ON THE WORDS OF THE LORD BEING PROLONGED. 325 high by swelling their pride, that he hath brought. them down to the pit with him, by working in their hearts to persecute the Spirit of the Lord, and doing despite where I have sent it: for let it be known, from my Gospel, he that offendeth these to whom my Spirit is sent offendeth ME; but these offences must come to fulfil my Gospel. And now I shall come to the purport of his chapter: and know I have told thee, he handles the word of God deceitfully, to blind the eyes of the ignorant, and to deceive the simple. Can a man dare to preach my Gospel, and say he is furnished with rich grace, that doth not understand what he reads? Will he dare to say none of my words are prolonged? Then the Bible must be fulfilled when John wrote the Revelation, for know what is written in the last chapter-And he saith unto me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. Then if it was not prolonged, that time that was at hand must be immediately, and the Spirit and the Bride must then appear to bring the final end to all; but how are men taking from the Scriptores! how are they adding to the Scriptures to bring on their own destruction, and take their names out of the Book of Life, that they may have no share nor lot in the matter! Now write verse 22 of the chapter he mentioned, what the Lord said unto the prophet-Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, the days are prolonged, and every vision faileth? Tell them therefore, thus saith the Lord God; I will make this proverb to cease. Now I tell thee, like the present age so was the past, because judgments are not speedily executed the hearts of the sons of men are set to do evil. But shall I be a God to destroy and devour at once? Then to what use is my sending prophets to warn them and threaten them, if I go out immediately to destroy them, without giving time to try them, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, whether they will repent, or whether they will be hardened? It is to try them that I warn before I strike; and this warning had come to the prophet. Now mark what I ordered him to do, ia erses 5, 6-Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby. In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel. Verse 11-Say, I am your Sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity. Verse 15 --And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations. These were the prophecies given to the prophet, telling what judgments should befal them for their disobedience and rebellion; and he was a vision as a sign unto them; but seeing these judgments not immediately executed, nor these dangers come upon them, they began to mock the prophet, as they now are mocking thee, that the fatal judgments, mentioned to the unbelievers and the mockers, that shall come upon them, are not fulfilled; and the proverb is now in your land, as it was with the rebellious house of Israel, the days are prolonged, and the fatal judgments are not come. Thus they provoked me to anger in the days of old, and mocked my warning, because I gave them space to repent, and they repented not, but hardened their hearts the more; therefore I said, my word should no more be prolonged, because they had provoked ME to anger, to bring on their destruction; for they had hardened their hearts through unbelief. And now I tell thee, it is the same: these very men that profess they are as prophets called of ME, to go out with the sword of my Spirit, they have drawn the sword against ME, to prophesy out of their own hearts against the prophet whom I have called; they have set up their own wisdom and their own invention against THE MOCKERY OF TYPES SET IN THE PROPHETS 327 my Spirit; and now they are ready to say, like the Jews of old, where are the threatenings fulfilled? are they not prolonged? mocking the visitation as not being from the Lord. Here is the perfect likeness of Jews and Gentiles; and now they may fear the perfect likeness of the fulfilment and know how they have mocked thee of the Mis-maze, and thought no more of it as being a type to the nation, of what Mis-maze and confusion they will be in, when I bring upon the land all the judg ments I have threatened, than the rebellious house of Israel thought the type of Ezekiel's digging down the wall and carrying out the rubbish was a type unto them, how they should be carried into captivity. Now let these ignorant men, that mock the Types and Shadows, I worked in thy heart to. do, answer ME, why I should order the prophet to dig through the wall, and carry it out in their sight, as a sign unto them? Could I not have carried them into captivity, without setting that sign by the prophet? And was I now to set the like sign, would it not be as much mocked as it was by the Jews? I tell thee, Yes; and much more; then how can he dare to say, that the free, sovereign and unmerited and unsought-for Grace of God in his soul, compared with that all-sufficient fund of divine knowledge contained in the Bible, is sufficient to inform him what God is? Now the very chapters that he hath mentioned must come as a swift witness against him; for how can he mock my speak-' ing to thee, when thou wast cutting of paper and making a Mis-maze, and see in the chapter he pointed out, from the 3rd to the 16th verse, what I commanded the prophet to do, how I conversed with him to set signs for the children of Israel? Then what knowledge can he have of his God? or what knowledge hath he of my word? But I now tell thee, as the prophet was set for a sign before them, by doing the things that I commanded him, so the Mis-maze that I worked in thy heart to cut, shall be an awful sign of what Mis-maze shall come upon men that mock the visitation of the Lord, despise my invitation, and laugh at my threatenings; but those whose eyes are like the diamonds, that begin to see the Pearl of great Price, and dig deep through faith to find it (that meaneth going on in their faith nothing wavering,) they will find it a Mis-maze of joy that never entered into the heart of man, but hath been locked up in the bosom of the Father, concealed from men and angels, till the time of its fulfilment. This is a Mis-maze unto all men Therefore I work'd in thee To shew at last I so shall burst, The way I bid him to go on And now I'll answer thee: Dig through the wall, I tell you all, The wall stood then for man, And from the rubbish now I call To carry out to them, When he digg'd through I told him so, That carried out should be, And he the sign, call all to mind, And will you say you know your God, The sign to Israel was foretold, Until their hearts with fear grew cold, But through the wall, I tell you all, Until I came in love to man, To have the wall appear. But now within thou dost begin ON EZEKIEL DIGGING THROUGH THE WALL. 320 That I could come a wall to them, I was the wall, I say, for all, For if their prophets they had known, But they would not believe, The wall was ME; the substance see; A BRANCH OF DAVID they should see, That is, Israel should restore, This they believ'd there would appear, A GREAT DELIVERER come; But when I came, it must be known, But like a wall prepar'd to fall, And so they digg'd through ME, And they like rubbish were cast out→ Their hearts to ME were known. Now from the wall, I tell you all, Though 'tis a mark to man, But from the building, see, to all By what it there does stand: From brick or straw, you all must know, Or stone, it must be laid; And 'tis by man the wall must stand- Tt |