us do suppose him to be Elias though Christ himself hath told us he is come already And some other think him to be that beloved Disciple mentioned in the 21 Chapter of St. Johns Gospel where our Saviour presaging in what mode Peter should suffer and he then asking What that Disciple should do was thus answered If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee follow thou me Whereupon some inferred that Disciple he should not die though as was then averred in the words following Christ said not so nor as I believe intended it should be so understood yet that interpretation is retained by some to this day and now as I hear made use of to countenance the forementioned Rumour whereof I confess my self incredulous for the reasons afore expressed Doubtless when such an occasion was given to have it explained Christ would not have left that ambiguous which was misunderstood and so l believe of every mysterious expression which is necessary to be known by all men as pertinent to their Salvation unless it be to make us wary by what Spirit we interpret holy Scripture lest that which leads into all Truth may by our negligence or vain curiosity lead us into errors if misapprehended If there be any point mentioned in holy Scripture relating to the Kingdom to come which is topical or national let them look to it whom it concerns for I conceive not that it any otherwise concerns us then as it shall have an Universal Locality upon earth without respect to any Nation or Place in particular as appears to me by the words of our Saviour to the woman of Samaria John 4. 21 22 33. Woman said he believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain or in Jerusalem worship the Father Ye worship ye know not what c. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship in Spirit and Truth c. VVhence I collect that if Place were not essential to the true VVorship of God when Christ first came into the world it will be less essential thereunto at his second coming or to have it limited to a narrower extent then to the whole Earth and all Nations 15. I am not doubtful but that in the last times there will be some extraordinary and eminent transactions and some in the next year after this 1665. and during four or five and thirty years after 1666. in relation to the approaching Kingdom of Christ and to those who have been so many Ages reputed the Off-spring of the Patriarks scattered throughout the world and I believe God will in his own time fulfil all his Judgements threatned for their Apostacies and obstinacies as also his gratious promises made unto their Fore-fathers but when that will be accomplised that or in what manner will be done which is expected concerning the Jews I leave it to Gods good pleasure and unto them to search in what mode it will be who think it concerns them more then I do who am contented with those manifestations which I finde in the Word of God not repugnant to each other or above my understanding There will be such Signs VVonders and Miracles as have been fore-told as also extraordinary preparations by Divine Providence before Christs second Advent which the Elect shall have sufficient means to know and make such use of as most tends to Gods Glory and to preserve them faithful to the end Yet unsafe it may be and an occasion of multiplying needless fears and troubles upon our selves to make such Ideas of Christs Kingdom and Raign upon Earth or such signs of its approach as are not plainly warranted by the VVord of God whose hidden wayes are past our finding out and so much as is revealed will be obscure to them whose unsanctified hearts seek after it in curiosity onely or with more desire to finde them sutable to their own imaginations that they may have somewhat wherein to glory then to make their ways conformable to Gods VVe are much taken with Novelties especially when we our selves first bring them to light and very apt superstitiously to repute things holy or unholy which Have neither holiness or unholiness in them except by our abuse VVe esteem some unholy which are sanctified some other to be holy which have no holiness in them but rather that which is most contrary For Example That is said to be the Holy-land which hath been during many Ages the most accursed of all Lands That to be a holy War which was but a wicked-politick divertisement of Antichrist to prevent the Interruption of his growing Grandeur by the Kings and Princes whom by that Engine he fool'd into an employment far from home That is said to be a holy Nation which hath had a long time no more holiness in it them Judas who betrayed Christ They are invocated and hallow'd as Saints and holy Martyrs who were Traytors both to God and men and whilst they lived not reputed so holy as some of their Neighbours And that Cross whereon our blessed Saviour was crucified is not onely called holy but reputed worthy of Divine honor also and hath many costly buildings dedicated thereunto and the chips of it sold for precious Relicks at dear rates though in truth it is not so holy as the Gallowes at Tibourn because that was intended for the execution of Justice upon Malefactors only though perhaps innocents do suffer thereupon otherwhile while We have many Inventions of our own The Devil hath so many deceitful Wiles also whereby to make false shows that he is promoting Gods VVork with him in every Dispensation that I suspend my belief of new Apparitions until I am fully convinced by a better Light then mine own bearing witness thereunto and therefore have here thrust in such Caveats as came into my heart to be a memorandum both to my self and others believing that whensoever Gods Kingdom comes openly into the world or invisibly into my heart where I feel it to be in some degree it will always evidence it self without delusion For it is the Kingdom of our heavenly Father which we are taught to petition for in this Prayer and nothing like the Kingdoms of this world 16. This is that Kingdom whose coming the Saints have long expected and though I mis-judge not of their so doing who call it the Fifth-Monarchy I think that Title too mean an Appellative in regard it is an Eternal Kingdom having no relation to Earthly Monarchies in respect of their precedency or otherwise but an Absolute Kingdom depending on it self and on him onely who is the Supream King thereof And when it comes into the World it will be little available to those who shall not find it to be in some measure come or so coming into their hearts that they may be made one with it and with the King thereof by Faith and Love This is not a Kingdom like that of the Nations which the Israelites foolishly
gathering ought as Bees do from flowers growing without me but spinning out like the Silk-worm that onely which God had stored up within me And having put into words that which was as it were distilled out of my heart by fire as were my Remembrances to this Nation in the great Pestilence this time forty years I do now as a Testimonial of my thankfulness bequeathe it to my friends by whose Charity I was then and heretofore seasonably furnished with such necessaries as have hitherto preserved me and mine from likely rnine and in the first place offer it for a Thank-Oblation to God who enabled me to finish it during those few days which I might probably have conceived would have concluded my life GOD the Father GOD the Son GOD the Holy Ghost one Eternal Deity always joyntly co-operating intrinsecally by invisible workings and distinctly in what is externally personated by a triple manifestation thereof to our humane Capacities sanctifie me and all my thoughts words and actions to his glory now and for ever Amen THE PREFACE OF The LORDS PRAYER Offering many Particulars to consideration pertinent to other Duties an Objects of our Christian Faith as well as to the true understanding and right use of that Prayer without imposing upon any ought more then he shall conscientiously believe till convinced by better informatiion which the Author humbly prays all his Readers to remember for prevention of uncharitable Prejudice Matthew 6. 9. After this manner pray ye or as it is written Ink. 12. 2. When ye pray say Our Father which are in Heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever Amen OUr blessed Redeemer having in the words next preceding these reprehended these who used such vain Repetitions in praying as the Heathens did who thought to be heard for their much babling or that God else knew not or would not heed their wants It pleased him for preventing such practices and misapprehensions to leave this Catholick Form and Pattern of Prayer and Praise to his Apostles and his Church for all future Generations including therein one conditional Petition not grantable without performance of that condition required to wit the forgiveness of our sins which condition is both Affirmatively and Negatively declared in these words next following If you forgive men their Trespasses then will your heavenly Father forgive you But if you forgive not them then will not your heavenly Father forgive you This precaution is heedfully to be observed at all times lest our Prayers be turned into sin and we imprecate a Curse upon our selves instead of a Blessing For God is Love and whosoever brings a Petition into his Presence with a malitious or implacable heart toward his Brother or Neighbour shall have all his suits rejected and his sins even his sins formerly forgiven recharged upon him and be laid in prison until he hath pay'd the utmost farthing of his debts That qualification for Prayer is in this Generation very defective in a great number And perhaps it proceeds from a want of Charity in this kinde whereof their own consciences accuse them that so many have neglected the use of this Prayer even because they cannot forgive as they would be forgiven and therefore are afraid to speak in that Form of words not considering that God remembers that condition though they mention it not in their prayers nor peradventure observe that though God sets before us his Love and free forgiveness to be a Pattern whereto he requires conformity as near as possible we can he is not so severe as to expect our forgiveness should equal his in perfection but onely in that proportion which our finite and frail nature is capable of This Hint is proper to the Fifth Petition yet not impertinently here offered to remembrance because peradventure some may meet it here upon the threshold who will never look further into the Book 2. The Texts of Holy Scripture prefixed to this Prayer contain a Precept or Injunction teaching how to pray it For the Evangelist Matthew saith After this manner pray ye and St. Luke says When ye pray say thus Our Father c. whereof little more need to be said then what the words and authority of the Author sufficiently explains and warrants to take away all scruple of praying both in the same words and according to their Genuine sence in such other words as the Spirit of God shall dictate unto our understandings upon such occasions as are offered for the two Evangelists by the words afore-specified the one biddding us to pray in this manner and the other to say thus makes this assertion doubtless and they are very ignorant who shall either suspect the lawful use of a Form so authorized or that the help to Devotion thereby intended was not as well vouchsafed to direct and inlarge our conceptions in whatsoever is pertinent to the duty of Prayer as to restrain us from vain Tautologies or other superfluous impertinencies 3. As it is hinted in my preceding Preamble our humane Capacity is not capable of spiritual Objects or to communicate them intelligibly to each other unless they are imbodied in some sensible Form Therefore in that respect this may be called the Body of Prayer and I finde it consists of a Preface six Petitions and an Epilogue or Conclusion The Preface is comprehended in these words Our Father which art in Heaven in which there are several particulars observable first that this Prayer is not singly personated by this word MY but by the Pronoun Collective OUR comprehending many persons mysteriously incorporated which implies that it is not to be offered up to God by Individual persons or congregations with respect to themselves onely or to their personal duties or necessities but with regard also to the whole Catholick Church-Militant and to the necessities of every member thereof in being or in a potentiality of being yea in some respects with regard to those Saints whose quondam visible being is at an end for a while considering their Resurrection to life Eternal with all the Priviledges of the Everlasting Kingdom petitioned for in this Prayer belonging to the Quick and Dead and concerns their Bodies now in the Grave no less then their bodies who yet live and therefore they are to be comprehended In our Prayers in such respects with those also who were or shall be as well as on the behalf of our selves and of those who yet live in regard they are Objects of the Universal Faith Charity and Resurrection as well as we and their Resurrections no less necessary to be pray'd for then the Kingdom to come though both will come to pass notwithstanding we pray not for them This Doctrine will not be justly offensive to
him a Serâ—â—â—… Or if he ask an Egg will he give him a Seâ—â—â—â—… Thereupon he made this Inference If then you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to him that asketh it Yea he having given his only Son for us when we were his enemies why should we distrust that he will give us all other good things being reconciled unto him by his pretious blood For we have not onely this GOD Almighty to our Father by Creation as all other Creatures have which obligeth us relatively both to him and to them but we are his Children also by Adoption admitted thereunto by Grace through his best beloved Son Jesus thereto begotten by Faith in him and he having drawn up a Petition for us taught us how to exhibit it and warranted us to prefer it unto him as our Father what should discourage us from it or what can reasonably incline us to any other Form or Course The tenderness which we know to be in a good natural Father is a strong Argument to preserve us from despairing to obtain any thing in his power which he knows needful But GOD is more truely our Father then our Fathers in the flesh for without his concurrence in our Generation we had neither been conceived nor born into the world or if his providence had not given us shape nourishment and preservation till the birth and he knoweth and still mindeth what he begets whereas our fleshly fathers seldom minde more then the satisfying of their fleshly desires when they beget us and know not what they beget until they see it brought forth Isaith saith 63. 16. unto God Doubtless then art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not Thou O Lord art our Father our Redeemer and thy Name is everlasting These considerations with the many demonstrations which we have had of Gods infinite Love Wisdom and Power may assure he is neither ignorant of what is best for us nor unable nor unwilling to confer it 6. Though this be sufficiently demonstrated it may be yet further illustrated and ascertained by contemplating this short Preface for to incourage us in this Duty and to increase and strengthen our Faith in prosecution thereof He whom we are to sollicite is said to be Our Father which is in Heaven Not the Father of our Flesh onely the best of which Fathers is both imperfect and partial even in the exercise of natural affections toward his own children neither equally distributing it among them nor able to bestow upon them whom he most loves all those things which he knows necessary nor is wise enough to know what is best for them nor sure of his own being so long as his Children may want his protection or continuing assistance to provide for them whereas Our Father by this Prayer invoked is evidenced by the relative Pronoun WHICH considered with the words next preceding and following it to have an eternal Al-sufficiency to grant whatsoever is asked For this word ART being a Verb of the present Tense comprehending all Time past present and to come denotes that Time if Eternity may be so called which is GODS Time onely and which belongs to none but to him who is Eternity it self For we cannot say truely of or to any other He is or Thou art because before we can speak or think out these words he of whom or to whom we speak is in somewhat changed from what he was though it is not perceived Therefore when Moses asked of GOD what he should answer if Pharaoh demanded who sent him God said Tell him I AM sent thee and when GOD speaketh of himself as GOD the Father in the first Person he said I AM the Lord thy God when he speaketh to his Son the second Person he saith Thou ART my beloved Son c. and when the Holy Ghost the third Person is spoken of it is said He IS the Comforter c. all being in the present Tense which is Eternal This sence being collected by me from the connection of these words in this Preface Our Father which art in heaven much fortifies my Faith in their use and that which I extract from the last word in this Preface adds a little more thereunto 7. For Heaven which is the place of our Fathers residence to whom this Prayer is to be made may somewhat more illustrate his Almightiness and mindes us to approach his Presence with awful reverence though that Appellative may embolden us also in our Addresses Heaven is that Beauty of Holiness Joy and Glory wherein GOD dwelleth It is an Infinite Object supernaturally intelligible whereof I cannot apprehend so much by any natural means to me knowable as by turning my Intellectual Eye into my self to contemplate that unbounded Heaven which appears within me for that receptacle seems to me infinitely more large then that Heaven which I see above me and round about me with corporeal eyes and he who looking that way finds GOD to have therein an habitation shall see more of him and of heaven then by any other prospect whilst he is in the flesh and thereby know more of Hell also if God be not there as in his own place Yet Heaven is improperly conceived to be a circumscribed place the better to suit it to humane Capacities which cannot apprehend Objects beyond the extent of our narrow understandings But so much thereof as is visible may give us intellectual Notions in some degree of his glorious and inexpressible Majesty to whom we pray when we consider That Heaven is his Throne and Earth his Foot-stool as also That the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him and from thence we may infallibly conclude that we can have no secret sufferings oppressions or afflictions whatsoever which he cannot take notice of in his Residency or any Oppressors so powerful or highly exalted that he cannot reach them to deliver us from them in regard he is both Vbiquitary and so Inthroned that neither we or they can be concealed from his Eye or secured from his Hand which is manifested by these words Psalm 139. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I free from thy Presence If I ascend into Heaven thou art there If I descend into Hell thou art there If I take the wings of the morning dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea Even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand uphold me If I say darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light about me c. Which Scripture infers that our Heavenly Father being every where His residence in Heaven is not exclusive to His residence in all other places at the same time For we must not imagine he is so in Heaven as a circumscribed Body is in a finite place as all Created things are or as the soul is in the body which is said to be wholly in the
the king is such is the Kingdom or Government and such will be the people as we find it to have been in all the Kingdoms of the Earth But the King and Kingdom for whose coming we pray are stablished by Wisdom and Power so perfect that no wrongs can be done by the King thereof nor any suffered by those who are under him by any unrighteous Law in that Kingdom and happy are those Kings and the Subjects of those Kingdoms who endeavour to Govern and Obey according to the righteousness of that King and the Constitutions of his Kingdom so near as they shall be able To that end the same Kingdom is partly come into those in this Generation who belong thereunto to shew it forth to Kings and Subjects in the Kingdoms of this wold by their Doctrine Life and Conversation that the Contemners thereof may be inexcusable For though it seems to be a Kingdom not now in being but to come hereafter it is an Eternal Kingdom which now is always was and ever shall be without beginning or ending and is termed a Kingdom to come in respect of that more full manifestation which it shall have here upon Earth and within the Saints who are and shall be sharers therein reigning together with Christ Some call it the fifth Monarchie as it is in relation to those Monarchies prophesied of by Daniel but it is the first that ever was and the last that ever shall be in Heaven or Earth and is such a Kingdom as we are not able in the state wherein we yet be to conceive much less to express in that mode wherein it shall be manifested though we have many metaphorical descriptions of it whereby we may apprehend so much of the Glory of it as may make us believe and expect it with joy 2. The Soveraignty of this Kingdom was eternally in the Deity before all worlds and after the Creation was joyntly and distinctly exercised by the Father Son and Holy Ghost according as the Manifestations thereof were decreed before time and evidenced by occurrences in the progress of Time Thereof I will declare so much as God hath revealed unto me by his Word and Spirit During that intelligible point of Time which was called Beginning being the first of those five Notions wherein I conceive all things to be included to wit Eternity Beginning Time End and Everlasting even in that Moment of Beginning and immediately after the Angels and Adam were created and Fell the Prince of the Spirits elapsed began to Usurp a part of Gods Kingdom by that permissive Power which he still retained and he forthwith practised upon innocent Man on whom God had conferred a Vicegerency under himself over all subcelestial Creatures And Adam being compounded of those Elements which rendred him subject to mutability the Devil prevailing by subtlety drew him to disobedience and rebellion which God foreknowing might had he so pleased either have prevented it or in a moment destroyed the Vsurper with all his Confederates But this consisted not with his Eternal Decree whereby mankinde was to have experience in a natural way of that Good and Evil which our First-Parents desired to know Therefore according to the same Decree God suffered that part of his Kingdom which was to be visible on Earth to be for a while shared between two contradictory Powers the Devil to continue in possession of what he had Usurped and his Eternal Son to whom the whole Kingdom by right appertained to exercise also his Kingly Office therein so far forth as neither his Interest with that which is really good might be totally destroyed not the Devils power so limited that the utmost extent of evil might not be fully known so here hath been ever since two Militant Kingdoms upon the Earth contending for Superiority 3. The Incarnate Son of GOD was first externally inaugurated when it was said that The seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head and the Messiah was then spiritually conceived by Faith in the hearts of Adam and Eve and there began this Kingdom to be first in the earth though the seed of the Serpent did also fructifie by that seminal corruption which he had injected to make entrance for his Kingdom And when their two first Children being born into the world Had attained ability to demonstrate unto which Kingdom they adhered the Contest which hath ever since been maintained between them did presently begin Cain slew his Brother Abel upon that quarrel and the consequence thereof together with Cains male-contented Demeanour gave occasion of GODS declaring somewhat unto him which I conceive to be pertinent to their consideration whose Faith and Patience were to be exercised under tyrannous Governments in all future Generations until his Son shall bring them to an end by assuming the whole Kingdom For before Cain had slain his Brother God said That he should Rule over him and his desire be subjected unto him Moreover after the murther was committed and when GOD had so cursed Cain for it who was the first Tyrannous abuser of his Authority that by the judgement of his own conscience he seemed worthily exposed to slaughter by every one who met him God nevertheless affirmed that whosoever slew him his blood should be avenged sevenfold upon the slayer and it is written that God set a Mark upon him to prevent his slaughter from whence it may be inferred as I think that all Private persons ought to be wary they lay not violent hands upon those to whom God hath subjected them how wicked soever they be lest that Mark be fouud upon them which renders them liable to a seven-fold Vengeance 4. The visible Kingdom of GOD our Father How it was conferred upon his Son What opposition it should have in the world by Kings and Nations The Vanitie of their Reasons of State the fruitlesness of the Plots Counsels and confederacies of the people The establishment of his Throne upon his holy Mountain the spiritual Sion in despight of opposition The proclamation of what was eternally decreed concerning it The Vniversality and powerfulness of his Domion How it will beseem all earthly Kings and their subordinate Judges and Officers to demean themselves under him VVhat will befal to them who shall be rebellious or refractory and the happiness of all those who shall do homage unto him and be obedient as they ought to be All this was foretold in the second Psalm which is a Literal not a Typical Prophecy of the Kingdom of Christ the true David Yet this Kingdom had for a long time a very slow increase was confined to a very narrow circuit and hath been from that time hitherto also of small estimation in respect of the Kingdoms of this World except onely in the days of Enos and Noah for in the days of Enos it is recorded that men began to call upon the Name of the Lord and in the time of Noah this King of kings assumed the sole Government of his
the Holy Ghost the third Person in Trinity and shall be until the King of that Kingdom appears again to personate his distinct Office with the Father and the Holy Spirit who have always an intrinsecal co-operation with him What I further apprehend concerning their joynt-acting in and concerning this Kingdom I will offer to consideration though such speculations may perhaps appear Novelties For sometimes great Fires are kindled by little obscured sparks and my Rush-candle may perhaps occasion the enlightning of many Torches hereafter when my snuff is burnt out There is an Interweaving of many dark expressions in the Apoculypse of St. John concerning this and other sublime Mysteries to him delivered wherein things preceding have relation to things following and some things following to those which precede by way of supplement as I conceive and some also having reference both to what was precedent and subsequent Thus under correction I apprehend and that among such the binding of Sathan for a thousand years is one having respect as well to the restraining of him from setting up his Mystery of Iniquity until the LET should be taken away which was before the Bottomless Pit was opened as a relation unto the time wherein he should be restrained a thousand years from deceiving the Nations after the BEAST the false Prophet and the whole Mystery of Antichristianism should be destroyed by the coming of Christ to personate his Kingship upon earth For it was a thousand years after our Saviours Ascention and after the Roman Empire was at highest and began to decline before the Beast which arose out of it could ascend to his height which consumed all the number of years alotted to that Empire until the Beast last mentioned arose This time was enigmatically presignified by M. the first and greatest Numeral belonging to that Empire the remainder of their Numerals to wit DCLXVI presaged the time alotted to the second Beast the last Relick of that Monarchy mystically represented by that part of Daniel's Image which was composed of Iron and Clay For though I must confess I have no Precedent for what I declare my Judgement to be nor any other warrant but what hath been spoken to my own heart in private I do conceive which I have heretofore published effect upon several occasions that God though it seems they took no notice of it gave that Empire a Mysterious hint in their own Numerals how long it should last after it was at highest both in the main of its first Institution and in that which should arise out of it until the total extirpation thereof branch and root All the said Numerals joyned together in order beginning at the greatest and ending at the least being these M.D.C.L.X.V. and I make one thousand six hundred sixty six The thousand years were consumed before the second Beast which is the Mystery of Iniquity was compleated and then that usurped the whole power of his Predecessor and the remaining Numerals make up DCLXVI which is the number of a Man to wit the Mystical man of sin and will be the whole time limited as I conceive for his wicked Raign after he came to his highest exaltation and as I take it we are to begin to reckon this double number from Christs death and passion or Ascention not from his Birth because the Roman Empire was not at his highest till then and declined not until it had Crucified the Lord of Life And if so we may guess within a short time how long that Mystery may continue if we knew certainly how many years Christ lived upon the earth and if Chronologers have rightly computed preceding times from his Birth till this year 1665 and that time as I have already said may be about four or five and thirty years yet to come I will not so absolutely determine it as once heretofore I did being a little-over heated with Zèal upon occasion given to treat of that time For Christ having intimated that a compleat certainty of it is not revealed to any man in the flesh I wave that peremptory expression though I still believe it will be about that time and perhaps God sometimes permitteth such casual slips when they are not purposed to keep his Children quiet when they desire things before they can be had as we do our Children by suffering them to please themselves with uncertain harmless hopes When the number of the Beast is finished I do believe there will be a space of time in which that which is truely Good shall be as well made known at Evil hath now been almost six thousand years and that the time thereto allotted is that seventh Mysterious Day or Sabbath which the Lord our GOd hallowed when he had finished his six days works and that the Jewish sabbaths of dayes and years were but Types of the great sabbath separated from the other six parts of time and sanctified by GOD for himself and his chosen people to rest in and is called a Day by him with whom A thousand years is but as yesterday it being usual in holy scripture to signifie many years and times consisting of many ages by the denomination of a day or days as in Daniel a time of many Generations then to come by 1335 dayes Dan. 12. 12. and in the Revelation 11 by 1260 days and in the same Chapter by three day and a half and it signifies the whole time of Christs Kingdom upon earth in that place where it is said Abraham desired to see his day and saw it For he fore saw it by Faith 24. Six days of a thousand years apiece as I conceive was alotted for the men of this VVorld to prosecute therein those works which they thought they had to do and were alotted both for their Probation and to acquite as aforesaid that experimental knowledge which was desired by our First-parents And in that space of time both good and evil men who were Vicegerents or Subjects either of the Kingdom of God or of the Prince of this world were permitted to be active for their several Interests according to their distinct inclinations and to pursue them so far forth as that good or evel which was in them would extend But neither the Righteousness which was in the best is sufficient in it self to perfect their desired Kingdom nor the wickedness which is in the worst enongh to establish their Dominion because the restraining power of him who is the Supream Governour of all things would not permit the Adversaries of his Kingdom to be so wicked as they would have been in acting destructively thereunto though the wickedness of their Will wanted nothing to compleat of demonstrate their personal untighteousness of that perfection of Evil which was in them But when the great Sabbaths of years is come in which the supream Kings of both are to manifest and exercise their Powers in another mode then heretofore or at this present to wit during the last thousand years or seventh part of time
as it were into Christs sufferings and Baptized with the holy Ghost and with Fire may signifie unto us the Universal Redemption and sanctification of all such from Original sin These and their infinite multitudes I do conceive to be intimated by the mystical number of A hundred and forty four thousand comprehending twelve times twelve thousand in a square Root for none can be more properly termed Virgins not defiled with Women that is polluted with Original guilt whereof every man born of a Woman had been still culpable if it had not been taken away by Christ and wherewith all men are again defiled and charged who when they come to understanding sin actualy without Repentance These are the first Fruits to God and the Lamb preserved from Actual sins in word and deed by being translated soon after they are born to follow the Lamb into a better Life Now for God to Elect and predestinate these from Eternity to be removed out of this world to everlasting happiness as soon as born without exposing them to those hazzards which others are to undergo though upon conditions made possible to be performed by his assisting Grace is a great Mercy without infringement of his own Justice or wrong to any other though they shall not have so much honour as they who are to serve in the spiritual warfare against the World the Flesh and the Devil This Mercy is so agreeable to the pure Nature of the Deity that I wonder any man who knows any thing of God should be so sottish yea so wicked as to believe he had fore-determined the Reprobation of any Infant uncapable of doing good or evil in his own person 20. The Preaching of Christ by his Spirit to those who are in the Prisons of their Fleshliness supplies many defects both where the Ordinary means is wanting and where it is abused or neglected else the Foundations of Piety being so overthrown or nigh ruined as they are by the Obstinacy and Prevarications both of Jews and Gentiles there would be little or no hope of preserving saving Faith or so much as the seed thereof upon earth until Christ should come again Thereby the Seed of Abraham according to the Flesh must if ever be brought into Christs Fold and that fulness of the Gentiles come in which will accomplish the Salvation of the whole Israel of GOD who are the spiritual Seed of Abraham And I think it not so strange as it seems to many that more should be this way made partakers of the kingdom of Heaven then by the ordinary means of Salvation in the Visible Church when I confider what I experimentally know to be spiritually done in perfecting natural works and faculties Art and Industry joyned together make few men of ripe Age and Understanding so perfect in the knowledge and use of any Language in many years as some Children are in one year after they have but strength enough to speak though they are not capable of any Grammatical Rules or demonstrations for some of them I have known to speak both properly and otherwhile facetionsly before they either well knew what they did or could define what speaking is or what they any word means by it self And there being nothing in the nature of the words which can of it self interpret what is meant by them it is no less wonderful that a little Childe should both understandingly and affectionately apprehend his Fathers meaning and express his own by them as we oft hear them do then that a heathenish Infidel should be made capable of Faith by the Spirit of God without hearing the vocal Preaching of the Gospel in our mode for it is the same Spirit which teaches the one and the other Likewise were it not so it would puzzle the wisest man living to demonstrate how a man born deaf and dumb should be capable of understanding what is written and of writing his own conceptions in such words as we speak and write which it is known hath been attained unto But doubtless by the same Spirit which first instructed Man to know the Course and Order of the Stars and how to read the knowledge of God in The Great Volume of his Creatures with the many secrets therein written and the discovery of other Mysteries not else attainable was communicated by the same Divine Spirit Now if we know God hath often wrought supernaturally by his Spirit to teach us things pertinent to our well-being in this transitory life we may reasonably believe that he much rather operateth supernaturally where need is toward our everlasting well-being without which the Blessings of this life will be Curses Therefore I believe God hath provided extraordinary means of Salvation for every Soul since the fall of Adam which hath not wilfully neglected and despised the ordinary means of Grace when offered or who never had it personally vouchsafed of which number are such Infants as aforesaid 21. These Inlargements not intended dropt in by the ways and it may be I may seem Heretical in my judgement especially touching what I have declared in relation to a probability of having Faith wrought in those barbarous Heathens who never heard of the Jesus Christ conceived by the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary and crucified under Pontius Pilate c. as we are taught though I make it not a necessary Article of Saving faith to be known and believed by all men I profess I do believe as is before expressed and having considered every particular especially that of Infants do say as Cicero said in his Tract of the Immortality of the Soul intituled Scipio's Dream it seemeth so pleasing an error if it be one and so comfortable a Doctrine as well in respect of many millions more of our Progenitors as of mine and their little Children dying before years of Discretion that I think I shall never be of a contrary Judgement and chiefly in regard of the honour which thereby redounds to Gods Justice and Mercy For when I have meditated how many millions of millions will be added unto the innumerable sums comparehended in the first two Regiments of the three aforementioned by the last of them consisting of little Children I do believe that the number of them who shall be saved will be as much greater at least then of those who shall be damned as the number of the wicked who lived in this world shall be greater then that of those who are conformable to the Will of GOD preached in the Visible Church And I am assured this Belief is neither contrary to any Maxime in holy Scripture not likely to beget presumption in any who was not hardned in sinning before but will rather make men the more awful of sinning against so great Mercy and the more mindeful there is Mercy with GOD that he may be both feared and loved More might be said but this being well needed may be sufficient to make reasonable men so merciful to each other by Gods Exemplary Mercy that