anointing that of Aaron, David and Elifka, was but a faint fhadow.*

As Jon, fpeaks of the Meffiah, when he fays, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he fhall ftand at the latter day upon the earth, Job xix. 25. So his afflictions were a type of the tribulation of the righteous, and his happy end was an emblem of the profperity of the church in the day when our Lord fhall ftand on the mount of Olives, and GATHER HIS SAINTS, that they may fee the vengeance, and wash their feet in the blood of the ungodly. Pfalm lviii. 10.

DAVID in the beginning of the xxii. Pfalm, defcribes the amazing forrows of the Meffiah, and the manner in which his heel was bruifed, when his hands and his feet were pierced by the feed of the Serpent. And at the end of that Pfalm, he declares that the gathering of the people fhall be unto Shiloh that the ends of the world fhall remember themselves, and turn unto the Lord in his Son and all the kindreds of the earth fhall worship before him, for (after the day of vengeance) the Kingdom fhall be the Lord's and he shall be the Governour among the nations. Then fhall the Meek inherit the earth, then fhall they eat, worship, and be fatisfied; enjoying without alloy the days of refreshing, which the Lord's prefence will bring to those who shall have been faithful unto the end, whether they fhall be of thofe dead Saints, who fhall have a part in the firft refurrection, which fhall take place in the beginning of the days of refreshing; or whether they fhall be among the Saints, who fhall then be found alive.

ISAIAH

Here there feems to be a chafm in the Work.-Mr. Fletcher undoubtedly meant to have drawn more proofs or illuftrations of his doctrine from the Hiftorcial Books bcfore he came to the Poetical and Prophetical.

ISAIAH is full of this doctrine take one or two inftances out of a hundred. You know, Sir, that in the language of the Prophets, as Jacob and the Houfe of Jofeph fignify the Godly, fo Edom and the Houle of Efau ftand for the Wicked, the enemies of God's holy Church. Ifaiah had a prophetic view of the Meffiah, performing his strange work, his work of judgment, and travelling in the greatness of his ftrength, as Lion of the tribe of Judah, when he fays, Ifai. Ixiii. 1, 6. Who is this that cometh from Edom, with died garments, from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, (Rev. xix. 12.) travelling in the greatnefs of his ftrength? I that fpeak in righteoufnefs (answers Shiloh,) mighty to fave:—and I will tread (all the Edomites) in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and my garments fhall be fprinkled with their blood, for the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. In mine anger I will tread down the people (who obftinately trample my blood and my followers under foot.) I will make them drunk in my fury, and will bring their ftrength down to the ground. The Prophet, ftruck with awe, breaks out into a fong of praife to the Lord for his great goodness towards the Houfe of Ifrael, the Righteous to whom the Lord condefcends to give reft from those who turned the earth into cruel habitations, and who made the very Houses of God, dens of thieves, murderers, and hypocrites: ver. 7, 8. This fong of thanksgiving and praise was echoed back by St. John, when he had a prophetic view of the Meffiah coming in righteousness to judge and make war with all the antichristian Powers. Rev. xix. 1,-II.

ISAIAH fpeaks next of the days of refreshing which fhall follow thofe days of vengeance, which fhall have such an effect upon the nations that they shall flock into the Church as pursued

doves

doves to their windows. The Lord (fays he to the Righteous) fall appear to your joy, and thofe who caft you out for my name's fake fhall be ashamed. A voice of noife from the city! A voice from the temple! A voice of the Lord who rendereth recompenfe

to his enemies! Now for the effect of these voices mixed with the found of the gofpel-trumpet: Before fhe (the new Jerufalem) travailed, the brought forth before hr pain came he was delivered. Shall the earth be made to bring forth in a day, or fhall a Nation be born at once? Yes, faith the Lord. Shall I bring to the birth and not caufe to bring forth? faith thy God. It is done! Rejoice ye with Ferufalem, ye that love her: Be glad with her, ye that mourned for her. Come, that ye may fuck, and be fatisfied with the breafts of her confolations that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her story. For thus faith the Lord, behold I extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles converted, like a flowing fiream. Then shall ye fuckye fhall be borne on her fides and dandled on her knees: As one whom his mother comforteth, fo will I comfort you, and ye fhall be comforted in Jerufalem: Your heart shall rejoice, and your bones fhall flourish, when ye thus fee the hand of the Lord towards his fervants, and his indignation towards his enemies. Ifai.

lxvi. 5, 14. The dawn of this day of refreshing was feen in the earthly Jerufalem when three thoufand and five thousand people entered at once into the new Jerufalem, the holy Church, the fpiritual kingdom, which is righteoufnefs, peace and joy, through the Holy Ghoft, in whofe comfort they walked, when great grace was upon them all.

ISAIAH points out these days of the Meffiah in fo many ways, that you will excufe me, Sir, if I copy one more of his ftriking pictures. Behold, fays he, the Lord [Jehovah our Saviour] will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to

render

render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire: For by fire, and by his fword, will the Lord plead with all flesh, and the flain of Jehovah fhall be many. What follows is his laft defcription, of the days of refrefhing, which Jehovah Shiloh will ufher in by the destruction of the wicked. It fhall come to pafs that (after thofe days of vengeance) I will gather all nations and tongues, and they fhall come and fee my glory. I will fend my heralds, thofe that fhall efcape from the great tribulation, unto the nations and to the ifles afar off, which have not heard my fame; and they fhall declare my glory among the Gentiles.

As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will then make, fo fhall your feed and your name remain. And it fhall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, fhall all flesh come (by turns to my holy mountain Jerufalem) and shall worship before me, fays the Lord: And they fhall go forth (to the valley of Jehofhaphat) and look upon the carcaffes of the men that have tranfgreffed against me, for their worm fhall not die, neither fhall their fire be quenched, and they fhall be an abhorrence of all flefh. Ifaiah lxvi. 15, 24. Here ends Ifaiah's account of that glorious reign of Jehovah Shiloh, which the Fathers called the Millennium,as being to last a thousand years, and during which it is probable, that our Lord will ufe thele extraordinary means to keep all the nations in the way of obedience. (1) a conftant difplay of his goodness over all the earth, but particularly in and about Jerufalem, where the Lord will manifeft his glory, and blefs his happy fubjects with new Manifeftations of his Prefence every Lord's day and every new moon:-(2) A diftinguishing interpofition of Providence, which will withhold the Meffiah's wonted bleffings from the disobedient: For it fhall be that whofo will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerufalem (either in perfon or by their reprefentatives)

reprefentatives) to worship the King the Lord of hofts, even upon them fall be no rain. Zech. xiv. 17. (3) The conftant endeavours of the Saints, Martyrs, Patriarchs, Prophets and Apoftles, raised from the dead, and converfing with men as Mofes and Elijah did with our Lord's Difciples upon the Mount, where they were indulged with a view of his glorified Perfon, and of his Kingdom come with power. Thefe glorified high Priests and Kings, as Minifters and Lieutenants of the Meffiah, will rule all churches and ftates with unerring wifdom and unwarped fidelity. (4) The care that the Lord himself will take to fet apart for the miniftry under his glorified Saints, those who in every nation fhall diftinguish themfelves by their virtue and piety; this feems to be the meaning of his own words: And when they fhall come out of all nations to my holy mountain; I will take of them for Priefs and Levites, faith the Lord, fpeaking to the Prophet in the language of the Jewish Church. Ifaiah lxvi. 20, 21. (5) A ftanding difplay of the ministration of condemnation, as appears from Ifaiah Ixvi. 24. above quoted, and from the fol lowing parallel Scriptures. At the time of the deftruction of the Affyrian, the antichriftian Powers, when the Lord fhall caufe his glorious voice of judgment to be heard, and fhall fhew the lighting down of his arm, with the flame of a devouring fire, with driving tempefts and hail ftones, and when in battles of fhaking he will fight with his enemies, the fierceft of them will be caft into Tophet; whether they fhall then be found alive, or whether they fhall be of those whom our Lord will raife from the dead to a refurrection of condemnation: or as Daniel expreffes it, to shame and everlasting contempt. Dan. xii. 2. Of thole who fhall be caught alive, St. John fpeaks in thefe words, I faw the Beaft taken, and with him the falfe Prophet, who deceived

them