Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n
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A95625
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On the coming of Christ
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W. T.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing T67A; ESTC R230395
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59,179
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90
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this Man that hath been a Cripple this 38 Years he tells them that the Hour was Coming when the Dead should hear his Voice and live and not many Hours after Christ did raise up dead Lazarus and the Jews did see it Nay not long after that many dead Bodies of Saints arose by the Power of Christ and appeared to many and for ought I know to some of these Jews Mat. 27.52 53 So that this was fulfilled according to the Letter Further we must know that the Word Hour in Scripture is seldom taken for an Hour properly so called but mostly for a longer Time and sometimes for Periods of Time as in Mat. 20. mention is made of the third sixth ninth and eleventh Hour and sometimes t is taken for a very long Time even to Years and Ages The Hour of Temptation which shall come upon all the World Rev. 3.10 is a long Hour And I have heard that the same Word which is translated Hour in this Text is in the 1 Joh. 2.18 translated Time viz. the last Time and if there be nothing in this fifth of John repugnant to such a Translation why should we not as well read it viz. the Time is coming as well as the Hour is coming But upon a Supposition that this former Exposition be not the Meaning of this 25th Verse why then may we not understand the Meaning of it to be the Time cometh when the Dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live viz. shall rise and live and so be the Saints of the first Resurrection called the Resurrection of the Just Luk. 14.14 when God will give Rewards which is at the Sounding of the seventh Trumpet Rev. 11.15.18 For then there is a Resurrection when the Kingdoms of this World shall be the Kingdoms of our Lord and when he shall take to himself his great Power and reign And why may not these be the Saints of the first Resurrection Or if neither of these should be the Saints of the first Resurrection let us see if we can find it in ver 28. Christ in this ver tells the Jews they should not marvel at what he had spoken before about raising the Dead and the Execution of Judgment but tells them the Hour or Time was Coming in which ALL that are in Graves should hear his Voice and come forth c. I think all Men that believe any Thing about a Resurrection do understand that Christ in this Verse speaks of a Bodily Resurrection But most take it for a single Resurrection viz. of all Men Good and Bad at one Time at the last Judgment and do utterly deny any first or other Resurrection at all And I confess I should be ready to think so too had not the same Apostle Rev. 20. told us in so many Words that there is a first Resurrection ver 5 when some lived and some did not live and if there be a first Resurrection I am sure there must be a last and therefore in ver 13 a Thousand Years after the first Resurrection we read of another Resurrection to the general Judgment when the Sea gave up the Dead that was in it and Death and Hell gave up the Dead that were in them and they were judged according to their Works at the last Judgment Some there be that think that there is a first and last Resurrection comprehended in this Verse and expound the Words thus the Time is Coming in which i. e. within the Compass whereof ALL that are in Graves shall hear his Voice and come forth they that have done Good to the Resurrection of Life at the beginning of the Thousand Years and they that have done Evil to the Resurrection of Damnation when those Years are ended at the general Judgment But whether so or no I shall not determine But I cannot see any Reason to persuade me to believe that Christ in the 25th ver of this Chap. did intend Regeneration or a spiritual Resurrection when the Sum of his Discourse was about the Resurrection of the Body and of Judgment to come and to speak of Generation as a Thing future which hath been ever since the World began I do not understand and where they may seem to be a double Meaning or doubtful Sense of any Scripture It is to be understood according to the subject Matter spoken of and the Scope of the Context Now I am sure that Christ speaks here of a bodily Resurrection but I am not sure that he speaks of Regeneration For further Proof of this Point we shall propound one Scripture more to Consideration and that is Rev. 11.15 At the Sounding of the seventh Trumpet when the Kingdoms of this World shall become the Kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ there is mention made of a Judgment ver 18 and of giving Rewards to his Prophets and Saints and this is called there the Time of the Dead that they should be judged small and great And this doth necessarily imply a Resurrection at least of some For they are not judged and rewarded before they are raised from the dead But it may be some may say this is to be understood of the Resurrection at the last Day and that the seventh Trumpet here is meant the last Trumpet to summon the whole World together to the general Judgment But I say no That Trumpet is called the Trump of God 1 Thes 4.16 so is not this Again that is called the last Trump 1 Cor. 15 so as after it none was to sound so is not this Again at the Sounding of the seventh Trumpet the Thousand Years of Christ's Kingdom in this World is to begin as hath been proved before but at the Sounding of the last Trumpet or Trump of God it ends for then the World ends So that except we will deny the Doctrine of the Thousand Years it must be granted that the seventh Trumpet is not the last Trump and so that this Resurrection is not the last Resurrection but the first For after this many Things were to be done and 't is said the Nations were angry And therefore not to be understood of the last Judgment For then 't will be a vain Thing to be angry Hitherto or to this Time may be referred that in Psa 2 When Christ should be set as King in Sion there would be much Anger when he shall have the utmost Parts of the Earth for his Possession and such of his Enemies as would not that he should reign over them be bro't forth and slain before him and broken in Pieces with a Rod of Iron like a Potter's Vessel and destroy them that destroy the Earth and give Rewards to his Servants small and great This is called the Resurrection of the Just Luk. 14.14 So that we may gather from hence that there is a partial or first Resurrection and that of Saints only because they that have Part in the first Resurrection on them the second Death hath no Power
the Bodies of his Saints and there are some who shall dwell with devouring Fire and everlasting Burnings when some shall not but shall be as the burning of Lime and as Thornes cut up shall they be burnt in the Fire Isai 33.12 14 15 And there is a Promise Isai 43.2 that God made to his People that when they walk through the Fire they should not be burnt neither should the Flames kindle upon them Again when God destroyed the old World by Water God found out a Way to preserve Noah and his Family and Creatures of every Kind when as neither Noah nor all the World besides could tell how it would be till God revealed it Nor can any Thing that I know be certainly concluded how he will preserve his Church at this Time but that he will have a glorious Church on Earth when there shall be a new Heaven and a new Earth is a Thing which we must and ought to believe which will be after all this And as for the irrational Creatures as Birds and Beasts of all Kinds we may upon good Grounds suppose that some of every Kind will be preserved as they were when the World was drowned though the greatest Part may be destroyed as they were then That these Creatures shall have a Being after this Time we may gather from Scripture because it is said Rom. 8 they wait groan and travel in Pain But what do they wait and groan for is it to be annihilated and have no Being we may not think so for every Creature by natural instinct labours to propagate their own Kind and to preserve their own Beings and therefore t is said ver 19 that they with earnest Expectation wait for the Manifestation of the Sons of God which whether it be at or during the Time of the general Judgment as some would have it or any Time before as others understand it proves clearly they shall have a Being after this Destruction made by Fire Again they wait for Deliverance from the Bondage of Corruption into the glorious Liberty of the Children of God ver 21. And here we must understand that God in the Beginning made all Things in their first Beings very good free from that Vanity they are now subject to and it was subjected to Vanity after the Fall not willingly yet in hope of Deliverance This Vanity and Bondage of Corruption is the Curse upon the Creature for Man's Sin and this is that it waits to be delivered from and to be serviceable to those Ends for which they were first made i. e. next to the Glory of God for the Use and Service of Man. And here it may not be amiss to enquire whether wicked Men may not make Use of the Creature without abusing them to Sin There is no doubt to me but wicked Men and that by God's Appointment have a right to the Creature and may for any Thing I know make use of them without Offence It was God that divided to the Nations their Inheritance Deut. 32.8 he gave Mount Seir to Esau for a Possession and to the Moabites and Amonites their Possessions and Israel was not to meddle with them Deut. 2.5.9 But more fully Gen. 9.1 2 3 God delivered into the Hands of Noah and his Posterity some of whom were none of the best the Beasts of the Earth Fowls of the Air Fishes of the Sea and every moving Thing that lives and the green Herb to be meat for them and as long as they made use of them for no other End who can say the Creature was abused We may rather think they offend if they use them not for those Ends for which they were appointed even by God himself And therefore do not yet see any Reason to believe that this is any Part of that Vanity and Bondage the Creature waits and groans to be delivered from I am not ignorant that some are of another Opinion who think that the Creatures shall never be delivered from this Vanity and Bondage but still be subject to it so long as any Wicked Men are in the World and make use of them and therefore conceive that the Time when the Creature shall be delivered from the Curse of Vanity Bondage it now groans under is not before the general Judgment but in and during the continuance of it But for further clearing of this let us consider First What 's meant by Adoption and what by Redemption of our Body which the Creature as well as Believers wait for and groan for Adoption I take in Scripture Sense to be the making one a Son who was not so before and this is done to every Believer at his first Conversion so that Believers cannot be said to wait for this which they have already received and therefore Adoption cannot be taken in this Sense here for they that are said to wait for the Adoption had the Spirit of Adoption before whereby they cried Abba ver 15 and therefore by Adoption in ver 23 I understand nothing but the Manifestation of that Adoption they were before Partakers of and this is that the Creature waiteth for ver 19 the Manifestation of the Sons of God. And this agrees directly with 1 John 3.1.2 beloved NOW we are the Sons of God but it doth not yet appear viz. to the World but it shall appear But when shall it appear It shall appear when Christ shall appear which we have proved before will be long before the general Judgment This Adoption is called the Redemption of our Body and the Apostle seems to make it all one with Adoption but whether it be so or no I shall not determine but leave it to the Judgment of the Learned and proceed to examine what may be meant by Redemption in this Place And here we must understand that there are several Acceptations of the Word Redemption in Scripture and it may various Ways be understood but I shall mention only two First a Redemption of our Souls by the Blood of Christ from Curse and Wrath and all our spiritual Enemies and this is done at our first Conversion Eph. 1.7 Rom. 3.24 25. Again there is a corporeal Redemption or a Redemption of our Bodies from outward Enemies when God will redeem his Church out of all their Troubles Psal 25.22 and this is that which hath been spoken of by all the holy Prophets since the World began that we should be saved from our Enemies and from the Hands of all that hate us that we might serve him without Fear in Holiness and Righteousness all the Days of our Lives Luk. 1.70 and this in Rom. 8.23 is called the Redemption of our BODY not Bodies but the Body mystical the Body of which Christ is the Head which is his Church To this Purpose is that in Luk. 21.27.28 when the Son of Man cometh in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and great Glory then look up and lift up your Heads for your REDEMPTION draweth nigh And this was the Burden of