Of Ele8ion. 5 4 • from the firfi Vtrft, and fo on, fucceeds this Church, as .therefrom Exifi- ~ ing, which was to be both hzs Sud and Spoufe; Thy Malur u thy Hwband: Chap. 4 • And Children to be brought forth to htm, See the fidt Verfe; Smg0 barrm ~ bear andcry aloud tbotl that dzds11Jot travel wllh Chtld; for mou artth; Cblldrm of tl:t 'Drfolatt, thmz tbeChildrm of the married Wzft: Here is a former Wife-Mother fpoken ot, and here zs a new Wzfe (that formerly had been barren and defolate ;) and a new Seed, or Children more numerous than thofe by the former Wife~ and thefe are manife!lly difcriminated,the one from the other: And 'tis to tlus new Spoufe that God applies tbzs hzs Oath of Noali's Covenant and Waters: (which is no where elfe to any fuch purpofe at all mentioned in all the Old Tefiament.) Well, but who is this barren Woman; this anew received Spoufe? Let us hear the Apofiles Interpre1ation of it, Who thofe are whom be applies it unto, Gal. 4· ·25, Jerujalem that now is: He fpeaks of that Judazcal Chttrch, under the Name of the Mother City, which then was Exifiing, and as yet not defiroyed, when he wrote this Epifile. And this Church, the old Wife, would needs hold up, in oppofition to that new Church and Wife: that Church the old Wife would needs h~ld up in oppoft•inn to that newChurch andW1fe:that frame and form of Worlh1p of theOld Tefiament,t hough lhe kept thereby her felf and her Children fiill in Bondage (as its there:) But tbrreis (fays be) aNothtr Jerufaltm,which iJ abovr,and :s (ru ; the Mother of 1/J a/J. Which new Jerufalrmwas [now] under the New Ttfiament declared to be the Mother of us all ; the Venter ofa new Generation: To prove which, becitcth this very place, IIai. 54·'· as a Prophecy thereof, Rejoyct 0 barrm, f!/c. So then be~eis a new Church this Chapter of Ijaiah concerns; and an old One which It IS fevered from, . And it will not be a block in the way of the Application of this Scripture , which I lhall drive at, (which is, that the New Church out of the Gentiles is principally aimed at) whether the Chrifiians of the JewiO> Nation, and the Churches at Jerufalem and ]l!dta, be underfiood, and taken in to have made up, during thofe Gofpel times, part of this New Church. (Although there is this againfi that , in that very Chapter, that the Church he now foretels he · wouldanewaffume, tbeWifehehadcafioff, would call offno more, after he had received her, whereas he bath cafi offthe Jewijh Nation, from having Children by her, or out of her ; for thefe I 400 years. She was in a manner cut off in Paul's time ; whereas out of the Gentiles be bath continued a nu– merous Church , to this day: ) It matters notl fay: For the Children out of the Jewilh Nation then ( though the firfi Gofpel fruits) were but a few in comparifon to thofe the Gentiles have brought forth, to God ; and foon be– came barren again. But yet it will not be enough for the full compleating my drift,that this new Wife,the Church under the new,is that which is prophecied of hereby Ifaiah. unlefs in the next place I alfo lhew, that this was either Typified, or PropheCied of Noah•s Story: That we may fay of it, thu u the Waters of Noah, f!ic. J . In the General, the Allufion from thence wtll hold; that Noah and his 'Sons were ordained by God to be the Founders and Beginners ofa New World ( as_we ufe to fay,) thf.Jbegan tht WorM a nrw. Thus in the letter rbey were; whzch Peter's phrafe mfinuates, wbzlfihecal!s that afore Noah's times the World that thm Was. And anfwerably thereunto, the times of Cbrifi,'and his Apoltles, arc fiiled in the current language o_f the New Tefiamentj j/ilo novo, to have begun a new World. Thus Chnfi fpeaks , tht Ki11gdom of Heavrn" at hand: And as a new lEraor account, the Gofpel-times are call'd ( thr lafl days:) So the Apofiles; m1dthe World to comt, faith Paul, He6.2. which did then begin : For, 'tis fet in oppo!ition to the time of the Law, giv– en by the Angels, Vrr[. 2. And fo of the Jewifh State; the Analogy holds 1hus between them, that look as when in the old World, aD fl<fb had corrllpttd' their way; "'Gen. 6, 11, 12, And among the Jews Religion, being afore fo corrupted; and among the Gentiles, God havi11g (u/fertd in timfS paft a/J natzoHs to walk m their owuways ACl:s '7· I 6. After d11mu lJols tU thry were ltd, '· Cor. 12. 1. That then God raifed up this new Gofpel Church, as a new World ; the time of which is called, the time of the ReformatioN, or change
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