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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	prophecy_n	word_n	write_v	3,353	5	6.1475	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29100	The doctrine of the kingdom and personal reign of Christ asserted and explained in an exposition upon Zach. 14, 5, 9 / by Ed. Bagshaw.	Bagshaw, Edward, 1629-1671.	1669 (1669)	Wing B411; ESTC R5233	33,295	40

the Sons being given to them Is 9.4 Jer 30.8 9 10. c. Our Saviour in his reply doth grant their supposal but reproves them sharply for not being better acquainted with the Scriptures out of which they might have learn't That Christ ought to have suffered all those things and then to enter into his Glory where by his Glory is meant his Kingdom as is plain Mark 10 37. compared with Mat. 20 21. In the same manner after his Resurrection our Saviour doth blame his Apostles in that forementioned demand of theirs not for their expectation but for their hast and therefore he bids them v. prepare for suffering and witnessing as their next immediate work His Kingdom being to be prolonged as to the setting of it up till the number of his witnesses was compleated Rev. 6.11 And then there should be no longer time Rev. 10 6. i. No more delay but he would presently come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to reward his Servants and to destroy them which destroy the earth Rev. 11.15.18 4. In the Revelation which our Saviour saith cap. 1.1 That he had received from the Father to this end that he might show unto his Servants what things were to come to pass hereafter there we have this Reign fully manifested and the time of it duration for a Thousand years expresly mentioned Rev. 20.4.6 So that now there can rationally be no more scruple about it because the words of that book are declared to be the true and faithful sayings of God Rev. 19 9 and they are pronounced Blessed who read and hear the words of the Prophecy and keep the things that are written therein i. Who live up to a full belief and expectation of them But if such a reign and Kingdom as is there spoken of shall never be how can those sayings be true or if they are to have another interpretation put upon them then the words themselves do naturally and necessarily import how are they Faithful So that I conclude this third reason with this that our Saviour was so far from denying his personal reign and visible Kingdom upon Earth that he doth clearly own and assert it 4th Reas Fourthly Another reason why the Prophecies of Scripture concerning the reign of Christ are literally to be understood is this because this way of putting mystical and spiritual meanings upon plain and positive texts is very unsafe and dangerous many Heresies were of old introduced and still are fomented by it I believe it was upon this very prtence that some in the Church of Corinth did deny the resurrection of the dead and others as Hymaeneus and Philetas did affirme 1 Cor. 15 12. 2 Tim. 2.17.18 it was past already and indeed what truth can be so clearly revealed which may not by taking the words in a figurative sence be altogether eluded farre be it therefore from us to limit the holy One of Israel or to seek how we may darken his counsail by our words which if in any respect they contradict his must needs be without knowledge since it hath pleased God to promise that his Christ shall reign with his Saints upon earth let us not by unbeleif for I cannot yet see from what other root such denyal can proceed cast off the mercy but rather labour to receive the truths of God according to his own word in the utmost extent and most comprehensive meaning of it and not according to what seems possible in our own narrow conceptions Fiftly This reign of Christ in person serves to make up and to compleat Reason 5. the great Mystery of the Gospel which consists not only in having God our Saviour but the same God in the same humane Nature likewise our King and this was that Mistery which God revealed to the Prophets Rev. 10.7 and remained to be fulfiled under the seventh Trumpet as I have already observed from Revel 11.15 therefore when our Saviour was taken up into Heaven the Angels comforted his amazed and sorrowful Disciples with this that the same Jesus should return as he went i. in the same visible and apparent manner as he went away Acts 1.11 which also the Apostle Peter testifies c. 3.19 20 21. when the times of refreshing i. the time of calling the Jews which will be a time so glorious that it will be as life from the dead Rom. 11.15 shall come from the presence of the Lord whom the heaven must receive until that time which he then calls the time of the rectitution of all things which God hath spoken of by the mouth of his holy Prodhets to imagine that the eternal Son of God took a Body and Flesh upon him merrily contemned and crucified and that he will not bring the same body to receive it's promised glory Isa 52.13.15 this is neither sit for the Mistery of God nor the admirable contriveance ond discovery of his Grace in the Gospel For he must reign 1 Cor. 1.24.28 saith our Apostle till he hath put all his Enemies under his feet and till that be done which as the same Apostle o●●er Heb. 3.8 we see not as yet accomplished the end shall ●othe i. the end of the World and the final judgement This ●●●e Rom. 8.19.23 not only the Saints and the whole creation long for as hoping ●en to be delivered from the bondage of corruption because the ca● shall be taken away Zech. 14.11 but likewise ous Saviour said in Heaven to exspect it Heb. 10.13 that so he may be put into actual possession of his soveraignty promised Psal 2. and have all his Enemies become his footstool Psal 110. After the period of which reign the humane Nature of Christ it self shall be brought into a state of inferiority and subjection unto the Father that God may be all in all 1 Cor. 15 28. Reason 6. Lastly This was the general and fixed beleif of all the holy men both before and since our Saviours coming until the time of the Apostacy under Anti-Christ what the expectation of the Prophets was sufficiently appears from the concent and harmony of their predictions upon which the Prophet Zachary for at that time it is said that he prophecied Luk 1.67 doth make a breif and plain comment Luke 1.68.75 where he saith that now in sending of Christ God had done what he had promised by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began that we i. we Jewes for of them he speaks especially as also doe the Prophets should be saved from our Enemies and from the hands of all that hate us with more words concerning the Peace Plenty and Righteousness which was to be in the time of Chrast as is more fully prophecied of Psal 72. Is. 11. Jer. 30. Ezeck 34 and 37. c. which time having never yet been in the world it is infallibly certain that it will be and ought to be expected what was the Faith and Hope of the Apostles I have already mentioned out of

Heathen Magistrates and made a publick Edict to destroy the worshiy of all False Gods and their Temples then as many understand it was fulfilled that joyful acclamation now is the Salvation Rev. 12.10 and the Power and the Kingdome of our God and the Authority of his Christ and in part it might truly be said to have been so for wherever the true Religon is set up and the professors of it encouraged there indeed God reigns as he did in Judea in the time of David and Eusebius making mention of the glorious Churches that were then founded the great revenues that were setled the singular honour that was given to the Bishops and Ministers of the Gospel by Constantine we did saith he in this see an Embleme of the Reign of Christ but this peace and security purchased by Constantine degenerated presently into a love of ease aand worldly prosperity which made the Christians generally careless of looking after a better state to be injoyed in the first resurrection which sloath and remisneis of theirs gave advantage to the Bishop of Rome to wrest the Dominion out of the Emperours hands and by degrees to challenge unto himself the exercise of their Royalty he boasting himself to be the Vicar of Christ and the person appointed to bear rule in his stead the greatness of whose Dominion all records bear witness to that it did fully answer the extent of that Prophecy wherein it is said that the World wondered after the Beast Rev. 13.3.4 and all the Inhabitants of the earth except a few whose names were written in the book of life did worship him during whose Universal Reign and Tyranny for I am content to allow such an Universality to the Beast of Rome it is no wonder if the true kingdome of Christ was not so much as thought of as when Theives have taken possession and by force keep the house it is no wonder if the Friends and Neighbors forbear to put in any claim for the right Heir Lastly When the Anti-christian yoke was by the gracious working of the power and mercy of God in very weak and contemptible instruments thrown off in many Countries and scripture light which before was forcibly deteined and imprisoned in darkness began to recover its luster then amongst the Primitive truths this doctrine of the kingdome of Christ did in many places revive and was by several learned men at the very first reformation asserted but by the seditious attempts of some mistaken men and the horrid practises of those in Munster this opinion became generally Nauseous to the most sober and learned of our antient Protestant writers and particularly to the judicious and truly worthy Mr. Calvin whose deserved esteem in the Church of Christ hath prevailed to keep this great Scripture truth from being so much as inquired into but with due submission and reverence to the memory of so many famous men I do conceive that in this particular they were swayed too much by their prejudices and notwithstanding their authority we ought to make for our selves a more severe and impartial enquiry for every truth is of a divine original and ought no more to be denyed then the Scriptures from whence it is taken suppressed because unlearned and unstable men do wrest it both to their own and to others destruction It was indeed a great Error to say no more of those mistaken though I hope as to many of them well meaning men who thought themselves cal ed to fight up Christ into his Throne for his Kingdome is yet in Patience Rev 1.9 and will not be fully over all the world in power till he himself doth come from Heaven to establish it for he is then to abolish every Authority and Dominion besides his own 1 Cor. 15.24 That stone which Nebuchadnezer saw in his Vision to become a Mountain and to dash in peices all former powers is the Lord Christ himself and not his Saints as some suppose for it is he who was cut out without hands Dan. 2.44.45 and in the Prophets is often stiled a stone because of those saving and ruining effects which follow upon those who receive or refuse him compare Is 28.12 with Is 8.13.14 Zach. 3.9 As at the building of the Temple it was not by might or power that so difficult a work was effected but by the spirit of the Lord so will it be when our Lord erects his kingdome he alone shall be exalted in that day the sighes and groans of his oppressed people shall call him down from Heaven and in compassion not of his persecuting and smiting but of his persecuted and suffering servants he will come and save them and destroy their Enemies for them Is 35.4 They which teach otherwise do erre not knowing the Seriptures whose mistakes howevever ought not to have been looked upon to be of so dangerous and infectious a Nature as that for them the truth it self should be rejected which is not at all guilty of those consequences which rash men do unwarily strive to draw from it and so much for the first Observation The second Observation was this When the Lord Christ shall come Ob. 2. from Heaven to set up his kingdom upon earth all his Saints shall come with him whereby Saints may be meant either Angels as Mat. 16.27 and 24 30 31. who are called the Angels of his strength 2 Thes 1.7 and the mighty ones who are to descend with him as the executioners of his vengeance against all ungodly men according to Exoch s prophecy Jude v. 14.15 but I doe not take the Angels to be principally meant in this place for hereafter their office will be rather to Minister as they are described standing like an out Guard about the Elders and the living Creatures Rev. 5.11 and 7.11 Whereas the Prophet Zachary speaks of those Saints that were to Reign with Christ and to share with him in his Soveraignty And therefore by Saints here I understand Holy Men who lived before this t me and died in the Faith of Christ of whom the Apostle Paul is to be understood 1 Thes 3.13 and 2. Thes 1.10 and describing of the order of the Resurrection Choist saith he shall rise the first fruits then they that are Christs at his coming where by coming 1 Cor. 15.22.25 explained that the Apostle means his coming to reign which he calls his appearance and Kingdom 2 Tim. 4.1 is plain from that which follows then is the end when he shall deliver up the Kingdom unto the Father when he shall have abolished all Dominion and all authorety and power For he must reign till all his Enemies be put under his Feet 1 Cor. 15.23.25 From which words it appears clearly 1. That when Christ comes those that are his i. e. Saints or Believers shall come with him 2. That between this coming of Christ and the end i. e. the final destruction of the World and consumation of all things there shall be interposed the