from the Right Hand or South of the Altar in Benjamin the Highest of That Land they say whose Borders ever Go up in Josuah never Down and an other was the Gate of the Firstlings which may be of use ere long to determine its Place and Times also as God shalldirect us The 11 Outermost Cubits of This Inward court were Rayled in for the clean men of Israel Level with the Gate Nicanor The 11 next going up by one cubit and 3 half cubits where the Levites stood singing in their VVainscot Ducan on the Highest step were for the Priests who had no Bar from the Altar but a Row of Pillars Supporting the covering Moses Altar of Sittim-wood and its Plates and Grate of Brass 3 Cubits High and 5 square Solomons Brazen Altar 20 square and 10 High Ezekicls 12 by 12. Which yet they interpret a square of 24. As 12 from the middle to either side And so the Altar of the 2d Temple was Yet so that its bottom of a Cubit hight and bredth was a square of 32 Cubits Onely they cut off the Southeast Corner that All of it might be in Benjamin who was to be the Ravening Wolf on the Lambs But in the Morning to devour the Prey and in the Evening to Divide the spoil As we saw before in the Morning Seeking and the Evenings Finding As Job also In the morning Thou wilt Seek me O but Do it Heartily And in Hoseah They will seek me in the Morning From a Cubit Height where each side was 32 it Rose Up to 5 Cubits at 30 Bredth One more at 28 called its Circuit And One more at 26 brought up the Horns from a Cubit Base to a Cone bending outward at a Cubit Height and Thence One Cubit Higher brought it to 24. and so it was at the Top. Which from the Circuit Upward being 4 Cubits was called Gods Hill on Gods Lion Or Harel on Ariel as Ezek. 43. 15. But they went not up by those or any other steps which was forbidden even at the first giving the Law in Exod. 20 But by a slopeing kinde of Causey at the South side which they called by a Phrase somwhat near the English Cabesh but nearer to the Hebrew Lamh and to make Tame as a Lamb we saw it before As if God would intimate a Lamblike spirit was the best way to Tread on a Lion as they called That part of the Altar As the 91st Psalm Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and the Serpent The Young Lion and the Dragon shalt thou Trample under foot Because he hath set his Love upon me I will deliver him and I will set him on High because he hath known my Name Which I choose for my Portion rather than the World and desire my friends to begg it also Ezekiels Altar hath other particulars which deserve more notice as God shall give us opportunity And That also The whole Mountain and its limits round about shall be Most Holy as we saw before in Jeremiah reaching to Tophet also or the very Ashes of the Children burnt to Moloch in Gehinnon From the Altar to the Porch were 22 Cubits as the Porches Floor was Higher than the Floor of Shushan Gate by 22 Cubits that is Twice 11. And if the Altars Bosome as the Prophet calls it were Thrice Eleven the Court will be 7 times 11. or 77 to the Porch 12 Steps or half cubits high but whole cubits broad besides half paces every 3d step Led up the Priests and Down again from Thence to Bless the People after Incense as we saw before With the Migrepha between the Porch and Altar with the great Laver also as the Sea of Sodom still before the Lord at the Right Hand Southeast As Solomons molten Sea at the Southeast corner Of 3000 Baths or about 24000 Gallons which we may consider again although 2000 filled it up to the usual coks or Pipes at that distance as might best suit Their Bathings which could not be when the Sea was Full of 5 cubits Depth 1 Kings 7. 26. 2 Cron. 4. 5. The Porches Gate was 40 cubits High and 20 Broad without a Door being alwaies Open as a Type of That within that must be ever Open also As the Gates of New Jerusalem Esay 60. 11. Apoc. 21. 25. The Front was as Gold to the Eye with curious work Full 70 cubits High and 25 Broad The Bredth of This Open Gate was equal to the Inward Bredth of the whole Temple which was 20 cubits As before in Solomons which was Double to the Tabernacles Breadth But the whole Bredth was Treble to Solomons Inward House and Double to the whole with All its Side chambers And its Height Double also but in the Porch which in Solomons also was 120 cubits As Cyrus commission Lay its Foundations strong as we saw in Esay 60 Cubits High and 60 Cubits Broad So that Their weeping at These was not for quantities which Here were Greater but qualities and loss of the cloud and Holy Fire and Ark and Urim and the 5th perhaps yet Greater though the Jews made it less than the Holy Ghost The Spirit of Prophecy hinted they say in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is 5 wanting in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will be glorified and will Take pleasure in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hag. 1. 8. Where we may also finde the Etymology of Erets as we saw before Ezek. 20. 40. 30 side-chambers 6 cubits Broad and so were the 8 at the West End but There the Two Uppermost were longer than the other 6 but 12 long With 4 Out-doors on either side between the 5 Chambers of 5 cubits Height in 3 Stories with Enteries 7 or 8 cubits broad and Stairs to the 2d Story besides the great winding stair Case at the North-East corner to the Top of All and Bothside Galleries of 3 cubits before all the Chambers but the West End which had only their Entries and stairs of each story on either side But the Southside Galleries were called The Conduits As curiously laid from the Rock Etam or Nepthoah seeming the Highest place of that Land or the World Whence Water came to the Water-gate or Well at the Southside as Rivers turn in the South and Ezekiels waters in the South and Thence they came to the Great Laver c. So that Water could be brought up for Bathing or other uses to the Top of all the Gates and Buildings Which we may shortly understand without much charge and Cruelty to Horses The Length of All the Porch and House and Oracle within was 70. But the Walls about made 70 broad and 100 Long from East to West And so the Porch they say from South to North 100 cubits And the Height of Herods Temple was 100 As the Middle Isle of a Church between the Side-chambers As the Middle walk of this Royal Stoe we saw before was Double to the other two in Height of 50 cubits and above 30 Broad as both the other Walks
deceived and God needeth not your Lye for him or against your self in any thing And if you judge amisse of your self God is so Holy and Just that you never need fear that He will confirm or execute your wrong Judgement And if you judge rightly of your self you are not so miserable as you conceive your self but as you do that which is one of the Highest and Hardest Acts possible which is to judge ones self rightly so you have one of the Greatest Bbessings which God giveth to the Sons of men or to his own Son which is a right understanding of a right Judgement which was the Great Argument used by the greatest and best man that ever lived to prove that he was of God and had His Spirit and a Will also moulded into His Holy Will for else he saith he could not Judge Righteous Judgement And who ever doth this of himself and his own sins is in a special manner partaker of the Holy Ghost whose proper work is to convince us rightly of sin Righteousnesse and Judgement and who ever judgeth himself rightly shall not be judged of God Here he stopt and sweetly bowed and turned aside a little but returned soon again looking as cheerful as he could well force himself It being not very easie so to clear up his eyes and face but that it might be seen though he hid it that he had wept Which also pierced his Guest both to see the Fathers affection and his own misery Who was still so unhappy as he some way expressed to be a burthen to himself and all he conversed with supposing he had grieved or displeased him by some of his expressions But when the Good Father perceived those thoughts with a most sweet tender and melting look he replyed No my Dear Brother no you do not burthen me at all or in any thing displease me But as my general duty bids or helps me in some measure to mourn with every one that mourneth and to weep with every one that weepeth So my particular respect and affection now forceth me if at least it can be force upon a Fathers tender bowels to yearn over his son or a brother over his own dearly beloved brother Yet there is somewhat in You that maketh me melt in Joy rather then sorrow tho it may be unutterable for I cannot expresse it I saw you were my Neighbour at the first as a Man and so I found my self obliged This is Little and low both to Love and Honour you for that Image of God I ought to acknowledge in you and the great Law of Love that commands Brotherly kindenesse bids us adde Love also yea and to strangers also for the same chapter that bids us Love our Neighbour as our self bids us Love a stranger also as we love our selves And among divers reasons why we should love strangers it is sometimes added Because God loveth strangers Yea and we are bid to entertain them so As if they were or might be Angels seeing some had unawares so entertained Angels But now I see somewhat more in you not onely a Man and my Neighbour but a Christian also and my Dear and pretious Brother whom the Angels do attend and love and honour as a lively Image of their great Lord and Master Jesus Christ. And how is it that the Brother of my Lord thus cometh to visit me And you are so far from having committed that great sin against the Holy Ghost which you so much fear that you are still under the most gracious workings of that Holy Spirit Whose great work is to convince the world even the world and not onely the Apostles or Disciples but the World of Sin Righteousnesse and Judgement which is also promised to the World even to the World and is fulfilled in you who are thus under the convincing spirit of Promise And it will also comfort you for the same spirit that convinceth is also the Comforter and where it wounds it heals and when it hath convinced both of Sin Judgement and Righteousness which is there promised it will also comfort It being the promise or indeed the property and nature yea and heart of God to heal and quicken whom he wounds and kills which from Moses Song runs all along through the Psalms and Prophets Who tell us If he wound he will heal Yea though he kill for two dayes He wil revive and quicken on the Third For he will turn again and have compassion on us because he delighteth in mercy though he cause grief for a while and yet not willingly or from his heart afflicteth the children of men which is his Strange work But Mercy is his Child his Son and comes as naturally from him as a child from any father For he is the Father of Mercy yea of a multitude of mani-fold Mercies which are also One with the heart of Christ for He is the onely begotten of the Father and yet His Father is also the Father of Mercies so that Christ and Mercies lay together in one womb and indeed are the same for how else is Christ the Onely begotten of the Father And you are under the tender mercies of Christ even that Christ who is Mercy it self and this holy Spirit of Promise will certainly be your Comforter being already I see your Remembrancer to bring to mind his words one of his proper Works having also convinced you of Righteousnesse enough in him Everlasting Righteousnesse to satisfie God and sanctifie you And I hear you not onely acknowledge him to be the Son of God and sent of God to be the Saviour of the World but also you are convinced of sin because you have not believed on him the great promise of that Comforter and are made most truly and highly to value defire long and pray for him and To him which you could not but by the gracious workings of that Holy Spirit of promise whose great work was and still is to set up Christ as he set up his Father Which Character given by Christ of his own spirit is repeated also by the Apostles And St. John gives it as the Touch-stone whereby we should try the spirits saying Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus is come in the flesh is of God and again he that confesses that Jesus is the Son of God dwelleth in God and God in him and again whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and again He that is born of God sinneth not that sin or worketh not sin which is a common phrase in the Language of the Law of Moses and other places of Scripture Doeth not sin So but that the seed of God still remaineth in him as the sap of an Oake or Teile when it casteth its leaves as the Prophet Isaiah in that most remarkable Chap. cited in the six first books of the New Testament For the Jews rejection and return again as an emblem of the whole Worlds Restoring or Resurrection it being plain in the
given while he was not glorified Or till he was exalted and set on the right hand of God and made a Prince and a Saviour for to Cive repentance and remission of sins Nay he never speaks of himself as a King or Judge till his second coming Being as himself said to go a great journey to receive a Kingdom and after a long time to come again and call his servants to account And if the wicked servant shall say in his heart My Lord delayeth his comming and shall begin so much as once begin to beat or strike his fellow-servants for the Lords servant must be gentle towards all and be no striker when he shall but begin to strike his Master will come when he looketh not for him and will cut him asunder and give him his portion with Hypocrites the Doom of Antichrist who thus took on him so before his time to sit and rule and judge before his master gave him power or leave or indeed was come to sit and reign and judge in his own Person Which was not till other Thrones be cast down or set as we read in Daniel and the Revelation For he must sit at his Fathers Right hand till all his enemies be put under him and then his Throne and Judgement shall sit and judgement shall be given to them also that shall sit with him who still called himself the Son of man and never a King or Prince or Judge till That Comming and That judgement And then he saith They shall see the Son of man come in the Clouds with great power and glory and when you see those things and that sign of the Son of Man comming in the Clouds Then know the kingdom of God is come even at the very doors Then and not till then it is come actually come and till that time but comming and he bids us pray and say Thy Kingdom come And then shal the Son of man send forth his Angels which before he called his Fathers Angels and the holy Angels now His Angels the Son of Man shall send forth His Angels and they shall gather out of His Kingdom which is Then his Kingdom all things which offend and them which do iniquity And then and not till then the Son of Man shall sit upon the Throne of glory and then the King shall say to them at his Right hand and again the King shall answer them But to the goats at his left hand He shal say he saith not the King shall say as if he were only a King to the sheep or they only were members of his Kingdom but to the goats he saith Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels For as the Son of Man hath his Angels so the Devil hath his Angels also of which we read again in the Revelation Where as also in Pauls great charge to Timothy several other Texts of Scripture we read of his Kingdom joyned or annexed to his second comming or appearing again after his Ascention at which time he was asked If he then would restore the Kingdom unto Israel which he doth not deny but waveth only forbidding their curious prying into times and seasons which the Father yet had kept so secret that the Son then knew them not but had them afterwards it seems by Revelation Which God gave him also to shew unto his servants unto whom he saith it was given to know the secrets or the mysteries of that Kingdom and to search them out also by that Spirit which was given to make known the things which were freely given them of God yea and to search the hidden Depths or Baths of God as that Apostle saith who also tells us The natural man believeth not the things of God or of the Spirit of God nor can he know them being only discerned spiritually And no man can so much as see the Kingdom of God till horn again of that Spirit which the World as such neither knoweth nor receiveth but it is promised to the World also and to convince the world also and when a worldly carnal man is born again of the Spirit and so made Spiritual then he also judgeth all things but himself is judged of no man Nor may any man judge another man or any person whatsoever or can judge himself rightly till he be made spiritual and so fitted by Christ the great and only Judge of all Causes and of all Persons And to whom and in what cases Christ committeth this Prerogative of judging either themselves or others I know not any hath declared better then Saint Paul in divers places of the same Epistle But as Christ gave that general rule Judge not according to appearance and then surely we may not judge things that appear not or things of another world and for all Eternity Whereas the Wise man saith A man cannot know Love or Hatred and much less Eternal Love or Hatred by all before him or appertaining to him So Saint Paul giveth us that generall Rule Judge nothing even nothing at all before the time That is as himself addeth Till the Lord come For his comming is the time of judging and his Kingdom as we have seen from that Apostle and from many other scriptures And I would to God your time were come that you might judge and reign that we might reign also But the Kingdom of God and this judging also is not in word but in Power As our Lord taught us Thine is the Kingdom the Power and Glory And in the Revelation Now is salvation and strength the Kingdom of God and Power of his Christ for the Accuser of our Brethren is cast down For Christ also maketh the kingdom of God to be a Power to cast out Satan by the spirit or finger of God and when Judas was gone out as a Type of Satan or Antichrist he saith Now is the Son of man glorified and God glorified in him And so Christ said Some standing there should not taste of death till they saw the Kingdom of God come with Power Which another Evangelist expresseth by the Son of man comming in his Kingdom And S. Pet. One of the Eye-witnesses of that glorious Transfiguration which was an Emblem or preludium to his Kingdom calleth it The Power and coming of our Lord Jesus And himself being asked if he would restore the Kingdom bad them stay till they received Power from on High or the Power of the Holy Ghost coming on them which he also calleth the Promise of the Father For the Spirit of Promise which is to be given to all the Lord shall call yea to be poured out on all flesh is called by Esay the Spirit of Power and it is so observed of them that received it in the Acts that they were full of the Holy Ghost and Power And Saint Paul also calleth it a spirit of Power and Love and of a sound mind and saith he came with demonstration of the Spirit and of
Jesus Christ be with you all Which he wrote with his own hand it seems in all his true epistles From Antioch Paul and Barnabas came to Iconium and there spake boldly in the Lord which gave Testimony to the Word of his Grace granting signes and wonders to be done by their hands And returning again to Antioch and other places confirming the souls of the Disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God which St. Matthew onely calleth the Kingdom of Heaven and ordaining them Elders in every Church praying with fasting they commended them to the Lord Iesus in whom they believed Thence coming up to the Counsel at Ierusalem they there declared the Miracles and Wonders God had wrought by them among the Gentiles where Iames whom Paul calls an Apostle and so Peter also owned him as chief among the Brethren in the twelfth of the Acts which tells us before of Herods killing the Apostle Iames discourseth of Gods promise to raise up the Tabernacle of David that the residue of men might seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom My Name is called saith the Lord even Jesus who doth all these things For we may generally observe that by Lord especially where distinct from God they mean the Lord Jesus who is Lord of All as St. Paul to the Romanes and rich unto All that call upon him and we have but one God the Father and One Lord Christ Jesus And to Him the Apostles and whole Church prayed at the Election of Matthias calling him the Lord Jesus and then set two saying Thou Lord that knowest or searchest the Hearts of All men the proper character of Christ as he writes to Thiatyra all the Churches shall know that I search the reins and hearts and that also as God Man for as God only he need not search our Hearts From that great Counsel It seemed good to the Apostles and Elders with the whole Church to send chosen men with their beloved who had hazzarded their lives for the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Barnabas and Paul For the Holy Ghost setteth Barnabas generally before Saul and often also before Paul which name is not given him till he taught Sergius Paulus that prudent Roman Governour Assaying to go into Bithynia the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them for so it is read in some of the best copies At Philippi called by a man of Macedonia in a vision Paul meets a Damsel possessed with a spirit of Divination tho she cried These men are the servants of the most High God which shew unto us the way of salvation For an evil spirit may preach true Doctrine but Paul being grieved turned and said to the spirit I command thee in the Name of Iesus Christ to come out of her and he came out the same hour And on this being beaten and cast in prison and there loosed at midnight to the Trembling Jayler they say Believe on the Lord Iesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house Thine House also Even as salvation came to Zacheus House also when to him and to Lydias Houshold also when to her At Ephesus finding certain Disciples they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Iesus Which seems equal therefore to the name of Father Son and Holy Ghost for the Apostles were commanded to baptize in the Name of Father Son and Holy Ghost and yet they did it in the Name of Christ onely and no wonder For the full latitude or fulnesse of the god-head dwelt in Him and there is no other God but in him and one with him and therefore he that sees him sees the Father also and he that worships him worships the Father also and him that serves him will his Father honour as himself saith and by consequence him that prayes to him which a great piece of worship and service He is thy Lord Worship him as the Psalmist to the Spouse or whole Church which therefore prayeth unto him all along the Canticles and Revelation also where the Bride or whole Church and Spouse of Christ and the Spirit also prayeth to Him saying Come Lord Iesus When Paul had laid his hands on the Twelve Disciples also of the Gentiles at Ephesus which then might be the head of the Gentiles and the first that received an Epistle from Christ in the Revelation the Holy Ghost came upon them and they spake with Tongues and Prophesied as the Twelve Apostles at Pentecost To which also Saint Paul seems plainly to allude in the first Chapter of his Epistle to that Church at Ephesus or to the Saints there and faithfull in Christ Jesus as he styleth them and not a Church as at Corinth and other places Some Vagabond Jews adjure evil spirits there in the Name of Jesus whom Paul preacheth and the evil spirit answering Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are you and leaping beat them through the man possessed Whence fear fell on them all and the Name of the Lord Jesus was magnified As we read at the close of that History Acts 19. At Miletus calling the Elders from Ephesus also most pathetically he discourseth how for divers years he had served the Lord Jesus among them with all humility of minde and with many tears and temptations testifying both to Jewes and Greeks Repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. But none of these troubles move me nor count I my life dear to me so I may finish my course with joy and the Ministry which I have received of the Lord Iesus to testifie the gospel of the grace of God even of the grace of God And now I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom of God shall see my face no more And yet that he came after this also again to that very place is probable or certain from his leaving Trophimus at Miletus sick in the 2. to Tim. who now went with him to Jerusalem Acts 21. 29. Or shall we say he was deceived when from Rome also he wrote to so many neer those countreys that he trusted to be given to their prayers and to come to them again O how watchful must a good man be least his own spirit rise too much with the true Spirit of God or least the Envio us one sow Tares with the good mans Wheat And when Agabus had bound his hands and feet with Pauls girdle he saith What mean you to weep and to break my heart For I am ready not only to be bound but to die also for the Name of the Lord Iesus Then they ceased saying The will of the Lord that Lord be done From Jerusalem where he spake often of that Name and in it and of praying to it as I observed before he is brought by a dangerous Voyage and shipwrack to Rome It is no sign that a man is out of the way or not sent by God or called
solitary a while as if she had left her Husband and her heart also behind her when she came down from Heaven and her cry all along even to the very end of all the Revelation is Come Lord Iesus Come quickly As if Christ were not with her on earth But the greatest stresse of the Argument may seem to be in this thaâ— God speaks nothing to us now but in and through his Son Our Prayers Praises sighs and groans if right are but reflections back of somewhat spoken to us spoken in us Which must therefore be through Christ and to Christ Immediately by His Spirit in us Which or who for that is the Scripture Language as he knows the mind of Christ and so of God in him and brings it into us So he toucheth our heart and makes it warble as the Heart of Christ did when God spake to Him and in Him to us And he whose Spirit it is that helps us by sighs and groans unutterable knows the meaning of his own Spirit For it is he that maketh intercession for us Yea and in us also so that all our breathings out to God are but his breathings by his Spirit in us And in this sence we may and do pray to the Father as Christ in us the hope of Glory prayeth to the Father of Glory so he is called and the Father of mercies as he is the Father of Christ who therefore is both Grace and Glory as the Psalmist expresseth him and yet still the onely begotten of the Father Let me add also that the Spirit in us crying Abba Father is the Spirit of God made Flesh or in actual Union with Humanity For else it calls not God its Father and in us it speaks its own Natural Language for it speaketh in us Praying Crying Abba Father Our Father For Christs Spirit speaketh boweth prayeth in us Hollowed be Thy Name let Thy Kingdom come for it is ours also And if God be glorified in us He will also glorifie Us with himself Yea he will straight way gloryfie us Let thy will be done in our Earth as in thy Heaven Even in thy Highest Heaven For in this Petition it is in The Heaven but in the preface it is in the Heavens even all the Heavens For Thy will is ours also and not only wiser but better for us also then our own will is till fully moulded into thy Will And then a poor Soul dare say forgive us even as we forgive We and not I but we as all the members together with the Spirit of the Head also and in his Person too which hath often made me hope he meant and had promised also for our Prayers or His in us are good Promises also to forgive more of his Enemies then it may be I ever thought or believed Which I cannot much wonder at when All his enemies must come to be at peace with him as his wayes please the Lord. And when the spirit also shall come to Act His Kingdom which it shall do in the Heart of His Spouse for the spirit the Bride shal abide and Act and shal stil Live together as they cryed together here I hope it will also forgive more then it may be all men now believe or hope Yet as the Soul should generally say and pray to Christ as the Apostles did Lord shew us the Father which is also his great promise to us and his Father also in his solemn prayer John 17. I have declared Thy Name and I will declare it that the Love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them Yet there may be some seasons also in which a poor soul may think it self so great a stranger unto Christ or at such a distance from him that it may and doth cry to the Father Draw me to the Son shew me thy Son and acquaint me with thy Son for I am a stranger to him or at a losse in seeking Him And yet sure this is not very usual in a Woman or it may be handsom or civil for her to come to a strange man and say Pray Sir acquaint me with your Son that I may woe him But when the Good man hath first broken the matter in discourse to the Virgin soul and hath Invited and woed for the Son Then doth the Son come and is sent of the Father and woes the soul for himself and yet perhaps till the marriage be or at least the contract or betrothing It may sometimes not onely be fit but requisit to Treat with the Father also for settlement of state or other things But Then she goes and speaks and converseth with the Son when she is Married or at least betrothed which indeed is Most if not All that is yet done between Christ and our souls it may be the whole Church yet is no more but betrothed onely till the New Jerusalem Which yet in some measure doth come down and appear unto and in every poor soul betrothed unto Christ. For Jerusalem which is above is Mother to us all The good Sarah spouse to Abram The High Father as the name signifies before it was Abraham a Father of many rather then to Isack the Son who was not married till his Mother Sara was dead Though perhaps That was onely to the Gentile Church brought out of Syria a Gentile Land after Sara the Jewish Church was dead or gone But she must appear again and that out of Heaven also where the Woman first appeared as a great wonder in the person of the Wife of Jaacob as some think or Mother to the twelve Patriarchs presented there as in Josephs Dream also by twelve stars round about her But there is more in it seeing she was also in the Sun or clothed with His Light and Glory Having also the Moon at her Feet and a crown of twelve stars about her head of which we may speak more hereafter And when the Virgin is espoused then she begins to speak freely to Her spouse And I know not any more sure character of being so betrothed unto Christ then such a free converse with him as our friend our Brother Yea our neerer Relation And yet truly we do not receive His spirit but some glances onely through his eyes or mouth at a distance if we may so expresse it till we be actually married which is scarcely consummate in this Life though it may be also at the coming of the new Jerusalem So that all we speak or do of Praying or such manner of converse as is yet usual with Christ is in our way only Yet as betroathed rather than in our end or spiritual enjoyments of him in the marriage bed where only we shall fully receive his Spirit And those whom he sent as his Father sent him received it but as in his breath for he breathed on them saying Receive the Holy Ghost And afterwards also they received but the first fruits of the Spirit as themselves expressed it saying also it belonged
unto all the Lord should call For it was then but the Feast of Pentecost or fiftieth Day of first Fruits and that but of Barley O but now we wait and hope and expect the Feast of Tabernacles also and the latter Rain as the former little drops even the greatest Feast of Tabernacles which all Nations also must keep with Israel when they shall joy as at Harvest even at the end of full Harvest when all the fruits of the Earth shall be gathered in and all Nations also shall come flowing in as the fruits of all the Earth in that solemn Feast Which was acted also in a Type as we may say of somwhat to come when in the last and great day of the many Feasts of that great Feast of all the Feast of Tabernacles Christ stood out and cryed as the Gospel saith O every one that thirsteth come unto the Waters and he that believeth on me as the Scripture saith out of his belly shall flow Rivers of Living Water as alluding both to their custom of drawing and powring out Waters from Siloam with joy from the wells of Salvation and also to the most remarkable place in Zech where all Nations are invited to that Feast that they might have Water and the Rain of Heaven And it may be he that can rightly count the time between the Feast of Pentecost and Tabernacles may guess also when that latter Rain or fuller powring out of the Spirit shall be Which in general was in the seventh Month yet by another reckoning at the end of the yeer as the seventh Day was the end of the week Even as Gods appearings and Angels also were generally towards the end of the day or about the evening Sacrifice which is one of many Reasons why I think the Lords Supper was and now should also be at Supper or at Evening rather then Morning And to all yet said to perswade us in our prayers to direct our hearts and words to Christ and to God only as he is in Christ as of old in the Tabernacle between the Cherubims of Glory over-shadowing the Mercy Seat covering the Ark I may add That Prayer is a Dialogue between our Soul and God indited by the Spirit of Christ which differeth from the Spirit of God as being That cloathed with flesh and actually united to a Humane Spirit which the Spirit of God as God or of the Father as such is not Which distinction it may be St. John observeth by the Holy Ghost in Heaven One with the Word and Father and by the Spirit on Earth or in the fleshly Members of Christ. Now as Christ in the daies of his flesh did offer up strong sighs and groans and tears and prayers yea and himself also by his eternal Spirit unto him that was able to save him and was heard in all he feared or prayed So doth he now by the same Spirit in the hearts or flesh of his Members which are here on Earth Yet so as all those Members give up their Spirit to their Head As the Elders also in the Revelation present their Vials full of Prayers of Saints to the Lamb and he as the great Angel of the Covenant mingles them with his dayly Incense in his Temple and presents them all even all the Prayers of all Saints to his God and his Father and their Father in and through him They all being indeed but his own sighs and groans or motions of his own Spirit in his Members That we may yet more cleerly understand this let us first consider how Christ prayed to his Father and then how the Christian prayeth unto Christ or to his Father through Christ. As the Apostle saith God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself so in a right sence I may say God was in Christ Praying or speaking to himself even as our Soul communes with it self or as a man communes with his own Heart a Phrase we find in the Psalms or other places of Scripture and we may use it to illustrate This. For which also I may cite that notable passage of our Saviour which I somtime look upon as one of the Keys to open and discover the rich but hidden Cabinet of the Mysterious Scripture where he doth so plainly tell us that he never said one word of himself and yet he said all that was ever said by God for he is the only Word and Mouth of God and in the Prophet Esay he tells us plainly that he said all that was ever spoken and yet now he tells us that he never spake one word of that is From Himself or of his own but of and from his Father and what He said yea and As He spake it unto Him so he repeated it Being as it seems but Gods Holy Echo to repeat those Words and only Those his Father speaketh of himself and in himself and to himself As if Christ also compared with God were such an Infant that he could not speak one sentence word sillable or letter but as God sounded it before him and In him and To him and so He only Ecchoed back some little part it may be as the latter end or loudest part of that Infinite Discourse the Father had and hath to Him from all Eternity to al Eternity Thus when God saith in and to Christ My Son Give me thy Heart Christ then as it were ruminating or repeating in himself what the Father saith He Ecchoes back Give me Thy Heart And so it sounds as a Prayer To Bow down He cries Bow down To Seek my Face Seek my Face And at length his Spirit cries in his Members also Thy Face I will seek Lord Hide not thy Face from me So that the Head only properly speaketh in Prayer but His Members draw also by the spirit of the Head resting and sighing In Them Thus we have seen a tender Mother or a Father Teaching their children to speak and do and go by speaking To them in them as it were and going bowing kissing their hand and Doing All before them and as much as they can in them That they would have them to Do and say Bow down They say and kiss your Hand and say I am your servant or the like by doing and by saying what they mean their child should do or say And then he stammers after them and after many Essaies comes at length to stumble on that gesture posture carriage word or work the Parents have been often Teaching Him or speaking In him For one may speak his heart out to a child or other person who will never learn and Do till he have the Fathers or the Teachers spirit or his meaning and his Meen by accent gesture or some other way rather than by word only impressed on him So that we see our children and such as are acquainted with our spirit can discern and understand our minde by becks or nods or looks or otherwise somtimes without words and somtimes directly against our words and quite
it And our experience may shew us that some times we think to speak to God and we find our selves such strangers to him or at such a distance that we flie to Christ and cry Lord shew us the Father and Lord teach us to Pray as John taught his Disciples Yea and better too as Thou art a better Teacher At another time it may be we bow down and think to speak to Christ and then perhaps we find a damp upon our spirits unto him and some estrangement from him so that we flie to the Father and cry Good Father shew us Thy Son Draw us to thy Son yea draw us heartily that so we may know him more and better then ever for we are strangers to him And I have known some that usually began their prayers unto Christ or at least bowed their spirits silently to him before they spake to God and desired Christ both to help them expresse their own wants and then also present them to His Father Praying in them to His Father while they bowed in his spirit crying as he bad his children say Abba Father for all persons and for all things they ought or might pray for which perhaps are more then they are Tied to and so usually they concluded with the plainest sence rather than words of the Lords Prayer Which also seemeth to have been a more ancient custom in the Church than only of late when some discoursed only what they wanted or would beg of God Which yet I should not disallow if done with such an Heart and life and Power and Spirit as it may and yet I hope it will be done among the Churches of Christ. But I may sum up all in this the good Father by the Holy Ghost in his Ordinances first breaks the Match to the Virgin soul and shews her great want of an helper in her wretched and forlorn estate He tells her also he hath a Son who will use her kindly and tenderly if she will accept him Then he sends the Son a woer and till all be agreed for portion and joynture and other things the Treaty is much with the Father who also giveth assurance of his hearty consent to the match and to his making good all the Son shall promise and indeed is as it were his Sons surety to the poor soul. And when the Son is admitted yea and contracted he still useth his Fathers Name and bids the spouse be confident of all his Father ever promised And if there do arise any doubt or scruple in the matter or manner of contract dowrie or the like the soul hath not onely leave but most great encouragement to go and speak to the Father as also to reconcile any difference or strangenesse that at any time shall rise or seem to be between the parties But when they be married or espoused the Son useth her so sweetly and kindly that she never hath occasion much lesse cause to complain to the Father which yet she might freely do upon any cause but she is so wholly taken up with the spouses affection and most hearty love that her main converse and solace of her life is with Him Though she often ask her Father Blessing and very often bow to him with most child-like Reverence and dutiful Love rather then fear which if servile or slavish is exceeding much displeasing unto God and Jesus Christ and to the true genius of a Christian established with a free Noble Royal spirit Have we not a Type and Emblem of this or somewhat more in Caleb and his son and daughter Achsa Caleb As the Heart it signifies and may shadow out the Heart of God whom he wholly followed with an honest plain upright which in scripture Language is a perfect heart He saith who ever conquers Kiriath Sepher which may note the book of scripture which was also called Dehir that is the Oracle shall have my Daughter and my blessing with her Othniel conquers it and afterwards is made a Judge and saves his people from the cruel Tyrant and he getteth Calebs Daughter Who first moveth her Husband to ask a field of her Father and afterwards freeing her self from her Asse or bestial nature she boweth her self to her Father and asks him in her own person saying O my Father Thou hast given me a piece of Earth O but give me thy Blessing with it and a spring of Water So he gave her both the Upper and the Lower Springs An History so repeated in the Bible that I have often thought some great matter is in it Besides that it cleerly shews us the Heart of God such an infinite Fountain still flowing up and flowing over that he is so far from being drawn dry by our sucking or from being displeased at our Asking and Begging of him that he expects rather that all we have received from him even by his Sons Asking should but encourage us yet to ask more and more still as we receive more from him And when he hath given us a Field or a piece of Earth He expects we should ask his Blessing even the rather and the Springs of Water Even as our Father Abraham when God came to him after his great deliverance from the four great Kings which may be Types as their names import of the four great Monarchies that should captive his people and the good men of the world also till He should bring back their Captivity and the Captivity of Sodom also to be paralel'd with the 16. of Ezekiel just before the appearing of Melchizedech resembling Christ in his second Coming Pursuing them to Dan even to the great Judgment as the place imports And when God might so justly expect that Abraham should have been bowing down in great Thankfulness for That deliverance Abraham saies not a word of That but is Begging a new boon O the mans confidence and cries Lord God what wilt thou give me as if he had received nothing yet or at least very little in comparison of That he knew the Infinite Heart of God still had for him and was straitned till it was more drawn and sucked And the Mothers Breast is somtimes so full that she is glad of a strangers child to suck that which her own child cannot master And when it might have been expected of the Daughters of Zelophehad that the modesty of their Sex should have kept them silent or the shame or sorrow which they should have born for their father being cut off in the Wilderness and dying in his sin and they left Orphans and Virgins Yet they sue for their Inheritance And the Lord heard it and it pleased him so that upon this occasion he Enacted a new Law very beneficial to Women who had therefore much cause to remember and bless the memory of these Daughters And God was so far from upbraiding them or their father that he answers They have well done or well said and rightly too in what they say in that they do not judg themselves unworthy
Seriah was also Menuah from Noah Rest a Meek and Quiet Prince As Christ speaketh of Moses and of Himself Rejoyce O Zion For thy Prince is Meek and Lowly which with God is of Great Price and Value As Saint Peter speaketh Who yet struck down Ananias and Saphira But this Boanerges must become a Barnabas Ye know not what spirit You must be And Barnabas Took Saul and knit him to the Church of Christ who sent him back to Tarsus his Native Countrey As Israel to Babylon the Hole or Pit whence they were taken and called And then was Great Peace and Comfort of the Holy Ghost for Jerusalem it self was scattered through All Judea and Samaria and Galilee of the Gentiles also the three Regions of Heaven and Earth and the little World also as we have touched divers times And Then Peter also must come down to Lydia as alluding to Lud with Tarsis and Ludi and Lydia Saint Pauls Convert of Thiatire Divine Tyre or the Sacrificer For Her Hire also must be Holinesse to God and Sarran Tyrian or Sharon of which before with Carmel For That also must blesse Him and Hermon the Cursed Hill And Tabor the very Navel of the Belly or the Lower VVaters Here must Christ be Transfigured an Emblem of this Kingdom and Then must cast out the Foul Spirit which so Mastered All his Apostles Till Himself came down and found the people in a very hot dispute with his Apostles about a Devil they could not master And yet at his going up He had given them Power over All Unclean spirits But This was Beelzebub it seems the Prince of Devils with his Legions Every one 6000 and 666 also If a great Author besides Hesychius do not deceive us A strange spirit with Three Epithites in Three Evangelists As if Cerberus with his Tripple Throat The Devil in the VVorld Or Utmost Court and Antichrist in the Church or Temple But the Old Man in our Heart There the Dragon Then the Beast and the Image of the Beast and the False Prophet also directly opposite to God and Man who was made to Rule the Beast with the Image of God in Man or God-Man and the True Prophet the Holy Ghost See Ja. 3. 16. 1 Cor. 3. 3. Rom. 8. 6. But How long Ever since there was a Childe In the VVaters Above As the Crossing Serpent which we shewed before in Shemes Samson and his 12 Labors also through the Zodiak full of Beasts Aries Taurus Cancer Leo worse In the Earth Below Even in Paradise The Serpent the most subtile Beast and Head of all Beasts Turning Isha into Eva 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Before whom Adam only conversed with Lilith the Nights Darkness and Dreams which the Jewes call the Mother of Hobgoblins and make a white Circle with Chuts Lilith Out Night In the Waters Below Leviathan and Tannin the Dragon in the Great Depth or Bottomless-pit as Esay 27. with Iob of Behemoth Leviathan and the Revelation But He shall be cast out of Earth also as first he was out of Heaven Whence he fell like Lightning Though That but as a Prophecy before Apoc 11 and 12. Which brings up the Kingdom of Christ with Casting out Satan As Christ also said If I by the finger of God Cast out Beelzebub Then know the Kingdom of God is very near you But you must say Let it Come on Earth as it is in Heaven Where yet Satan came among the Angels to accuse and resist the Brethren as we may find in Job with Dan. Zech. But at our Saviours coming from the Mount All the three Foul Spirits shall be cast out Yet they may Tear us first and leave us as Dead But for Three dayes and Half and Then Come up hither And the Father said with Tears Lord I believe Help thou my Unbelief Being told that All things even All things are possible to Him that Believeth The same Works Yea and greater Works For I go to my Father And a Grain of True Faith can remove This Mountain also where I was transfigured while Peter would have built three Tabernacles Howbeit This strange and strong and last kinde of Devils go not out but by Fasting and Prayer Yet They had Oyl and so raised the Sick and laying on of Hands Cast out Devils For it was and still is and will be and appear a very Mighty Name of Jesus of Nazareth And Peter at length coming to Japho the old Town of Japhet Who began it before the Flood as hinted in Heathen Authors Having first healed Aeneas Aeneas And after eight years By the same Name by which Himself and Iohn had cured the Cripple at the 9th Hour the Time of Prayer As to Cornelius also the first fruits of the Gentiles He findeth Tabitha Dorcas a Doe of a Goat which in Hebrew and Syriac is also Saphira 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Raiseth Her also from the Dead A greater work perhaps than curing a Daughter of Abraham whom Satan had Bound Lo and Behold these 18 Years And another with the Bloody Flux of which before for 12 years And a Third Talitha 12 years old Here are three Twelves and an Half And a man at the Pool of Bethesda the House of Chesed Tender Mercy 38 Years Here are three Twelves and two also for a Cheâ—si Which I note the rather because it was first shewed Abraham in a Map that his Friends and Tenants of Promise and Sodom also must serve the four Monarchs 12 Years And not be delivered till the second after the 12. or second Sabbath which is the 14th Year as Assyrians broken in the 14th year of Ezekiah as the 14th of Genesis And the 14 Teeth of either Jawe may represent Years also as we shewed before from Shinim Teeth and Shenim Years Where we touched the Turtle and the Pigeon as the two little Witnesses preserved undivided which is their only way of safety between the Divided Heifer and the Ram and Goat also and All of Three years old And Then the Fiery Furnas and Great Horror But at Evening or Sun-setting God speaketh to him in a Vision which he saw not till he had said to the King of Sodom Thou shalt never make me Rich. And After Those words God came in a Vision and said Fear not Abraham for c. And they brought him to an Upper Chamber it is oft spoken of and should be marked where the women were and shewed the Coats of Dorcas For she also loved us and helped to build us a Tabernacle As we touched before in the Curtains or Coverings of Goats-hair and Badgers-skins But He put the Women All out O Woman what have I to do with Thee And Touch me not for I am not yet Ascended Which he had learned also from Him that so Acted before Him and James and John which were His three VVitnesses generally Who put them All out and cryed Talitha Kumi May it not be Rise up the Third Day or Year or Moed As They
Lord. For he Cometh He Cometh to Judg the World The Lord Reigneth let the Earth rejoyce and let the many Isles be glad The Heavens declare his Righteousness and all the People see his Glory Which in the next Psalm is All the ends of the Earth have seen the Salvation of God As in Luke also All flesh shall see the salvation of God Which in Esay is Thus The Glory of God shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together And in the same Prophet Sing O Heavens for the Lord hath done it Shout O lower parts of the Earth break forth into singing ye Mountains O Forrest and every Tree therein And again Look unto me and be saved All the ends of the Earth For I am God and there is None else I have sworn by my self for there is No Greater that to me every Knee shall bow and every Tongue shall swear and pray and praise and confess to the Glory of God and my Father who said Ask of me and I will give thee the utmost ends of the Earth And while our Saviour lived on Earth he travelled to Aegypt and to other places about the Holy Land As taking possession of them Blessing them also by his blessed presence For the time was coming yea and Then come when not only at That or other Mountains of that Holy Land but in All places men should Worship God in Spirit and in Truth For the Father Seeketh such to worship him Yea and Those Lands also that had so afflicted and oppressed the People of God in all Ages even Aegypt and Assyria must come to sharers with the Land of Israel it self in the greatest Blessings For in that day shall Israel be a Third and but a Third with Aegypt and Assyria even a Blessing in the midst of the Earth whom the Lord of Hosts himself shall bless saying Blessed be Aegypt my People and Assyria the work of my hands as we read in the Prophet Esay to be compared with other places And the Reason given in the very Law of Redemption speaketh This because the Land was Gods Land and they were but Gods Tenants in it though in the Best and freest Fee for it was given to Abraham and his seed for Ever who was Heir of the World as the Apostle speaks And yet So that they must still acknowledg God to be their Lord Paramount their Grand Landlord And They might never give or sell or aliene no nor forfeit it which is very comfortable but so that it still must and should and shall be Redeemed again by the Tenant himself or his Kinsman Or however which was still to be observed it must go out Free wholly Free at the great Year of Jubilee of which more ere long And the Reason was This Because the Land was Gods Land and He would still retain his Right to it and in it and would still dispose it as he pleased whatever the present Tenant did And doth not the same Reason hold for All the Earth Yea did it not hold from the very first Fall of Adam and Man-kind in him Was not Then also the Earth even the whole Earth the same Landlords Had he not as much Right to it as to This Land of Canaan Would he so easily quit his Right in it Though Man a weak and vain and foolish Creature made a Forfeiture of His Possession or His Right shall it not then be as it was divers times with this Land of Canaan that when he shall have purged out the filth thereof by the spirit of Judgment and of Burning That which remaineth shall be Holy And why may it not be Thus also with our bodies and our flesh which hath so long been As the accursed Earth Yea as Babylon it self an Habitation of unclean spirits and a Cage of all unclean birds Why may it not also become the blessed Land of Promise and the Land of Rest Yea the Holy Place and Temple of the Lord of all the Earth Which is a Phrase very much to be marked As a name in which the Lord himself seemeth to glory being also the same Lord that is stiled the God of the Spirits of All flesh Which may be the Foundation of That Prayer and That Promise also that All flesh may and shall be brought to praise and bless the Lord as also that All the Earth must be full of the Glory of God For the place of his very Feet must be Glorious And what Glory Then will be upon This Earth when the Curtains or Canopy of the Heavens shall be drawn and the Glory of God shall appear and will the Earth as his chiefest Residence Will he not Then Give the Greatest Honour to the Weaker Vessel and the more abundant honor to the most uncomly parts or That which lacked most before It might be added also that the very City Jerusalem was not only Accursed as the rest but longer than other parts of the Land Trodden down by the accursed Jebusites which had their very name from Tredding down as the Revelation also seemeth to allude and These Jebusites grew up to be so Odious that before he conquered them 't is said His Soul even Davids Soul that is Love it self Hated them Even Them who possessed That very Fort which was afterwards his Darling and the dearly beloved of his Soul Yea That which God Chose-above all the Gates or Cities of Judah Yet in it self besides its accursed possessors it was but a dry barren Rock and so called Zion Drought or a Dry barren place And Morijah also where the Temple stood was but the Threshing place of one of these accursed Jebusites though as a Liberal Prince to David himself And though in Hebrew it may signifie the Lords Teaching yet others bring it up to Myrrh or Bitterness and in Greek it signifieth Foolishness to which also the Apostle may allude in several places And by This time I may conclude this Discourse of Turning accursed places or unholy into Blessed and Holy with That solemn saying of our Saviour The last shall be first and the first last Which he repeated so that I often think it might intimate a greater Mystery than I am yet sensible of As if All the Course of Gods Providence were as a Wheel in constant Motion pulling down the high Spoaks and bringing up the low ones Which Moses also long before described in his Psalm of Nature Grace and Glory Thou turnest man about as grinding him with the upper and the lower Milstone of Grief and Pain to clay or dust and Then thou sayest Return again Again ye Sons of Man Return again O Lord How long and let it repent thee concerning thy servants That is Make them Turn and Repent as we find it plain enough in the 80. Psalm and divers other places that Gods Effects In Man are expressed as His Affections To Man O satisfie us with thy Free Grace in the morning when our Night of pain and sorrow is past For Though sorrow
Her Captivity must return again as we saw in Abrahams History compared with Ezekiel and where ever those Waters came there was Life and Healing and no more curse It s possible also that the Time of This great change may be hinted in the fourteenth year or second Sabboth of Prophetical years as David also was the fourteenth from Abraham as the Number of his Name imports after the four great Monarchies had Lorded it Twelve whole years which may be also Prophetical years from Nimrod Or from Abrahams Time or Promise And as Israel got off their Curss and Gods goodnesse turned it into a Blessing as our evil sometimes turns our Blessings into Curses so doth his Goodnesse turn his Curses in Blessings whence it may be the very same Word in Hebrew signifieth both to Curse and to Blesse as we find in several places of Job and other Scriptures So did Edom also cast off his Yoak and his Curse also it seems and got a Blessing As we see in his Fathers Blessing and Prophecy Which was also hinted by his Brother when by wrestling he had got the Name of Israel a Prince with God and had prevailed also with men he useth his Power for Edification presently as the Apostle speaketh and not for Destruction And cometh out in the Power and Spirit of that God whom he had so conquered and doth not only carry a Blessing to his Brother Esaw and intreateth him but with an Holy violence forceth him to take it Receive the Blessing which I bring thee from God and he urged or forced him by pressing on him and he took it And we read how he cast off the Yoak of Israel even to this day at the time of Jehoshaphat or the Lords Judgement Yea he did not only cast off Israels Yoak but came to rule and reign over Israel himself at the comming of Christ. As we find in the Herods and Agrippa the King from the Seed of Edom hated cursed Esaw Which we may consider when we read of Gods Shining out from Seir Coming from Teman or appearing from Paran And the Prophet Esay cryeth Who is This that cometh from Edom with Dyed garments from Bozra I that speak Righteousnesse mighty to Save And his Red Garments may allude to Edom if it signifie Red as many will have it which may be rather a Glutton And though Balaam say the Star of Jacob or the Scepter of Israel shall smite the Corners of Moab and Destroy all the Children of Seth and Edom shall be a Possession to be compared with Obadiah yet the Prophet Amos speaketh of Edoms Possessing the Tabernacle of David when raised up As we may Translate the words cited also in the Acts where Edom also is coupled with Those that call upon or are called by the Name of the Lord. in Dan we read that Edom with Moab and Ammon shall escape out of the hand of the Destroyer which some make Antichrist or the Turck who to this day payes Tribute to those Arabs of Edom Moab and Ammon rather then Ruleth over them Yet as Babylon is threatned with perpetual Desolations because he laid the World wast and would not open his Prison Doors to let his Prisoners loose and send them home a-again which hath been very comfortable when I have applyed it to Christ in prayer So also the great Curse Threatned to Edom was because he forgot the Brotherly kindnesse and the Covenant that should have been between Him and his Brother Jacob and let his Wrath tear for ever Which hath also been sweet to my thoughts when I have applyed it to Christ and asked whither He also would put himself under the perpetual Curse of Edom by forgetting the Brotherly Kindnesse and Brotherly Covenant and by letting His wrath also Tear for Ever God forbid Next unto Cursed Edom Moab and Ammon may be well placed the Incestuous Children of Lot which signifieth a veil or cloth as God himself seemeth to allude when after Lot was Separate from Abraham for Israel must dwell alone God said Lift up now thy eyes and look c. And again in the Prophet Isa. I will take away the Veil or Lot for that is the Word in Hebrew from the face of all people Even in that Mountain where he will tread down Moab who was Son of that Lot twice named There in Heb. Of Moab and Ammon it is said they should never come into the Church of God one of the worst threatnings in all the Bible and the cause in Deut. and Neh. is because they met not their Brethren with Bread and Water and hired Balaam to curse them but God turned his curse into a blessing and so I hope he did This Curse also of Moab and Ammon For their Ever or Never is in another place limited by Ten Generations Seeing God himself hath expounded ever and never in the Case of Ammon and Moab by Ten Generations Why may not we Take it so in other places also Especially seeing it is often used where it cannot be meant of Eternity As the Servant bored in his ear must serve for ever which is but till the next Jubile as we may find in the twenty fifth of Leviticus and all the Jews on those places And Christ also tells us the Servant abides not in the House for Ever And how often is it said Jerusalem shall Ever be desolate and never be built again or Inhabited As we found in Idumeah And yet it was built again after the seventy Years Captivity and may be yet again after all This. As we find Ay was built again and inhabited in the return of Nehemiah the Lords Comfort or Repentance Though Josuah himself that mighty Type of Jesus had made it so signally Desolate and that for Ever also a Desolate heap for ever As the very Name may intimate in Hebrew Greek and divers other Languages As the Stones also placed by the same Josuah are called a Memorial for ever And so are the Rites of the Passover and the Shew-bread and Aarons Priest-hood Yea in the very Family of Phineas though it was soon changed nay the very Garments of the Priests are a Statute for ever And his Trimming the Lamps and Restraint of blood and fat also for ever and Circumcission is called an everlasting Covenant in their Flesh. And Samuel was presented at the Tabernacle to abide There for ever And David was chosen to be King over Israel for Ever and his Son Solomon saith I know that whatsoever God doth it shall be for Ever And I know not any Word or Phrase for Eternity in Scripture that is not applyed to Heaven and Earth or other things which pass away But Christs Words shall Never passe away And for Moab and Ammon As I live saith the Lord the God of Israel and the Common Rule is that Threatnings with an Oath are never reversed Surely Moab shall be as Sodom and Ammon as Gomorrah and Perpetual Desolation as we read in Zeph. And yet in Jeremy
God promiseth to bring back the Captivity of Ammon as of Sodom also in Ezechiel and of Moab in the latter dayes or Time of Messiah as the Jews use to expound that Phrase of the latter Dayes And in the Tenth Generation They also may enter into the Church of God though it was threatned They should Never enter And as David was the fourteenth Generation and the fourteenth seventy Years from Abraham so was Boas the Tenth or eleventh who married Ruth a Moabite who might be the Tenth from Lot who by a former Man of Iudah was Daughter to Naomy Beauty Wife to Elimelech who had two Sons Mahlon weaknesse and Chilion consumption or perfection or Espousal who had Orpha stiffneckednesse who left her Mother The other Ruth who choosing her Mothers people and God is led to a field of Boaz and is bid stick close to his Maidens O tell me where thou feedest and restest at Noon for why should I stray and at length is bid to lie at his feet and say Thou art my Kinsman as Solomon bids us say to Wisdome Thou art my Sister And Christ is both Iachin and Boaz the Wisdom and Strength of God and so very near a kin to Elimelech my God the King see the third of Esay compared with the 7 8 17. 22. of the 23. chap. and see the Women of Moab and Ammon married to Kings of Israel and Judah And David in his straits carried his Parents to the King of Moab saying Let my Father and Mother be with you till I know what God will do for me Or as Esay Let my Out-casts dwell with Thee Moab be thou a Covert to them And in Mercy shall the Throne be established as we found before in the Psalms and Proverbs and he shall sit upon it in Truth in the Tabernacle of David judging and seeking judgement and Hasting Righteousnesse And my Heart shall Cry for Moab O the Tender Heart of God! Let his Fugitives flee to Zoar. As his Father Lot did from Sodom to Zoar which seemeth therefore to have stood in Moab on the East of Iordan and not on the West as the Tables place it And again send ye the Lamb to the Ruler of the People to the mount of the Daughter of Zion as alluding to the King of Moabs paying Lambs for Tribute to the King of Israel But about Ahabs Death Moab and Edom also brake their yoak and freed themselves from Iaacob under Iehoram the high Lord in the dayes of Elisha or God Iesus as the Name implies who had a double portion of the Spirit of Elijah the Lord my God And shall a Man be able to give a Double portion of his Spirit and That at his Parting and going away and shall not He that hath the Residue of the spirit in opposition to shear Baser the Residue of the Flesh which is so many times in Scripture Language for near Kindred or He that hath the Spirit without Limits or not by measure shall not He be able and willing also to give His Holy Spirit unto all that ask it and a Double Portion unto All his First Born Who saw and yet see him ascending and cry to him my Father my Father the Charriot of Israel and the Horsemen thereof And it may be That remarkable promise of the Spirit unto all that ask it may allude to This very History of Elijah giving his Spirit to Elisha crying my Father my Father As in Luke it is not as some read it your Heavenly Father But Your Father who is Out of Heaven or came out of Heaven And he took the Mantle of Elijah and smote the Waters saying as we may now say Here indeed is the Mantle of Elijah O but Where is the Lord God and the Spirit of Elijah and the Waters parted Hither and Thither Though I do not yet say when they so parted as before at Josuahs coming over Jordan there began an Other Generation or a New Age of the World As at first dividing the Waters by the Firmament of Heaven with the Waters above the Heavens of which in the Psalms and divers other places that I speak not of Esdras Ecclesasticus or Wisdom of Solomon And the Sons of the Prophets said the Spirit of Elijah resteth on Elisha and they bowed down or Worshipped him and afterwards he enlarged their Colledge and it may be their Spirit also The Hebrew Word Saul used in That History puts me in mind How Saul cut off the Lords Priests and How he fell and How the Jews say He was Recovered aand saved though I dare not say by the Mediation of Elias or Elisha Who they say must come and loose all knots or as our Saviour saith He must Restore All Things yea and that after John the Baptist was beheaded And some other words in That History put me also in mind How Elijah destroyed the false prophets of Baal and Jezabel and how Elisha did encourage and enlarge the True Prophets and at length by one of the young prophets annointeth Jehu which yet was given in charge to Elijah himself One of the best Texts I know for Deputations And Jehu destroyeth Jezabel who had not onely Destroyed and Corrupted the Lords Prophets and driven away Elijah and Elisha but had even quite stifled the very Spirit of Prophecy in the Seed of God as the Hebrew words Naboth in Jezreel may import Which may be compared with That of Jezabel opposed by the Bright morning Star breaking and scattering the Dark Clouds and bringing in the Morning and Our Rising and cloathing with White and fresh Linnen in fourth and fifth Churches and thâ—slaying of the two Witnesses with the Spirit of Prophecy in the Revelation And the sixth Church of Philadelphia or Brotherly Love is plainly the New Jerusalem as Christ himself expresseth in his Epistle to that Church before the General Iudgement of the People or Laodicea as the Word signifies Which may also be compared with the latter part of the eleventh and also the four last Chapters of the Revelation Where the great Judgement also is Described which the Prophets place in the Valley of Jehoshaphat whose very Name implies the Lords Judgement Which was also called the valley of Beraca or Blessing When they had troden down Moab and Ammon and Edom. Which we find also cited in the Prophets as foretelling somewhat yet to be done in the Revelation And had it not been for Jehoshaphat Elisha said he would not have seen the other two Kings met against Moab also saying Nay but hath God gathered these Kings and their people also together to Destroy them But as Jehoshaphat smarted sorely for joyning with Ahab and his Sons so They Got by His good Company In which we may see God pitying a Wicked man and Hearing his Cry and Prayer as most remarkably after he did the Prayer of Jehoahaz 2 Kings 13. 4 5 6. 23. How the Waters came at the morning Sacrifice and How he multiplyed the VViddows Oyl that was like to
did nor ever would do so Hardly to any in the World as to Israel As we read in Ezek. Daniel and from Christ himself in the Gospel And yet This was his darling people and the dearly beloved of his Soul a Type of Jesus Christ and All his Elect or first sruits or Blessed of the Lord that were to have a double portion as his first Born But it was both of shame and glory For even These Darlings and these dearly Beloved of his soul are often called the Forsaken Desolate Afflicted yea Hated Abhorred and Cursed Nay Cursed with a great and sore and heavy bitter Curse as we read in Malachy Where yet to That very People whom he so cursed He presently saith Yet Try me Prove me yet whether notwithstanding all this cursing you yet if you will but do that you may and shall by my Grace if you will and He also giveth to will you shall be Blessed and be Blessings also to your Neighbors and Relations yea and such Blessings that the very Windows of Heaven shall be opened and pour down-blessings on you Notwithstanding all the Curses you lay under So it was with Israel so it shall be For In every Every place Where you were put to shame you shall have Glory and you shall be a praise to All the Earth and where it was said Go you cursed and rejected Loammi and Loruhama on whom I will no more have mercy yet come again ye Blessed for you are my People and I will be your God And you shall be Blessed So it was with Israel and with Gibeon Yet it might be added that This very Gibeon was one of the Cities to which God forbid his People to offer Peace or to shew mercy or to save any living but commanded them utterly to destroy it and to save alive Nothing that breathed in it And so it was with all the Cities of the Amorites the Head of All those Canaanites or if you will the Tongue or Speakers of them All. The Zamzummims or great Thinkers were followed by Amorites great Talkers and their great Lord was Sihon King of Heshbon That is Meditation and Sighing Which are All conquered by Israel Which is also the more considerable because These were Excepted out of that general Law of War which was given to Israel and so to Christ also who was made under the whole Law and was forbidden to kill and commanded to save and keep alive as much or more than Any Being of the Seed of Abraham which was put under the Law More than All other Nations of the World besides So that it may be better for us that he took the Seed of Abraham than the Seed of Any other Man Now the General Law of War given them in Deuteronomy which they might not transgress being but a branch of the sixth Command was This That when ever they went against a City or a People except only those seven Nations which were so cursed by God and devoted to extream destruction They must first offer Peace For the Man and Men of God must be Gentle ready more to save than to kill or to harm Elijah called for Fire from Heaven as it must come on those that compass the Holy City for the Promise to Abraham was to Curse them that Cursed Him and fourty two children were devoured though I do not compare them with the fourty two months in the Revelation But Elisha was generally of another Spirit and especially called the Man of God To which the Apostle may allude or to meek Moses in That to Timothy The Man of God must be gentle But when the Disciples-asked If fire should come from Heaven as to Elijah Christ answered You know not what a sweet spirit you must have and be if you will be Christians or men of God and bearing the Image of God and Christ who was the Man of God more than All the World and gentle unto All even to the worst of Enemies and those that did oppose themselves taken in the snares of Satan and led captive by him at his will Yet even to them and to All the Man of God must be gentle And when he must come to fight against them as we see he threatens sorely in the Revelation but yet closeth sweetly I must come except they repent and yet again Repent lest I come against thee with the Sword of my mouth and whom I love I chasten and Behold I stand at the Door and Gate of the City which I fight against and first I knock and offer peace for so the Law of War commands And if it answer Peace and so His Ministers were sent to every House to offer Peace and Peace be to this House For They and He are sent to Bless us All by Turning us from our sins into the way of Peace and If the Son of Peace be There which the Law expresseth by an Answer of Peace and coming out to them as the Prophet Jeremy intreated Zedekiah to go out to the King of Babylon and to accept his terms of Peace And Then All in the House or City must be kept alive and may be put to Tribute But they may not be destroyed But if it will make no place with thee but will make warr against thee How much wilfulnesse is expressed in this slighting Peace and making War If they will do so thou shalt besiege it But yet so that thou cut not down so much as a Tree any one Tree that yieldeth fruit for mans Life or food to preserve Life And when the Lord shall deliver it into thy hands and thou must be content to stay till thou be clear and sure that God hath delivered it into thy hands Then thou maist destroy the Males but thou shalt preserve the women and the children and the cattel So that the very Cattel must not be slain or hurt These must be kept alive And still take heed thou do not so much as boil a Kid in his dams milk take heed of all and every kind of cruelty besides all superstitious customs of some Eastern Countries which we learn from some of the Karrait writers and thou must not take a bird with its young ones but must let the one or the other go free And thou must not kill the old and young in the same day no not for sacrifice as Jacob cried to God Why shall he smite the Mother and the Children both in one day This great Law of war was also punctually observed by God himself and our Lord Jesus towards the women and children of the Edomites which were hated and accursed people as any in the World as a Type of the greatest Reprobation and yet even to them when their males were to be destroyed or at least so threatned yet Let thy fatherless children come to me for I will preserve them alive as the Law commands and let thy widows trust in me Gods inviting Edoms Widdows and Children with promise to preserve them alive yea and
Children of Rachel which signifies a Sheep Who died also at Bethlehem Ephrata or very neer where Christ was Born And at His Birth was heard Rachel mourning and weeping with expressions neer akin to Hell and its Gnashings As we read in Matthew and the Prophet Jeremy As the English use the word Rakell And it may be marked How she Died As her Father and her Husband judged her for Having and keeping Idols O that man would consider How Great and Powerful His Words also might be If he could learn the 39 Psalm with the three Sons of Ishmael Misma Massa Dâ—ma And it may be Christ also may allude to Rachels Children which he calleth Sheep and sets them at his Right Hand as Benjamin the Son of the Right Hand in comparison of Leahs or the Left hands Children Or of Esaus that is Goats For Seir or as the Saxon English sound it Sire is a Goat and very neer a Satyre in Heb or a Devil But may there be no Mystery in That of Jacobs Crossing his hands upon the sons of Joseph also or Rachel before he died and That Benjamin was so often cut off As his Mother wept because they were not but they must come in again and she shall have Comsort in the latter daies as we read Jer. 31. As if the First should come to be Last or Lost in comparison of Those that were Dead or Lost or at the Left hand but now found again and made the First For All their shame or Losses they have Double O thou Prisoner of Hope I now declare it to thee How a Lamb was offered every Morning and Evening Doubled also upon the Sabbath As it were a Sacrifice for the Lambs or Sheep we touched before And How a Goat at the New Moon or every Great Change of the World which they called Olam also as the Hidden or the Hiding Time As also the Hebrew Kesse as the English Kiss was the Suns Embracing the Moon or Covering her with his Robes and Throne of Glory which they also called Kisse And a Goat was offered so for a Publique Sin Offering at Every New Moon which the Jews called also Chodesh akin to Kodesh Holy or New As also the Month following the New Moon And at All the Three Great solemn Feasts at which All the Males were to appear under pain of Cutting off Which we may call a great Arcanum of their Civil Government also For by This they did not only meet and Feast as a badg of greatest Peace or Union and Communion but also They must then appear to All Suits or Actions which might else fall Heavy enough on the Sheriff of each Tribe or County But as the feast of Tabernacles was the Greatest of the Three so it had more solemn Attendants A peculiar feast of Trumpets especially at the years of Release and Jubilies which now began at That end of the year and the great Day of Expiation or Atoning or Covering as the word Capher or Cover signifies And the Jews Tradition is that Then the very next Night or thereabout the great God beginneth to sit in Judgement on all the dead of that year Which they therefore attend with great watchings and Fastings with other solemnities But more to our present purpose are the Goats offered on That day Double or Treble to the sin offering or Goats of any day of the year before That One of them also the Scape Goat was not onely carried out without the Camp as the great sin offering for the people whose blood was carried into the holy place as we see in Aarons great Failor at his Sons Burning beside the Epistle to the Hebrews but it was also carried out and sent by a Fit Messenger a great way off into the Wildernesse to go as far as He would abroad into All the World So that he might visit All Goats in All Countries For he was let loose to all the Wilderness and all the World And now it will be no great wonder that All Nations are so solemnly called and invited to the following feast of Tabernacles represented by all the Fruits of the earth Then gathered in and that under a great penalty of botches of Aegypt or of wanting Rain or Water also Unto which our aviour plainly alludeth in his standing out on the last and Great day of that Greatest Feast and crying while thy ran with joy to fetch Waters from their Siloam or Well of Salvation as the Prophet Esay speaketh O every one that Thirsteth Come unto the Waters and He that believeth on me as the Scripture saith shall have such rain from Heaven and such Water that out of his belly shall flow Rivers of Living Water Which he spake of the spirit not yet given till He was glorified and so received Gifts for Rebbels also and to Draw All men Shall we now wonder that more Rams and Goats and Bullocks were accepted on his Holy Altar 't is his own expression of Nebaioth or Edom also in This Month or Moon then in any or it may be All of All the Year besides Which we may see even filling an whole long Chapter and from Gods own Mouth in Numbers O that we could number it and so we shall in Gods due Time and ours also Let his People say Amen It is Finished and Done Amen Hallelujah Is there not a strange Twisting of Bullocks Rams and Goats together As in the Tabernacle it self with Rams skins dyed Red and Goats hair As they all met once in the Ark as an Emblem of our Bodies also and its Three Regions and beasts in it as the Church That I say nothing of the five sorts of Trees also to cover their Booths or Tabernacles to be compared with Esay 41. and 60. and Nehemiah 8. After Babylon as also Ezechiels New Temple and Sabbaths were to be kept in the Christian Church yea in the New Jerusalem or after Their Babylon also Is it not strange to the Jews that of the Seventh Months feast of which also in Solomons Time the Seventh day is described by Seven words in one verse And all the seven end in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their M final or Mystical Letter of which we spake but now And though I do not say they may note the 40 Sevenights or Weeks of Life as we spake before yet with St. Paul I say Christ came out in the Fulnesse of Time or in His seventh also or in the seventh Month or to fulfil That Feast also to be yet fulfilled O how Long How Soon at the End of the Year But when shall That be fulfilled which our Blessed Iesus of Natsareth the Branch also did but Begin to say and do of This Feast also of Palm Branches which we touched before in Tamar Though he cryed on the Crosse It is finished as the Scripture saith a Thing was fulfilled Or indeed there may be Several fulfillings according to the several Ages which must All be run through and that perhaps also by Sevens As we
Charan may see the motion of the Moon in her double state of New and Full crossing the Ecliptick with North and South Latitude attending the Sun also in all his Declinations North and South As Their Journeyings were In all places the Spouse is Lebana so with Laban so at Lebanon so in Aegypt and so also in Arabia whose Frankincense was Lebona And Solomons spouse had the smell of Lebanon and Lebona As alluding to the Temple Ketoreth of which before or to Keturah married to Abraham about the Time of Rebecca's coming from Bethuel and Laban so that she was also Lebana And when the Manna fell they cryed Man or called it Man being like the Good or Goat seed of Laban As the words may sound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which yet some render As Coriander seed or Goid in Dioscorides and it was White Alban a Methathesis of Laban whose Goats also were White and streaked And that of Manna and the white Stone in the Revelation may perhaps allude to That white Good Seed or Saviour which they also called Man not knowing what it was and the Seed of Gad or God whom they also call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in Esay they sacrificed to Gad whence some bring Godt and God and Guid and Good and Good Nese the Good â—le of Gades the old Elyzian Fields Hesperides or Fortunate Ilands And as Man is the great Reckener on Earth as we touched before from the Hebrew Mana to reckon so is the Moon in Heaven Mone Reckoning or the Counter And as she is called Lebana from VVhiteness so she is called Jareach As Reaking like Incense Lebona Which in the Temple was a VVitness as the Moon in Heaven to the Great Covenant which God made with Man and Mankinde in Noah when he offered Sacrifice at his coming out of the Ark and God smelt a sweet sauour of Rest which should be still remembred all the many times we read that Phrase and said in his Heart However his Face may seem to frown yet All the words of his Heart shall stand and he said in his Heart I will no more Curse the Earth for Adam For or although every would of his Heart be Wrong from his youth or before his youngers neither will I add to sâ—ite or Hack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All Flesh or Any Flesh As Any Work in the 4th Command and divers other places As I have done c. And this Everlasting Covenant was made when he smelt that sweet savour of Rest which in Hebrew may sound The Moon a Reak of Night or Rest. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As if the Moons Intercessions betwee the Sun and the Earth might also represent the sweet Odours of the Church to Christ and of Christ to his Father who hath made That everlasting Govenant with man for His sweet Odour of Rest as sure as the Moon a faithful VVitness in Heaven as the Psalms express it speaking of the Covenant made with David and his Seed for Ever As before with Abraham and His Seed and with Noah and His Seed for Ever Which is made the measure of all other Covenants So that If This which God made with Noah for Day and Night or other seasons can be disannulled Then also may his Covenant with Israel As himself speaketh in the 33 of Jeremy And as Jareach may come from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Reak so also from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the common word for Spirit as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the English Racket a Fan or Vane But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Vaine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet a little while and God will pour out his Spirit on the Earth as the Sun doth on the Moon He will give us the Upper and the Lower Springs as before in Achsa The Precious things of the Sun and Precious things of the Moon of the Heaven above and the Deep Couching beneath And the good will of him that dwelt in the Bush And when he saw that Moses said I will now turn aside to see This great sight and that he turned aside to see He called to him c. It is This Moses speaketh so of Joseph whom his Father also blessed with the Blessings of Heaven above and the Deep below the Breasts and the Womb. And These on Him that was separate from his brethren see Prov. 18. 1. as in Heb. And they scorned him as they Thrust out Moses also saying Who made thee a Judge among us But God exalted him and so he did Joseph also Sophie the Dreamer And Lo this Dreamer cometh And his Dreams were Sun and Moon and a Crown of 12 Stars also Rachel was the Sheep but He the Shepherd and the Stone of Israel to be compared with Dan. 2. and other Scriptures comparing Christ to a Stone And may we not finde Three Tribes of Rachel in Canaan with an Half also beyond Jordan Or what if Rachels Two sons should also be Stones of VVitness As Jacob spake at Gilead parted also or measured by Three and an Half As we see they were and the Lord dwelling at their Shilo and Mispha Sechem and other Shoulders also While the very Temple it self or its Court was parted between the Tribes of Benjamin and Judah That I speak not of the Tabernacle settled so long at Gibeon and the Ark at Kiriath-jearim another City of the Gibeonites saved on the 3d or 4th day in Josh. 9. who yet were Cursed by Joshuah that is solemnly Devoted to God and His service As the Nethinims in all the Bible I have yet said nothing of the Candlestick in the Tem ple parting it self into three Branches with three Bowls and three Flowers and three Lamps on either side of the Great Lamp in the Midst as the Sun in the middle of the seven Planets which yet so inclined to the West that they commonly call it the Western Lamp still burning Day and Night And measuring Time by Three and an Half on each side or Seven in the Whole while the 12 Cakes of Shew-bread lay by and were changed also every Sabbath or 7th Day And the Incense offered at 7 and 14 as we shewed before With the other Altar without for the Tamid where the Fire was not quenched Day or Night And the Salt Frying as the Worm never Dying And the Spirit of God as the Ayre or Sulphure also which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 somwhat Divine as a River of Brimston Kindling it Yea and the Sea of Sodom also before the Throne as we touched before in the Molten Sea so placed in the Outward Court as the Lake of Sodom was to Jerusalem On the Right Hand South-East As we may read in several places How the Seas Lamps or other things came to be multiplyed by 10 in Solomons Time we may speak in Characters if God permit In the mean time let me add That He that believeth is Childe of the Promise with Isaac and Blessed with faithful Abraham Yea He that is weak in
he was the near Ancestor of Selah or Siloah Rising up 35 years after his Father Arphaxad and 3 and an Half also The great Reconciler of the Sun and Moons Motions more perhaps than 19 or any other Number Half 70 5 times 7 And next to 6 times 6 perhaps the just Age of our Saviour at his Death In Hours it brings us to the Light of the 2d Morning 36 As 360 Dayes bring up the second Year I will love them freely Though before he had said From my House I will drive them Agarsem As Hagar from Abraham and I will not add to Love them Oseph As minding Joseph sold to the Stocks c. All their Saras are Sorerim Sorry Sirs As the English Proverb to this day They shall be Nodding and Noddies Among the Gentiles Gogim perhaps of Gog and Magog also Both in England and other Northern Countries As we finde in Heathen writers But return O Israel to the Lord thy God Even yet Thy God! As Jeremy 3. and many other places And the great Complaint in Zephany is that the Polluted and Rebellious City would not trust in the Lord Nor draw near to Her God As Manasseh but a Type of their Return though They thought themselves Forgotten as that name may intimate after All his sins Yet Bowed to His God and his Fathers God who Heard him Take words and say Take away All Iniquity Not Ours onely but All. O let the Iniquity of the Wicked wicked also come to an end And He was Heard in what he prayed Receive us graciously This Tob mindes me of Tobiah the Lords Goodness There are strange things in that Book and of These Dayes perhaps in the true Hebrew Copy I will be as a Dew to Israel yet the great complaint and punishment was That His Goodness and Mercy was but a Dew He shall flourish as the Lilly Or as Shushan of which before and in Ester 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 661. Or as Susanna Recovered by Daniel from the Elders as Shushan by Ester and Mordecai There is another Mistress also First His Roots under Ground and out of sight like Lebanon Then his little young Suckers Yonikothau as Younger is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 66. 588. His Glory or Beauty or Head Hodo As India How like to Judea Hodi in Ester also And in English Hoddy is joyful and glad As the Olive-Tree and his Reak as Lebanon Jasuâ—u Joseve Betsillo And again His memorial as the Wine of Lebanon From me is All thy Fruit found See Esay 26. 19 20. and Psalm 107. 40 41 42 43 and 91. and 37. 34. with the close of This Prophet Hoseah In the Prophet Joel we have a Form of Prayer prescribed before the Spirit be poured out as There also promised And Esay 32. My Land shall be desolate for ever c. Till the Spirit shall be Poured from on High And then the Wilderness shall be a fruitful Field and That which is Now fruitful shall be accounted but as a Wilderness And Then you shall sing as in the Night of the solemn Moed Chap. 30. to be added to that before of the Feast of Tabernacles And Chap. 59. They shall fear the Name of the Lord from the VVest and his Glory from the Sun-Rising when the Enemy shall come in like a Flood to end That Generation Then even Then the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a Standard against him And the Redeemer or Goel and Kinsman shall come to Zion or out of Zion and shal Turn away Ungodliness from Jacob. As St Paul renders the words in Rom. 11. applying it to the Fulness of the Gentiles as the Resurrection from the Dead when All Israel shall be saved For This is my Covenant with them when I shall take away their sins My Spirit upon thee my words which I have put in thy mouth for the word which I Covenanted with you in your coming out of Aegypt and My Spirit is still standing in you Fear yee not Hag. 2 They shall not depart from Thy mouth or from the mouth of Thy seed or from the mouth of Thy sâ—eds seed saith the Lord from now and for Ever And though they Rebelled and Vexed his Holy Spirit so that he turned to be their Enemy and fought against them yet he remembred the dayes of Old Moses and his people saying VVhere is He that brought them up out of the sea with the Shepherd of his Fock and where is He that put his Holy Spirit within him And again The Spirit of the Lord caused him to Rest c Chap. 63. And then followeth a most sweet and pathetical Prayer for the time of their Captivity to be Paraleld with that in Joel 2. And Then the Lord will be jealous for his Land or for his Earth and will pity his People Yea the Lord will answer and say Behold c. And fear not O Land Be not Tyred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be glad and Rejoyce For the Lord hath been Great to Doe or to work Great things Be not afraid ye Beasts of the Field Be Glad then O children of Zion and Rejoyce in the Lord your God He hath given you the Former Rain for Righteousnesse and He will bring the showre also the gushing waters as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may sound in English the former Teaching Rain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and That also which filleth up the straw or the stalk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in the first Month or beginning of the year which was also the End of the year before And you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the Name of the Lord your God that hath been so Marvellous for you and my People shall never be ashamed And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel and that I am the Lord your God and none else and my People shall never be ashamed And it shal come to pass Afterward Afterward I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh c. And I will shew Wonders in the Heavens and in the Earth the Sun shall be turned into Darknesse and the Moon into Blood and may not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the Great and Terible Day of the Lord come and it shall come to passe that whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord Iesus as is plain by This cited in Rom. 10 shall be saved or delivered As Paul at Melita which in Greek may be Care but in Hebrew Cure and Deliverance For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be Deliverance Here is also Pelitah which we had before in Paltiel as the Lord hath said and in the Remnant whom the Lord shall call And Peter by these words proveth that This was only begun in Act. 2. and that the same spirit of which They had Then the First fruits as Paul also speaketh was promised to Them and Their Children and to All to All that are afar off even All the Lord shall
with odd Minutes Preter propter And as He was the 7th from Adam as Moses the 7th from Abraham the 10th from Noah the 10th from Adam So he was born in the 7th Hundred or 3d 7th Year of that Hundred or 621 or 22 Year of the World Now is Israel become Loammi and Loruhamah Not my People and I will not have mercy on them Yea and God called to contend with Fire But Amos prayed O Lord God Cease I beseech thee As before spare and forgive by whom shall Iacob Rise for he is very small And God repented of the Evil and said It shall not be And yet when God had called the Fire to devour It must devour and so it did But what Even the Great Deep or Abyss which was the great thing to be feared and the Spirit of God also to kindle the Fire but in devouring the Deep or the Devourer it also devoured a Part of Israel as the words may hint Amos 7. 4. And the word Clack which we often saw before for a Click Clack Clakin of Time as in a Clock And from a part of Time it is also used for a part of other things and may hint to us How Time and All else below may perish by Fire Devouring the great Deep or Abyss of Waters the same word used Gen. 1. 2. when there shall be No more Sea As in the Revelation or Fishes Zeph. 1. 8. but a Sea of Glass with Harpers as on Cinnereth we saw before Amos also saw a Tenth reserved for Israel 5. 3. to Help her up Though his doleful Ditty was The Virgin is fallen and shall Rise no more Nafela lo Tosiph Kum Bethulath Israel Which the Iewes say should have been in the Psalm of Praise 145. which gives Title to the Book of Psalms in Hebrew Praises and there wants the Letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But when David was bringing it out they say the Spirit stopt and said The Lord upholdeth All that Fall and Raiseth All that are Bowed down As that Psalm We have now but One Moed more to the 70 Years Captivity in Ioachin As if God would now give Iudah that Moed of 120 Years for Repentance as he gave it to the Old World before the Flood Ahaz had hired Assyria that sharp Rasor to shave off Rezin and Syria but he came to the Neck and Throat also And because This people refuse the Waters of Siloah that run softly and rejoyce in Rezin and the son of Remaliah the Lords Height Now therefore behold the Lord Bringeth on them the waters of that great Flood the King of Assyria and all his Glory who shall overflow and reach to the Neck and with his stretching Wings fill the breadth of thy Land O Emanuel a Type of Antichrist to fill the Church or Emanuels Land As the Wings of the Cherubins filled the Breadth of the Oracle As Ezekiel also speaketh of a Covering Cherub and Annointed also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 388 so near His 390 Or as the English George on Horsback a Covering Cherub and from Those parts also where yet they shew his Castle or the Reliques of the Dragon which from Thence might come to the Saxon standard or from the Dragon seen in Heaven also as so many great Historians speak besides the Dragon in the Revelation so long before Merlins Dragon Hezekiahs Revolt from this King of Assyria hired by his Father Ahaz is called Rebellion 2 Kin. 18. 7. And it cost him Dear besides That humble Confession Verse 14 with All his own and the Temples Tresures So little did God ever countenance Rebellion Yet when Assyria becommeth Insolent and sendeth Rayling Rabshakeh from Lachish that Mother of Idolatry the Lord rebuketh him while Hezekiah spreads the Rayling Letter having also sent to the Prophet Esay It is a Day of Trouble of Rebuke and Blasphemy the Children c. Now therefore lift up thy Prayer for the Remnant left after the 10 Tribes who first parted themselves from David with Sheba c. before God ever parted them In the Mount God will be seen Iehovah Jireh And the Decree was that Assyria must be troden down in the Holy Mountain And That also but a Type of what God meant to do in All the Earth as we read in Esay 14 24 c. So that it may reach through All the Times of the Witnesses also Till That Fire came down on Them that compass the Holy City As now the Destroying Angel came down on the Assyrians round about Ierusalem A story famous enough in Iosephus Berosus Herodotus with divers others How This great Deliverance was in the 14th year of zekiah As Abraham freed his friends and Sodom also in the 14 year and Joreph was freed in the 14th year being then 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh but 17 when he was sold as Gen. 37. 2. 41. 46. we saw before With many other things of 14 being the 2d Number made of 3 whole Numbers and an half as 7 is the first The next Half Moed may carry Menasseh to Babilon As a Type of Judahs Captivity and Return also As Manasseh returned and Zedekiah was visited in Babylon it self and Jeconia freed and advanced above All the Princes with him And How after All his horrid sins Menasseh judged himself and Bowed greatly praying to His God! O the mans confidence and to his Fathers God a Blessed thing to have a Fathers God! and How he heard and Bowed down to Hear we saw before And though God brought him to his Throne again as also Nebuchadnezar Yet the Blood he shed is often brought as a great Cause of the following Captivity Yea and That also although Josiah was so good a King and made so great a Reformation Yet God sent him even Him This Message My Wrath shal be poured out on This Place and shal not be quenched Yet it was so quenched that from This also a poor soul may learn how to interpret All Gods Frownings and Threatnings on it So also the Prophet Zephany concludeth his most terrible Threatnings in the time of Josiah I will gather them that sorrow for the solemn Moed c. I will undo them that afflict thee As to Abram They that Curse Thee shal be Cursed I will save Her that Halteth and Gather Her that was driven out and I will get them Praise and Fame in every Land where they are put to shame For I will make you a Name and a Praise among All people of the Earth Their Last 40 years as the 40 from Christ or his Baptism to their End beginning with Jeremy in Josiahs 13 or his solemn Covenant and Passover a while after run out with Ezekiels 390 for All Israel from the great Schism in Jeroboam As their sister Sodoms Flames were 390 years from the Great Flood 365 hefore the Promise 370 as in Salem before Melchisedeck met Abraham 372 as in Sheba before his â—nant at Beersheba The 70 years Captivity beginning with Daniel at the