Two SORTS OF Latter Days PROVED FROM SCRIPTURE FIRST THE Latter Days of Perilous Times THE WHICH Are to be Ended before the Great and Glorious LATTER DAYS have their Beginning Proved when the Elder People or Nation is to serve the Younger AND By That SERVITUDE made BLESSED The Old and New Testament made to Agree AND TRUTH Vindicated against all HERESIES By M. MARSIN London Printed and Sold by J. Bradford in Little Britain the Corner House over against the Pump Mrs. Michael at the Crown and Cushion in Westminster-Hall And at Mercers Chappel in Cheapside At John Gwillum's over against the Great James in Bishopsgate-street 1699. The Dedication IT is humbly offered his Majesty and the great Council of the Nation that if there is any other place of Scripture which is not answered in this nor my other Book if it stand in any opposition to the Scriptures agreement as to hinder the Witness of the Apostles from agreeing with the Testimony of the Prophets which is the sure word of Prophesie 2 Pet. 1.19 Vnto which the Christians were always to take heed so as to believe nothing in contradiction thereunto by God's assistance it will be made plain And I hope that neither his Majesty nor the Nobles nor the Clergy will be offended that God should bring these great Truths to Light by so weak an Instrument for God often makes use of such to declare great things by that so his Power thereby might be the more eminently seen For had God by the Wise and Learned Doctors of the time removed all the mistaken Notions and made his Word to agree which Man had made so much to disagree And likewise explained the Vision so plain from the word it would have been thought it had proceeded from their great Parts and Learning Therefore God chuses the weak things of this World that all the Praise may be rendered to his Name And it being every ones concern to understand the great Truths of God ' s word Therefore it is desired that into whose hands soever this Book shall come that they will Read it But especially it is more humbly requested of all to whom it is presented that they will read it themselves because it is of very great import and I hope they will reap Satisfaction by it God bless the King and Great Council and remember the Jews in Mercy according to his Promises made to their Fathers TO THE READER Friendly Reader TO know the Scriptures aright is the great concern of Christians the which by the Apostacy from the Truth the right Sentiments of the Word have been lost which mistaken places have since lain as dark Mountains on which the Christians have stumbled And every one hath made an interpretation of them according to their own fancy Whereby they have set the Scriptures at an unreconcilable difference the which has occasion'd some to turn Atheists some Papists some Hypocrites and some Prophane So as thereby now there are but three sorts of People that can believe The first are those that have always walked in a Holy Conversation whereby they have had experiences of God The second are those that fall under a Terror of Conscience The third are those who through the ignorance in the Scriptures each believeth what their Teachers tell them whether they be Papists Protestants or any other Sect. But for any rational Man to read the Scriptures and the strange interpretation put upon them by which they have made the Oaths and Words and Promises of God void that Man must deny the reason that God hath given him if he can believe the Strange Tenets that are held concerning them and whilst we deny so many plain Truths in God's Word it is very improbable that the Jews or Papists should ever be convinced by what we say For as by the Romish Apostasie they have imposed upon the People their false Worship and others having imposed upon the People their mistaken Notions that they have taken up with the which is as a Bridle put into the Jaws of the People causing them to err Isa 30.28 For the Protestants are as much afraid to look into the Truth and to consider it for fear of being led into Error as the Papists are to eat Flesh in Lent And this fear like a Bridle keeps them in Error But when God according to his promise at the time of the end brings the Knowledge of the true meaning of his word to light whereby the Scriptures are made to agree in a Holy Harmony the Teachers that will not take the Bridle out of the Jaws of the People must expect to fall under the same Punishment as those that put it in And therefore that our Teachers may not be found guilty of the great Transgression the which is wilful disobedience to oppose or smother the Truth when God in his own way and at his own time brings again the great Truths in his Word to Light that knowledge thereby might be increased and Man prepared I therefore will here set down some of those Texts of Scripture that relate to the Shepherds and Ambassadors of Peace in our time because what is spoken is about and at the time of Israel's Restoration and therefore must have its chief reference to our Teachers in this Day and it is our Ministers that are reamed Shepherds and Ambassadors of Peace For Israels Priests were never sent of any such Ambassage And therefore that I may clear my self from the Blood of all Men in what God hath employed me in I shall here cite the Places that relate to them that will oppose or smother the Truth For these following Scriptures belong to the Christians Isa 33.7 Isa 29.10 Isa 56.9 10 11. Ezek. 34. the whole Chap. Isa 24.16 17 18. Fear and the Pit and the Snare are upon thee O inhabitant of the Earth I have with fervent and earnest Prayer wrestled with the most High God that he would send Peace that the great Truths of God might be considered and if they are not he will require it And it is God's usual way and method to chuse the weak things of this World to confound the Wise and Mighty For it was the Rulers and Seers when they came to have no Love to the Truth that first laid the Christian World in Darkness So as the Vision of ill becamed Sealed Therefore God declared that the Rulers and Seers he hath covered Isa 29.10 11. whereby is shewed that the Vision of all is not to come forth that way And therefore so many Good Wise and Learned Men have come no nearer the mark of the Truth in this matter For as when Christ first came Israel's Priests did not rightly understand the manner of his coming neither was it at first declared to or by them tho' without doubt there were several good ones amongst them And if Latin Greek and Hebrew could have made the Scriptures agree the Scholars of all parties would not have so much disagreed about them but
wilfully Guilty And God loving his Creatures first it is that thereby it might beget in them a love to him that dyed for them For Christ saith he that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me Mat. 10.37 38. For it is a Faith that worketh by love that is required of us whereby our Wills and Affections must be brought into Subjection unto Christ The which is the Faith unto which the promise of Eternal Life is annext For that which Christ would have us believe is That Salvation is to be had by him according to his Word that is by taking his Yoke upon them and to render obedience to him And to remain faithful to the Death and Christ will give them a Crown of Life Rev. 2.10 Whosoever thus believeth in Christ shall be saved with an everlasting Salvation for these are the Words of Christ and we are to expect his coming and his Kingdom according as it is declared in his Word But whosoever believeth not what God and Christ hath declared cannot be said to believe in them And by our believing that Christ is the Son of God thereby is required we should obey him as such But whosoever will oppose the Truth and believe what Man says rather than God because it more suits to their carnal inclinations such cannot be said to obey God or believe in him but rather in cunningly devised Fables But the Sinner upon his resignation of himself to Christ is thereby saved from his Sins which are past Rom. 3.25 And by his continuance in well doing he shall be saved with an everlasting Salvation and for Sins of ignorance and Sins of surprisal Christ remains an Advocate But let all take care of wilful and presumptuous Sins for they cause God to withdraw himself For which cause God left Israel to Blindness and the Gentile Christians to delusions when they came to have no love to the Truth but took pleasure in Vnrighteousness 2 Thes 2.10 And now the Christians had best take care they are not found to have no love to the Truth lest thereby they work their overthrow But the Christians by their mistaken notions are for the most part upon a wrong Foundation whereby they are in the Snare according to the Word of the Lord in Isaiah Chap. 24.17 Esau and Jacob made the Figures or Representatives of two Nations or two several Sorts of People GEN. 25.22 23. Rebeckah enquired of the Lord concerning the Strugling of the Children in her Womb. ver 23. And the Lord said to her two Nations are in thy Womb and two manner of People shall be separated from thy Bowels and the one People shall be Stronger than the other People and the Elder shall serve the Younger We are here to take notice that God doth not here say that he hated Esau neither that the Elder Brother should serve the Younger but it is said of the Elder People that they should serve the Younger and it is the Younger People that shall be Stronger than the Elder For God made these two Brethren the Figures of two Nations or the two Worlds of People Esau of this World and Jacob of that which is to come And this God determined before the Children had done Good or Evil That the Elder People or Nation should serve the Younger But God had not here determined hatred to either nor servitude to the Elder Brother unto whom God first gave the Preheminence Gen. 4.7 And Jacob tho' he got from Esau the Birth-right and Blessing as to his Seed yet he went not about to take it from Esau's Person for Jacob termed him his Lord Esau Gen. 32.18 Gen. 33.8.13 14. And whereas it is said Gen. 25.26 That Jacob's Hand took hold of Esan's Heel Thereby shewing that the full Power of the Younger World will come in upon the going off of the Power of the Elder World of People and that which is called a Nation People or Generation in the Old Testament Psal 22.28 29 30 31. Psal 102.26 27 28. is called the World to come in the New Heb. 1.8 9 10 11 12 13. Heb. 2 5. And these Younger People must needs be the Stronger People For they will be all Righteous Isa 60.21 They shall teach no more every Man his Neighbour and his Brother for they shall be all taught of God Jer. 31.34 And then it is they will walk in the Statutes of the Lord and keep his Commandments and do them Ezek. 36.24 25 26 27. Deut. 30.6 Jer. 32.39 40 41. And they will drink of the River of his Pleasures Psal 36.8 And that abundantly Cant. 5.1 And they will live to the Age of a Tree Isa 65.22 And the Beast of the Field and the Fowls of Heaven and all other Creatures will be subject to them Hos 2.18 Eze. 34.25 And the Lord will make with them the Promised new everlasting Covenant Jer. 32.41 42. which is the Covenant of Peace Ezek. 34.35 And rest in his love and rejoyce over them Zeph. 3.17 And then they shall not say I am Sick Isa 33.24 And sorrow and sighing shall flee away Isa 35.10 And the Lord will be Prince amongst them Ezek. 34.24 25. And then the weak will be as the House of David and the House of David will be as God Zechariah Chap. 12.8 And then their seed shall be known amongst the Gentiles and their off spring among the People Isa 61.9 10 11. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness and all Kings thy Glory Thou shalt also be a Crown of Glory in the hand of the Lord and a Royal Diadem in the hand of thy God Isa 62.2 3. Here is sufficient proof that these Younger People will be abundantly stronger than the Elder People and then this Younger People which are the Ages to come become thus Blessed then God will shew forth the exceeding Riches of his Grace to the Apostles and Saints and Martyrs of Jesus Eph. 2.7 Who then will have their place in the Glorious Tabernacle which the Lord will pitch and not Man Heb. 8.2 which Tabernacle will be Israel's covert Isa 4.6 From whence the Lord with his raised Saints will ascend and descend to the real Mount Sion as the Lord formlery did from the Cloudy Pillar to the Tabernacle as I have elsewhere at large proved And in time to come the Nations are given to be Servants to Israel For the Lord saith Isa 60.12 The Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted And then it is that the Elder People World or Nation are to serve the Younger according as God by his Word has declared But thus far Esau and Jacob did represent the two Nations or two Worlds of People in this time in their own Persons For as Esan was hairy all over Gen. 25.25 which signifies roughness or an unsmoothness And Esau was therein like the constitution of this World of People as to their mind and practice And Esau got his
since the Apostasie from the Truth the Wifest and Best of Men could not do it But God can give the Simple Wisdom when he pleaseth And with him there is neither Bond nor Free Male nor Female Gal. 3.28 But the sincere Heart that truly loves and fears him is best accepted of him And God having employed me in his Service I am willing to venture all even Life and all for him that the Truth of God's Word may be known And to be sure it is rightly understood when the Scriptures are made to agree and thereby they become plain to a rational Man's understanding which is the Light that God hath set up in the Soul of Man That thereby he might know how to chuse the Good and refuse the Evil. And the Scriptures now being made to agree and God by his Word according to his Promise proved true as well to the Jews as to the Gentiles This may be convincing to any rational Man's understanding that believes the Scriptures it they will but contemplate the matter Some say let the Prophet take care of his Prophecy But such little think that their destruction is included in it if they do not take heed of the Prophet's warning But there is no way to bring the People to a right understanding of the Truth but by unravelling to them their mistakes to the bottom For our Authors having lost the right Apprehension of the World or Time to come then they were put to their shifts like the Wits of the Times to weather out a Cause when they had neither Truth nor Tackle to assist their invention By which mistakes The Sheep of the Lord eat that which others have trodden and drink that which others have fouled with their feet Ezek. 34.18 19. So as thereby all are in mistakes at this Day for this is spoken concerning the time the Lord will Judge between the Rams and the He-Goats after which time the Lord will for evermore feed his Sheep himself ver 22 23 24 25. But now some by Studying the Scriptures with the strange interpretations which our great Authors as some call them have put upon them have lost their Senses And others fearing they are not elected and if not they then think they were reprobated from all Eternity or from the Foundation of the World The which have drove many into dispair and caused some to make themselves away But the knowledge of the Truth of God's word sets all free from such ill consequences And likewise puts them that know the Truth into a good capacity for eternal Salvation For to a true Faith there is required sound Doctrine as well as good Practice and to believe what God hath said and sworn to before what any Man saith in contradiction thereunto The weight of this great affair I hope will be considered which is the desire and earnest Prayer of your Friend and Servant in Christ M. M. All that are willing to know the Truth it is desired of them to consider these Twelve things 1st THat we are not the Elect but that the Elect was the Remnant chosen from among Israel which is the Church in the Wilderness and the first Gentile Churches unto whom the Holy Ghost was given to be in them that they might be a light to the World that the World through them might know that God sent Christ For the Elect are always chosen for a purpose which is to carry on the Counsel of the Will of God 2dly I affirm and prove that as there is a peculiar calling so there is likewise a common calling of the Gospel by which Salvation is attainable 3dly I affirm and prove that if we are Saved we must be Saved by Christ's Righteousness according to his Word which is in the way of our Obedience And by our believing that Christ is the Son of God we must Obey him as such for those whose Wills are not brought into Subjection to Christ are none of his for all are his Servants to whom they Obey and otherwise to believe in Christ will stand them in no stead 4thly I affirm and prove that the promised new everlasting Covenant is not establisht and that it will not be till the Lord again comes and the first Churches by receiving the Holy Ghost to be in them had an earnest of the inheritance for time to come 5thly I affirm and prove that there are two Judgments The first when Christ comes to Judge the Nations in the Valley of Jehoshaphat At which time the Dead Bodies of the Saints will rise and Israels Dead Men live And the last and final Judgment is when the Sea and Hell and Death deliver up their Dead 6thly I affirm and prove that God by his Word speaks but to them that are under it And when Christ comes they are that World and those Nations that will be condemned by it which have not lived in Obedience to it And it is the Sheep and the Goats that partake of one Pasture that then will be Judged and the one made Blessed and the other sent to the Fire of Hell For the greater light they Sin against the greater condemnation they fall under 7thly I affirm and prove that the Elect that will be gathered from the four Winds when the Lord again comes shall be Israel 8thly I affirm and prove that the World to come is not Heaven but a People with whom the Lord will establish his now promised new everlasting Covenant which Crowns Life to the Soul and those will be the World to come which will be put into Subjection unto Christ and the World without end 9thly I affirm and prove that Christ hath cleared all from original Sin and that all shall be Judged according to their deeds And that there is a redemption in the World to come and that all innocent Children will then be cleared and all the vertuous Heathens who have lived up to the Light which God had given them so as their Consciences excuse them when Judged they will then find Mercy 10thly I affirm and prove that it is not the material Heaven and all the Earth that will be burnt up when the Lord comes but it is a great state of People which in Scripture is likewise termed the Heavens and Earth and it is the Earth on which they dwell which will be burnt up and all the works therein so as never to be restored again 11thly I affirm and prove that the Earth will be renewed and Canaan made like the Garden of Eden 12thly I affirm and prove that the Glorious Tabernacle will then be pitcht over all the Assemblies of Israel so as the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord shall then cover the Earth as the Waters cover the Sea These things are of the greatest moment in the World to be considered of but whilst the Christians trust to their Authors and the Jews to their Talmud it is impossible either should come to a right understanding of the Scriptures CHAP I. A full
Lord will hasten it in his time Isa 60.21 22. And this is the World to come that will be put in Subjection unto Christ Heb. 2.5 The which will be when the Old Heavens and Earth shall Perish which have now the ruling power And the new Heavens and Earth take place And then the Children of God's Servants shall continue and their seed shall be established before him Psal 102.25 26 27 28. And this is the World to come of which the Apostle saith we speak Heb. 2.5 8. For that which is called a Nation or Generation in the Old Testament where it is said a Seed shall serve him and it shall be accounted to the Lord for a Generation Psal 22.30 31. Psal 24.6 7. The same in the New Testament is termed the World to come and the World without end And the Christians since the Apostacy from the truth of God's Word have never rightly understood this World to come nor the Foundation thereof Whereby great part of the Fundamental Doctrine of the Gospel hath been overturned And in the New Testament the last Day is spoken of because they that are under the Gospel will then be Judged and the Gospel institution will then cease and the ruling Power taken out of the Hand of the People of this World and therefore it is termed their last Day But in the Old Testament we never read of a last Day because when Israel is again restored then the Land is given them for an Everlasting inheritance Gen. 17.7 8. And then as the New Heavens and the New Earth shall remain so shall their Seed and their Name remain Isa 66.22 and then 't is that Mount Sion shall be made an Eternal Excellency But more of this hereafter Now whereas St. Paul saith Thes 5.4 5. But ye Brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief ye are all the Children of the Light and the Children of the Day ye are not of the Night nor of darkness This he speaks of them that were of the first Churches which had received the Holy Ghost and thereby he knew they were chosen in a more peculiar manner for that Day which is still to come as his foregoing words make clearly appear in that he saith That Day should not overtake them as a Thief And if we now in this gloomy and dark day walk as Children of the Light in a holy and upright Conversation and with love to the Truth we shall belong to that Day also But when the Apostle wrote this Epistle and the first of the Corinthians he did expect the coming of the Lord in their day but afterwards he did declare to the contrary for in 2 Thes 2.2 he lets them understand that the Day of Christ was not then at hand but that there would be a falling away first but nothing of a New Election afterwards to be called in under the Gospel that being a new received notion and Scriptureless And concerning this Day which is to come the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 13.9 10. That they knew but in part and they prophesied but in part But when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away Now then what gross Darkness must we lie under that came out of Popery by which was altogether lost the right apprehension of that Day for by the Pope it was condemned for a Heresie But St. Peter said to the Church to whom he wrote Ye do well that ye take heed as unto a Light that shineth in a dark place 2 Pet. 1.19 But we having lost the right knowledge of that day are thereby stumbling on the dark Mountains Every Sect sticking to that Opinion they first took up with when they came out of that darkness All thinking themselves so right that they need not make any further enquiry or search into the knowledge of the truth of the Scriptures But now is the time the Lord is beginning to fulfil his Promise in Dan. 12.4 By revealing the true meaning of his Word that thereby knowledge might be increased so as preparation may be made for the Coming of the Lord. And also it is said That at Evening time it shall he light Zech. 14.7 And that the Vision shall speak and not lie Hab. 2.3 By which it doth clearly appear that the Word of the Lord will be better understood than hitherto it hath been for these many hundred years But our mistakes concerning Election in that we have thought our selves the Elect and so they say can never fall from Grace And others wholly believing in the Righteousness of Christ for Salvation not considering the Conditions on which it is tendred All these think they stand so secure that it is no concern of theirs to know whether Christ is coming or not They not apprehending there are a certain Remnant of the Jeros given to Christ by his Father to be his standing witness through the World And that likewise the first Churches were elected and received the Holy Ghost to be in them that the World through them might know that God had sent Christ as thereby they might have ground to believe And upon the publication of the common Salvation was given a day of Grace by the Call of the Word with the assistance of the good motions of the Spirit of God the which Israel had till they resisted in their not obeying the Commands of the Lord Act. 7.51 For they did then strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel Mat. 23.24 And so the Gentiles till they came to have no love to the Truth 2 Thes 2.10 Now the Mistakes in these things if we do not well awaken will prove of most dangerous consequence 1 Thes 5.3 For when they say peace and Safety then sudden Destruction cometh upon them as Travail upon a Woman with Child And then it is that such Christians will be found in Darkness who have not prepared for the coming of the Lord. God's Love to the World JOHN 3.16 God so loved the VVorld that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life That is every individual Person that believeth in Christ hath a promise of everlasting Life from which words we are to take notice that of this World or People there are some that will believe and some that will not but that the love of Christ was such as to dye for all for St. Paul saith Hâ—b 2.9 That Christ did tast Death for every Man And St. John saith Christ is the Propitiation for the Sins of the whole VVorld 1 John 2.2 From which Scriptures we may plainly see that by Christ all will be cleared from original Sin so as when all come to be Judged they will be Judged according to their Works Rev. 20.12 1 Pet. 1.17 Cor. 5.10 John 5.28 29. Rom. 2.12 13 14. And therefore in the Time or World to come there will be a Redemption for Children and such as are not
the coming of the Lord in their Day is farther evident till such time he wrote the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians wherein he then wrote to them not to think that the Day of the Lord was at Hand Chap. 2.2 The which had he not before thought otherwise he would not have had occasion to have wrote to have brought them out of that mistake Now some Men had rather continue in their Mistakes and let God's Glory and Man's Salvation lye at stake And so the People dash themselves in pieces about their several Opinions like so many Potsherds rather than themselves be found in a mistake or venture to encounter with a difficulty The which they know they must do without they have orders from Authority and an agreement among themselves For altho' most of all the Teachers are in some one thing more right than the other yet the height of Man's mind is so great that they will not in the least yield one to the other For tho' the greatest part of the Church of England are righter than the Dissenting party in some things yet in some other things the Dissenting party is righter than they In that they ingage none in Oaths at Baptism And also that they do not now allow any Lord-like dignities in the Church And as for either Pope or Devil as far as they own the Truth all that have the true fear of God before their Eyes are bound to acknowledge it But the Protestants are not willing to own there is a Redemption in the World to come because the Papists and Jews own there is a returning for some from the place of Punishment but the place of Separation will not be found the Popes Purgatory for the Priests to pray them out for a piece of Money For as the Tree falls there it lies till the Judge's time is to remove it And to prove that there is a Redemption for some in the Worlâ— to come I shall only here cite two or three Quotations of Scripture out of many for brevity sakeâ— First that Israel whom God hath concluded in unbelief when the Lord again comes will be delivered out of the Pit wherein there is no Water Zech. 9 11. The which are now Prisoners of hope vers 12. Rom. 11.26 32. And the Children that were Slain by Herod will then return from the Land of the Enemy to their own Border Jer. 31.15 16 17. Mat. 2.18 Isa 49.9 Isa 24.22 1 Tim. 1.20 Chap. 2.5 6. Chap. 4.9 10. The word All in Scripture doth not include the whole but it doth the major part I desire the Teachers of all parties not to be offended for I am to speak the Truth of all sides Some say that I do not write in a Scholastick method and that I heap Scriptures one upon the Back of another As for writing in a Scholastick method I never desire to do it for by that method any one may turn the Scriptures as a Nose of Wax which way they please and as for my heaping Scriptures together it iâ— the only way to make the true meaning of the Worâ— appear what it is when I have a Cloud of Witnesseâ— to prove what I affirm and likewise makâ— plain to the understanding what did first seeâ— by slight examination to appear to be anotheâ— thing than what it really is for the Bible hangâ— one upon another from Genesis to the Revelations anâ— by making plainly appear that all the Prophesieâ— and Christ and the Apstoles do agree in one and thâ— same thing it is the most Convincing way to confirâ— the Truth of the Scriptures and to bring the Peâ—ple into a right understanding of the same the whiâ—… by the Scholastick way the Learned Scholars take 〈◊〉 with it is impossible for them to do should thâ—… live to the Age of Methusalem I hope the wise Heart will consider these things FINIS