A30152:84
The holy city, or, The new-Jerusalem wherein its goodly light walls, gates, angels, and…The holy citie, or, The new-Jerusalem wherein its goodly light walls, gates, angels, and…
The holy city, or, The new-Jerusalem wherein its goodly light walls, gates, angels, and the manner of their standing, are expounded : also, her length and breadth, together with the golden measuring-reed, explained, and the glory of all unfolded : as also, the numerousness of its inhabitants, and what the tree and water of life are, by which they are sustained / by John Bunyan ...The holy citie, or, The new-Jerusalem wherein its goodly light walls, gates, angels, and the manner of their standing, are expounded : also, her length and breadth, together with the golden measuring-reed, explained, and the glory of all unfolded : as also, the numerousness of its inhabitants, and what the tree and water of life are, by which they are sustained / by John Bunyan ...
London: printed for Francis Smith, 1669
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
That the descending of this City, • not the coming of glorified Saints with their Lord; because that even after the descending, yea, and building of this City, there shall be Sinners converted to God; but at the coming of the Lord Jesus from Heaven with his Saints, the door shall be shut; that is, the door of Grace, against all Unbelievers, Luk. 13. 25. Matth. 25. 10.
Therefore Heaven here is to be taken metaphorically, for the Church; which, as I said before, is frequently so taken in this Prophecy, as also in many others of the holy Scriptures, Rev. 11. 15. & 12. 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 13. & 13. 6. & 19. 1, 14. Jer. 51. 48. Matth. 25. 1. &c. And observe it, though the Church of Christ under the tyranny of Antichrist, loseth the title of a standing City, yet in the worst of times she loseth not the title of Heaven; She is Heaven when the great Red Dragon is in her, and Heaven when the third part of her Stars are cast unto the Earth; she is Heaven also when the Beast doth open his Throat against her, to blaspheme her God, his Tabernacle, and those that dwell in her.
Therefore Heaven here is to be taken metaphorically, for the Church; which, as I said before, is frequently so taken in this Prophecie, as also in many others of the holy Scriptures,