then why shall the elect onely be gathered together and the rest left behinde seeing that great Assise is to be hold chiefly for the condemnation of ungodly men Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. Here is nothing to prove the Monarchy of the Jewes 2. The two Evangelists speake there of the gathering of the Erect and taking them up as also 1 Cor. 15.23 yet they speake not exclusively as if the ungodly shall not be judged nor raised but they speake of separation and thereby of taking the elect into the aire and heavens whereas the wicked shall not be taken up but left on the earth and be condemned and sent to hell Matth. 13.40 41. and it followeth ver 43. Then shall the righteous shine forth c. The particle then shewes that the wicked shall be cast into the furnace of fire as soone if not sooner as the righteous shall shine in the Kingdome of their Father 3. If the righteous shall be taken up and the ungodly left on the earth that is the one taken away from the earth and the wicked left on the earth then the godly shall not have earthly dominion 4 If Christ at his comming shall hold that great assise chiefly for condemnation of the wicked how then shall the godly be quickned and the wicked be left in their graves after them for the space of a 1000 yeares These things cannot agree Reply 1. Here is nothing you say to prove the Monarchy of the Jewes But here is something we say for the confirmation of our Sav ours reigne on earth which is all one 2. The Evangelists speake here onely of the gathering of the elect to mâ—ete Christ at his comming and not at all of the raising and judging of the ungodly because that is not to be done at the beginning but at the end of his reigne And then it is that the whole number of the elect and of the reprobate shall be separated one company on his right hand and the other on his left and not one part caught up to the aire and the other left on the earth And we confesse that the casting of the wicked into hell mentioned in that parable Matth. 13.42 shall be at the entrance of the time in which the righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdome of their Father But we deny that this casting of the wicked into hell is meant of their casting in after their resurrection when they shall all at once receive the sentence of dâ—mnation from Christ himselfe For first it is not said here that they shall be gathered together before Christ as it is said Matth. 25.32 c. But that the Angels shall gather them out of Christs Kingdome and cast them into a furnace of fire that is shall destroy them in every place over the world where they then are and cast their soules into hell as is intimated by the binding of the tares in bundles to burne them That is as they finde them here and there in the field And secondly it is said that they shall be gatheredout of Christs Kingdome and cast into bell that is shall be taken away from the place where and from among the men over whom Christ shall then reigne And therefore this gathering of the wicked is to be at the beginning of Christs Kingdome and before their last judgement and not at the end of Christs Kingdome when they shall be setcht out of hell againe to receive their last judgement And that the foresaid judgement is meant of a temporall destruction on all obstinate sinners that are living at Christs comming and not of the eternall destruction of their bodies and soules together at the last resurrection it is evident also from Rev. 20.9 where it is revealed that all the ungodly that are to oppose the Saints at the end of the thousand yeares reigne shall be devoured by fire from heaven before the last resurection so that there shall be none of them living on the earth when they are to be gathered before Christ at the last judgement and consequently that gathering of them cannot be the same with this gathering of them when they shall be on the earth Matth. 13. And so by the Kingdome of their Father mentioned ver 43. must needes be meant the Kingdome of Christ spoken of ver 41. which is called the Kingdome of their Father because Christ with whom these Saints shall reigne shall receive it of God who is both his and their Father 3. The righteous shall be caught up to meete Christ and to come along with him to the earth And not to stay with him in the aire or to be carried up to heaven from thence as hath been shewed already more then once And therefore this is but a trifling argument 4. This argument is a supposition of that which we deny For it is our argument against you That seeing the elect onely shall be raised and gathered to gether at Christs comming and the ungodly which are left in their graves and that the mischievous ungodly which are living shall be left also to perish extraordinarily as it is Matth. 13.41 42. and the rest to be eye-witnesses of Gods wonders at that time and to become converts by it as it is Isai 66.19 20. Joel 2.32 Zech. 14.16 Rev. 11.13 and in other places Therefore the last judgement the great Assise which is to be held chiefly for the condemnation of ungodly men cannot beat or presently after Christs comming but shall be at the end of his reigne And so this part of your answer is a meere perverting of my words which agree so well in themselves and with the word of God that you had nought to say against that which they prove and therefore you fall aciously make them to grant what they doe indeed disprove Israel's Redemption Who doubtlesse are not to be left that the evill Angels may fetch them for they shall be partakers with them of that judgement and therefore will be as unwilling to appeare before that barre as they Neither is it likely that they shall be left because the good Angels cannot at once assemble them to the place of judgement and the elect to meet the Lord in the aire if these things were to be done at the same particular time And therefore as I suppose they shall be left either to perish in that generall destruction which shall come upon all Nations that fight against the Jewes whom our Saviour shall then redeeme or to be eye-witnesses of Gods wonders in all countries at that time Mr. Petrie's Answer What can either good or evill Angels doe without the Lords Authority and what can they not doe when he willeth but certainely the wicked shall both be witnesses of Gods wonders and likewise perish in that generall destruction that cause of their emdemnation is touched before Reply We know that neither the good nor bad Angels can doe any thing without the Lords Authority but what is this to the force of my words
which are these They shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all Nations and Jerusalem shall be troden down of the Gentiles untill the time of the Gentiles be fulfill'd Untill then but no longer And because he would not tell them the precise time of the continuance of these times of the Gentiles and yet would have them know too when they were neer their expiration in the verses following he acquaints them with the signes immediately foregoing his own appearing their Redemption and the setting up of the kingdom of God And do the same signes betoken all this and yet can you say that our Saviour speaks not here of an earthly kingdom nor of the Jews conversion Doubtlesse in that they foreshew the Jews Redemption they betoken not onely their conversion but their deliverance out of captivity too and consequently their earthly kingdom even that kingdom of which the Apostle enquired And in that they foreshew our Saviour's appearing they shew him to be the Author of this deliverance according as the Apostles spake of him Lord wilt thou c. And in that they foreshew the Kingdom of God to be nigh at hand they shew this kingdom to be no other but the kingdom of Israel so call'd partly because the power of God shall mightily and wonderfully appear to the whole world at the erecting of it the fearfulnesse whereof the very signes foreshewing onely its neer approach may serve to evidence for great and unusuall signes shew great and unusuall alterations And partly because God shall be more generally more constantly and more purely worshipt in the time of this kingdom then ever he was since the creation of the world And therefore there is no cause why any spirituall minded man should be discouraged at the thought of such an earthly kingdom Neither therefore have we wrestled against our own fancies in concluding not onely the conversion but the restauration of the Jews also from the world Redemption seeing it is apparent to all that will not turn away their eyes that they may not see it that as this prophesie was spoken onely to Jews so both the misery at first and the mercy at last was spoken onely of the Jews We have no need then to find clearer texts in the New Testament for this earthly Monarchy for fear that any understanding Christian will reject what the Prophets have deliver'd so agreeable thereunto But both we and they have good reason to suspect that you care not what you say nor how you tamper with the Word of God if thereby you can procure belief And to this end you cry out against the clearnesse of the text when as it hath no darknesse but what you put upon it and speak any thing of your self as an undoubted axiome For you tell us that every ground of faith is revealed more clearly in the New Testament then the old which is indeed notoriously false for where is the Crcation describ'd the moral Law deliver'd and our Saviour promised to be born in Bethleem of a Virgin of the seed of David c. And admit it were true of all such things as our Saviour was to fulfill at his first coming yet it could not be true of all such things as are reserved to be done by him at his second coming Amongst which the restoring of the Jews and his reigning on earth have place Israel's Redemption And with what testimonies can we better begin then with such as are of neerest affinity with our Saviours prophecy They shall smite saith Micah in his 5. Ch. and 1. ver the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek And at the third ver Therefore will be give them up untill the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth then the a Cap. ejusd v. 7 8. Isa 1.9 and 10.22 Matth 24.22 Rom 11.3.28 remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel What I pray is meant here by smiting the Judge of Israel but the * To this interpretation of the prophecy suiting so well wâ—â—h our Saviour's â—ifferings the very next verse which fore she ws the place where Christ the Ruâ—er of Israel should be born doth to my thinking directly lead us crucifying of Christ whom when they had blind folded him they strcke en the face and asked him saying Prophesie who is it that smote thee Luk. 22. at the 64. ver And what by Vntill the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth but the whole time of the surrogated Gentiles vocation For blindnesse is in part happened to Israel untill the * Whether by fulnesse we understand the whole number of those Gentiles which were successively to be called before the Nationall conversion of the Iews or else the full universall and contemporaring conversion of all unbeleeving Gentiles whatsoever at and through that extraordinary restauration of the Iâ—wâ— whâ—se Tribes â—re vvholly comprehended by this word in the 12. v. of the same Châ— Whether I say the first or last of these interpretation doth palle for currant vvith us and one of them must needs passe yet it comes all to one reckoning it doth no hing preâ—udice the cause for which our Apostle's saying is here alledged which is to shew that the giving up of the Iews must last untill the time which is appointed for the calling of the substituted Gentiles be fully ended for if blindnesse be happened to Israel untill the coming in of the fulnesse of the Gentiles in the last sense that is of all of them indifferently shall come to passe hen it must of necessitie continue untill the coming in of the Gentiles in the first senâ—e â—â—h t is of the substituted part of them be quite and clean finished seeing the totall conversion cannot take place before the partiall gives way unâ—â— it fulnesse of the Gentiles â—e come in Rom. 11. v. 25. From whence it necessarily follows that this prophecy and our Saviours must be understood of one and the same time For the dispersion foretold by Christ was to happen after his passion and so was this as their smiting the Judge of Israel declares which is alledged as the main cause of it Again the captivity which our Saviour spake of is to last untill the * Though by the word times the dominion and power of the Gentiles over the Iews and their pâ—ssâ—ssion of the Holy Land be in this place especially aymed â—t yet because the time of the Iews subiection to and captivity amongst thâ— Gentiles in generall is to be of equall latitude and extent with the time of the substituted Gentilâ—s calling this thing also is necessâ—â—ily though not immediately and primarily hereby imply'd times or calling of the Gentiles be fulfillâ—d and so is this for when She which travaileth hath brought forth then saith the text the remnant of his brethren shall â—eâ—uen unto the children of Israel which is a plain interpretation of that which our Saviour doth
texts not of the Jews onely but of the Christian Church and it may be easily understood that these have written according to their consciences and therefore if these be Judges this authour hath lost the cause Reply 1. Had not these prophecies been to the same purpose you might well have thought that I had had as little regard what sense I wrested the Scriptures to as you your selfe have And seeing they are all to the same purpose you had the lesse reason to quarrell at the number of them But it was a great eye-soare unto you to see such and so many witnesses together all maintaining the truth we hold and you oppose And because you could not reply unto them by any credible interpretation in your allegorical way you slide from them with no more nor weightier words then these but number prevaileth not in this case Surely it is a poore case that you who have laboured all this while to perswade the reader that we can bring no plaine proofes for what we say should now be affraid to let him heare what God hath said for us and what you could answer for your selfe But you saw very well that these prophecies were too cleare to be obscured with the vaile of a figurative sense and too eminent to be put on the roll of conditionall prophecies because many of them doe as well containe spiritual blessings as temporal blessings and there can be no doubt of their doing God's will to whom that Spirit and those graces are promised by which alone men are inabled to doe it And for a taste of what I have said take the prophecy of Jeremiah chap. 32. at the 37. ver Behold I will gather them out of all countries whither I have driven them in mine anger and in my sury and in great wrath and I will bring them againe unto this place and I will cause them to dwell safely Here is an outward and temporal promise And they shall be my people and I will be their God and I will give them one heart and one way that they may feare me for ever for the good of them and their children after them And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turne away from them to doe them good but I will put my feare into their hearts that they shall not depart from me Here is an inward and spiritual promise after which it follows yea I will rejoyce over them to doe them good and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soule For thus saith the Lord like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised c. And the like prophecy is in the 33. chap. of Jer. at the 6. ver c. and in the 36. chap. of Ezek. at the 24. ver c. and in the 39. chap. at the 25. ver c. And in the 36. chap. at the 8. ver this prophecy is made to the Mountaines of Israel O yee mountaines of Israel ye shall shoot forth your branches and yeeld your fruit to my people of Israel for they are at hand to come for behold I am for you and I will turne unto you and ye shall be tilled and sowen and I will multiply men upon you all the house of Israel even all of it and the Cities shall be inhabited and the wastes shall be builded and I will multiply upon you man and beast and they shall increase and bring fruit and I will setle you after your old estates and I will doe better for you then at your beginning and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Yea I will cause men to walke upon you even my people Israel and they shall possesse thee and thou shalt be their inheritance and thou shalt no more benceforth bereave them of men c. Now as none of the former prophecies will beare the title of conditional prophecies so neither will this for the land it selfe could neither doe any thing for which God should make such a promise unto it nor for which he should refuse to fulfill unto it what he hath promised And I am perswaded that he who will deny that these prophecies are to be understood of the prosperity and happinesse of the Jews onely that will deny I say that they are properly and historically to be taken or that they are as yet to be fulfilled will not sticke to say any thing 2. If they affirme that these prophecies were partly though not onely accomplisht in the time of the plagues that I say their accomplishment did continue as well then as at other times they affirme that which is altogether inconsistent with the uninterrupted prosperity of these prophecies which shew that none of the people of whom they are spoken shall be left in captivity among the Heathen or be a prey any more to the Heathen but that they shall dwell safely in their owne land without feare and without sorrow And that they shall have such increase of cattle corne and other fruits of the earth that there shall come no more famine upon them And who seeth not by this that these prophecies cannot possibly belong to the troublesome and distressed state and condition of the Christian Church or to any other people but the Jews who alone live dispersed in captivity But you deny that the plagues spoken of in the Rev. were to be continued plagues you should then have shewed what intervalls of joy the Church hath had from the time that the Dragon began to persecute the woman which brought forth the man child And went to make warre with the remnant of her seed Rev. 12.13.17 For doubtlesse persecution hath bin a constant attendant on the servants of God ever fince the first preaching of the Gospel T is true indeed that the Gospel at the first made a great conquest on the Gentiles but how was it done surely not by the contentious hearts bloody hands of the Apostles and their successours but by a constant lifting up of their hearts and hands in prayer and by an undanted offering up of their lives in persecution And it is hard to say when all Christian Churches together have had rest from open persecution But grant that there had bin no such persecution at all in any Christian Kingdome unto this time yet doubtlesse that maxime of St. Paul in the 2 Tim. at the 12. ver Yea and all they that will live godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecution had stood firme and passed still for an undoubted truth For the servants of God might neverthelesse have bin mockt reviled hated and opprest albeit they had not bin haled to prisons tortures and death it self and yet let that Hell on earth the devillish Inquisition witnesse whether this also might not have bin effected in a more cruell barbarous manner in a secret then in an open persecution You
or any man else can tell they doe not onely equall but exceed the number of these Jewes And lastly in saying that the union of the two people of the Jewes and Gentiles consists in the union of the Church under the Old and New Testament You doe herein grant first that the Church under the New Testament is the Church of the Gentiles and so not of the Jewes and Gentiles both as it should be if it did proportionably consist of the Jewes and Gentiles And secondly you doe herein grant that the Apostles words Ephes 2. ver 11. c. are meant of this union for you cannot conceive that the union betwixt the two people consists in the union of the Church under the Old and New Testament unlesse you doe conceive withall that the places which speake of their union are so to be understood And thirdly you doe herein contradict the preceding prophecies which you grant to foreshew the same uniting of the two people for these Prophecies doe plainely declare the uniting of the whole Nation of the Jewes with all the Nations of the Gentiles on the earth and not the uniting of Gentiles under the Gospel with Jewes under the Law not the uniting I say of one part of Christs mysticall bodie the Church then in heaven with another part thereof newly cal'd to the Faith on earth Israel's Redemption And besides how the bringing of the Jewes out of all Nations upon horses and in Litters and in Charrets and upon mules and upon mens shoulders can beare any other but a literall sense or how the vaile that is spread over all Nations can now be said to be destroy'd when as so many of them runne a whoring after their owne inventions I cannot conceive Yea Even unto this day saith St. Paul of the Jewes in his time when Moses is read the vaile is upon their heart Neverthelesse when it shall returne unto the Lord the vaile shall be taken away 2 Cor. 3. ver 15. and 16. But we see not yet Israel return'd yea we see it fallen into more grosse ignorance and superstition and therefore the vaile is not yet taken away and consequently is not yet destroyed from all Nations Mr. Petrie's Answer Whether he cannot or will not conceive it may be doubted many 1000. have conceived both these he gives no reason of his doubting in the former and the cause of his doubting in the other is naught for albeit the vaile be not taken away from all the Jewes and from all of all the Nations in which sense it shall never be taken away seeing the Church on earth is alwayes a mixt company yet certainly it is taken away from the Jewes and all the Nations to wit so many of them as turne to the Lord which are so many as the Starres in heaven that is innumerable to men For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared unto all men Tit. 2.11 And God who hath commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ so writes a Jew unto the Gentiles 2 Cor. 4.6 Reply The reason of my doubting in the former passage is because neither you nor any other can give a reason sufficient to prove that the bringing of the Jewes for an offering unto the Lord our of all Nations upon horses and in Litters and in Charrets and upon mules and upon swift beasts c. to his mountaine at Jerusalem iâ— not to be taken in a proper sense for the best reason you can shew is as it seemes that many thousands have conceived these words in another sense which is as good a reason to prove that other sense to be the true sense of them as it is to say that Mahomet was no false Prophet because many millions have and doe erroneously conceive him to be a true Prophet And why did you not afford us a sight of that other sense which so many 1000. have taken these words in and of the important reasons that mov'd then so to doe seeing you confesse page 10. that the Scripture is properly to be taken unlesse the proper sense be dissonant from the scope of the text or contrary to the analogie of Faith or honesty of manners neither of which hath been prov'd of the propeâ— sense of these words nor of any of the Prophecies upon which you strive so much to impose a figurative sense And as you haw not brought a reason to remove my doubting in this former passage so you have not prov'd the reason of my doubting in the other to be naught For in saying that albeit the vaile be not taken away from all the Jewes and from all of all the Nations in which sense it shall never be taken away c. yet certainly it is taken away from the Jewes and from all Nations to wit so many of them as â—workâ— to the Lord c. In saying thus you say nothing to the purpose for was it not thus when the Prophet spake these words was not the vaile then taken away from as many of the Jewes and of other Nations as were then turn'd unto the Lord And when St. Paul said Even unto this day when Moses is read the vaile is upon their heart neverthelesse when it shall returne unto the Lord the vaile shall be taken away were there not then more Jewes converted to the Christian Faith then have been ever since and yet the Apostle saith that the vaile was then upon their hearts and speaks of the removing of it from them as of a thing to be done and not then done although those were then converted which God had appointed to be then converted And therefore the Apostles words are to be understood of the removing of the vaile from all the Jewes and not from some onely And the Prophet saith likewise that God will destroy the Covering cast over all people and the vaile that is spread over all Nations which cannot be fulfill'd when onely a part of the vaile is destroy'd as you understand it but shall be when the whole vaile is destroyed And that it shall be wholly destroyed the Prophecie of Isaiah chap. 2. v. 2 3. which shewes that all Nations shall goe up to the mountaine of the Lords house to be taught in his wayes and the same Prophets words ch 11. v. 9. for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea And the Prophecies which shew that all Nations shal goe up to Jerusalem to worship doe with the preceding Prophecie joyntly testifie and therefore this first clause of your parenthesis doth flatly denie what God doth frequently affirme And the Scripture which you have alledg'd is us'd onely as a daring glasse to dazzle the eyes of the heedlesse or unlearned Reader for that of Tit. chap. 2. ver 11. hath relation to the severall ages Sexes and conditions of men as the
and in which the roote of Jesse is expressely mentioned and fall backe to the first verse as the onely place in this chap. that shewes the first comming of our Saviour And fourthly you say that in the words following that testimony he speakes of the calling of the Jewes and Gentiles together as was exponed before And wee have before shewed this exposition to be notoriously false and that from the 11. ver to the end of the chap. nought but the wonderfull redemption of the Jewes is foretold As then you have not yet disproved the proper senfe of these prophecies so doubtlesse you cannot fit them with an allegoricall paraphrase For first as here are many severall kinds of beasts mention'd so you must finde out as many severall degrees or dispositions of men to expound them by And secondly seeing in an allegoricall sense these prophecies are apply'd to the conversion of men you must tel us why after their conversion some are cal'd Wolves Leopards Lyons Beares and Cockatrices and others Lambs Kids calves and oxen I say after their conversion for these names they are distinguished by when they are said to lie downe together and to feed together and to doe no hurt And thirdly you must give us the meaning of these phrases The sucking childe shall play on the hole of the aspe and the weaned child sâ—â—l put his hand on the cockatrice den The Lyon shall eate straw like the 〈◊〉 And dust shall be the Serpents meate And fourthly seeing here is mention not onely of irrationall creatures but of rationall also of mankind as well as of beastes you must tel us first what Convert are alluded unto under the names of these severall sorts of beastes and what Converts are meant by the little child the sucking châ—â—â— and the weaned child and secondly why the names of these beaâ—â—â— are not to be taken properly for the beastes themselves whâ—â—â— the things here rehearst doe so well agree with them and they are plainely distinguished from mankind too And unlesse you can give us reasonable satisfaction in all this you doe but vainely say that these words may be better exponed allegorically then properly Yea the proper sense of these Prophecies is further confirmed by the food which God created for every beast of the earth and every fowle of the aire and every thing that creepeth on the earth to live by to wit the green herb Gen. 1. ver 30. and by restraint of the wilde beasts and fowles both from their ravenous disposition and feeding the whole time of their being in the Arke for seeing Noah was to provide foode for them as well as for himselfe and his Family Gen. 6. ver 21. it must needs be granted that as the Wolfe the Lamb and the Leopard the cow the Lyon and the Beare c. did then lie downe together so they did feed together too and that the Lyon did eate straw or hay like the Oxe this I say must needs be granted unlesse we can imagine that Noah did take in flesh into the Arke for the ravenous creatures to live by at that time Israel's Redemption And besides is there no hurt nor destruction in all the Christian world that we should thus flatter our selves with such vaine fancies or rather when was there none or where is the Nation shall I say or the Citie yea the village amongst us where cruelty is not practised where such mischiefs are not to be found as can scarcely be parallelled in the Common-wealths of the most barbarous heathen And as for those words for the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord which seeme to have been the occasion of the former interpretation in my conceit they imply but this that therefore God will restore to these creatures their primitive obedience and cause them to be no more offensive to his people because he hath determined to make himselfe at that time so well knowne over all the earth that his people shall no more offend him and so the feare of God shall at once be put againe into the hearts of men and the feare of men into the hearts of the creatures for the enmity of the creatures is but the issue of mans sinne and therefore when God shall pardon the house of Jacob and cleanse them from all their iniquities as hath been said the sinnes of men which are the cause and the curse of the creatures which is the effect shall depart together Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. Albeit this Author will not give glory unto God in fulfilling his promises yet wee see that others are not so ingrate as Act. 9.31 Then had the Churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and in other times we finde that the Christians had their halcyonian dayes twixt these ten great persecutions and afterwards in the dayes of Christian Emperours and godly Kings 2. Neither doe the Prophets or Revelation speaking of these times say There shall never be hurt nor shall ever any man destroy one another but rather the propertie of the Church in this world is to be militant and neverthelesse Wolves and Lyons forsake their crueltie in the person of many converts and therefore these hyberbolicall complaints might well been spared 3. It doth puzzle the Author that Esay saith chap. 11.9 For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord and therefore fancieth a private conceit for exponing these words of which he gives no reason but we have given sufficient reasons for the allegoricall interpretation which is confirmed by these words to wit that the abundance of the knowledge of the Lord is the cause why wicked men leave their wickednesse and adjoyne themselves unto the meek of the earth as our Saviour saith Matth. 10.16 I will send you as sheep among Wolves Of whom certainly many became sheep of Christs fold which is a more proper effect of knowledge then the changing of beasts affections Reply 1. We thinke that God is best pleased with us and most glorified by us when we confesse the truth albeit against our selves and therefore as wee are not so ingrate to denie that God hath given particular Churches rest not onely from foraigne enemies but homebred also not onely from heathenish persecutors but from hereticall too so we are not so ungodly to denie our owne unrighteousnesse and unthankfulnesse towards God notwithstanding such mercy conferred upon us For even when these Churches have had such rest then have they provok't God afresh by more then heathenish impieties and oppressions so that rest from persecution hath been the very seed-time in which the tares of all impietie and injustice of all manner of misgovernment and misbeliefe have been sow'd afresh amongst us and the spring-tide in which that cursed and numerous brood of the flesh which St. Paul reckons up Gal. 5. ver 19. c. hath been manifest in us as adultery fornication uncleannesse lasciviousnesse Idolatrie witchcraft hatred variance emulations strife seditions Heresies envyings
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
armes but this that ver 35. is not contrary to ver 44. And doubtlesse it is not nor ver 44. to such a setting up of our Saviours Kingdome as we hold For whereas you say That this Kingdome shall be set up in the dayes of these Kings and not after them It is as if you had told us That a King cannot overcome and succeed other Kings in their Kingdomes while they reigne but after their reigne When as indeed they cannot lose their Kingdomes but while they have them but in the dayes of their reigne and not after them And so you have not yet shewed us any reason why this phrase It shall breake in peeces and consume these Kingdomes should not as well be taken properly when it is attributed to the setting up of our Saviours Kingdome as when it is attributed to the setting up of the other Kingdomes And therefore we have still good reason to beleeve that the forcible and destroying fall of the stone upon the image doth betoken no lesse then a conquest and succession by force of armes Israel's Redemption And as the falling of the stone upon the feete of the image upon the last and divided Kingdomes of the iron Empire doth probably imply Mr. Petrie's Answer The dreame implyeth nothing contrary to the exposition and therefore leave probabilities that are contrary to certainties Reply Doubt lesse the dreame implyeth nothing contrary to the exposition but both dreame and exposition doe point out our Saours personall reigne on earth For the confirmation and manifestation of which truth we bring not probabilities onely but certainties too yea such certainties as all your wit and wilinesse are not able to answer or obscure and therefore me thinks you have no cause to be offended with such variety of testimonies And had I said also that this which I called onely a probability had been more then a probability I had not overlasht For seeing God by this image foreshewed Nebuchadnezzar what Kingdoms should succeed his unto the second comming of Christ all which time the Jewes should remaine captives and tributaries And that the falling of the stone on the feete of the image did intimate both the second appearing of Christ for the first was when he was borne of a Virgine when he was cut out without hands and the expiration of the time allotted to the Kingdomes represented by the image It necessarily followes that when the stone should fall on the image when the Kingdome of God should be set up as it is expounded the Kingdoms prefigured by the image should be no longer should all be subdued and that the mountaine filling the whole earth the visible and Monarchicall Kingdome of Christ on earth should succeed alone Israel's Redemption For if the Kingdome of God there spoken of were to be understood of a Kingdome which should so be set up in the dayes of these Kings that their reigne should notwithstanding continue together with it as not onely these but all former Kingdomes also have done with the Church militant with the Kingdome of grace which therefore cannot be the Kingdome there foreshewne then doubtlesse it should have been represented by some part of the image it selfe as the contemporating Kingdomes of the divided Empire are by the mixture of iron and clay and not by a thing so different from it and adverse unto it by a stone I say so wonderfull for its beginning operation and encrease For it was cut out without hands and when it had smote the image became a great mountaine and filled the whole earth Which the Churches as yet never did whose fall and growth too as they import a more powerfull speedy and generall conquest over these Kingdomes by this Kingdome then either the gold received from the silver the silver from the brasse or the brasse from the iron so they imply the utter extirpation and totall abolition of that manner of policy and government which these Kingdomes have usâ—d of which it is said That they became like the chaffe of the Summer threshing-flores and the winde carried them away that no place was found for them ver 35. And with this sense of the interpretation of the vision very well a greeth that in the second Psalme ver 8. Aâ—ke of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession Thou shalt break them with a rod r Rev. 2.27 ch 19.15 of iron thou shalt dash them in peeces like a potters vessel And that in Psal 110.2 The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion rule thou in the midst of thine enemies The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath He shall judge among the heathen he shall fill the placer with dead bodies he shall wound the heads over many Countries He shall drinke of the brooke in the way therefore shall he lift up the head Yea and that too in Psal 149.2 Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the children of Zion be joyfull in their King Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people To binde their 1 Sam. 1.9.10 Psal 47. Psal 99. Kings in chaines and their Nobles in fetters of iron to exâ—eute upon them the judgement written This bonour have all his Saints Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. Then teach God hâ—w he should eveale his will 2. It is revealed in expcesse words ver 44.3 There was reason to expresse it by a different thing because the foure were of one quality and this was of another quality My Kingdome saith he is not of this world John 18.36 It is more wonderfull more powerfull and more generall then any of them and all the Kings who will not serve this King shall perish he shall breake them with a rod of iron Psal 2.8 he shall strike them through in his wrath Psal 110 5. and binde them with chaines and their Nobles with fetters of iron Psal 149.8 Reply 1. We leave this presumption to your selfe who have so boldly told God what is most for his glory pag. 15 16. and what is most to the praise of his mercy and bountifulnesse pag. 68. 2. It is revealed in expresse words ver 44. That God shall set up a Kingdome in the dayes of these Kings But not that these Kings and the Kingdomes which God shall set up are to continue together Yea the Kingdome of God could not breake in peeces these Kingdomes could not succeed them by conquest unlesse they should be in the possession of their severall Kings when the Kingdome of God is thus to be set up And seeing these Kingdomes are to be broken in peeces are to be consumed by the Kingdome which God shall set up how can you once imagine that their conversion and not their confusion that their instruction and not destruction that
heaven to the earth againe or whether John signifieth by them the godly on earth If these words make any thing for this purpose these Elders were in heaven but all the interpreters even the Authour of Commentat Apâ—calypt pag. 8. expone them to be the godly on earth The words Rom. 4.13 are The promise that he should be the heire of the world was not to Abraham and to his seed through the law but through the righteousnesse of faith Certainely albeit the Land of Canaan was promised to Abraham and his seed yet he never having possession of that land and his seed or the faithfull are more properly called the heires of eternall life Tit. 3.7 And heires of that Kingdome which he hath promised unto them that love him Iam. 2.5 And heires of God and joynt-heires with Christ Rom. 8.17 Which Kingdome was typified by Canaan and of this promise without doubt speakes Paul there The words of Luke 19.17.19 are a part of a parable and we know that every part of a parable is not argumentative These texts then serve nothing for this Monarchy On the margine is cited also a testimony of Windelin but we regard not the testimony of parties in their own cause and far lesse doe we regard the consequences of that testimony wherewith the next page is filled and with that question of the essential or accident all change of the Elements seeing for one we may bring five thousand testimonies in this urpose Reply The question is you say whether Saint John saw these Elders in heaven And that he did the text it selfe doth witnesse For that these Elders were the same with the Elders in chap. 4. the continuation of the vision doth infallibly evince And that Saint Iohn saw those Elders in heaven the 1 ver of the 4 chap. doth clearly prove where it is said After this I looked and behold a doore was opened in heaven and the first voyce which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with mee which said Come up hither and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter Now what heaven was it in which Saint John saw a doore opened but the starry heaven the same heaven which Saint Stephen saw opened Acts 7.56 And what heaven was it from whence he heard a voice talking with him but the third heaven in the third heaven it was then whither Saint Pauâ— as once caught up that Saint John heard and saw such wonderfull visions and revelations as soone as he was in the spirit that is as soone as hee was carried up by the spirit whither he was before called by the voice And consequently he saw these Elders in heaven and this also the 6 and 7 verses of the 5 chap. doe confirme which shew that these Elders were there where our Saviour represented by the Lambe that had been slaine was when the booke of Revelation was given unto him And as Saint John saw these Elders in heaven so Pareus makes report also of two sorts of interpreters who by these Elders doe understand Saints in heaven One which takes them for foure and twenty and no more for twelve Patriarches and twelve Apostles Another which takes them for all the Saints then in heaven to which interpretation he himselfe enclines And Piscator understands by them all the faithfull under both Testaments under the Law and under the Gospell and so makes these 24 Elders to represent not onely the Saints then departed but all others also which should depart before Christs appearing And now seeing the text shews that Saint John saw these Elders in heaven and interpreters say that they represented the Saints departed how can their words we shall reigne on earth be understood any otherwise then of their reigning after their resurrection Yea let them be taken for the Saints on earth and yet their words cannot be otherwise understood For if they did represent the Saints militant on earth they did then reigne spiritually when they spake these words And therefore seeing notwithstanding their spirituall reigne they said not we doe but we shall reigne on earth it is evident that their words cannot be meant of a reigne which they should enjoy on earth while they were in their bodies before their death which by your owne confession can be no other but a spirituall reigne but of a reigne which they should enjoy on earth when they are againe reunited to their bodies after their death And whereas the words in ' Rom. 4.13 For the promise that he should be heire of the world c. are by you thus interpreted That he should be heire of eternall life Tit. 8.7 When you can prove that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the visible world doth signifie eternall life we shall approve of this exposition In the meane while we shall understand it of the joynt government of the world by Abrahâ—m and the rest of the raised Saints in the time of Christs reigne on earth At which time also they may well be said to be heires of eternall life and coheires with Christ seeing they shall rule the world with him and can dye no more The other words Luke 19.17.19 are a part of a parable and every part of a parable is not argumentative you say true that part which crosseth some truth plainely delivered in the scripture but that which agreeth with the plaine scriptures as this doth with the prophecies touching our Saviours and the Saints reigning on earth is argumentative Eâ—se why is it said that our Saviour taught them in parables if parables do containe no certaine truth And what is the scope of this patable but to shew that Christ was not to reigne over the Jews then at his first comming when the Jewes should refuse to have him reigne over them saying We have no King but Caesar but at his comming againe from heaven with power and great glory at which time he would make those that had in their life time improved his spirituall stocke governours under him And lastly your slâ—ighting of Wendelinus testimony as a party and of this marginall note as too meane for your meditation is a fine sleight to excuse your not answering of them To which doubtles you had nothing to say for else we may well thinke that you would have been nibling at this marginall note too as well as you are at others and that among so many thousand opposite testimonies you would have pickt out an answer to this single testimony of Wendelinus Israel's Redemption And this will appeare to a diligent eye even out of the controversed place in Rev. 20. for besides that the opposition betwixt the first and last resurrection doth impose the same sense on both besides this I say the vision represented not unto St. John perfect men at the first that is men that should be beheaded for the witnesse of Jesus but soules onely and that as of men already beheaded which most manifestly shewes that the resurrection after mentioned did follow their death
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