the sure Place nothing of Good can be expected But if you would hang even the least Vessel the Vessel of least Quantity any where hang it upon Christ Hang it upon the Nail in the sure Place And if any of you have any Troubled Thoughts or Contest of Mind about these Things I beseech you That you would go up to this Nail that is fastned in a sure Place For that Vessel that we hang any where else it shall certainly be cut down and the Nail we hang it upon will certainly be cut down or removed for the Lord hath spoken it All our Lamps that shine in their own Light they will go out in that Day at the Appearance of Christ like Sparks that we compass our selves with of our own kindling All that do so shall lie down in Sorrow The Last Objection is But how shall we know that we are in Christ Can we discern it any otherwise than by the Marks and Signs of Grace that we find in our Selves If therefore we find not Faith if we find not Repentance and all the Fruits of Holiness How can we think or dare we think that we are in Christ Now therefore To this I would give you this Twofold Answer First It is certain That the Supream Witness to any of our Souls it must be from the Spirit of Christ it must be from the Spirit of Adoption crying Abba Father He is called the Spirit of the Son I beseech you seriously consider it Gal. 4. 6. Because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father Why does he call it the Spirit of the Son But to shew that it is the Witness coming from Christ If therefore it comes from him The Great Witness of the Spirit is That we are in Christ It doth not come to us in our own Righteousness For then Why should it be called The Spirit of the Son No not in our own Sanctification does it come to us But it is The Spirit of the Son And It 's a sure Testimony of its Glorifying Christ in taking the Things that are Christ's and Giving to us even in its Testimony You may say This may Deceive us And we don't know Whether it is the Spirit or not Observe what the Apostle saith in 1 John 5. speaking of the Witness of the Spirit latter part of the 6th Verse And the Witness of the Spirit is Truth Why does he say The Witness of the Spirit is Truth but to meet with the Things that are in our Hearts that we are ready to say There are other Good Witnesses we dare not Believe the Spirit alone But we have other Good Witnesses and we must bring them in And if they say so too then we may Believe the Spirit or else not Now the Apostle saith The Witness of the Spirit is Truth To let us know there is a separate single Witness of the Spirit of God that is true I know no Reason at all That we should be afraid to Affirm this For If the Spirit of God dwells as Generally the Best and most Judicious Discoursers of these Things allow if the Spirit of God dwell in us Why should it be strange that the Spirit of God should whisper its Witness in this way And the Apostle speaks of this very Witness when he saith The Witness of the Spirit is True But then In the Second Place I do acknowledge this freely and abundantly That the Spirit of God doth make use of this or that particular Grace or Holiness in general in a Saint of Christ As he pleases sometimes he Witnesseth only by himself sometimes by such and such Graces And why Not because the Graces themselves are alone able to bear up the Witness That I plainly deny But then The Spirit Witnesseth not only of Grace of Faith of Repenâ—ance and Holiness c. but as they are in Christ Faith and Love in Christ Jesus And as they are made up of his Righteousness and flow from his Death Resurrection and Intercession And here is that that I said to you Christ takes any Grace of his Servants and shews it at the Day of Judgment Not as it is out of himself but as it is in himself and in his own Righteousness and by his Spirit He now shews to any of his Servants any of their Graces but not as out of Christ but as in Christ surrounded made up fill'd up with his Righteousness As I remember the Expression in the Book of Exodus where the Jewels that were in the Vrim and Thummim in the Breast-plate of the High-Priest Their setting is called Filling up They were filled up in the Gold the Receptacles and Lodgings of them were filled up Exod. 28. So I say In every Grace there 's the filling up of the Righteousness of Christ Take all the Graces of Paul and of Peter or any of the Servants of Christ And if they had not been Set in the Righteousness of Christ if there were not a Filling up by the Righteousness of Christ they would all come to nought And therefore they are filled up with his Righteousness And so I do acknowledge That it may be That the Spirit of God may give his Servants a Witness and a Testimony from their own Graces And so in 1 John 4. 17. Herein saith he is our Love made perfect That we may have Boldness in the Day of Judgment Because as he is so are we in this World There is no Fear in Love but perfect Love casteth out Fear He that feareth is not made perfect in Love Here the Apostle speaks of a Tormenting a Disturbing and Perplexing Fear The Power of Love to Christ drives it out Because as he was so are we in this World That is The more Christ is pleased to Sanctifie his People taking it still for a Sanctification in himself as he is made to us Wisdom in our Calling Righteousness in our Justification Holiness in our Sanctification and Eternal Glory stiled Redemption all in him and from him I shall therefore wind up This in these two Brief Applications The First is You see here as Solomon speaks in another Case When all is spoken that can be spoken We know saith he it is but Man It is nothing but Man That is speaking of the Weakness of Man All that can be said saith he you have nothing but Weak Frail Man And on the other side speaking of Christ There 's nothing to be said but this He is All All in All we are nothing Here 's the Sum of the Matter We are Nothing all that is in us is Nothing All that God or his Spirit hath wrought in us it is nothing if you could take it out of Christ it will be a Lamp put out in obscure Darkness Carry this constantly upon your Thoughts He that hath the Son hath Life And he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life We rest upon nothing when we rest upon our selves Let us
are in the whole Orb and the whole Body and Sphere of Light his own Righteousness and Perfection And they all are Communicated from him And therefore it is that these Graces are spoken so Graciously of because they are in him In the Third Place you may say But suppose I am satisfied and convinced That it is not what is in my Self but what is in Christ where all my Imperfections are made up and where every thing is in Purity and Perfection This is the Great Thing lies upon me That I don't know how to come to Christ that I may be his and that he may be mine And therefore this is that I shall Answer to you There are under the Profession of Christianity two Sorts of Men. First Those that never care for these Things that never mind them that never consider them that never ask the Question Whether Christ is theirs or not Nor have any Thought or any Trouble about it Now to such Persons there 's no great need of answering It is a vain Thing to Resolve Cases of Conscience to an Atheist to him that saith There 's no God There 's no Religion So it is in vain to answer such Scruples to the Man that never minds Christ or considers himself Whether in Christ or not But if there are any of us that are really under the Sense of the Want of Christ and of the Greatness of that Want If there be any such Why then there is not at any time such a Thought in our Hearts as this Whether we are Christ's or not but it is a Hopeful Argument That Jesus Christ doth Call us and does Invite us He doth Call and Invite us or else Why should it so be That we are concerned and troubled about our having or not having of him Our Case is just like the Case of that Blind Man in the Gospel that we read of Mark 10. 46. When they were come to Jericho there was a great Number of People And Blind Bartimeus the Son of Timeus sate by the Way-side Begging And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth he began to cry out and say Jesus thou Son of David have Mercy on me And many charged him that he should hold his Peace They would not have him make such ado after Christ But he cry'd the more a great deal Thou Son of David have Mercy on me And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called And they call the Blind-Man saying unto him Be of good Comfort rise he calleth thee I would only make an Allusion and so an Application of this Christ coming near him Invited his Desires and when he Desired Christ further Invited him When we find our Souls moved with any thing of the Sense of the Want of Christ or Desire after him It is a sign Christ is coming near to us and when we find that let us cry out more earnestly after him and though our own Corruptions our own Unbelief our own Fears our own Lusts say Don't make such a stir after Christ They charge us to hold our Peace and Satan charges us and many Doctrines in the World yea of some very good Men they charge us to hold our Peace and say First of all Get more Humiliation and Sense of Sin Get Holiness Get Resolutions of being better and don 't expect and ask for Salvation till you come so and so qualified Now I say in this Case Let us cry so much the more For if we want Humiliation where should we have it but only from Christ If we want Resolutions to Holiness where should we have them but from Christ It is not intended that you should be negligent of Humiliation or Sense of Sin or Sorrow for it or Resolutions for Holiness But the Question is Where shall we have these Now I say We can have them no where but from Christ From the First Item of coming to God even from first to last to an Everlasting Happiness it is from God it is from Christ He calleth all those whose Souls are moved and those that have had no more Sense of these things heretofore than the very Stones and Stocks than the very Heathen and Pagans To all these I say If Christ do but move and stir you fly ye to him and say If I perish I 'll perish here I know nothing in my want of Everlasting Life but only coming to Christ to help me may every Soul say Objection But then you 'll say There 's a Danger that Men should Sleep and do nothing but put off all with coming to Christ. Don't fear this If we are indeed in Motion to Christ be assured of this He 'll come to you and make himself further known to you And in that very Moment that you think to be doing something look upon Christ as the very Author and Finisher of our Faith and in his Strength go and do it For surely we may stand long enough fetching Water out of a Flint till Jesus Christ be pleased to turn the Flint into a standing Water Such an Expression is in the Psalms So I say The Flint in the Heart the Heart of Flint Christ will turn into a Standing-Water And it can never be done till Christ do it And therefore I know not how to advise such otherwise Many complain of the Want of this and that Grace What Advice would you give us Alas Many would say Be Industrious and Earnest I do not deny but there 's a Place for it But I say It is for a Man to begin at the Wrong End of the Thing to begin there without looking first to Christ Let us therefore go to Christ For Faith and Love are in him abundant And he 'll draw Souls to himself When I am lifted up saith he I will Draw all Men to me The Death of Christ upon the Cross was a Spiritual Emblem of this Drawing And the Father Draws and the Spirit Convinces That Persons may by it be Drawn to Christ It is therefore in the High and Supream Hand And when we have any Intimations and Motives upon us to move and to stir still go to the Fountain Go to him that is the Son of Oil These Rays and Beams lead to him that is the Spring of all Grace from the very first to the last It is worthy our Consideration that Place of the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 22. last Verses And I will fasten him as a Nail in a sure Place and he shall be for a Glorious Throne to his Father's House And they shall hang upon him all the Glory of his Father's House the Off-spring and the Issue The very Beginning and the End Vessels of all Quantities from the Vessels of Cups even to all the Vessels of Flagons They hang all upon him Now therefore If you would hang your Humiliation or Preparation that 's a Vessel of the Off-spring and it is a small Vessel a Vessel of small Quantity if you hang this any where but upon the Nail in
I only draw out the main scope of the Parable by way of Recollection unto you and so conclude I say seriously consider What ever you think to do for your souls do it now because there is no Time after Work while it is day the night cometh when none can work All the time that persons have lain in the Grave as we speak or that their Spirits have been in Happiness or in Misery they have not done the least thing for their souls they have not added one Cubit nay not one Hairs breadth to their Stature they have not made one Hair as our Lord speaks Proverbially either white or black as to the State of their Spirits And when Spirits come to meet their Bodies in the Day of the Resurrection every thing will be in such a speed such a World in highest motion That you cannot stay to change one ill Posture or Appearance ot Representation of your souls You must not stay I would speak according to the Language of the Parable Can the Bride forget her Attire If any of us have forgot our Attire we cannot mind any thing that is amiss We cannot fasten one Pin in that distress of our souls We must be in the Wedding Garment perfectly attired and arrayed For what is done then as I have often said is done in an Atome of Time The dead shall be raised incorruptible Wicked Men and Foolish Virgins shall be raised just as they die And therefore mind seriously to do for your souls what you 'd do in this present state And then Lastly As I have said I say again That you would earnestly pray for the Preparation of that Time Pray earnestly for the pouring out of the Spirit Do you think it will not be better for you when God shall pour out his Spirit upon all flesh when your Sons and your Daughters shall Prophesie when your old men shall dream Dreams and your young men shall see Visions When there shall be an universal Prophesie upon the People of God as I have greatest reason to hope that the time is very near Why should we not earnestly pray for it and desire it You think there will be too much Clutter and ado about Religion then don't mistake Whatsoever is done shall run so easie and quiet then with such advantage and the Great Cares and Disadvantages of the World shall be taken off and every thing shall be in a merciful order that we may be prepared for that Great and Notable Day of the Lord. And therefore Let us earnestly pray and wait That a better state both of Christianity in General and the Reformation in particular may come forth That those Thunders that have been Sealed since the Reformation for almost an Hundred and Eighty Years That their Mouths may be open and their Voices may utter themselves That every thing may be that tends to increase and promote Holiness Purity and Spirituality and Heavenliness for I am not speaking nor never did speak to you of a Kingdom of Eating and Drinking and putting on Glorious Apparel but that there shall be an universal knowledge of God and Jesus Christ And that none but those that are resolved to be filthy should remain filthy and those who give up themselves in Holy ways should be Encouraged and should mount up with Eagles Wings and Grow stronger and stronger And therefore that there is but the Hopes of these things Let us Bless God Exceedingly For many Prophets and Wisemen and Kings and Righteous Men have desired to see those things which you see and have not seen them and to hear those things which you hear and have not heard them And yet for all that If any of us are called to Die who are Sincere and faithfull God will give us so much certainly of that Spirit of Prophesie of Illumination of Revelation That shall carry us safe to Heaven and shall Search and Try us so That we shall be led out of any wicked way into the way that is Everlasting And therefore Let not these things Discourage you But let them Enflame our Care Zeal Endeavours and Desires That we may Watch Because Nothing con be done when our Lord comes but only They that are Ready Go in with Him to the Wedding FINIS AN APOLOGY For the Hope of the Kingdom of Christ Appearing Within This Approaching Year 1697. Wherein some of the Principal Arguments for such an Expectation are briefly Couch'd and the Greater Objections Answered Presented to the Notice and Examination of the Arch-Bishops and Bishops Now in PARLIAMENT Assembled By T. BEVERLEY Ezek. 10. 13. As concerning the Wheels It was cryed to them in my Hearing Oh! Revolution LONDON Printed for and Sold by Will Marshal at the Bible in Newgate-Street and John Marshal at the Bible in Grace-Church-Street 1697. An APOLOGY for the Hope of the Kingdom of Christ Entring Its Succession within this Now Beginning 1697. And an Answer of Principal Objections presented with It. To the Archbishops and Bishops as in Parliament at This Time Assembled Most Reverend Right Reverend I Have now by the Space of Fourteen or Two Weeks of Years been Serving for that Beautiful Rachel-State of the Church of Christ in the place of that Rachel in the Wilderness weeping for her Children in Sackcloth and under Death and would not be comforted Because They were not I have set my self all along by Meditation and Supplication to the Father of Lights to search out and by the Assistance of the Spirit of Prophecy to Find What or What Manner of Time the Spirit of Christ did signify for the Fullfilling that Grand Petition of his Servants Thy Kingdom come That thy Name may be Sanctified and Thy Will done as in Heaven and upon Earth and I am now Wrestling to the Break of Day and I Hope the Dawn of the Morning and Resolv'd not to Let Go Till I obtain the Blessing of it The Time that from the First and throughout it pleased the Lord of Time to fix upon my Mind as the Time of That Kingdom Entring into its Succession and Preparation for its Glory was and is This Approaching 1697. A Year to which I could have no Temptation either in Regard of Nearness or Distance or on any Account whatever but as a Scripture-Line of Time and Concurrent Reasons of Prophecy and History very many and in a Series and Continuation have Led me On this Foundation having Setled I have by Gracious Vouchsafements of Help from God Turn'd my Self to All the Grand Prophetick Points of Scripture and Found New Confirmations and have Given as Publick Accounts of them as I could attain and presented some of Them to Your Selves and to the Great Councel of the Nation And in as much as Supreme Goodness hath Granted me to Set up an Eben Ezer now at the Portal of 97. I have Thought it my Duty to offer this Apology for the Kingdom of Christ so near Approaching And that The Great Isaac The Son of Promise of
Universal Laughter and Rejoycing The Desire of all Nations will Appear at a Set Time this Next Year the very Last of those Three Set Seasons Time Times Half Time Eleven Times expresly or Vertually Recorded in Scripture Prophecy and therefore I can have no Doubt But in the observing These so often Repetitions Remarking close upon Them and on what Accounts They are Recalled and to what Applied and Ballancing These One with Another I have Arriv'd to Full Assurance They are Assign'd to the Papal Last State of the Roman Monarchy the Last of the Four Kingdoms or Monarchies and the Four now Expiring in the Expiration of These Times and Half Indeed I look upon no Truth of Scripture to be more Plain and Certain except the Articles of Faith and Rules of Holy Practice necessary to Salvation Then that Those Four Monarchies are given as a Calendar of Time for the Embarrassment of the Kingdom of Christ or that Glorious State of Christianity which even the Prayers styl'd Establish'd by Law oblige the Belief Desire and Expectation of Scripture takes therefore so particular Notice of the Four viz. the Babylonian and Perfian as is well known and Takes Account of Their Time of the Grecian more obscurely Yet the very New Testament in that Language and the so often Division of the People of that Time into Jews and Greeks is a very undoubted Owning Them as one of the Monarchies Out of which through a Great Part of the 70 Weeks the State of the World had been sliding into the Fourth the Roman Monarchy which Surrounds the whole New Testament History and Prophecy as is undeniable But assoon as ever the Time allowed to the last of these is at an End The Kingdom of Christ will immediately succeed and there can be no Inter-Reign Nor can any other Kingdom Interpose The Vision is so sure and its Interpretation so certain And such a kind of Kingdom it must be as was Congenially to have its succession so Connexed to those before it that tho it is a Holy a Heavenly a Spiritual yet it must be also a Visible Sensible Kingdom as to the Dominion and Glory of it and no Metaphor or Allegorical sense can satisfy without it And we know the Nations to which we belong are a part of the Ancient Roman Empire and Remaine still of the Ten into which it was canton'd Which Division hath been to me an Infallible Reason of Confidence France should no more prevail to an Vniversal Monarchy then the House of Austria hath done And herein for the keeping it within the Figure allowed its King by Prophecy I know God hath made our K. an Instrument All the Iron of it could never break the Northern Iron and Steel of the sure Word of Prophecy But seeing we I say are such a part of the Ancient Roman Empire we are the more concern'd and ought to be the more Awake on the Fullfilling of Prophecy as of the first of the Kingdoms of the World which is to become the Kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ. I have the same assurance that this Time Times and Half Time must be just on the Expiration By Prophecy we might rather have expected their End sooner The Wisdom of the Divine Spirit draws them so very near to the Time of the Roman Empire Becoming Christian in all its Portraitures of the Anti-christian State As I know my self able by Divine Assistance to make out to the satisfaction of Any that will allow themselves the thought they know and yield necessary in any more retired Parts of Science That had I not the Faithful Evidence of the Scripture Line of Time I have already mention'd together with uncontestable Events I should Fourteen Years ago have pitch'd upon some nearer Time For to mention one of the most obvious the very Casting the 1260 and Additional 75 so manifestly into Indictions or Fifteens of Years a Character of Time not Regulated and known till soon after Constantine would have Enclin'd to have commenced them sooner I know the Hope for which I Apologize cannot but Encounter Great Objections but I am assured God hath set it and myself as a Minister of it as a Brazen Wall that tho it be Fought against It shall not be prevail'd over The Objections and Solutions I shall very much in short thus Account for First It will be pretended against it It is a Presumptuous Curiosity to undertake to Pry into Prophetick Times and that it ought to be immediately check'd with that of our Lord It is not for you to know the Times and Seasons which the Father hath Set in his own Power But as to that Particular Scripture it is evident it was an Importune Enquiry of the Apostles not in the order of Scripture Researches nor in the due waiting for of the promise of the Spirit which was the Duty of that very Juncture And therefore tho our Lord is quick upon their disorderly question yet he implies there would be a Gracious method for their Resolution in it and commands them to Jerusalem to wait for The promise of the Spirit from the Father which saith He you have heard of me One Branch of which was The shewing them things to come Joh. 16. 14. And in general we find the search of Prophetick Times is much more under the Favour then the Displeasure of Scripture It is recorded with Honour to the Children of Issachar that they had understanding of Times and knew what Israel was to do Particularly 1 Chron. 2. 32. concerning Davids Kingdom which was the concernment of that Time And in which I doubt not they laid together the Prediction of Jacob and other Revelations of God peculiar to that People and those Times by which they were able to give a Judgment And it is observed Their Brethren were at their Command This sway'd no doubt in the Union of Israel in David The Prophet Daniel was not satisfied with what he found by Immediate C. 9. 1. Revelation but understood by Books of Scripture and civil Records It is a Recommendation of that method the Number of Years God had Determin'd for the Desolations of the Sanctuary The Prophets in the same manner search'd What and what manner of Time the Spirit which was in them did signify The Apostle by 1 Pet. 1. 11. the Spirit Praises the Giving heed to the sure Word of Prophecy as doing well Seeing then the Account of Time is one eminent Branch of that sure Word It is Praise-worthy to give heed to that and no Presumption to do so Our Lord charges it as Hypocrisy not to discern the Signs of the Times those Characters and Notes of Impression God hath set upon them by Prophecy How often is there Encouragement given in that Great Prophecy of the New Testament Blessed is he that Readeth and they that hear the Words of the Prophecy of this Book Let Him that hath Wisdom Count. Here Rev. c. 1. 3 is the Mind that hath Wisdom
Let any one now Impartially lay these things together and it will plainly appear There is waranty for searching Times revealed in Scripture And They are still in the Fathers Power when the Knowledge of them is waited for by the assistance of his Spirit in the understanding of his Word It may be further Argued against the Defining of Time from Scripture-Prophecy That the Scripture-Prophecies are so Dark and Enigmatical that it appears most probable The Spirit of God did not intend They should be understood or Laid Open till the very End of All Things at the Day of Judgment or in the Kingdom of Heaven in Eternity And therefore The Soberest Gravest Men though very Learned and of Great Sagaciousness do not engage themselves therein and Least of All in the Accounts of Time To This I would by way of Defence Rejoyn in the First Place That it is most True That in the Darkness of the Present State while the Apostacy of the Papal State so much Eclipses the Glory of Christianity There is a Great Indisposition and a Great Inability to Interpret Scripture-Prophecies The Vnlearned say They are not Learned and the Learned say The Book Esa 29. 12. it Sealed And This Begets a Prejudice against Any Undertakers herein and they are Charged with Boldness and Presumption or with Madness or Enthusiasm It is said to Them Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from us to you How come you to be wiser than others And this will in a very Great Measure continue till the Kingdom of Christ come into t is Succession that the Ears of the Deaf shall hear the Words of this Book and the Eyes of the Blind see out of obscurity But yet in the second place it is undeniable That which is most Enigmatical and under what we call Riddle if it be wisely contriv'd and design'd must have sense under it tho not so open but that it shall require close Attendance the most Exercised Thought And on those Terms it is so prepar'd that it may be understood and excellent Sense found under it tho a Riddle Samsons Riddle had a very certain Determinate sense and if we knew fully the meaning of it advances beyond the First Unriddling very admirable Instructions All retired Parts of Knowledge in Anatomy Astronomy Mathematicks Algebra Call for Understandings peculiarly fitted to them and most attent Application and Curious Instruments Microscopes Telescopes and yet the Knowledge and Assurance that rises from them when understood is the most Refined and Satisfactory And so it is in Prophecy of Scripture altho it does not offer it self at so easie a Rate as some other Points of Scripture-Knowledge Yet by deep and fixed Meditation by comparing of its parts one with another and especially waiting upon the Spirit of Prophecy for its Illumination we shall find it is prepar'd and weigh'd out with the greatest Severity of Truth Divine Sense and leads into very sublime Discoveries of Divine Wisdom in the Government of the World in Relation to his Church the Times and Seasons of it And tends to the Greatest Aws of God and obedience to the Supreme Majesty of Heaven and Earth and to know That he is God In the Third Place It is affirm'd by the Spirit of God that it is intended it should be understood For it affirms 2 Pet. 1. 19 20. It is a Light that shines in a Dark Place Now if it be darker than the Dark Place How can it be call'd a Light Or how can it enlighten such a Dark place And it is not of Private Interpretation as I have heretofore given an Account publickly The very meaning is It is not of a Reserv'd or Apart-Interpretation As it is said Christ privately or apart Interpreted his Parables to his Disciples God says of Himself Esa 45. 19. I have not spoken in secret or in a Dark Place of the Earth like the Dark dubious Oracles of Devils I Jehovah speak Righteousness I declare the things that are Right of Greatest Sincerity Vprightness and Truth not perplex'd but plain to them that understand most Right Straight and direct to Him that understandeth Right to them that find knowledge And I have not said saith our God to any of the Seed of Jacob Seek ye my Face in Vain Even for the understanding of the Prophecies of my Word And in the very same Chapter God Encourages to Ask of Him Things to Come Even as his Spirit is said to shew to his Servants Things to Come All which I hope will appear a sufficient Answer to the Suspicion That God gave the Prophesies of his Word and so Eminent a Part of them Numbers of Time and did not intend they should be understood If it be taken as in this very Joinct and Objected How comes it to pass That All who hitherto have Writ on Prophetical Scripture have much differed one from another and they who Fix'd Time have either liv'd to see themselves mistaken or it hath appear'd after their Death They have been so I desire it should be considered Those who as the Holy Servants of Christ and Ministers of his Word have Sett Themselves to Understand have Given Great Light and Broken the Way for Those who have Followed and Their Memory and Services are precious to All Wife and Good Men notwithstanding some Mistakes and thereupon Differences which are yet not more or Greater than Those we Find in most Points not Fundamental and in All Interpretation of Scriptureâ— And as to their Mistakes in Point of Time It is to be Allowed Their Distances some of Them from the Time of Completion might be their Disadvantage God not vouchsafing such Light concerning that Time till nearer upon it as not to Daniel but upon the very Year of the 70 Years Ending It is further to be considered That there are some Eminent and Learned Persons who have though upon somewhat Different Grounds yet concentred upon this very 97. and some so near it as upon 98 99 and especially 1700. That their Expectations are yet as I may say in Abeyance and Things most probably will be so Conducted as easily to Reconcile so small Disagreements by the First Breakin gs out of Light and further Illustrations But Herein I Humbly Magnifie and Adore the Freeness of Grace and Divine Assistance to his Unworthiest Servant That He hath Granted to me to Lay before me the Whole and Entire Prophetical Table of his Word which is the Greatest Security against Mistake that can be vouchsafed Because by the View and Survey of things together They are seen in their Just Scituations and Allowances of Room and placed Equally one in proportion to another That there may be no Croud Confusion Justle upon or Interfere one with another Whereas if this be not a plausible Semblance or Sound of Agreement may mislead If such a Scheme be Reflected upon as Imaginary and the Work of Fancy I make an Humble Challenge to all the Wit the Fancy the Learning that is in the
as a Storm of Hail and Fire mingled with Blood who because They were to Become the Subjects of the Antichristian Papacy are call'd The Gentiles Entring into the Outward Court And their 42 Moons Commence being Solemnly as it were Inaugurated into Them by Cyril Bishop of Alexandria that very Year so Earnest in Adjusting Lunar Time to Solar At the same Time began that Apostacy the Apostle Paul speaks of in Delay of the Kingdom of Christ And in such Corruptions of the Doctrine Worship and Conversation of Christianity the True Church was Hidden under the Publick Profession so Corrupted as to be the Church as in a Wilderness and on which the Witnesses Prophecy That is Declare Christs Kingdom in Delay as in Sackcloth of which That Year there was a Sample in a Persecution Rais'd by Gensericus a Vandal Prince against the Servants of God Holding the Testimony of Jesus Christ the Eternal Son of God and It was continued against Those who Kept the Commandments of God and Held the Testimony of Jesus Christ by the Papal Tyranny Within the Four First Trumpets Fall the so often Burning and Sacking Rome the utter Cessation of the Name of Emperor of Rome in the West and even of Consular Dignity At that very Time of the Cessation of Empire begin the Moons of the Papal Antichristian Power which Prophecy styles The Beast as a Preparation to which the Hierarchy as the Historian Sozomen Relates had been Rising stilly as Feet of Clay from the Earth and crept silently Forward into a Dynasty styl'd therefore The Other Beast which procurated for the Grand Beast thus Came in the Succession of the Beast Dated to this very Year 476 and so its Succession is Given as the 7th Head and Eighth King Rev. 17. For it is in Immediate Succession to the Seventh King no Head which was the Christian Emperor in the West Then the Bestian Anti-christian Power grew up to its height or Supremacy at 606 as the Star Fallen to the Earth within his First Time and pursued by God with the First Woe or the Mahometan Imposture at 622 and so to 797 Arm'd in the Saracenick Inrodes upon the Western Parts of the Empire This continued along the Second Time or First of the Two Times of his settled or consistent Power till the Second Turkish Woe starts out in the Third Time or Second of the Two Times where His stint or the Bounds of his Power were set Till it came down to the Reformation at the Beginning of his Half Time at the Year 1517. Where it hath continued an 180 Years down to the present 1697 a declined and decayed but not a Fallen Power according to the very Importance of Two Times degraded to a Half Time Now I would Appeal to all the Reason and Understanding of Man whether when all the Prophetical Images are so expressive of these Events And that the Line of Time that Prophecy hath proportion'd to them when laid to them is so fairly every way Adjustable Viz. From Cyrus before the Weeks Since the Weeks to the Death and Resurrection of Christ After the Death and Resurrection of Christ and the Preaching of the Apostles at the End of the Weeks in 400 Years of the Seales and the Greater Cantons of Time Times Half Time dividing and distributing 1260 Years into 360 720 180 and All so according with the very Years we Vulgarly Account to 1697. I would I say appeal to all Sense and Understanding whether this Account can be the Creature of Fancy and Imagination or so much as of Accident Except they think such a Conspiration of so many things of so great Concernment to the World and to the Churches of Christ be below the Notice of the Divine Spirit or its Care to make them known For that the very things themselves cannot be contriv'd into such Representations cannot be once said when it is so Experimental that the things if not so Design'd by the All-seeing Spirit must by Accident be so subject to the Elaboration of Fancy and Imagination or rather of Judgment and Understanding Seeing this Threefold Respect is found in Reality and Substance of Scripture-Emblems of Scripture-Numbers of Correspondent Events in History and Chronology To say which Undermines All Rationality of Inference from the Greatest Correspondency of Effects in Creation and Providence with the Wisdom and Power of the Supreme Creator and Governour of All Viz. If we may not Reason from these to the Intention of Divine Spirit Now from hence reach the Additional 75 to the Thousand Years of the Blessed State Viz. From the Kingdom of Christ in Succession in Thirty years of the Sealed Thunders opened in Rev. c. 14. Making the 1260 1290. Wherein First there is a Glorious shining out of the Gospel and the Glory of Christianity for the Conversion and bringing Multitudes to Christ and for a Testimony against those who remain obstinate the Filthy being Filthy still And then the Vials poured out that Time of Trouble such as never was since Man was upon Earth Through the Forty Five Additional to the 1290 and making them 1335 to the Glorious and Blessed State and the Lots of the New Jerusalem in the End of these Days Dan. 12. 11 12 13. And in the same way of Evidence and Assurance I find my self through the Gracious Assistance of God able to go backward in the Analytical or Retrograde method to the very Death of Solomon where I began and find the Connexion of one thing to another so Just so True so Stedfast and so Unmoveable that they cannot be dislocated nor Disjoynted And the Numbers of Scripture Time so Lock'd one within another That they cannot be Wrench'd or Forced asunder All which I have in Readiness to offer to every Judicious Considerer and of which I would give the Briefest Specimen in this following Scheme that I can Contrive The Thousand Years are by all the Wonders of it the most undoubted End or Finishing of Wonders And the very same with the Mystery of God to be Finish'd by the Seventh Angel sounding according as he hath spoken in Gospel to and by his Servants the Prophets This being the Fullness of Times all Times Center or flow down and rest in it Here rest the 45 Last of the 2300 Eves Morns as is exprest in Daniel The 45 take such hold of the 30 that all the force in the World can't divide them As is Apparent by 1290 made 1335 the Thirty take the same hold of the 1260 Which are the Times and Half That they can no more be separated then the others The 1260 in the Three Divisions Viz. The Half Time takes hold of the 720 or the two Times And the two Times of the First Time or 360 And they can endure no distance Because they are together one 1260. The 1260 necessarily take hold of whatever Time went before and lay between the 490 of the Weeks and the 1260 This can be no way contested Because the Weeks by
defire or have a greater value for than to see the Dawns of the Kingdom of Christ Oh! That God would give any of us leave to see this We should have great advantage of making our Calling and Election sure of working out our salvation with fear and trembling of being perswaded of the things that pertain to the Kingdom of God we should have great opportunities every way And therefore as Christ speaks when he propounded the Parable to them Matth. 13. 17. I say unto you That many Prophets and Righteous Men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them So if God shall continue any of our lives but a few years to see the Kingdom of Christ appearing in this First Glory O happy and blessed shall we be For from the very beginning and foundation of the World to this day Many Prophets and Righteous Men have desired to see those things which we shall see then and have not seen them and to hear those things that we shall hear and have not heard them In the mean time Let none of us be discouraged if God call us sooner out of the World For as the Apostle saith All those that are Christ's he will certainly bring with him And it will certainly be a happier and securer state to be sleeping in Jesus and dying in Jesus For though we do not see these things here our Spirits shall see them above and our Bodies shall be raised in Glory for us to come with Christ in And as to those who are not as they desire to be for my part I know not any thing can be spoken for better Tydings or any thing that should more earnestly engage our Faith and Prayer than to have that great opportunity to wind up our Faith and Love and Repentance to their own height even that of the Coming of the Kingdom of Christ into its Succession and to see those blessed things and to hear them that many excellent persons have desired to see and hear and have not And therefore let none be offended that the Kingdom of Christ is near at hand for we shall have greater and more blessed advantages and opportunities to make our Calling and Election sure when that time comes Let us therefore desire to hear those loud Voices from Heaven Proclaim That the Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ On which will soon follow that pouring out of the Spirit and the Preaching the Everlasting Gospel SERMON VIII On Matthew 25. v. 6 c. And at Midnight there was a Cry made Behold the Bridegroom cometh go ye out to meet him Then all those Virgins arose and trimmed their Lamps And the Foolish said unto the Wise Give us of your Oil for our Lamps are gone out c. I Have led you through several parts of this great and admirable Parable The last thing I Discoursed to you was concerning the Midnight-Cry and endeavoured to shew you That though there might be some use made of it as a Description of any Judgment that should come upon the Churches of Christ before his Coming Yet That the Principal Intention is That Cry That Voice of the Son of God That Shout that the Lord will descend in That Voice of the Archangel That Trump of God that shall raise all that are asleep in their Graves and shall bring them forth I Endeavoured to open to you That every one shall rise in the very same Circumstances wherein they lay down in Death and in the Grave And therefore That the Day of Judgment coming upon Prophane and Insolent Persons upon the Fools that say in their hearts There is no God will be like the Writing of the Fingers on the Wall before Belshazzar that we read of Dan. 5. And as it comes upon ignorant Persons in Christianity and upon the Worldlings those Fools that say We have much Goods laid up for many Years and therefore Soul Take thy ease Eat Drink and be Merry O! what an Earthquake will it be upon them to see the Kingdom of Christ Now They shall be raised both the Fools that say That there is no God and the Worldlings c. They shall be raised just in the same Terror in the same Consternation as if the Earthquake was now upon them or in the Time of Life now on Earth But I proposed to shew you also Wherein the state of the foolish and the wise Virgins differ wherein this great difference lies That one enter into the Wedding and the other are shut out And that is it which now by the assistance of God I would undertake and go forward to give you a clear Representation of this great Matter For as I told you Virgins bespeaks a being of the Pure and True Religion the true Religion of the Gospel the Doctrine of God in the Gospel For all whatsoever false Doctrine or false Worship does adulterate this it is called in Scripture not by the Name of Virginity but by the Name of Whoredom by the Name of Adultery and Fornication Whatever defiles the Religion of Jesus Christ is not stiled Virginity but by other Names And therefore it is certain That these Virgins must be of the truest and of the purest Religion of Jesus Christ In the second Place I told you That they must needs be of a tollerable sober Conversation They are not of the Prophane the Drunkards or the Swearers or the Sensualists of the World but they are those that walk in such unblameable life that they are worthy to be counted and to be stiled Virgins What a critical Case therefore What a very nice and curious Point is this that distinguishes between the wise and the foolish Virgins If therefore God shall be pleased in any measure to enable me to open this to you and that you may aright conceive and understand so great a Point I hope That by his Blessing our coming together may be for the better and not for the worse I shall therefore apply my self to it First By considering the scope of the Parable in this Matter And I find That it lies here The one had Oyl in their Lamps but they had not Oyl in their Vessels The other had Oyl in their Vessels as well as in their Lamps So that it comes to this One hath a Treasure a Store of Grace beyond the Profession the other hath not I shall Answer very plainly and down-right Discourse in this thing by leading you to some great Expressions of Scripture which do to me assure what our Lord intends In the Third Chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians v. 16 c. The Apostle in that Great and Excellent Prayer begs of the Father of Glory the Father of Glory An Expression most suitable and agreeable to the Kingdom of Christ appearing in its Glory to which this Parable refers That he would grant you according to the
riches of his Glory to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inner man That Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith I look upon this to be Oyl in the Vessel It is Christ abiding in the heart For tho indeed the Vessel is not the Fountain yet it speaks the Vessel closely conjoyned with the Fountain and the Fountain continually springing into 't Another place of Scripture that I would give you You know Faith and Love they are much required and insisted on in the Gospel now observe what the Apostle saith in the 1 Tim. 1. 14. And the Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus Where is the Treasure of Faith and Love It is in Christ Jesus it is never out of him the Spring of it is never out of him Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus The Spring overflows to the Vessel with Faith and Love but the Spring and the Fountain is Christ himself And so 2 Tim. 2 1. Thou therefore my Son be strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus Be strong in the Grace that is in him It is never out of him though it flows to the Souls and Spirits of Believers yet it is never out of Christ So that here is the Oyl in the Treasure of it it is when the Soul is united to Christ the Fountain of it here is the Oyl that is able to bear up For in two things I think the comparison lies that our Lord intended in this Parable between Grace and Oyl First It must needs be of such an excellent quality that it can bear up with the Glory of that Day And then In the Second place It must be so abundant that it can last with the Glory of that Day For if the Oyl be not of the high and excellent kind it will presently go out As you know the higher Light of the Sun it puts out the lower Light of Fire or Tapers that we have below so the Glory of that Day will put out any Light but only the Light of the Righteousness and Grace that is in Jesus Christ and none else will last There 's no Spring of Light but only that which comes from him Heb. 7. 16. who is after the power of an endless life It is only Christ that is Oil in the Treasure Therefore take the most Excellent Grace That 's the Point that I would endeavour to carry out to you Take the most Excellent Grace if it be out of Christ if it be only in the Person himself it is a Lamp that will go out but if the Vessel be at the Fountain Head and is joined to the Fountain then it is able to supply to the Glory of that Day And I shall represent it to you therefore by a History of Scripture that may serve as an excellent Parallel to Expound the Parable that I am now upon In 2 Kings 4. 1. There cried a certain Woman of the Wives of the Sons of the Prophets unto Elisha saying Thy Servant my Husband is dead and thou knowest that thy Servant did fear the Lord and the Creditor is come to take unto him my two Sons to be Bond-men And Elisha said unto her What shall I do for thee Tell me What hast thou in the House And she said Thine Hand-Maid hath not any thing in the House save a Pot of Oil. Then he said Go Borrow thee Vessels abroad of all thy Neighbours even empty Vessels borrow not a few And when thou art come in thou shalt shut the Door upon thee and upon thy Sons and shall pour out into all those Vessels and thou shalt set aside that which is full So she went from him and shut the Door upon her and upon her Sons who brought the Vessels to her and she poured out And it came to pass when the Vessels were full that she said unto her Son bring me yet a Vessel And he said unto her There is not a Vessel more And the Oil stayed Now this is the thing only That I would represent to you That to us that are in a miserable and needy and wanting condition and in danger to be Bond-Men and Bond-Women to the Wrath and Justice of God for ever Here is the Oil multiplied The Oil multiplies from the Fountain from the Infinite Grace that is in Jesus Christ that we may stand at that Day And therefore That which I would advise and press upon every one of us from this very Point is That above all things we would mind our being in Christ I shall endeavour to free it from all Objections that you may be ready to make before I close the Point But to give you a Parable or a Representation that is nearer and does indeed intend this very thing If you look into the Prophet Zachary you shall see what it is to have Oil not only in the Lamp but in the Vessel that is to have a continual supply For though indeed this Parable seems to go no further than Oil in the Vessel yet when we come to enter into it we must needs find that it must be Oil from the Fountain alone that can do us good Zach. 4. 1 2. And the Angel that talked with me came again and waked me as a Man that is wakened out of his sleep And said unto me what Seest thou and I said I looked and behold a Candlestick all of Gold with a bowl upon the top of it and his Seven Lamps thereon and Seven Pipes to the Seven Lamps which were upon the top thereof And two Olive-Trees by it one upon the Right side of the Bowl and the other upon the Left side thereof And it came to that The Sons of oyl as they are called v. 12. through the Golden Pipes empty the Golden Oil out of themselves into the Golden Bowl Now What 's the Meaning of all this Not by Might nor by Power but by my Spirit saith the Lord that 's the Meaning of all They Empty the Golden Oil out of themselves That Golden Oil by which our Lamps will bear up and shine at that Day it must come from those Sons of Oyl That is From those Olive-branches Both which are only a Representation of Christ's Fulness in his Righteousness and in his Spirit So that here is that that alone can bear us up and bear up the Shining of our Lamps in that Day of the Glorious Solemnity of the Marriage of the Lamb That which alone can bear us up is the Righteousness and Spirit of Jesus Christ Which are always Connected and Joyned one with another And Proportionable hereunto are other Similitudes The Wedding-Garment that we read of Matt. 22. which a Man not having on when he came to the Wedding he was sound Speechless That is Nothing but the Garment of the Righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Graces of his Spirit The King came in to see the Guests he saw there a Man which had not