and destruction talk of God, and of his prophets and apostles, in their wisdom, that is below, and earthly and devilish, and in the knowledge, that is brutish, and in the understanding, that comes to naught. For what they know, is natural, by their natural tongues, and arts, and sciences; in which they corrupt themselves. This is the state of the dead in Adam: but the quickened, and they that are made alive by Christ, do discern between the living and the dead.' G. F.

Kingston upon Thames, the

12th Month, 1986—7.

While I was at Kingston, I writ also another paper, shewing that the Lord in all ages called the righteous out from amongst the wicked, before he destroyed them. Which paper here follows:

'Noah and his family were called into the ark, before the old world was destroyed with the flood of water: and all the faithful generation, that lived before, were taken away, and died in the faith, before that flood of destruction came upon the wicked old world.

The Lord did call Lot out of Sodom, before he did destroy and consume it, and the wicked there.

"Christ said, "It cannot be, that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem :" and he said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings! but ye would not." Luke xiii. 33, 34. And Christ said unto the Jews, "Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute; that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple. Verily, I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation." Luke xi. 49, 50, 51. And Christ said to the Jews, "Behold your houses shall be left unto you desolate." Matth. xxiii. 34, &c. And Christ told his disciples, that the temple at Jerusalem should be thrown down, and there should not be one stone left upon another, that should not be thrown down. Matth. xxiv. 2. And Christ said to his disciples, that he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the Jews, elders and chief priests, and be killed; and be raised again the third day: Matth. xvi. 21. And Christ said, "When ye shall see Jerusalem

compassed with armies, then know, the desolation thereof is nigh." And he foretold, that the Jews should fall by the edge of the sword, and should be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles. Luke xxi. 20. 21. Here ye may see, how Jerusalem was often warned by Christ, and how often he would have gathered them, but they would not, before they were scattered over or into all nations, and their houses left desolate, and their temple and Jerusalem besieged with armies, and destroyed, and thrown down. And though the disciples and apostles of Christ did meet, with the elders and church, at Jerusalem, after Christ was risen, yet Eusebius reporteth in his Ecclesiastical History, that the Christians at Jerusalem had a vision, or a revelation to depart out of Jerusalem. And they being forewarned also by Christ, that when they should see Jerusalem compassed with armies, its desolation was nigh; and that the temple should be thrown down, and not one stone left upon another; it is said, that the Christians did depart out of bloody Jerusalem, before it and the temple were destroyed by Titus, the emperor, who besieged it with his armies: who was of the Gentiles, and destroyed the temple and Jerusalem, as Christ had forespoken to his disciples, because of the wickedness of the Jews, and the innocent blood that they had shed in it. And so the Lord called his people out of bloody Jerusalem, before he destroyed it. And it is said, that Titus did destroy the temple and Jerusalem about two and forty years after they had crucified Christ, and he was risen again; and that with so great a destruction, that the Jews never did build again the city of Jerusalem, nor the temple (as Sodom was never built again, nor the cities of the old world): but the Jews for above these thousand years have been, and are a scattered people in all nations to this day; and Christ (whom they crucified) and his doctrine, is preached, and set over them and the Gentiles, whom they hated, have received, and do receive him and his doctrine, and do praise God for it through Jesus Christ. Amen.

'And God called his people out of Egypt, after he had poured out his ten plagues upon the Egyptians; when he had destroyed the first birth of Egypt, then the Lord brought his people out of Egypt. And after the Lord had clearly brought his people out of Egypt, then the Lord destroyed Pharaoh, and all his hosts and chariots.

And John saith, that he heard a voice, saying, "Come out of her my people (to wit, out of Babylon, the false church), that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye

receive not of her plagues: for her sins have reached to heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." Rev. xviii. 4, 5. Here ye may see that God did call his people out of spiritual Babylon, before the Lord destroyed her, and cast her down, to be utterly burnt with fire, ver. 8, 9, and 21.

'Was not Nebuchadnezzar's empire thrown down and ended by Cyrus and Darius, who were of the seed of the Medes, before Cyrus and Darius gave forth their procla mations for all the Jews to go into their own land, out of Babylon's captivity? And was there not a prophecy of Cyrus, that he should subdue nations, and that the Lord would loose the loins of kings before him, and break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron, and open the two-leaved gates; and that the gates should not be shut? And the Lord said, "This is for Jacob, my servant's sake, and for Israel mine elect." Isai. xlv. And was not this fulfilled in Cyrus's and Darius's time? For did not then the Jews go out of captivity into their own land. Ezra i. 2, 3, 4, and ch. vi. 1. and 12, and Isa. xliv. 28, and xlv. 15. And was not this prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled, when the children of Israel came out of Babylon? And were not the Assyrians, that carried away the ten tribes, subdued? and the Babylonians, that carried away the two tribes, were they not subdued in the days of Cyrus and Darius, in whose days the loins of kings were loosed, and the two-leaved gates of brass and iron were opened? and so had not Israel and Jacob their liberty by them in their days, to go into their own land?

And here in England, was it not observed, that most of the honest and sober people were turned out of the army, and their commissions, offices and places taken from them, because they could not join with others in their cruelty and persecuting? And others laid down their commissions themselves, and came out from amongst those persecutors, before they were overthrown and brought to confusion. All that are wise see these things, and learn by such examples and way-marks to shun such bogs. And the righteous are safe, that do keep in Christ, their everlasting sanctuary, that changes not; in whom they have rest and peace with God. Amen.'

Kingston, the 29th of the

G. F.

Twelfth month, 1689.

While I was at Kingston, one day, as I was meditating on the things of God, some particular observations arose VOL. II.

2 A

in my mind, concerning the first, and the second or last, Adam.

As that

'The first man Adam was made on the sixth day of the week; and Christ, the second Adam, was crucified on the sixth day of the week.

The first Adam was betrayed by the serpent in the garden of Eden; and Christ our Saviour, the second Adam, was betrayed by Judas in a garden near Jerusalem.

'Christ arose from the dead on the first-day of the week, and they that do believe on him are entered into Christ, their rest; the Christians do meet together to worship God on the first-day of the week; and on the first-day of the week it was, that God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. The Jews' rest was on the seventh-day of the week, which was given to the Jews, as a sign of the eternal rest of the Lord, sanctifying them after they came out of the land of Egypt; for before that time the Lord had not given to man and woman his outward sabbath-day to keep, neither in the old world, nor after in Abraham's time, nor in Isaac's, nor in Jacob's time; until the Jews came out of Egypt to mount Sina in the wilderness. And then, there the Lord gave the law and his sabbath, as a sign in the old covenant, of Christ the eternal rest in the new covenant; and they that believe, do enter into Christ, their rest.

'Adam the first man, is the root from whence we all spring naturally; and Christ is called the last, or second Adam, because he is the beginning and root of all them that are spiritual.

The first Adam was made a living soul; and Christ, the last Adam, was made a quickening spirit.

Christ by the grace of God tasted death for every man, that they might all come into favour with God; and that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.'

I writ also a paper there, concerning the two seeds, distinguishing the seed wherein the blessing is received, from the seed which the curse remains upon. Of that paper the following is a copy :

The Lord said to Abraham, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Gen. xxii. 18. "And thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven, and as the sand, which is upon the sea shore, and as the dust of the earth, that cannot be numbered." chap. xiii. 16, and xv. 5, and

xxii. 17. Now, in this seed all nations and families of the earth are blessed; but not in the seed of evil-doers and of falshood, nor in the seed of the adulterer and the whore, Isa. i. 4, and lvii. 3, 4; "for the seed of the wicked shall be cut off," saith the Lord. Psal. xxxvii. 28. The Lord said to David, "That his seed should endure for ever." Psal. lxxxix. 36. And again it is said, Psal. cii. 28, "The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee." Now ye may see, that here is a distinction betwixt the two seeds; for the seed of evil doers, and of the adulterer and whore, and of the wicked, shall be cut off; and so it is not blessed. But Christ bruises the head of the serpent, and his seed, which he soweth in them, that do disobey and transgress God's command, and rebel against God's good Spirit. This wicked seed of the serpent is curst, and is an enemy to the seed in whom all are blessed; but Christ bruises the head of this cursed seed of enmity, and destroys the devil and his works; and in his seed are all blessed, and all are in unity in this seed. And all the children of the seed are the children of the kingdom of God, and of Christ, and are blessed with faithful Abraham; and who are of the saving, divine, precious faith, are of Abraham, and walk in the steps of the seed and faith of Abraham, and are blessed with him, yea, all nations, and all the families of the earth.

And the Lord said to Abraham, "Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and that nation whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterwards shall they (to wit, God's seed) come out with great substance." Gen. xv. 13, 14. Here ye may see, that which afflicts God's seed, he will judge, and did judge; for he did destroy the first-birth of Pharaoh, and overthrew him and his host,

And an holy man said, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed or remnant, we had been as Sc dom, &c. that is, destroyed and burnt. But in the seed, which destroys the devil and his works, and bruises the head of the serpent and his seed, are all nations and families of the earth blessed.

'Christ, according to the flesh, was of Abraham and of David; for he took not on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham, in which seed all nations and families of the earth are blessed. And so they that are of his seed, are of the generation of Christ; and so are flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone. Now, all nations and families of the earth must be in this holy seed, if they have the bless