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will prevail every where. But I muft not forget the converfion of that confiderable body of people the Jews, who have been preferved a diftinct people for feveral hundreds of years, for this purpose; the converfion of thefe people will be fudden, and of them altogether; a nation fhall be born at once, Ifa. Ixvi. 8. It looks as if their converfion would be like that of the Apostle Paul; and he feems to hint that it will, when he fays, that he in obtaining mercy, was a pattern to them which should hereafter believe, meaning, perhaps his own countrymen that fhould believe in CHRIST in the latter day, whofe converfion would be fimilar to his; that as his converfion was fudden, in the midst of all his ignorance, unbelief, and rebellion, and without the word, by the immediate power, and grace of GOD, fo will their's be in like manner; nor is it likely that their converfion fhould be by means of the word, fince there is fuch an averfion in that people, to the hearing of it; and a rare thing it is to fee a few in a Chriftian affembly. But, however, all Ifrael fhall be called, converted, and faved, Rom. xi. 26. There is a famous prophecy of this in Hof. iii. 4, 5. in the firft of thefe verfes it is faid, the children of Ifrael fhall abide many days without a King and without a Prince; without any civil government of their own, the fceptre having departed from them many hundred years ago; and without a facrifice; daily or yearly, or on any occafion; they believing it to be unlawful to facrifice any where but in their own land, and at Jerufalem, and on the altar of GOD there; and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim; without any manner of idols, or idol-worship; they being not addicted to idolatry, fince their return from the Babylonish captivity and now as all these things are exactly fulfilled in them, fo will in like manner that which follows; afterwards fhall the children of Ifrael return; by faith and repentance, from their evil way, from their impenitence and unbelief, and rejection of the MESSIAH; and feek the Lord their God, and David their King; the MESSIAH, the fon of David, their King, as their own Targum paraphrafes it; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days; in the fpiritual reign of CHRIST; and it is hinted at in the Philadelphian ftate, Rev. iii. 9. then will the children of Ifrael appoint themselves one bead, which is CHRIST, whom they will own and acknowledge to be their Head, Lord and King; and they hall come up out of the land, or countries, where they are, to their own land, and great fhall be the day of Jezreel, Hof. i. 11. and this will make a confiderabe part of the glory of CHRIST's spiritual reign.

"Fourthly, There will be at this time a large effusion of the Spirit of GoD: the prophecy in Joel, quoted in Acts ii. 17-20. was very applicable indeed to the cafe of the Apoftles at the day of Pentecoft, but was not fully accomplished then; the Spirit was not poured upon all flesh; nor were thofe figns in heaven, in the full extent of them feen then, predicted in it; the pouring forth of the Spirit then was only a pledge and earnest of what will be in the latter days; fome drops, as it were, were only let down then; hereafter the LORD will pour the water out of his buckets, and his feed fhall be in many waters, Numb. xxiv. 7. it will be owing to this that the above events will have their accomplishment; the deftruction of antichrift will be by the fpirit of CHRIST's mouth, which will blow a blast upon him; the fuccefs of the gospel every where, and the large converfions of men, must be attributed to the plentiful effufion of the Spirit that will attend it; particularly the converfion of the Jews will be owing entirely to the spirit of grace and fupplication (Zech. xii. 10.) poured out upon them, when they fhall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn; and it will be in confequence of this extraordinary pouring out of the Spirit, that the following things will take place in this reign.

"1. The light of the gofpel, both in the preachers and profeffors of it, will be very great, clear, and diftinct; the light of the moon, as in the prefent difpenfation, to which it may be compared, fhall be as the light of the fun, to which that difpenfation fhall be like; and the light of the fun fhall be fever fold, as the light of feven days, Ifa. xxx. 26. as if the light of feven days were collected together, and fhone out at once; hyperbolical expreffions, fetting forth the exceeding greatness of gofpel-light in thofe times: not only the watchmen, minifters of the word, hall fee eye to eye, Ifa. lii. 8. all truths clearly and diftinctly; their ideas and fentiments fhall be regular and uni form; there will be an entire harmony, and agreement between them; but even private Chriftians, common members, fhall all know the Lord, and the things of the gofpel, in a very clear and comfortable manner, from the leaft of them unto the greatest of them, Jer. xxxi. 34. when Gon fhall lay Zion's ftones with fair colours, and her foundations with sapphires, make her windows of agates, and her gates of carbuncles, and all her borders of pleafant flones; then all her children fhall be taught of God, (la. liv. 11, 12, 13.) to fuch a degree as they never were before, fo clearly, fully, and univerfally.

2. There will be a great purity of gofpel-worship and ordinances; the temple of God will be opened in heaven; the true worthip of GOD will be reftored, and obferved according to the primitive pattern; the ark of the testimony (Rev. xi. 19.) will be feen in it; the ordinances of the Gospel will be adminiftred according to their original inftitution; there will be no difputes about the form or order of church-government; every thing relating to it will appear evident; the ordinances will be kept as they were delivered; nor will there be any doubts about the manner of performing them, or the fubjects to be admitted to them, or the ends to be answered by them; all these things will ftand in a clear light; and there will be no objector to them, or any divifion about them; nor will they be ever corrupted any more.

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3. Brotherly love, which is now waxen cold, will be in its heighth and glory, agreeable to the name of this ftate, Philadelphia, which fignifies brotherly love: there will be no more, contentions, animofities, and quarrels: Ephraim ball not envy Judah; on account of pre-eminence of office, gifts, and graces; and Judah fhall not envy Ephraim, (Ita. xi. 13.) by any haughty and over bearing carriage, or with wrangling debates, and opprobrious language; the two fticks of Ephraim and Judah, fhall be one in the hand of the LORD; there will be perfect harmony and love, nothing to difturb, diftreis, and make uneafy, or tend to alienate the affections of one from another; there will be no pricking briar, nor grieving thorn (Ezek. xxviii. 24.) among them; they will be like the first Chriftians, of one heart, and of one foul, being of one mind, and of one judgment; all ftudying to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

66 4. Holinefs which becomes the house of GOD for ever, will now adorn every member in it; nor will there be fo much immorality in the world as at this prefent time; holiness will be as common as prophaneness is now; in that day there fhall be upon the bells of the horses, holiness to the Lord-yea, every pet in Jerufalem and Judah, fhall be holiness unto the Lord of Hofts, Zech. xiv. 20, 21. CHRIST therefore takes his titles in writing to the church at Philadelphia, the emblem of the fpiritual reign, fuitable to its ftate; as truth and holinefs fhall then prevail, he addreffes it thus, these things faith he that is haly, he that is true, Rev. iii. 7. truth and holinets go together; truth influences the heart, and that the life and converfation.

5. There will be great peace and profperity of all kinds, inward and outward, fpiritual and temporal; in thofe days of the

MESSIAH'S fpiritual reign, shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace fo long as the moon endureth, Pfal. lxxii. 7. As the Saints will enjoy great peace of confcience and tranquillity of mind, fo they will have nothing to disturb them without; there will be none to hurt or deftroy in all the LORD'S boly mountain, Ifa. xi. 9. as there will be no difcord among themselves, fo no diftrefs from any enemies; violence fhall no more be heard in their land, nor wafting and deftruction within their border, Ifa. lx. 18. O happy, halcyon days! I go on to obferve,

"II. The glorious things which are spoken of, and will be done in the perfonal reign of CHRIST: towards the clofe of the fpiritual reign, things will be upon the decline; the Laodicean church-state will take place; there will be great coldness, and lukewarmness, in fpiritual things, which will be very offenfive to CHRIST; the fpirit of GOD will withdraw his gracious influences; and there will be little left but external gifts, and outward riches, and honour, on which great stress will be laid; and there will be great boafting and bragging of them, as being rich and increased with goods, and in need of nothing; when, as to fpiritual grace, and the exercise of it, they will be wretched, and miferable, and poor, and blind, and naked, Rev. iii. 15, 16, 17, 18. and need the advice that CHRIST gives them, of applying to him for gold, white raiment, and eye-falve: a general fleepinefs will feize profeffors of religion; the wife as well as foolish virgins will flumber and sleep, when the approach of the bridegroom is near; immorality and prophanefs will again spread in the world; and it will be as in the days of Noah and Lot; and in this condition will CHRIST find the world, and the Church when he comes a fecond time; which is what will introduce the glory of the following state.

"First, There will be a perfonal appearance of the Son of GOD, and a glorious one it will be: he will perfonally appear; the Lord himself fhall defcend, 1 Theff. iv. 16. not by his fpirit, or by the communication of his grace, or by his gracious prefence, as before; but in perfon he will defcend from the third heaven, where he is, in our nature, into the air, where he will be vifible; every eye fhall fee him, when he cometh with clouds, Rev. i. 7. or in the clouds of heaven, which will be his chariot; he will defcend on earth at the proper time; and bis feet fhall ftand upon the mount of Olives, Zech. xiv. 4. on that fpot of ground from whence he afcended to heaven. Fab feems to have this defcent of his in view, when he lays

Job. xix. 25. He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; which feems to refpect not fo much his first coming as his fe cond; fince it is connected with the refurrection of the dead.

"This appearance of CHRIST will be a very glorious one; it is called the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jefus Christ, Tit. ii. 13. for he will appear under both characters to his people: when he appeared the first time, it was in the form of a fervant; he came not to be miniftered unto, but to minifter; but now he will come as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; then he was fent in the likeness of finful flesh, to bear the fins, and work out the falvation of his people; but now he will appear without fin, to put them into the full poffeffion of the falvation obtained for them: he will come in his own glory, and in his father's, and of the holy angels, Luke ix. 26. he will appear in the glory of his Deity, and all the perfections of it; who is the brightness of his F ther's glory, and the exprefs image of his perfon, Heb. i. 3. it will then be evident, that he is the Lord God omnipotent that reigneth; and that he is omnifcient, the fearcher of the hearts, and trier of the reins of the children of men, Rev. xix. 6. and ii. 23. and he will be feen in all the glory of his human nature, and with that glory he has with the Father, as Mediator; all which, in fome fenfe, may be faid to be his Father's; because his divine glory is the fame with his Father's, and his human and mediatorial glory is what he has from him; and he will come with all that power and authority vefted in him by his Father, as the judge of the world: he will be attended with his holy angels as when on mount Sinai, and as when he afcended to heaven; whom he will employ in one kind of fervice or another, and who will make a confiderable figure in this apparatus: to which may be added, that all the Saints will come along with CHRIST; the fouls of all that have departed from the beginning of the world, in order to be re-united to their bodies, which will now be raised; there will be Adam, and there will be Abraham, and all the ante-diluvian and poft-diluvian Saints, Old and New Teftament ones; when CHRIST will be glorified in them, and admired by them, and they fhall appear with him in glory.

"Secondly, There will be a refurrection of the bodies of the Saints; the dead in Chrift, who died in union with him, believers in him, and partakers of his grace, fhall rife first, I Theff. iv. 16. they will have the dominion over the wicked in the morning of the refurrection, who will not rife until the end of that day; there will be a thousand years distance be

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