A Sermon or Homily concerning World. OW shall HO xxix I Ephraim the meanest Pag. 359. of the Servants of God, a Sinner laden with Iniquities; How shall I be able to inftruct you in Things that are above my Capacity. But as our Bleffed Saviour was pleased in meer Mercy to instruct his illiterate Disciples in the Mysteries of Wisdom, and by them to convey Divine Light to all the Faithful: So he will without Grudging bless me with the Gift of Utterance, to the Comfort and Edification both of me who am to speak, and all you that are to hear. But I cannot preach to you without Sighs, nor speak without Tears of the approaching Consummation of all Things, and of that most blafphemous and terrible Serpent, who shall put the whole Earth in Confufion, and shall infuse Cowardize, Negligence, and Infidelity into the Hearts of Men, and do Signs, work Wonders and dreadful Sights, * infomuch that if it were* Mit. 24. possible he should deceive the very Elect, and 24. feduce all Mankind by lying Wonders and miraculous Appearances that shall be wrought by him. For by the Permiffion of the Righteous God he hath Power to deceive the World, because the Measure of their Iniquities is filled up, and all Pla ces are full of all Kinds of Abomination. And for this Cause the Holy God will fuf fer the World to be tempted by the Spit rit of Error because of their iniquities, because Men have forsaken the God of Truth, and loved a Lie. My Brethren, great will be the Tribulation of the laft Days, especially to the Faithful. When Signs and Wonders shall be wrought by this Old Serpent with great Power. When he shall again show himself, as if he were God, in dreadful Operations, (a) flying to and fro in the Air with Legions of evil Spirits, accompanying him as F C (a) Even as Simon Magus, a Type and Forerunner of him, is represented flying in the Air, and thereby opposing the Gofpel of Christ, as preach'd by St. Peter: And as the fame is also reported concerning Apollonius, another Representative of him, and other dark Magicians, Ancient and Modern. Whence one of our Modern Pfeudo-Prophets was, it seems, not well ad. vis'd 'd by the Spirit which acted him, not to content himself with the Power of walking upon the Water, as Chrift; but to lay claim likewise to a Promife of flying in the Air, according to the express Characteristick of Antichrift and his Apostles. This is very agreeable to o the Devil evil being call'd in Scripture the Prince of the Air, and to his Transportation of our Blessed Lord, when tempted by him, from the Wilderness to the Pinacle of the Temple in Jerusalem; if that were a Real and External Transaction, as commonly is fuppos'd, and not meerly transacted in Spirit. as ministring Angels to this terrible Tyrant. For he roareth mightily, appearing in Variety of Forms, to the unspeakable Amazement of all Mankind. Who, my Brethren, will then be found standing bold and unfhaken, having the (6) Seal in laft A to (b) There is a twofold Seal: viz. The Seal in the Heart, and the Seal in the Forehead. The former precedes the latter, and is the Cause of it. The latter follows this, and is the external visible Sign thereof; which is to be imprinted by an Angelical Power in the Days upon all the true Followers of Chrift, distinguish them, even outwardly, from the Followers of Antichrist. Of the former St. Paul has made fufficient mention, 2 Cor. i. 22. faying, Whe hath SEALED us, and given the Earnest of the Spirit in our Hearts: And again, Eph.i. 13. In whom (i. e. Chrift) ye were SE ALED with that holy Spirit of Promise. And iv. Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are SEALED, unto the Day of Redemption. And of the latter St. John has made like mention, calling it emphatically the Seal of the living God; and that with a particular respect had to the Time of Antichrift. See Rev. VII. 2,39. and ix14. Now as for the outward and visible Seal, where-Af with Baptiz'd Christians were at Confirmation anciently feal'd, and which was for a sensible Sign of the inward and invisible Seal of the Heart; it was certainly no other than the sign it self of the Son of Man, or of Christ confidered in his Humanity, being as a Counterpart to the faid Seal of the living God, or of the same Christ consider'd in his Deity. Thus the First Sealing was to be chiefly into the Merit of Christ's Death; but the Second is to be into the Power of his RefurreEtion. Accordingly the visible Σφραγίς of Chriftianity which was given in the Primitive Church, by the Ministry of the Ecclefiaftical Angels, was the anointing the Forehead with Oil, and making therewith the Sign of the Cross thereupon. Whence σφραγίζω and φραγίζομαι are thus us'd in Ecclefiaftical Authors: and in his Heart, the Holy Appearance of the Only Begotten Son of God! When he shall and even St. Paul himself may possibly allude hereto in that remarkable Passage, Rom. xv. 28. And it is very obfervable that Christ Himself is theFirst of the Sealed Ones, according to his own Word, Τέτον γδ ὁ Παζάρ ἐσφράγισεν, ὁ Θεὸς, Joh. VI. 27. Whence by this Divine Sealing, and Powerful Inauguration, he may with respect even to his Mediatory Office, no less than to his Divine Nature, as He is the Only Begotten of the Father, be call'd Χαρακτήρ τύπος άσεως αὐτε: Αnd it is the holy Appearance of this Only Begotten Sen God in the Heart, which is the Secret and Invisibe Seal wherewith we first must be sealed; that fo we may be fitted for the second Sealing, viz. that on the Forehead, against his second Coming and glorious Ap pearance from Heaven, Outwardly to all the World. Wherefore by the First we are Sealed to be as the express Image of His Person, even as He is of the Father's Person, through the impressed Character of his Nature and Life in us And to as many as shall attain this, and thereby overcome the Power of Satan, it re mains that Christ, whom they are made to reprefent and of whom they are living Images, should fulfil the Promise which he has made to his conquering Saints, Rev. iii. 12. Which is to be effected by that Eaftera Angel, to whom the Σφραγίς Θεῖ ζῶν shall for that End be by Him committed; and which, no without a wonderful Propriety of Speech, He call the Inscription of the Name of HIS GOD, and of the Name of the CITY of His God: For he speaks this in hi Human Capacity, and as raised from the Dead: And it the Words there is an evident Relation to the Stat of the First and Blessed Resurrection. But howeve this may be now esteem'd, it was no such strang: thing in the earliest Days of Chriftianity; and part cularly among the Oriental Christians, in the midst of whom this Holy Father was a Bright Star in his Day And both the First and Second Sealing εἰς ζωὴ αἰώνια were most significantly express'd by the Ancient Form of Confirmation, as may be seen. shall fee that unspeakable Tribulation that shall come upon every Soul, without any Profpect of Reft or Confolation either by Land or Sea; When he shall fee the whole World in Confufion, and every one shall be fleeing to the Mountains for Shelter, when he shall fee fome perishing with Hunger, and others melting like Wax at the great Tribulation, and none to pity them. When he shall fee all Faces covered with Tears, and asking with great Earnestness, Is there any (c) Word of God upon Earth? and it shall be answered, No. Who shall be able to bear those Days, who shall stand under this insupportable Affliction? When he shall fee the (c) See this general Famine of the Word ultimately prophefied of Amos viii. 11, 12. Nevertheless here by Earth is not to be understood the whole. Terrestrial Globe, but the Kingdom of Antichrist only, or the whole Extent of his Empire, which in the Prophetical Language is called Earth, as in opposition to the Kingdom of Chrift, wheresoever that may be, either in Heaven or upon Earth, being in the same Language generally call'd Heaven. For thus the Apocalyptical Interpreters commonly understood the Church to be symboliz'd by Heaven, even while it remains upon Earth, ac cording to the Rules of Hieroglyphical Literature. And thus, not without good Reason, is a Wo fo folemnly proclaim'd against the Inhabitants of the Earth; that is, all those that live under the Antichristian Empire, Rev. viii. 13. which Empire not improbably may be included within the Limits of the old Roman Empire, or thereabouts; and which was also call'd οἰκσμένη, by our Translators render'd the World. See Luke ii. 1. Afts xi, 28. Rev. xvi. 14. |