Position is As the First World Destroyed by the Flood of Water that Lay as the forenamed Excellent Theory hath set out within its own Bowels And yet that Destruction was not till 1656 Years after its Creation so long the Word of God Secured it and there was yet a World after it So the Heaven and Earth that now are shall be destroyed by Fire Hid as it were in its Entrails for about such a space of Time from the Apostle's writing Till that Appointe◠Time the same Word of God Interposes and Secures it But saith the Apost that you may Rightly Judge of the Position I would by no means hove you Ignorant of this one Thing this Principal Thing in this Point that I am about to Lead you to Of the New Heavens and the New Earth That as the First Heavens and Earth and the Host of Them Finish'd and God's Resting in them was on the Sabbath and Seventh Day So the Day of Judgment the Great Sabbatism of Resting and Rejoycing in his Works to God to Christ and his Saints shall be a Day but It is with God in his Determination and Counsel concerning it a Day of a 1000 Years and to so Great Day He hath made each 1000 Years of the Worlds Continuance a Day and They are Six as at the Worlds First Creation For in the Evening of the Sixth Millenary That Day shall Begin Think not therefore the Lord is Slack for He hath with Great Wisdom Ballanc'd and Weigh'd out for the First Seventh Day Sabbath a Sahbath of a 1000 Years For the Day of Judgment that will be for Perdition to the Wicked shall be a Day of a 1000 Years Rest to the People of God and to so Great a Day of a 1000 Years He hath with infinite Patience to Bring All his own Elect into it weigh'd out also for each Day Leading to the First Sabbath Six Millenaries or 1000 of Years which he Accounts as Days to Gathe◠in all his Elect as the Apostle Paul Heb. 4. Shews the Long suffering of the Lord to the several Ages of his People to be Salvation to Them till that very Sabbatism comes that Remains to the People of God This is the Great Sense that lies under the very profitable and Exscellent Discourse of the Apostle taken in Common Sense But that There is this Great Sense I Argue not only from the Symbols of the New Heaven and New Earth coming out of the Floo◠and from the New Heaven and the New Earth having Six days and then a Sabbath of a 1000 Years Symboliz'd by the Sabbath and the Six Days of Creation before it to which the whole Scope of the Apostle's Discourse makes it plain that He Refers But I Especialy Argue from These Two Things 1. From the Apostle's Great Preface shewing a Mystical Doctrine as such Prefaces do Rom. 11. 15. 1 Cor. 15. 51. Now that the longest and shortest Time with God the High and Holy one that Inhabits Eternity the Absolute Eternal Being are All Alike is an undoubted Principle of Natural Rational Religion which All are supposed to Know and therefore that Great Truth needs no such Preface as not to be Ignorant of that One Thing there being many other so Great Principles of that Order of Natural Religion that ought not to Lye hid from Any 2. Because this would not all Answer the Apostle's Scope either with Relation unto the Scoff of them that say Where is the Promise of his coming not Satisfie and Comfort the Sincere Christian concerning the delay of that Coming For what Comfort is it to the Sincere Christian to whom Each Minute of delay of the Coming of Christ especially under suffering is as an Age that to an Eternal Being a Day is as a 1000 Y. and a 1000 Years as One Day and how would the Scoffer Triumph in this Each Day with God is a 1000 Years how many 1000 of Years may be then to the Coming of Christ when every Day with God is a 1000 Years So many Days then so many 1000 Years And if He Counts a 1000 Years but as One Day how long may He delay e're the coming of Christ be The Comfort proper to this Case must be such as is proper to the Creatures of Time What is proper to the Alone Paramount Eternal Being Flys too High and Alought over this Case however an Admirable a Truth it is in it self and God most Adorable in it Nor is there therefore Any Cause to vilifie this Kingdom of Christ Because It is but a 1000 Years and that a 1000 Years is with God but as a Day Because even according to the Letter of this Scripture each Day of the 1000 Years is with God as a 1000 Years as well as the 1000 Years but as One Day when therefore we may by this Apostolic Canon if we had Respect to the Letter Count every Day of the 1000 Years Kingdom as a 1000 Years it self how Great then would it be But I have sole Respect to the Mystic meaning That God the Lord of Time knows how much and no more is proper to his Ends hath Resolv'd A Sabbatism of a 1000 Years Beginning with and Ending with a Grand Judgment and its middle Space a Judgment or Government according to and with Relation to those Two Grand Judgments and so most Fitly call'd Judgment or Day of Judgment shall be a perfection of Time and the Fullness of All Times and the duration of the Kingdom of his Son as Son of Man And that Six Days each Day as a Milennium or 1000 Y. of his Patience and Long suffering for the Vessels of Wrath Fitting Themselves to Destruction at that Day and for the Gathering his Elect from the several Ages of the World as well as from the Four Winds shall go before it And it self from its Beginning to its End shall bear this Character Fullness of Times without Nice distinction of one part from Another and so Eternity ensues and this State which shews the Fitness of the Symbols shall have New Heavens and a New Earth according to Creation according to the Great Promise Esay 65. c 66. which also shews the opposite State of the Carcases under a never dying Worm and an Vnquenchable Fire to mean much higher then the Carcasses of the Assirians whatever Type that slaughter might be Lastly That this Prophecy of the Apostle Peter hath also Great Reference to the Antichristian State I observe by Indications however They may seem small yet are most Significant 1. The Vnlearnedness Barbarity and Ignorance most Natural to Antichrist however since the Reformation Necessity hath made his Party more Learned taken notice of in the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verse 16. 2. Their Apostacy as Wandring and falling Stars as the Papacy it lelf is also Symboliz d by a Star falling from Heaven to the Earth Revel 9. v. 1 is Signified by a Dis-firmamented State in the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wander'd from their Firmament and
THE UNIVERSAL Christian Doctrine OF THE Day of Iudgment Applied to the Doctrine of the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ Herein Guided by Mr. BAXTER's Reply To Vindicate It from all Objections Shewing as is the One so is the Other VIZ. His Judging the Quick and the Dead and His Appearing and His Kingdom Which seeing it must have some Duration the Scripture 1000 Years is on Great Proof Preferr'd By THOMAS BEVERLEY An humble Minister of that Kingdom II. PET. III. 7 8. The Day of Judgment and of the Perdition of ungodly men But Beloved be not ignorant of this One Thing That one Day is with the Lord as a Tbousand Years c. LONDON Printed in the Year 1691. The Preface TO THE READER BEcause Many will Deign to Read a Preface that will not a Book I shall take Freedom to give a Prospect of the Whole in a Preface And first I am very Sensible my Lot of Discourse is fallen on such Ground that each Point must be Disputed for not Adorn'd nor Simply Taught but Argued and Won as it were by Inches And which much Increases the Difficulty The Land of Promise as the Map of it lies in Scripture is not in any Entire Table but in several smaller Lines variously Planted which must be Transplanted and laid Together And Who is Sufficient for such a Thing as a Teacher And as for Hearers They are not only Vnteachable or Dull of Hearing but are Prejudic'd and Cry out against this Heritage of the Lord as a Speckled Bird Some call such a Discourse Whimsie Vnintelligible Non-sense Foolishness To other Graver Christians and even Teachers It is a Scandal an Offence full of Causes of Objection And even to many more Favourable unintelligible Mystery Plain Things say they are more Profitable But none of these Things move Me that I should not Take heed to Fulfil this Ministery I have Received of the Lord. I intend this Small Tract not so much as a Rejoynder to Mr. Baxter's Reply upon my Answer For who am I that I should maintain a Controversie with so Honoured Able and Faithful a Minister of Jesus Christ I only with Thankfulness take Advice from Him what Points to Clear what to Guard what Advantage to take for Defence And had I not found some Arugments which I have not propos'd or not fully urg'd before and so fit a Medium or Instrument of Conveyance of this Doctrine as the Parallel between it and the Vniversally receiv'd Article of Faith Christ's coming to Judge the Quick and the Dead at his Kingdom which must needs be a middle Kingdom I had been silent Nor shall I think of opening my Mouth any further in this Point till I find something Objected which what I have now said if Duly Consider'd will not Answer which I am much in hope cannot be For to be Conscious to have said what can be spoken by One even as an Oath ought to conclude One and on Ones own part to be an End of All Strife Of small Questions and Exceptions I know there is no End And I must confess with Thanksgiving to God and with Subordinate Thankfulness to Mr. Baxter On His so often Naming a Middle Kingdom by way of Objection it was as it were by a Divine Prompting said to me This Notion of a Middle Kingdom which the Day of Judgment must needs be and which I have long since understood the same with the Kingdom is the Key of this Great Mystery and so I have Found it and am so Fully satisfied in it Even above all I have written before that I am at perfect Peace and will Contend no more I can look on any further Objection but as the Talk of Loosers For I am sure such an Appearance of the Kingdom of Christ as the Day of Judgment is or such a Return with the Kingdom Receiv'd as Luke 19. 15. or a Coming not into as is to Loss Translated Chap. 23. 43. but according to all Scripture Language in his Kingdom must needs be in the Middle between the Kingdom of Christ hitherto and to Eternity And it must have a Space of duration defined for It is not Eternal All Acknowledge I therefore preferr only the Scriptures naming a 1000 Years with such Apparences of that Time and according to the so Known Axiom of the Jews the People of God before the New Testament The Day of Judgment shall be a 1000 Years It is evident also from the Article Founded on 2 Tim. 4 1. Christ Judges the Quick or Living even as the Dead at his Appearing and Kingdom There must be Saints Rais'd and Saints The Living The Remaining of which I Treat according to Scripture Guidance as by 1 Thess 4. 17. The New Heaven and the New Earth must needs be at the same Time New by such a Lustre of Christ's Appearance the Sun of Rigâ—teousness Even as the Heavens and Earth are as it were New to us every Summer by the Suns Return And it is no more then Goâ— intended in his First Creation such a Glory of it And I cannot but Give Esay 45. 18. in somewhat a differing Translation but such as I suppose the Original will well Bear to this purpose upon naming the Salvation of Israel as an Everlasting Salvation World without end It follows Thus saith the Lord that Created the Heavens that Formed the Earth He hath Established it He Created it not saith the Translation in vain say I out of the Hebrew for a Tohu such an Inanity of Glory as It is now He Formed it to be Inhabited saith the Translation say I according to the Hebrew for the Sabbath even this Great Sabbatism wherein Jehovah shall be one his Name one none else no Idols Name any more for ever And then shall He Appear that Infinite Foreknower declaring the End from the Beginning that He may be known to be God And by All These Things I hope Mr. Baxter will be satisfied concerning the Specificness of this Kingdom Beginning with a Judgment and ending with a Judgment and its entire middle Space an Appearance according to that Judgment viz. of the Saints in the Glory of the Restitution of All Things by the Second Adam the Redeemer the Restorer of all the Ruins of the First Adam and an Appearance of the Wicked in Shame and Contempt and both these for the 1000 Y. Receiving what they have done in Body before the Tribunal of Christ Now All will Acknowledge as this Kingdom hath not been yet So it shall not be for ever but be deliver'd up Here therefore is a perfect Specification except Specification be an unknown School-Term I Know in some Things I differ from that Sweet as well as most Judicious and Pious Writer Mr. Increase Mather as Appears by his Accurate discourse De Signo Filii Hominis or of the Sign of the Son of Man I should be most Glad by Friendliest Conference or entercourse of Letters to conciliate as concerning a Scripture-Line of Time to this State
concerning Christ having his Palace of Glory not on this New Earth but in the New Heaven concerning the Wicked Dead Rais'd In which Points I perceive my Self to differ from Him but as I Hope on Great Scripture Grounds Now to Conclude All This Kingdom is the Great Practical Doctrine which when It shall be Vniversally Preach'd by the Everlasting Gospel shall Bring in all the World Jews and Gentiles to Christ And besides the Blessed Effusions of the Spirit that shall go along with it How must it needs in Reason prevail For what would the Great Value and purchase of but a 100 Years in the Vigors and All Affluences of Life be and in such a Heaven and Earth as are now and if Men were so enclin d in all wise and vertuous Converses Of what Inestimable Value then to every serious Considerer even now the offer of so much a Higher and Longer 1000 Y. of Life as is propos'd on so Great Scripture Grounds How may it satisfie that Appetite Implanted by Creation into our Natures which is that very Olam or World set by God in the Heart of Man Ecclâ—s 3 11. the Desire to see the Glory of God in his Visibly Glorious Creation for a perfect Duration of Time But how much stronger will the Impression be upon an Enlightned Convinced Awaken'd World under that Everlasting Gospel Preach'd when that shall be Fully declar'd and â—â—liev'd that Few will now Believe though it be never so plainly Told Them In the mean Time seeing we All profess to Believe Fully the Apostle Peter s Doctrine of Looking for New Heavens and a New Earth according to his Promise wherein Righteousness shall dwell Let us Resolve what Manner of Persons we ought to be in all that Holiness and Godliness of Conversation and let us Grow in Grace and the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ beyond the Beginnings of his Doctrine Going on to Perfection and so unravel the Apostasie where it Began in not so doing and above all Let us Give All Dilligence that we may be Found of him in Peace without Sâ—ot and Blameless and by Him be so Presented before the Presence of his Glory And let us consider the Day is near Approaching Concerning the Truth of which I make Appeal to Him to show by his Arm made bare in unquestionable Evidence of Fact and Event every Thing in its proper Time And I am now waiting at this Time when the Kings are preparing to Go out to War for a Dawn of thâ— Morning Star on the Suffering Witnesses of the yet Afflicted Thyatyra the French and Vaudois and that the Rod of Iron should begin to Break tâ—at Potters Vessel whom patience hath yet spar d from being a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for what ends will be seen who with a more then Herodian Insolence and Cruelty hath nâ—â— only let Rest on Him as Herod but even Hunted for such Attributions as to a God and not to a Man and so Inhumanely Vex'd so many of the Church of Christ to please a Sacrilegiously Flattering Jesuitic Order Now to the only wise God be Glory for ever Amen A REPRESENTATION OF THE Thousand Years Kingdom OF CHRIST Endeavouring to Reconcile it to the General Confessions of the Faith of Christians and particularly to the Judgment of the Eminent Servants and Ministers of Jesus Christ with a Vindication from Further Objections I Can Sincerely Appeal to the Searcher of Hearts I am in all the Substantial and Essential Points of Christianity of the Judgment of all the Wisest Soundest and most Universally Approved Ministers of the Gospel and Christians in the Faith at once Deliver'd to the Saints and have no By nor Secret Opinions in Reserve either concerning the Person of the Great Media or God and Man or concerning his Kinâ—dom as if it had not been from the Beginning or were not to be for ever in such Explications of it as the Churches of Christ most Agree in according to Scripture I make the same Appeal concâ—rning my Belief of the Eternal Happiness of the â—aints with and by Christ in the Distinctness of Humane nature Spirits in Bodies of Glory united by Him to the Father and yet each one in his own proper Personality and so made Truly Equalâ— to the Holy and Elect Angels and of the punishment of the wicked in their Spirits and Bodies together with the Devil and his Angels even throughout a Strict and proper Eternity a Parte Post as They speak or for ever Except therefore my Doctrine and Affirmation of the Kingdom of the Thousand Years can be shown in a perfect Amity and Conciliation with this Gospel and Form of Sound Words I Acknowledge It ought to be Rejected I therefore Attempt in very Brief to shew it to be in such a State of Agreement and to vindicate it from Exceptions to it I observe therefore one Great Complex of Articles of Faith wherein All Christians are as much as in any Point of Christianity at One and They may be thus Given 1. That there shall be a Day or Time before the State and Kingdom of Eternity wherein Jesus Christ shall Come from the Right Hand of the Father to Judge the World and this as Man Acts 17. 31. 2. That Jesus Christ shall Come in the Glory and Power of the Father to this Judgment and that It shall be a most Illustrious Appearance of his Kingdom that was not before nor shall be after For He comes in his Kingdom and the King shall say c. Matth. 25. and He Sits on the Throne of his Glory v. 3â— v. 34. 3. That at the same Time There shall be a Glorious Resurrection and Appearance of his Saints with Him as Sharers in the Glories and Triumphs of that Day 4. That the Saints that shall at that Time be living and Remâ—ining upon Earth shall not Dye but at the very same Time be Chang'd so as that They also may have their part in the same Glory and Resurrection 5. That there shall be a Resurrection of the Vnjust and of Those that have done Evil to the Condemnation to the Dishonour and Contempt and to the Punishment that shall at that Day be Executed upon Them 6. That the Heavens and Earth that now are are Reserv'd for Fire at that Day and that Christ as the Apostle Paul speaks 2 Thess 1. 7 8. shall be Reveal d in Flames of Fire taking Vengeance and that as the Apostle Peter says The Day of the Lord Cometh as a Theif in the Night in which the Heavens shall pass away with a Great Noise and the Elements melt with Fervent Heat and the Earth and the Works that are therein shall be Burnt up 2 Pet. 3. 10. and again v. 12. Looking for and Hasting unto the Day of God wherein the Heavens being on Fire shall be dissolv'd and the Elements shall melt with Fervent Heat Now seeing the very Revelation of Christ is in Flames of Fire as Lightning and that our Lord compares his Coming
to the Flood on the Old World and the Fire and Brimstone on Sodom the very same day that Noah enter'd into the Ark and Lot went out of Sodom Luke 17. 27 28. The Conflagration must be a Conflagration before the Judgment or Instantaneous with the Beginning of that Day and so I suppose is the Judgment of all Divines 7. The Wicked Alive shall be speedily by this Fire brought into the same Condition with the Dead Wicked Raised to share in the Common Perdition For the Heavens and Earth that now are are Kept in Treasure for the Day of Judgment and the Perdition of Vngodly Men. 2 Pet. 3. v. 11. 8. Seeing the Apostle Expresly teaches v. 13. That we Look for New Heavens and New Earth wherein Righteousness shall dwell It is most according to Scripture that the New Heavens and New Earth should come as a Vessel out of the Refiner's Fire and Righteousness dwell therein So that the New Heaven and the New Earth immediately Come out of this Fire All this I look upon as so Agreeable to Scripture and the most undoubted Sense of it that whoever keeps Inviolate this Form of Sound Words cannot fall into any Great Error I then making a Solemn Profession that I am Fully perswaded of all these Things even to a Plerophory of Assurance and supposing All Sober Christians herein to Joyn with me I pass forward with Greater Assurance 9. The particular Precise State of the Kingdom of Christ as in this Judiciary State shall be deliver'd up at some Time to God and to the Father and so the Kingdom and State of Eternity succeed I do also suppose is the Universal Faith of Sober Christians Although the New Heavens and New Earth may be suppos'd to continue for ever as They are by Mr. Baxter and as I Remember by that so excellent Interpreter Calvin on the aforenam'd Text and very probably by many other Great Theologers and Scripture-Interpreters Now from all these Principles lay'd together several Points are Allowed upon the Consideration of the General Doctrine of the Day of Judgment that are ready to be charg'd as Unreasonablenesses or Antiscripturisms on the Doctrine of tho Thousand Years Kingdom which compar'd with what is taught universally of Christ coming to Judgment will be as a Load taken off from it 1. Seeing the Day of Judgment is a middle State of the Kingdom of Christ between the present State and the State of Eternity It is hence undeniable There is a middle Kingdom or middle State of the Kingdom of Christ. 2. When a Dispensation or Oeconomy for the Divine Glory as for Judgment Requires it It is no dishonour to Christ to come from the Right Hand of God where He is Exalted above All Heavens into the Lower State of the World much less Degradation from present Glory for Saints to Come with Him 3. Nor does Christ suffer any diminution of Glory when He Goes back to Heaven the Business of such Oeconomy as of Judgment being dispatch'd 4. There is sufficient Security in the midst of the Conflagration for the Bodies of Saints whether Risen or Chang'd though we cannot define how 5. Nor shall the Bodies of the wicked however punish'd be consum'd in these Flames 6. There is no Absurdity on Scripture Account to suppose a manifold Change of Body according to the Variation of States 7. There will be Found Room for the Bodies of all both Risen and Changed Saints as also of all the wicked according to the General Doctrine of the Day of Judgment 8. A New Heaven and a New Earth and by Consequence a Restitution of All Things are in the very Letter to be Expected according to Scripture Now whatever may according to Scripture and without any Contradiction to the Great Principles Notions and Sense of it be suppos'd for a Lesser or so much as Any Time may be suppos'd for a longer Time even for so long as Scripture gives us any Reason to extend it unto seeing There is no Scripture Inconsistency in the Fundamental Possibility And now there being such a Foundation lay'd in that which is Agreed among all Christians if there shall be Any Inducement from Scripture to do it we may Build upon this Foundation 1. That seeing Christ shall Appear from Heaven with his Saints in a Kingdom of Triumph and Glory over his Enemies and that there is no Signification of the Time of duration Contradictory to that of a 1000 Years and at least one Great Signification It is a 1000 Years Why may we not Conclude the Kingdom is a Kingdom of a 1000 Years 2. Seeing there shall be a New Heaven and a New Earth that shall come forth as a Vessel for the Finer out of the Conflagration and that there is Great Reason to think That They shall be both inhabited Why may not the Saints of the Resurrection Equal to the Angels Inhabit the New Heavens and the Saints Chanâ—'d who are so peculiarly called twice the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Living the Remaining as a most peculiar Generation of Saints that Christ so Holds in his Hand as that They can no more Fall as may be Surmized then the Saints Above who are as Angels confirm'd Inhabit the New Earth as Adam should have done a 1000 Years Especially seeing It is supposeable It shall be Inhabited and we Know not Any who shall Inhabit it God knoweth only who shall Inhabit it Except these Living Remaining Saints 3. Seeing it is Agreed The Administration of the Kingdom as at the Day of Judgment shall not Last to Eternity and that Christ and All his Saints Ascend up to God and that Kingdom of Judgment Ends Why may not this be the Sense of those so Weighty Words of the Apostle concerning the Son's delivering up the Kingdom of his being Subject and of God being All in All or what else is so likely as this of the Son 's Resigning up that Illustrious Appearing visible Glory that He shall be invested with during that Judicatory Kingdom seeing it is a Kingdom of Triumph and Victory that is so Deliver'd up And why should it not be the Kingdom of a 1000 Years Seeing the naming a Kingdom though of a 1000 Years yet because It is but of a 1000 Years Implys It shall end And as the Apostle makes plain in that it is a Reign till All his Enemies are put under his Feet It is a Kingdom of Victory and Triumph Beginning and Ending in putting down Enemies as Judgment must needs do and then Given up to God And thus there is an easie Slide from the Acknowledged and most General Doctrine of the Day of Judgment into what the Scripture says of a Kingdom or Reign of Christ for a 1000 Years For it is expresly said There were Thrones as of a Kingdom and Judgment was Given to Them that sat upon the Thrones the very word proper to thâ—t Day and â—hey that Sate upon the Thrones must needs be Christ and his Saints For They Lived and Reigned
with Christ a 1000 Years Rev. 20. 4. And then It is anew said Blessed and Holy is He that hath part though not the Principal viz. either as Saints Rising though not Martyrs or as Living Remaining Saints on such the Second Death hath no Power And then as at the End of the Judgment according to the General Doctrine Christ Resigns up that Judiciary Kingdom and Returns to God And as the Apostle says having Subdued All Enemies He Gives up the Kingdom even so the 1000 Years Kingdom must be Given up because it is a Kingdom only of a 1000 Years And thus the Kingdom of Christ Begins with a Judgment viz. of determining who are Those his Saints who shall Appear in the Glory and Blessedness of it even of that First Resurrection as Saints Rais'd or as Saints Living and Remaining but Chang'd and who as Enemies shall lye at the Footstool of Christ's Feet Slain with the Sword of his Mouth and as the Dead and yet in Visible Bodies under Contempt and Dishonour and as the Trophies of the victorious Wrath of Christ And this Kingdom Ends with a Judgment even the Giving up all this Saints in perfect Immortality and Incorruptibility to his Father to Enjoy him for ever and with that perfect Subduing All the Wicked Angels and Men which the Apostle callâ— a Catargesis or destroying and the Apocalyptic Apostle a Casting into the Lake And because This is Final and Consummate therefore He Represents the whole Judiciary Proceeding and sets out the Dead as Gather'd from all the Receptacles of Death from whence They Came and were Judg'd at the Beginning of the 1000 Years which Judgment is Affirm'd and Ratified and Fill'd up at the End of the 1000 Years and the Execution also There being this only Difference between the Beginning and End of the 1000 Years in Relation to Them that They are at the Beginning and during the whole Space of the 1000 Years made the Footstool of the Feet of Christ and afterwards under the Final destruction of being Cast into the Lake This therefore takes away the Objection of the New Earth having such an abundance of Wicked in it For They Lye as Captives and Slaves of Justice that can neither Annoy nor defile that State So that there is a Glory of the Kingdom of Christ in and with his Saints above and below during the whole Time of the 1000 Years and a Government every way Agreeable and no difference between the General Doctrine of Christians concerning the Day of Judgment and what I Affirm except the duration of the 1000 Years For who can but say That Day shall be a Day of Glory to Christ and his Saints both Rais'd and Chang'd as in visible Bodies of Glory of Horror Dishonour and Punishment to the Wicked in visible Bodies of Contempt and Shame That they can neither Trouble nor Pollute that Day nor State any more then They do the Kingdom of Eternity though They are never so many in their own place or Hell That these visible Heavens and Earth shall be so chang'd by the Glorious Coming of the Judge and his Saints That They shall be New Heavens and a New Earth That there must be Room for all Good and Bad in whatever shall be suppos'd to be the Pretorium the Hall of Justice at that Time That Christ and his Saints come from the highest Heaven for that purpose That Wicked Men come from Earth and Hell And that Christ and his Saints Return this Glorious Administration being at an End to that Highest Heaven to God and the Father with this Judiciary Kingdom Given up to Him and Sathan and All the Wicked Cast to the Lake So that I say again here is no difference but only of the 1000 Years Continuance And to the Proof of that I now proceed And I will do it in greatest Brevity in this Method 1. I will propose the Scripture-Model of this State which it self will shew the Rationality of it self and as in a State of duration 2. I will super-add to the Arguments I have given new Ones That there is such a State to be and of a 1000 Years duration and no more and Answer the most Formidable Objections more Fully 3. I will Argue against any Hypothesis or Scripture Model that can be given in Bar of what I now give I Begin with the First the Rationality of the Scripture-Model 1. There shall be an Exaltation of the Humane Nature of our Lord Jesus in visible Glory in opposition to that unrevealed State wherein the Heavens Now contain Him and also in opposition to and Recompense of the Depressions and Humiliation it was under in his first Coming Philip. 2. 9. c. that every Knee may bow to Him and every Tongue confess that He is Lord to the Glory of God the Father Every Eye shall see Him every Mouth of his Servants shall praise Him and none of his Enemies be able to gain say The Lowest Creation Things in Earth and under the Earth shaâ—l as They can Bless Him This Appearing is the Sign of the Son of Man that shall be seen in the Clouds That All this shall be at the Day of Judgment no Christian will deny I lengthen it out the 1000 Years 2. There must be an Appearance of the Glory of the Redemption of Christ in its full Lustre To this End the Saints of the first Resurrection must be seen in Robes wash'd white in his Blood as Kings and Priests to God and the Father and Reigning over rather then upon the Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over not upon many Things will I make thee Ruler Revel 5. 10. with Matth. 25. 21. They have Palms of Victory in their Hands The Bride the Lambs Wife is Adorn'd and it is Granted to Her to be Arrayed in Linnen White and Clean which is the Righteousness of the Saints The Armies of Heaven that is These Saints follow Cloth'd also in Fine Linnen White and Clean They have the Name of the Lamb in their Foreheads even as of God Revel c. 19. c 20. The Saints Living and Remaining who partake of the First Resurrestion are Priests also not only of God but of Christ and Reign with Him a 1000 Years And from this Glory of Redemption It is impossible for the Saints either of the First Resurrection or the Living Remaining partaking of the First Resurrection to fall as it is for the Redeemer himself to fail as I always assert particularly in my last Answer For the Second Death else might but never can never shall have Power over Them And for the Appearance of this Glory of Redemption the Saints of the First Resurrection shall have Bodies of that Spirituality Incorruptibleness and Immortality as to be equal to the Angels so that in the Nature of the Thing as it shall then be Founded by God They cannot dye any more being the Children of God and of the Resurrection And this is given first to the
Saints of the First Resurrection as a peculiar Recompense for the many Terrors and Debasements Death Brings with it The Saints therefore Living and Remaining who Dye not nor shall suffer the Dishonour Pain the Terror of dying are upon the Ballance of Things for the Glory of God and Christ in this Oeconomy not till the 1000 Years are ended and They Caught up invested with this Glory and are therefore said till then only to be Partakers of the First Resurrection They have therefore Bodies Chaâ—g'd into the most excellent Paradisiac State as Adam had before sin and probably as much excelling as the First Adam is excell'd by the Second And though they for many great Resons Beget an Off-spring to the Mediator and Eat and Drink as Adam should have done and All this in the Holiest Purest manner such excellent Bodies can be Exalted into and though They do not Immediately put on Incoeruption and Iwmortality till they are Caught up Yet They in event can no more dye nor fall away then the Saints above All which Answers many Objections concerning them And It Redounds Infinitely to the Glory of the Redeemer and of the Second Aâ—am above the First that in a possibility of dying as to the Nature of Things They who might as Adam dye and Fall Yet secur'd by the Mediaâ—or They shall not dye nor Fall but They shall be Caught up and put on Incorruption and Immoâ—tality And when Death and Sin are thus every way subdued in the Saints of the First Resurrection vindicated out of their Hands and in the Saints chang'd preserv'd from their Sting even under a possibility Then are They both Swallowed up in Victory by Christ Appearing thus every way a perfect Redeemer on which Account as one Reason All is thus ordered Then â—s Death and Sin and Hell with all its Dead and Sathan the Prince of All Thrown into the Lake and the Triumphal Song sung the Effect of which endures throughout All Eternity 3. The Saints of Christ principally the Martyrs and Sufferers and the Contemn'd Abused Persecuted and Beheaded for the Word of God and the Testimony which They Held with All who have Resisted the Impurity and Corruptions of the World shall Appear in Glory sown in Weakness but Rais'd in Power Sown in Dishonour Rais'd in Glory Bearing the Image of the Heavenly Adam the Quickning Spirit the Lord not only in Heaven but from Heaven as in a Kingdom lower then the highest Heaven Sitting on Thrones and Judgment is Given to Them for the 1000 Years 4. For this Glory of Christ the Redeemer and of his Redemption and of his Saints There is a Glory of the Renewed Restored Creation in the visible Heavens and all their Influences Purified and Purg d and so made new and the Earth Renewed in the same manner that the Saints of the First Resurrection may Appear as a Firmament and shine as the Stars Dan. 12. even as the Sun Matth. 13. 43. upon the New Earth and have a prospect of Beauty and Purity And the Saints on Earth * Call'd Nations of the Saved All as Kings of the Earth Revel 21 24 25. may Walk in this Light of the New Jerusalem above and Bring their Glory to it in looking upon their Communion with it as their Highest Glory and so the whole Creation may be deliver'd from the Bondage of Corruption into the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God for which it now Groans in its present Slavery and with earnestness Waits Even as in all Mankind There is an Appetite Implanted by Creation to See and Enjoy a due Time in the Glory of Gods Creation freâ— from the Curse and Adorn'd with the Blessings of it This we see how strongly it now works in the Holiest Men and Women however in Regard This is not the Place nor State nor Time it be mix d with much Corruption and as the Apostle calls it Lust in a World to which God s Heart cannot be and therefore He often chastises with Great Severity the over eager desires in any of his Sts. of Any Thing here But then there shall be such a State that the Lord Himself shall Rejoyce in his Works with all his Saints Triumphing in the Works of his Hands when there shalâ— be an Apocatastasis a Restitution of All Things without which the Second Adam would not be as perfect a Restorer as the First Adam was a Desolator But I Assert and shall after prove the Flying away of this New Heaven and Earth and that therefore this Oâ—conomy lasts but a 1000 Years as the Sabbatism of the Glâ—â—y of Creation 5. There must be a State Bearing some Proportâ—on to all the promises made to Abraham and his Seed of a City and a Country and of Nations and a Postâ—rity as the Stars of Heaven as the Dust of the Earth Gen. 13. 16. and as the Sand on the Sea shorâ— Innumerable that He may be a Father of many Nations and Heir of the World of all which Canaan and Jerulalem Gen. 2â— 17. and the People of Israel were but Types For this was a Heavenly Countrey and City as the Apostle tells us Heb. 11 and a Posterity of True and Sincere Believers How can this then be better explain'd then by the New Jerusalem coming down from Heaven and the Saints of the First Resurrection a Posterity as the Stars for whom he Knows how to make Room who hath done it for those vast Globes of Light and then by the New Earth and the Saints Living and Remaining on the New Earth who shall be as the Dust and as the Sand And He will make Room for Them who hath stretched out this Earth for them that walk upon it and wherein besides the much less Cumber of Paradisiac Bodies and the Abundant Sufficiency of the Paradisiac Earth and Purity of the Air and the Leaves of the Tree of Life for the Healing the Nations There is Provision for all Enjoyments of the Saints in those Bodies Besides all this There shall be no Sea to to take up Room Revel 21. 1. as there was not in the First Paradisiac Earth as hath been made out by that Truly Excellent Theorist Dr. Burnet Master of the Charter-House Giving Great Light to that Apocalyptical Text and Receiving Great Proof from it And herein for his sake who God over All Blessed for ever came of Them and for the Believed Father's sakes and according to all the Images and Language of Poophecy The Spiritual Natural Israel shall have a Preeminence and for which They shall certainly be call'd though it will Remain a Mystery until the set Time of the Gentiles Fullness be come But in the mean Time for their sakes the Nâ—w Heaven and New Earth is call'd New Jerusalem and so many Apocalyptical Figures are derived from Them leading to that New Jerusalem 6. There shall be a plain sensible and visible State of the Wicked in Dishonour and Contempt in the View of All For all the
Original where also it varies the Number from Heavens In the Preface Heavens viz. Our Father which art in the Heavens Plurally to As in Heaven in the Single Number and on Earth with a Singular Favour to a Parallel New Heaven and New Earth And it leads us to pray for the Doing the Will of God in such a Parallel Heaven and Earth that as in Paralellism the Will of God may be done as in the One so in the Other Besides according to Common Interpretation of this Petition A Prayer according to the will of Ood so exactly as our Lord weighed it out and that hath been so long prayed by all his Servants in Faith cannot but be Heard The Spirit helping their Infirmities when they know not what in this Prayer to pray for as they ought with unutterable Groans and God knows the Mind of his Spirit though they do not so clearly understand this Prayer So then It must be Heard But it cannot be Heard if there be not such a State on Earth in which the Will of God may be done as in Heaven For the Earth and the Earth as in parallel to Heaven so particularly named is the Place or Basis on which the Saints that do it shall Rest So that the doing the Will of God in any other State or Place will not be a Fulfilling this Petition Nor will the doing it in Sincerity according to the Measure of the Saints now on Earth answer the Petition For our Lord in this Prayer which is in such Number Weight and Measure would not have layd a Paralled wherein there is no Equality nor Proportion as Things are now viz. Between doing the Will of God on Earth and in Heaven For every part of this Prayer shall ere he hath perfected his Intercession upon it be Fulfilled in the Highest Sense of each part This we know is not yet in any particularly in this Petition therefore a State shall be on purpose for it This also must needs Lock in with the foregoing Petitions when ever there is a Doing the Will of God so on Earth his Name must be Sanctified as in Heaven and upon Earth else his Will cannot be so Done because Sanctifying his Name is so Eminently his Will that his Will cannot be Done as in Heaven and on Earth except his Name be Sanstissed as in Heaven and on Earth Thus is it also with his Kingdom coming That must needs Come as in Heaven and upon Earth when-ever his Will is so Done And it cannot Come till it is so Done and his Name so Sanctified For what is his Kingdom but the Supream Honour of our Kings Name and Obedience to his Will so Universally as in Heaven And whither should this Kingdom Come but out of Heaven where-now it is into a Lower Heaven and Earth where indeed it is in regard of Supream Power always But it must Come in a Sense it hath not yet Come And if these Three Petitions were Heard As in Heaven and upon Earth The Earth must either be a New Earth in preparation for such a Fulfilling or the Fulfilling would immediately Turn it into a New Earth For such a Change on the Spirits and Actions of Men and such a Blessing from Heaven as would immediately follow would make it indeed a New Earth If therefore our Esteem of this Prayer were not too much spent in an Ignorant Formality and Superstition on Bare Words it would soon give us an Unanswerable Argument of such a Kingdom on Earth and a Kingdom must haâ—e a Duration and what Duration but a Kingdtm of that Thousand Years Prophecy having once named gives a Preference to I say nothing of the Petition taking in Heoven viz the Lower Heaven which Scripture make the Habitation of fallen Spirits that They being Remov'd these Three Petitions may be Fulfilled there also Nor of the following Petitions most Adjustable hereunto which I have in a Full Discourse on this Prayer made Ready if God please to give Opportunity for Publication as also to shew the True Laws of our Duty in using of this Prayer wherein Men are so prone to Run into the very Battology Heathenism or Vanity of Repetition as an Antidote againk which it was given by Christ and this came in by the Gentilism that Antichrist hath brought into the Outer Court Taking away that Daily Sacrifice the Remains of which are yet among Protestants Argum. 3. With Great Assurance and without any Reluctancy of of Thoughts I further Argue That the Apostle Peter in an especial manner Commission'd for it by the Divine Spirit hath given the first Light to the Knowledge of the Day of Judgment as a Kingdom of a Thousand Years Epist 2. Chap. 3. 8. The whole Chapter is indeed a Great Prophecy of that Kingdom and the State of it and it carries many severe Remarks on the Antichristian Apostacy as those Scoffers who setting up that Kingdom in Counterfeit Burlesque and Abuse the True Kingdom and have and still Jeer it out of the Faith of Christians The Apostle in Spirit foreseeing this Recalls the Sincere Disciples of Christ to the Words of the Prophets first who are so Abundant concerning this Kingdom but speak very darkly of the Day of Judgment or not at all but through that Kingdom and then to the Commandment or as the Learned Observe it to signifie the Doctrine of Us the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour Now these Words are undoubtedly a Preface to what follows after in the Chapter and therefore to the Doctrine of the Day of Judgment of the Thoufand Years of the New Heavens and New Earth and the holy Inferences from it with a very Dreadful Thunder and â—ightning upon the Apostacy intermixt and all in close Connexion He promises upon these Scoffers that They sâ—all be in the very Last of Time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That their Lusts of the present World the Grandieur and Sensualities of it will oblige them to say Where is the promise of his Coming There is no Kingdom of Christ but what we have set up Events of many Ages Demonstrate there is no other These are yet neither Atheists nor Anti Scripturists but such Mockers as Esay speaks of Chapter 28. 22 c. Who will not believe a Consumption on the present Earth to rise in a greater Harvest They allow the Great Change of the World by the Flood the Change by New Heavens and New Earth which the Apostle Verse 13. Inetrprets as one Principal Branch of the Promise They Laugh at and the Gangrene Eats beyond professed Anti-Christianism as if that First Resurrection were past already in that 1000 Y. Staâ—â— of the Church since Constantine and no other to be expected but the â—inal Judgment and Eternity To this the Apostle Answers by laying down this Great Thâ—â—â—s which saith the Apostle Lies hid from Them Resolving Obstinately against all Light All Things shall continue as they were that is They will be Ignorant of any other World The Thesis or