350 THE SHAKING AND TRANSLATING
Furthermore, to confirm this exposition, St. John in the Revelation holds constantly to the same manner of expres- sion. Heaven and earth in that book are commonly those which we have described. In particular, this is eminently apparent ; chap. vi. 12 — 15. ' And I beheld, and when he had opened the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon be- came as blood. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth : And the heaven departed, as a scroll when it is rolled to- gether, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places/ &c. The destruction and wasting of the pagan Romish state, the plagues and commotions of her people, the dethroning her idol worship, and destruction of perse- cuting emperors and captains, with the transition of power and sovereignty from one sort to another, is here held out under this grandeur of words," being part of the shaking of heaven and earth in my text.
Add lastly hereunto, that the promises of the restoration of God's people, into a glorious condition after all their suf- ferings, is perpetually in the Scripture held out under the same terms, and ^ou have a plentiful demonstration of this point. Isa. Ixv. 17, 18. ' Behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth ; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into my mind. Be you glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create,' 8cc.° 2 Pet, iii. 13. ' Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.' Rev. xxi. 1. ' I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea.' The heaven and earth is restored, but the sea that shall be no more. Those gatherings together of many waters, rivers from all places,? or pretended clergymen from all nations, into general councils, which were the sea or many waters on which the whore sat,"" shall have no place at all in the church's restored condition.
I hope it is now fully cleared, what is meant by the things that are shaken : even the political heights, the splen- dour and strength of the nations of the earth, the foundation of the whole is laid, and our heap (or building if your favour
" Euseb. Eccles. Hist. lib. 9. cap. 8. 10. lib. 8. cap. 27. De vita Constant, lib. 1. cap. ."iO— .52.
" Isa. l.xvi. 22 — 24. P Gen. i. 10, i Rev. xvii. 1.
OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. 351
SO accept it) will go on apace ; for to the analogy hereof shall the residue of the words be interpreted.
2. The second thing considerable is, What is the shak- ing of these things ?
To this the answer is now made brief and facile. Such as are the things shaken, such must their shaking be : spi- ritual, if spiritual ; natural, if natural ; civil, if civil. Now they being declared and proved to be civil things, such also is their shaking." Now what is a civil shaking of civil con- stitutions ? how are such things done in the world ? what are these earthquakes ? Truly the accomplishment hereof is in all nations so under our eyes, as that I need not speak one word thereunto.
Neither shall I insist upon the inquiry, when this shak- ing shall be.
The text is plain, that it must be previous to the bringing in of those things that cannot be moved, that is, the pros- perous estate of the kingdom of Christ.' Only we may ob- serve, that besides other shakings in particular nations of less general concernment and importance,' this prophecy hath and shall receive a twofold eminent accomplishment, with reference unto a twofold eminent opposition, which the kingdom of Christ hath met withal in the world.
(1.) From the pagan Roman state, which at the gospel's first entrance held in subjection most of the chief provinces of the then known world." What were the bloody endea- vours of the heaven and earth of that state for the suppres- sion thereof is known to our children. The issue of the whole in the accomplishment of this promise, shaking those heavens and earth to pieces, I before pointed at from Rev. vi. 12 — 15. beginning in the plagues of the persecuting em- perors, and ending in the ruin of the empire itself. But,
(2.) The immoveable things were not yet in their glory to be brought in. More seed of blood must be sown, that the end of the gospel's year may yield a plentiful harvest. That shaking was only for vengeance upon an old, cursed, and not for the bringing in of a new, blessed state. The
■■ Matt. xxiv. 6, 7. Jer. iv. 19. Isa. ix. 5.
' Xjovouj ri xaipoii?, oi/< o wariif 'i^no ev tJi iSia l^ous-ia. Acts i. 7.
' Itia-fAol Ultra. roTtovq. Matt. xxiv. 7. J , ,
* 'E^flXSf Joy/Mtt •Trapa KttiVajo? 'A-jj/ou^-tou, aWoyfa<f>la-5(ti Wac-tfV rnv olxovfxeyrtv. Luke ii. 1.
352 THE SHAKING AND TRANSLATING
vials of God's wrath having crumbled the heavens and earth of pagan Rome into several pieces,^ and that empire being removed as to its old form, by the craft of Satan it became moulded up again into a papal sovereignty, to exercise all the power of the first beast, in persecution of the saints; Rev. xiii. 12. This second pressure though long and sore must have an end ; the new moulded heaven and earth of papal antichristian Rome, running by a mysterious thread through all the nations of the west, must be shaken also : which when it is accomplished there shall be no more sea. There is not another beast to arise, nor another state to be formed ; let endeavours be what they will, the Lord Jesus shall reign."