A37035:1356
A commentary upon the book of the Revelation Wherein the text is explained, the…A commentarie upon the book of the Revelation Wherein the text is explained, the…
A commentary upon the book of the Revelation Wherein the text is explained, the series of the several prophecies contained in that book, deduced according to their order and dependence on each other; the periods and succession of times, at, or about which, these prophecies, that are already fulfilled, began to be, and were more fully accomplished, fixed and applied according to history; and those that are yet to be fulfilled, modestly, and so far as is warrantable, enquired into. Together with some practical observations, and several digressions, necessary for vindicating, clearing, and confirming many weighty and important truths. Delivered in several lectures, by that learned, laborious, and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, James Durham, late Minister of the Gospel in Glasgow. To which is affixed a brief summary of the whole book, with a twofold index, one of the several digressions, another of the chief and principal purposes and words contained in this treatise.A commentarie upon the book of the Revelation Wherein the text is explained, the series of the several prophecies contained in that book, deduced according to their order and dependance on each other; the periods and succession of times, at, or about which, these prophecies, that are already fulfilled, began to be, and were more fully accomplished, fixed and applied according to history; and those that are yet to be fulfilled, modestly, and so far as is warrantable, enquired into. Together with some practical observations, and several digressions, necessary for vindicating, clearing, and confirming many weighty and important truths. Delivered in several lectures, by that learned, laborious, and faithfull servant of Jesus Christ, James Durham, late Minister of the Gospel in Glasgow. To which is affixed a brief summary of the whole book, with a twofold index, one of the several digressions, another of the chief and principall purposes and words contained in this treatise.
Edinburgh: printed by Christopher Higgins, 1658
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.
because the transaction of Redemption, as it relateth to the names of the redeemed, is a secret betwixt God and the Mediator, Therefore the Book of Life is never opened until the day of Judgement, Rev. 20. But a Ministers Commission in his Treating with sinners in the visible Church, is a thing which He hath thought good to reveal: and therefore hath done it so, as the former secret may not be revealed, and yet the end be made effectual, to wit, the effectual calling, and in-gathering of so many Elect. And upon the other side, these who may require Faith of all, and plead it of them, upon this ground, that they are conditionally redeemed; yet they cannot say to their Hearers, that Christ hath by His death procured Faith to them all, and so they leave them still at a loss, except they betake them to the external indefinite call, which doth warrant Ministers to require Faith of all Hearers indifferently, and that without disputing whether Christ hath redeemed all or not; or whether by His Redemption He hath procured Faith to them all or not: because, Faith is a duty, and is called-for warrantably by virtue of that call, as is said; and this we do in so far acknowledge. And so in sum, their warrant to Preach the Gospel in definitely, and ours, is found to be of the same extent, and to be founded upon the same general call; Therefore there needeth not be much contending for a different Doctrine, or (as some call it) a different method to derive this ⟨p. 325⟩warrant from, which doth so natively flow from the received truth. And though the Scripture doth sometimes use this motive indifferently to the members of the visible Church, to stir them up to glorify God, to wit, that they are bought with a price, as 1 Cor. 6.20. Yet will not that infer an universal or conditional Redemption of them all, more than these places immediately going before, (vers. 15 and 19 where it is said, that they are members of Christ, and temples of the holy Ghost,) will infer an universal or conditional regeneration of them all: the first whereof, is false; the second, is absurd: for so it would be upon the matter, that they were renewed, sanctified, and had the Spirit dwelling in them, upon condition that it were so; seeing, Regeneration, the Spirit, and Faith (which is a fruit of the Spirit) cannot be separated. The like phrases also are, Chap. 3. of the same Epistle, vers. 16.17, &c.