shall be your Judges as in a Conneel The Miraculous Efficacies were also of greater Disposition and freer Distribution Accordingly we may suppose The 144000 with the Fathers Name writ on their Foreheads who learn the New Song First and those who are In structed by Them in it shall very Universally yet according to his Wisdom and Will who is the Supreme Donor be Endued with Power from above as Ministers of State in the Kingdom of Christ and Receiving Gifts for it 3. These Miraculous Powers were Dispens'd in a Frequency in a Continued Dayliness in an universality we find our Lord on all occasions dispens'd these Largesses of Heavenly Bounty and Compassion He never denyed any He extended them to his very Enemies the High Priests Servant onely he was as it were Repuls'd in his Grace by the Vnbelief of some He could do no mighty Works because of their Vnbelief that is he declar'd himself so that he might leave a Testimony against that Sin and Warn all of it Else He went about doing good He Healed all manner of Sickness and diseases And so by the Apostles This Miraculous Power was carried throughout the several Circuits of their Ministry as the Apostle Paul Witnesses concerning his own round about from Jerusalem to Illyricum He Preached the Gospel with mighty Signs and Wonders and Gifts of the Holy Spirit Rom. 15. And without doubt in the same manner shall this Miraculous Power Compass Sea and Land in the Preaching the Everlasting Gospel to every Tongue Nation and Lauguage And till this be I would Require none to believe Miracles are Return'd and then indeed it will be undeniable 4. As there was thus a Power of Miracles given to the Commission'd Officers of Christ and to his Gifted Servants So there was a Faith of both doing Miracles and a Faith of Receiving the Benefit of those Miraculous Efficacies For as the Apostle speaks of All Faith 1 Cor. 13. 1. Viz. Miraculous or Wonder working Faith So that I could saith he remove Mountains c so there is a Faith of Receiving the Benefit of Miracles For Peter and John and Paul are said Acts 2. c. 14 To perceive a Faith to be Healed a Faith of Receiving And our Lord took notice of the Faith of the Centurion and others altho it is True In many Acts of Grace there was no Regard we can Find to the Faith of the Receiver but the mighty Power and Mercy of God Sallyed out upon Persons by the Faith of the Ministers of the Miraculous Power Having Mercy because he would have Mercy And it gives us an Emblem of the Grace and Power of Christ in Conversion and bringing home to himself sometimes as it seems in a way of Preparation sometimes wholly without but however it seems it is certain Divine Power and Grace Drawing near did Erect that Faith that is in the Wise Ordination necessary to Receive Christ Grace Pardon Justification Sanctification even as the Miraculous Power of Christ being abroad and Drawing Nigh Raised so generally a Faith in that Miraculous Power so general and the particular Dtawing Nigh of Christ excited it in the particular Persons on whom the Benefits were bestowed And thus in the Return of Miracles the Servants of Christ both in Ordinary and Extraordinary Commission'd to Work Miracles shall be Cloath'd with a Faith to that End that those who can by no means Believe now such a Power shall Return will by Feeling that very Power comming upon them and the Hand-writing of the Fathers Name by the Spirit on their Foreheads will be fully perswaded of his wondrous works being as near as his Name to Declare it and these effects flowing out from it upon others There will be a Rousing the Senseless sleepy World that knows not yet the Blessings near it to wait for the Graces to be bestowed by this Power Till these things are No Opinions or best Fram'd Discourses No Essays Beginnings or Scatterings of such a Power can perswade I know none would have it so that Miracles are Returned But when these are none will be able to perswade the contrary and in the mean time the Hopes Expectations and Prayers of Christians are hereby rais'd 5. There arose then and there will arise at the Return of Miracles such full Assurance such Plerophory of Persuasion concerning the Truth of Things that they can be no more doubted than the Assurances of the Light and of the Day and indeed as Cartes Argues Rational Intellectual Assurance surmounts all Sensible even so Spiritual Surmounts both Sensible and Intellectual and this both as to matter of Fact that indeed such things are wrought and that they are wrought by God by a Divine Power and that herein is the Finger of God 6. Herewith a mighty Stream and Torrent of Truth pass'd along and Fill'd the World with the Light and Glory of it in very wonderful manner then and shall much more do so at the Return of Miracles that the Isles shall wait for the Law of Christ his Name shall be great from the Rising of the Sun to the going down of the same The Knowledg of the Lord and of his Glory shall Cover the Earth as the VVaters do the Sea The Light of one Day shall be as the Light of Seven For so hath the mouth of the Lord spoken He hath spoken and he will do it He will VVork and none shall let it He the Lord will hasten it in his own Time No one of these things shall want it's Mate and tho it be wonderful in our Eyes yet shall it be so in his 7. There was a mighty Power of Converting Grace a change of the Hearts Tempers purpose manner of Life and Conversation of men as appears by the 3000 Converted at one Sermon of the Apostle Peters Acts 2. a Real and Sincere and Sound Conversion as the Spirit of God Implies to us saying the Lord Added to that Number then of his Church and to his Church Daily such as should be saved The Five first Chapters of the Acts plainly shew us what the State of Christianity and of the Churches of Christ was before the Apostasy made some Inroads upon it c. 6. How they walk'd in singleness of heart all Spiritual Joy and Gladness of Heart in the Fear of the Lord and had all things Common a Heavenly Spirit and Temper prevailed in them And so shall it be at the return of Miracles a Spirit of Holiness Heavenly Mindedness Love Charity Singleness of Heart and all Purity shall come back with them For these inward Powers of Grace and Divine Presence are the Life and Spirit to Miracles when the one returns so shall the other also and nothing will indeed so convince the World of a Divine Power and Presence as to find it self thus Chang'd and quite other than as now it Criminates and recriminates upon it self as it now perpetually complains of Accuses and Condemns it self 8. As in the Miracles of Christ and of the Apostles there
Soul an Offering for Sin This foreshewed the Dread of the Vengeance of God for sin burning upon the wicked to the Neithermost Hell setting on Fire the Foundation of the Mountains Burning up the Earth and the Works of it and the wicked becoming as Bryars and Thorns Burnt on that their own Earth For as Christ said in a Foresight of the Destruction of Jerusalem If these things were done in the Green Tree what shall be done in the Dry This ought to be carried to all Desolations and Destructions the Manifestation of the Righteous Judgment of God shall make in his Holy Indignation against the Posterity and World of the Apostate Adam not Reconciled by the Second Adam The Lord from Heaven and Father of the world to Come whereof we speak The Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ the great Miracle as all that speak of Miracle acknowledg is a Glorious Pledg of the World to Come and an entry into the very State of it This World knew no such thing before nor had any such Thing in all its Treasure Riches or Variety He was the First Born the First begotten from the Dead Such was his Ascention his Glorious Entrance into the Tabernacle made without hands not of this Building his sending down the Spirit as the Apostle hath said in the Context I am upon in divers Signs and Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will And all this in Connexion with the World to Come not in Subjection to Angels but the Kingdom of the Son of God All which comes home to this That Miracles are proper to the World to Come as the Reason and end of it Now there is nothing wherein I can more Humbly and earnestly Intreat you that Read these Things and wherein you can yeild a greater Acceptance to what I am now Discoursing than that you would Search these things and Compare them and Argue them to your selves For I know they will and must bear weight with you Argum. 2. The Second Argument I would give you is the Consideration of the way by which God will save All and every one of us whom he will save by the second Adam and fits them for that World to Come for that everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ He saves them he does all for them in a way of Miracle This I will endeavour to make plain to you by considering That God would not save Men by the First Covenant the Covenant of Creation the Law of Creation They cannot be Saved by that They must be saved by a New Covenant a Covenant that is all Miracle This I will shew you in two Parts of it 1. When God Justifies Sinners by the Righteousness of another by the Obedience and by the Suffering and by the Death of another This is Miracle and it is as great Miracle as any of the Things that Men allow to be Miracle and indeed in Regard of the Internal Excellency the Intrinsick worth of the Thing It is far greater than any Miracle except what concerns the very Excellency and Glory of the Person of the Mediator Those Wonders of Miracle if I may so speak Oh therefore that we could consider it If we are Pardoned in Christ if we are Justified by Christ If we are Saved from Hell from Wrath to come by him or from the Curse of the Law This is all Miracle For I would Ask any Man I am sure None of the Men of Reason and that seem to understand Miracle Best can deny it Is not Miracle a Lifting up of the present State of the World above the first Law and Order of the Creation sure this cannot be Denied Now that Law of Righteousness that was given to Man at first Thâ—t Law Do this and Live Be thou Holy be thou Perfect and thou shalt have the Reward of it Thou shalt Live by it This was the First Law and Constitution of God upon Mankind Now if Men were saved any way by this Law of VVorks and Righteousness in themselves Let it be what way it will Here were nothing Answering to Miracle to the Powers of the world to come only God may have Moderated the Point Take a little in the place of a great Deal Sincerity in the place of Perfect Obedience But still that great Point of Doing of Doing that is the Thing For there lies the Point of Miracle of New Creation That it is of Grace and not of Works For the Apostle hath Fixed the Firmament as I may say between Works and Grace He hath Established the two Worlds the World of the Old Adam the World to come of the Second Adam in saying If it be of Wrk s It is no more of Grace otherwise Grace is no more Grace or work is no more work Now Work was the very Foundation of the First Creation Man made in Knowledge Righteousness and True Holiness and then working according to it acting from and by himself according to the Law of his Creation I doubt not indeed that Man was made with the Knowledge of Christ the Mediator of Amity and Conciliation and Sustentation in the state wherein he was made seeing all things were made by and for our Mediator and that Adam himself was the Type of him to come and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and of the Tree of Life pointed to him and the very Image wherein Adam was made was Christ the Image of God But this being not of the present Intention I only intimate and stand not to prove it But Adam not keeping close to the Mediator was wholly upon his own Bottom of Creation and the Self Subsistence he chose out of a Mediator Whatever therefore God does in Grace through a Mediator to Man Fallen is Miracle of Grace and though it may seem in all Spiritual Concernments the Concernments of the Inward Man there is not Miracle because they do not at the present come into sense yet in regard of the present state they are of as Real Inward Deep Sense and Peace of Conscience and External Evidence in the Change of the Life and Conversation and shall in the Future State appear in Glory and illustrious Vâ—sibility and so are now by the Apostle call'd a being chang'd into the same Image from Glory to Glory as by that Spirit who is Jehovah I think This may be most justly called Miracle throughout and so great Miracle that all outward Miracles are but the Outside Case and Representations of them Now then if it come to Grace and to Faith to receive Righteousness by another it must needs be Miracle We are saved by Miracle in the pardon of sin and being accepted through the Righteousness of Jesus Christ I think the Apostle guides us to this very Apprehension For what saith he the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son and for sin condemned sin in the Flesh so that it might not be imputed
not Ceas'd However suspended is That Scripture Acts 2. 17. For there the Apostle Peter is giving an account of the same Things as in this Text Heb. 2. 4 Those Divers Signs and Wonders and Gifts of the Holy Spirit so says the Apostle out of Joel And it shall come to pass in those days I will powre out my Spirit on All Flesh and your Sons and Daughters shall Prophecy c. before that Emphatical that Illustrious day of the Lord come Indeed the Apostle does say This is that was spoken of It began then God gave a very bright show of it then It looked out upon the World with a great Glory at that Time But an Eclipse came upon it it is yet notwithstanding due to that great and Notable Day of the Lord that Day which he calls by a word that signifies Illustrious Apparent Glorious and so as we Translate Notable Day How Notable and so Illustrious but by many Wonderful Magnifyings of Divine Power upon it in so Immediate a way So indeed none can deny that Miraculous Powers must needs introduce that Day of Judgment according to the general Notion or Doctrine of it But saith the Apostle further Before that Notable and Illustrious Day of the Lord Come Now to have spoken this only of that Thing that was seventeen Hundred years ago already or very near it and we don't know how many more it may be if we have not a True Judgment upon Time by the Scripture Line of Time and the Exposition of the Sure word of Prophecy concerning the nearness of that Day we don't know how much longer how many years more it may be to it and yet to call this pouring out of the Spirit before it that was so long ago as if it were but just before it seeing God speaks to us as to Creatures of Time is a very unexpected way of speaking in any and not easy to be Allowed to be the way of the Divine Spirits speaking considering how often Scripture speaks of Great Things just upon that day and not so long before it This indeed seems so unreasonable to very sagacious Interpreters that they cannot acquiesce to before that Day so long before it and therefore have found this way to salve it to understand this Notable Day of the Destruction of Jerusalem and of the day of the Vengeance of God upon the State of the Jews I do not deny but that is made every where a Type of the very Day of Judgment But that Day of Desolation however on many accounts very great is not yet great enough to Answer as a Reason of so great a Thing as before that Day only nor will it be adjusted to the things spoken of in the Prophet Joel nor to the great Things every where spoken of in Scripture as coming near that day It cannot therefore in just Reason be understood only of that Day of the Judgment of God upon that City and Temple nor indeed at all of it but as of a Type and Symbol of that Day and yet if be not so understood except another powring out of the Spirit be understood before that day as near we make a wide breach and Gap of Inconsequence in the Apostles Discourse and yet still the general Opinion even of Christians and their usual way of Discourse makes that Notable Day of the Lord no nearer than it was a Thousand and more years ago So far are we from what the Apostle Requires of hastning on to that Day of God Argum. 3. I Argue from the great Truths that are yet to be Preached in Declaration of and order to this Kingdom of Christ For Miracles are to give Testimony to Truth when God hath great Truth to Communicate to the World and that Universally to be given As the great Things of the Gospel had such a Glory of Miracles to Seal them even so the Truths that are given proper to that Time shall be Witnessed and Sealed with mighty Power of Miracles The great Masters of Discourse concerning Miracles are herein Agreeing that one great Reason of Miracles is to recommend some Manifestations of God that had not been before made at least so far known or so plainly known or so convincingly known I doubt not therefore every One will be ready to say hath not God made known all Truth already In these last days hath he not spoken all Truth by his Son and by his Apostles that heard him hath he not Seal'd up as we say the Canon of his Word the Treasury and Standard of Truth What Truths therefore can there be expected that will need or require the presence of Miracles to give Honour and Assurance to them Is not this very thing a sufficient Argument against any Further Expectation of Miracles that there are no such New Discoveries of Truth to which they can be proper I will therefore give three Instances of the Truth that at least in the further more Glorious Manifestation of especially after the Time of the Apostasy God will grace with Miracles I. The first great Truth that shall be in a wonderful manner Preached is The Freeness of the Grace of God in Christ the riches of Redemption in his Blood I do acknowledg This is Preached now so that there is a very high measure as I may say of yea yea yea and Amen concerning it among the Servants of Christ both as to Conversion and Calling according to his purpose and as to the Justification of Sinners Freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ But it must needs be confess'd also there is a great deal of Cloud and Darkness concerning it It is much Contested and Encountred on all Sides This was the New Song that was Sung Revel 5. saying to the Lamb Thou art Worthy to take the Book of the Kingdom and to open the Seals thereof For thou wast slain and hast Redeemed us by thy Blood out of every Tongue People Kindred and Nation And this Redeeming by the Blood of the Lamb that was slain was the most especial Truth that Miracles at first gave Testimony unto in the Apolical Times Now in the Deep Times of the Apostacy this New Song was lost alltogether and tho at the Reformation it was in some measure Recovered yet even as â—he Reformation hath sunk as almost all Considering Men allow so hath the high and Lofty Ayres of this Song been Lowerd So that at the Time of the Witnesses coming out of their Sackcloth and when the Servants of God who have all this Time bore a Seal of Concealment on their Foreheads shall appear with the Fathers Name on their Foreheads in open legible Characters made so plain that he that Runs may read them This Song therefore shall be as it were a New Song I lay great stress on this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were a New Song It is not a New Song For it was Sung in the Days and Times of the Apostles but yet it hath