the dayes of his flesh when he came more hiddenly; bebold a great cry, &c.

Thirdly, he comes fuddenly, unexpectedly, in the moft darke time, he comes at midnight.

Now Chrifts coming is either fpirituall and invifible, John 14. 18. I will not leave you cemfortleffe, I will come to you, Or visible: and that either at the day of judgment: or elfe at the calling and converfion of the Jews, when he will appeare in the clouds, and come to fet up his Kingdome in this world,in a more glorious manner then ever.So Rev.17, Behold, he cometh with cloudes, and every eye shall fee him, and they also which pierced him, that is the Jews, and all kindreds of the earth fhall waile because of him, even fo, Amen. Which relates unto the 12. Chapter of Zachariah, verfe the 10. 11, 12, 13, 14. I will pour upon the boufe of David, and upen the inhabitants of Jer ufalem, the Spirit of grace and supplication; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his own son, &e. In that day there fhall be a great mourning in Jerufalem, and the landfball mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; thefamily of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the boufe of Levi apart, and their wives apart, &c. Which cannot be underftood of the day of judgment, because then the families of David, Nathan, Shimei Levi, fhall not mourne apart, and their wives apart. Of this coming of Christ to fet up hie Kingdome, Trather take this parable to be understood, and not of his coming at the day of judgment; for in the 14. of Matthew, the Difciples did propound three questions to our Saviour Chrift, verfe the 3. Tell us, when fall befe things be? that is the dißruction of the Temple; and what hall be the figne of thy coming, and of the end of the world? To the last he doth anfwer firft (as is ufuall in Scripture,) negatively, verfe the 6. Tefball beare of warres and rumours of marres, but the end is not yet. Affirmatively verfe the 14. And this Gospel of the Kingdome, fhall be preached in all the world for a witneffe to all Nations, and then shall the end come.

B 2

Το

To the first question he doth answer in the fecond place, verse the 15, and 16. And to the fecond be doth answer in the third and laft place, becaufe he intended to fpeak moft to that, and fo proceeds to speak of his coming and the fignes thereof, in the after part of the 24. Chapter, and verfe the 37, 39, 40,46, 50. and fo he goes on in this beginning of the 25. Then all the Kingdom of Heaven be like unto ten virgins. In which parable till he speaks of his coming as before, for verfe 13. he concludes this parable chus, Watch ye therefore, for ye know not the boure wherein the Son of man cometh..

Befides, Chrift comes not as a Bridegroome, but as a Judge at the day of judgement. And if ye look into the 19, 21, 22 chapters of the Revelation, where mention is made of the glory of Chrifts kingdome in the latter times,ye find,that the converting Jew, who there fings the Hebrew fong Halle luja, is called, the Bride, the Lambes wife, faying, Come Lord Fefus. And at the eighteen and nineteene verfes of the nineteenth Chapter, mention is made of a great battell: But there is no fighting, nor battelling at the day of judgment; That is no time for feafting, nor fuppers neither; but at weddings and marriages there were, and are great fuppers, which we reade fhall be at this time, verfe 17. And as the wife enter, fo the foolish, and thofe that tell, and make lies are fhut out. Finding therefore all these things at that coming of Christ, thus to fute with this parable, I rather incline to think, that it cannot be understood of the day of judgement, but of that time when Chrift will appeare at the Jews converfion, to fet up his kingdome on earth, in that glorious,and bleffed manner which all the Prophets beare witneffe unto.

And because all the Victories,and deliverances that Chrift worketh for the Churches in the mean time, are fo many fteps unto this Kingdom, and coming of his: therefore in Scripture phrafe, fometimes, they are called his coming. Matthew 17. His transfiguration was called his coming in his Kingdome; for Chapter 16.28. Chrift faith, There be fome Standing bere, which shall not taste of death till they feetbe fon

of

of m an coming in his Kingdom. And then verfe 1. Chapter 17. is faid, And after fix dayes, Jefus taketh Peter, James and John bis brother, and bringeth them up into an bigh mountaine apart and was transfigured before them. In three Gospels, this hiftory of the transfiguration is linked unto that fpeech, There are some standing here, which shall not tafie of death till they fee the fan of man coming in his Kingdom,with those words, And after fix dayes Jefus tooke Peter, &c. Our Lord and Saviour Chrift was then come when he spake those words, but he was to come in a more glorious way and manner to fet up his Kingdom,and his transfiguration being a tafte of that glory and coming, it is here called his coming in his Kingdome. So all thefe great deliverances and victories which Christ worketh for his Church,being fo many tafts and forerunners of his coming in his Kingdome, they may be called his coming too; furely, they are as fo many fteps that he takes in the way of bis coming to his Kingdom.

But faies the text, He comes at midnight; That is, in a time when he is leaft expected, fuddenly, and when we are moft in the dark. And fo the obfervation is this.

Chrift comes at midnight: Though his coming be moft expected, yet he will come in a time when he is leaft expe&ted; when he comes as a Bridegroome, he comes at midnight,in a time when he is leaft expected,in the darkest time; Chrift comes at midnight.

Bebold (fayes Chrift) I come as a thief; theeves come in the darkest time,a time when they are leaft expected; fo wil Chrifts coming be.

For the opening and clearing of which truth, I fhall labor

to fhew.

Firft, That our Lord and Saviour Chrift will come again. Secondly, That he will come at midnight. Thirdly,Give you fome account why he choofes rather thus to come at midnight, then otherwife. And then draw down this by way of Application to our prefent occafion.

First, Our Lord and Saviour Chrift will come again.
1. Take his coming for, his Spirituall coming; and

«nough

Doct.

2.

-3.

though now abfent from your foule, yet he will come again, John 14.25. If any man love me, my father will love bim, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.

Secondly, Take his coming for his Perfonall, vifible coming at the day of judgment, fo he will come again. 2 Theff. 1. Chap. 7,8, 9, 10. verfes.

Thirdly, Take his coming for bis appearing in the cloudes, when he will come to fet up his Kingdome, fo be will come again before that great day; for if ye look into the Scripture, ye fhall find that his coming and his Kingdom are knit toge ther,do fynchronnize Dan.7. 13, 14.

So in many Scriptures ye thal find his coming,and his King. dome do go together. Now if ye look into the 11. of the Revelations, we fhall find it fpoken of times yet to come; The Kingdomes of this world are become the Kingdomes of our Lord, and bis Chrift, and be fhall reigne for ever and ever: verf. the 15. And we give thee thanks, O Lord, God Almighty, be caufe thou baft taken to thee thy great power, and haft reigned, verfe 17. which cannot be understood of the day of judgement; for then the Nations are not angry, then the Temple-doore is not opened, as is here faid verfe 18, and 19.

I would not be mistaken here; for I do not thinke that Chrift fhall come and reigne,continue raigning upon earth a thousand years, I do not fee how the Saints can fpare him out of heaven fo long. Neither do I think that this his coming is only to be understood of a spiritual coming into the fouls of his,fo filling their fouls with his fpirit,that they fhall have need of Ordinances no more; for in thofe glorious times, though there fhall be no Temple, that is, a Jewish Temple, yet the Temple door, that is, the Gospel Temple, fhall be opened. And in Zachariah the laft, which is plainly spoken of the glory of the latter times yet to come, it is faid exprefly three times in that Chapter, that men fhall go up to keep the feafs of Tabernacles, an allufion to the Jewish Ordinance. But why not the feaft of Paffeover and Pentecoft -1 the fealis of Tabernacles? many reafons may be given,

but

but I think one is; Becaufe the feast of Tabernacles had been more neglected than other feafts; for upon the coming out of Babylon, in the 8. of Nehemiah is faid, they had not kept that feaft from the time of Jobus, the son of Nun to that day, which was almost a thousand yeers. Now the Holy Ghoft feeing what degenerations there would be in our latter times, and lofings, and negle&tings of Ordinances, he faith here, that then they fhall keep the feaft of Tabernacles: That is, in the expreffion of the Jews, observe thofe Ordinances efpecially, which had been moft defaced and forgotten: But I keep to the words of Scrip

ture.

Chrift fhal come in the clouds again, when the poor Jews fhall fee him, and those which are called Forfaken, fhall be called Beloved, the Kings Bride, when the Fulneffe of the Gentiles thall be come in, when Christ himself fhall fet up his Kingdom in the world, his Regnum potentie, not patientie: when he fhall rule from Sea to Sea, when he fhall come not riding upon an Affes Colt, but in the Clouds, with thousands of Angels miniftring unto him. When foolish Virgins fhall be shut out from his glory, and the wife Profeffor taken in. And in the mean while, though our Lord and Saviour Chrift feem to forfake the Churches for the prefent, yet he will come again unto them with delivering and conquering mercy: Bebold, I come quickly, bold fast that which thou haft. Revel. 3.

Read ch.

13 of 2.

of Efdras, which

though it be Apocrypha & the loweft of Apocripha, being

written in

Latin, yet of great antiquity, cited by Cyprian,

Obj. But how may it appear that Chrift will come at midnight? Anfw. Ifhall give you a taft of it in al his comings,becaufe Jerome, there is the fame Spirit in one as in another.

Austin, Clemens

Alexan

divers o

thers.

1. For his fpiritual coming, when Chrift comes firft with his Converting grace, and caufes his Converting mercy to drinus,and paffe upon any foul, then he doth come at midnight, Job 33. God speaketh once, yes twice, yet man perceives it not; in a dream, in a vifion of the night, when deep fleep falleth upon men, in flumberings upon the bed, Then he openeth the ears of men, and fealeth their inftruction, verfe 14, 15, 16. When

a man