne and the Other is to be a Priest upon his Throne And the Counsel of Peace is to be betwixt them both GREAT SIR You are the Man whose Name is the BRANCH The Tree of Monarchy was Planted in the East but was Cut Down in the West and You are the Branch that grows in its Room The Lord of the Vniverse hath Preferred You before all the Kings of the Earth His Ship run A-drift and You are the First Pilot He has Chose to Steer It. Your Commission is to Drive the Wild Beasts out of His Forrest that His Flocks may Feed and lie Down in Safety And there is no Doubt but He will Assist You in it Now since He has Presented You with the First Staff and Honour'd You with the First Fruits of Power That he would also Honour You with the First Fruits of His Spirit and Enable You to perform all His Good Pleasure Is the Hearty Prayer of Your Faithful and Dutiful Subject THO. BROOKHOUSE To the Parliament Wise Senators and Faithful Patriots GOD having promised to make all things New is now performing of it Empire and the Gospel have finished their Voyage and are now about to return from whence they first set out You have many things of great moment before You but that of Time justly challenges a place amongst the first The Sands of a New Aera are now running the last Glass of Time being turned Empire has made us a Visit and will stay some Time with us and we shall measure out Law and Time to other Nations We have long gone by a corrupt Reckoning but all things are to become New Time and our Coin seem to be joynt Petitioners and beg to be Regulated together that one may give Testimony to the other The Regulation is not only very Honourable and Profitable but very Feasible The Royal Society would quickly perform it And when is it more suitable than when a New Empire Commences This Noble Work would perpetuate your Memory till Time should be no longer It would also be very Profitable for there might be put what Price on the New Ephemeris You pleased and every Family throughout the Kingdom being obliged to take one a vast Sum would be raised for the Kings Use To say it would be very Troublesome is no Argument an Old House was never pull'd down without trouble and dust When things are made New and the House new Built all the labour and trouble is compensated Caesar thought it worth his while to Correct it and he took not his Aim amiss for it has been a Faithful Register of his Fame I could wish the King a Partner in the same Reputation But whether the present Conjuncture will admit of it or no I can assure you it will not be long before it be done For there is a New Calendar Commenced in Heaven Christs Reign is actually Commenced The Head of the Image was in the East the Feet are in the West and Here the Stone first falls upon them and this is the Reason of all our present Confusions which will continue till all the old Building is pulled down Satan put his Metal four times in the Fire and 't is yet but a Lump of Dross But now the Son of God takes the work in hand and has appointed You his chief Workmen That He would give You the Spirit of Understanding to go thorow Your present Undertakings is the Prayer of Your Devoted Servant T. B. To the READER Reader THe Four Monarchies are but a Copy of the Four Elements and all th Models of Power and Policy hitherto used are no other but Transcript of the Divine Operations in the first Creation They answer one another at Face does Face in a Glass For as then the WORD by a Fiat spake the Four Disagreeing Elements into that Beauty and Order we see them in So Now the same WORD His Name is called The WORD OF GOD comes to speak the Ataxy or Irregularities of the Four Monarchies into such an Harmonious Frame and Model that may Eccho to Nature and keep time as it were with her in all her Divine and most Excellent Administrations The Four preceding Monarchies were rather Heaps than Buildings Men piling up mollia cum duris sine pondere habentia pondus Things of a differing nature together so that nothing less could be expected than their downfal the Dissimilarity and Disproportion of parts to such a degree corroding and fretting the whole substance as at last to undermine the Foundation and to tumble down the whole Frame But in this Monarchy or Consistency Bone comes to its Bone and Flesh to its Flesh and all the Similar parts will be fitted and joyned together in such a due and wise Symmetry that the Building will be
within The Inward Powers being purified and set to rights the Outward Powers fall in of course and so the whole Creation quickly recovers its Native Beauty Therefore the first Act of Soveraignty which Christ will exercise will be to purifie the Heart there he begins his Reign of the Millennium If he should come in Person and be in the Air accompanied with an innumerable Company of Saints and Angels as some imagine Alas what would this sight do It would surprize us and we should gape for a little while but it would quickly wear off for we have the glorious Body of the Sun Moon and Stars and all the Beauty of the Creation without us but they have but little influence over us one small Ray of God in the Heart is more than all the Outward Aypearances whatsoever Satan therefore being a cunning Adversary when he came to conquer the World observed the Heart to be the chief Post and made his first Attack upon it and having conquered it and placed his Black Guards there he quickly became Master of the whole World But Christ comes to destroy the Works of the Devil to heal where he has wounded and to build up what he has pulled down and to raise the Creation out of that confusion in which Satan by a long Mis-rule has put it The first Act therefore of his Reign is to regain the Heart and that being secured all the rest come into due subjection And this consideration brings me to my Text. There has been a continual War fince the Creation berwixt Christ and Satan but in this Book particular mention is made of Three Great Battels if the last may be called one In the first Satan is thrown out of Heaven in the second he is thrown out of Heaven Earth taken Prisoner and bound and in the last he is thrown into Hell But this last is not so much a Battel as a Siege or Assault Satan in allusion to Ahaziah sending some of his Captains of Fifty to attack the Saints Camp and Fire comes own from Heaven and destroys them all At the First Battel or at least at the Mustering and Raising his Soldiers Christ was 〈◊〉 a White Horse and at the Second upon a White Horse and 〈◊〉 White-Linnen-Followers and at or after the last upon White Cloud But before I proceed any further I must note Christ's Wars are always of a two-fold Nature by the Word and Sword the Word first proclaims them and then retires into the Rear and the Sword in the Van leads the Armies was Lieutenant As for instance in this Second Battel First the Word gets upon the white Horse and proclaims the War raising an Army of white-Linnen-Followers which are his own Peculiar Army And these are nothing else but Preachers proclaiming a New Dispensation as is self-evident by their Swords being in their Mouths instead of their Hands and of being cloathed in Fine Linnen instead of Steel And tho' the Word's Garments are dipt in Blood 't is of the wicked Soldier 's and not of he own drawing These I say march at first in the Van proclaim the War and bid Defiance and then draw off into the Bear then comes up the Sword or Lieutenant or the Angel in the 〈◊〉 who is the Champion or Goliah of the Word who like him having first summoned the Fowls of the Air to a Treat presently fall on upon the Dragon or Satan and his Armies and Totally Routs them and when he has Routed them then comes up the Word in the Rear and compleats the Victory Preselyting the rest of the World by Preaching for the Text saith The Remnant were stain by the Sword of him that sat upon the Horse whose Sword proceeded out of his Mouth 'T is plain the Angel in the Sun or Constantine the second doth the Rough Work and is the Great Executioner He levels the Mountains and forces open the City Gates that the King of Glory may come in the VVord is nothing but the Word Preached and not a Person as some would have as is plain by the Sword in his Mouth which is the Sword of the Spirit Not by power or by might but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts Things standing thus the Forces of Satan who is Prince of this World being Routed and himself their Generalissimo taken Prisoner he 's not ransomed or bailed since none will be accepted but sent to Prison for a Thousand Years So All the World become the Kingdoms of the ord and his Christ who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords The whole Earth is his now as well by Conquest as by Right of Inheritance all the Inhabitants of the Earth become his Vassals and lie Civilly dead before him The whole Race of Mankind are All concluded under Death their Power and Dominion which is their Life not only devolved on him as of Right the Usurper being Expulsed but also by Conquest by force being taken from them Now the first thing this Mighty Conqueror doth as is the custom of Conquerors He has a respect to his own Trusty Followers and Servants who assisted him in his Conquest to them therefore in the first place he saith Rise and Live That is He Invests them first with Power and they being the first of the Civilly Dead which receive any Power are said first to Live and Rise and this is called the First Resurrection which truly and really is so in a double sence because they are the first Receivers of Power and because 't is the first time that ever Holy and Good Men were so Solemnly Advanced they being to this time not much better than Civilly Dead always labouring under the death of Perfection Tribulation and Affliction Now as to The Rest of the Dead the Text saith They lived not again until the Thousand Years were ended That is The 〈◊〉 of the Conquered received no Power which is Life till the Thousand Years of Satans Imprisonment is ended as the 〈◊〉 and Holy Men do Rise and Live in Christ so the Wicked at dead in or with Satan for Imprisonment is a Civil Death and Christ will let the defeated vanquished or dead crew of Satan to have no Life or Power whilst his Saints Reign and He gives his Saints the Church Regenerate or New Risen Witnesses a Royal Lease or Pattent of Power for a Thousand Years and 〈◊〉 they may have no Rival but be undisturbed all the time 〈◊〉 their great Adversaries to their good behaviour during 〈◊〉 time and here is the greatest reason for this immagiâ—â—â—â— For after his defeat in the last or rather in the first 〈◊〉 by Constantine this cunning Quack healed his Wounds and 〈◊〉 Again creeping into Heaven or the power of Empire in 〈◊〉 of the Church which Power he has Usurped for 1260 〈◊〉 therefore sufficient caution is now taken by binding him 〈◊〉 he Live not Again as before and that he may not palm upon the World any more Whores laying them like changlings in the
out of the Spirit from on High which Invests them with Power and is the great confirmation of the New Administration or of Christs Reign It really Commences at Their Resurrection for Christ after his Resurrection said He had received all Power both in Heaven and in Earth but the Charter of Power is not Ratified and Sealed till the Septenary Day is ended and that is at Pentecost when the whole World will be fully satisfied and ser to their seal that God is True An Infant for the first week is in a state betwixt Life and Death as it were almost as much Vegetative as Animal and that is the reason of this dark day mentioned by the Prophet for the Body and Life of Christ is the grand pattern of all things both in Heaven and in Earth the Regenerate Church or New Resen Witnesses are his Body and they must be conformable to the Head whatever circumstances attended the Single Birth in the East will of necessity attend the Complex Birth or New Risen Witnesses Inter Iberos in the VVest this I could make out in the east minute manner but is not so much my present business further confirmation of this dark Septenary Day is the Cutting own the Tree of Monarchy seven times passed over Nebuchadâ—â—â—â—er before he would acknowledge Lew is guarda ti that the God of Heaven was the only Soveraign Monarch and disposes the Kingdoms of this World to whom he pleases All this time Monarchy was as a Beast in its Infantile State rather Animal than Rational during this Septenary Day there are bands of Iron and Brass upon the Stumps of the Monarchical Tree that it shall not grow the seed is some time hid in the ground before the blade comes up and these are the true reasons of the Darkness of our present day But in the Evening it shall be Light That is Men may think that the Corn being hid is dead and that the Tree of Monarchy being cut down will not sprout again but when they see the Blade Rise up and the Branches sprout out they are then of another mind this enlightens them and makes them acknowledge that this Darkness was only the common effect of Nature which conceives her Children in the dark the operations of the Womb are always in the dark But some may ask Why should Monarchy Expire in the VVest and there have a new Commencement more than in any other place This is easily Answered Empire is Fellow Traveller with the Sun and must return with him The whole Earth seems to have as great a right and title to Power as it has to Light The Sun never stops till it comes to the VVest and Empire accompanies him in all his Course The Punicks the Sons of Cham put in a Caveat and would have stopp'd this Traveller inviting him to have lodg'd in Africa but they might as well have stopp'd the Sun their Fathers Prophecy and Curse putting in a Bar condemning them to perpetual Servility The Gospel was published in the East and is to be restored in the VVest otherwise the Sun goes down at Noon There is to be a Repassage or Return both of Empire and the Gospel and after some Refreshments they will set out very gloriously and will also have other Companions of a Royal Family The Kings of the East I mean who are to go back with them The Fulness of the Gentiles being come they are to return home For They both together the Sheep of Both Folds the Twelve Apostles and Twelve Tribes will be concerned in the Administration of the New Jerusalem But the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost will be the Sign for them to return for this took their Power away in the East and was the Sign of Dispersion and it will give it them again in the West and be the Sign of their Reversion and Conversion too The Blood reverts not till it comes to the Toes and the Stone fell on the Feet of the Image and so goes on regularly breaking to pieces all before it When there is to be a general Renovation the Extream Parts are the most proper to begin in But it may easily be discovered through the whole Oeconomy of this World God in all his Methods has a respect to Nature which like himself is most perfect in all her Operations Now Nature circulates the Light and the Blood circulates and so ought Empire and the Gospel So following Nature I cannot Err and therefore do positively conclude that Empire and the Gospel will set be cut down and be dead as it were and then rise again in the West And whatsoever things were acted in the East at the Publication of the Gospel at the Natural Birth are to be re-acted in the West at the Restoration of it at the Spiritual Birth the Birth of the Church Regenerate or New-risen Witnesses because there ought to be a due Analogy betwixt the Head and the Body The Birth of the Infant-Church occasions one Day to be neither clear nor dark but a sort of Crepusculum But the Evening of this Septenary Day is approaching and the Light shall break forth abundantly I have in some private Letters to Friends prov'd from uncontestable Arguments raised from the true and genuine nature of Death and Resurrection That the Witnesses are already risen and that the whole World have been mistaken in the Nature and Quality of this great Truth which I am able to make good against all the Learning in the â—niverse and design to do it in a little time publickly I have little more to say as to the Subject of the Millennium at present only this This glorious Day dawns with the Loss of 〈◊〉 to the Wicked for therein consists their Power which must be taken from them all Power and Dominion belonging to Jesus Christ He that has Wisdom let him calculate Eight Days make up the Day of Circumcision but Seven Days of Weeks betwixt the Pascha and Pentecost What I have writ on this Subject is suited and adapted to the economy of This World and whoever calculates Prophecies if they do not first state and calculate the Nature of This World and fit one to the other they do but reckon without their Host God takes particular care to suit all his Changes and Dispensations to the State of This World And a literal Resurrection hears too many Absurdities in the Front to be consistent therewith Many have been the Mistakes of Men about the Milleneium And at present the subject lies under such prejudices that it the very sound of the Name Men shrug up their Shoulders and throw it aside saying with the old Monks Graecum est non parest legi But this is unmanly and discovers their Ignorance Sloth or Vice more than any thing else Men are unwilling to vex themselves by looking into a Doctrine which will turn the World upside down and untwist all the Constitutions upon Earth This is a dismal prospect to those that are at
saved and Isreal shall dwell safely And this is his Name whereby he shall be called The LORD our RIGHTEOVSNESS Zach. 6. 12. Behold the Man whose Name is the BRANCH and HE shall grow up out of his Place And He shall build the Temple of the Lord even HE because there is two shall build the Temple of the Lord and He shall bear the Clory and shall sit and rule upon his Throne And HE shall be a Priest upon his Throne And the Counsel of Peace shall be betwixt them BOTH First there is a Righteous Branch born to David this is the Spiritual Birth of Christ in the Church Regenerate or his New-Risen-Witnesses This cannot be himself Personally for he saith I am the Vine ye are the Branches Then there is a King which shall reign and prosper and execute Judgment and Justice upon the Earth And in His days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely And this King shall give the Name or be Godfather as it were to the Righteous Branch And as if he should ask what Name The Spirit seems to make Answer This is the Name whereby he shall be called THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOVSNESS Now nothing is more plain and evident than that the Name of the Lord our Righteousness is not the Name of the Man whose Name is the Branch for they are plainly Two Names one is called the Lord and the other is called the Man The Man whose Name is the Branch is That King which shall reign and prosper and execute Judgment and Justice upon Earth the Text levels directly at his Name Apellative Now what King has such an Apellative Name I leave to the World to Judge But if Men shall say they are both one they very much mistake for the Text is plain and express to the contrary making Two of them saying The Connsel of Peace shall be betwixt them both The One shall build the Temple of the Lord and shall bear the Glory and sit and Rule upon his Throne and the Other shall be a Priest upon his Throne And the Counfel of Peace shall be betwixt them both How the Translators have ordered it I know not but the thing is self-evident that there is an Hic Ille in the case tho' they have render'd it He and He. God saith He will create a new thing upon Earth A Woman shall compass a Man as this relates to a common birth 't is no new thing This compassing a Man I know may very well be applied to the First Birth but more particularly to this Second this young tender Branch creeping round or encircling its Pedimentum expressed by the Counsel of Peace being betwixt them both the State being then the Husband or Guardian to the Church But here is something farther intended by the Newness of this thing 'T is not customary for the Woman to caress the Man for the Church to be above the State But in the Millennium the Church shall rather be uppermost and therefore may be said to compass the Man But that this King that shall reign and prosper is not Augutus Caesar nor the Righteous Branch but purely He the Man whose Name is the Branch I have this further to offer The Angel gave special order what the Name of the First Birth should be saying His Name shall be called JESVS Now we cannot suppose the same Birth to have Two Names therefore the Name of The Lord our Righteousness must of necessity be the Name of the Second Birth the Birth Spiritual or of his New-Risen-Body the Church Regenerate Again The Name of Righteous speaks so much Sanctity and Holiness as cannot well be given to a Temporal Prince And that This King which shall reign and prosper is not Augustus Caesar is plain because it saith In his Days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely Now all the World knows that in the time of Augustus Caesar and the First Birth the Jews were far from dwelling safely they were under Bondage and after a little while utterly exterminated therefore This Name of the Lord our Righteousness must relate to a Second Birth in a little time after which the Jews shall be Saved and return home To sum up the whole Behold the Days come saith the Lord that I will raise unto David Christ a Righteous Branch And a King shall reign and prosper and execute Judgment and Justice upon Earth and in HIS Days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely This King c. seems to come in by a Parenthesis as if he should say The time of the birth of the Righteous Branch shall be in the Days of such a Kings Reign in whose Reign Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and then the Parenthesis is shut up and the Childs Name given And when 't is said that Kings shall be Nursing-Fathers and Queens the Nursing-Mothers of Christs Church this supposes Infancy and Childhood and is more particularly applicable to the birth of the Church Regenerate for when the Old Jewish Church was brought to bed of the Christian the Kings were so far from Nursing the Child that they would have strangled it And therefore this Promise must relate to the birth of the Church Regenerate or none at all This Child or Righteous Branch was born in the First Year of the Reign of the King that began to Reign and Prosper viz. Anno 1689. And the Time of its being baptized with the Spirit or Power from on High is just at hand and He is to be its Nursing-Father and Royal God-Father and to call it The Lord our Righteousness And the Counsel of Peace shall be betwixt them both And so this difficult Text is by the Grace and Assistance of God plainly solved and the Event thereof will speedily confirm its Truth And then Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely for as the Former pouring out of the Spirit did disperse them This will collect and gather them The Text is plain Isaiah tells the Jews how long they shall be under Tribulation and Misery viz. Vntil the Spirit be poured on us from on High and the Wilderness the Church in the Wilderness be a Fruitful Field be Regenerate and the Fruitful Field be counted for a Forrest The Temporal Power is the Forrest which incloses and guards the Fruitful Field of the Church When this comes to pass which is just at hand it will confirm and sufficiently ratifie what I have asserted The blessed Pentecost cannot be far off it must needs be at the Door and I desire all good Men to prepare themselves for it but especially the New-Risen-Witnesses on whom the Great Descent will be This will Arm all the World against the Wild Beasts of the Forrest that the Arborical Reign may be Establish'd The Church hitherto has been in the Wilderness but when the Spirit descends it will be a Fruitsul Field and yet will be counted for a Forrest The Great Descent opens the Fountain
which by a New Predication will quickly over-spread the World This River shall receive no stop by the way as the last Satan being bound it shall run over all the High Mountains Isaiah saith And there shall be upon every high Mountain and upon every high Hill Rivers and Streams of Waters in the Day of the Grees Slaughter when the Towers fall Christ saith Every Plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up and this is the time of rooting up But God never pulls down but he builds up where he reaps he sows The falling of these Towers is nothing else but driving the wild Beasts out of the Forrest an overthrowing the Babylonsh Kings and their Buildings and this is done by the Sword Then comes the Word implied by these Waters and instructs and informs them in the Ways of the New Dispensation This is the last Dispensation which hitherto was to come The Text saith We give Thee thanks Lord God Almighty who art and wast and at TO COME This is that World or Dispensation to come which the Apostle to the Hebrews speaks of It therefore being now come no more is to be expected Four do not bear Record in Heaven only Three the Father the Word and the Spirit And God having applied himself to Reclaim Men by Three several Methods they can in Reason expect nothing else And therefore the Text saith He that is filthy let him be filthy still and he that is Holy let him be Holy still implying thereby that no more Attempts would be made to reclaim them The first Approximation was by Angels very Terrible above them the Second by Flesh more Familiar and Kind yet without them the Last by his Spirit comes nearest of all even within them This is a most Gracious Approach and will leave the whole World without Excuse Men need not step out of Doors for any thing they have all things at home In the Propagation of this last Dispensation there will be no such Martyrdoms as before the bloody Beasts are driven out or chained up Old things are passed away and all things are bcome New The Martyrdom will lie inward a renouncing Self and the World and a crucifying the Affections and Lusts Nothing henceforward can hurt Gods True Church for Christ presides over the Forrestial Kingdoms and makes Kings the Nursing Fathers and Queens the Nursing-Mothers thereof 'T is said The Kings of the Earth shall bring their Glory and Honour into it 'T is an amazing thing to observe how tenacious Men are of their Old Models thinking that God will build so lasting an Empire as that of his Son upon such rotten and weak Foundations Whereas he has publickly declared to all the World that he would make all things New Let them henceforward think of nothing else but of being broken to pieces by the Stone out of the Mountain The whole Civil and Ecclesiastical World is now in the Crucible and the Fire of Gods Wrath will quickly melt it down and make it ready for a New Impression The Angel has his Sword in his Hand and only wants the Word to fall on Christ has granted his Royal Pattent to his Church it wants only the Sealing and the Wax is just now a melting When 't is Sealed when the Complex Birth is Circumcised or the Child Regenerate Baptized with the Spirit I mean Then all the World shall know That the Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ They are truly and really His now And never a Tree in the Forrest has any Legal Power but One But this World knows not But then they shall And all the Rest shall be found to be Usurpers Then wo to Herod Wo to Zebah and Zalmunnah For the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon shall do mighty things Then the Kingdom of the Forest will enter and every Man will be a Soldier to help to kill the wild Beasts Every Man then shall understand what is meant by the Man whose Name is the Branch And shall confess that God has given him for a Witness to the People a Leader and Commander to the People I care not to perplex the Reader with Numbers When the Sun is up there is no occasion to ask when he Rises Yet I could do it very exactly But this is anothers Province Before I Conclude I must desire the following Writers to take particular notice of what I have wrote The One is an Ingenious Man but more a Philosopher than a Divine He melts down the World Literally instead of its Civil Frame This is most Cruel and Inhospitable There might have been some better Correction found out than to burn Mens Houses about their Ears and Some Better Entertainment for wearied Guests and Strangers than to fall on them and kill them in their Lodging 't is not customary to turn men off before They have said their Prayers The Millennium is the Repentance of the world The Counterpart of a Voyage The Reversion of an Estate after an others decease But He cuts off the Entail Sinks the Vessel in the Harbour kills the weary Traveller and allows the Penitent no Benifit of the Clergy 'T is the custom of a Skilful Founder to Break his Metal before He casts it a new The Stone out of the Mountain is said to break the metal Image of the Four Monarchies to pieces This Breaking to pieces is nothing but the unravelling of all the Constitutions upon Earth Now Had He well considered This I Believe He would have left us our Good Old world standing during the Time of the Millennium For there is no doubt but It would Last us much longer were the Heavy weight of Mens Iniquities Swept off The Other is more a Divine than a Philosopher and would have Christ to come Personally and his Saints with him and to Live and Rule with him in a Heavenly Court over us in the Air dureing a Thousand Years and to have The Dead-Risen Saints to hold a Corespondence and Commerce with the Saints that remain alive below upon Earth as plainly appears by his Catichism and other of his writings Now having so plainly and fully proved The First Resurrection not to be Literal there needs no more to be said in Confutation This Castle in the Air as He himselfe makes it will quickly vanish The Man is a Pious and Good Man and has Great Communications of Light But Humanum est Errare 'T is much more probable That Christ will appear in an ORACVLAR manner as in the Temple of old rather than in a Personal On This account He is called Wonderful COVNCELLOR c. And The Prophet Saith Men shall Say no more The BVRDEN of The Lord But what hath The Lord ANSWERED This plainly Implies That He is to be Sought to for Councel and Advice And although The Name of The City be The Lord is There Yet an Oracular Presence is more Suitable to Reason Scripture and Gods
Swore to and under CRONOS All The Tempestates or Species of Time what soever are comprehended Having Swore his Death so solemnly one would have thought The Angel would presently have fell upon The Aged Monster But He gives him a little Respite coming in with a BUT or an Exception which Semper firmat Regulam But Saith He In The Days of the voice of The Seveath Angel Reckoning These Days from the very Time when He shall Begin to sound c. Did I Say He gave him Respite He gave him none but killed Him then and Raised Him again to life The Oath flew both Him and his Issue TIME here is of a Complex nature and may rather be suposed a She Monster And being Pregnant The Angel rips open the Belly and lets the Young live out all their DAYS which had otherwise perished in The Womb of Their Parent But Though These POST HUMES live yet Their life is only a Reprieve after Condemnation for They are not to propagate Their Death being really swore to in the Death of their Parent This BUT limits their Life which is during All The Days under the Sounding of the Seventh Angel Some Pious Men amongst us understand TIME here in a Relative and Restrictive sense affirming that The Angel means no more than that some of the same quality or sort should be no longer than the Beginning of the Angels sounding which Interpretation though acidentally true yet falls much short of The Angels Oath being only a part of his plain indubitable sense For nothing is more plain than that the Sense extends it self farther even to the END of the Days and consequently to The END of the world The Text at the very entrance confirms this making The Hysteron the Proteron or Puting The Days before The Beginning plainly implying thereby That we are to include All The days under The Angels sounding before his Oath of Time being no longer can take place We cannot suppose that God would send so Extraordinary in Embassador to The world on such a slight Errand as to acquaint them That when The Sixth Hour was past it would be Seven a clock or that The Time under The Sixth Trumpet should last no longer than The Beginning of The Seventh Such a Message would be very unworthy so Great a Courtier And was his Business to tell us That The Time in the sixth Hour would not be The same for quality with That in The Seventh This would not add much to the Dignity of His Office In short TIME Ends not as is vulgarly supposed when The Angel BEGINS to Sound But at the Expiration of the whole Days under his Sounding And the Angels Chief Errand is to point out to Men The PERIOD of The world And The END of Time And Methinks I hear Him Speaking to The world after This manner YE Sons of Men Take Notice The Old Glass of Time viz. of 1260 is just run out And I Am Sent to Turn it And I Here Turn it in The Presence of you All And do Swear By The Living God who Liveth for ever and ever That It shall never be turnd more But when The Sands are run out or when The Days of the voice are Ended Reckoning Them from the Beginning of his Sounding or Tuning of his Trumpet Then The Glass shall be broke and TIME of whatsoever Denomination shall never be Measured more but be swallowed up in the Great Ocean of Eternity Two Things The Reader must Note First That That TIME which The Angel swears the Death of is of a Simple and indefinite nature and that The Time which He Excepts is of a Complex nature Because there are Days in it Secondly That The Angel is Seven year in sounding viz Betwixt The Second and Third Woe These things being premised Though there may be so me seeming difficulty when to Commence The Excepted Time and when it Ends or Expires Yet really There will be none at all For We are to Begin These Excepted Days Not when The Angel has sounded or done sounding But when He Begins to sound Not When The Clock has struck all But at The very First stroke of Seven The Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quum futurum est ut Clangat That is When He shall First begin or be about to begin to sound The very Tuning his Trumpet or his Preparing himself to sound comes into The Account 'T is usual to say T' is Seven a Clock when it has struck Seven But This is our Errour For it was seven at the First stroke at that very Instant when The Sixth Hour Lapsed or The Second Woe to The True Church Ended The Reign of a King Commenceth Not from the Time of his Proclamation But From The Exact Time of His Predecessors Death There is no Interregnum Time being not discontinued So The Reign of Christ Commenceth from the very moment of the Angels Beginning to sound which was in The Later part of 1688 When The Witnesses Rose The Spirit puts an Emphasis on The word beginning God being unwilling that Men should be ignorant of the Exact Epoche of Christs Reign Because it is The Index which points out The Final Day of Judgment Now In The second Place How long These Excepted Dayes will Last or when they will Expire and Time be Finished is alike plain and manifest For The Sands In The upper part of the Glass will be no longer in runing than in the lower part The Lease of The Bride If The Indentures be compared will be found to be cut out of the Same sheet of Time with that of the Whores Now The Whores Lease was for 1260 Years or Time Time and halfe a Time under the Sounding of the Sixth Angel And The Brides under the Sounding of the Seventh will be the Same viz 1000 for The Millennium and 260 for The Little Season In which Satan shall be Loosed which Ballances exactly Then Time shall be no longer The Turning the Last Glass or the Angels Begining to sound Is the Finishing of time Inchoate And Its vacuity or Expiration of the 1260 Years Is the Finishing of time Consummate These things must needs be very plain The Sounding of the Seventh Angel Is the worlds Passing Bell Judgment then begins and They are Destroyed which destroy the Earth and in the End are thrown into Hell when the Quick and Dead will he judged These Last 1260 Years being the Dawn of an Eternal Day to the Godly But the Dire Crepusculum of an Eternall night to the Wicked These Days Began in the Latter part of 1688 But had no Solemn Commencement 'till An. 1689 ' when The Man whose NAME is The Branch was Crowned King Now would The Inquisitive know what the Last Year of the Seventh Angels Sounding will Issue in Let me tell them T is very probable 't will Terminate in a Most Glorious Appearance of Christ Pouring down the Spirit from on High at Pentecost For He is Now Considered under the Following Relations viz As the Son of A Great King or an Heir Adult Claiming All the Kingdoms of the Earth As a Bridegroom come to marry His Bride As a Great General come to Conquer the World whose Name is called The WORD of God As an High Priest or Chief Administrator in His Millennian Kingdom and Lastly As a Young Infant in His Church Regenerate The Pouring out the Spirit so often promised may Refer to all These As He is a King 'T is the Great Proclamation As a Bridegroom 'T is The Marriage Supper 'T is the Sealing His Commission as a Souldier His Installment as He is an High Priest As He is married 't is the Sealing His Bride a Jointure of Power For a Thousand Years and as He is an Infant 't is his Babtizing and Lastly 't is the TEMPLE OPENED not of which The Plagues do Issue forth with a Full Commission to Destroy all His Enimies who would not have Him to Rule over them No Sort of Christians will deny that God hath made to Men a Promise of a NEW COVENANT in the Latter Days Obliging Himself thereby to write his Law in their HEARTS c. Now He never makes a NEW Covenant but He Break The OLD one Nor is it his Custom ever to Introduce a New or Cancel an Old one with out the Greatest Solemnnity After what Manner and with what Solemnity He Broke The old one I have plainly hinted in my Preface to the King The Introduction of the New one there being Two SEDE VACANTES by Cancelling the Old one is but the Reverse of That And That It will be Introduced with a Joyous Solemnity is The Rational Expectation of all Good Men. THE END * O. C. T. Burnet T. Beverly M. Jurieu