Brightman - BS2823 B85 1644

872, ARe-vclation of the Apocalypfe. C.A P. 2, z..:' be feen of us, whodoe not behold it from the topof an high moon- taine,but a loofeoff from a lowand a level! pecce of ground; where the hills and the trees do hinder our eye-fight greatly, and do keepeus from beholding the matter any thing cleerly and plainly as yet. And yet it did my heart good to openmy windows towards this Iernfalem, as it did delight Daniel to do long ago, that fo I might make my felf a pro- fped`f to behold this holy City a fir of,the cloudy and skie coloured tops whereofeven thus far of} beheld, do much folace my foule. Now the 14 Ghoft teacheth us, howmuch dignity (hall come to the City from the things that bewithout it. Firft God the Father and the Lambe his Son fhali be in iced ofa Temple unto it,that is, the worfhip that íhall then be in ufe, íhall be moil Pmple and melt pure, not obfcured with any of thofe legali Rites, which God did inflitute of old to continue till the time of Reformation, much leitee with any Devils and patcheries of hu- maneRites,but it (hall be fuch as by meanes whereof God (hall !hew himfelf to be p relent amongfimen in a moil Pimple and familiar manner. How then doth Iohn in this defcription ofthe new Iernfalem agree with ,Ezechiel,whoentreating of this very fame time and matter in eight whole Chapters, namely from the fortieth to the end of his Prophecy, Both defcribe the Temple,the City, and the Whole leollWorfhip, and all this fo exad`tly? very well as may be. For all that defcription belongeth to this purpofe, not to teach us, that the old Ceremonies are to be recal- led, but that when thofe fhail be wholy abolifhed at length, Chrift is to be worfhipped moil purelyand precifely,according to his own ordinal ces alone. For what other thing do thofe new dimenfions meane of the Wally, Gatos, Cowls, and of the Whole building, the neW divilion of the Holy Land, and the new Portions that are given to the Tribes, the Priefls, the Levites, thePrince, but an utter abrogating of Mofes and of all the Legali Ceremonies ordained by him ? But the men ofthat time wherein theProphet wrote, were nootherwife able to underfland what any fpirituall worfhip ofGod meant, but oncly by defcribing it under thofe ihadowes. John being to deale with Chriftians, fpcakes plainly, removing out ofthe way all vailes and figures, as unto whom the fun ofrighteoufnei% hath lhined in his full light at Noone day, fo as all things may be feene of them as they be naked and manifef , And indeed the Holy Ghofl doth molt fignificanrly open unto us in one word the meaning ofall that long and obfcnre defcription that is in Ezcchiel, when he faith that that Temple,howmagniñcally and gorgeoufly foever it was built and prepared, was in very deedenone at all. Not as if the Prophet hadpowred out fo many words, in vaine, and frivoloufly, but that he might Phew us, that we are not to flick in the (hell of the letter,

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=