CHAPTER XIV. Prophesies and Promises fulfilling in the present increasing Work of Christ. K CHAP. NOWN unto God are all his works from the foundation of the world; and as far as possible, invisible spiritual things have been revealed by the things that are made; therefore said the Lord by the prophet Hosea, "I have multiplied visions, and used si- Hosea i militudes, by the ministry of the prophets." 10, 2. Christ Jesus, the first who received the substance of the promises, seemed often at a loss for means to convey an understanding of spiritual things to souls that were lost in their sins; and therefore he had recourse to similitudes, and compared spiritual things with natural, as the most striking means of conveyance. "Where- Mark iv. unto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? 3. When Christ compared the kingdom of God to a grain of mustard-seed, to leaven hid in three measures of meal, or to a net cast into the sea, he could not mean that there was any resemblance in the case to the view of the natural eye. And therefore, it must be a false imagination that will look for the spiritual object to appear in the natural form, or shape of those things to which it may have been compared. 4. It would be very unnatural and unreasonable to look for a kingdom to appear in the shape or form of a net, or of a piece of leaven; yet in the spiritual mind there is a true sense, in which these things in nature have a resemblance to the spiritual work of God. And this is particularly made manifest, in the present day, in and by the Church of Christ, which is built according to the fore-knowledge of God, answerable to all the similitudes that were ever drawn by the spirit of Christ, in prophets or apostles. 5. The Church of the latter day was represented by the prophets, under the similitude of a kingdom, a city, particularly Jerusalem, Mount-Zion, the temple, and such like objects of visible glory; and the gathering and uniting of God's people into Church-order, is compared to the gathering of the Israelites, from the countries in 32. Luke xiii 18. XIV. Dan. ii. 28-31, which they were dispersed, and establishing them in the possession of their own land. 6. But to frustrate the carnal mind, Christ and the apostles represent the same spiritual work, by things di rectly contrary; so that the proud and aspiring have as good reason to look for the promise to be fulfilled in planting a grain of mustard-seed, as in setting up a great visible kingdom; for thereunto is the kingdom of heaven likened. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the true signification of the promises of God to his Church and people, and wherein they have been fulfilled. 7. To whatever the promise of God literally referred, whether to a kingdom, a new city, or a new heaven and earth, it doubtless alluded to men and women, living on the earth, in and among whom the work of God was to be wrought, and to whom the promises were finally to be fulfilled, for the establishment of everlasting righteousness and peace; therefore, such must constitute the true Church of Christ, the only antitype of every figure, and the substance of every blessing promised. 8. We shall take notice of a few general promises which comprehend all the particular ones, relating to the Church of the latter day, together with their plain and pointed accomplishment; and first we shall consider what was promised through the prophet Daniel. 9. By the fate of the image which was shown to Nebuchadnezzar, and of the four beasts which appeared to Daniel, both representing four great empires, God did 35. and vii. particularly promise and show the final dissolution of those monarchal governments, by which mankind were bound in ignorance and wickedness. 10. In the fourth and last of these empires, Antichrist was to have his reign, in which the civil and ecclesiastical powers would be divided, like the feet and toes of the image, and into which the existing powers of government would gather, for the support of the whole syɛtem. 11. A stone was also cut out of the mountain without hands, and smote the image on his feet, which were part iron and part clay, and broke them to pieces, and continued to break and bruise every part of the image, until the whole was broken in pieces together; and the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image, became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. XIV. Dan. ii. 12. It was thereby expressly shown, and promised, that CHAP. the powers of monarchy should be weakened, in the latter end of Antichrist's dominion, by a mixture of republican principles; that is, the seed of men, where all, 43. however divided, have equal power and authority, and where those Antichristian and republican principles should be blended together, like hard iron and soft clay; there God would smite them both together, by the Everlasting Gospel, given by inspiration from heaven. 13. All this God is particularly fulfilling in this latter day; for, as stone is harder than any metal, and grindeth and weareth away iron and brass, silver and gold; so the truth of God is harder than all the most polished systems and principles of men, and must in the end, grind and wear them away till no place be found for them. 14. And as republicans are mixed with Antichristians in every department; so this mixed government is partly strong and partly broken, and the different parties help to weaken and break each other. And as neither are founded on the revelation and spiritual work of God; so neither can stand, but in the end both must fall together; and only by a proper relation to the spiritual work of God, can the principles of real and true freedom be finally established. 15. For neither empire, nor republic, founded in the corruptions and depravity of the fall, can stand in the shaking of this last and great day of God Almighty: and therefore the perfectly just and peaceable kingdom of the Messiah, is opened as a refuge for all that would escape the promiscuous wreck and ruin of the Antichristian world. 16. This was also included in the same prophecy through Daniel. "And in the days of these kings, [that Dan. ii. is, in the time of the fourth empire, before the kingdom 44. of Antichrist is at an end] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." 17. And further, saith the same prophet, "I beheld chap. vii. till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days 9, 13, 14. did sit,—I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and U u XIV. CHAP. glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." Dan. vii. 22, 27. Dan. viii. 13, 14. 18. "And Judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." 19. Hence the breaking and demolishing of that whichwas corrupt, and the setting up of that which should stand forever, was not only promised as an event most certainly to take place; but also the time when it should take place, was revealed and promised by the same prophet. 20. "Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake. How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." 21. This vision of Daniel is dated 553 years before the Christian æra, which taken from 2300, leaveth 1747, as the year for the promise to be fulfilled, counting a See Ezek. day for a year in the first given number, as is usual with the prophets. iv. 5, 6. 22. Man is the temple or habitation of God, in both parts of his manhood, male and female, and the female is the medium through which all enter into manhood; but as the female or second part of man was defiled by sin, so that none could enter into manhood without partaking of a sinful nature; therefore, in cleansing and purifying the female, the sanctuary was cleansed, and the way into the holiest of all fully made manifest, where God promised to dwell forever. 23. Hence the promises so universally allude to the purging away of sin and uncleanness, rooting out and destroying that which is evil in human nature, and implanting, promoting, and building up that which is virtuous, holy, and good. As the whole law is fulfilled in one word, namely, in obedience; so all the promises of God are contained in one word, namely, in righteousness. 24. And hence such plain promises as the following: "I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross-afterwards thou shalt be called. The city of righteousness, The faithful city. As a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves; so the Holy seed shall be the substance thereof. Then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.-And Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, The holy mountain." 25. "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house [that is, the antitype of Moriah, the second mountain, on which the temple was built] shall be established in the top of the mountains, [that is, above the strength of every other building] and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the moutain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." tion. 26. "And he shall judge among the nations, and shall work conviction in many peoples;* and they shall beat * Lowth's their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pru- Translaning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.--But they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his figtree: and none shall make them afraid." 27. And-"This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain, the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy.-And the name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee-to beautify the place of my sanctuary--and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel." Ezekiel xliii. 12. xlviii. 35. Isai. lx. 13 14. 18, 21. 28. "Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou Isai, I. shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.-That they might be called Trees of Righteousness, The planting of the Isa. Ixi. Lord, that he might be glorified." 3. |