Of the Death and Resurrection of the WITNESSES.

THe Death and Resurrection of the Witnesses, is a Truth almost of as great Importance as the Death and Resurre­ction of our Saviour: They being the Counter-part of that Great Scene: All the Empires in the World are interessed in this Great Truth; 'Tis the Pole-Star by which they ought to steer; and in not observing it, they run great hazard of splitting their Vessels: I therefore take the liberty of addressing my Enquiry into this weighty Affair to our present Powers, as be­fore; which may give them much Light in all their Counsels and Consultations. 'Tis well known what Alterations and Changes the Birth of our Saviour made throughout the World, how it overthrew all the then-existing Powers upon Earth, and what Method there was used to do it: This is but the same thing acted over again, in another part of the World; That, by a simple Birth; and This, by a complex Birth: The same Methods of Conquest will be used, viz. Nothing but Predication and Vo­ciferation. And we that live at so great a distance, for us to have the same Scenes renewed, and the same Actions re-acted amongst us, is a singular kindness from Heaven: Hitherto we have ta­ken things upon Credit and Hearsay; But now we our selves shall see with our Eyes, and hear with our Ears the wonderful things of God: To have things brought to our own Home, is a wonderful Condescention, for which we cannot be too thank­ful to Heaven: And since we know on what Rock the Eastern [Page 17] Nations split; This is a Blazing Beacon for us, and we shall be doubly guilty if we split on the same. I cannot err in my En­quiry, so long as I take Christ along with me for my Guide: For He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; The Grand Pattern of all things in Heaven and in Earth. These Witnesses are his Body, which ought to be conformable to their Head in all things. Christ saith, Except a Man be born again, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: Now Christ is a Man, and to fulfil all Righteousness, He ought to be born again: But our Nicodemus's will say, How can that be? He is in Heaven, and cannot enter a second time into the Womb of Mary: 'Tis true; but He has a Body here below, his Church, which is himself; and this may be renewed or born again, and ought to be so, before it can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, or the Millennium, which is a Shadow of it. We are to come from strength to strength, from an imperfect Dispensation to a more perfect, until we come to God in Zion. Christ Racks off his Truth from Vessel to Ves­sel, till it be perfect Spirits, till Man becomes an Angel, whose place he is to supply. Now what reason his Church has to be purified and made clean, is plain; The Sun is coming to the Tropick, her Lord is to make her a Visit; and she is but in a filthy pickle to recive Him: In her long Voyage from the East, she has contracted a great many Pollutions, passing through ma­ny polluted Cities and Countreys, over-whelmed with Superstion and Idolatry. There is the greatest reason imaginable that she should wash her self in the Waters of Purification, that being found without Spot or Wrinkle, or any such thing, her Lord may take delight to dwell with her.

In the Scriptures there is mention made of The Times of Re­freshing from the presence os the Lord, and of the Time of Restitu­tion of all things; which can only be meant of an Accidental Change, and not a Substantial, as some would have it. The Times of Restitution are Accomplished by Changing all things chengeable, by making every thing New, which can be Renew­ed; [Page 18] or in the Scripture-phrase, by SHAKING those things which can be SHAKEN, that those things which cannot be shaken may RE­MAIN.

Now before I can well proceed further, I ought to divide the things of this World into Two Classes, viz. of Changeable and Ʋnchangeable; and this will tell me, not only When God has re­newed all things according to his Promise, but How; For his Work will of necessity fall in the Changeable Class, as it has done in every Dispensation hitherto. Christ in one place is said to come with the Clouds, which may very well be understood in the Change­able Class, in which all the Thunders and Tempests are formed; But the Ʋnchangeable Class is the Firmament, which is to Remain, or not to be moved. And the Instruments He will use in changing all things changeable, will be the Church Regenerate, or New-Risen-Witnesses; and this by a New Predication, as Soldiers of the WORD, with their Swords in their Mouth; Predication and Vociferation are the only Artillery the Lamb uses to beat down the strong holds of Satan. But as to Those Two Classes, The Immutable I divide into Seven Heads, and the Mutable into Five, as follows.

• 1. Religion, or the Worship of that God which made the World, being an indispensible Duty, is Immutable: Under this Head I mean the Christian Worship.
• 2. Truth, Being the Attributes of the Immutable God, are
• 3. Justice, both Immutable, and must remain to the end of the World.
• 4. Power or Government, without which the World would be a Chaos, and therefore Immutable.
• 5. Pleasure and Pain, Being the two great Wheels on which all Humane Actions run: And I can by no means consent to his opinion, who saith, Men must live without Pain in the Mil­lennium.
• 6. The Common Effects of things Natural and Moral: As of the [Page 19] four Elements; That Fire will burn, Water quench, &c. That Industry, Piety, and Frugality, will advance single Persons, Fa­milies, and Kingdoms; and that Luxury, Sloth, and Profane­ness, will always have the contrary Effects: What accidental Alterations, or differing Effects, the said Causes may at any time have, come not into this Account,
• 7. Eating and Drinking, Marrying and Giving in Marriage, Buy­ing, Selling, Building and Planting, will continue to the End of the World, Necessity making them Immutable.

These Seven, when the Great Shaking comes, must all Re­main, and be of Use and Practice in the Millennium, whatsoever Dreams some may have to the contrary.

• 1. The Will of Man, and every thing subject thereunto, or that has dependance thereon, has been, is, and ever will be Changeable.
• 2. The Opinions of Men, as to their differing Sentiments and Notions of things, have been, are, and ever will be Change­able.
• 3. The Differing Ways amd Modes of Eating, Drinking, Mar­rying, and Giving in Marriage, Buying, Selling, Building, Plant­ing, &c. in all Ages have been, are, and ever will be Changeable.
• 4. The Outward Forms of Civil Government, and the Admini­stration of Justice, are Changeable: Witness all Histories, and all the present Forms now in use.
• 5. Lastly, The Circumstantials in Religion, as to the Outward Administration, are Changeable; of which there needs no proof.

The World being at full Age, 'tis time it should know its own Constitution. And that the whole Oeconomy thereof is comprehended under the above Two Classes, or Twelve Parti­culars, I think none that has had but a little converse therein, will deny me. These therefore allowed me for Authentick, I [Page 20] have some ground to stand upon. And if I can find a Body of Men upon Earth, which have made these Five Changes; That is, Whose Wills are changed, whose Opinions are changed; who have made a sober change in Eating, Drinking, Marrying, and Gi­ving in Marriage, &c. and who have made an absolute and in­tire change in the Outward From of Civil and Religious Govern­ment; I say, If I can find such a Body of Men in the whole Christian World, who have made all these Changes, I am in a fair way of finding my New-Risen-Witnesses; for nothing else can be changed. And this will extort a Confession from me, That God has fulfilled his Promises, of making all things new, ha­ving changed all things that are changeable in this World. And it makes not much to have things in their Perfection; if they are truly begun, and stand upon Perfect New Foundations, 'tis enough. Good old Simeon sang the Nunc Dimittis, when he saw Christ only an Infant: Men cannot suppose that things should receive their Commencement and Perfection all at once. And the Nature and Progress of the Kingdom of Heaven, is all along to be observed in our Enquiry: It ought not to be forgotten, that 'tis compared to a Grain of Mustard seed, to Leven, to a Stone out of the Mountain, and to Waters that at first rose no farther than the Ancles; By all which the gradual Increase and Progression are plainly intimated. Christ, being a single Man, was the Grain of Mustard-seed; He preached the Word, and empowered the Disciples, first the Twelve, then the Seventy, to preach the same through the Towns and Villages; And in this nature, and after this manner, His Gospel by degrees was Published and Dis­persed throughout the World. This is the Pattern, and after this manner the Gospel will be Restored. One single Man of the New-Risen-Witnesses will first begin to Preach, and so will be instrumental in Collecting and Raising a Body of Men, who tho' simple and ignorant, yet by the Assistance and Power of the Spirit of Life from God entering in them, will cast themselves into such an Exquisite Mold and Constitution, that the most re­fined [Page 21] Polititians in the World shall not be able to contrive the like. That the New-Risen-Witnesses will make their Appear­ance and Progress into the World after this nature, I think there is no Man will be so disingenuous as to deny me: because 'tis so like Gods former Method, and because there is a Necessity the Body should be conformable to the Head in all things. And further, That these things ought to be so, 'tis unanswerably proved by Him that sat upon the white Horse, followed by Armies cloathed in white Linnen, with their Swords in their Mouth, and whose Name was called, The Word of God.

All the Divinity and Philosophy in the World can make no­thing else of an Army so Equipped, but an Army of New Preachers sent forth to Proselite the World to the Doctrine of the Restoration: To think that any old Model should be pitched upon for a Pattern, when Christ said, He would make all things New, is a very inconsiderate and sensless thought: There's no properer way can possibly be contrived, then to Raise a New Body of Men out of the mass of the Whole, who may Leven the whole Lump, and may be as a Pattern or Standard Lifted up for the Rest to Repair to: Nor is there a more proper way to raise such an Army, than by Beating up for Voluntiers, by a New Predication: This is that Righteous Way that Christ has pitched upon to make War in, in opposition to those inadequate and un­righteous ways of all the preceding Monarchies.

I will therefore take it for granted that we have such a Body of Men amongst us, who have practised the same Method, and have changed all things changeable in this VVorld; and are a Body perfe­ctly New in Temporals and Spirituals, in their vvhole Rise com­ing up to the true and genuine Notion of a Resurrection: And I knovv not vvhy I may not call them the New-Risen-Witnesses, since they have so fair and just a Title thereto. And since I have given them this Title, I ought to deduce it regularly from the True Race of the Old Ones, who can only give them a Just Claim. It now therefore falls in my way to speak something of Them.

[Page 22] By the Old Witnesses, I understand, not Two Men, or Two Books nor any single Church in any particular Nation, but the Body of true and faithful Christians in all Christian Nations, bearing their Testimony in all Ages, (during the 1260 Years Apostacy) against the Mystery of Iniquity, and the Usurpation of the Whore of Babylon, on their true Rights. Now the Text saith, When they shall have finished their Testimony, the Beast that ascends out of the Bottomless Pit shall make war against them, and overcome them, and kill them, and their Bodies shall lie in the street of the Great City, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified: And they of the People, and Kindred, and Tongues, and Nations, shall see their dead Bodies three Days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead Bodies to be put in GRAVES: And they that dwell upon the Earth shall rejoyce over them, and shall make merry, and shall send Gifts one to another, because these two Prophets tormented them that dwelt upon the Earth. And after three Days and an half, the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their Feet, and great fear fell upon them that saw them. And they heard a great voice from Heaven saying, Come up hither: And they ascended up to Heaven in a Cloud, and their Enemies beheld them: And the same hour there was a great Earthquake, and the Tenth part of the City fell; and in the Earthquake were slain of Men seven Thousand, and the Remnant were afrighted, and gave Glory to the God of Heaven.

Now though the Witnesses are already Risen; which the more Judicious may easily discern, by the Characteristicks be­fore hinted, and so my labour of Proof might seem to be spared, yet to satisfie others, and to make the Copy agree with the Ori­ginal, I find my self obliged to compare them one with the other in the ensuing Explication: The Time of Harvest (or of finish­ing their Testimony) to cut down the whole Earth being Come; There are Two Angels with Sickles, One is commanded to cut down the Harvest, the other the Vintage: Now the Corn is al­ways Ripe before the Grapes; and where should the Angel begin the Harvest but in a Corn Countrey? We have only Corn [Page 23] England, Scotland and Ireland; the Grapes are beyond Sea, where the Vintage is to be gathered: 'Tis plain therefore, That [...] Angel should begin his Harvest first in these parts: I think [...] not mention when our Harvest was Gathered in England, there being now so many on the Premises who helped to get it in By Harvest, is meant Constitutions Civil and Ecclesiastical, and a Reaping is a Cutting them down: Now 'Tis plain, they have been all Cut down in England; as well the Vine of the Church, as the Cedar of the State: First Monarchy and Epis­copacy were Cut down; then they Returned, and Cut down the Republick and Presbytery, and all other Models growing on that Stock: These were but Pangs of a New Birth; and though they now are both upon the Stage, and exist together, yet 'tis but upon sufferance; They are but Trespassers upon the Premises; The Promises, the Power and Government belongs to the New Birth, the Heiress, of which they are at present but Guardians: An Infant that cannot go, must have some body to look after it, and who more proper than its own Parents, the Old Witnesses? But they are certainly civilly extinct; Their Cutting down, and being Reaped, is an undeniable Symbol of Rejecti­on and Abolition: The Lease of Old Power being Expired, the Head of Monarchy was Cut off, and the Head of Episcopacy too; and the Head of the Republick and Presbytery (had they had any) would have been cut off too; for Heaven designed to shew some signal Tokens of Abolition; The House of Power, and Symbol of the Old Dispensation, was Burned; This was a true Type of the last Conflagration, but more particularly of the Expiration of the Old Dispensation: when the Harvest is Cut down, the Stubble is usually Burned. A New Aera Commencing, 'twas fit there should be New Habitations; and God himself designing to Visit the New Powers, 'twas fit a Purgation by Fire should be used. There was an Harvest in our Saviours Time, which was nothing else but a Cutting down all the Constitutions of the World, as the effect has plainly declared: And this is the [Page 24] Second Harvest and will have the same effects; This Harvest then being first got in, in these Countreys, there was reserved some of the Good and Best Wheat for Seed, to be thrown into the Ground to raise a New Crop. This has been done, and it comes up Green and Kindly, and is in a very Hopeful and Flourishing Condition; not Rising BARE GRAIN, but with a New Body such as God has been pleased to give it; but of this more hereafter. The Old Witnesses observing the time of the Beasts power Ex­piring, made an Attack upon the Whorish Retinue, and drove them out of all Power and Dominion; This is THEIR DEATH, and they ought to Dye first, the Time of their end being Come; but This Retinue returns with New Vigor, and again Assaults the Witnesses, driving THEM out of all Power and Dominion; This is the Witnesses Death: and there is great Insulting and Rejoycing over them, because they had Torment­ed them so much before; and many Gifts are sent, and much Rejoycing there is at their Re-settlement: but they who were their Friends, prevailed so much that they should not be Buryed, in hopes they would Revive; the Text saith, They suffered them not to be put in their Graves; this argues their Death was not Li­teral, and that the Tree was not pulled up by the Roots, only cut off by the Stumps, that there might be a new Ingrafting; They lie thus Civilly Dead, expulsed out of all Employment and Power in the Streets of the Great City, which is Spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was Crucified: This City can by no means be meant Rome, as some would have it, for it was never known that Jerusalem was called Rome, and 'tis plain Jerusalem is meant hereby. Now Jerusalem was a Friendly City belonging to Christs Kindred and Nation, and so ought this City in which his Body or Witnesses are to be Slain; and no City in the World can claim such a Title as Lond n; be­ing the very shadow of it in a Line directly drawn, as also doth answer the same in all other Respects of Kindred and Affinity to the Witnesses; and though it be the Chief Protestant City, yet [Page 25] in a Spiritual Sence ( Rome almost in a Literal) it may be called [...] and Egypt, nothing hinders this: In this City therefore for Three Days and a Half, They lie Thrown out of all Power Spi­ritual and Temporal; and some of them were really and Lite­rally cast out into the Street; this was in the last Persecution, just before the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, when the Spi­rit of Life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their Feet, and Great Fear fell upon them which saw them: And they leard a Great Voice from Heaven saying, Come up hither; and they Ascended up to Heaven in a Cloud, and their Enemies beheld them: This was a grievous sight to their Enemies; they had taken all care imaginable, not only to kill them, but to keep them dead: But their Death was their Victory, as of old their Saviours was; for now they rise again, to the Amazement of them all.

Alas! Their care extended no farther than to the Old Wit­nesses with whom they had fought, and who had tormented them so much: And when they see New Witnesses standing in the Court of Heaven, they stand amazed, as if they had seen a Spe­ctrum: These we know, and These we know, say they; But who are Ye? These New Enemies they never dream'd of: There's no Feeing the Soldiers to say they are not risen, for they are seen of all the World. These then, as soon as they appear, being the First Fruits of God and to the Lamb, all other old Fruit becomes intollerable to Prophecy; A sudden Hurricane arises: And the Text saith, There was a great Earthquake, and the Tenth part of the City sell; and in the Earthquake was slain of Men Seven Thousand. It should not be of Men, tho' this Version is so, this favours a literal Death too much: Other Versions have it, the Names of Men, or Men of Note: The Latin Version is, Capita Hominum Septies Mille; which rendred right is, The Heads or Principals of Seven Thousand Men: But the Greek is nearer to the point, being [...]. The NAMES of Seven Thousand Men; being 'tis only a Name that is slain, it frees the Text from a li­teral interpretation: And every Name is a Captain, and has un­der [Page 26] him a Thousand Men. Any one that consults the Origi­nals, will find these things true. And the rest (but not these) were afrighted, and gave glory to God. What a Disturbance and Earth­quake there was, is well known; caused chiefly by the Seven Patriarchs Falling; and by their Fall, Seven Thousand of their Party. These represented the whole Body, as Julian the whole Papal Constitution: And 'tis fit there should be a Specimen of all the Condemned and Rejected Powers, at the Rising of the Witnesses, that they might be Triumphed over, and all Fall to­gether. The Rest gave Glory to God; That is, they thanked God for their Deliverance, tho' others repined and murmured. In this curious Scene, the Wisdom of God cannot be enough admi­red. As Idolatrous Julian of old, was suffered on purpose to make a Three year and half's Parenthesis in the Christian Empire, that the Jews might build their Temple, and so the Epoche of its De­solation might be the more Illustrious: So Papal Julian was ad­mitted to make much the same intercalations, on purpose that the Epoche of the New-Risen-Witnesses might be the more con­spicous. There was none to reach them an hand, or to call them to Heaven: So God made their greatest Enemies to do it, even Rome it self: And when he had done this, he had done the bu­siness for which he was raised, and presently flies away like a Whirlwind, being intollerable to Prophecy: For though the Lion and the Lamb may, the Whore and the Bride must not lie down together: These things I doubt not, but will be very sa­tisfactory to many; especially to those who seek for Truth, with a Resolution not to Reject it when they have Found it. The Scene lying so near, I know, is a great prejudice to Truth; Things that lie Abroad, and a great way off, Men sooner believe, than what is done at Home. And therefore they had much rather these Witnesses should rise in Piedmont, Germany, or France, than in England: But this cannot be; for the Gospel is the Blood of the World, which never reverts till it comes to the Toes; and these Nations may be called the Feet or Toes of the Universe. And [Page 27] these New-Risen-Witnesses are to Convert and Proselyte the whole World, and therefore the Extream Parts are the most pro­per places to begin in. I know many would have the Witnesses Rise in Piedmont, Germany and France; but they are under great Mistakes, as to the true and genuine Nature of Death and Re­surrection, as I shall fully, and to the satisfaction of all the World, make appear, as follows.

All who have wrote upon this Subject hitherto, have supposed a Wounding and a Healing, an Imprisonment and Releasing, a Deprivation and Restoration of Power, in the same Numerical and Identical Body of Men, to be a Death and Resurrection; which, alas! doth not rise up to the true nature thereof at all. Though the Witnesses Death and Resurrection are not natural and literal, yet they ought to hold a most exact and strict Ana­logy thereto, and this Analogy falls exceedingly short thereof. These are only accidental, and not substantial Mutations in the same Body; and no accidental or circumstantial Mutation will do the business: No, a Transformation will not do the thing; for no Man will say Nehuchadnezzar died and rose again. No Increase or Decrease, or any other accidental Alteration in one and the same subject, can possibly reach the Heighth of Death and Resurrection. A repairing an Old House makes it not a New One. There must be an absolute pulling down to make it Death; and an intire New Building from the Foundations, to make it a Resurrection. Death makes a substantial Alteration: 'Tis a total Dissolution of Parts, a melting down the Bullion, and not a sodering the piece. In the Resurrection there must be a substantial New­ness. A Body that is said to rise again, must have nothing of the Old Body in it, but be absolutely New both in substance and circumstance. And a Body that is said properly and truly to be Dead, must be absolutely dissolved, and must undergo a circum­stantial and substantial Mutation. A Truth of this weight can­not be made too plain. Now neither the Witnesses in Piedmont, Germany, France, or any other part of the World whatsoever, (ex­cept [Page 28] in England) have passed such a Test as this. The same Wit­nesses Persecuted, and then tollerated; Wounded, and then Heal­ed; Depressed, and then Re-established; does not come up to the Heighth of Death and Resurrection: Because these are only Alterations in the same Body, and the same Body ought not to be in the Resurrection. The Apostle saith, Thou Fool, thou sowest not that Body that shall be— The Body is to dye and to be dissolved, and receive an absolute New Body, New in substance and circumstance, be­fore it can be said to have a Resurrection: If it rise with its Old Body, it may be said to be altered or changed, but not risen; 'tis only BARE GRAIN, an Old House repaired, a Piece sodered to­gether, but nothing else: There is a vast difference betwixt Corn raised up, and Corn that is Risen; one implying help, the other none (the Stone comes out of the Mountain without hands) The one is only Old Corn, tho' it be raised from the Ground; but the other is absolutely New. Men have hitherto called accidental alterations in the same Subject to be a Resurrection, and so have made their Witnesses rise only BARE GRAIN; but the Grain ought to rot in the Ground, and receive a New Form and Body, such as God shall please to give it, before it can be said to have a True Resurrection. This has been done in England to an Iota, and answered the true and genuine nature of Death and Resur­rection in the most minute circumstances. For the Old Witnes­ses, and their Constitution, hath been killed, melted or cut down, like the Corn, and some of it has been cast into the Ground, and 'tis risen up with a New Body, absolutely New, both in substance and circumstance; there is nothing of the Old Way or Method in them; but in Temporals & Spirituals, a Fundamentis, they have all things New; And the Name of Witness is stamped all over up­on them. All the Nation will witness what I say to be true. I lay stroke upon stroke, because Men have been miserably mista­ken about this Great Truth; and I had rather undergo some Re­flections than not be plain, so weighty a Truth requiring it.

If the French Protestants should be restored to their Lands and [Page 29] Livings, and be priviledged to exercise their Old Methods in Religion, this can never mount to a Resurrection; and there­fore the Learned Jurieu is much mistaken in this matter, and so are all others who have wrote on this Subject; which the Reader must of necessity acknowledge, if he impartially peruse what I have wrote.

The liveliest Emblem of Death & Resurrection, which I know of, is a Silk-Worm: In its first state 'tis a crawling Worm of a green­ish colour; and the whole business of its Life (which may in­struct Christians) is to prepare for Death; for spinning a Noble Coffin, it dies, laying it self therein; and after some time, it comes forth of this Mausoleum a perfect New Creature of Whi­tish colour, with Wings and Legs. The Death and Resurre­ction of the Witnesses ought to hold a due Conformity thereto: They ought to be in two differing States, in two differing distinct Bodies, attended with two clearly differing Circumstances. The Old Witnesses ought to have no Life, no Power, no Model or Form at all; but their Constitution is to be absolutely dissolved, and lie dead, dead, dead: Then the Spirit of Life and Power is to enter into them, and give them a New Life, Model, and Consti­tution, perfectly New in substance and circumstance, in all points and respects differing from the former,

This has not been done yet, in any part of the World, but in England, and here it has been done, and is lifted up as an Exem­plar for all the World to copy after. What has been done in other places has been only a Field of Corn raised up, after it has been flatted by some boisterous wind of Persecution; this amounts not to a Resurrection, it being the same Old Corn, not risen, but raised. But here our Harvest has been cut down, and our Wheat cast into the Ground for a New Crop, which we can say is not raised, but risen; one implying help, the other none; and it can­not be said that ever any one helped our New-Risen-Witnesses to Rise; 'Tis purely Gods Work, and is marvellous in our Eyes.

[Page 30] England is reaped, but wo to the Vintage! Wo to all the Constitutions of the Earth! For the Angel with his Sickle will cut all down before him: And where he pulls down, there will he build; and where he reaps, there he will sow: For the Do­ctrine of Restoration must be spread over all the World. God has promised he would make all things New, which He will not do but by pulling down the Old. Happy England, above all the Nations of the World, who art first visited by the God of Hea­ven! England, Scotland and Ireland are the Reubenites, Gadites, and half Tribe of Manasseh, which first have their Lot in the promised Land on this side Jordan: But what they did, so must we; We must pass over Jordan: and assist our Brethren to over­throw the Canaanites, before we can enjoy our Possessions.

Reading the Revelations through, I observe the True Church or Witnesses to have several Appellations, and to wear several Suits of Apparel, fitted to the differing Ages and Circumstances they are in: In Chap. 7. they are The Sealed Number of one hundred forty four Thousand: In Chap. 11. the Two [...] in Sack-cloth: In Chap. 12. A Woman going into the [...]. In Chap: 14. The same Number of one hundred forty four Thousand, with their Fathers Name written on their Forehead, standing on [...]ount Sion, be­ing delivered out of all their Calamities: And in Chap. 19. as an Army fighting under their General the Word: And lastly, in Chap. 20. Every one standing in their proper Colours concerted in­to a regular Body of the Church Regenerate, Landed safely in the Millennium. Thus— Si liccat parvis componere Magna. Caius goes to his Diversion, to the East End of an Oblong Pool, where he chooses several smooth Stones, and marks them with a particu­lar mark, then slides them over the surface of the Water, where they dive many times by the way, but at last Land on the We­stern Shore; where Julius going by, he calls to him aloud to throw him back his Stones, telling him they have such a parti­cular mark; the which he doth. And this is the state of the Church and Witnesses, before and during the Millennium: For [Page 31] in their passage they met with many Troubles and Perplexities by the Way; but in their Return, they are free from all.

OF THE NEW JERUSALEM.

CHRIST taking Possession of the Kingdoms of this World, as Heir and Conqueror thereof, and the Church being brought to bed of the New-Risen-Witnesses, these things make such a great Alteration, that there is said to be a New Heaven, and a New Earth: All things in Church and State receive a New Face: And things are so turned up-side-down, that This State is called by the Apostle to the Hebrews, The World to come: But it is not well Translated, for the Original is not Cosmos, but Oceonimia, which is Dispensation, so ought to be rather Dispen­sation to come, of which we speak.

The Millennium doth introduce a New Dispensation, but not a New Gospel; by Dispensation, I understand a Publication of all New Discovered Truths, and an Errecting up a New Outward Administration suitable thereto. Light and Truth breaking forth, they ought to be Published; and Children being Born, they must be Provided for: The New Bride must have a New House built for her; and it was never known, that a King took the Field, but he had a Royal Tent pitched for him: 'Twas the custome of the Warriers of old, as soon as their Armies were Mustered, to Erect a Pavilion for their General, called the Prae­torian Tent; which being pitched in the middle of their Camp, all Commissions and Orders were Issued out from thence; and the whole Camp Addressed themselves thereto in all their Affairs of Concern and Moment. The WORD is in the Field, Riding [Page 32] upon his White Horse, and his Army of White Linnen Follow­ers are Mustered; but there is no Tent Erected for the Lamb; there are Muster-Masters, but no Quarter-Masters, and every one bears his own charge in the War; this ought not to be: the Apostle saith, No man goes to War at his own Charges; 'tis a shame­ful thing that the Generalissimo should lye out in the Field; there was never any Army yet, but had some Head Quarters.

In all the Dispensations that have hitherto happened, There was some principal place appointed for God and Religion. Moses built God a Tabernacle and Solomon a Temple, and it has been the confusion of the World, that Christianity has had none appoint­ed for it in this last Dispensation. The Christian Dispensators, having no peculiar Lodgings appointed for Them, fell into the Baudy House of Rome; and so She that was at First a Pure Vir­gin, became a Prostitute, and is now that great Whore of Babylon, which must be turned out of doors to make Room for the True Bride. This Great Neglect of not making due Provision for Gods Servants, will cost the World dear; for all that Irregular Build­ing, that Vile Mixture of the Sons of God with Men, is to be pul­led down; and Men must do what they ought to have done be­fore: They must build a place for the Servants of God in each Nation, for the Dispensers of his Word to dwell in; and it ought to be as our Saviours Sepulcher, in which 'tis said Never yet Man lay. For had the Spouse layen in such an one before, She had had no occasion of Repentance, and had not now been called a Church Regenerate. So many Vile Idolators having lain in Rome, Cor­rupted her Manners and Conversation, and made her unfit for her Lords presence. What Irregularities and Confusions there have been in the last Dispensations, I think will be needless here to enumerate, they being so plain and self evident to the World, and that the principal cause and occasion of them, has been what I mentioned, I think is a like manifest. The Dispensation of Moses was much better than this Last; for he appointed Thirteen Ci­ties for the Priests, and Forty Eight for the Levites, through [Page 33] all the Tribes of Israel. The Servants of God were not left to scramble for their Livings, in such a precarious manner as ours; but had their due Lot of Land allowed them for a Possession; which indeed was the greatest Due and Justice in the World. And God appointed Moses to do it. And when they came into the pro­mised Land, they applied themselves to Joshua and Eleazer: And they spake unto them at Shiloh in the Land of Canaan, saying, The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, to give us Cities to dwell in, with the Suburbs thereof for our Cattel. The Lord command­ing this thing, not only shews the Justice, but the Fitness and Properness of it. And I challenge all the Skill and Wisdom of the Universe, to propose a better Way and Method of Dispen­sing Gods Word, than what He here doth Himself in this Chap­ter of the New Jerusalem. There is a River of Life, and a Tree of Life, in the midst of this City; which no Skill or Learning in the World can make any thing of, but must of Necessity al­low it to be the Gospel, and the Preachers thereof: And to what purpose can the Twelve Gates serve, but that the Preachers may go out Twelve times a Years, or every Month, to heal the Nati­ons? 'Tis said, The Tree yielded its Fruit every Month, and the Leaves of the Tree were for the Healing of the Nations, And the Kings of the Earth bring their Glory and Honour into it. This shews the Millennium to be rather an Hierarchy than a Monarchy, as I hinted before; And this Constitution of Circular and Itinerant Predicants, doth confirm the same: The Inhabitants of the City are a Royal Priesthood, a peculiar People zealous of good Works.

But some say, This New Jerusalem is Heaven, because it comes down from above.

The Millennium is the Morning of an Eternal Day, and this Jerusalem-state is a Type of Heaven, but not Heaven it self, be­cause the Text saith plainly it comes down from Heaven, and there­fore cannot be Heaven it self. It is said to come out of Heaven, be­cause of the Excellency of its Constitution, being contrived by God himself, and because 'tis a Copy of the Heavenly Motions, [Page 34] answering it in all its Circular Revolutions. But if Men consi­der it right, 'tis a very strange Opinion to make all the other Scenes through the whole Prophecy to be on Earth, and this to be in Heaven; they may as well make Solomon's Temple in Hea­ven, as to make this City in Heaven: As his Temple was the Perfection of the Tabernacle, so this City is the Perfection of the last Tabernaculous Dispensation of Babylon: The Bride and the Whore are always put in opposition to one another; and to make one upon Earth, and the other in Heaven, is to go against the whole current of Scripture-Analogy. This City can be ta­ken no other way but in a Literal sence: And Men that only Gaze, and speak at Random, may be surprized; But whoever doth soberly and seriously consider of the matter, must needs Vote for me in this Case: There is such a Torrent of Reason and Justice on my side, that I cannot well see how any one can with­stand it.

All Men will acknowledge that God made This World as a Theater to display his Glory upon; the Five Empires are no other but Five Acts: And the Altar, Tabernacle, Temple, Mock City, and True City, are the Five Scenes. Jerusalem is but the Scene of the Fifth Act, which always is the best: And 'tis usual in the Last Act to have all the Actors on the Stage at once; For first, there are the New-Risen-Witnesses, or Church Regenerate, then the Jews, then the Whore and her Retinue, and lastly a Set of Idolaters throughout the World; Every one are to be rewarded according to their Merit. The Witnesses are the principal Act­ors in this last Act, and are Risen, but as yet enter not publick­ly till The Scene of the New Jerusalem be Drawn; when, The Stone which the Builders rejected, becomes the Head Stone of the Corner. But I spoke of the Reason and Justice of the thing; Is it not a most Just thing, that the Lord in Chief, when He comes to visit the World, should be served with the best Furniture, and lie in the best Room in his own House? He has had the First Fruits of our Flocks and our Herds, an Altar for the Earth, a Tabernacle [Page 35] for our Tents; a Temple, for our Houses; But he has had no City yet: And 'tis fit he should be presented with the first Fruits of all the Compositums, as well as of the Simple and Natural Things on the Earth. The Kings of the Earth have built to themselves many stately Cities, and called them after their own Name: Saith one, Is not this Great Babylon which I have Built, for the House of the Kingdom, and for the Honour of my Majesty? And this is the cause which makes the Earth mourn, and the Hail­stones of a Talent (the Bombs) ruine so many Cities. Men build their own Houses, and neglect Gods. David would not do so; He would not lie in Cedar, when the Ark of God was in Tents. But now the WORD OF GOD is on his White Horse in the Fields, and like Jacob, must lay his Head upon a Stone: For He has no Tent at all. But 'tis hoped ere long, this thing will be considered by our David, when the Wars are over, and when God shall give him Peace round about.

Again, Nebuchadnezzar calls Babylon, The House of the King­dom; Every Kingdom is to have a House or Principal City in it. Now all the Kingdoms of the World are become Christs, and 'tis the most reasonable thing in the World, that He should have a House in every Kingdom, as Lord in chief, and Proprietor of the Whole: This is but a very reasonable Sacrifice to Him, who can enter upon the whole Premises when He pleases. At this very time He is Soveraign Lord of the Universe, The King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; and that by a Decree, ordained Him from Eternity: No Monarch in the World has a Foot of Ground or an Inch of Power, but what is given by him: He therefore who has received from him the First Fruits of Power and Empire in England, who has been preferred before all the Monarchs of the World, being constituted his First Delegate; He, I say, who has Received First, ought to pay his Homage First; and to Erect such a Monument of Gratitude, as may be a Pattern to other Nations to all Generations. I speak not so much of a Glorious City, as a Tent, Colledge, or Tabernacle, to shew the way, and [Page 36] make a beginning: And was it a City, the thing is very feasible; for if every little Village can rear a Church, sure a whole Nation can quickly build a City. In this Tent, Colledge, Tabernacle, or City, let there be built, as for the Prophets of old, a little Apartment for each Prophet, putting a Bed, a Stool, a Table, and Candlestick there; and a sufficient Number being Annually chose out of all the Counties by Lot, let them Twelve times a Year issue out, and heal the Nation: When this is done, Righ­teousness will quickly cover the Earth, as the Waters cover the Sea; We shall have no dark Corners, or barren Mountains, but every thing will be full of Light, and every thing will flourish and be green, like the Paradice of God. Indeed the Advantages of this most Excellent Administration, are inexpressible, and is wor­thy of the Great Contriver, God Himself. Then we shall know what the New Moons and the Sabbaths mean; for Earth will Eccho to Heaven, and we shall in a manner have a Sun, Moon, and Stars, here below; keeping due time in their Motions and Circulations, with them above. What the Sun is in the Hea­vens, or the Heart in Mans Body, the same will this City be in every Nation.

But Jerusalem in Palestine is to be the Head, for to Her the great Stream of Promises belong: The Text saith, And Thou, O Tower of the Flock, to Thee it shall come, even the First Dominion; The Kingdom shall come to the Daughter of Jerusalem: Jerusalem will be the Royal Seat, or House of Christ Kingdom; for, The Name of the City shall be, THE LORD IS THERE: That is, He will be there in a most Glorious manner, but not Personally; His Name is called Wonderful Counseller: 'Tis extreamly probable his Presence will be there after the manner he was in the Temple of old, viz. Oracularly.

And since I am come to the City of Ezekiel, it will not be amiss to observe the position of it, and of the division of the whole Land, which is exactly like a Man: For there are the Lot of Five Tribes above, and Seven Tribes below, and the holy Por­tion [Page 37] for the Priests and Levites in the middle; and this City in the upper part of the holy Portion answering the Heart exactly, the holy Portion below answers the Belly and Intrails, which are esteemed holy; And the Princes Portion lies on both sides the holy Portion, East and West, like two Arms. to guard and de­fend it. And 'tis said, They that serve the City shall serve it out of all the Tribes of Israel: This seem; but Reasonable, for this City being the Heart, supplies the whole Body with Salutiferous Juyces. The Preachers do issue out Twelve times a year to heal them, and there is the greatest Reason in the World, that the whole Tribes should serve it; by Administring such Conveni­encies and Necessaries as are suitable. And that the Inhabitants of this City are Preachers, tho' the Text be silent, yet is a thing without all contradiction: For the Waters that issue out, first to the Ancles, then to the Knees, then to the Loyns, and at last to be like a River not be passed over; these Waters, I say, do plain­ly manifest that the Gospel and Preaching is meant hereby; and their Salutiferous Virtue does confirm the same. And another Prophet is more apposite to the thing; saith he, In that Day, Li­ving Waters shall go out of Jerusalem, half of them towards the for­mer Sea, and half of them towards the hinder Sea; in Summer and in Winter shall it be. Here is the exact Method and Administra­tion pointed at, and the Continuance of the same, saying, In Sum­mer and in Winter it shall be: Now 'tis not possible to spell any thing out of this so clear an Expression, but the Gospel and Prea­ching. The Apostle to the Jews, levels the whole of his Dis­course to this, New Dispensation; for, as it were, rejecting the for­mer, he saith, Leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto Perfection, not laying again the Foundation of Repen­tance from dead works, and of Faith towards God, of the Doctrine of Baptism, and of Laying on of Hands, and of the Resurrection of the Dead, and of Eternal Judgment: These all seem to be the matter of the last Dispensation, and therefore he leaves them, and de­signs to speak of something higher, implyed by the succeeding [Page 38] Verse,— And this we will do, if God permit. And he makes Christ to be the chief Administrator in it; saying, For unto the Angels he hath not put in subjection the World (Dispensation) to come, of which we speak: And afterwards he tells them, But ye are come un­to Mount Zion, and to the City of the Living God, the Heavenly Je­rusalem, and to an innumerable Company of Angels: To the General Assembly, and Church of the First-born, whose Names are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the Spirits of Just Men made perfect: And to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant; And to the Blood of Sprinkling, which speaketh better things than that of Abel. This City is of a Heavenly Nature, ministring in Spiritual things, in which the General Assembly of the New-Risen-Witnesses do convene; The Latin Version is Conventum & Concionem, im­plying a General Assembly of Preachers; and their Names being written in Heaven, answers to that Conscript Number which John mentions stood on Mount Zion, and we cannot suppose that Heaven is meant thereby. But this, as I have before intimated, for their Security, in opposition to the Jewish Genealogies which are kept so strictly on Earth: And for the Ministration of Angels, God has always used them to Minister to Those which shall be Heirs of Salvation: And no doubt but they will be imployed in a more especial manner in this most happy Dispensation.

This New Jerusalem can by no means be Heaven; for Isaiah af­ter having brought in God making a New Heaven and a New Earth, he brings in the Children of Israel building Houses and inhabiting them, and planting Vineyards and eating the Fruit of them, which are things inconsistent with Heaven: And 'tis said, The Kings of the Earth do bring their Glory into it, which they can­not do into Heaven; For Heaven needs no Glow-Worms to en­lighten it: And to represent any Church-state which is past, there's too much Beauty and Symmetry in it for that: It must needs therefore presigure something to come. And if it be objected, It cannot be in a literal sence, because of the Inestima­ble Materials: This makes little; for the Richness and Sumptu­ousness [Page 39] of the Materials, is not so much to be understood lite­rally, as to set forth that most admirable Beauty and Harmony it will introduce, and to make it a more proper Representative of Heaven, of which it is really and truly a Type, and nothing else. John was set upon a Mountain to see this glorious sight, and he tells us, It came down from Heaven, and therefore cannot be Heaven it self. He might be set on a Mountain to see as far as Judea, he being in Patmos; but I rather think it was to see as far as Britannia, where this happy State should first dawn, and where the First Pillar in this Temple of God, or of the New Je­rusalem, should be erected; which is a peculiar Promise to the Philadelphian Church, which we really and in truth have amongst us: Jerusalem in Palestine will be the Tower of the Flock, or the Cupola of this most Magnificent Structure; and all other Citta­dels will be as Pillars to support the Main Fabrick: It will be like St. Peters at Rome, and all the rest answering our Cathedral [...].

Further, John saith, He saw no Temple in it; which plainly sets forth the changing the Temple-Administration for that of a City: And how excellently is this Dispensation suited to the Age of the World? The World is now Adult, and come to its Manhood; and what more proper Scenes can we have than Ci­ties, which are the Discretional and Political parts of her Furni­ture?

But further, The Body of Jesus Christ is the Grand Pattern of things in Heaven and in Earth, and were we but well-instru­cted in our own Frame, we might almost know any thing: The last expired Dispensation has been only a Fermentation in the Sto­mach, or a preparing of the Juyces to convert them into Blood, which this City-Heart disperses, and makes to circulate through all the Body. The Circulation of the Blood being found out, the Gospel (which is the Blood of the World) could not be long a Mystery; and the Blood coming to the Extream Parts, reverts, as I hinted before, proving thereby the Church to be Re-born, [Page 40] or the Witnesses to have their Resurrection in the West. The Increment of Christs Natural Body is the Great Rule of all our Dispensation, or Cause of Alterations of all the Political Affairs in the World: As the Flesh grows, the Politicks of the World change; The Flesh is the Incremental or Changeable Part, and the Spirit the Firmamental or Immoveable Part, being God him­self. That common measure of Prophetick Time, of Time, Times, and Half a Time, has a peculiar respect to the Age of Christ. And the Three Grand Dispensations by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have a peculiar Regard to his Childhood, Youth, and Manhood: In the dark shadowy Dispensation of the Jews, He was growing in the Womb; and to Constantine's time a Child; and the last 1260 years, he was a Youth, (and what Aestuations and Fermentations there are in Youth, is well known; and 'tis as well known how Youths are corrupted and imposed upon, who are Heirs to great Estates.) But now he is Adult, and come to his Manhood, and therefore, as is usual for Heirs, makes claim to his Estate, which is no less than the whole World: Hitherto he has been as it were in his Nonage; But Now, as the Apostle expresses it, his Body the Church is come to the Measure of the Fulness of his Sta­ture; which is not well Translated, for 'tis Christi Adulti, in the Latin, which ought to be rendred of Christ come to his Manhood, or grown a Man.

Before, Other Lords Ruled over his Heritage; But Now, in the Millennium, being his Manhood, he will Rule Himself: He Now Claims all Power and Authority, and gives and bestows the Kingdoms of this World to whom he pleases. And whosoever henceforward Exercises any Power or Authority on Earth, if not delegated by him, 'tis either Permission or Usurpation; for all Power and Dominion belongs to Him. And when Kings come to their Kingdoms, 'tis usual to prefer some City before others, for their Residence; Therefore Jerusalem in Palestine is the place; He will reside and put his Name there; The Text saith, The Name of the City shall be, THE LORD IS THERE. 'Tis also (speak­ing [Page 41] Spiritually) usual for Men who come to Age, to Marry, and take a House; Jerusalem is this House, and the Church Rege­nerate is the Bride; and blessed are those that are called to the Wedding: Saith John, Blessed are they which are called to the Mar­riage Supper of the Lamb: That is, Blessed are those that are Mem­bers of the Church regenerate; Blessed are those that live in the times of this happy Administration of the New Jerusalem, for they (if they be Holy) shall be Sharers of the First Resurre­ction, or be invested with the First Fruits of his Power; They shall enter into, and have the Priviledges of this Holy City, if they are cloathed in their Wedding Garments, the white Linnen of Holiness; but if not, they must stand without: The Text saith, And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that Defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a Lye; but they which are written in the Lambs Book of Life: And, Blessed are they that do his Commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of Life, and may enter in thorow the Gate into the City: For without are Dogs, and Sorcerors, and Whoremongers, and Murderers, and Idolators, and whosoever loveth and maketh a Lye: And all these things are to be understood in a Literal, as well as in a Spiritual sence; No indigested crude stuff must come to the Heart, but pure and rarified Blood.

And what can Men object against this most happy Admini­stration? I know they will say, It will make strange Altera­tions, and overturn all their Old Constitutions in the World: I allow this: 'Tis said, Old things are passed away, and behold I make all things New. And Men may thank themselves for this; for if they had not built with Wood, Hay, and Stubble, it had not been pulled down; If they had made due Provision for the Infant Bride, she had not turned Prostitute, and so had now had no oc­casion to have been washed and purified; she had been ready long ago, and had not now occasion to make her self ready. Christ set the World a Blessed Pattern, but they would not fol­low it. The Text saith, And it came to pass, that He went through­out [Page 42] every City and Village, preaching and shewing the Glad Tidings of the Kingdom of God; and the Twelve were with him. And ano­ther saith, And Jesus went about all the Cities and Villages, teaching in their Synagogues, and preaching the Doctrine of the Kingdom. This was the way which our Saviour took, and had it been con­tinued hitherto, there had been no need of a New Administra­tion. The Way and Method a Doctrine was first planted, is the most proper way to preserve it. This way therefore being used at the Publication, ought to be used at the Restoration. The running Waters are living and wholesome, but the standing do putrifie.

Christ is the Alpha and Omega; The Throne mentioned in the first part of the Revelations, is nothing else but this New Jerusa­lem. This Book is the most exquisite piece of Paint in the World, and were the Painting-Art lost, it might be found here: The Son of God first draws the Design, then the heavenly Raphael 's and Michael Angelo 's go on, adding Line upon Line, and Stroke upon Stroke, guided by his Divine Hand, till at last they finish and shew this Incomparable Hierogliphick in its proper colours. By Throne nothing is meant but this City; And the Prophet Jeremiah doth confirm the same, saying, At that time they shall call Jerusalem The THRONE of the Lord, and all Nations shall be gathered into it, to the Name of the Lord at Jerusalem. And when the Text saith, I saw Thrones, and they sat upon them, and Judgment was given unto them; I know not how to understand any thing else but Cities, where places of Judicature are usually erected. Nor do I see any Incon­venience to let the Sword of Justice and the Sword of the Spirit, to make their Monthly Circuits together, that the Counsel of Peace may be betwixt them both. When the Prophet saith, And thou, O Tower of the Flock, this argues there must be many of them, else they could not be a Flock. And every holy City in each Nation sending annually their Representatives to pay their Homage, and receive Instructions there, these make in Council together The General Assembly of the First-Born, ( much greater [Page 43] than that at Nice.) Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, It shall come to pass, that there shall come People, and the Inhabitants of many Cities. And the Inhabitants of one City shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of Hosts; I will go also: Yea many People and strong Nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. And another Text saith, That whosoever of all the Families of the Earth that shall not come up to Jerusalem, upon them there shall be no Rain. We can­not suppose that the whole Number should come to the Feast of Tabernacles, but some Representatives from the Regenerate City of each Nation; and these being in a Body at the Feast of Ta­bernacles, make up the General Assembly of the First-Born. And the Prophet Isaiah saith, And it shall come to pass, from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. This has a peculiar respect to this most excellent Oeconomy, in sending out Monthly Preach­ers out of each National Regenerate City, which will give birth to Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly Solemnities, so that this Prophecy will then be fulfilled to an Iota. These Circular Monthly Preachers, are plainly hinted at in the Texts following. I have set Watchmen on thy Walls, which shall never hold their peace day nor night. Thy Watchmen shall lift up the Voice, with the Voice together shall they sing, for they shall see Eye to Eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion. And I will set Shepherds over them that shall feed them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord. And I will give you Pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with Knowledge and Ʋnderstanding. Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the River: Now when I had returned, behold there were very many Trees on the one side and the other: Then said he unto me, These Waters issue out to­wards the East Countrey, and go down into the Desart, and go down into the Sea, which being brought forth into the Sea, the Waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, that moveth, whithersoever the River shall come, shall live; and there [Page 44] shall be a very great multitude of Fish, because these Waters ( these Preachers) shall come thither, for they shall be healed; and every thing shall be healed where the River cometh: And it shall come to pass, that the Fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi to Eneglaim: There shall be a place to spread forth Nets. There Fish shall be according to their kind, as the Fish of the Great Sea, exceeding many: But the Miry Places thereof, and the Marshes ( That is, those that will not hear, or ad­mit of these Preachers) shall not be healed, but given to Salt. And by the River on the Bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all Trees for meat, whose Leaf shall not fade, neither the Fruit thereof he consumed: ( That is, these Preachers shall never fail to make their Monthly Circuits out of the Cities) it shall bring forth new Fruit according to its Months, because the Waters issued out of the Sanctuary: And the Fruit thereof shall be for Meat, and the Leaf thereof for Medicine. This is so full, that there will be no occa­sion of quoting that of John, which in a manner is a Repetition of it. Daniel saith in the end of his Prophecy, Many shall run to and fro, and Knowledge shall be increased: And Zacharia, We have walked to and fro thorow the Earth, and behold all the Earth sitteth still and is at Rest. Were but these things fixed, then might we very well say, How Beautiful upon the Mountains are the Feet of him that bringeth Glad Tidings, that Publisheth Peace, that bringeth Good Ti­dings of Good, that Publisheth Salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. These things are to be performed and done in the time of Christ Reign. And these Preachers shall further say, Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the Waters; and he that hath no Money, come ye, buy and eat; yea come, and buy Wine and Milk without Money and without Price. Many have paid very dear for a Draught of these Waters; but old things are passed away, and all things are become New. The Spirit and the Bride say, Come; and let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that is athirst come; and whoever will, let him take the Waters of Life freely. The Gospel then is to be as free as the Air, or the Sun Beams: Then will Righ­teousness cover the Earth as the Waters cover the Sea: For what dry [Page 45] Mountain will not this constant heavenly Rain fall upon? What dark Corners can be hid from these ever-shining Lights? Glori­ous things are spoken of Thee, O thou City of God! But when these things come to pass, Men shall say that the Prophets have not told them half of the Truth. That Pillar of Fire which led the Children of Israel out of Egypt, and all the former Glory in the Tabernacle and Temple Administration, were but first Fruits of the Glory which shall be revealed in this City-Administration: For God shall create upon every Dwelling-House of Mount Zion, and upon all her Assemblies, a Smoak of a Fire by Day, and the shining of a flaming Fire by Night; and upon all the Glory there shall be a Defence. The Sun it self is to be ashamed, when God reigns in Zion before his Ancients gloriously.

The Political part of this Worlds Oeconomy being screwed up to the Harmonious Pitch of the Natural, there's a Non-plus-ultra, and we can go no further: Nature is the utmost Bounds, and is the Handmaid to that Eternal Bliss which is to be revealed in the presence of God for ever.

The Prophets are so full in their Descriptions of the Glory of this Administration, that to come up to any tolerable measure of its Commendation, I must transcribe them all, and then fall far short of it too; For to describe the Beauty of Nature, is in a manner to describe GOD Himself, who is the Fountain of it, which is impossible. But there is one of the Prophets put the Old Dispensation, and the New, in a Ballance; his words are these: Before these Days, there was no hire for Man, nor any hire for Beast; neither was there any Peace to him that went out or came in, be­cause of Affliction: for I set all Men every one against his Neighbour. But now I will not be unto the Residue of this People as in the former Days, saith the Lord of Hosts: For the Seed shall be prosperous, the Vine shall give her Fruit, and the Ground shall give her Encrease, and the Heavens shall give their Dew; And I will cause the Remnant of this People to enjoy all these things. This is a most gracious Pro­mise; and that God may be as good as his Word, he binds Satan [Page 46] up all the time of this Oeconomy; for should he still be loosed, things would go on as formerly, nay worse; but being overcome in this last Battel, God promises that neither he nor his crew shall Live Again, as formerly, when Defeated by Constantine; but that they shall be as Drones without Stings, and lick up the Dust of the Earth, and lie prostrate at the Feet of the New Jeru­salem, or Church Regenerate, for the whole time of this Dispen­sation. The Rest of the Dead lived not till the Thousand Years were ended: Then he and the rest of his impudent Dead Vassals will attack this City, and Fire comes down from Heaven, and de­stroys them. But during his Imprisonment, She Rules as a Queen, and as the Soveraign Empress of the whole Earth; but in an Hierarchical and Spiritual manner, and not in an Imperial: For, Christ was a Priest for ever, after the Order of Melchise­deck.

During this Reign, there will be no more Appeals to Rome, but to Jerusalem; for there the Court of the General Assembly of the First Born, will be held; every Regenerate City sending yearly their Members to serve in this Heavenly Parliament: God doth not abolish the Old Jewish Priesthood of Aaron, nor the Babylonish one at Rome, but puts a far better and more Excel­lent One in their room; and this the Apostle hints all along in his Treatise or his Epistle on this Subject to the Jews; he men­tions, a Rest to the People of God, which is nothing else but the Millennium; and HE the Heavenly Melchisedeck, is supream Administrator in it, as Aaron was in the Old Dispensation of the Jews: He makes a Comparison all along betwixt one and the other, and prefers one in a high degree before the other; by all which it may be plainly understood, Christs Reign is after a Spiritual Priestly manner; and if it had not, it had never been put so much in opposition against the Whore; and as for the Temporal Power, He delegates that to whom He pleases, and dis­poses of it so thorough the whole time of the Millennium; that no King or Potentate in the World, shall be able to disturb or [Page 47] hurt his True Church: The Bride has a Husband, invested with all Power in Heaven and in Earth, and is sufficient to maintain her against all Whorish, Beastly or Satannical Usurpations what­soever; and He will use all his power to Cherish and Caress her, to compensate her Sufferings under former Usurpations during his Minority: He disposes his Power so, that the Kings of the Earth bring their Glory and Honour, and lay it in her Lap; this is but their Duty, and as I may say, a Tythe to this Royal Melchi­sedeck, who to requite their kind Protection and Kindness to his Spouse, Blesses them, as Melchisedeck of old did Abraham; and this bringing their Glory and Honour into it, stands in direct opposi­tion to that Evil Treatment and Barbarous Affronts, the Kings of the Earth of Old put upon her, who butchered her Servants as Sheep for the Slaughter; for which vile Indignities, He now takes Revenge, and casts the Beast and the Whore into the Burning Lake. Men may raise many Mountains of Difficulties against this New Jerusalem: But hear what God saith, Who art thou, O great Mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a Plain; And He shall bring forth the Head-Stone thereof with shouting, crying, Grace, Grace. Joshua is brought in by the Prophet standing before the Angel in filthy Garments, and Satan at his right Hand; and the filthy Raiment is taken away, and he is cloathed with Priestly Raiments, and a Miter set upon his Head. Joshua here is the Representative of the Witnesses in Sackcloth, or the Suffering Church in the Old Dispensation: And Satan seems to be angry that she should be delivered from his Tyranny; and stands by, and accuses her of all those Backslidings which he has tempted her to; and, as it were, infers from thence that she is unworthy to be delivered; But God rebukes him: The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: Is not this a Brand pluck'd out of the fire? This Rebuke, is that Great Battel fought by the WORD and Satan, in which Satan is Defeat­ed, and the Virgin-Church Delivered out of his Clutches, and a Crown or Miter set upon her Head: The Text saith; They [Page 48] Lived and Reigned as Priests with Christ a Thousand Years; That is, all the time which Satan and his Accomplices lay under the An­gels Rebuke.

By this Pair of Witnesses, Zerubbabel and Joshua, is plainly hinted to us how the Millennium will Commence: Zerubbabel is to overthrow all the Powers or Mountains of Opposition, and so the Church Regenerate is Deliver'd, and he is to assist Joshua in the Establishment of her; for it is said, The Counsel of Peace is betwixt them hoth. The Text saith, That The Man whose Name is The BRANCH, shall rise out of his Place and build the Temple (or City:) I know not how to make Christ come from Heaven Per­sonally to build this Temple; I know He is the Root and Off­spring of David, and so may be called a Branch, but all his Buil­ding is of a Spiritual Nature: he builds up his Church Spiritu­ally, conferring Spiritual Gifts and Graces upon his Master-Buil­ders, whom he employs in the Work: But it is plain, that this Building is to be Material, and therefore requires a Man upon Earth to do it. I am no Theologue, and if I should be mistaken, may be excused; but I cannot remember that the NAME of Branch is attributed peculiarly to Christ any where else in the Bi­ble: The Angel saith, His Name shall be called Jesus; and in ano­ther place 'tis said, His Name shall be called Emanuel, God with us; and, Wonderful Counsellor, &c. This Text points directly to the Mans NAME, and to the Manner and Circumstance of his Ri­sing: It saith, He shall rise out of his Place, implying an Ascent to Honour: David rose out of his Place, being but a Shepherd, and he overthrew the Philistines, and all the Enemies of God's Church round about: And Zerubbabel rose out of his Place, be­ing but a Thresher, and he cast down Baal's Worship, and over­threw the Midianites, and settled the People of God in Peace. This Man the Branch, if he could be found, must be attended with the like Circumstances, because there is the same business to be done: The Baalitish or Babylonish Worship is to be thrown down, and the Philistines, and all other Enemies of God's Church, [Page 49] to be overcome; The Kingdoms of this World becoming the King­doms of the Lord, and of his Christ.

Christ finds the World in great Confusion, and his Church much oppressed, and therefore wants a Man to overturn his Ene­mies, and to Deliver his Church from Oppression: Therefore he raises some Man or other out of his Place, to perform this, as God did Zerubbabel and David of old.

Now there is a Man risen out of his place, and is already per­forming this Great Work; on Him Christ has delegated the First Fruits of his Power in his Millennian Kingdom: He also rose out of his Place, in another sence, being a Posthume: His Ap­pellation is also from a thing that grows out of the Earth, or out of its place. And so it is ordained that He who should be the first Introducer of the Millennian Kingdom, should not have his Name from a Fierce Ravenous Creature, by which Beastly Em­blems all the preceding Monarchies were represented, but from a Tree; A Tree, next to the Olive Tree, the only Emblem of Peace and Prosperity in the World; For the nature of it is such, that it has always Fruit upon it, either New or Old, and often both together: This happy Emblem is chosen to represent to us the most flourishing and happy State of the Millennium; and possibly that this Nation shall never want one to sit upon his Throne. After the cutting down our Harvest, and the Termi­nation of the Old Powers, Saul was our first King, who though under great Obligations did nothing; the last, was only an In­tercalation; But this seems to be our David, that must do the Work.

Now I have brought the Monarchy to a Tree, it will be need­less to enlarge more upon the Name of Branch.

The First Head of the Fifth or Western Monarchy, ought to be a great Hunter, to drive the wild Boar out of the Vineyard, and chace the Lions, the Leopards, and Bears, out of the Forrest, that the Flocks of God may feed and lie down in safety. Hi­therto these Beasts of Prey have made sad Desolation and Ha­vock [Page 50] vock amongst the Lords Heritage: Constantine once drove them out, but they came in Agatn: But Now the Promise is, They shall not live Again. Great God, when will this Great Battel come? But come it certainly will, and then these Beasts shall be for ever driven out. Daniel saith, The rest of the Beasts had their DOMINION taken away; That is, they were civilly kill'd.

The last Tyrannical Scene of Lions, Leopards and Bears, being withdrawn, the next is, A Fair and Beautiful Forrest; and this comes of course: There are now no Inhabitants in the Forrest of the World, but Trees; the wild Beasts had driven out the Flocks before; and now They Themselves being driven out, the Trees only are left. The Millennium enters of course, and a Beautiful Forrest is the first Scene. And then the first Tree that appears, which is to have the chief Dominion, is The Meinreb or Vitis; The Second is, The Pomerancenbaum, or Ma­lus Assyria; one is to be the Adminiculum or Pedimentum to the other: This last with its Golden Fruit introduces the Golden Age. This in behalf of the Vine is made the first King of the Trees; This has a preference to all the Trees in the Forrest, and has the First Commission of Power granted him from the Sove­reign Lord in Chief, in the First Resurrection of Power.

Which Tree may next be preferred, I cannot tell: All Power being Christs, He chooses whom he pleases. But this I can tell, The last in Succession, when Satan is loosed, must be some Vile Bramble, only fit to be burnt; because, suggested by Satan, he attempts a Rape upon the Spouse of Christ, the beloved City; So he and his fellow Brambles are all burn'd with Fire from Hea­ven. And in all probability this New and Last Aera will hold Analogy to the last Expired Monarchies; We shall have the Best Trees first, and the worst at last, as is intimated by Nebuchadnez­zar's Image; Whose Head was of fine Gold, his Brest and his Arms of Silver, his Belly and his Thighs of Brass, his Legs of Iron, his Feet part of Iron, and part of Clay.

And if Men should object against this New Emblem of Power, [Page 51] They ought to consider, the Old Tree of Monarchy being cut down, a New One ought to grow in its Room. The Beastly Monarchies Expiring, and the Kingdom of the Forrest Enter­ing; the Powers, Civil and Ecclesiastical, are no more to go un­der the Emblem of Beasts of Prey, but of Trees, whose Leaves are for Shade and Protection, and Fruit for Profit and Delight; and therefore most proper to represent the most Glorious Reign of the Millennium, all whose Officers shall be Peace, and Ex­actors Righteousness. But the old Tree being cut down, and the Stump left in the Ground, there must be some time allowed for another Tree to grow up, and before it can be a Tree, it must first be a zweig, a Surculus, in English a Branch: The Old (Vine, the Old Church, or Old Tree of Life and Power of the Gospel, has been cut down, as also the Old Tree of Power or Monarchy, and two New Branches sprouts out. These Two Branches grow up together, the latter being the support and strength of the former, which is tender, and weak, and needs Assistance; All the World knows the Nature of a young Vine.

And this leads me to the understanding of two Texts which has been hid from Ages, but now Revealed to the Glory of God in due time: Jer. 23. 5. Behold the Days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a Righteous BRANCH; (And a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute Judgment and Justice upon Earth: In his Days Judah shall be saved, and Isreal shall dwell safe­ly And this is his Name whereby he shall be called, The LORD our RIGHTEOƲSNESS: Zach. 6. 12. Behold the Man whose Name is the BRANCH, and HE shall grow up out of his Place, And He shall build the Temple of the Lord, even HE ( because there is two) shall build the Temple of the Lord, and He shall bear the Clory, and shall sit and rule upon his Throne; And HE shall be a Priest upon his Throne; And the Counsel of Peace shall be be­twixt them BOTH. First there is a Righteous Branch born to David; this is the Spiritual Birth of Christ in the Church Rege­nerate, or his New-Risen-Witnesses: This cannot be himself

[Page 52] Personally, for he saith, I am the Vine, ye are the Branches. Then there is a King which shall reign and prosper, and execute Judg­ment and Justice upon the Earth; And in His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: And this King shall give the Name, or be Godfather, as it were, to the Righteous Branch. And as if he should ask what Name? The Spirit seems to make Answer, This is the Name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOƲSNESS.

Now nothing is more plain and evident, than that the Name of the Lord our Righteousness, is not the Name of the Man whose Name is the Branch, for they are plainly Two Names, one is called the Lord, and the other is called the Man. The Man whose Name is the Branch, is That King which shall reign and prosper, and execute Judgment and Justice upon Earth; the Text levels directly at his Name Apellative: Now what King has such an Apellative Name, I leave to the World to Judge. But if Men shall say they are both one, they very much mistake, for the Text is plain and express to the contrary, making Two of them, saying, The Connsel of Peace shall be betwixt them both. The One shall build the Temple of the Lord, and shall bear the Glory, and sit and Rule upon his Throne; and the Other shall be a Priest upon his Throne; And the Counfel of Peace shall be betwixt them both. How the Translators have ordered it, I know not, but the thing is self-evident, that there is an Hic & Ille in the case, tho' they have render'd it He and He. God saith He will create a new thing upon Earth, A Woman shall compass a Man; as this re­lates to a common birth, 'tis no new thing: This compassing a Man, I know may very well be applied to the First Birth, but more particularly to this Second, this young tender Branch cree­ping round, or encircling its Pedimentum, expressed by the Coun­sel of Peace being betwixt them both; the State being then the Husband or Guardian to the Church. But here is something far­ther intended by the Newness of this thing; 'Tis not customa­ry for the Woman to caress the Man, for the Church to be above [Page 53] the State; But in the Millennium the Church shall rather be up­permost, and therefore may be said to compass the Man.

But that this King that shall reign and prosper, is not Augu­tus Caesar, nor the Righteous Branch, but purely He, the Man whose Name is the Branch, I have this further to offer: The An­gel gave special order what the Name of the First Birth should be, saying, His Name shall be called JESƲS; Now we cannot sup­pose the same Birth to have Two Names, therefore the Name of The Lord our Righteousness, must of necessity be the Name of the Second Birth, the Birth Spiritual, or of his New-Risen-Body, the Church Regenerate. Again, The Name of Righteous, speaks so much Sanctity and Holiness, as cannot well be given to a Tem­poral Prince. And that This King which shall reign and prosper, is not Augustus Caesar, is plain, because it saith, In his Days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: Now all the World knows that in the time of Augustus Caesar, and the First Birth, the Jews were far from dwelling safely, they were under Bondage, and af­ter a little while utterly exterminated; therefore This Name of the Lord our Righteousness must relate to a Second Birth, in a little time after which, the Jews shall be Saved and return home.

To sum up the whole, Behold, the Days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David, (Christ) a Righteous Branch; And a King shall reign and prosper, and execute Judgment and Justice upon Earth; and in HIS Days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: This King, &c. seems to come in by a Parenthesis; as if he should say, The time of the birth of the Righteous Branch shall be in the Days of such a Kings Reign, in whose Reign Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and then the Parenthesis is shut up, and the Childs Name given. And when 'tis said that Kings shall be Nursing-Fathers, and Queens the Nursing-Mothers of Christs Church, this supposes Infancy and Childhood, and is more particularly applicable to the birth of the Church Regenerate; for when the Old Jewish Church was brought to bed of the Christian, the Kings were so far from Nursing the Child, that they would have strangled it: And therefore this Promise must [Page 54] relate to the birth of the Church Regenerate, or none at all. This Child or Righteous Branch was born in the First Year of the Reign of the King that began to Reign and Prosper; viz. Anno 1689. And the Time of its being baptized with the Spirit, or Power from on High, is just at hand, and He is to be its Nursing-Fa­ther and Royal God-Father, and to call it, The Lord our Righteous­ness; And the Counsel of Peace shall be betwixt them both.

And so this difficult Text is, by the Grace and Assistance of God, plainly solved; and the Event thereof, will speedily con­firm its Truth: And then Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; for as the Former pouring out of the Spirit did dis­perse them, This will collect and gather them. The Text is plain.

Isaiah tells the Jews how long they shall be under Tribulation and Misery, viz. Ʋntil the Spirit be poured on us from on High, and the Wilderness (the Church in the Wilderness) be a Fruitful Field (be Regenerate) and the Fruitful Field be counted for a Forrest. The Temporal Power is the Forrest, which incloses and guards the Fruitful Field of the Church. When this comes to pass, which is just at hand, it will confirm and sufficiently ratifie what I have asserted. The blessed Pentecost cannot be far off, it must needs be at the Door; and I desire all good Men to prepare themselves for it, but especially the New-Risen-Witnesses, on whom the Great Descent will be. This will Arm all the World against the Wild Beasts of the Forrest, that the Arborical Reign may be Esta­blish'd. The Church hitherto has been in the Wilderness, but when the Spirit descends, it will be a Fruitsul Field, and yet will be counted for a Forrest. The Great Descent opens the Fountain, which by a New Predication will quickly over-spread the World. This River shall receive no stop by the way, as the last. Satan being bound, it shall run over all the High Mountains. Isaiah saith, And there shall be upon every high Mountain, and upon every high Hill, Rivers and Streams of Waters, in the Day of the Grees Slaughter when the Towers fall. Christ saith, Every Plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up; and this is the time of rooting up.

[Page 55] But God never pulls down, but he builds up; & where he reaps, he sows: The falling of these Towers is nothing else but driving the wild Beasts out of the Forrest, an overthrowing the Babylo­nsh Kings, and their Buildings; and this is done by the Sword: Then comes the Word, implied by these Waters, and instructs and informs them in the Ways of the New Dispensation. This is the last Dispensation, which hitherto was to come. The Text saith, We give Thee thanks, Lord God Almighty, who art, and wast, and at TO COME. This is that World or Dispensation to come, which the Apostle to the Hebrews speaks of. It therefore being now come, no more is to be expected.

Four do not bear Record in Heaven, only Three, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit; And God having applied himself to Re­claim Men by Three several Methods, they can in Reason expect nothing else: And therefore the Text saith, He that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is Holy, let him be Holy still; implying thereby, that no more Attempts would be made to reclaim them. The first Approximation was by Angels, very Terrible, above them; the Second, by Flesh, more Familiar and Kind, yet without them; the Last, by his Spirit, comes nearest of all, even within them. This is a most Gracious Approach, and will leave the whole World without Excuse: Men need not step out of Doors for any thing, they have all things at home.

In the Propagation of this last Dispensation, there will be no such Martyrdoms as before, the bloody Beasts are driven out, or chained up; Old things are passed away, and all things are bcome New. The Martyrdom will lie inward, a renouncing Self, and the World, and a crucifying the Affections and Lusts. Nothing henceforward can hurt Gods True Church, for Christ presides over the Forrestial Kingdoms and makes Kings the Nursing Fa­thers, and Queens the Nursing-Mothers thereof: 'Tis said, The Kings of the Earth shall bring their Glory and Honour into it.

'Tis an amazing thing to observe how tenacious Men are of their Old Models, thinking that God will build so lasting an Em­pire [Page 56] as that of his Son, upon such rotten and weak Foundations; Whereas he has publickly declared to all the World, that he would make all things New. Let them henceforward think of nothing else but of being broken to pieces by the Stone out of the Mountain. The whole Civil and Ecclesiastical World is now in the Crucible, and the Fire of Gods Wrath will quickly melt it down, and make it ready for a New Impression. The Angel has his Sword in his Hand, and only wants the Word to fall on. Christ has granted his Royal Pattent to his Church, it wants only the Sealing, and the Wax is just now a melting; When 'tis Sealed, when the Complex Birth is Circumcised, or the Child Regene­rate Baptized (with the Spirit I mean) Then all the World shall know, That the Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Christ. They are truly and really His now; And never a Tree in the Forrest has any Legal Power, but One; But this World knows not; But then they shall; And all the Rest shall be found to be Usurpers. Then wo to Herod! Wo to Ze­bah and Zalmunnah! For the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon shall do mighty things. Then the Kingdom of the Forest will enter, and every Man will be a Soldier to help to kill the wild Beasts: Every Man then shall understand what is meant by the Man whose Name is the Branch; And shall confess that God has given him for a Witness to the People, a Leader and Commander to the People.

I care not to perplex the Reader with Numbers: When the Sun is up, there is no occasion to ask when he Rises: Yet I could do it very exactly. But this is anothers Province.

Before I Conclude, I must desire the following Writers to take particular notice of what I have wrote.

The One is an Ingenious Man, but more a Phi­losopher than a Divine: T. Burnet. He melts down the World Literally, instead of its Civil Frame: This is most Cruel and Inhospitable: There might have been some better Correction found out, than to burn Mens Houses about their [Page 57] Ears: and Some Better Entertainment, for wearied Guests and Strangers, than to fall on them and kill them in their Lodging; 'tis not customary to turn men off, before They have said their Prayers: The Millennium is the Repentance of the world: The Counterpart of a Voyage: The Reversion of an Estate after an others decease: But He cuts off the Entail; Sinks the Vessel in the Harbour; kills the weary Traveller, and allows the Penitent no Benifit of the Clergy. 'Tis the custom of a Skilful Foun­der to Break his Metal before He casts it a new: The Stone out of the Mountain, is said to break the metal Image of the Four Monarchies to pieces: This Breaking to pieces, is nothing but the unravelling of all the Constitutions upon Earth: Now, Had He well considered This, I Believe He would have left us our Good Old world standing, during the Time of the Millen­nium: For there is no doubt but It would Last us much longer were the Heavy weight of Mens Iniquities Swept off.

The Other is more a Divine than a Philoso­pher; and would have Christ to come Perso­nally and his Saints with him, T. Beverly. and to Live and Rule with him in a Heavenly Court over us, in the Air, dure­ing a Thousand Years: and to have The Dead-Risen Saints to hold a Corespondence and Commerce with the Saints that re­main alive below upon Earth; as plainly appears by his Ca­tichism and other of his writings. Now having so plainly and fully proved The First Resurrection not to be Literal, there needs no more to be said in Confutation. This Castle in the Air (as He himselfe makes it) will quickly vanish. The Man is a Pious and Good Man, and has Great Communications of Light, But, Humanum est Errare. 'Tis much more probable, That Christ will appear in an ORACƲLAR manner as in the Temple of old, rather than in a Personal: On This account He is called Wonderful COƲNCELLOR, &c. And The Prophet Saith Men shall Say no more The BƲRDEN of The Lord, But what hath The Lord ANSWERED. This plainly Implies That He is to be Sought to for Councel and Advice, And al­though The Name of The City be, The Lord is There, Yet [Page 58] an Oracular Presence is more Suitable to Reason, Scripture, and Gods former Methods, than a Personal.

The Last, is (if alive) A Good Philosopher and Divine, M. Jurieu. But a Bad Mariner (Though at Roterdam) and a worse Husbandman. For He makes His Vessel to return back, before it comes to its ordained Port: Empire and The Gospel, ought to Sail to the Extream­est Parts before They Return. He makes also His Witnesses to Rise BARE GRAIN, Whereas 'tis First to rot in the Ground and come up with a New Body as The Apostle plainly demon­strates. 'Tis well known France is not the Extreamest Nation, The Witnesses therefore, could not Rise There: The Extrusion of the Poor Reffugies was only an Act of Secretion By Him who has his Fan in his hand, who being unwilling to have the Wheat and Chaff burned together, dispersed them abroad, not for their Ruine but their Safety; Sodom could not be destroyed till These Lots were gone out. And Now The Fatal Day is ap­proaching, The French Tyrant was Raised up, on purpose to be thrown down, and made Great, that Neighbour of his might be made Greater: But this runs me on another Subject.

I Freely acknowledge, that what I have wrote on these Sub­jects is New, But this gives it a title to Truth, Since all who have hitherto wrote on the Same Points, have been mistaken. Now if Persons would but lay aside their Prejudices to Causes and Persons and consider of things sincerely, and impartially, I doubt not but they would confess, that I have made good The Title, and that These things will remain no longer a Mystery to all Generations. To God be the Praise and Glory, who hath hid these things from the Wise and Prudent, and Revealed them unto Babes.

—Of Time being no Longer.

ANd I saw another Mighty Angel come down from Heaven, &c. This An­gel comes on a Solemn Embassy from the Mighty God, and there­fore his Garb is very magnificent, He is clothed with a Cloud, has a Rain­bow on his head, his face is like the Sun, and his feet as Pillars of Fire: The Great Business of his Embassy, is to instruct The World in the Great Con­cern of TIME, and to Commence a NEW Dispensation, Which is first to be Published throughout the world, and then TIME is to be no longer. This NEW Dispensation is plainly intimated in the Commission He gives to John, saying, Thou must Prophecy AGAIN Before Many People, &c. The Open Book in his hand, is The Book of the OLD Dispensation: and his Commanding John to eat it up, is the Cancelling of it, and The Com­mencing a New One. This Solemn Act of eating it up, lays it up in a safe place, that Man may come at it at all times, and so renders him inexcu­sable before the Great Judge. The King is come himself, The WORD is upon his White Horse, and though We may regard his Picture in his absence and call it The King, yet to call The Written Word so in his Presence is something unmannerly. I have a due value for The Written Word of God, But a much greater for The [...], or The ETER­NAL WORD, The One is The Original, The other is but The Copy. WORDS Printed or writen are but painted, And we have had a great many unhappy Artists, who have made The Copy very differing from The Original: Some of The Draughts look more like J— than Jesus. The True word is only Audible and not visible: No man yet ever saw words only heard them: Therefore what is written or Painted in our Books cannot be The True and Real word. Before The Marriage 'Tis usu­al to send The Picture, But when The Bridegroom comes, 'tis laid aside. If it be asked, how we shall distinguish? I Answer, The Spirit is our Help­er and The Bride knows Her Lord. But to Return to The Angel: His Dra­pery is all Hiroglyphick, and plainly declares, in what part of the world he delivers his Errand viz, in the West. 'Tis the Setting Sun of the Gospel which sets under a Cloud: when The Sun is setting, 'tis usual to see the Rayes dart down on the Sea and Earth like Pillars of Fire: Before, The Church was all­glorious without, but under This New Dispensation, She is all-glorious with in, Her State is now inverted: And This Angel coming to proclaim a New Dispensation and to usher in The Refreshing Times, is Clothed with a [Page 60] Cloud, which is a Symbol both of Change and Refreshment. The Eastern Sun of Righteousness shining on the Western Cloud makes The Rainbow, which is a very Comfortable Symbol, and assures us God is mindful of his Promise, which Promise He Performes by Renewing all The Old Eastern Images in the west: For the Death, Birth, Resurrection, Ascension, &c. of Christ are again Renewed in His Witnesses or Church Regenerate: And These Things being strange to The world are appointed to be Published: John Therefore is Commanded by The Angel to Prophecy AGAIN.

And He cryed with a loud voice as when a Lyon roareth. He comes from the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah, and therefore speaks in his Masters Language; But besides His Embassy being to all the World, should He not cry a loud He would not be heard. And when He had cryed, Seven Thunders uttered their Voices, &c. Since these Thunders are sealed, I will not be too busie with them, 'tis probable they are the Seven years of the Seventh Angels sound­ing betwixt the Second and Third Woe, which are a Mystery till the Last Blast. And standing on The Sea and upon The Earth He lift up his hand and swore by Him That liveth for ever and ever, &c. I Never see The Sun Setting under a Cloud with his Feet like Pillars of Fire, but it puts me into a Fit of devotion, Thinking of The Most Solemn Oath of This Angel, which puts a dismal Catastrophe to The World. The Great God who is Just in all his ways, and Holy in all his works, is unwilling to sur­prise The world; and therefore sends a special Message to Mankind by This Angel, to acquaint them, that after such a Time, TIME should be no longer; And That He may be Believed, He Confirms it with an Oath, that which a more Tremendous and Solemn One was never sworn.

Now since He has been so kind to send a Special Embassador, 'Tis worth our while to hear, and consider well of his Message. His Oath is po­sitive and Indefinite, That TIME should be no longer, BVT, &c. But In The Days of The voice of The Seventh Angel, when He shall BEGIN to sound, The Mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared to his Servants The Pro­phets. Here is no mention made of Time, Times, and half a Time, as by the Angel in Daniel, under The sounding of The Sixth Trumpet, But The Death of CRONOS, or TIME Indefinite, is positively Swore to; and un­der CRONOS, All The Tempestates, or Species of Time what soever are comprehended: Having Swore his Death so solemnly, one would have thought The Angel would presently have fell upon The Aged Monster, But He gives him a little Respite, coming in with a BUT, or an Exception, which Semper firmat Regulam; But, Saith He, In The Days of the voice of The Seveath Angel (Reckoning These Days from the very Time) when He shall Begin to sound, &c. Did I Say He gave him Respite? He gave him none, but killed Him then, and Raised Him again to life: The Oath flew both Him and his Issue. TIME, here is of a Complex nature and may ra­ther [Page 61] be suposed a She Monster, And being Pregnant, The Angel rips open the Belly and lets the Young live out all their DAYS, which had otherwise perished in The Womb of Their Parent: But Though These POST HUMES live, yet Their life is only a Reprieve after Condemnati­on, for They are not to propagate, Their Death being really swore to in the Death of their Parent: This BUT, limits their Life, which is du­ring All The Days under the Sounding of the Seventh Angel.

Some Pious Men amongst us, understand TIME here, in a Relative and Restrictive sense, affirming that The Angel means no more, than that some of the same quality or sort should be no longer, than the Beginning of the Angels sounding; which Interpretation, though acidentally true, yet falls much short of The Angels Oath, being only a part of his plain in­dubitable sense: For nothing is more plain than that the Sense extends it self farther, even to the END of the Days, and consequently to The END of the world: The Text at the very entrance, confirms this, making The Hysteron, the Proteron, or Puting The Days before The Be­ginning, plainly implying thereby, That we are to include All The days under The Angels sounding, before his Oath of Time being no longer, can take place: We cannot suppose, that God would send so Extraordinary in Embassador to The world, on such a slight Errand, as to acquaint them, That when The Sixth Hour was past, it would be Seven a clock, or that The Time under The Sixth Trumpet, should last no longer than The Beginning of The Seventh; Such a Message would be very unworthy so Great a Courtier; And was his Business to tell us, That The Time in the sixth Hour would not be The same for quality, with That in The Seventh; This would not add much to the Dignity of His Office.

In short, TIME Ends not (as is vulgarly supposed) when The Angel BEGINS to Sound, But at the Expiration of the whole Days under his Sounding: And the Angels Chief Errand is to point out to Men The PE­RIOD of The world, And The END of Time: And Methinks I hear Him Speaking to The world after This manner. ‘YE Sons of Men Take Notice, The Old Glass of Time ( viz. of 1260) is just run out; And I Am Sent to Turn it, And I Here Turn it in The Presence of you All, And do Swear, By The Living God who Liveth for ever and ever, That It shall never be turnd more, But when The Sands are run out, or when The Days of the voice are Ended, (Reckoning Them from the Beginning of his Sounding, or Tuning of his Trumpet) Then, The Glass shall be broke, and TIME, (of whatsoever Denomination) shall never be Measured more, but be swallowed up, in the Great Ocean of Eternity.’ Two Things The Reader must Note. First, That That TIME which The Angel swears the Death of, is of a Simple and indefinite nature: and that The Time which He Excepts is of a Complex nature, Because there [Page 72] are Days in it. Secondly, That The Angel is Seven year in sounding viz, Betwixt The Second and Third Woe. These things being premised Though there may be so me seeming difficulty when to Commence The Excepted Time, and when it Ends, or Expires: Yet really, There will be none at all.: For We are to Begin These Excepted Days, Not when The Angel has sounded or done sounding, But when He Begins to sound: Not When The Clock has struck all, But at The very First stroke of Seven: The Text is, [...] Quum futurum est ut Clangat: That is, When He shall First begin, or be about to begin to sound: The very Tu­ning his Trumpet, or his Preparing himself to sound, comes into The Account. 'Tis usual to say, T'is Seven a Clock, when it has struck Seven; But This is our Errour, For it was seven at the First stroke: at that very Instant, when The Sixth Hour Lapsed, or The Second Woe to The True Church Ended. The Reign of a King Commenceth, Not from the Time of his Proclamation; But, From The Exact Time of His Predecessors Death. There is no Interregnum, Time being not discontinued: So The Reign of Christ Commenceth, from the very moment of the Angels Beginning to sound, which was in The Later part of 1688, When The Witnesses Rose. The Spirit puts an Emphasis on The word beginning, God being unwilling that Men should be ignorant, of the Exact Epoche of Christs Reign: Because it is The Index, which points out The Final Day of Judgment. Now, In The second Place, How long These Excepted Dayes will Last, or when they will Expire, and Time be Fi­nished, is alike plain, and manifest: For, The Sands In The upper part of the Glass, will be no longer in runing, than in the lower part: The Lease of The Bride, (If The Indentures be compared) will be found to be cut out of the Same sheet of Time, with that of the Whores: Now The Whores Lease, was for 1260 Years, or Time, Time, and halfe a Time; under the Sounding of the Sixth Angel: And The Brides, under the Sounding of the Seventh, will be the Same, viz, 1000, for The Millen­nium, and 260, for The Little Season, In which, Satan shall be Loosed, which Ballances exactly. Then, Time shall be no longer. The Turning the Last Glass, or the Angels Begining to sound, Is the Finishing of time Inchoate, And Its vacuity, (or Expiration of the 1260 Years,) Is the Finishing of time Consummate. These things must needs be very plain. The Sounding of the Seventh Angel, Is the worlds Passing Bell: Judg­ment then begins, and They are Destroyed, which destroy the Earth; and in the End are thrown into Hell, when the Quick and Dead will he judged. These Last 1260 Years being the Dawn of an Eternal Day to the Godly: But the Dire Crepusculum of an Eternall night to the Wicked. These Days Began in the Latter part of 1688, But had no Solemn Com­mencement 'till An. 1689 'when The Man, whose NAME is The Branch, [Page 73] was Crowned King. Now, would The Inquisitive know, what the Last Year of the Seventh Angels Sounding will Issue in: Let me tell them, Tis, very probable 'twill Terminate in a Most Glorious Appearance of Christ, Pouring down the Spirit from on High, at Pentecost: For, He is Now Considered under the Following Relations. viz, As the Son of A Great King, or an Heir Adult, Claiming All the Kingdoms of the Earth: As a Bridegroom, come to marry His Bride: As a Great Gene­ral, come to Conquer the World, whose Name is called The WORD of God: As an High Priest, or Chief Administrator in His Millennian Kingdom, and Lastly, As a Young Infant in His Church Regenerate The Pouring out the Spirit (so often promised) may Refer to all These: As He is a King, 'Tis the Great Proclamation: As a Bridegroom, 'Tis The Marriage Supper: 'Tis the Sealing His Commission as a Souldier: His Installment as He is an High Priest: As He is married, 'tis the Sealing His Bride a Jointure of Power For a Thousand Years: and as He is an Infant, 'tis his Babtizing: and Lastly 'tis the TEMPLE OPENED, not of which The Plagues do Issue forth, with a Full Commission to Destroy all His Enimies, who would not have Him to Rule over them.

No Sort of Christians will deny that God hath made to Men a Promise of a NEW COVENANT in the Latter Days: Obliging Himself thereby to write his Law in their HEARTS, &c. Now, He never makes a NEW Covenant but He Break The OLD one: Nor is it his Custom ever to In­troduce a New, or Cancel an Old one, with out the Greatest Solemn­nity. After what Manner, and with what Solemnity He Broke The old one; I have plainly hinted in my Preface to the King. The Intro­duction of the New one (there being Two SEDE VACANTES by Can­celling the Old one) is but the Reverse of That: And That It will be Introduced with a Joyous Solemnity, is The Rational Expectation of all Good Men.