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II.

thither; is this any reason why the promise of God CHAP. should be void, and of no effect?

18. Let God be true, and every man a liar; let man deceive and be deceived, while he imagines that the things of the Spirit, are such as he can see with his natural eyes, and handle with his natural hands.

19. While he is willing to put far away the day of God, and abuse the scripture words and numbers, by his carnal reason, let him try to ascertain by his human wisdom, whether Christ will come first to old Jerusalem, or to some of the churches; whether in an army of natural troops, or of rational arguments; and whether his kingdom will most resemble that of king Solomon, the Pope, Bonaparte, or that of the Word.

20. He may fix it either way, but very little depends on the conclusion of his carnal mind; the purpose of God remains unchangeable in all the operations of his work, and he will do his pleasure.

21. When Christ spake to his disciples of his second coming, they asked him Where Lord? Jesus did not answer, In Jerusalem, or among such a body of nominal Christians, or lo here, or lo there; but,

37. 1 Cor.

, WHERESOEVER THE BODY IS. For as the body is one, Luke ¦ and hath many members, and all the members of that one x 12. body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.

22. Neither did Jesus expressly tell them what, or where that body should be. Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living.

23. THIRDLY. The manner of the work of God in the latter days, was also to remain concealed from the comprehension of mankind, until the event should declare it, being promised under prophetic figures and similitudes, as opposite to each other as fire and water, light and darkness.

24. The natural figures which were used to describe the day of the Lord, after holding forth the future prospects, were more calculated to blind than to enlighten. This the prophet knew, when he said, Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! the Ames v. day of the Lord is darkness and not light.

19.

CHAP.

II.

Isai. Ix. 1,2.

John iii. 8
Jer. iv. 11

12, 13.

16. xliv. S

25. And again, when Zion shall arise and shine, and the Lord shall be her everlasting light, and her God her glory; then darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.

26. Natural men could look for natural appearances of greatness and glory, while both the similitudes of future events, and the events themselves, confounded their human wisdom. Thus, Christ was denominated a king; but his appearance in reality was as mean as that of a beggar, without form or comeli❤ ness that any one should desire him.

27. Here the natural man fell short in looking for a king, like the great ones of the earth, when the work of this King of kings, was to humble himself and become obedient unto death; and by his self-denying example, lay a foundation for supplanting all the kings and kingdoms of the earth.

28. This the natural man could not comprehend, however plainly substantiated; still he looked for a king higher than all the kings of the earth, sitting upon some visible throne, such as his carnal eyes could behold, while, in the purpose of God, there was nothing for his carnal reasonings but eternal disappointment.

29. The ruling elements of the day of God her could not understand from natural figures. The Holy Ghost was compared to fire; and the same was often compared to water. Is not my word a fire, saith the Lord. The disciples of Jesus wanted to call down real fire from heaven; but they mistook the figure for the substance, and knew not what manner of spir it they were of.

30. And the same mistake remains with all natural men, while they look for a natural Jesus to descend from the natural heavens, in flames of natural fire, taking vengeance on their natural enemies : but their natural eyes shall never see it.

31. The wind bloweth where it listeth-A dry wind -a full wind shall come-he shall come up as cloudsIsai xli. and the wind shall carry them all away-I will pour Mal 2. water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the Mat.xxiv dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring-He is like a refiner's fire-He shall come in the clouds.

30.

32. In these, and many other places, the same thing is denominated by opposite elements, and the same elements made use of to denominate opposite things, how then could the natural man comprehend it? If the Spirit that was to be poured out, was both fire and water, both hot and cold, it could not possibly be one; and how could he know it? He might be looking for water, and behold fire cometh; or he might be looking for fire, and there cometh water; so that he could not possibly tell which to expect.

CHAP.
-HIL

33. But he thinks he verily believes the scriptures, which cannot be broken, and these testify, that "when 1Thos. v. they shall say, peace and safety, then sudden destruc- *. tion cometh." So contrary are the imaginations of men to the things of God in futurity.

THE

CHAPTER III.

The Subject continued.

The Joeli.31.
Mat.xxiv

HE signs given by the spirit of prophecy, are also out of sight of the natural man; such as the visible changes in the things of nature. sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into 29. blood. The stars shall fall from heaven, and the pow ers of the heavens shall be shaken.

2. These things were, in a certain sense, fulfilled on the day of pentecost; but was the natural sun really turned into darkness? was the moon converted into blood? or did the natural stars fall from the natural heavens? No such events ever did take place, and who can say they ever will ?*

3. Then the natural man may say, this spirit of prophecy is a lying spirit. This by no means follows; for the same spirit in the apostles, testifies concerning the prophets, that not unto themselves, but

The sun may be said to be darkened, when its light is excluded from the earth by a cloud or an eclipse, or by any supernatural means, as the darkness Over the land of Egypt in the time of Moses, and the darkness at the crucifixion of Jesus; yet no person can reasonably suppose that the sun itself was ever garned into darkness ; and whether it ever will be, is entirely unknown to man,

III.

CHAP. unto us they did minister the things, that were then reported, by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.

4. Men of different occupations, call very different things by the same name: as, A wheel among clockmakers, a wheel among coach-makers, a wheel among mill-wrights; all of which are denominated wheels, though very different in their use, appearance, and manner of operation.

5. The human body, a political body, a body of troops; the society, the church, the nation, have each their particular head. The light of the sun, the light of reason, the light of revelation, are very dif ferent objects, yet each is called light. Adam fell from a state of innocence, Judas fell from the apos tleship, Eutychus fell from the third loft; each is denominated a fall.

6. Eutychus was raised up, so was Lazarus, and so was Christ; but their rising was very different. Eutychus was raised up by the power of others, from where he fell; Lazarus was raised up by Jesus, from where the buriers had laid him, and was subject to be laid in the same place again: but Christ arose from the lower parts of the earth, where he had descended, and that by his own power; wherefore his rising was very different from all others.

7. If the spirit of prophecy, did beforehand, minister to those who were heirs of salvation, in words, which at the time the ministration was given, represented other objects, those heirs of salvation, when they received the true substance of the thing signified, could then bear witness that the ministering Spirit was a Spirit of truth. And natural men, who had not received the same Spirit, but had deceived themselves, by falsely using the words of prophecy in a natural sense, could have neither understanding nor right to interfere in the matter.

8. An ignorant man may use and pervert the words of philosophers; he may call the light of the sun, the light of reason; he may use the words of mechanics, and call the crown wheel of a clock, the hind wheel of a coach, or the rag wheel of a sawmill; or he may use the words of divines and poli

III.

ticians, and call a body of divinity, a corporate body, CHAP. or a body of troops.

9. But as the light of the sun is not the light of reason; so neither is the light of reason the light of revelation. And the heavens and the earth, used in the figurative language of the prophets, are no more the natural heavens and earth, than a body of religious doctrines is a body of national troops.

10. And if the prophet Joel and others, had used the words sun, moon, and stars, blood, fire, and vapours of smoke, to describe certain characters, things, and operations, that were to appear and take place in a future day; it belonged to Peter, who had received the Holy Ghost, to say whether it was natural stars that were to fall from the natural heavens, or whether the falling respected another species of lights; and whether the darkness, trembling and quaking, spoken of, respected another kind of heayens and earth.

11. But natural men have always erred, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God; and deceived themselves, by fixing their own natural ideas of natural things to the letter of the scriptures, while they are wholly ignorant of the Spirit who dictated them; and hence the endless debates concerning their true meaning.

12. Even the disciples of Jesus themselves, until they received the Holy Ghost, could not be made sensible of spiritual things: How is it, said Christ, that ye do not understand? fools, and slow of heart to believe! They marvelled at his sayings, and were afraid to ask him. Yet proud natural men, tenfold darker than they, presume that they can understand all about it; although they have fixed the living saviour at a greater distance from them, than the most distant regions of the fixed stars. So foolish is the wisdom of this world!

Luke Sxiv. 35,

13. How little did the disciples of Christ Jesus comprehend from his words, the design of his death, the nature of his resurrection, and future glory! He told them that the Son of man should be delivered Luke up to the Gentiles, that he should be mocked, and 34. despitefully entreated, and spit upon-that they

xviü. 32

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