Mount Pisgah, To the reader
TO THE READER.
The Author Wiſheth Grace and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jeſus Chriſt.
Reader,
TO help the Weaker ſort of Chriſtians, in the underſtanding of this more dark and difficult Context, which containeth the Deſcription of our Lords laſt coming; and to quicken the more ſlow and drowſie Spirits to a greater vigour in the purſuit of the Glory which is to be Revealed at that Coming; have I (not without the importunity of divers Friends, (ſenſible of their need of the meaneſt helps) put my ſelf upon the Publiſhing of theſe more private Eſſaies, Calculated only for the uſe of mine own Family.
Yet ſince they may (by the bleſſing of God) be of a larger Influence; Bonum quò communius, eò melius.and knowing that Good, is ſo much the more Good by how much it is a more diffuſive Good, I choſe rather to adventure my name, than be guilty of Sacriledg, in not Caſting in my Mite into the Publique Treaſury of the Churche's Service. I muſt confeſs, had I conſulted a Reputation to my ſelf, I could never have made choice of a more improper Seaſon; wherein, endleſs Opinions and Intereſts do inevitably expoſe a man that will be writing to a neceſſity of Cenſure; (not the moſt gentle Condemnation of the times:) and the unskilfulneſs & inadvertency of Mechanique Artiſts, whom the Learned Montacute, late Biſhop of Norwich juſtly calleth,
Animalia ad perdendam Remp. Literariam nata, Vid. Thean, thropicon. p. 6.doth not a little gratifie the malevolence of oppoſite parties; who are glad of any ſhadow that may juſtifie their diſparagement of others, who are not of the ſame Sentiments with themſelves.
As for me, I can truly ſay, Acts 20.24.none of theſe things trouble me; But being by the good Providence of God, hitherto ſpared and kept alive, I have looked upon it as my duty, (the Death-Watch every night (in my bed) ſounding in mine ears) to leave ſome Watch-word behind me, to awaken this ſleepy and ſecure Generation; wherein the moſt, I would it might not be ſaid, the better part of Chriſtians have loſt the ſight of Heaven; and are digging hard into the Earth, to ſearch whether poſſibly, they might not meet with a Summum Bonum between this and the Centre!
But oh, that before they go off the Superſicies, they would look back, Rev. 2.5.to ſee from whence they are fallen, and Repent, and do their firſt works.
Behold, I am here ſhewing you, the thing which you are ſo eagerly purſuing; It is riſen, it is not here: Oh that you would (with Moſes) get up into the Mount, from whence you might take the Proſpect of that good Land, where only Bleſſedneſs dwelleth.
I muſt Confeſs the Viſion is much darkned by the dimneſs of the Eye, and the feebleneſs of the Hand, which drew this imperfect Land-skip: But this I dare be bold to ſay, that by the Optick-glaſs of Faith, upon the knee of Prayer, a man may make ſuch a diſcovery of glory here, as, when he cometh down from this Mount, may ſerve, quite to extinguiſh all the Glory of this neather World; and to fix the eye (with that *Act. 7.25.proto-Martyr) ſtedfaſtly looking up into Heaven, to ſee the Glory of God, and Jeſus ſtanding on the Right Hand of God; which if it may be (in any meaſure) the fruit of theſe poor labours; let them take the praiſe of men, whoſe portion it is; while I ſhall with more alacrity; leave theſe ‖foreign: So the Septuagint Tranſlates the Hebrew Text.Tents of Kedar, where my Pilgrimage hath been thus far prolonged; and mount up to that full-eyed Viſion, where Bleſſedneſs and Eternity are of one length, Ever with the Lord; Ambitious of that Epitaph, by a Learned hand, ſet upon the Monument of that incomparable Culverwell:
What this to know, as we are known ſhould be,
The Author could not tell, but's gon to ſee.
And who, for that little moment, while inter vivos, is Thine, Chriſtian Reader, in Tears and Prayers.
THOMAS CASE.