The Preparation to the Vision.

1. The Date is above the Exactness of any Record, viz. By the Year of Captivity, It is first dated; and thereby it is Joyn'd with the Thirtieth Year, in the Beginning of Ezekiel's c. 1. 1. Prophecy; which being set alone without any other note of Time, can in no fair Construction, be any other Thirtieth Year, but from the Last Jubilee, according to General Jewish Style of Time; and that being the Fifth year of Jehoiachins Captivity; and the present year of the Vision being the Twen­ty Fifth year of that Captivity; It shews it to be the Fiftieth c. 40. 1. year, and so the year of Jubilee; Fitly to Represent the Great Jubilee of the World, that shall be in this Vision Accom­plish'd.

It was on the Tenth day of the Month, Answering the day of the first Institution of the Passeover, when also will be the Exod. 12. 1. Dan. 12. 1. Matt. 24. 21. Rev. 3. 10. Greatest Passeover of Deliverance from the Great Trouble, Tri­bulation, and Temptation, which shall come on all the Repro­bate Earth, but the Saints shall be privilegd'd from it.

It was in the Beginning of the Year, or Spring, on which the Greatest Acts of God are Recorded; and which God E [...]od. 12. 1. made the Head of the Sacred Year.

It was in the Fourteenth year, after the City was [...] ▪ To shew it was in the deep Desolation, of the Temple and City of Jerusalem, and Land of Israel, as the Season of Mercy; For when his Servants are the lowest, Then in the Mount, the Lord will be seen. Gen. 22. 14. with Ez. 40. 2.

Lastly, It was the Self Same Day; and thereby the Time is Gen. 2. 1. c. 7. 11. 13. 2 Pet. 3. 7. 8. Knit to the self same day of the Creation, and First Sabboth; To the self same day of the Flood, when the World, that then was, Perish'd by Water; Answerably, the Heavens and Earth that now are, are Treasur'd up for Fire; Even for the day, when this very Vision shall come into high effect: All Great Epochs.

2. The Theatre of the Vision is the City Jerusalem that then lay in Ruin, and the Land of Israel under Desolation; whether the Prophet Ezekiel was carried by a Divine Ha [...]d in the Visions of God; Agreeable to so Great Visions of God, as will be, when this Jerusalem comes down from Heaven.

3. This wonderful Measurer, whose Appearance was as Brass, (as the Feet of Jesus Christ are Represented in the Pro­phecy of Daniel and in the Revelation.) This Measurer is paral­lel to the wonderful Numberer, call'd Palmoni, in the Margin of the Bible. Dan. 8. 13. Knitting both Visions.

4. There is a Charge upon Ezekiel, obliging all his Powers of Attention, and Observation; Son of Man, see with thy Eyes, Hear with thy Ears, and set thy Heart upon All, that I shew thee, c. 40. v. 4. which Charge is renewed, c. 44. 5. shewing how weighty, and how sublime a State, this Temple-Communion with God shall be.

5. There is a Charge upon Ezekiel to shew to the House of Israel, All that He saw, c. 40. v. 40. and then c. 43. 10. to shew them the House, that They may be Asham'd of their Iniqui­ties, and let Them, saith the Lord, Measure the Pattern: And if They are Asham'd, shew them All the Forms, Laws, and Ordi­nances, &c. of the House. Now this I look upon as chiefly Prophetical of the Time, when the Temple shall be Open'd in Heaven; And it shall Tend to the Great Purification of the Churches of Christ, and to the Conversion of the Jews; and that in the mean Time, the very Apprehension, and Considera­tion of so stupendious, and wonderful Regularity and Ex­actness in the Temple State, as is here given, should exceed­ing perswade to Model our Religion, and Worship of God, and of Jesus Christ, by the Clearest, Closest, and Exact-est [Page 3] Conformity to the Pattern of the Word of God.

The Vision it self follows, which may be Comprehended in these following Great Particulars.

1. There is the Frame of a Temple, with its Holy of Holies, outward Temple, Altars, Chambers, Galleries, Courts, Places of Reception; Strengthen'd and Adorn'd with its many Pillars, Surrounded with its Strong and High Gates, and Walls; All upon Stable Foundations, as is to be seen throughout the Vi­sion, with undeniable Allusions to the Temple at Jerusalem.

2. Throughout this Frame, there is an Admirable Exact­ness in measure, by a Reed, and a Line of Flax, in the Hand of the Brazen Measurer and Numberer; of number, in so many Cubits, Reeds, Pillars, &c. as is to be seen throughout; and of Weights particularly, as to both Sacrifice, and Administra­tion of Justice, c. 45. 10. And in the measure there is a Mag­nificence of a Cubit, and an Hand Breadth, of Great Cubits, c. 40. 5. c. 41. 8. and a particular Regard to Four square, c. 40. 47. &c.

3. There are Sacrifices, Solemn Feasts, a Priesthood, a Law about their Garments, keeping their Heads, Marriage, &c. and with a special preference to the Sons of Zadock, as having preserv'd the Sacerdotal Integrity: All these clearly relating to the Laws of the Levitical Priesthood, c. 44. &c.

4. In All Things, the Law of the House, and the Limit of the House is Round about most Holy; Separating betwixt God's and Man's Posts, and Wall; Abominating the Whoredoms of Worship, excluding the Ʋncircumcis'd in Heart and in Flesh. c. 44. 6. c. 43. 8. 9. 10. &c.

5. There is a single Prince mention'd, who shall not, who will not oppress; with his peculiar Sacrifices, and Worship, his place and Avenue of worship, his peculiar Portion of Land; and whose part it shall be to Furnish the most Solemn Sacrifices. c. 45. v. 7. 9. &c. and there is also mention of Princes under Him, who shall also be Just. c. 45. v. 7. 9.

6. The Reed by the Hand Breadth of Cubits added to each Cubit, becomes a Reed of Seven Ordinary Cubits, and all being measur'd by it, It Imprints a Sabbaticness on the whole Frame, into which All is drawn up. c. 40. 5.

7. There is in the Altar a plain Signature of the Israelitish Twelve, c. 43. 16. and another Altar that is call'd the Table before the Lord, c. 41. 22.

8. The Jews have an undoubted Priority, and the Gentiles an Engrafting. c. 47. 22.

9. There is a New division of the Land by Lot, to both Jews and [...] [...]7. 22.

10▪ [...]ere is besides the several Ascents to the Temple, the place of Gods Throne, and the Place of the Soles of his Feet. c. 43. 7.

11. There are Stupendious Waters of Life, Trees for Medi­cine, and even a Catholick State of Life therein. c. 47. 9. 10.

12. The Glory of God comes in, and All Results into a Jehovah Shammah. The Lord is there, and dwells there for ever. c. 43. 7. c. 48. ult.

And now upon this general Survey of the Vision, we may very well Humbly say to God as They to Ezekiel, c. 24. 19. Wilt Thou not be pleas'd to Tell us, what These Things are to us? Seeing These Things are written for our Instruction, on whom the Ends of the World are come, 1 Cor: 10. 11. Two Great Questions arise hence, 1. What Temple and City and Countrey these are, that are here describ'd? 2. If we can find These, How can we adjust such descriptions to them?

There are Two Great Pretensions of Opinion concern­ing this Temple, City, and Countrey.

1. That it should be the Description of the Temple, and City Jerusalem, and Countrey of Judah, that were Restored by Cyrus.

Now whatever service, that Restoration, as a Type might perform to this Vision; yet that It cannot be the Grand Scope of it, may be thus Argued.

1. There is no Reference to this Vision, to the Measures of the Pattern, to any of the Rules, and Laws of it; no parti­cular Account of the Sons of Zadok among the Priests, no Glory of God Returning to it; no mention of the Vision by the Prophets, Haggai, Zechar, Malach, or by Ezra, or Nehemiah, in that Restoration; as there is of the Prophet Jeremys; of the se­venty years Captivity, by Dan. c. 9. 1. and by Ezra, c. 1. 1.

2. Whereas this Temple was to be the Place of the Throne of God, and of the Soles of his Feet for ever, and to be pol­luted no more; That Temple hath been long since defil'd, * [...] Antio­ [...]has. and destroyed by the Abomination of Desolation by the Romans.

3. There was no Ombrage of the Healing waters, as flow­ing from the Sanctuary, or Medicinal Trees.

2. There is therefore much more Reason to suppose the coming of Christ into this Temple, and drawing it up into the Spirituality of the Christian Temple, Church and worship [Page 5] is designed by it, till All the Receiv'd up into G [...]ry.

Now however it is to be Acknowledg'd, that the Christi­an Church was the Beginning of the Fulfilling of this Vision, and the State of Eternal Glory be the Complement of it; yet that there is a Glorious visible Appearance between those, to be expected which hath not yet been, I thus argue.

1. Because at the Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ; before the Holy of Holies, (as it is styl'd, Dan. 9. 24.) was An­nointed by the Giving the Spirit to the Christian Church; Vision and Prophecy, concerning the Glory of the Church, and King­dom of Christ was Seal'd; So the Throne was seen only in Hea­ven, Rev. c. 4. c. 5. The Temple in Heaven, afterward was Seal'd, and the Worshippers shut up for 1260 years; and then the Temple open'd in the days of the Seventh Trumpet, and more fully before the Vials, Rev. c. 11. c. 15. But it was in Heaven still till the New Jerusalem came down; And not only in Heaven, for It must come down.

Argum. 2. Because after that opening the Temple in Heaven, and the Divine Glory coming into it immediately, as into the Tabernacle, and Temple of old, signified by the Smoak; The New Jerusalem came down from God out of Heaven in a Glori­ous visible Appearance, with many of the Signatures of this Vision upon it, Rev. c. 1. 21. c. 22.

Argum. 3. Because the self same day so exactly Dated and Recorded, makes a Remarkable Epoch to some Great Time; And that Time is the Time of Gods Throne, so unmovably plac'd in his Temple; and of the Sanctuary cleans'd, Reconcil▪d, and Justified; and of his Servants being plac'd, each in their Lots, accordingly to Daniel. as c. 12. 13. This Time of the Throne is assur'd to be not till after Four Monarchies had run out them­selves; Dan. c. 2. c. 7. The Sanctuary cleans'd or Justified not till at the same Time, viz. at the end of 2300 Evenings Mornings, c. 8. 14. Nor Daniel, and so all the Saints stand­ing * At the first 75 of which It was Resto­red by Cy­rus, at 490. after Annointed, Revel. 4. at 400. after Seal'd, and shut up c. 11. 1. at 1260. after Open'd in Heaven; c. 11. at 30. after more fully open'd, c. 15. 5. at 45, after comes down out of Heaven from God, into the New Heaven and the New Earth; the New Heaven as the Throne of God, especially describ'd Rev. 21. the New Earth as the place of the Soles of his Feet in this Vision of Ezekiel. in their Lots of this Great Blessedness till the end of 1335 Days, which are also the End of the 2300 Evenings Morn­ing. c. 12. 12. 13.

Argum. 4. Because there are such Extraordinaries in this Vision as can fit no State, that hath ever yet been in the World, and therefore must have an exceeding High, and Heavenly State; as the Princes Inheritance, sufficient to give to his Sons for ever, c. 46. 16. 17. with John 8. 35. 36. And so the Princes omnipresent Conduct, though Himself in the East, yet in the midst of those, who went Southward and Northward; c. 46. 8. &c. the miraculous Waters and Trees, and the universal Life, the City 18000 Measures, each Mea­sure of 18000 Cubits at least, too big for this State of the World; and an Inheritance great enough for all Israelites, and Stran­gers, when such Great Sholes of People, and all in a State of Life, Represented by Fishes, shall be in such an Abun­dance and Perpetuity of Life, c. 47. 9. And yet a Lake of Miry Places not Heal'd, as the Dead and the Lake. Rev. 20. 5. 10.

Argum. 5. Because this Throne, and Sanctuary being for ever, can never have any other end, but that of the Kingdom de­liver'd up to God, and to the Father at the Time of the White Throne; which is not an end, but a perfection into an Abso­lute Etern [...]ty; and all Defilement for ever separated into the Lake. 1 Cor. 15. 24. with Revel. 20. 11. &c. to the End.

I Have then Fix'd upon the General shades, and Lines of this Vision, and found by very Great Assurances; that it pre­sents a Supernatural State of Purity and Glory, Reaching down from the Throne of God, or the New Heaven to the New Earth, the Place of the Soles of his Feet; and in both a Temple State of the Highest Enjoyment of God.

I have also found by the Exquisiteness of the Date, It is the Epoch or Head of Time from the Typical Jubilee at that Time, to the Great Jubilee of the World, the Kingdom of Christ; and that within Two years of it, God began the Calendar of Time from this Vision, to that Kingdom at the end in Nebuchad­nezzar's Image, as I have elsewhere made out; and Forty years after or at the end of the Forty Days for Years after this Vision, wherein Ezekiel bare the Sin of Judah to the end of the Cap­tivity; God super-added a second Vision of the same Four Mo­narchies, under the Emblem of Four Beasts, Dan. 8. and that the space of those Monarchies might be more distinctly, and cer­tainly known, He gave also within Two yerrs after, 2300 Evens. Morns. Days also for Years to the Cleansing; or as the Original is, the Justifying this very Sa [...]ctuary, and to the great [Page 7] Sabbatism of the New Creation; and to the Kingdom of the Prince of Princes; the Antichristian Desolator of the Sanctuary being Broken first without Hand; Dan. 8. 25. which 2300 Evens. Morns. ending with the 1335 Days. This Heavenly State is divided also by Lot, Dan. 12. 12. 13.

And now we are upon the 2200th and 18th of these Even­ings, Mornings, There remain then but Seven to the Open­ing this Temple, to be seen first in Heaven; and but 75 be­yond that to the coming down of the New Jerusalem: All this being thus settled, I come to Adjust the Substantial Spi­ritual meaning to the External Types of the Vision, and to shew the High Rationality of the Correspondencies between the one and the other, in answer to the second Question.

Correspondency 1. This Vision most Evidently and Illustriously presents the Highest Temple State, or of the Tabernacle of God with Men; A Temple and all the Forms, Laws, Ordinances, and Measures of it runs through the Vision; Now a Temple is a Place, or Building, wherein there is an Expectation of a di­vine presence, or Gods coming down in a Communication of Himself to his Rational Creatures, as at a distance from his Highest Glory, and Presence; and his being also pleas'd, Graciously there to Receive their Tenders of Homage, and service in Adorations and Praises; This is the True notion of a Temple. The very Highest Heaven is a Temple to the Angels, and Glori­fied Spirits; He Hum­bles Him­self, Psal. 113. 6. wherein God coming out of the Infinity of his own Glory, and Being, is pleas'd to hold Communion with them; The whole lower World, and Paradise especially was a Tem­ple to Adam before his Fall; And in Regard of the divine omnipresence; Every place is a Temple, and so He dwells not in Temples made with Hands, but is Worshipped every where by Acts 17. 24. John 4. 21. 1 Kings 8. 27. them, who Worship Him in Spirit, and Truth. For seeing the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain Him, how much less a Tem­ple, as Solomon the Builder of his Temple tells us.

God therefore very Tender of this Glory, and the Fallen na­ture of Man most prone to violate it, by Idolatry and Super­stition; There was no Temple or other place, or indeed Form of Worship to be devoted to Him, but by his own Appoint­ment: The first Appointment of place by God, was the Ta­bernacle Exod. 25. 40. in the Wilderness, the exact Measures and Pattern, of which Gad gave to Moses; and He was with Greatest Cau­tion to observe it; Solomon by the same Divine Pattern, and In­spiration, 1 Chron. 28. 11. [Page 8] Built the Temple. It was after the Babylonish Desolation re­stor'd under Cyrus, &c. as near as might be to the old form, &c. All this was too Low, and serv'd only as a Shaddow for the Time Being. For it was too Low, too often defiled, and vio­lated by Corruption within, and Pagan Fury without; It was Finally destroyed by the Romans, yet it always remain'd a Type of the True Temple that is to be. This Vision of Eze­kiel joyn'd with that of John, Revel. 21. Give that True Tem­ple, wherein God and the Lamb will be the Temple, and that Temple gives to the City the name Jehovah Shammah. The Lord is there.

Here now is the Reason, why there is in this Vision so much of a Temple Frame, and Appearance; To shew forth and fore­tell the State of the New Jerusalem, wherein the Presence of God in Christ shall be most Free, and Illustrious; shewing his Love and Favour to his Servants, and Receiving their Ser­vice, Praises, and Obebience. His name shall be in their Fore­heads, and his Servants shall serve Him, without any Violation or defilement shall this Temple be; All hitherto hath been too Low, too Dark, too much polluted, even when Purest since the Annointing the Christian Church in the days of the Apostles; and will be, till this Temple not far hence, shall be seen in Heaven; Then it will be daily Cleansing: A World­ly Sanctuary hath been the Great opposite to this, especially when not appointed by God. Paganism and Antichristianism are the Abomination of Desolation to it; The remains of the Synagogue of Sathan ever since the Reformation, still keep it out of sight; The most refined Churches are both too narrow, and too ob­scure yet. The many Contents and Paper Combates about Hierarchy, Liturgies, Ceremonies, viz. what should be abated or alter'd, are even Ridiculous Things before it.

But all such will Vanish like Smoak before that presence of God, that will within short Time, fill all Temple-State with ano­ther Smoak; Even with the Glory of his presence, ready to enter, and with the Vengeance of his Temple upon all that have defiled it: And then the Man whose Name is the Branch, shall Build the Temple of the Lord, and Bear forth the Glory of it: Let us therefore be Ashamed of whatever Temple State seems now most desirable; and Earnestly set our Hearts, Prayers, and Expectations, to what is so much above it, even to that which the Lord wil pitch, and not Man; and that God would [Page 9] cause his Face to shine on his Sanctuary, which is yet Desolate for his own Name sake.

Correspond. 2. As the Beauty, and Grandieur of any Building, and also its Security, and Stability consists in the Justice, Equa­lity, and Symmetry of all its Parts; So to set out in this Frame a Divine, both Stateliness, Glory, and that Firm­ness of a Kingdom that cannot be Shaken; there is a Con­struction of all those Admirable Measures we find in this Vision; And though They can no more be Found out to Perfection, then the Almighty in his Works, Job 11. 7. then the Laws and Measures of Creation in the Hanging the Earth by Poize upon Nothing; then the Bounds of the House Job 26. 28. 37. 38. &c. Psal. 147. 4. of Light, the Weights for the Winds, the Ballance of the Clouds, without which they Rage, into Storms, and Tempests, as we see; then the Measure of the Dust of the Earth, the Decree of the Rain, Thunder, Sea, and Waters; then the Number and Names of the Stars, the Conduct of Arcturus, and Orion; The Infinite Ʋnderstanding can alone do the One, and the Other; Yet still They are all Admirable; and when the Reason of them is expos'd in Glory to Angels, and Saints in this Temple-State of the New Jerusalem; in the Stupendi­ous Holiness, Purity of Spiritual Worship, and Enjoyment of God; Then the Morning Stars shall Sing together, and the Sons of God shall shout for Joy, Job 38. 7.

And as Number, Weight, and Measure are so Essentially necessary to All the Great Things, that are perform'd in the World, as to Astronomy, Observation of the Heavens, and their Course, Geometry, Architecture, Statics, Navigation, Survey, Experimental Philosophy, and to all Commerce, and Traffick, and even mutual Cohabitation of Mankind; So under these Measures in this Vision are shaded the Sublimity of the Divine Communion with his Saints, and Servants; and of Angels, and Saints one with Another; and those Lines of Communication signified by Jacobs Ladder, Gen. 28. 12. between the New Heaven, and the New Earth; and all that Abundance of Peace, Joy, Riches, Even Happiness, Blessedness in the most Just Order, and Equality to Full Satisfaction, and Enjoyment, and yet so, that there are Arch-Angels, Eph. 1. last. Col. 1. 16. 1 Cor. 15. 41. Rev. 22. 3. and Angels, Thrones, Principalities and Powers, and one Star Excelling Another in Glory, and the Lord God and the Lamb on the Throne.

And as All the Wisdom of Creation, in Number, Weight and Measure are Transfer'd into the Fear of God and Departure from Evil; into the Righteous, and wise Government of the World; Jobs Description of, and search after Wisdom, c. 28. Issues at the last into that Divine Decree upon Man; The Fear of the Lord, That is Wisdom; and to Depart from Evil, That is Ʋnderstanding; And as Solomons Practical Wisdom, Justice, Judgment, and every Good Path, is the same, by which Kings Prov. 8. 5. c. 3. 19. with c. 8. 23. Reign, and Princes Decree Justice, By which Judges Rule, and all the Nobles of the Earth are led; the same also by which the Lord Founded the Heavens, and Established the Earth, Flowing from even the Eternal Wisdom, Jesus Christ, who sets up this Infinite Frame. And as this Wisdom since the Fall of Man is as it were new Founded, a New Crea­tion in that Height, Depth, Breadth, Length of the Love of God in Jesus Christ, which passeth Knowledge, and being Filled or Compleated into all the Fulness of God, (according to the Fullest Dimensions, created Nature is capable of) which Dimensions every Saint is to comprehend or Take with all Ephes. 3. 18. Rev. 21. 16. Saints. So this City, and Temple Result into that City, and Tem­ple-State, measured with the Apostles Johns Golden Reed, where­in the Height, and Depth, the Breadth, and Length are equal, as the Moralists [...], All is Four Square, and every Saint in the perfect Cubical, Four square State of Holiness.

And as All those Foundations, Walls, Gates, Courts, Build­ings by their exact measure in this Vision must needs have an unexceptionable Firmitude and Stability; So they Re­present [...]eb. 12. 27. 28. that Kingdom, that shall never be shaken, the City, that hath Foundations, whose Builder and Maker God is; and every Saint is a Pillar in this Temple-State; that shall Go out c. 13. 14. [...] Cor. 15. 24. &c. no more, Rev. 3. 1 [...]. All this State, City, Temple therefore is 24. &c. continuing, and never Ends, Till It is Deliver'd up, whole and Entire, to God, All in All.

Correspond. 3. A Third Correspondency between the Types of this Vision, and the New Jerusalem State is; That all the Types of this Vision, and the New Jerusalem State, That all the Types, Laws, and Ordinances of the Mosaic Law, Tabernacle, Temple, and Priesthood, and also of the Land of Canan, call'd the Holy Land; and all the Predictions, Figures and Promises in all the Prophets, since the World Began are here­in to have their Complement, and Perfection. For seeing [Page 11] the Truth of God Requires, that every such Foretelling Type, as well, as Express Oracle, or Pronunciation, should be justly Fulfill'd, when once Given; and that this New Jerusalem-State is the last [IT IS DONE] of all These; It is most Just and Agreeable that this Vision, which is an Old Testament Representation of that New Jerusalem-State should be Cloath'd, and Attyr'd in so many of the Types, Laws, Measures, of the Levitical Temple, and Priesthood, that It may be known; They shall all come forth in Spirit, Life, and Substance in that Last, and most perfect State; Else They must never be Fulfill'd.

For after all the Rationalia; or Reasonable Accounts, that Learned men have Endeavour'd upon the Levitical Laws, and Types; The Apostle to the Hebrews, c. 8. 5. c. 9. 9, 10. c. 10. 1. as was most due, when He writ to them, Gives us the True one; That they are Shaddows, and Samples of Heavenly Things, Images, (and not the very Presential Image) of Good Things to Come till the Great [...] or Adjustment of All Things. In that Heavenly City, and Countrey therefore, when It Comes down from Heaven All These Things are to be Entirely, Absolutely, and Ultimately Fulfill'd and presented by Themselves; It was therefore Necessary, even Those ve­ry Types, and Manners of speaking, Taken from All those Foremention'd Things, so well known to the Jews, should be made use of in the Description of such a State, as by so ma­ny Irrefragable Arguments must be the New Jerusalem-State be­ing too High for the present World; and yet not Abstracted, Spiritual, and High, as the State of God All in All: And thus our Saviour hath Declar'd; He Came not to Dissolve the Law, and the Prophets, Mat. 5. 18. but to Fulfill Them; and as it were Pointing to the Time, by comparing this with Mat. 24. 3. 35. when They should be so Fulfill'd, viz. at the New Heavens and the New Earth, He says Till Heaven, and Earth shall pass away, meaning those which now are; One Jot shall in no wise pass from the Law till All be Fulfill▪d; Then Christ will to the utmost Fulfill All, even to one Jota.

And Thus must that so Solemn Divine Asseveration, Jer. 33. 29. &c. be made Good, concerning the Levitical Priesthood, to wit, in that Spiritual Priesthood of the whole Israel of God, Jews, and Gentiles, serving God and the Lamb Day and Night, that is, always, in his Temple in the perpetual Priesthood; Cloath'd in [Page 12] Fine Linnen, White, and Clean, or in Robes made White in the Blood of the Lamb, which is the Righteousness of the Saints in that State, seeing his Face and having his Name in their Foreheads; Rev. c. 7. c. 19. Otherwise The Apostle is Irreconcileable with the Prophet, when He Declares, Heb. 7. 11, 12. a change of the Levitical Priesthood into that Melchizedeckian Priesthood, Begun at the Resurrection of Christ, but not Appearing till the King­dom of Christ, in its Glory.

For though I freely Acknowledge, All These Things had their Beginning Spirituality of Fulfilling them at our Lords Resurrection; Yet as I have said, the Holy of Holies that was then Annointed, hath been yet Reserv'd in Heaven, and was by Reason of the Apostasie, Measur'd, and shut up, and not seen, till the Seventh Trumpet; nor shall It Come down from and with God, and the Lamb, till It shall be pronounc'd of the City, the New Jerusalem, Jehovah Shammah, The Lord is There, or the Lord God, and the Lamb are the Temple of that City.

And This is the State of the perfect Redemption, Expiation, and Attonement of Jesus Christ as the End or Consummation of all the Levitical Law, or Frame, and the Righteousness of it, Rom. 10. 4. Appearing in Glory; when All Sin is Blotted out to Perfection, and when is the Great Reconciliation of All to God, and to One Another in Heaven and Earth; In Him, even in Him; And All shall according to that Petition in the Prayer of the Kingdom be both Fully Forgiven, and also Plenarily For­give, which now is Done in Great Infirmity only, Colos. 1. 20. Mat. 6. 12. 14. 15. In all which lyes the Spirituality and Truth of all the Levitical Priesthood, Sacrifices, Temple, &c. which are therefore so Fitly made use of here to Represent that State; and therefore All Saints are the Spiritual Levitical Priesthood Worshiping God, and Christ, as his Priests in his Redemption.

4. These Types are Fitted to express the Highest Holiness, and Separation to God from all Impurity, or Semblance of Alienation from Him; This shall be in that New Jeru­salem State; and therefore It is express'd in the Language, proper to the Holiness, and Purification of the Sanctuary: As these, This is the Law of the House: The Limit thereof up­on the Top of the Mountain, shall be round about the most Holy; Be­hold this is the Law of the House: The Holiness is as it were, Guarded round about with a Law; It is therefore said at the Beginning, and end of the verse, c. 43. v. 12. This is the Law [Page 13] of the House; Behold, This is the Law of the House to be Most Holy.

All the Whoredoms of Impure Worship, and of the Carcasses of the Kings in their Idolatrous Impositions are utterly Re­mov'd; The House is to be Cleans'd, and Reconcil'd, and the Altar purified Seven days; The Priests to Consecrate themselves; and their Persons, and Garments are by no means to be de­fil'd; None but the Inviolate Sons of Zadok are accepted to draw nigh; The Worshippers are to go straight forward in their Wor­ship and Service, and not to Return, even as the Angels in their Service. c. 45. throughout; c. 46. 9. with c. 1. 12.

The Glory of God comes therefore into the Temple, and takes it up for the Residence of his Throne, and of the Soles of his Feet for ever; and promises, and even undertakes It shall be no more defil'd. c. 43. 2. 7.

Now seeing, There never hath been any Temple State on Earth, that hath not been defil'd; as we must needs be con­vinc'd, if we look back on all History of Scripture, or its Pro­ [...]etic History; It must needs be, that this Temple is that New Jerusalem State, wherein God and the Lamb are the Temple, coming down from Heaven, into a State, as in Heaven, and upon Earth: Now as God, and the Lamb cannot be Tempted of Evil, So they are a Temple not possible to be Defiled; so that it is Security unspeakably High, that this Temple cannot be Defiled, that God and the Lamb are the Temple; And there­fore in that Prayer of the Kingdom, we pray; Thy Name be Sanctified, as in Heaven, and upon Earth, even by such a pre­sence, as to be the Temple of his Servants; even as his Kingdom comes, so as in Heaven, and upon Earth, and His Will is so Done.

5. The Types of this Vision present after the manner of David, and the Princes of His House, a Single Prince; And as Zadok was firm to David, and Solomon in the Priestly Office, so the Sons of Zadok are here preferr'd in the Priesthood; The Worship of the Prince is Appointed; His Place of worship, His going to it, and Returning, and all in the East, where the Glory of the Lord, had made its Entrance. His Portion of the Holy Land is Assign'd Him, which cannot be Alienated, but on­ly to his Sons. All these Types Answering the Sollemn Oath of God, so often Repeated to David, and particularly. Jerem. 33. 20. 21. and Psal. 132. prepar'd as it were for this ver [...] [Page 14] Time; This Prince therefore can be no other, than of the House of David; And seeing this State is Divine, Heavenly, and never to End, It must be the Great Prince of the New Je­rusalem, Jesus Christ. For It is He, that sits on the Throne of his Father David for Ever, and Ever, and whose Kingdom shall have no End; Luke 1. 32. 33. It is He therefore, that must needs be this Prince, in such a measur'd, and unchangeable State; The Oath of God could not stand to David, if it were not his Son; The Application of that Oath to Jesus Christ the Son of David, by the Spirit of God in Luke could not stand, if it were any other S [...]n of David but Jesus Christ; Nor can we find any Appearance of this Prophecy fulfill'd to any other Prince before Christ; Nor can there be any said Supposition since His Resurrection, except of some deputed Prince under Him in the New Jerusalem State.

But there are some, (although Private, and Hidden) In­dications in the Vision, that however the Representations of this Prince, are no other in open view, but as of a Hu­mane Prince only; yet that He can be no other, upon these Indications, then Emmanuel, which being Interpreted, is God with us, shall appear in these Two Remarks.

Remark 1. That the Prince hath Power to estate his Sons in his own Inheritance for ever; Now if this Prince continue one single Prince, during the whole Time of this Happy State; His Sons might be so numerous, as to Eat out the Inheri­tance of the Prince it self, if it were not a Divine Inheritance; Besides this so long duration of any single Prince, as this Bles­sed State shall endure, is sufficient Assurance of Him, who is the Great Melchisedec, a Priest upon the Throne, Abiding so con­tinually, and made after the Power of an Endless Life. And if we Heb. 7. 16. would suppose the Prince to Intend a Succession of Princes; This is a Great Argument, It cannot be so, because the ma­ny Sons of many Princes, Receiving by his Gift, Inheritances for ever, must needs consume the proportion of the Holy Land Allowed the Prince.

I therefore Expound this Gift of Inheritance by the Prince to his Sons, and not to his Servants by that Foremention'd place, John 8. 35. 36. The Servant Abideth not in the House for ever, but the Son Abideth for ever; If the Son make you Free, then are you Free indeed; Words so Agreeable, as if taken out of Eze­k [...]el. To which I add Revel. 21. 7. He that Overcometh, shall [Page 15] Inherit All Things; I will be his God, and He shall be my Son: Spoken by the Father of the World to come, Isai. 9. 9.

Under this Great Prince, whatever Princes are for order, and Glory, must, shall by the Eye of the Supreme Prince be all Just, and Holy Ruling in the Fear of God, in this Morning with­out Clouds. 2 Sam. 23. 3. 4. c. 46. 1. to v. 8.

Remark 2. The Prince is made known to be omni-present; For His place is the East, His coming in, and Returning is by the East, but the coming and going out of the People was on­ly North, and South. Now the Prince was to go out in the Midst of them, and although a motion in the East be in the midst to North or South, and to all that move to either; Yet such a Midst, as the Prophecy Represents the Prince in, is much nearer; then that every step should remove the Prince further, and the People further off from that Midst; I Ex­pound it therefore by the Lamb in the midst of the Throne, Rev. c. 5. 6. and c. 7. 17. Yea much Higher by that Ʋnion of Him, who as the Head of this Body the Church, maketh it his own Ful­ness, Filling All in All; By the Rainbow springing from the Glory of the Holy of Holies in the West, and obverted to it in the East, and being Round about the Throne in the Humane Nature; For this is that Time, when we All come in the Ʋnity of the Faith, and Knowledge of the Son of God to a Perfect Man, to the Measure of the Stature of the Fulness of Christ. Ephes. 1. ult. with c. 4. 14. From whence as the Learned observe, this whole Tem­ple Frame Receives, as it were its Laws, and Measures from the Symmetry, and measures of the Humane Body, which (as David saith) is Fearfully and wonderfully made, and in God's Book were All the Members of it written; As some Learned Men In­terpret, chiefly meant of Christ, and Christ Mystical also, Psal. 139. 14. &c. Thus the Cubit and Hand breadth Run through All; And when this Admirable Pattern shall be fully Anato­miz'd, and Measur'd; It will draw freely much higher Halle­lujahs, then the Beholding the wonders of the Humane Frame, ex­torted from the so deep Galen. Naturalist, as to be almost Atheist, in his Hymn to the Creator.

Correspon. 6. This State of the New Jerusalem consists not of Revolutionary Sabbaths, but is it self one perfect, even always continuing Sabbatism to the People of God, and even to the whole Creation; All Productions being Free, Spontaneous, and full of Blessing: This Sabbaticness is fitly signified by the Reed, c. 40. 5. [Page 16] of Six Cubits, and a Hand Breadth; For the Six Hand Breadths allowed to every Cubit above the ordinary Standard, make up a Seventh Cubit; and so the Reed becomes a Reed of Seven ordinary Cubits, thus contriv'd by Infinite wisdom. For that cach Cubit had a Hand Breadth above the ordinary Cubit; and not that the whole Reed had only one Hand Breadth to all the other Six Cubits, together, is evident c. 43. 13. the Cubit of this Vision was by the Cubit, and an Hand Breadth.

This Reed therefore becoming a Seven Cubited Reed, by the Six and 6 Hand Breadths united, and running through the mea­sure of this whole Frame, turns all into Sabbatism; For so as the First Sabbath united with Recollecting the Foregoing Six Days, and the Works of them into it self, and Blessed Them; So the Seventh Millenary shall, as a Grand Sabbatism Recollect, Restore, and Bless with Peace, Rest and Comfort, all the Six preceding Millenaries of Toil and Labour to the Servants of God; All drawn up into its self, and its own Rest, accord­ing to Moses's excellent Sabbatical Prayer to this purpose, Psal. 90. v. 13. to the End. It shall therefore be to all the Saints, and to the whole Creation of God, a Day of Restitution; But with the Vials of his wrath, as with a Flood He will Consume the wicked out of the Earth, and so as to be no more, and destroy them that before destroy'd the Earth, Psal. 104. 35. Rev. 11. 18.

Correspon. 7. There is in the Great Altar of Sacrifice, c. 43. 16. a very Illustrious Signature of the Israelitish Twelve, which was exalted by Jesus Christ into the Apostolical Twelve: For the measures of this Altar, vary from the measures of Moses his Altar, which was but Five Cubits square, as too little, Exod. 27. 1. and from Solomon's, which was Twenty Cubits square, as too much, 2 Chron. 4. 1. And why was this? but to shew the True Attonement for the whole Israel of God, Jews and Gentiles in its Symbolical Twelve Tribes, is Jesus Christ, declared to be so in the Doctrine of the New Testament, established by the Apostolical Twelve; And the Spiritual Levitical Priesthood, con­cerning which, God Lift up his Hand, Jerem. 33. 19. &c. is diffus'd through all Saints, who shall be Priests of God, and Christ, in Robes wash'd in his Blood, and daily Rejoycing in his Sacrifice and Altar most Holy; And Other Tribe of Levi scat­ter'd through this whole Israel, as that of old in Type, Gen. 49. 7. and so Bless'd by Moses, Deut. 33. 17. The New Testa­ment Acknowledges none; So Great is that mistake of calling [Page 17] the Elders, Pastors, and Doctors of the Gospel so, of which the Gospel says nothing but the Contrary, nor hath It come into its Mind.

And of the other Altar, c. 41. 22. It is expresly said, This is the Table before the Lord; Leading us to that Great Supper of the Kingdom, call'd the Lords Table; wherein we shew forth the Lords 1 Cor. 11. 26. death, till He come; when we shall Eat and Drink at his Table, in his Kingdom, in that Passeover Fulfill▪d, and that Fruit of the Vine New in the Kingdom, the Father, as the Ancient of Days hath given to the Son; and to the Saints of the most High. Dan. 7. v. 9. 13. 27. Matt. 26. 29. Luke 22. 16.

And to shew the Spirituality of this State, The Altar of In­cense, and the Table, viz. of the Shew Bread Become One; For I see no Reason to think, (as some Interpreters do) that that v. 22. c. 41. consists of Two Things, viz. The Declaration of the Altars Measures; and then a Declaration to Ezekiel, as by the by; That near the Altar is the Table before the Lord; But ra­ther, herein is this Great Mystery; The Melchizedekian Priest­hood brings forth the Super-substantial Bread of the Kingdom, and with it the Power of the Endless Liv'd Intercession; signified by In­cense, and Interpreted to be the Melchizedekian Priesthood of Christ, Heb. 7. throughout, with Revel. 8. 2. So that They Became both one.

Correspon. 8. The Jews have an undoubted Priority, and the Gentiles an Engrafting, and are even [...], a Body together, a whole Israel, one Temple, Ephes. 2. 21. c. 3. 6. Rom. 11. 17. 26.

The first is so plain, that the Vision is made up wholly of it; So that I am fully convinc'd, No Spiritual, Mystical, Evangeli­cal sense can Satisfie it: There must be therefore a Reception, a Reduction of the Twelve Tribes; which He Knows how to Gather, and sift for, who can Summon Them from, A [...]s 9. 9. and, as it were, by the Four Winds; So that as their Re­duction shall be like the Sifting of the Resurrection for Eve­ry mans Own Body; and Life from the Dead to Themselves; Of which we have that Illustrous Vision, Ezek. c. 37. 1. &c. So It shall be to the Gentile Churches Engrafted into that Olive, [that is the Jews Own,] the Time of the First Resurrection; Even to All the Dead in Christ, whom God will bring with Him; And to the Saints, who shall be [...]. T [...]e Living The Remaining 1. Thess. 4. 15. 17. There shall be [Page 18] such Issues of Living waters, as are after to be declar'd.

Now as to the Latter part, viz. the Gentiles Engrafting; though indeed there are only Silent mentions of the Gentiles, by the Strangers Sojourning among Them, having the same Interest by Lot, that They Had; Yet It is because, the Vision is Given in Jewish Types, and Language; But the Gos­pel declaring; Jews, and Gentiles, are All One Body, One Tem­ple, One New Man in the Stature of the Fulness of Christ, One Olive Tree with its Natural, and Engrafted Branches, It is made Certain, The Twelve Tribes with the Sojourners, are the whole Israel of God. c. 47. 22.

In as much then, as the Apostle Rom. 11. v. 12. hath de­clar'd a [...] an Ecclips under which the Jews lye to this day; and that there is also a [...] or a Full ORB'D LIGHT, to which They are to Arise; And that by Esa. 60 1▪ [...] v. 25. Speaking of the same [...], or Full Orb'd Light of the Gentile Church, The Apostle did privatly Foretell an Ecclipse by the Apostacy, under which That Gentile Church was to Fall; and then Ballanc'd the order of Each Churches Time; We may thus understand it: First the Gentile Church is to Come out of its Eclipse, and Apostacy to its Full Orb'd Light, when, (as our Saviour says) The Gentiles Times shall be Fullfil'd; Luc. 21. 24. Then Judah first of the Two, and Israel of the Ten Tribes shall be Receiv'd both; When This is perfected, Then shall be the First Resurrection, or as the Apostle Calls it, Life from the Dead: v. 15. For as the Jews could not be made perfest according to this Visi­on, without the Gentiles; which They not enduring, became Enemies for their sakes; So that their Casting away was the Riches v. 25. with [...]2. of the World; Even so the Gentiles becoming the prime Church of Christ, could not be made perfect without them; God therefore cast the Gentile Church into Martyrdoms, under the Pagan Em­pire for 400 Years of the Seals; then under an Apostasie of 1260 Years under the Antichrist not yet expir'd. And when the Gentile Church is so far prepar'd by Sufferings, It must come to that Full Orb; But because it cannot be Fully perfect without the Twelve Tribes; They must be Receiv'd, that Both may be together perfected according to this Vision; and as the Apostle v. 15. says, by the Gentile Churches Mercy or Glory, that must by promise be after the 1260 Days, [Joyn'd with the 400 Years of the Seals,] so long the Souls under the Alone slain by Paganism, must Rest, till the Rest slain by Antichristianism, should be Ful­fill'd [Page 19] according to Revel. 6. 11. Then the Jews obtain Mercy, v. 31. and must be Receiv'd, that All may be Glorified together; On which Mysterious Ordination, the Apostle cries out, Oh the Depth, v. 33. So we see this Vision cannot be Accomplish'd till the Full Orb'd Light of the Twelve Tribes, together with the Gentile Church; Both which are yet under Eclipse, till the 1260 End; And then Preparation shall be daily made for the after Glo­ry at the 1335 Days ending by the Everlasting Gospel, Freach'd to all Tongues, &c. or to all the Gentiles; And the Twelve Tribes shall then be also Receiv'd, and the Veil or Eclispe Remov'd.

It is very Remarkable therefore, though at the Resurrection of Christ, Revel. c. 4. c. 5. there was a Representation of the Apo­stol [...] Church of both Jews and Gentiles in the Living Creatures; It was as in Heaven, and after shut up there during the Apostasie, and not so much as seen; Nor any Appearance of those Elders, and Living Creatures from c. 8. when the Apostasie was entring, till the Seventh Trumpet, c. 11. And when it is seen more and more, c. 15. Yet it does not come down, till c. 19. c. 21. And of this there is also this observable in the First Appearance of the Church in Heaven, c. 4. The Gentile Apostolic Church in the Living Creatures is First; and so when the Gentile Apostolic Church is restor'd under the Great Voices, viz. of the Four Living Creatures, c. 11. 15. 9. and c. 14. 1. is Returning to its Full Orb. But in every Vision of the New Jeru­salem, as c. 7. 11. c. 19. 4. The Elders are First; signifying the Priority of the Israelitish Apostolic Church Receiv'd; Till in that order, the Priority is continued to Israel, in the name of the New Jerusalem for ever; So that must be first in the Elders; But the Gentile Church is also Included in the Living Creatures, look­ing universally to East, West, North, South, and Both are one Israel, one New Jerusalem.

Correspond. 9. The State of Blessedness, and Happiness being Typ'd out by the Land of Canan, divided by Lot, is in this Vision also Represented, as divided or distributed by Lot; though, (as Interpreters Agree,) after a Divine, Heavenly, Spiritu­al, and not an Earthly manner; Thus it is promis'd to Daniel in Admirable Agreement with this Type, That He shall stand in his Lot in the End of the 1335 Days, plainly shewing, when this Vision shall be Accomplish'd; viz at the end of the 1335 Years, the Last of the 2300 Evens. Morns. which 1335 began in just Succession, upon the 965th, which, as is elsewhere shown, ended in 437 of our [Page 20] Christian Account of Them▪ and the 1335 at 1772. when Daniel shall Appear in Body with All the Dead Saints; And as Inhe­ritance, and Priesthood fell under Lots; so the Royal Inheritance, and Priesthood of the New Jerusalem is fitly Typ'd out by Lots, the Heavenly Inheritance being call'd [...], a distribution by Lot. And so Rev▪ 21. 7. He that Overcometh, as the Israelites the Cananites, shall Inherit all Things by Lot, but the Fearful, &c. Even as those Fearful Spies, Num. 13. 32. 33. were cut off; shall be cast out into the Lake.

Correspond. 10. The State of the New Heaven in the New Jeru­salem, is fitly given in Symbol, or Type by the very Top of the [...]zek. 43. 12. Mountain, the Limit of which Round about shall be a Holy of Ho­lies; and by the place of Gods Throne; and the New Earth in all the various degrees of Approach to God, by the Lower Gra­dual descents from that Holy of Holies, and by the Place of the Soles of Gods Feet; as if a Throne reached from Heaven, down to Earth by its Footstool, as was said before in Jacob's Ladder, and as in the Prayer of the Kingdom, as in Heaven, and upon Earth. So the Throne lift­ed up, the Tram filld All, E [...]ai. 6..

Correspond. 11. As the first Paradise had its noted Rivers, as of Living Waters, and a Tree of Life; And as the New Jerusa­lem hath a River, clear as Chrystal, proceeding from the Throne of God, and of the Lamb; and a Tree of Life, whose Leaves were for the Healing of the Nations, c. 22. 1. &c. And as in that Hap­py State, the Lamb Feeds his delivered Servants, and Leads Them to the Fountains of Living Waters; So in this Vision, there are Rev. 7. 17. Waters issuing from the Temple, and the Altar, Running into the Desert; and into the Sea, and Healing it, so that It becomes an Ocean of Life; And the Trees that grow by this River of these Waters are both for Food, and Medicine, and their Fruit New every Month, as Rev. 22. 2. with Ezek. 47. 12. From whence issue an Universality, and Perpetuity of Life; For whatever Lives, shall Live; Even as in the First Resurrection of the New Jerusalem; Blessed, and Holy is He, that hath his part in that First Resurrection, either as in the New Heaven above, or in the New Earth below; For It is All one Life to Eternity; The Liv­ing, the Remaining dye not, but are Changed, and Caught up, even as the Children of the Resurrection in the New Heaven cannot dye, Rev. 20. 6. with 1 Thess. 4. 17. 1 Cor. 15. 51. and Luke 20. 36.

But as in the New Jerusalem of the Revelation, There is a Lake, and the Dead slain with the Sword of Christ's Mouth, Live not again, till the 1000 Years are Ended, that is, [Page 21] Never. For then the Dead are cast together with the Devil, Hell and Death into the Lake, which is the Second Death oppos'd to the First Resurrection; with which it begins, and continues to Everlasting, All one Death; Whatever is Dead, and not in the Book of Life, dyeth for ever without a First Death; even as the First Resurrection is All one Life without a Second Resurrection. Rev. 20. 5.

So in this Vision there are Marishes, and Miry places, that are not Heal'd, but Given to Salt even the Salt of Fire and Brimstone, and make the same Lake; shewing both Prophecies of Ezekiel, and John describe one State, so parallel in so many Great Things. Ezek. 47. 11.

And now it is well known, such a State hath never yet been so much as Spiritually, much less Litterally Fulfill'd on Earth; Nor can it be a Heavenly Paradise here intended; For what Nations, Desert, or Sea, will be then to be Heal'd? What Fish to be propagated in such Abundance, or to be Taken; Which according to our Saviours Great Gospel-Parable of Fishers of Men signifie the very same Thing, with the Dew of Christs Youth, numerous as the drops of Dew from the Womb of the Psal. 110. 3. Morning; It must needs be therefore the New Jerusalem State on Earth, when Christ shall have an Off-Spring so numerous, as to make Recompense for the over-number of the Lost now; And in All that State, There shall be to the Second Adam, (Then to come in this New Jerusalem State, when the Apostle wrote) more of the Reign of Righteousness and Life, then to the First Adam of Sin, and Death, Rom. 5. 12. to the End. And this shall be, when that False Fisher-man Antichrist, with all his Nets, is cast into the Lake of these Marishes, and Miry Places never to be Heal'd.

Now These Waters were Four Times Measur'd by a Line, viz. the Line of Flax Recorded, c. 40. 10. and mention'd on this occa­sion only; Each Measure was a 1000 Cubits; But in Regard of the Great Dryness, and Barenness of the Earth before, though the Divine Manifestation was so GRAND; Yet It Reach'd only to the Ancles, having small success; This may very well Resemble the Few, to whom the Arm of the Lord was Reveal'd by the divine Preaching of Christ Himself, and his Apo­stles before the Resurrection. The Second 1000 Reach'd to the Knees, in the Preaching of the Apostles, and their Immediate Successors after the Resurrection. The Third 1000 will Rise to the Loins, in the First Days of the Seventh Trumpet, when this Temple shall be Open'd in Heaven; But the Fourth Thousand in the [Page 22] Milennial State, or in this Vision, Accomplish'd in the Kingdo [...] of Christ; There will be a River Running down from Above, throughout the New Earth beneath, a River of Life, to Bathe and Swim in, and that cannot be pass'd over, nor Transcended in any Temple State; For It is an Ocean.

Correspond. 12. The Spring of All this State is the Glory of God, coming into his Temple, c. 43. 1. And the perfection of it is, JEHOVAH is THERE, as in perpetual Residence of his Throne, c. 48. last. and of the Soles of his Feet; Yea, so that He becomes Himself with the Lamb, the Temple of this City, as hath been said.

Well therefore might All parts of the Temple be Embellish'd with Cherubims, attending the Divine Presence; And as attending the Lamb, They had the Face of a Man on one side, Worshipping Emmanuel, God in our Nature; and of a Young Lyon on the other, in Homage to the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah; The Temple was also Adorn'd with Palm Trees, Representing the Innu­merable Palm Bearing Company of Saints, c. 41. 19. &c. Revel. 7. 9.

I have now presented the General Table of this Vision, in Agreement in the Chief and Main Importances of it, with the New Jerusalem; It now Remains, that I draw up some Conclu­sions, giving the Scripture Rationality of the whole.

Conclusion 1. Although this State be so Great, and Excellent a State, that It can never have an End Impos'd upon it, or that it can expire of it self; Yet it is by the Apostles express Do­ctrine 1 Cor. 15. 24. to be Deliver'd up; Even this Temple, and this Kingdom of Christ; As the Father is in it, It shall be Resum'd; And as the Son is in it, It shall be Resign'd, or Deliverd up by the Son with his Saints; For as from Heaven, It comes down for the Glory of God and Christ, so thither It shall be drawn and Resign'd up.

Now All this speaks it to be in order to a Higher End; There must be therefore some Ultimate State, and Perfecti­on, to which even this Temple, and Throne are, as the Apostle styles it, an Oeconomy or Dispensation of the Fullness of all Former Times; In order to this, All former Dispensations were, and are as to their next, even Supreme end, and the very Com­plement of Them; So This is in order to a further [...]xaltation of it self, that does not indeed give it End, but comprehend it, and into which It is deliver'd up. And this is, that God may be All in All, and that the Son and his Saints may be Subject; Or as our Great Mediator expresses it, John 17. 21. 22. 23. That [Page 23] They, viz. All the Saints of Christ may be One, as Thou Father art in me, and I in Thee; That They also may be One in us; And the Glory which Thou ga [...]est Me, I have Given Them, That They may be in one, Even as we are One; I in Them, and Thou i [...] me; that They may be made Perfect in One; This being the Supreme End, It gives Law to the Noblest means, and even to That, which is to All others an End. viz. to this Grand Oeconomy and wherein All Oeconomies are Sum'd up.

Conclus. 2. There never was Any Temple-state. Either High Enough, or Secure Enough for this Ʋnion of the Saints with God, All in All; till this Temple-State wherein God, and the Lamb are the Temple, be Brought down.

Herein therefore the Highest Perfection of the Redemp­tion of Christ is Enjoy'd. There are therefore Robes washed in [...]is Blood; There is a Continual Participation of the Altar of his Sacrifice; His Intercession, and Himself, as the SHEW BREAD of Life is as an Altar of Incense, and the Table before the Lord: There is the Annoynting of All Things by the pour­ing out of his Spirit, making his Servants Kings, as well as Priests; And All the Heavenly Things of this State are Purified, that is, Purchased, and Consecrated by that Better Sacrifice of Jesus Christ in his Blood. Heb. 9. 23. Even Angels and Glorified Spirits of Just Men wait for their being made perfect in this State, and Learn from Time to Time till then; Then All the Treasures of wisdom, and Gace shall [...]e Open'd to the Rev. 20. 6. Priests of God and Christ a 1000 Years, And They shall be therein Compleated for the unspeakable, and Eternal Ʋnion with God, All in All.

This State is Begun here on Earth; on which Account The Servants of Christ are now in Common; And not the Elders, Pastors, and Doctors of the Gospel only; Call'd the Roy­al Priest-hood, 1 Pet. 53. to which Dr. Hammonds Notion of [...] will Excel­lently Agree. and the [...], the Portion, and Lots of God; according to the words, the Holy Spirits wisdom Teacheth; How­ever we from the Ancients Humane Wisdom have Learn'd to speak Otherwise, In them all alike is the Spiritual Tribe of Levi Perpetuated according to Jerem. 33. 21. 22.

From this State Spirits Going to God are before the Thro [...]e in white Robes of this same Priesthood, Cloath'd and so prepar'd to be Invested with Glorious Bodies in this High Temple State; and therein Consecrated for an Eternal Ʋnion with God All in All; So the Sublime Purification of this State is according to the Divine Oeconomy absolutely necessary to that Eternal Ʋnion.

Conclus. 3. This Temple [...]tate is the Complement of all Proph [...] ­ [...]y; For as All Things, Times, and Pr [...]phecy have been some [Page 24] ways Prophetick of it; Even Adam in Paradise was, the Type [...] who is Yet to come in it, And the Two Last Voices of Pro [...] Fullfil'd, It is done, It is done, come out of this Temple, R [...] 16. 17. and from the Throne of this Temple, Revel. 21. 6. as R [...] membring Ezekiel's Temple, and Throne; Even so All dates [...] Time from the Beginning, more especially from Daniel's 2 [...]0 [...] Evenings, Mornings, have been kept by it, and determine in th [...] as the Apostle calls it, the Fullness, not of Time only, as th [...] Time of Christs Incarnation and Death, are call▪d Gal. 4. 4. b [...] the Fullness of Times, that is, All Times, Ephes. 1. 10. An [...] further to shew in this of the New Jerusalem, or Ezekiels V [...] sion Fulfill'd, All the Law and the Prophets are Fulfilld; we may observe in that Grand Vision of the Gospel, the Trans [...] guration in the Mount; which by the Apostle Peters express Ex­position, Ep. 2. c. 1. v. 16. &c. was a Vision of the Power, [...] Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; and wherein God the Father ga [...] Him Honour, and Glory; and by a Voice from that Excellent Glo [...] that shall come down into his Kingdom; Establish'd Him [...] preme, saying, This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleas'd▪ Hear ye Him. At the same Time Moses, as Supreme Med [...]to [...] on Earth of the Jewish Law, and all its Tabernacle of Testi [...] and its Types; And Elias, as that Prophet, who was the Type [...] that Ʋndying State, Carried up immediately into Heaven [...] Chariots of Fire, and so the Chief of the Prophets, Appear'd [...] Him; to shew this State was indeed the Full Complement of th [...] Prophetical Law, and of all the Prophets. Luke 9. 30. 35.

Conclus. 4. We should consider, that this Temple is yet shut u [...] and not seen till the Days of the Seventh Trumpet; because [...] Days of the Apostasie are not yet expir'd; Nothing therefore [...] yet be, as it ought according to the Pattern. In the m [...] Time This is our duty to come as near to it, as we can by o [...] ing nothing, but according to the very Word of God; For see [...] ▪ All Things commanded by God, are Patterns of Heavenly th [...] and the Temple in Heaven is not yet seen, none can transgress [...] much as by a Ceremony, and be Innocent; So nice and seve [...] is that Admonition for this very Reason; See thou do All Things according to the Pattern shew'd thee in the Mount, Heb. 8. 5.

But within Seven Times or Years, The 1260 shall end, an [...] we shall see it, that we may be Asham'd of our Corrupt [...] present Low State; And when we are Asham'd; As Certain [...] then shall be, the discoveries shall be clearer and clearer; till [...] and the Lamb be both our Temple, and our Light.