Selected quad for the lemma: city_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A27585
|
The catechism of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in the thousand years shewing by scripure that the great articles of the redemption, the resurrection, the mystery of the saints not dying but chang'd, the judgment, the delivery up of the kingdom to God all in all cannot be explained at full dimensions without it.
|
Beverley, Thomas.
|
1690
(1690)
|
Wing B2126; ESTC R23687
|
27,470
|
34
|
Briars and Thorns and is very nigh now to a Curse whose End is to be Burn'd Rev. 18. But of Reformed Churches and Christians we Hope Better Things and Things that have Hold of that Great Salvation of the Kingdom though we thus speak The Lord therefore shall give you a Sign a Mahar-Schalal-Hash-Baz a Sign of his making Isay c. 6. c. 9. 9. haste to the Prey For as soon as the Child now Born shall by a seven years Age know to chuse the Good and Refuse the Evil That Great City shall be Forsaken of its Ten Kings who have so long given their Kingdom to the Beast and so its Tenth shall Fall and the Witnesses shall Rise And this as it were New Song shall be Sung and the Everlasting Gospel Rev. 14. 1. Preached and we shall be as New Bottles fill'd with the New Wine of the Kingdom And these Truths shall be no longer call'd Novelties Whimsies and Intoxications nor men say any longer We like the Old Wine Better For Christians shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pursuers of Truth in Love Ephes 4. 13. c. as of perfect Age Growing up to the Fullness of Christ and Strong Meat shall belong to them as Having Senses exercis'd to discern Good and Evil. For then the Apostacy shall go off and the mighty Gifts that were but Tasted at first as to length of Time shall Reeurn with Miraculous Powers of the World to come Because it shall then be drawn near and it shall never End Now the mistake is Great that These miraculous Powers ceas'd because the Canon of Scripture was sufficiently Seal'd The Mystery of Iniquity growing up to the Apostacy caus'd the Cessation when That Ends These shall Return Let us therefore in our Earnestest Going on to Perfection wait upon Christ till be Rises upon this Glorious mount of Prey in the Succession of his Kingdom when the Light of one Day then shall be as the Light of seven now Even the Sun shall be asham'd and the Moon Confounded when He Comes to Reign before his Ancients Gloriously And now His going forth is Prepared as the Morning we shall know if we Follow on to know the Lord. But if Any will be Ignorant It must be so If Any one Aggrieved Scripture is open Let him Implead what 's Written I stand on the Justification by Divine Help THE CATECHISM OF THE KINGDOM OF OUR Lord Jesus Christ Question WHere is the Doctrine of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ to be found Ans It is especially to be found in the opening of Prophetical Scripture being the Mystery spoken of by all the Prophets Revel 10. 7. Acts 3. 21. Quest What is the Rule of the True Explication of Prophecy Ans That of the Apostle He that Prophesies let Him Prophecy according to the Analogy or proportion of Faith Rom. 12. 6. Quest What is the Analogy or proportion of Faith Ans It is the Form of sound words according to the whole Scripture which is a Table so exactly square nothing can without plain Injury be Added to it or Taken from it Quest Is the Kingdom of Christ to be thus explain'd Ans I Trust we shall Find it so by Searching All Scripture with Noble Minds whether those Things are so or not and thereby giving heed to that most Sure word of Prophecy that we shall do well to take heed to as to a Light that shineth to us in a dark place So we shall Find it no Cunningly devised Fable Acts 17. 11. 2 Pet. 1. 16. 19. Quest What then is to be understood by the Kingdom of Jesus Christ A. The Kingdom of Jesus Christ is the Glorious and Visible Appearance of Christ Himself with all Saints who have died in Him and whom He will bring with Him who shall dwell with Him in the New Heaven he hath promis'd in the Region of the Air above And for the Full Glory of this Kingdom There shall be a Generation of Saints in the New Earth below who are the Living the Remaining Both sorts Rescued from the common Fire for the Perdition of ungodly Men. 1 Thess 4. 13. to the end 2 Pet. 2. 9. c. 3. 7. 13. Q. Is it not enough that there be a Day of Judgment and a State of Glory and Happiness to Christ and his Saints in the Highest Heaven and of punishment to the wicked in the Lowest Hell A. God hath in his word declar'd to us That is not enough but There shall be upon Greatest Reasons given us therein a New Heaven and a New Earth and a State of Saints in both and of the Enemies of Christ being made his Footstool that there may be a most visible Appearance of the Glory of the one and of the Contemptible dishonourable and condemned State of the other 2 Thess 1. 5. to v. 11. with Dan. 12. 1. 2 Rev. 19. 14. 15. to the end c. 20. 4. 6. Q. What shall be the Highest Spirit and Constitution of this State A. It is an Oeconomy or dispensation wherein there is a most exalted State of Holiness and Purity in the enjoyment of God and of Jesus in his Redemption Rev. 5. 9. and c. 4. 5. of the Communion of his Spirit Free from Sensuality and Impurity and in perfect Happiness and Security from all Toil Grief Pain Death and Curse so that all the Saints are Priests of God and of Christ and Reign with Him Rev. 20. 6. c. 21. c. 22. v. 1. to v. 7. Q. What do you mean by an Oeconomy or Dispensation A. It is the free dispose of Things after the Counsel of Gods own Will for the Manifestation of his Wisdom to Angels and Men in this or that way as the Master of the Great Family of All Things Ephes 3. 9. 10. Q. But hath not this doctrine been generally charg'd with Carnality and sensual Inclination A. This hath been the Art of Sathan and of Antichrist to Bring out of Repute so Great a Doctrine of Christ that It is peculiarly call'd the Everlasting Gospel that the Antichristian Kingdom of this World as a Dead Child might be put in its place Q. What then is the State of the Saints dead in Christ whom He Brings with Him and who shall be in the New Heaven A. They who are Accounted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection from the Dead neither Marry nor are Given Luke 20. 35. 36. Rom. 8. 23. 1 Cor. 5. 3. in Marriage Neither can They Dye any more being the Children of God and of the Resurrection and The Adoption But They Sit on Thrones and Judge Angels and the World with Christ and Reign with Him a Thousand Years not upon but over the Earth They see the Face of God and of the Lamb and Rev. c. 20. c. 21. c. 22. his Throne is in the midst of Them as His Servants They serve Him and his Name is in their Foreheads He is their Light and their Temple They Eat of the Tree of Life and Drink of the
Wheat with his own Hand and gathers by his Angels the clusters of the Wicked to cast Them into the Wine-press of the Wrath of God which He coming in his Kingdom Treads and Slays or Condemns with the word of his Mouth All the wicked Small and Great Chains and Seals up Sathan into the Bottomless-pit the making all his Enemies his Footstool while at the same Time there are the Nations of Them that are saved viz. of the Living Remaining And this Kingdom lasts till the Living Remaining are caught up to sit with Christ on his Throne as he sate Down on His Fathers Throne and the Devil the Dead Death and Hell are Cast into the Lake of the Second Death which is the Subduing the Last Enemy Death at which Heaven and Earth flie away from that white Throne of Pure and Liquid Eternity and the Kingdom Delivered up to God All in All Esay 26. 19. Mat. 13. 30. Rev. 11. 15. c. c. 14. 13. to the End c. 19. c. 20. all along All which are Admirable Correspondencies with all the Former Scriptures and their High Importance already given And Thus the Kingdom of Christ is from the First Resurrection the First because at the Beginning of the Kingdom of Christ and the Second Death the Second because at the End of the Kingdom of Christ For the First Resurrection hath properly no Second but is All One Resurrection from the First Rising of the Dead in Christ to the Living Remaining Saints caught into the Partakership of it And the Second Death hath no First but is All one Death from the Having no Part in the First Resurrection in the Holy City and no Right to the Tree of Life to the Casting into the Lake of the Second Death So the First Resurrection and Second Death are only Oppos'd As First and Second Q. Is there Any other Scripture Representation of this State of the Kingdom of Christ that may Evidence it to be such a peculiar Dispensation that hath never yet been and that shall be yet before the Giving up the Kingdom to God All in All A. There is that Great One The Time of the Restitution of All Things viz. Of the whole Creation Deliver'd from the Bondage of Corruption into the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God Rom. 8. 21. which is at the same Time with the Re-Livening which we Translate Acts 3. 19. Times of Refreshing the Dead in Christ or as the Apostle John Rev. 20. 4. calls it the Souls Living And This must be what never hath yet been For it must be when Jesus before Preached and whom the Heavens must Receive till He be Sent Come which we All Acknowledge hath not been yet and yet must be before the Kingdom Deliver'd up For then the Restitution shall be Deliver'd up also There is also the New Jerusalem which according to the Compare of Ezekiel in the Israelitish Description of Things proper to the Old Testament and Johns proper to the New Testament Assure There must be such a State of Things as never hath yet been And in Regard of a Higher State where the Throne of God and the Lamb are and Those who Immediately as being in their presence Eat of the Tree of Life and drink of the Water of Life and in Regard of the Nations Saved and Healed must be a State above and below and so before the Kingdom Deliver'd up to God and the Father when he is All in All. Q. This being a very Great Point and so Differently Expounding those Fundamental Points of the Resurrection and of the Day of Judgment as in the Kingdom of Christ There need besides the given Proofs of Scripture which are generally Explained so as to Reach no further then the Common Exposition of these Doctrines Great Accounts of Scripture Reason drawn from the most Intimate Sence of it to Establish such an Exposition A. There are Exceeding High Accounts from Scripture-Reason of the Manifold Wisdom Holiness and Justice of God in this Grand Oeconomy or Dispensation Q. Give Account of the First and Fundamental and most Immediate Reason of such a Dispensation A. That there might be a State of Visible Appearance of the Glory of Christ and of his Saints and of the Contempt Dishonour and Retributions of Justice on Wicked Men For that These Things should Appear be set in open View in a Full and Clear Light is every where made Known in Stripture First as a Recompence to the Deep Humiliation of Jesus Christ Himself and to his Saints who have been all along but especially since the Delay of his Kingdom at his Resurrection in a Low Scorn'd and Persecuted State Tortur'd by Cruelties and Forc'd out of the World by Violent Deaths who have therefore from the Truth of God been Arm'd and Encourag'd in their Obedience and against these Sufferings by the Assurance of a Visible Appearance in Glory and Reign with Christ and of the Visible Shame and Confusion of their Enemies and of all Wicked and Unholy Men who have so obstainately preferr'd the Present before a Future State Esay 65. 13 14 and to the End Mic. 7. 17. and Dan. 12. 1 2. Phil. 2. 9 10 11. Heb. 11. 35. with many more Scriptures Q. But can there be no Appearance of this Glory and of that Contempt but in such a state of the Kingdom of Christ A. No Not in this World because however some Appearances may be of these Things on each side in some Instances Yet in General All is so in Confusion and Disorder here and this is the very Cross-Handed State of Evil to the Servants of God and of the Prosperity of Wicked Men that no Man Knows Love or Hatred by All that is before him Not in the State of Spirits in Heaven above or in Prison below For All Scripture Reason makes it most Evident There can be no Appearance without a Resurrection Not in the State of Eternity For then God All in All as the Highest Glory Swallows up the Less when God is All in All The Son is subject There must be therefore a Distance of the Rain-bow the Emblem of Christs Kingdom from the Sun that its Beauties may be seen so the Glory of Christ in his Humane Nature and of his Saints in visible Glory must be seen at a Distance from God All in All Not in the Day of Judgment or the Resurrection as a short Transitory Space For that could be no Kingdom nor any Appearance worthy so Great a Cause that had only a moment But it must be a settled Oeconomy or State of Duration the Fullness of Times as it own proper Times and not short Time on-only When the Great Potentate gives a Show it shall be of a thousand years Duration Eccles 9. 1. 1 Cor. 15. 28. Ephes 1. 10. 1 Tim. 6. 15. Rev. 20. 6. Q. How may This be also Set in Agreement with the State of the Wicked A. Very exactly For here They very generally appear in Prosperity And the State of