for Jesus sake but with this Counsel and design That the Lâ—fe also of Jesus might be made manifest in our Body yea in our Mortal flesh which expectation and hope he casts into the times of the Resurrection vers 14. Or the day of Judgment as it is in the next Chap. vers 10. when we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Text may be rendred that he may receive such things by or through his Body according to that he hath done where the Body is brought in not as the instrument of those things done as the Translation in the English would carry it but for that state of man wherein he shall receive his full reward whether for good or bad which is when the Body shall be reunited to the Soul as in the Resurrection for if the Apostle should refer the doing of good or bad only to the Body or those things wherein the Body was the Agent or Instrument it would be too short to take in all good and bad there being many both good and bad fruits wherein the Body hath no hand as all mental Sins and spiritual wickednesses and so spiritual vertues and graces his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad For this cause it is that he says in the former Chap. vers 16. We faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction which is but for a Moment worketh for us c. While we look not at the things that are seen but the things that are not seen c. Here lies the knot what are these things NOT SEEN This is the strength of your Argument if there be any strength in it The Apostle shews both before and after what he means They are things that relate not only to the Soul but to the Body the mortal Flesh the Earthen Vessel or the Earthly house of this Tabernacle which shall be exchanged for a Building of God an House not made with hands a House from Heaven a Vessel of Gold which the same Apostle in the former Epistle Chap. 15. calls a Spiritual body Now is all this a meer INWARD SPIRITUAL AND INVISIBLE Glory Give me leave Sir to tell you what hath led you out of the way it it the taking of the things not seen for things Invisible whereas the Apostle is not heard to speak so in this place The words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not things simply or in their own nature absolutely invisible but with respect to the present time as it is restrained in a parallel case and instance of Noah Heb. 11.7 Noah warned of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 touching things not seen as yet viz. The destruction of the old World by the Flood a thing which they saw and felt to their cost in the season appointed And so the recompence of reward that Moses had respect unto and the promises unto Abraham that he should be the Heir of the World they were things not seen as yet but not in their nature invisible but were seen in their time in bringing Israel into Canaan as an Earnest of the whole world to be given in due time to the seed of the Antypâ—â—â—l Abraham So also the Apostle speaks of this hope that remains still to the People of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we see not yet all things put under him He doth not say we shall never see but implies the contrary nay we have earnest of it in the glory and honour with which our Lord Jesus the head of this mystical body is Crowned Such is the Apostles Argument and such is his sence and so is he to be taken in this your place of the Corinths the things the Apostles lookt unto and comforted themselves in were things not seen as yet for they take not place till the Resurrection and the day of Judgment which I suppose you overlooking or not considering the time of this glorious visible Administration but thinking I took up as perhaps too many do in a corruptible state of things in changes made by men on this side the Resurrection of the Dead hath been a stumbling block that hath turned you out of the way whereas it is not till the Resurrection of the Just that we look for this reward as our Saviour himself determines Luk. 14.14 When the Dead shall be raised incorruptible and we that survive shall be changed Now to deny a visible and outward Kingdom and Glory when the bodies of men shall put off Mortality and there shall be an universal change in the whole nature of things in Heaven and Earth and all Creatures and in all Administrations is without any plausible pretence either of Reason or Scripture It must be granted that all along in all times there have been by dispensation certain visible Earnests and foretasts of this recompence serving as Types and Prefigurations for the confirmation of our Faith and Expectation as in Enoch during the times of the Old World in the bringing of Israel out of Egypt in Moses time in the flourishing raign of Solomon c. In the Translation of Elijah in the transfiguration of our Saviour and there have been some rare examples that have pressed farr and bid high for perfection as Paul even for the Resurrection of the Dead to pass by those in every age who put themselves forward in their own spirit which will come to nothing but never any in their mortal flesh attained the full glory of this state but only a little portion of it it being the glory of another time and that which awaits the Second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints as Enoch the first of these Instances witnesseth in his Prophecy And now Sir I have done with this your second proof and I thank you for bringing it into the field it hath done us more service then you though I hope all is a service to you and you will find and acknowledge it so in the end but I speak with reference to your present cause and engagement you must needs be sensible that your own weapons are turned upon your self for these things that are not seen to which the Apostles and Believers do look have been proved to be the things of the resurrection such as concern the glory of our bodies and the restitution of all things as well as the perfecting of our spirits and to be called things not seen not for the invisibility of their nature but for that the time of their appearing is not yet So that now unless you will say which I know you will not that the putting all things even Death it self in subjection under Christ and his Saints is no part of the Kingdom of God and of Christ you cannot say it is wholly inward and invisible Your third Quotation may
cannot say that I see that full and glorious estate of the Kingdom of Christ that the Prophets are so full of and when you and I shall see this give me leave by way of Anticipation to take up your own words under your 2. position Can your understanding reach anything or your will close with any thing or your heart and affection go out after any thing beyond this yea give me leave yet farther with the same indignation and vehemency to abhorr the thought that you should rest short of this union of the visible and invisible things of God as you do to harbour such a thought of me that I should give Credit to what is Incredible or enterprize what is imposible I have done now with the words of the Scriptures which you summon in to witness in your cause and you see how they have done it that they have not had a word not a Syllable for you but against you I come now to your own words which I may very properly call so and your inferences You say you know not the meaning of that outward visible Kingdom of Christ no Footsteps of it in the volume of that great Book which conserves the Records of Heaven nor any credit or countenance given it there That you cannot own that distinction about an inward and an outward Kingdom to be a Divine birth or off-spring but rather look on it as Spurious Illigitimate devised and imaginary and that which can never hold weight in the ballance of truth and consequently that which the Israel of God must needs be a meer stranger to c. If words will do the business I am sure to have the worst of it But Sir had not these words better have been spared till the Battel had been done and you had seen what might have been said for this outward and visible Kingdom of Christ if you have yet seen nothing for it though you have been a diligent peruser of the Scriptures and though this truth lies fair there to be seen yet may not your Eyes be held as the Disciples were that walked with Christ to Emaus yet knew him not Doth not our Saviour say I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes and when you shall come to be one of these Babes you may see this truth which I hope and pray for We read when God appeared unto Saul in the Cariere of his Persecution and sent Ananias to restore his Sight There fell from his Eyes as it had been Scales such Scales are the Prejudices you have conceived against this future outwardly and visibly glorious state of Christs Kingdom on Earth which makes you charge the Doctrine of it with a tendency To stir up Strife and Contention and Blood and War and Confusion in the World Be sure like the Lawyers to put in Words enough into your Declaration nourishing Rents and Schismes and Factions and Divisions among the People whilst every particular Sect or Party that can but get a little smattering knowledg of Christ and of his Kingdom will be ready to say they above all the rest are the holy People stand farther off I am holyer then thou the Saints that must rule the Earth which must by no meanes be so long as the Earth rules them as it too frequently falls out among a company of conceited high flown pretenders c. I abridg what I can really Sir one would think you were very Orthodox and had not suffered by the Tryers in that day of their Pride nor ever been ranked among the Sectaries that you have no softer words for your own Party I doubt all this will not wash you white with the times Nor doth it make your opposites ever a whit the blacker We read in the Evangelists that when our Saviour suffered there were two Theeves Crucified with him the one on his Right Hand and the other on his Left and the one of them railed on him saying if thou be Christ save thy self and us but the other rebuked him saying Dost not thou fear God seeing thou art in the same Condemnation no doubt but this good Thief justified our Saviour in his Conscience else he would never have applyed himself to him as he did Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom but he speaks of Christs Condemnation as the Judgment of mans days Hence we may observe two things 1. That for men in the same Condemnation to fall foul on their Fellow sufferers is no Praise to them 2. Christ cannot be in worse circumstances at any time then he was at that time when he was nailed to the Cross yet then this good Thief gives him the honour of a Kingdom It is not the Cross nor the company that makes Christ ever the less a King or his Kingdom the less conspicuous to them that have the same Eye Salve that this good Thief had This Sir comes up to you you find a company of Conceited high flown Pretenders such there are no doubt many but it is the Councel of a Friend be well advised whom you judg so that say they above all the rest are the holy People stand farther off I am holyer then thou c. These take up the Kingdom of Christ into their mouths is the cause the worse for them At this rate what truth of the Gospel but may be rendred odious and disgustful if we will charge the miscarriage of the Professors of it upon their Testimony Was the Gospel the worse because some Preach'd Christ out of Envy Had David a bad cause because men in Debt and Discontented were among his Followers Neither Christ nor his Kingdom teaches men to be conceited or high flowen but the contrary Much less doth this Doctrine tend to stir up strife and contention and Blood and War or nourish Rents Schismes Factions and Divisions among the People as you charge it but we have only your ipse dixit for it These ill berries may grow upon those that have Christs Kingdom in their mouths but not in those that have it in their Hearts But to wipe off this dirt we shall have more occasion in another place of your discourse I shall close what I have to say to this charge with this word Christs Kingdom is given him by the Father but he comes to it by and through his own and his Followers Sufferings but when he shall COME IN HIS KINGDOM then let his enemies look to it for then the time is come that they must suffer Luk. 19.17 There is no avoiding of it Your second Position is That the Kingdom of God and of his Christ is no Terrene earthly Kingdom neither hath it any thing at all in it of any worldly concernment but is wholly and altogether Spiritual and Heavenly No Terrene Earthly Kingdom but altogether Spiritual and Heavenly The Position begins and ends well and is readily assented to but whereas you say
delights in the Body or Image of its manifestation without waits for it and is perfected in it for though it be said my strength is perfected in weakness yet it rests not till it hath removed weakness and therefore saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 13 4. though now we are weak in him yet we shall live by the power of God towards you We shall have a time to shine and be acknowledged a time to appear what now we do not Otherwise this bodily and visible Creation were in vain 1 Cor. 14.2.14 and as the Apostle speaks of speaking in unknown Tongues in the Spirit they speak Mysteries but their understanding was unfruitful so hero even Christ should in vain take flesh and in vain retain human nature and form in glory Nay he is not glorified in his human nature if his Members shall not therein be glorified likewise with him Do we suffer in our bodies and in our outward circumstances suffer with Christ and suffer for Christ and shall we not in the same be glorified together was the Earth made in vain to be only the range of wild Beasts was it not made to be inhabited and planted with righteousness and for the will of God to be done in it and will you call this an outward Kingdom and inconsistent with spirituality because it is visible and the object of sence Are we not fain in the present state to abstract from our bodies our sences when we would converse with Divine things as the Prophets that were in Trances when in the visions of God is not this through the weakness of the Vessel and is it not the glory of God and the happiness of Man when this shall be done away When also there shall be no pricking Bryar nor grieving Thorn no Persecution no oppression no wants no sickness nor pain do not these much hinder us from bringing forth those delicious fruits of Praise which we shall abound in when these are removed Sir I wonder that a person as you are that are not only acquainted with the Theory of what I speak but the experience that have suffered under the finest and most refined formes of this old World and their unrighteous usurpation in the things of God of which I perceive you have a quick sence still remaining with you that your ears should be so heavy to the News of a New World Were it a cunning devised Fable an officious Lye to deceive the pain of the present circumstances I should commend your high resolution not to be beholden to such collusions or were we in a hasty spirit of wrath and reveng calling for fire from Heaven upon our Persecutors you would be justified if you should tell us we know not what spirit we are of But when it is not our device but Gods revealed Counsel and design It is not our ease but his glory that is chiefly concern'd herein pray let us not be wiser then he nor more free of his glory and our own sufferings then he himself is pleased to be LET GOD HAVE A KINGDOM AMONG MEN. Give it not away to Satan to Antichrist they have had it long enough Is it not said for thy Glory All things are and were Created Is not his Name blasphemed continually every day while they that Rule over his people make them to howl Is this all the Kingdom God shall be allowed in the world to be glorified in the faith and patience of his suffering Saints Doth not the Apostle say It is a righteous thing with God to render tribulation to them that trouble you and to you that are troubled rest with us c. Contend for spirituality as much as you will I shall joyn with you There is need enough so to do but oppose not the visibility the universality of Christs Kingdom who must be King over all the Earth known and acknowledged by all Zach. 14.9 And whereas you say towards the end of your Book That this expectation savours too strongly of the spirit of the old persecuting Jew who through the expectation of such a glorious Messiah rejected the Messiah in that tender he made of himself and Crucified him I hope Sir you intend not hereby to cashiere and cut off that people from their part in the glorious state of that Kingdom who if they had not particuler promises and assurances of a special regard to them in the turn of things that God will make in that day and that they were not to be an eminent and signal instance of the irresistable power and prevalency of the rich free and boundless grace of God as I am well satisfied they are from the 11th to the Romans and multitudes of other places yet for the universality of this Council of grace which is to take in the whole Earth they must upon that account be allowed to come in for their share with the rest of the Nations Their error was that they overlook't the Testimony of the Prophets yea of the spirit of the Messiah himself in the Prophets that testified before hand of the sufferings of Christ and of the glory that should follow they were not mistaken in expecting a glorious Messiah but in expecting him out of the order and time that God had set for it but now that Christ hath suffered yea and his Body mystical hath fill'd up the measure of his suffering in themselves under the 42 months of the Beast if we deny him his Kingdom shall we not not only persecute him but all his members likewise worse then the Jews did You say in the entrance upon this argument you would not be concluded as a meer stranger to the nature and circumstances of this controversie having read Mr. Brightman and Mr. Mede but found them defective Sir I have that charity for Philalethes according to the Import of his name and for the long experience and acquaintance I have had with him that he would not prevaricate with his light nor speak or write against the least truth he was convinced of But Sir you are not ignorant that though truth be eternal in its spring-head in God yet in respect of its discovery to us it is the daughter of time there are seasons for all truths to come forth into the world there was so for the Gospel 1 Tit. 2.3 Mr. Brightman lived and died remoter from the times of this light Mr. Mede who lived nearer to them saw farther But besides Sir there is as in one place of your Book pag. 65. you express a certain Divine position and configuration of minds as well as things that disposeth or indisposeth them for some truths and therefore considering this position and configuration in Mr. Mede who was alwaies in his opinion for conformity and for the Hierarchy in the Church it is to be admired that he should engage so far as he did in this cause of Christ's glorious Kingdom on earth and it adds no small weight to the evidence of that truth that against the
interest of that opinion wrought him over to this side which had he lived to see the improvements of it that have been made since might for ought I know have wrought him off from his conformity But besides this also there are unhappy prejudices like false lights or disadvantagious Medium's through which we take an account of some truths There are two which I suspect in your self and many good men 1. An apprehended inconsistency or irreconcileableness between outward and inward in the Kingdom of Christ to which I have applied something in the foregoing discourse The second is the foul mixtures of man you may have seen in some that have been in the general of this judgment and the irregularities it hath transported them unto To this besides what I have applyed already let me add there is a purer and cleaner way of taking up of truth then from men or their Books or the worser comments on them their practices and that is from the pure Fountains themselves the Scriptures of truth defaecated of all impure mixtures of men where this Doctrine and hope stands purg'd from all such irregularities or evil tendencies as well by the Author who sets up this Kingdom the God of Heaven who is the God of order not of confusion as by the Nature of it which is Healing Restoreing Refreshing Seeking the good of all even the whole Creation which groanes for it and all Nations desire it and will only find rest in it and nothing but Antichrist and Hell are disturb'd by it By this touch-stone and standard I desire you to try and examine both what I have written here and in the book I sent you before both for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both what and what manner of time the Scriptures of the Prophets and Pen men of the Holy Ghost do mean that write of this Kingdom of Christ I cannot suspect or immagine you have no concerne for your fellow members or lay not to heart their sufferings throughout the world though you and I and some few others may enjoy a breathing time in which God is to be acknowledged in the first place and his instruments secondarily especially if of good will they promote it but what is this to the generality of Christs interest throughout the Nations what though they have been unkind to us as Josephs brethren were to him yet they are our brethren and when Christ shall come with clouds and they shall look on him whom they have Peirced they will mourn because of him Nor do I envy your strength your fulness your joy in the present state would to God it were more I know you are warned of the Corinthian and the Laodicean riches and fulness not to take up with them it is certain the Lord hath made provision by the Gospel of his Son that our joy should be full 1 Joh. 1.4 There is a fulness in the present state of Faith so that we mistake not this for absolute fulness It is not the fulness of that state that shall be It might be improved to more then it is and is improved by some 〈◊〉 or rather in some through grace more then it is by or in others But all the fulness that ever was is or shall â—e given forth in the present state is not to prevent or make needless Christs second and glorious visible appearance nor are the greatest measures of it that are given forth to any to stop their mouths or discharge them from traveling by faith and prayer and utmost improvement of their interest for this glorious appearance for then their Table would become their snare and therefore when we flagg and are apt to take up in present manifestations and spiritual enlargments the Lord gives us thornes in the Flesh duplicantur lateres as it was in Egypt to quicken our Travel and to set us a crying mightily to God to give him no rest till he make Jerusalem a praise in the Earth even to cry day and night till with our cryes we raise up the Lord to judge and avenge his own elect Thus Sir I have given you a brief and plain account of the hope that is in me after which I trust it will be needless to tell you I have nothing but love and honour for your person for your learning and gifts for your love to Christ and his truth for your sufferings for his sake for your alwaies immerited Love and Friendship to me in a word for every thing but your Argument and that nothing but the interest of truth could have drawn me to have any difference with you for which I assure my selfe I shall be justified with you as I must necessarily have faln in your eyes if any personal respect had been preferr'd before it if in any expression I have seemed to bear too heard upon you I heartily begg your pardon and that you would accept this explanation that it is directed to your argument not to you I so take all your's which are in some places sharp enough Thus veniam petimusque damusque vicissim The useful and spiritual parts of your Book I shall ever desire to lay up with that respect that is due to them It is not your good positions but the ill position they are under viz. their opposition to that they ought to be in Amity in Harmony withall that I with draw from your Epistle Dedicatory and other passages of your Book of a particular nature and great respect to the Lady to whom you direct it were vanity to trouble the world withal but reserve my self to another time to give you an account of the due value that both she and I have for them and for your good caution to us both not to take the shadow for the substance returning you these two auspicious remarks The first the Text the Minister took at her first Marriage many years ago was Rev. 19.7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give honour to him for the Marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready And the Text on which God Preach'd to her the day before this her second Marriage was What I do unto thee thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter This is the substance that is to fill up all our shadowy joys and contents The Marriage of the Lamb the near approach of which Marriage is the subject of that little Book I sent you the tydings whereof would not be celebrated with that Festivity as in that forecited Rev. 19. If it made no accession to the Churches joy more then she had before and were the evidence thereof apprehended by you the shadows of the evening are not so far stretched upon you but it would make you revive and blossom again which therefore suggests to me the confidence to recommend the serious and sedate perusal thereof unto you again We read of a small remnant that shall have a Song Esa 30 1â— ch 24.14 as