The shield single against the sword doubled. To defend the righteous against the wicked. Whereby are waved those cuts and blows, which Mr Erbury deals to the righteous; and wherein also is shewed, that his now-new-light is no-light, but blackness of darkness. By Henry Niccols, minister of the word in South-Wales.

Answer.

This is another very private Interpretation of Scripture; a∣gainst the Letter, and besides the concurrent judgements of many worthy Expositours, Piscator, Diodate, Brightman, Aretas, Deut, &c. But observe, The Lamb is Mount Si∣on, and with him, [not in him] 144000. having his Fathers Name written in their Foreheads. The Lamb is Christ, called, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, John 1.29. Eximius ille agnus, & singularis, qui per agnos Sacerdotii Levitici adumbratus est, foretold by the Prophet Isaiah 5.3.7. and resembling a Lamb in simplicity, and godly sincerity. Mount Sion is the Church, yea triumphant, called Heaven, ver. 2. and Heavenly Jerusa∣lem, the City of the living God, where are an innumerable company of Angels, and general Assembly, and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven, and God the Iudge of all, and the Spirits of just men made perfect; And Iesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant, and the blood of sprinkling, speaking better things then that of Abel: this is Mount Sion, Heb. 12.22,23. And the City which Abraham looked for,

which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God, Heb. 11.10. from whence we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is the course of the Saints in whom Christ dwels, and who are in Christ, to go from strength to strength, (that is from faith to faith, grace to grace, one measure of grace to another, forgetting that which is behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, and pressing towards the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ,) till they appear before God in Sion; which state, and enjoyment, is begun here in part, earnest, and first fruits, but not in a full discovery till time shall be no more. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye als•• appear with him in glory.

The 144000 is the same with the sealed ones, Revel. 7.4. Caeterum an precisè, ac proprie iste numerus hic sit intelligendus, an vero per Synechdochen specie, numerus magnus notetur, non satis liquet, (saith Piscator,) that is, Whether this definite number of 144000 is to be taken literally, or figuratively, as including the indefinite number of the Elect, is the question; but he seems to resolve for the latter, because at ver. 9. cap. 7. there is mention of a great multitude, which no man could number of all nations, and kinreds, and people, and tongues, who are yet of the number of the sealed Ones, because deliver∣ed from the stroke of the destroying Angel, cap. 7. ver. 1. com∣pared with ver. 3. [Having his Fathers Name written in their Foreheads,] a Periphrasis of Election, See Luke 10.20. Philip. 3.3. So then, according to the best Expositors, by this vision, the Heavenly Glory is represented, wherewith all the ancient Martyrs were crowned, who suffered death under heathen Rome; and now the Lord Christ appears in vision with all his elect Saints, who begin their triumph over the Beast, and o∣ther enemies here, and shall perfect, and consummate it here∣after, when they shall sing the new song before the Throne, and before the four beasts, and the Elders, and no man could learn that Song but the 144000 which were redeemed from the earth: Now consider, within how many degrees Master Er∣burie. Exposition of this Scripture is distant from sense, rea∣son, and truth, viz. the full discovery of God in us, &c. O that Master Erbury had not delighted to express himself in those exotique terms, which neither the Scriptures use, nor

yet the people conceive, seeking abstrucities, and loving to ho∣ver, and soar aloft in dark expressions, and so to shoot his ar∣rows over the heads of his hearers, who (poor deluded souls) do much more admire him, then they do understand him. But to the point, which Mr Erbury insists on by way of Exposi∣tion, scil.

The full discovery of God in us, and men shall see God, e∣ven the Father in us with Christ so clearly mani∣fest, &c.

This saying is not only aenigmatical, and hard to be under∣stood, but also equivocal, as in some sense carrying the speci∣ous pretence of truth with it, I do not say, but God is in us, and Christ in us, formed in us, dwelling in us, and he that hath not Christ in him, shall never have Christ for him; But how is God in us? not as in the Persons of the Trinity, (as Mr Sprig saith,) or as in the humane nature of Christ, but then is Christ said to be formed in us, when that grace which is in Christ is communicated unto us. Paul said, Christ lived in him, Gal. 2.20. and this he expounds to be the grace of God in him, 1 Cor. 15.10. As we say, the Sun is in a room, when not the body or substance of the Sun is there; but the beams, light, and warmth of the Sun: so Christ is in us, but not as he was in the Virgins womb literally, but mystically and spiritually, in his gifts, graces, and spiritual blessings: Consider the pray∣er of Christ for a believer to his Father, That they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me: And the Glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, &c. Now, take heed thou abuse not Christs expression of Oneness here, conceiving it such an union, as shall deifie us: This were not only above the aspiring arrogancy of Adam, but, as I suppose, above that of the Divels: True it is, there is a real relative union betwixt Christ, and a believer, such as betwixt the Head of a Body Politique, and the Members, or as is betwixt man and wife, who are said to be one, but to dream of such an union, as shall render us Goded, and Christed, (as the Familists ex∣pound the 2d of Peter, cap. 1. ver. 4. where it is said, that

the Elect are made partakers of the divine nature,) is high blasphemy, God knows; there are many that talk of the in∣being, and indwelling of God in them, and talk so grosly, that they know not what they say, having no experience at all of this blessed truth; But how then is this expression of God and Christ in us, to be taken according to the Scripture sence? I answer, as formerly, in a mystical, spiritual way; [At that day, ye shall know that I am in the Father,] They knew it be∣fore, saith Calvin, but here he speaks of a more glorious and spiritual discovery, [you in me, and I in you,] We are said to be in him, because being ingrafted into his body, we are made partakers of his righteousness, and goodness; as a branch of a wild Olive tree, taken out, and ingrafted in a true, is by ver∣tue of that insition interessed in the juice, sap, and vertue of that tree: And He is in us by the efficacy of his Spirit, the Authour, cause, and quickning principle of spirituall life to us; what need then is there of these ambiguous expressions? without fur∣ther clearing them up to the judgment of the weak, let these Delphick riddles cease, and that our Trumpet may not give such uncertain sounds, let the form of wholsome words used in Scripture, be more used in much plainness, and simplicity, for except we utter by the tongue words easie to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken, we speak but to the air, 1 Cor. 14.9. And where Mr Erbury saith, Men shall see the full discovery of God in us so clearly manifest, as written on our foreheads; I profess, I do not understand what he means; Capiat, qui capere potest. Nor do I conceive that men shall ever come to such high attainments in this life, (though the Familists and Rawth may call themselves high attainers,) as to see the full discovery of God in any creature: Mr Erbury may talk of see∣ing the full discovery of God; and yet I think he never saw the full discovery of the poorest worm † that crawls on the ground. Certainly, we shall never be capable of clearly know∣ing, till we are capable of fully enjoying: If the beloved Dis∣ciple that lay in the bosome of Christ, and durst speak, and en∣quire into his secrets, and was filled with his Revelations, and saw New Jerusalem in her Glory, and Moses, and Elias in part of theirs, could not fully discover what we shall be, but only in general terms, when Christ shall appear, we shall be

like him. Let not the Reader wonder that my discourse is so weak, and shallow; I never saw that creature yet which con∣tains not something unsearchable, nor the worm so small, which affords not matter for questions to puzzle the greatest Philosophers in the world; no wonder then, if mine eye wa∣ter when I would look at the Sun of Righteousness, and my tongue fail in speaking of the full discovery of God; Paul that was rapt up to the third Heaven, and had heard words un∣speakeable, could afterward say, Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now I do in part, but then I shall know, even as also I am known.

Notes

• Phillip. 3.20.
• Philip 3.13,14
• Psal. 84 7.
• Col. 3 4.
• See Piscator on Rev. 7.4 Scilicet.
• See Diodate in loc.
• Revel. 14.3.
• Ephes. 3.17.
• John 17.21,22,23.
• We are parta∣takers of the Divine Na∣ture, but not in the notion of Servetus, or any other unreasonable. Enthusiast, that dreams of lo∣sing his cr•…•…∣ted Nature, and becoming Christed, and Goded.
• P. Sam. 27. John 14.
• †

  Dic mihi Phi∣losophe quid plene cognoscis? puto non audere te dicere quod parvulum, vel minimum, cre∣aturam scis quod non perfe∣cte cognoscis minimum ato∣mum in Sole, &c.
• 1 John 3.2.
• 2 Cor. 12.4.
• 1 Cor. 13.12.