Ç. A P. 3° We4ttO%t of °tbeAporwaJypr, 117 And they Jhall 1¿noW that I ha;tie loved thee., For till this time thou Godadèl art made a mocking-Bock, neither dounthankful! men acknowledge hie. nay love by that fingular gift of godlineffe, which I have beftowed ' upon thee ; But thenwill 1 adorn thee with thofe things, which are in account with the wodídalfo; thou fhalt fet up a victorious En- ligne againft thine enemies, and thou (halt inrich thy felfe with their fpoyls, fo as there (hall be none that (hall not be inforced to confeffe, that thou art Gods only beloved darling , when he (hall fee thee fo snarvelloufly, above all hope, promoted and advanced; nourifh and cheri(h thyhope with thofe things (O holy Philadelphia) and be not perplexed in thy mind , whátfoever the worldprateth of theewith many foolifh words. io.Becaufè thou haft kept the Word ofmypatience,that is,That Word anddoftrine Which I taught the WorldWith verygreat patience, as alto Which is to be preached. With like patience alWays,Which Ifee thou haft u- fedro thygreat danger,C haftfor al that continued con,fiantly in thy duty. AndIWillPave theefrom : he honreof temptation. But what is it to fave them from the houre? What,would not God fuller the Philadol- phians at all to be touched with the triall ? It could fcarce be,that they be altogether free in the common calamity of the whole world. To fave tiaem then, is to deliver them ; as God Paved them out of the hand of theirenemies;That is,hedelivered them,Judg.2. t 8.It is as much as if he fhould fay : IWill notPilfer thee to quaile in that trya!l, hut I Will give thee fr '-ngth, Wherby thouJhalt not only beare the calamity ananfully, but ¡halt overcome it alfo,andprove a Conqueroer; But What is this houre of temptation ? In the Type, it is that no doubt that was under Trajane , which Philadelphia !Whined together with all other Churches. Neither is it to be let paffe, why he called the fame an affli&ion of ten dayes in the Epiflle to the Church of Smyrna, which here he abridgeth into one honre; In both places he refpetled the agreement of theType, and theCounterpayn. There,becaufe under Confantine, Conf¢antins, andValens (with which time,we (hewed that the Coun- terpayn of the Smyrnean Church was tobe limitted) the calamity was to be long and failing, as which fhould behot and fierce for the grea- teft part of all that fpace, he defined the afliéEon in ten dayes,wher- inhe didboth note outhow manyyeares Traianefhouldviolently affault the Church,as alfo that long flayof the perfecutions,under the Chriflian Emperours in theCounterpayn : but feeing in theCounter- pays of thé2?hiladelphianChurch,there fhould be a mat grievous af- z ílicion
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