CHRISTS Personall Reigne on Earth One Thousand Yeares with his SAINTS The Manner Beginning and Continuation of his Reigne clearly proved by many plain Texts of Scripture and the chiefe Objections against it fully answered Explaining the 20 of the Revelations and all other Scripture-Prophesies that treat of it By Robert Maton Preacher of the Word Containing a full reply to Mr. Alexander Petrie a Scotch Minister who wrote against his Booke called Jsraels Redemption Divided into two Parts The first concernes the Jewes Conversion to the Faith and Restoration into a visible Kingdom in Judea and the second our Saviours visible Reigne over them and all other Nations at his next appearing Joel 3.2 In the Valley of Jehoshaphat c. pointing out the very place Isa 8.20 To the Law and to the Testimony if they speake not according to this word it is because there is no light in them LONDON Printed and are to be sold by John Hancock in Popes-Head-Alley 1652. ISAIAH 49. v. 13. c. SIng O Heaven and be joyfull O earth and breake forth into singing O mountaines for God hath comforted his people and will have mercy upon his afflicted But Sion said The Lord hath forsaken mee and my Lord hath forgotten me Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the Sonne of her wombe yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee Behold I have graven thee upon the palmes of my hands thy walls are continually before me Thy children shall make haste thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall goe forth of thee Lift up thine eyes round about and behold all these gather themselves together and come to thee as I live saith the Lord thou shalt surely cloth thee with them all as with an ornament and bind them on thee sa a Bride doth For thy waste and thy desolate places and the Land of thy destruction shall even now be too narrow by reason of the Inhabitants and they that swallowed thee up shall be farre away The children which thou shalt have after thou hast lost the other shall say againe in thine eares The place is too straight for mee give place to me that I may dwell Then shalt thou say in thine heart Who hath begotten me these seeing I have lost my children and am desolate a captive and removing to and fro and who hath brought up these Behold I was left alone these where had they been c. ROM 11. VER 28. c. As concerning the Gospel they are enemies for your sake but as touching the election they are beloved for the Fathers sake For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance For as ye in times past have not believed God yet have now obtained mercy through their unbeliefe Even so have these also now not believed that through your mercy they also may obtaine mercy For God hath concluded them all in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all TO THE READER Courteous Reader THere are two main obstacles which debarre men from the apprehension of Gods word the one a strange language the other a strange interpretation The first is proper to Papists the other is common to Protestants and Papists and is indeed the more dangerous seeing an unknowne tongue doth onely bide the truth from the unlearned and so may somewhat easily be avoyded but a false interpretation doth equally deprive both the wise and the simple of it and so causeth the blind to leade the blinde For whatsoever text of Scripture is expounded any otherwise then God meant by it it is according to its interpretation the word of man and not of God and consequently in adhering to such interpretations we believe not what God saith but what man doth make him say Now of Scriptures that are misunderstood some are so difficult that it is not possible to give a peremptory interpretation of them of which sort are some passages in Daniel in the Revelation and here and there in other parts of the Scripture and in these we should either confesse our ignorance or deliver our thoughts as evidences only of our desire to attaine to the perfect knowledge of Gods word Others againe are so plaine that every common and ordinary understanding if left to it selfe cannot choose but take them in their true sense and not in that which is thrust upon them by a false glosse And of these some have been a long time controverted and others have as long past unsuspected amongst which are the many Prophecies which God hath reveal'd touching the future restauration of the Jewes and the personall reigne of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth And surely whatsoever was the ground of the misinterpretation of these Prophecies at the first whether an hatred of the Jewes whom alone in their proper sense they doe concerne or some sinister and selfe-respects whatsoever I say was the ground of it at the first the continuance of it hath been occasioned by the inconsiderancie of the ungrounded application of the words Jew and Israelite indifferently to the Jewes and Gentiles and of the words Israel Sion and Jerusalem to the Church of the Gentiles when as there is not one text in all the Scripture wherein a Gentile is cal'd a Jew or an Israelite or wherein the Church of the Gentiles is cal'd Israel Sion or Jerusalem Those texts Rom. 2. ver 28. and 29. and chap. 9. ver 6. and 7. are both by Piscator and Pareus understood of the Jewes only And these words Gal. 6. ver 16. upon the Israel of God are both by the ordinary and interlineary glosses understood likewise of the Jewes onely so that it is as if the Apostle had said And as many as walke according to this rule peace be on those Gentiles and mercy and peace and mercy on those Jewes And surely if that text be not thus distinctly understood of the faithfull Jewes and Gentiles there will either be a tautologie in the words or else the last words must be understood of the Israel in blindnesse to whom the Apostle doth here also wish mercy according to that which he saith of them Rom. 10. ver 1. That his hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel was that they might be saved And that the Tribes of the children of Israel Rev. 7. ver 4. are properly to be understood Ribera and others acknowledge and Pareus though he enclines to an allegorical interpretation of them in his commentaries on the Revelation yet in his explication of the 18. doubt of the 11. chap. to the Rom. he thus resolutely determines against it Quod Oraculum ad literam de conversione Judaeorum planè intelligendum videtur quoniam Israelitae signati in frontibus ibi disertè discernuntur a signatis gentibus populis linguis reliquis ver 9. Which Prophecie saith he doth plainely seeme to be understood of the conversion of the Jewes according to the letter because the sealed Iewes are expressely distinguisht from
be no more then an Exposition of the former which we have once already shew'd to be false and were it not to expound Notum per ignotius to make the Comment more obscure then the Text to say that by the building of the Tabernacle of David James meant the visiting of the Gentiles before spoken of Thus then whatsoever talke you make of the present conversion and union of the Jewes with the Church of the Gentiles yet when you come to apply the Scriptures you debarre them of all interest in those Prophecies or that part of a Prophecy which concernes them alone so much doe you favour their conversion or esteeme their company But as you hold the words in the 14. vers to have reference to Simeons Prophecy so you must remember that Simeon saith of Christ that he should be a light to lighten the Gentles before he saith of him that he should be the glory of his people Israel and what doth this imply but that a substituted part of the Gentiles were to become the Church of Christ before the Nation of the Jewes should receive the Gospel for being indued with the spirit of Prophecy he could not speake at randome and therefore the very order of these words is observeable with which Saint James his changing of the first words of the Prophecy In that day into After this doth very well agree which might else as well if not better have beene alledg'd according to the Prophets expression had this Prophecy beene no more but a larger explanation and further confirmation of the Gentiles calling And if you looke into the latter part of Amos Prophecy recorded by St. James you may see that at the building againe of Davids Tabernacle there is not onely mention of the residue of men that should then seeke after God but of the Gentiles too upon whom God's Name is call'd before that for why else should they be thus distinguished from other Gentiles that are then to seeke the Lord as well as they And what will follow from hence upon your expounding the building of the Tabernacle of David of the first calling of the Gentiles certainely this will follow that the first calling of the Gentiles was not the first calling of the Gentiles seeing the people upon whom God's name all is call'd is alwayes meant of a people that doth worship the true God And consequently from the words after this I will return wil build again the Tabernacle of David inferr'd upon the foresaid visiting of the Gentiles in the 14. ver and from the words that the residueof men might seeke after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my Name is call'd referr'd to the time when it is againe to be built it must needs follow that here is an expresse mention as well of the Nationall conversion of the Jewes after the visiting of the Gentiles as of the calling of a substituted part of the Gentiles before such a conversion of the Jewes for as the Tabernacle of David cannot possibly signifie the Nations of the Gentiles so the building againe of it cannot be meant of God's receiving those Nations for his people which were never before his people And thus this Prophecy of Amos shewes not the calling of the Jewes onely nor the calling of the Gentiles onely but the order of both for which purpose it was alledged by the Apostle to wit to shew that a substituted part of the Gentiles should be called before the generall conversion of the Jewes and that all Gentiles whatsoever that were then left both of the call'd and uncall'd should make one Church with the Jewes when the Tabernacle of David was againe built that is upon the conversion deliverance and setling of the Jewes in their own land according as the foresaid Prophecies doe declare And whereas you seeme to deny that this Prophecy was taken out of Amos onely because the Apostle speakes not onely of Amos but saith generally to this agree the words of the Prophets you shew great weakenesse in it for besides that it is an usuall manner of speaking to put the plurall number for the singular and the singular for the plurall he might very well say to this agree the words of the Prophets because other Prophets also foretell the same thing although he brought an instance onely out of one of them for I am sure that this prophecy is wholly in Amos with a little difference from this translation according to the originall but none according to the Septuagint as Doctor Mayer affirmeth And why doe you say before Lames alledgeth the prophecy of Amos if you did not thinke it to be the prophecy of Amos and if you knew that but a part of it was his why did you not shew what words were spoken by him and what words by some other Prophets But you could not for to this agree the words of the Prophets is indeede as if he had said to this agree the words of Amos in the booke of the Prophets For the minor or lesser Prophets were all in one volume called the booke of the Prophets and therefore when a testimony is brought out of any of them it is most commonly alledged as from the whole booke and not from that prophecy where they are written in the booke And thus you may read As it is written in the booke of the Prophets Acts 7.42 instead of as it is written by Amos in the booke of the Prophets And Acts 13.40 which is spoken of in the Prophets that is by Habbakkuk in the booke of the Prophets And in all this I hope I have fully answered this great doubt the mentioning whereof doth either shew your little infight in Divinity if you were not able to satisfie your selfe therein or your great delight to wrangle if you knew the answer to it 3. You deny that the Apostle Paul alledgeth the prophecy of Isaiah to shew the generall conversion of the Jewes after the conversion of the substituted Gentiles for he saith not you say and then all Israel shall be saved but and so all Israel shall be saved But though he saith not and then yet Paraeus tels you that this and more then this is understood for he saith there is an Ellipsis of the antecedent a defect or leaving out of something that should have been spoken before So that the full rehearsing of the Apostles minde herein had been thus For I would not brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery that blindenesse is in part happened to Israel Vntill the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in and then when the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in the blindnesse shall cease and so all Israel shall be saved And doubtlesse this is the true meaning of what the Apostle hath more briefely uttered And yet we doe not grant that the Apostle shewes no order and difference in time because he saith not and then but and so For the distance of time betwixt Israel's casting off and
2 Tim. 4. may not be forgotten I charge thee saith he before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quicke and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdome For why should Christs appearing and his Kingdome be joyned together yea why should his Kingdome be added as the end of his appearing unlesse both were to contemporate unlesse his Kingdome were to begin at his appearing not before it Mr. Petrie's Answer The mentioning these two together and in that order doth no more import such a beginning then the end of glory is the beginning of vertue because the Apostle saith in the same order he hath called us unto glory and vertue 2 Pet. 1.3 howbeit glory be named before vertue glory is after vertue Reply Although the end doth alwayes precede the means to the end in the intention and in this text of Saint Peter in the expression also yet as we say not that Christs appearing is the like medium to his Kingdome as vertue is to honour so we deny that the order of Saint Pauls words in 2 Tim. 4.1 is like to this of Saint Peters and that our Saviours appearing is the end for which he is to reigne For that our Saviour is to reigne that he may appeare there is no scripture to testifie but that he is to appeare that he may reigne not onely this text of Saint Paul but many prophecies doe witnesse as that of Zech. 14.4 c. which shews that he shall reigne on earth after his comming with the Saints And that Rev. 11.15 which shews that at the time of his descending the Kingdoms of this world are to become his and that Rev. 19 which shewes in what manner the Kingdomes of this world are to become his to wit by destroying the Kings and mighty men on the earth in battell and giving their flesh to the fowles of heaven And that Rev. 20.2 3. which shewes that after these Kings are thus destroyed and their Kingdomes obtained Christ shall shut up Satan in the bottomlesse pit the space of a 1000 yeares And lastly that propheticall parable Luke 19 11. c. which was purposely spoken against the false opinion of the Iewes who even generally thought that Christs Kingdome should immediately appeare For it declares plainely that the Nobleman went into a farre countrey not to reigne but to receive a Kingdome and to returne and that when he was returned and had received his Kingdome he gave to one servant authority over ten cities and to another over five c. And 〈◊〉 those that would not that he should reigne over them and is not this all one as if he had said that he was not to reigne then whilest he was among them as they expected nor in the time of his absence from them in heaven but when he should returne to them againe from heaven And besides that our Saviours Kingd me is to beginne at his appearing and not before and so according to the order of the Apostles words it is evident in that it is said Who shall judge the quicke and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdome Where by the judging of the quicke and the dead which necessarily followes his appearing is shewed to be his imployment in his Kingdome The judging I say of his enemies that would not that he should reigne over them by a temporall but terrible destruction at the beginning of his Kingdome as the foresaid parable and the prophecies of Zech. 14. and Iohn 19. and others doe declare And the judging of his Subjects by a civill judgement in the time of his reigne as the same parable likewise and the Thrones of judgement promised to his Disciples and to them that overcome and all the Prophecies of his and the Saints reigne on earth doe manifest And the judging againe of his rebellious subjects by a temporall but totall destruction when his 1000 yeares peacefull reigne is expired as the Prophecy Rev. 20.7 8 9. doth shew And lastly his judging of all both good and bad at the delivering up of his Kingdome to God even the Father at the last resurrection of the dead when he shall pronounce the definitive sentence of a perfect and compleate salvation to the one part to the elect and of a perfect and compleat condemnation to the other part to the reprobate According as it is largely exprest Matth. 25.32 c. and as it is implyed Rev. 20.15 in these words And whosoever was not found written in the booke of life was cast into the lake of fire Israel's Redemption And to my seeming that propheticall image in the 2 of Dan. ver 13. which represented both the orderly succession and diverse condition of all the then following Kingdoms of this world unto the Kingdome of Christ shadowed there unto us by the stone that was cut out without hands doth give good light to this of Saint Paul For in what manner those Kingdomes have succeeded each other in the like manner is the Kingdome of Christ to succeede them as appears by the same phrase of speech which is attributed as well to the setting up of this Kingdome as to any of them to wit That it shall breake in peeces and consume all those Kingdomes Ver. 34 35 44 45. And therefore seeing these words are meant of a conquest and succession by force of Armes in all the former Kingdomes how can they be otherwise understood in this of Christ which is to succeed them all as they have succeeded each other both in time and place as ver 35. doth fully declare Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. In the seeming of many millions that image doth not signifie a temporall Monarchy of the Jewes which is the point in hand and the seeming of so many contrary to the seeming of one might satisfie for all that long discourse following neverthelesse I adde albeit these foure Kingdomes did succeed one another yet the Kingdome of Christ did not succeed or was the last of them or after them in time for it is written ver 41. In the dayes of these Kings not after them shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdome which shall never be destroyed and it shall breake in peeces the iron the brasse the clay silver and gold It shall breake the silver and the gold then it shall be before the brasse and the iron And of what King can that be understood but of Christ who saith Isai 10.12 I will punish the stout heart of the King of Assyria and chap. 37.29 Because of thy rage against me I will put my hooke in thy nose c. 2. Whereas it is alledged that the 35. ver doth fully declare that succession in time and place certainely the 35. ver is not contrary to the 44. ver which shewes plainely that this Kingdome shall be in the dayes of these Kings and breake them in peeces and therefore these words shall breake them in peeces signifie a conquest by power but neither by succession in time nor
shal be turned into joy these things have I spoken unto you that in me yee might have peace in the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheere chap. 16.20.33 And of his coming againe he saith In my Fathers house are many mansions if I goe and prepare a place for you I will come againe and receive you unto my self that where I am there yee may be also chap. 14.2 Now you have sorrow but I will see you againe and your heart shall rejoyce and your joy no man taketh from you chap. 16 22. All which words were written flatly against the errours of Cerinthus and teach us that Christ's Kingdom is not an earthly Kingdom nor delayed for one or two 1000. yeeres but now is his kingdom now he hath overcome the world his subjects are not to live-on earth without persecution and sorrow and when he comes againe he will receive them with him into his Fathers mansions and their sorrow shall be turned into joy that shall never be taken from them Answer That you have made a false report of the occasion of Saint Iohns writing of his Gospell and consequently of the end and scope of the texts here alledged the words of our English Divines who are the Authors of the Annotations upon all the bookes of the old and new Testaments printed 1645. do plainely declare For in their argument of the Gospel according to Saint Iohn they say That in Domitians time he was banished into the Isle Pathmos where he wrote the Revelation after which under Nerva he was recal'd to Ephesus being aged about 97. yeares which was the 100. yeare of our Lord where he wrote his Gospel some say at the intreaty of the Christians of Asia for the refutation of Ebion Cerinthus and others who blasphemously denied the Deity of Christ This is their testimony of the ground of St. John's writing his Gospel wherein they tell us not as you doe that it was because of Cerinthus and others opinion of Christs 1000 yeeres reigne in Jerusalem But that it was as history reports because of his and others denying the Deity of Christ Your quotations follow whereof the first That the Son of man is now glorified was spoken by our Saviour when Judas was gone to betray him and doth signifie the glory which was then sudenly to follow both in his death and after his death as Piscator notes and will his comming againe or his reigning after his comming unglorify him thinke you certainely no but will manifest unto the whole world the glory which he hath received For he shall come in the glory of the Father as he saith Mat. 16. verse 27. And shall sit on the Throne of his glory when he is come as he saith Mat. 19. verse 28. which Throne the comparing of this text with the 28 and 29 verses of the 22. chap. of St. Luke doth shew to be meant of the Throne of his Kingdom The next words that he hath overcome the world he spake to comfort his Disciples against the tribulation which they should have in the world and they doe signifie that as in himselfe he had and could overcome the temptations of the world so hee would in them too by strengthning them to endure to the end for his sake what he had voluntarily resolved to endure for their sakes And how is this his overcomming of the world by patience in the time of his temptation any let or hinderance to his overcomming of it by power to his reigning over it at his next appearing The third text That his Kingdom is not of this world c. was his answer to Pilate when he askt him whether he was the King of the Jewes And it doth shew onely that he was not to receive his authority to reigne of men but of God as I observe in my reply This is your first file of proofes the second doth consist of such texts as shew that the faithfull most suffer persecution in this world as Christ did and doubtlesse they must till Christs comming againe at which time they shal be delivered from all their oppressions and pressures and become Rulers of the world themselves And so these texts doe make directly against the reigne of the Saints now while the tribulations of this world endure but nothing against the reigne of the Saints when the tribulations of it shall cease Your last file of proofes is brought to shew that when Christ comes the Saints shal be with him where he is and that their joy shal be immoveable And what repugnancy is there betwixt these things and our Saviours reigning on earth certainly they shal be ever with him on earth when he comes againe on this earth while he reignes and on the new earth of which St. Peter speakes 2. Epist 3. verse 13. after his reigne for to that earth the new Jerusalem in which the Saints shall live after the last Judgment shall descend as it is revealed Rev. 21 verse 2. and when Chirst himselfe shal be their companion and sin and death have no more power over them how should their being on earth deprive them of their joy but yet the text chap. 16. verse 22. is by Piscator referred to the joy that the Disciples received both through the sight of Christ after his resurrection and through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost * Iohn 20.22 which he then breathed on them and not to the joy which they shall receive at their owne resurrection when Christ comes againe And thus it appeares that you might as truly have said that all the new Testament was written against Christs personal reigne on earth as that the Gospel of St. John was Preface Sixtly After Cerinthus we read next of Papias of whom Euseb lib. eit Chap. 39. writes thus he reportes strange parables of our Saviour mixed with fabulous doctrine where he dreameth that the Kingdom of Christ shall corporally here on earth last the space of a 1000 yeares after the resurrection of the dead which error as I suppose grew hereof in that he receiv'd not rightly the true mystical meaning of the Apostles neither deeply weighed the things delivered of them by familiar examples for he was a man of small judgment as by his bookes plainly appeares yet hereby he gave unto divers Ecclesiastical persons occasion of error who respected his antiquity namely unto Irenaeus and others if there be any found like minded Then lib. 7. Chap. 22. 23. he writes of Nepos Coracion and others in Egypt infected with this error about the yeare 250. whom Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria did convince in a Synode by demonstrations and doctrine of the holy Scripture did reclaime them from their error Thus he speak's ever of these opinions as of errors contrary unto the holy Scriptures After Lactantius who lived about the yeare 320. this error was universally abhorred so that Hierom on Esa l. 18. and Augustin ad Quod vult de haeresi 8. write of it as a
your fallacious dividing of these words from that which followes you doe wilfully put out your owne eyes that so you may the better beguile others of the truth For first the union foreshewed in these Prophecies is not to begin untill the Nations which shall oppose the Jewes after their returne be miraculously overthrowne at the comming of our Lord Jesus Christ as the foresaid Prophecie of Isaiah chap. 66. at the 15 16 19. ver c. compar'd with the 38. and 39. chapters of Ezek. with the 3. chap. of Joel and with the 19. chap. of the Rev. at the 11 12 13 14 15 c. doth plainly declare And secondly at the accomplishment of the union foreshewed by these Prophecies All Nations must goe up to worship before the Lord at Jerusalem as the latter part of the 66. chapter of Isaiah doth shew to which we may adde the Prophecies in the 8. chap. of Zecha at the 20. ver c. and in the 14. chap. at the 16. ver c. The words are Thus saith the Lord of Hostes it shall come to passe that there shall come people and the Inhabitants of many Cities and the Inhabitants of one Citie shall goe to another saying Let us goe speedily to pray before the Lord of Hostes I will goe also yea many people and strong Nations shall come to seeke the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of Hostes In those dayes it shall come to passe that ten men shall take hold out of all Languages of the Nations even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying We will goe with you for we have heard that God is with you And it shall come to passe that every one that is left of all Nations which came against Jerusalem shall even goe up from yeare to yeare to worship the King the Lord of Hosts and to keep the feast of Tabernacles and it shall be that who so will not come up of all the. Families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King the Lord of Hosts even upon them shall be no raine And thirdly at the accomplishment of this union the Jewes shall not seeke unto the Gentiles but the Gentiles in generall unto the Jewes onely for instruction in the wayes of God as Isaiah saith chap. 2 ver 2. and 3. and Micah chap. 4. ver 1. and 2. It shall come to passe in the last dayes that the mountaine of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountaines and shall be exalted above the billâ— and all Nations shall flow unto it and many people shall goe and say Come yee and let us goe up to the Mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us his waies and wee will walke in his pathes for out of Sion shall goe forth the Law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem And fourthly at the accomplishment of this union and throughout the whole time of its continuance which it exprest Rev. the 20. ver 2 3. there is to be an uninterrupted peace over all the world as the following words of the foregoing prophecy of Isa Micah doe manifest And he shall judge amongst the Nations shall rebuke many people they shal breake their swords into plowshares their speares into pruning books nation shal not lift up sword against Nation neither shall they learne warre any more With which agreeth that of Hosea chap. 2. ver 18. In that day I will make a Covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowles of Heaven and with the creeping things of the ground And I will breake the bow and the sword and the battell out of the earth and will make them to lie downe safely And to this wee adjoyne the prophecy Psal 46.8 9. Come behold the workes of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the earth He maketh warres to cease unto the ends of the earth be breaketh the bow and cutteth the speare in sunder he burneth the chariot in the fire And fiftly at the accomplishment of this union the converted Jew shall not be governed by the ecclesiastical and civill lawes of the Gentiles as it is now but the Gentiles by the ecclesiastical and civill lawes of the Iewes as is before shewed by their going up to Ierusalem to worship and to be instructed in the wayes of the Lord. And as touching their civill grovernment it is further evidenced by the prophecies in which the Gentiles great subjection to the Iewes is revealed Of which sort are the prophecies Isaiah chap. 14.1 2. chap. 49.22 23. chap. 60.9 10 11 12. c. and chap. 61.4 5 6 7. And thus good reader thou hast the true sense and scope of the prophecies with which as Mr Petrie saith I have needlesly filled many pages and doubtlesse it was very needfull for him to say so seeing their perspicuity is so irresistible that he could finde no mysticall paraphrase against it to puzzle thee withall Israel's Redemption But to say that this is now fulfilled in the time of the substituted Gentiles vocation is to overthrow what was before affirmed and to take great paines to beguile our selves and others of the truth it is I say to put out our owne eyes and bid others follow us for St Paul in the 11. of the Rom. tells us plainly that the Jews are broken off from their Olive tree and that we are graffed in for them that they are cast away that they are hardened that God hath concluded them all in unbeliefe and that through their fall salvation is come unto us to provoke them to h Deut. 32.21 jealousie And therefore it cannot possibly be maintained that the Jewes and Gentiles are as yet one i Ioh. 10.16 sheepfold Mr Petrie's Answer The Apostle saith not that all the Jewes are broken off but rather the contradictory ver 1. and 5. neither saith he that God hath shut up all the Jewes in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all the Jewes but as our former translation saith conforme to the originall God hath shut up all in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all whereunto the words of the same Apostle Gal. 3.22 The Scripture hath concluded all under sinne that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them who beleeve Here the Apostle is not speaking of the Jewes onely but generally both of Jewes and Gentiles and so farre must his words be extended thereto seeing he is speaking of them ver 30. and 31. and so the meaning of ver 32. is It was the counsel of God to suffer both Jewes and Gentiles to fall into unbeliefe or disobedience as the word Apeitheia likewise imports and the word sin teaches Gal. 3. that he might save all his elect both of Jewes and Gentiles after one way not by their workes but of his mercy onely And therefore I cannot
Father because it is appointed unto him by the Father and sometimes Christs Kingdome because as man he is to reigne visibly in it and sometimes the Kingdome of God because Gods power shall be revealed after a wonderfull manner at the setting of it up and because none but Gods Lawes shall be observed in it and sometimes the Kingdome of heaven because the chiefe governours of it shall come from heaven and because it shall be of an heavenly condition in regard of the holinesse and righteousnesse thereof for as our Saviour and the glorified Saints shall then as perfectly doe Gods will on earth as it is now done by them in heaven so shall their righteous judgement occasion a more righteous dealing amongst all others over the whole earth then was ever yet observed in any particular Kingdome Israel's Redemption I know these words are taken by Interpreters for a metaphoricall expression of those joyes which we shall receive in * In heaven where the holy Jerusalem is that great City Rev. 21.10 c. distinguished to Ezâ—k chap. 4. ver 2. c. chap. 45. ver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. which I take to be the modell and platforme of the city that is to be built at the Jewes redemption by these and many more differences First because the builder and maker of the one iâ— God Rev. 21.2 but the other men shall build Ier. 31.38 Ezâ—k 40.8 Secondly the materialls of Ierusalem which is above are all gold and precious stones Rev. 21.18 19 20 21. but the materialls of that other Ierusalem shall not be such Ezek. 40.16 17 21 c. Thirdly in this city there is no Temple for the Lord God Almighty and the Lambe are the Temple of it Rev. 21.22 but that city shall have a Temple Ezek. 40.41 c. Fourthly in this city the river of water of life proceedeth out of the Throne of God and of the Lambe Rev. 21.1 but in that city waters not the river of life though endu'd with healthfull and nourishing qualities because of the place whence they are to proceed Ezek. 47.9.12 shall issue from under the threshold of the Temple for the forefront of the house shall stand towards the East and the waters shall come downe from under the right side of the house at the South-side of the Altar Ezek. 47.1 c. Fifthly in this city the tree of Life only grows on either side of the river and beares twelve manner of fruits monethly Rev. 22.2 but by the river that shall issue out of the Sanctuary of that city shall grow all trees for meate Ezek. 47.12 Sixthly in this city there is no night they need no candle nor light of the Sun for the Lord God giveth them light and the Lambe is the light thereof Rev. 21.23.25 ch 22.5 but in that city there shall be night and the light of the Sun shall then be sevenfold Isa 30.26 ch 60.11 Seventhly this city shall descend to the new earth with which there shall be no sea created Rev. 21.1.2 but the waters which shall come from that city shall go into the sea and being brought forth into the sea the waters shall be healed Ezek. 47.8 and therefore that city is to be built before the annihilation of the first earth with which there is a sea heaven but it is a currant axiom in our Schooles Non esse alitera seu propria scripturae significatione recedendum nisi evidens aliqua necessitas cogat scripturae veritas in ipsa litera periclitari videtur That we must not forsake the literall and proper sense of the scripture unlesse an evident necessity doth require it or the truth thereof would be endangered by it and I am sure here is no such cause for which we should leave the naturall interpretation of the place yea we are by many other passages in the scripture rather compelled to sticke to it Mr. Petrie's Answer It may be doubted whether this Author hath been bred in schooles or what he calleth our schooles seeing he so abuseth thetoricall termes as literall sense for proper sense metaphoricall sense contra-distinguished to figurative sense and keepes no logicall canons in his arguing and I thinke he did never learne such interpretation of scripture in any approved schoole As for this rule he may see partly by that is said and shall see more hereafter that these words cannot be understood of an earthly Kingdome neither doe these fore cited compell us as he boldly saith to sticke unto the earthly sense of this text in hand Reply It may well be doubted whether pride or choler did most oversway your judgement in this answer For though I willingly confesse my selfe to be a man not worthy to be numbred amongst the learned yet unlesse I should make as little conscience of lying for an advantage as you doe you cannot chuse but know what schools I was bred in for the title-page of my Book doth publish it to the world And doubtlesse these schooles have ever yeelded men as eminent for judgement as righteous in their life and as zealous for the truth as those that you have been bred in or any other schooles in Christendome besides But that which you here first indict me for is this That I abuse rhetoricall termes as literall sense for proper sense And I pray what Divine doth not as often or oftner use literall sense for proper sense then for the true sense whether proper or figurative and what is the meaning of literall sense in this approved axiome but a proper sense For doubtlesse there is no necessity that can compell us to leave the true sense of the scripture although it may to leave the proper sense And yet the axiome runnes thus We must not forsake the literall or proper sense c. which being rendred according to your acceptation of the word literall the true or proper sense what sense will there be in the axiome Your next censure is That I have contra-distinguished metaphoricall sense to figurative sense But it had been honest dealing to have shewed the place or else not to have said so for an accusation without proofe doth onely declare the plaintiffe a slanderer Your third complaint is That I keepe no Logicall canons in arguing No Sir it is not for every one to doe this it is for such as you are for such as are scholars such men will observe a canonicall method in arguing and make as excellent use of logicall maximes as you have done pag. 30. of this maxime What agreeth unto any man as man belongeth unto all men The last censure is That I never learned such interpretation of scripture in any approved schoole Surely the interpretation of scripture is to be learned from God and not from man for that interpretation is most true and infallible when the coherence of the text doth point out the sense or when one scripture doth expound another of the same nature And yet I goe not alone but am accompanied with many
which consists in this that seeing the good Angels which can at once assemble the unjust to the place of judgement and the elect to meet the Lord in the aire shall yet gather the elect onely and leave the rest behinde therefore these things are not to be done at the same time And consequently that the judgement of the dead is not to be at the time of Christs ascending For then doubtlesse the wicked should as well be gathered to the place of their last judgement as the elect shal to meet the Lord in the aire And it is flat against the expresse word of God Isai 66.19 20. Joel 2.32 Zech. 14.16 Rev. 11.13 to say that all the wicked that shall be eye-witnesses of Gâ—ds wonders at the time of our Saviours descension shall perish in the destruction that shall then come on the earth Israel's Redemption For that by Christs judging the quicke and the dead mentioned in 2 Tim. Psal 2.8 c. Psal 110.2 c. Ps 149.6 c. Isai 30.25 Cha. 66.15 16. c. 4. cannot be meant one kind of judgement to wit the sentence of damnation that by his judging the quicke I say cannot at all be meant the last and compleat but rather a former and inchoate judgement of ungodly men it appeares out of Rev. 20. where it is shewne that the Saints enemies shall be all slaine before the last resurrection And we cannot say that these which are to be left shall be a part of that Army there spoken of because that God and Magog is to be destroyed at the end of our Saviours reigne that is immediately before the last resurrection whereas these shall be alive at the time of that generall distresse which shall light on the world at his entrance into that appointed Kingdome as the gathering together of the elect who are to reigne with him doth declare Mr. Petrie's Answer Here as before are strange imaginations 1. That text 2 Tim. 4.1 cannot be meant of the last but a former judegment Who ever said before that Christ shall yet appeare twice to judge the quicke and the dead For suppone that onely the godly shall be raised at Christs comming yet they will not say that he shall judge them seeing they say that they shall not stand at the barre 2. The judging of the quicke and the dead shall be before the time of the last resurrection as that forme of arguing imports whereby it followes that Christ shall judge the quicke and the dead in a former and inchoate judgement Who shall remaine then to be judged in the compleate judgement at the last resurrection 3. I will say no more of that fancy concerning these that shall belefs and the destruction at the entrance of that Kingdome but marke that Gog and Magog is to be destroyed at the end of our Saviours reigne that is immediately before the last resurrection or which is one after the reigne of the Jewes But that Army of God and Magog is the same with the Army mentioned in Revel 16.14 as Napeir proveth Prop. 32. And Mr. Maton proveth in his treatise of Gog and Magog pag. 94 95. And I have shewed before that the sixt viall mentioned in Revel 16.12 13 14. is the same with the sixt trumpet yea and Clavis Apocalyp in par 1. synchro 7. makes it to concurre with the destruction of the Beast and Babylon which shall be before the Monarchy of the Jewes as the Millenaries hold and therefore in this point Mr. Maton is contrary to himselfe and to Clavis Apocal. as well as unto Christians who deny that Monarchy of the Jewes Whereby it is manifest that what he speakes here without reason must be wrong and amended by these reasons which he hath lo. cit And consequently that great battell shall be fought not after but before the Jewes shall reigne if ever they shall reigne in that manner Reply The truth is strange to none but to such as make themselves strange to it He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods said the Athenians of Saint Pauls preaching unto them Jesus and the resurrection Acts 17.18 When as indeed their Gods were the strange Gods and not his God they in an errour and not he And yet how strange soever our former imaginations doe seeme to you we have shewed that they are not so strange as true And that these words doe bring such strange things to your eares was not the fault of the Authour but the errour of the Printer and the over-hastinesse of the Stationer who sent his bookes abroad before he had received a copie of all the faults whereof the words here omitted were the greatest and are to be corrected as they are now set downe to wit thus For that by Christs judging the quicke and the dead mentioned 2 Tim. 4.1 cannot be meant one kinde of judgement to wit the sentence of damnation that by his judging the quicke I say cannot at all be meant the last and compleat but rather a former and inchoate judgement of ungodly men it appeares out of Rev. 20. where it is shewne that the Saints enemies shall be all slaine before the last resurrection This is the true forme of my words and in this forme they doe wholly disanull the two first parts of your answer for the destroying of the Army in Armageddon at Christs comming Rev. 19. and of the Nations that shall againe be gathered against him and his at the end of his reigne Rev. 20. are temporall judgements on the ungodly and before their last judgement the judgement after their resurrection And therefore Christ shall not appeare twice to judge the quicke and the dead but shall twice judge these ungodly after his appearing That is once by a former and inchoate judgement in their temporall destruction in their first death And againe by a finall and compleate judgement in their eternall destruction in their second death And as for the third part of your answer it is but a slanderous information against me For I say not that the Gâ—g and Magog mentioned in Rev. 20. is the same with the Army mentioned Rev. 16.14 but that Ezekiels Gog and Magog is the same with that Army as the reasons which I alledge pag. 94 95. doe shew And I say that the Gog and Magog in Rev. 20. is a different Gog and Magog from Ezekiels as these words pag. 128 doe witnesse And this Gog and Magog in Rev. 20. is to be the multiplyed posterity of those that are left of the Nations at the beginning of the thousand yeares when the Army of the Beast and false Prophet and of the Kings of the earth and of the whole world who as the parallell shewes are the Gog and Magog foretold by Ezekiel shall be destroyed in Armageddon And againe pag. 129. I say That the Nations which shall oppose the Jewes at their expected returne are to be the Gog and Magog foretold by Ezekiel and that the posterity of those which