xxix A Sermon or Homily concerning World. How OW fhall I Ephraim the meanest Pag. 359. of the Servants of God, a Sinner laden with Iniquities; How fhall I be able to inftruct you in Things that are above my Capacity. But as our Bleffed Saviour was pleafed in meer Mercy to inftruct his illiterate Difciples in the Myfteries of Wisdom, and by them to convey Divine Light to all the Faithful: So he will without Grudging blefs me with the Gift of Utterance, to the Comfort and Edification both of me who am to speak, and all you that are to hear. But I cannot preach to you without Sighs, nor fpeak without Tears of the approaching Confummation of all Things, and of that moft blafphemous and terrible Serpent, who fhall put the whole Earth in Confufion, and fhall infufe Cowardize, Negligence, and Infidelity into the Hearts of Men, and do Signs, work Wonders and dreadful Sights, infomuch that if it were* M.24. poffible he should deceive the very Elect, and 24. feduce all Mankind by lying Wonders and miraculous Appearances that shall be wrought by him. For by the Permiffion * b 4 of I of the Righteous God he hath Power to deceive the World, because the Measure of their Iniquities is filled up, and all Pla ces are full of all Kinds of Abomination. a And for this Caufe the Holy God will fuf fer the World to be tempted by the Spi b rit of Error because of their Iniquities, because Men have forfaken the God of Truth, and loved a Lie. My Brethren, great will be the Tribulation of the last Days, efpecially to the Faithful. When Signs and Wonders fhall be wrought by f this Old Serpent with great Power. When he fhall again fhow himfelf, as if he were God, in dreadful Operations, (a) flying to and fro in the Air with Legions of evil Spirits, accompanying him? as F C 1 (a) Even as Simon Magus, a Type and Forerunner of him, is reprefented flying in the Air, and thereby oppofing the Gospel of Chrift, as preach'd by St. Peter: And as the fame is alfo reported concerning Apollonius, another Reprefentative of him, and other dark Magicians, Ancient and Modern. Whence one of our Modern Pfeudo-Prophets was, it feems, not well ad. vis'd by the Spirit which acted him, not to content himfelf with the Power of walking upon the Water, as Chrift; but to lay claim likewife to a Promife of flying in the Air, according to the exprefs Characteristick of Antichrift and his Apoftles. This is very agreeable to the Devil being call'd in Scripture the Prince of the Air, and to his Tranfportation of our Bleffed Lord, when tempted by him, from the Wilderness to the Pinacle of the Temple in Jerufalem; if that were a Real and External Tranfaction, as commonly is fuppos'd, and not meerly tranfa&ted in Spirit. is miniftring Angels to this terrible Tyant. For he roareth mightily, appearng in Variety of Forms, to the unfpeakble Amazement of all Mankind. Who, ny Brethren, will then be found standing old and unfhaken, having the (6) Seal in (6) There is a twofold Seal: viz. The Seal in the Heart, and the Seal in the Forehead. The former preedes the latter, and is the Cause of it. The latter ollows this, and is the external visible Sign thereof; which is to be imprinted by an Angelical Power in the aft Days upon all the true Followers of Chrift, to diftinguish them, even outwardly, from the Follower's of Antichrift. Of the former St. Paul has made ufficient mention,1 Cor. i. 22. faying,Whe bath SEALED is, and given the Earneft of the Spirit in our Hearts: And again, Eph. i. 13. In whom (i. e. Chrift) ye were SE ALED with that holy Spirit of Promife. And iv. Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are SEALED, unto the Day of Redemption. And of the latter St. John has made tike: mention, calling it emphatically the Seal of the living God; and that with a particular refpe&t had to the Time of Antichrift. See Rev. VII. 2,39 and x4. Now as for the outward and vifible Seal, where-. with Baptiz'd Chriftians were at Confirmation anciently feal'd, and which was for a fenfible Sign of the inward and invifible Seal of the Heart; it was certainly no other than the Sign it felf of the Son of Man, or of Chrift confidered in his Humanity, being as a Counterpart to the faid Seal of the living God, or of the fame Chrift confider'd in his Deity. Thus the Firft Sealing was to be chiefly into the Merit of Chrift's Death; but the Second is to be into the Power of his RefurreEtion. Accordingly the vifible Eqeyis of Chriftianity which was given in the Primitive Church, by the Miniftry of the Ecclefiaftical Angels, was the anointing the Forehead with Oil, and making therewith the Sign of the Crofs thereupon. Whence spegile and egional are thus us'd in Ecclefiaftical Authors; and in his Heart, the Holy Appearance of the Only Begotten Son of God! When he fhall and even St. Paul himself may poffibly allude hereto in that remarkable Paffage, Rom. xv. 28. And it is very obfervable that Christ Himself is theFirst of the Sealed Ones, according to his own Word, T87ov SПal EVITEV, eds, Joh. VI. 27. Whence by this Divine Sealing, and Powerful Inauguration, he may with refpect even to his Mediatory Office, no less than to his Divine Nature, as He is the Only Begotten of the Father, be call'd Xdeaxlp SÁTENS AUT: And it is the holy Appearance of this Only Begotten Sent God in the Heart, which is the Secret and Invifib Seal wherewith we first must be fealed; that fo w may be fitted for the fecond Sealing, viz. that on the Forehead, againft his fecond Coming and glorious Ap pearance from Heaven, Outwardly to all the World Wherefore by the First we are Sealed to be as the exprefs Image of His Perfon, even as He is of the Father's Perfon, through the impreffed Character of his Nature and Life in use And to as many as shall attain this, and thereby overcome the Power of Satan, it re mains that Ghrift, whom they are made to reprefent and of whom they are living Images, fhould fulfil the Promife which he has made to his conquering Saints Rev. 12. Which is to be effected by that Eafter Angel, to whom the pays as a thall for that End be, by Him committed; and which, no without a wonderful Propriety of Speech, He call the Infcription of the Name of HIS GOD, and of th Name of the CITY of His God: For he speaks this in his Human Capacity, and as raised from the Dead: And i the Words there is an evident Relation to the Stat of the Firft and Bleffed Refurrection. But howeve this may be now efteem'd, it was no fuch ftrang thing in the earliest Days of Chriftianity and part Gularly among the Oriental Chriftians, in the midft whom this Holy Father was a Bright Star in his Day And both the First and Second Sealing eis al aid were moft fignificantly exprefs'd by the Ancient Form of Confirmation, as may be feen. fhall fee that unfpeakable Tribulation that fhall come upon every Soul, without any Profpect of Reft or Confolation either by Land or Sea; When he fhall fee the whole World in Confufion, and every one fhall be fleeing to the Mountains for Shelter, when he fhall fee fome perifhing with Hunger, and others melting like Wax at the great Tribulation, and none to pity them. When he fhall fee all Faces covered with Tears, and asking with great Earneftness, Is there any (c) Word of God upon Earth? and it fhall be answered, No. Who fhall be able to bear those Days, who fhall ftand under this infupportable Affliction? When he fhall fee the (e) See this general Famine of the Word ultimately prophefied of Amos viii. 11, 12. Nevertheless here by Earth is not to be understood the whole Terrestrial Globe, but the Kingdom of Antichrift only, or the whole Extent of his Empire, which in the Prophetical Language is called Earth, as in oppofition to the Kingdom of Chrift, wherefoever that may be, either in Heaven or upon Earth, being in the fame Language generally call'd Heaven. For thus the Apocalyptical Interpreters commonly understood the Church to be fymboliz'd by Heaven, even while it remains upon Earth, ac» cording to the Rules of Hieroglyphical Literature, And thus, not without good Reafon, is a Wa fo folemnly proclaim'd against the Inhabitants of the Earth; that is, all thofe that live under the Antichriftian Empire, Rev. viii. 13. which Empire not improbably may be included within the Limits of the old Roman Empire, or thereabouts; and which was alfo call'd oinburn, by our Tranflators render'd the World. See Luke ii. 1. Acts xi, 28. Rev. xvi. 14. |