Heads, everlasting Foy shall be upon their Sorrow and Sighing shall flee away, and 51. 11. They shall lift up their Voice Shall fing for the Majesty of the Lord. Where els praife the Lord in Urim, even the Name of LXXII. Lord God of Ifrael, from the Ifles of the Sea, | 24. 14, 15. meaning the Weftern Islands, improbably our own Country, called the next Verfe, the Wing of the Earth, In whence Songs of Praife, or (as the XII † feem to understand it) wondrous † Tieto ings were heard; which may poffibly be insosv. lace of Refuge in that Day. But to ren; the Holy Scriptures feem plainly to our this Opinion, That the Prefervation he Righteous fhall be only of their Pers (unless perhaps alfo of their near ends for their fakes) as it was in the fe of Lot; for whofe fake even his Sons→ Law (who it plainly appears by the Seel of the Story were not perfonally quad) might have been preferved if they uld, Gen. 19. 14. But by no means of ir Eftates and Poffeffions. For alas ! fe they have long ago forfaken in their arts: They are the poor in Spirit, and Meek of the Earth, to whom this Delirance is promifed; fuch as have forfaken e World, have forgotten themselves and eir Father's House, and are feeking after better Houfe, even that is not made with ands; and an abiding City, even an heanly. They are dead to the World, with e Pleasures and Profits of it, efteeming e Reproach of Chrift greater Riches than 1 the Treasures of Egypt or Babylon, for D their t 1 S I their Hearts as well as their Treafures in Heaven, out of the reach of Difappo ment and Lofs, where neither Moth Ruft do corrupt, and where Thieves not break through and fteal: The o Ufe they made of their Riches, was pleafe God and accomplish his Will, ia niftring to the Neceffities of the Sain and relieving their needy Brethren. A they know that the Will of God is per better obey'd by a chearful Submiffion Refignation to the difpofals of Provide than by all the moft coftly Offerings a charitable Soul can make. Finally, defire nothing but to be fixed in God, be clear and void of all Creatures, and maintain in themselves a holy Quiet, A divine Peace; enjoying in their Pove S great Riches; in their Miseries great C f tent; in their Afflictions exceeding J and in their continual Labours great R and Peace. Hence are thofe Admonitio to the Servants of God, in order to p pare them for that time, to fit loofe fr the Things of the World, and to feek pri cipally the Kingdom of God, and its Rig teoufnefs, and not to be feeking great Tha for our felves (i.e. Honours, Eftates and P ferments) at a time when God is about to br down what he has builded up, and to pluck whatsoever he hath planted; and our Lives Shall be given us for a Prey, in all Places therfoever we shall go; as the Prophet f miah tells Baruch, Chap. 45.5. So alfo th of Efdras, O my People, bear my Word: M you ready to the Battle; and in thofe Evils t even as Pilgrims upon the Earth. He that felleth, let him be as him that fleeth away; and he that bayeth, as one that shall lofe: He that occupieth Merchandize, as he that hath no Profit by it: And be that buildeth, as he that fhall not dwell therein: He that foweth, as if he should not reap: So alfo be that planteth the Vineyard, as he that Shall not gather the Grapes: They that marry, as though they should get no Children; and they that marry not, as the Widowers: And therefore they that labour, labour in vain, 2 Efd. 16. 40. Hence alfo our Bleffed Saviour, Matth. 24. 16. warns his Difciples, and in them all Chriftians, that when they fhall fee the Abomination of Defolation in the Holy Place: That is, in its compleat and ultimate Meaning, Antichrift; but in a more lax and open Senfe, Sin and Error patroniz'd and juftify'd in thofe Places, and by those Perfons where, and amongst whom, nothing but Truth and Holinefs ought to be found; that then, in Expectation of the approaching Judgments, They that are in Judea fhould flee unto the Mountains: Which Words, tho' in their firft and literal Signification they did imply, that the Jews, when they faw Jerufalem compaffed about with Armies, fhould take that for a Signal to escape to the Hill-Countries of Judea, that fo they might be more out of the reach of the Roman Ärmies: Yet in a myftical Senfe, the same may be apply'd to all Chriftians; underftanding by the Hills, the Everlasting Hills, the Heavenly Mountains of Vertue and Contemplation, from whence alone we muft expect Help and Protection. Pfal. 121. D 2 V. I. bitt v. I. Then he that is upon the Houfe-top; that advanced in the Spiritual Life, let him come down to take any thing out of his He i. e. let him not condefcend to inter with the impertinent and trifling Conc of this World. And let not him that is in Field; i. e. working in God's Vineya turn to take away his Cloaths; i. e. return old cloathing which was not of God's Spiri 30. 1. and which must be taken off, to cover the nakednefs of thofe who are: cloathed with the true cloathing, whil the Righteousness of the Saints, Rev. 3.18.19 and fo on; teaching us thereby, the ceffity of with-drawing our Affections f thofe Pleasures and Enjoyments which be forfaken, when we fhall be forc'd to le all, and fhift for our felves. For it is bable, that as God hath generally de with his Servants at fuch times, fo he deal with them then, i. e. by fome fe means or other, warn them to escape t of thofe Places which are in danger. God did to Lot in the Deftruction of S and Gomorrah; and fo (to mention no mor Ecclefiaftical Hiftory informs us, that did to the Chriftians in Jerufalem, a lit before its Destruction, warning them efcape to Pella, a little Ancient City of Go leftine, not far off. So it is probable will deal with his Servants again, even many of us, as have in the Faith and pection of this time of tryal, waited p ently in the way of the Crofs, for th Spirit of Adoption and Sealing, which f baptize us into that living Communion Fel Fellowship of Love, where those VirginSouls, in whatever Kingdom, Country, or Nation, they are hidden, scatter'd, and difperfed, fhall be united in the Spirit and Center of Unity, which is the true Communion of Saints, John 17. 21. Eph. 1. 10. 4. 13. to whom the Glory of the MountSion Kingdom fhall come, confifting in a perfect Security from the Curfe, where Darkness, Sin and Death, are perfectly fwallow'd up in Victory. $9. THE Sum of what is here advanced 9. A Recafeems to be elegantly comprized in the pitulation of the 9th Chapter of the Prophecy of Ezekiel. whole. In the preceding Chapter God fhows the Prophet in a Vifion, the Abomination in the Holy Place, which provokes him to Jealoufy, and to bring Ruine and Defolation on the Church and Nation of the Jews. Thus he speaks, v. 17, 18. Haft thou Seen this? (i. e. The various kinds of Idolatry afore-mentioned) Is it a light thing to the Houfe of Judah, that they commit the Abominations which they commit here? For they have fil led the Land with Violence, and have returned to provoke me to Anger; and lo! they put the Branch to their Nofe: Therefore will I also deal in Fury: Mine Eye alfo fhall not Spare: Neither will I have pity: And though they cry in mine Ears with a loud Voice, I will not hear them. By the Jewish Church in this Place, which was then the Peculium or Visible Church, we may understand, in a myftical Senfe, the Christian; whofe Abominations when they are come to the heighth, call for the fame Vengeance and Judgments as theirs did, D 3 |