it and for the familiarity into which Christ will entertain all his as there he entertain'd the Nobles of Israel though not for the terrour of it Secondly as outwardly priviledges and advantages may consist with so they all shall be added and annexed to this Kingdom and shall serve and Minister in it This is so express that it is asserted by our Saviour in totidem verbis in two of the Evangelists Mat. 6.33 Luk. 12.31 Seek first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you And in how full a stream the Prophets of the old Testament are found to concur and joyn I need not acquaint you Sir nor such as you are diligent perusers of the Scriptures And if those places in the Evangelists do only promise and secure to us things that we need as to some by the words foregoing v. 32. They may seem to be restrained yet the Prophets speak of a freer dispensation in the end the places are too many and frequent to need quoting And if any shall say those things are to be understood spiritually I say spirituality is the intern form and Essence of this Kingdom but that which is added to this must be something else otherwise why is it said to be added And if the Scripture hath no where restrained the sense and meaning of these expressions to a meer spiritual nature and import by what authority may we presume to be so Magisterial as to impose such a sense and interpretation upon them against not the sence and interpretation only of others and perhaps men as spiritual as our selves but against the express voice of the Scriptures as to instance in some places Psal 67. where this glorious state of Christs Kingdom on Earth is Prophetically celebrated when his way shall be known upon Earth not in Heaven only and his saving health among all Nations not the Jews only as then or in Christendom as now when all the people shall praise him then it is said the earth shall yield her increase and all the ends of the earth shall fear him Now will it not be a violent suppression and muzling the Scripture to understand this of the Earth yielding her Increase meerly spiritually and mystically so Esa 65.16 He that blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth Shall we take this Earth of Spiritual things or rather is it not to declare to us the spiritual use and enjoyment that we shall have of Earthly blessings in that day which denies not nor takes away the Vse of them but rectifies it according to a third Scripture Esa 62.8.9 The Lord hath Sworn by his right hand and by the Arm of his Strength Surely I will no more give thy Corn to be meat for thine Enemies and the Sons of the strangers shall not drink thy Wine for which thou hast laboured but they that have gathered it shall eat it and praise the Lord and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the Courts of my Holyness as Israel was required to bring their special offerings as in liew of the whole and to eat and drink and rejoyce before the Lord under the Law So Zach. 9. last How great is his goodness and how great is his Beauty Corn shall make the young Men chearful and new Wine the Maids and Mal. 3.10 Bring ye all the Tithes into the Store-house that there may be meat in my house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of Hosts if I will not open you the windows of Heaven and pour out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it And I will rebuke the Devourer for your sake and he shall not destroy the Fruits of your ground neither shall your Vine cast her Fruit in the Field c. and if you say these are antiquated promises to the Jews I answer they hold to the worlds end and the last times of Christs Kingdom as they shall excell those past times in spiritual glory so they shall not come short of them in those outward promises We live upon the terms of the New Covenant as delivered by the Prophets to the Jews and that very New Covenant Jer. 31. is yet to give down its milk more freely then ever it hath done and see what is said of Israel when they return and it shall be made good to the whole Israel of God Gentiles as well as Jews They shall Sing in the heights of Sion and flow together to the goodness of the Lord for Wheat and for Wine and for Oyle and for the young of the flock and of the herd Jer. 31.12 Now how great confidence is required in that man that shall restrain these Scriptures to a spiritual meaning only I must confess it must be much greater then is with me Besides many others that might be alleadged from Esa 65. as promises of long life of planting Vineyards and building houses and long enjoying the works of their hands yea Esa 30.23.24 not only to Israel is promised their bread shall be fat and plenteous but that in that day Their Cattel shall feed in large Pastures the Oxen likewise and the young Asses that ear the ground shall eat clean Provender winnowed with the shovel and with the fan and the enmity of the Bruit creatures shall cease I dare not for a world say these things are meerly mystical and allegorical Sir I heartily close with you that the spirit of the Kingdom stands not in any nor in all these put together but in righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost but that all outward blessings are as the body the image the cloathing of this beautiful inward form and life is what I verily hope and believe If the particulars as already alleaged appear not of that force give me so much patience while I recollect them and give you a brief Synopsis of them together adding some other particulars to them whereby it may appear that so far is the Kingdom of Christ from not having in it any thing at all of worldly concernment that the whole Creation the World All the Kingdoms of the world will be found to be the concern of it till all be brought at last to lye in the Armes Bosom and Embraces of it as the whole World hath lain in the wicked one as it is govern'd influenced and mannaged by him Therefore is this Kingdom of Christ deservedly called 1. A New Creation not only Mystically and Radically or Seminally as in the present state of Faith and Suffering but manifestly and explicitely as grown up or risen into its own body and proper appearance Rev. 21.1.5 where we have the entireness of this Creation expresly recognized by the two constitutive parts of it a new Heaven and a new Earth can any thing be fuller And these words are true and faithful 2. This new Creation is a World and is so called Heb. 2.5 The world to come 3. This world
is a Kingdom Daniel 7.27 And the Kingdom and Dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High This promise comes in upon the dissolution of the fourth and last Monarchy both East and West The little Horn that riseth after the Ten being the Turk and therefore did not the very express terms and circumstances in the Text decide it the Time the Place the order of Succession would carry it to be a vissible and powerful Kingdom to be exercised here on Earth The very notion of a Kingdom imports a collection a panoplia of all delights but when it is said the Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven it imports an Vniversal Monarchy or the Monarchy of the Universe whereof the four precedent Monarchies were but improperly so called by a Synecdoche and this Universal Monarchy to be most absolute most full most perfect for all felicity and abundance otherwise it could not invite and unite all the Earth as it shall do for the Kings shall bring their glory into it it shall be set in the top of the Mountains many Nations shall say come let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord and they shall find themselves at rest here and therefore is the reign of the Lord Jesus celebrated with such joy by the Spirit of Prophesy Psal 96. The heavens and the earth and the Sea and the Fields and the Trees of the Wood are called upon to rejoyce and sing and so in the next Psal 97. The Lord reigneth let the earth rejoyce let the multitude of the Isles be glad thereof so that as there shall be Righteousness Peace and Joy Heavenly and Divine within which is the whole substratum of your model of Christs Kingdom so over above and besides this shall righteousness likewise dwell in this new earth and shall fill all the administrations of this new World and the Kingdoms thereof and Peace as the work of this righteousness and Joy as the fruit of all these are the Mystical flowers and fruits that shall adorn this new state of things when the Winter of the Militant and suffering state is over and gone 4. This Kingdom contains in it and under it All the Kingdoms of this World Rev. 11.15 Possibly not all at first but only the Kingdoms of the fourth Monarchy both East and West but in the process of it it shall reap and gather in all the rest for the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish Esa 60.12 Yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted the whole Chapter is of it and in the last Chapter of that Prophesy we are made acquainted with one means how this shall be brought about vers 19. where the Lord saith I will set a * And what difference between a Signo Digito monstrari dicier hic est Sign among them and I will send those that escape of them unto the Nations to Tarshish Pul and Lud that draw the Bow to Tubal and Javan and to the Isles afar off that have not heard my Fame neither have seen my Glory and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles He had said before vers 15. Behold the Lord will come with fire and with his Chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire for by fire and by his Sword will the Lord plead with all flesh and the slain of the Lord shall be many Then they that escape of these judgments shall be sent to the Nations who shall be armed and instructed not only with the Gospel of tydings of Christs first appearance but with the tydings of his second appearance and shall declare unto them what Christ hath done to the fourth Monarchy utterly consuming it and making it as the chaff of the Summer threshing floor to be carried away with the wind for ever for there will the judgment begin and this Embassy will prevail with many and those that stand out must expect the like severity and to be broken in pieces with the Rod of Iron as a Potters Vessel is broken to Shivers This is no mystical business no more then the destruction of Jerusalem was of old by Titus and Vespatian nor then the destruction of Heathenism was under the Sixth Seal Now if Christs Kingdom shall do all this and yet not concern it self with the world I much marvel 5. But this will be yet more clear if we consider in the next place that this time of Christ's coming is called the times of refreshing and Restitution of all things and if all things shall be restored then as the Apostle argues on the like universal Term. There is nothing excepted there is a dissolution is first to pass and that is upon an all too seeing all these things shall be dissolved saith the Apostle Peter but the work of Christ rests not there for nevertheless we according to his promise look for a new Heaven and a new Earth the restitution shall be as larg a restitution of all things where by the way we may learn that the new Heavens and Earth are the same Heaven and Earth new cast as I may say to which the word dissolution doth point as Plate that is melted down and cast in a new Mould and takes a new form and therefore it is called a restitution to its Pristine beauty integrity and innocency though I conceive the pattern to which it shall be restored is the pattern in a higher mount than Paradice even that mount where corruption never entred nor can enter for it is said as is the Earthly such are they that are Earthly and as is the Heavenly such are they also that are Heavenly and as we have born the Image of the Earthly we shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly 1 Cor. 15.48.49 Which is a glory far superior to the glory of the terrestrial Adam and that state of things which was Mutable and corruptible at the best and therefore if this renovation were but the restoring all things to that state it could not properly be said That it were new for Solomon saith nothing is new that hath been of time before Now when and how this great change shall be the Apostle tells us ver 53. when this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality 6. That which yet farther strengthens this is The Redemption of our Body which the Apostle saith the most spiritual Believers even notwithstanding their being possest of the first fruits of the Spirit yet even they groaning within themselves do wait for Rom. 8.23 and this the Apostle calls the Adoption Adoption is of Strangers whereby the Apostle intimates that till the body be redeemed we are as Strangers or in a Strange form and appearance not like the Sons of God as John saith 1 Joh. 3.1.2 Therefore we see Christ at
not forth the full glory of his spiritual body to the surviveing Saints that are to carry on the encrease of the new world as he doth to the raised Saints And again though in the increase of Christs government new Nations and people shall come in successively till there be none left that have not submitted yet this no way impeaches or is inconsistent with this Article of Christs personal appearance to lay the Foundation stone of this glorious state of his Kingdom for these reasons First If there be one glory of the Sun another of the Moon another of the Stars one star differing from another Star in glory in that state as the Apostle saith there shall then doth not Christ let forth equal glory upon all and if it differ in degree then may it likewise differ in order of time one before another there is such an order in the resurrection every one saith the Apostle in his own order Christ the first fruits afterwards they that are Christs at his coming then cometh the end where there are three differing and long distant times for the resurrection so in this Kingdom or this glorious state of the Kingdom There are some to whom the first dominion shall come Mich. 4.8 And that is to the Tower of the flock to the daughter of Jerusalem at least in respect of those Barbarous Nations for I cannot think the believing Gentiles that have carried up the Buklers against Antichrist shall be postponed in that day but those Heathen Nations that pass under the Name of Sodom and Samaria as Egypt and Assiria c. which shall be given to Jerusalem as daughters though not by her covenant as the Prophet Ezekiel saith ch 16.61 And the Prophet Esay intimates there will be nations that have not heard of the fame of Christ nor seen his glory Esa 66. to whom those that escape of the terrible judgments to be executed in the beginning of this Kingdom shall go to the Nations a far off to Tarshish Pul and Lud that draw the bow to Tubal and Javan and the Isles a far off for it is probable the judgment will begin and so the first seat of Christ's Kingdom in that part of the earth that hath been the seat of the fourth Monarchy If this be thought to clash with what I have before asserted that Christ being a quickening Spirit and acting as such act 's not gradually but in an instant The answer is ready that where he appears and puts forth himself he carries his effect immediately irresistably but it doth not engage his appearance to be universally and at once imparted to the whole Earth though in process of time it shall spread over all which suits with that in the 9th of Esa of the encrease of his Government and of peace there shall be no end But if we should wave this Article of Christs personal appearance and not concern it in the beginning of this Kingdom or at least not his abiding residence which yet I do not forego yet our argument depends not on it for whether Christ personally appear or no till the very last hour of judgment yet it is universally agreed by all that make Christ Kingdom on earth an Article of their Faith that the glorious state of Christs Kingdom is not of any of every time but hath its own times to be revealed and that is in the last days as the Prophets unanimously declare and if we will believe the Prophets and Apostles we must be all of that mind The places are so many and so obvious that I shall not spend time to name them In the days of these Kings saith Daniel shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdom In the last days saith Esay shall the Mountain of the Lords house be set up in the Top of the Mountains Can any thing be more plain is the new Jerusalem come down from God out of Heaven is the new Heaven and the new Earth come is the Earth full of the knowledg of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea Is the Lord King over all the Earth is the Lord one and his Name one throughout the world How then can you say this Kingdom of Christ or rather this state of Christ Kingdom of which we enquire is of all times one as well one as much as another and is to receive no accession of glory in the end of this old corrupt world more then it hath had already when the Prophet Esay from the mouth of God saith that Christ himself shall shine forth in a seven fold greater glory then he hath yet appeared in to men or to Saints and the Church shall take a degree proportionable for the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be seven-fold as the light of seven days in the day when the Lord shall bind up the breach of his people and heal the stroke of their wound Esa 30.26 But to remove as much as in me is any stumbling block that may yet hinder your closing with me I shall open my selfe yet farther touching the personal appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ distinguishing it from those many powerful comings that are mentioned of him in the Scripture which though attended with glorious and powerful effects yet are not this Personal coming whereof we enquire There are many powerful and spiritual comings of Christ but there are but two Personal comings This I prove from that Text Heb. 9. last As it is appointed to all men once to dye and after that the judgment so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and to them that look for him shall he appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex secundo THE SECOND TIME without sin unto salvation there are but his first and his second appearance Personal there are many comings mentioned without this specification ex secundo This therefore being here added distinguishes it from those and shews it to be of the same kind and in the same rank with his first coming in respect of Personality though in a far differing way in respect of glory His second personal appearance is also expresly distinguished from his other comings Acts 1.11 By two of the Angels who in the form of men stood by the Apostles as they were looking after him at the ascention in white apparrel who said unto them ye men of Galilee why stand ye Gazing up into Heaven This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven the same Jesus and in the same manner that is visibly and bodily not spiritually only Now these characteristical notes of distinction in these places do distinguish his coming there spoken of from his coming mentioned in other places without them Though I grant in other places his Personal coming is many times mentioned without these and only in such Terms and Phrases