and his Disciples should be for signs and wonders in Israel it was so and as it was prophesied that the Jews should smite him on the cheek it was so and as it was prophesied that they would give him vineger to drink it was so and as it was prophesied that one should betray him for thirty pieces of silver by which the Potters field should be bought it was so and as it was prophesied that they should cast lots for his vesture it was so and that a bone of him should not be broken but that he should be peirced it was so done to him These and many such like things as touching Christ and also concerning Israels Captivity by the Bibylonians which was foretold by the Prophets was fulfilled in the letter multitudes of such like things as I could speak of but the time fails me which was fulfilled in the very letter Therefore let us believe that what the Prophets as touching Christs glorified condition in Jerusalem and Peter knew well what he said when he speaks of Christs Kingdome saying We have not followed cunning devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus but we were eye-witnesses of his glory and we have a more sure word of prophesie to which you do well if you give heed mark that knowing first that no prophesie of Scripture was of any private interpretation neither came it by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost Hence we see the Prophets words are of great weight and also take notice that all the Prophets bare witnesse to the truth of what I have asserted and this intervening discourse I thought good to adde to that end that the courteous Reader might take notice that what the Prophets had foretold was and is to be fulfilled in the letter of the Scriptures unlesse they are proverbs or parables or the like and therefore I shall desire thee to read them the more diligently and distinctly they want not an interpretor but are very plain to him that hath any discerning spirit onely take notice of this that whereas the Prophet Ezekiel speaks of David he means the Son of David viz. Christ which is to sit upon his Throne for ever as the discourse of the Chapter will clearly shew as possibly I may give an hint of it in the marginal â—oat and these few things premised I come to the second part of the assertion which is That Christ shall Reign in Jerusalem And in order to the making of it appear to be truth I shall shew you that the Prophets have foretold it viz. that the Lord shall make Ierusalem or Zion at or in Jerusalem his seat and reign there before whom Kings shall fall down and shall worship before him therefore mark well the words of the Lord spoken by the mouth of his holy Prophets Psal 2.6 Zach. 2.10 11 12 13. which saith Yet have I set my King upon his holy hill of Zion Sing and rejoyce O Daughter of Zion for lo I will come and dwell in the midst of thee saith the Lord And many Nations shall be joyned unto the Lord in that day and shall be my people and I will dwell in the midst of thee Isa 31.4,5 6. and thou shalt know that the Lord of Host hath sent me unto thee And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy Land Jer. 13.7 and shall chuse Jerusalem again Be silent O all flesh before the Lord Isa 24.23 for he is raised up out of his holy habitation So will the Lord of Hosts defend Jerusalem and in defending of it he will deliver it Ezek. 34.23 24. Then shall the Sun be ashamed and the Moon confounded when the Lord of Hosts shall Reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem David being prophesied to be a Shepherd and Prince in Jerusalem and so to remain for ever is to be understood Christ before his Ancients gloriously At that time they shall call Jerusalem the THRONE of the Lord and all the Nations shall be gathered unto it to the name of the Lord to Jerusalem neither shall they walk any more after the imaginations of their evill heart And I will set up one Shepheard over them and he shall feed them even my Servant David he shall feed them and he shall be their Shepheard And I the Lord will be their God and my Servant David viz. Christ a Prince a-amongst them I the Lord have spoken it Behold I will take the children of Israel from amongst the heathen whither they be gone Ezek. 37.21 10 29. and I will gather them on every side and will bring them into their own Land And I will make them a Nation in the Land upon the mountains of Israel and one King shall be King to them all and they shall be no more two Nations neither shall they be devided into two Kingdomes any more at all Neither shall they defile themselves with any of their transgressions but I will cleanse them so shall they be my people and I will be their God And David my servant viz. Christ shall be King over them It cannot be meant that David in the letter shall be their Prince for ever but Christ that is called the Son of David and is to sit upon his Throne for ever and they shall have one Shepheard and they also shall walk in my judgements and observe my statutes and do them And they shall dwell in the Land that I gave to Jacob my servant and they shall dwell therein even they and their children and their childrens children for ever and my servant David viz. Christ shall be their Prince for ever Moreover I will make a Covenant of peace with them and it shall be an everlasting Covenant and I will place them and multiply them and will set my Sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore My Tabernacle also shall be with them and I will be their God and they shall be my people The heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctifie Israel when my Sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore Rev. 21.3 4. And I heard a great voice from heaven saying the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself will be their God And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes Rev. 5.9 10. And they sung a new song saying thou art worthy to take the Book and lose the seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy bloud out of every kindred tongue and Nation And hath made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reign on the earth Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will perform that good thing that I promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah In those daies and at that time will I cause a
in the Gospel by Christ It was said of old time thou shalt not commit adultery but I say saith Christ that he that looketh on a Woman to lust after her hath committed adultery already with her in his heart That which hath been often mentioned are commanded in the Old Testament if it be moral and perpetual is also mentioned and commanded in the New-Testament And what is taught more than love and holiness and righteousness in the Old Testament and yet it is also taught up frequently and the people blamed for neglect of their duty in these particulars in the New Testament these with many things of the same nature I might offer unto you they will shew thee that those things that are moral and perpetual are frequently enjoyned in the Gospel although they have been commanded in the Old Testament also and now I am come to the examination of that which you call your digression in your eighth page which is as followeth We have a former Ordinance â—or Tithes 1 Cor. 9. Even so hath God ordained that those that preach the Gospel the Apostle quoteth a former statute or ordinance for Ministers maintenance and it seemeth out of Moses Law for v. 9. the Levitical Text is alledged Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Ox Now ever did God appoint any way to maintaine such as did his service but the way of Tithes which was never a tipe of any thing nor never repealed To the answer and that in its particular order and first a few words to your word digression the which I say you may properly call digression for it doth not onely digress from the matter in hand but also from the truth and I believe is the cause of your great Transgression in pervering the right way of the Lord even your greediness of gain that many of you take the Ministry for filthy lucres sake and so buy and sell the word of the Lord and live by the gain thereof and were not your eyes so full of covetousness you might come to see the truth but to pass that and come to examine more of what weight is in your matter called digression the first is We have a former Ordinance for Tithes say you and cite 1 Cor. 9. To which I answer doth the Apostle say that God hath ordained that a Gospel Minister should have Tithes for his preaching if he had said so I do assure you that my eys have been very dim when I have read that 1 Cor 9 But have you a former ordinance for Tithes I pray Sir consider did ever God ordain that any should receive Tithes or Tenths save Levites in the type God never did ordain that any should receive Tithes or a Tenth but Levy in the type and Melchizedeck viz. Christ in the Antitype and Melchizedeck viz Christ in the Antitype And are you a Levite and have you no inheritance amongst your Brethren O are you Christ If you are neither Christ nor a Leavite I pray shew where you have a former ordinance to take Tythes because I never read that any other were to take the Tenth or Tythes but you cite that Levitical â—ex spoken of by Paul 1 Cor 9.9 For thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the Corn. From whence you think you have warrant to take the Tenth of the corn but first I think you have more reason than to suppose that the Oxâ—id eat up the tenth part of the Corn although you would if you might eat up the seventh part of it and more but the Apostle reasoneth thus that it was lawful for a Preâ—cher of the Gospel or a Minister of Christ but you are none to eat and drink such things as are given them freely and that the Church ought not to muzzle their mouths if they troad out their corn that is if they did sow unto the Church spiritual things they ought to give them to eat and drink of their carnal things the which the Corinths did not for Paul did preach unto them and was fain to take of other Churches to satisfie his hunger for he was often in hunger and nakedness that is in very much want of food and cleathing the which is a vast difference between you and him for you are so far from being in hunger and nakedness to do service to the Church that some of you are often in silk and drunkennesse how beit there is a day coming that will try you in the which you shall givean account to God for your selves But you say The maintenance of the Gospel-ministry is not Tithes or a renth but such things as is freely set before them That if Tithes be not a Gospel maintenance for a Gospel Ministry then hath God appointed any other way To which I answer and that very briefly that the Gospel-maintenance is a free maintenance free from compulsion see Christ sending out his seventy commanding them to eat such things as was freely offered unto them and where ever there is a true Gospel Minister and a true Gospel people there will be no want of communicating each to other without constraint the Minister will freely communicate spirituals and the Church will freely communicate temporals Christs Ministers will labour with their hands rather than to be chargeable to the Church this will be in a true Gospel Church and also the Minister ought to labour with his hands rather than to be too chargeable to the Church and thus freely the one will do in communication to the other and so walk together in a sweet harmony of God not compelling one another but to serve each other in love And again whereas you say That Tithes are not typical nor repealed I doubt not but I shall prove them both typical and repealed and first that they are typical we may see the Apostle doth affirm to the Hebrews in these words Heb. 7.9 And as I may so say Levi also who received Tithes paid Tithes in Abraham for he was yet in the loins of Abraham when Melchizedeck met him From whence we may see that the Tenth or Tythes properly belong to Christ which was the Antitype of Melchizedeck but now to prove that Tyths are typical and that such as receive them or such as pay them deny Christ nailed to the Cross See these two Arguments briefly in the room of more that might be given First Arg. 1 if Tythes were part of the Levitical Law to be a maintenance of the Leviticall Priesthood which Law and Priesthood were to be done away by Christs nailing to the Cross then such as pay Tythes or receive them deny Christ crucified But Tyths was part of the Levitical Law to be a maintenance of the Levitical Priesthood which Law and Priesthood was to be done away by Christ nailed to the Cross Ergo those that pay or receive Tythes Heb. 7 12. are such as deny Christ crucified the minor is evidently cleared from the words of the
power over the clay it is to answer this Objection VVhy doth he yet find fault saying who hath resisted his will the which the Apostle answereth by proving that they had resisted it by being marred in his hands and that God might deal with them as Ieremies potter did with his clay and yet be just when be judged if a man therefore purge himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honour and this is the summe of the Apostles reasoning in the ninth of the Romans and moreover take notice that whereas the Apostle saith hath not the Potter power over the clay is to answer this Objection Why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will Where the Apostle sheweth that they had resisted his will by being marred in his hand under the means of Grace or otherwise he saith nothing at all in answer to the Objection for if Paul had been of your opinion that is to say if he had supposed that the will of God in the tenderness of grace were irresistable so as it could not be resisted then the Apostle had no ground to make an Objection of that nature because he could never have fairly answered it and that you may see it more evident admit of this comparison for illustration suppose a man should have two Sons and it was the Fathers pleasure to educate one Son very richly and also to leave the other Son without any breeding or education at all so that he could not carry or behave himself at all sutable to his Father in-so-much that he doth bring much dishonour to his Father the which causeth his Father to be much displeased with him so far as to dis-inherit him for that dishonour that he bringeth to him by his ill manners Now if this Son should object and say Why doth my Father deal thus with me to dis-inherit me for my ill manners who hath resisted his will for was it not his will thus to educate me therefore why doth he now find fault with me it is true it was in his power to educate me as he pleased and forasmuch as it was his will and pleasure to educate me no better who canresist his will why doth he now find fault because my carriage and behaviour is no better seeing I have not resisted his will How any man can take off the objection so as to dear the Father and lay the fault on the Son I know not so in like manner if God should appoint persons vessels of wrath before they were born and so with hold the education of his Spirit from them and yet notwithstanding be offended because there behaviour to him was no better if they should say why doth he find fault with us for so doing for who hath resisted his will for it was his will and pleasure so to make us how that or such a like Objection could be answered I know not although I doubt not but I know all or in a great measure what may be said to it for if the Apostle do only plead Gods prerogative over all creatures as you say that he cannot make them what vessel he please either to honor or to dishonour and that it be his pleasure to make some dishonourable yet still the Objection lyeth unanswered Why doth he then find fault seeing he maketh them as he pleaseth who hath resisted his will But as I have said the Apostle Paul cleareth God and proveth that they were the people that had resisted his will by their putting eternal life away from them and so were marred in his hand and that God was just in making them dishonourable and casting them out as before-said and thereby cleareth Gods Justice and so I pass to the next thing considerable to wit Gods power that is Whether God want Power yea or nay because it is a question you ask To which I answer and say That if we speak only of Gods power and not consider his other Attributes then I say God hath not only power to save all Israel and compell them to turn from all their iniquities from which he often fore-warned them and dehorted them and sweareth that he hath no pleasure in their death but rather in their life and cryeth O that they would have hearkened unto my Commandâ—ments and how often would I have gathered them as a Hen doth her Chickens under herwings but they would not Now if we consider God as Power only he could have compelled them to have done what he commanded and he could have saved the whole world without shedding of his Sons blood he had power enough to have kept Adam from that sin in Paradice the which he did forbid and also to glorifie the Devils and damned spirits and in a word what could not God do if we consider him only as Power but if we consider God as consisting of many Attributes as Wisdom Power Righteousness Faithfulness Truth Purity Justice Mercy Long suffering Patience and many more that might be mentioned then there be many things that God cannot do he cannot lye he cannot respect persons he cannot do unrighteousness he cannot command persons to do that which he never gave them power to do and then punish them for not doing of it he hath power enough to save the Wicked but his Justice will not admit of it he had power enough to redeem the World without blood only his Justice must be satisfied he had power enough to have caused Israel to have dwelt safely and not to have been moved for all their sins but his Purity and Truth could not suffer it for the word was gone forth of his mouth That at what instant he spake of a Nation to build and to plant if they did evill in his sight be would repent of the good that he had said he would benefit them withall and therefore he could not prosper Israel when they lived in their sins he had power enough to save Israel without or beyond means but his wisdom and good will and pleasure would not admit of it because his wisdom and good-will and pleasure was to save all thorow meanes and he had power enough to make all their hearts of such a temper that they could not have resisted him but it was Gods wisdom so to dispose of mans heart that he had power enough to stand if he did improve it and yet notwithstanding he put him in such a capacity that he might fall if he took not good heed to that end that he might see a want of daily supplies from God and that he should not be high-minded and solâ— feed up but that he might be humble and fear also God had power enough if we consider him only as power when Adam fâ—ll either to have cast them all away or to have chosen some and to have left other some but it was inconsistent with his Attributes and therefore he could not do it First it was inconsistent with his Wisdom and Goodness and Honour that Satan through his
account of all that which is done by us whether good or evill for he that hath improved his talent must come and stand before his Lord as well as he that hath not improved it to receive the sentence so that the small standing before God maketh not for you and again you say I deny that there is any yet in glory in the four and thirtieth Page of my Book Answer You do somewhat abuse me and my Book in saying I do deny any yet in glory Some Saints in glory as Enoch Elijah and Christ and possibly Moses and others although David be not yet ascended into Heaven I have not such an expression in the four and thirtieth page as I know of for I am perswaded that Enoch and Elijah and Christ and possibly Moses are at this time in glory although David be not yet ascended into Heaven the summ of what I say in the four and thirtieth page of my Treatise is That although the spirit of man returneth to God that gave it yet without the body is not in capacity or capable of joy this is my judgement or thoughts concerning man before the Resurrection that the Righteous go to sleep in peace and when they awake out of the dust of the Earth All the time of their sleep although they lye many years in the dust it will be but as it were a moment and also the wicked shall lye down in trouble and horror and their troubles will come fresh on them so soon as they awake out of the dust and their time will be also as a moment because there is no remembrance of time or any thing amongst the dead but if any be otherwise minded provided they hold fast the Foundations they may do well for this is nor so material for this we agree in that we shall all arie at the general Resurrection and shall come to judgement and then receive according to what we have done in the body whether it be good or evil and whereas you cite Christs words to the Thief on the Cross which is I say unto thee this day shalt thou be with me in Paradiâ—e To which I say that all that may be safely gathered from these words is that Christ gave him a promise of Paradice that day not that Christ and the Thief were to be both together in Heaven that same day for Christ dâ—d not ascend in many dayes after Although Christ said that day to the Thief that he should be with him in Paradice yet it doth not follow that Christ and the Thief were that day to be together in Paradice because he Thief not dead nor Christ ascended that day and it cannot be proved that the Malefactor was dead that day but as to these things I have spoken before both in private conference with you and also I have discovered it in publick and therefore at present shall insist on the next thing only say as to the Saints lying under the Altar Table if you please to resolve this question without doubt What the 〈…〉 is that cryeth for vengeance because the soul is variously taken in Scripture and because Abels blood is said to cry for vengeance and Christ poured out his Soul to death and made his Soul an offering for sin and we know that Christs blood is that which is the offering for sin for without it there were no remission of sins and might also ask you what the Altar Table is and mach more I could say to it but I pass to the next but by the way I cannot but take notice of your merry conceit where you say you could laugh tel me that if Sodom fire wire eternal it must be eternal as God is and then some Creature coeternal with the Creator or to last for ever and then Hell fire and is will becken to each other Although a Fools mouth be full of laughter you have no great cause to laugh at me for saying that the fire that the Sodomiter were destroyed withall was an eternal fire because that Iude faith It was the vengeance of eternal fire that they suffered and also if we consider that God ever was a consuming fire and his breath as a devouring flame and when Tophet is set on fire it shall be by the breath of the Lord. I could say very much as to both these particulars Psal 18.8 Isa 30.27 Dan. 7.10 Heb. 12.29 Psal 97.3 only I leave you to peruse the Scriptures in the margent and so I shall pass to what you say in answer of that of Is 24. of the Kings of the earth being punished on the earth which is say you some were purishedby Assirians and by Babylonians by Persians and Grecians and then hell is past and if this be meant hell how can they be rejected again say you To which I answer and first that this Chapter is a Prophecy of the destruction of the habitations of the earth and of the last Judgement is plain to him that hath his eyes in his head because the Prophet spake of the general Resurrection before he makes an end of his speech and we know order of words proveth nothing in many places and that the Prophet doth carry on his discourse to the state of the general Resurrection see Chapter 25.8 and also Paul speaking of the general Resurrection to the Corinthians Whereas the Prophet spake of punishing of the host of high ones and Kings on the earth and after speaâ—s of gathering them as prisoners into the plâ— is not another thing but the method of the punishment before-mentioned and order of word proves nothing referreth them to this Text saying As it is written Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory and whereas you by order of word would prove a visitation after their punishments to be the Gospel in respect of whose glory the Sun and Moon are dim To which I say there is not so much as a colour of truth in it as I conceive and whereas the Text speaketh of gathering them as prisoners into a pit and after many dayes to visit them After he hath spoak of punishing them on the earth therefore you conclude that the visitation is after the punishment To which I answer and say it is no such thing for first he speaks of punishing of them and the place where and then the manner how he will punish them First punish them he will to wit the hoast of high ones that are on high although happily they may think they are too high or out of the wrath of punishment and the Kings of the earth who have lived there in pleasure shall there be punished and as he saith he will punish them and where he will punish them so he sheweth the method of their punishment that is they shall be gathered as prisoners into the pit and then after wards shall be visited that is the Lord will visit them with a due recompence of
From whence we may see that when God hath given any man his Spirit so as to qualifie him for the work of the Ministery and the Church Elected him for the same then according to the practice of the Church of Antioch and others also they ought to keep a day solemnly unto the Lord by fasting and prayer Act. 3.1 2 3. at which time the Eldership ought to lay their hands upon the person or persons so Elected and approved of as aforesaid and give them their charge in the presence of all the Congregation and this is Gods method and our practice in Ordaining of Ministers And again their charge is mainly to preach the Gospel instant in season and to study that they may divide the word of truth aright that their profiting may appear to all men that behold them and several other thing of this nature that might be added as matter of their charge but I shall passe both from this particular and this subject and come to the vindication of Zions Redemption Zions Redemption Redeemed IN the answer of this discourse viz. Zions Redemption your ignorance as I suppose is very much discovered As first say you The ten Tribes are threatned never to be a people more and Hose a tells us say you God will love them no more Isa 7.8 Hosea 9.15 16 17. God will cast them away and they shall be wanderers amongst the Nations and yet say you I believe there is hope of their call for they are elected and beloved page 31. To which I answer and say That although you know not the mystery of God in the prophets yet you might have learned to lay your contradictions farther asunder for say you in page the 29 that God saith by the Prophet Hosea He will love them no more and yet in your page 31. you say They are elected and a beloved people as in Rom. 11. Gould discover your ignorance at large but because time is precious I shall onely disprove what you say and not so much paraphrase on your words to shew the contradistions as possibly I might do if I had time But say you Israel shall not return again into their own land for God will love them no more Therefore it will be necessary for me to open your Text of Scripture cited by you and secondly to prove that God had an everlasting love to the house of Israel as in reference to the manifestation thereof in time And thirdly to prove that the ten Tribes viz. Israel shall return and also Judea into their own Land and these in their particular order And first to the first Isa 7.8 which is to open these two Texts of Scripture Hos 9.15 16.17 namely Isaiah and Hosea which saith the Prophet Isaiah 7.8 For the head of Syria is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Reazin and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken that it be not a people Ans To which I answer and say 2 King 17.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 That this Text is a Prophecy of Ephraims extirpation from being a Nation in their own Land so that Israel for their sins was to be carried away captive as was done according to Gods word as is recorded in the Book of the Kings yet not such caprives as that they never were to return For the very same Prophet that prophecies of their Captivity also prophecies of their return as you may read in the eleventh Chapter of his Prophecy saying And he shall set up an ensign for the Nations Isa 11 12 13 14 15. and shall assemble the out-cast of Israel and gather the diâ—persed of Judah from the four quarters of the earth and the envy of Ephraim shall depart and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off and the Lord shall utterly destroyâ—th tongue of the Aegyptian Sea and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the River viz Euphrates as Rev. 16 12 and shall smite it in the seven streams and make men go over dry-shod and there shall be an high-way for the Remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria like as it was to Israel in the day when that he came up out of the land of Aegypt From whence we may see that although Israel must be broken from being a Nation for a time yet there is a Remnant which spring from their loins which shall return again and enjoy their own Land But I shall passe at present to your next proof of Scripture which is the words of Hosea saying All their wickedness is in Gâ—lgal Hos 9. for there I hated them for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house I will love them no more all their Princes are revolters my God shall cast them away because they did not hearken unto him and they shall be wanderers among the Nations From these words you conclude that they shall never return because the Prophet saith That he will love them no more but his God will cast them out and make them wanderers among the Nations In these words we may learn these two things First the prophets zeal for the Lord that he doth not onely pray to the Lord to bring judgements upon them Jers 14. as in the foregoing ver but also saith that he wil love them no more also saith he My God will cast them out and make them wanderers amongst the Nations And secondly he giveth the reason why he thus spake and that was saith he Because they did not hearken unto the Lord but were revolters from him Now let the Reader judge whether you understood what you printed for doth this Text imply that Israel shall never return because the Prophet saith That HE will love them no more But admit the Prophet speaks as in the person as we may say of God yet the reason why he would love them no more was because of their sins now if they had repented God could not but have loved them according to the property of his mercy Do you not know what is the property of the Attribute of Gods Mercy Did you never read what the Lord said unto Israel in the tenth Chapter of the Book of Judges Judg. 10.12 13 14 15 16. In these words Ye have for saken me and served other gods wherefore I will deliver you NO MORE Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation From whence we may see that God useth the word NO MORE in this place saying I will deliver you no more and also we see the cause was for their sins yet when they humbled themselves and said We have sinned do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee Judg. 12 32 33. deliver us only we pray thee this day and they put away their strange gods from among them and served the Lord and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel And
is the power of God to salvation to Iews and Gentiles Rom. 1.16 To which I answer and say and first I hope no man will deny what the Gospel saith to be true I ever did affirm that the Gospel was the power of God to salvation to all that did believe it both of Iew and Gentile is it therefore of necessity that the whole house of Israel must believe and be converted by it I am sure the first chapter of the Romanes cited by you proves it not But secondly we konw that for Israels rebellion God gave them up to unbelief 1 Pet. 2.7 8 9 Mat 23 37 38. so that Christ and the Gospell was a stone of stumbling unto them and they not to see Christ viz believe in him untill the time mark that that they shall say blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Mich. 5.1 2 3 4. and till she that travelleth bringeth forth then shall the remnant of his brethren return to the children of Israel and not the children of Israel to them but they shall remain in their unbelief untill they shall see him come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory at that time saith the Lord I will pour out upon the house of David Zach. 12.8 9 10 11 12 13. and upon the inhabitants of Hierusalem the spirit of grace and supplication and they shall look upon him whom they have peirced and they shall mourn every family apart and the Apostle Paul is more plain Rom. 11.25 26 27 28 29. saying As touching the Gospel they are enemies implying that they would never believe in Christ through the means afforded them in the Gospel The house of Israel not converted by a Gospel-preaching but by the glorious appearance of the Lord Christ but their gifts and calling was to be as aforesaid without repentance and therefore Paul reasons on this wise as if he should have said you Gentiles be not ignorant of this that the Iews shall again be a glorious people and then sheweth them which way this great work should be brought to passe that is saith he although they be enemies and also will be as touching the Gospel yet saith he when Christ shall come in his glory to Hierusalem to plead for the disperced of Judah he will pour on them of his Spirit when they shall see him in his glory and they shall then say This is our God Isa 25.8 9. we have waited for him and then will he cleanse Iudah and Hierusalem from all their transgressions and this is the manner of the Iews conversion as is fully implyed by Pauls words to the Romanes which saith The Redeemer shall come to Zion and turn transgressions from Iacob for this is my Covenant when I take away their sinnes as for the Gospel they are enemies for your sake but touching election they are beloved for the fathers sake for the gifts and calling of God is without repentance From whence we may see that the house of Israel shall not be converted by a Gospel-preaching but by the glorious appearance of Christ the redeemer of Israel not that I deny that any of the Iews shall be converted by a Gospel preaching for there was some converted in the primitive time and possibly there may by some means some few be converted that way but that conversion that the Scripture makes mention of which is universal to the whole house of Israel shall not be a Goâ—â—el-preaching and so I passe to your second reason that you gave why the Iews shall be converted by a Gospel-preaching which is say you There is no other name given by which men may be saved but Iesus now the name Christ is conveyed to men in a Gospel Way To which I answer and say that it is true that there is no OTHER name given by which men may be saved but are â—one saved but such as know him through preaching and what if it be so that the wrath of God doth lye heavy upon the stubborn Iews I could say much to these things but I suppose any man may see that hath his eyes open that there is no strength of reason in this to prove that of necessity the Iews must be converted by a Gospel-preaching whom God hath appointed to be converted another way as I have proved namely by the Redeemers coming to Zion and restoring the kindome of Israel and raigning over the house of David upon his Throne in Hierusalem but I passe to your thâ—d and last reason to prove that they shall be converted by a Gospel-preaching for say you The Iews shall through our mercy obtain mercy Rom. 11.25 26 27 28. 29. This Scrpture calls the manner of the Jews conversion a mystery and saith that his Covenant is to take away their sins by Christs coming to Zion and turning transgression from Jacob and therefore not by Gospel preaching Rom. 11 31. To which I answer and say that to say the Iews shall obtain mercy is the truth but to say that that mercy is conversion by a Gospel preaching cannot be proved because God hath not promised to convert them that way but this is his way that he hath covenanted to take away their sins the Redeemer shall come to Zion as aforesaid and turn transgression from Iacob But a word or two to the Text it self which saith Thorough your mercy Isa 59.15 16 17 18 19 20 21. they shall obtain mercy This Text is expounded more plainer in the prophecy of Isaiah which sheweth that in the last daies godly men viz. believing Gentiles will become a prey to their enemies and that justice shall not be executed but the wicked mens will shall be their law and that violence and wickedness shall be committed by them towards the godly and also the Lord saw that the godly had no interceder or none to plead their cause at which he wondered for which cause he put on the garment of vengeance for cloathing and was clad with zeal as with a cloak and saith according to their deeds will I repay them and thus in our mercy they shal obtain mercy for when the Lord cometh thus forth of his holy habitation Every eye shall see him and they that peirced him shall admire and mourn at which time the spirit of prayer and supplication shall be poured upon them and they made a very glorious people and this is the way by which they shall come to believe and so through our mercy obtain mercy Read Rom. 11. Esa 59. 60. chap. and compare them And I passe to the next thing and by the way whereas you go about by way of argument to convince me Page 32. that it is lawful for the Jews to be tollerated to live in England I say in answer to it The Jews may be tolerated to live in England for ought I have against it but your tribe likes it not and I also think it will not conduce to