ever Amen Amen Mr. Petrie's Answer Whether can these more confidently beseech God for the conversion of the Jewes who thinke that the Jewes may daily be converted or these who thinke that they shall not be converted till the comming of Christ the former sort may be confident to be heard daily which these others cannot And moreover the former sort seeth as the Fathers did see Heb. 11.13 everlasting glory presently at hand and thereupon they doe minde and seeke heavenly things as they are commanded Col. 3.1 2. and the other sort are out of hope of glory in heaven at least yet for the space of a thousand yeares and they set their affections on things on earth Yea and it gives encouragement unto the wicked that they shall not be judged nor their bodies tormented these thousand yeares to come yet and on the other side the feare of imminent judgement and punishment is a more powerfull motive to depart from iniquity For which cause the Lord would not give unto men the knowledge of that time but will have us to be alwayes preparing and waiting for that comming to judgement Wherefore we pray unto our Lord Jesus who even now is King of Kings and reigneth in the midst of his enemies and is offended at the foolish conceites of unstable hearts That he would make his power manifest by conforming them whom he hath called and gifted with the knowledge of his eternall Gospell and by reducing all his elect both Jewes and Gentiles who goe astray and that he would now even now give us heavenly hearts and tie us all together in the acknowledgement and obedience of his truth to the praise of his Name and our spirituall comfort both now and evermore Come Lord Jesus and change our vile bodies that they may be like unto thy glorious body according to thy working whereby thou art able even to subdue all things unto thy selfe Reply Surely they that deny the generall conversion of the Jewes as you doe cannot pray at all for this conversion But they that beleeve it may confidently beseech God for it and be confident too that they are delightfully heard of him in it For as we ought alwayes to pray for that which may be done we know not how soone so though our prayers cannot hasten the accomplishment of any future blessings to our selves or others yet we are daily heard in them seeing by such a manifestation of out obedience towards God who taught us to pray for them and of our faith and hope in his promises which reveale them and of our charity towards all that are to be partakers of them we daily improve Gods mercy towards us here and our owne weight of glory with him hereafter And whereas you seeme to lay claime to heaven for your selfe and others of your minde onely and to shut us out of it because according to the tenour of Gods plaine revelations we affirme That the raised Saints are to beginne the eternity of their immortall and glorified estate in a regall condition here on earth with Christ where He and They have been formerly so much reviled and so vilely handled whereas I say you would for this exclude us from having any portion of the joyes of heaven with you till the 1000 yeares reigne be finisht Be it knowne unto you That we hope through Gods free mercy towards us in Christ Jesus to be received into the society of the Saints in heaven even as others if God hath appointed that our earthly house of this Tabernacle shall be dissolved before the appearing of our Lord Jesus if not we hope together with the whole number of the elect to be made Inhabitants of the new Jerusalem in that time in which God hath purposed to bring us thither and not before And we cannot conceive that we doe set our affections on things on earth in the Apostles sense Colos 3.2 when we doe with patience expect the accomplishment of the promises made to us in Christ albeit they are in part to be fulfilled on this earth And by the way it is worth the Readers observation That to confirme your seeing everlasting glory presently at hand you cite Heb. 11.13 where it is said These all died in faith not having received the promises but having seene them afarre off c. What I is to see the promises a farre off all one with the seeing of glory presently at hand But you goe on and tell us that our Tenet gives encouragement to the wicked that they shall not be judged nor their bodies tormented these thousand yeares to come yet Which is a confused and corrupt report of our words For though we say That the last judgement of the wicked the judgement of their bodies and foules together shall not be till the end of the thousand yeares reigne on earth yet surely we beleeve even as others That their soules are cast into hell immediately after their departure out of their bodies And doubtlesse if they will not forsake their evill courses for feare of the imminent damnation of their soules for feare of this partiall and particular judgement at their death which doth infallibly binde them over to the eternall damnation of their bodies and soules together at their generall and contemporating judgement they will neither forsake their wickednesse the sooner for their ignorance nor continue it the longer-for their knowledge of the large space of time that is yet to precede their generall judgement For what comfort can it be to them that it shall be yet so long before their bodies be tortured in hell when as their soules may suddenly be adjudged to such torments as are agreeable to the number and nature of their sinnes which the more and greater they are the more and greater will the punishment of their bodies be too at the last And therefore if you had said the truth you would have acknowledged that our Tenet doth warne all those that shall live in the time of the Jewes conversion and deliverance not to oppose them lest to the augmentation of their endlesse woe they therby perish from the earth by a fearefull death And it doth perswade men likewise to take off their affections from things on earth seeing it puts them in minde that if they now walke not after the flesh but after the spirit if they fashion not themselves to this present world they shall together with their Saviour be heires and inheritours of the earth when the whole creation shall be delivered from its bondage of corruption and when by the meanes of Christs and their government on it judgement shall runne downe as waters and righteousnesse as a mighty streame And thus the impartiall reader may plainely see what little alliance there is betwixt the title of your answer and the contents of it For you pretend to fetch him out of darkenesse into the light but doe indeed lead him out of the light into darkenesse And as the Syrians eyes were held by God that they
yellow And who have an ague find every meate and drinke bitter not that every thing is such but their senses are distempered another who hath not distempered senses finds in the same thing a diversity of colour and relish 3. Why doubt they here whether there be more voices for the one then for the other seeing afterwards it is said p. 50. as all the Prophets speake of nothing more so they have nothing which can be applied to our Saviours second comming as a comfortable effect so generally foreshâ—â—nâ— but this Reply 1. If the heathens be a more in partial judgement then Jewes or Christians are the greater is our shame the more their commendation But as I have not hitherto so I trust I never shall shew such irreverence and uncharitablnesse towards the Church of God as to think much lesse to say that there are no impartial men in it And therefore I need not goe out of the Church to seeke for such to submit to But although there are many impartial judgements amongst Christians yet it behoves the reader to take notice here that you confesse you are none of the society and therefore to be the more suspitious of the sincerity of your dealing a taste where of we had in your former answer And it is observeable too that you make a difference betwixt Turks and heathens as if Turks were not heathens 2. That all rigid Antimillenaries find not many voices for that we plead for nor indeed any at all we need not marvell for you have told us they have no impartial judgments And therefore I might returne your comparisons on your selves but I leave them to the judicious â—â—ader to bestow them where he sees most cause 3. Surely these words I finde not more voices for the one then for the other have no doubtfull sound Neither have they relation onely to a part but to the whole word of God Not to one Testament onely but to both And therefore the Prophets being not the adequate subject of this search you have vainly transferr'd hither what elswhere I have spoken as from the Prophets onely Yea and very impertinently too for the prophecies spoken of there doe concerne the restoring of the Jeweâ— onely but the voices spoken of here are such as do concerne the comming of Christ onely And that first in the forme of a servant to teach and suffer on earth and next in Kingly glory to reigne and rule on earth And grant there should be more Scriptures to shew one of these commings then the other yet seeing there is plaine Scripture for them both we have good reason to beleeve both Israel's Redemption For they asked of him saying Lord wilt thou at this time restore againe the Kingdom to Israel Mr. Petrie's Answer Any who is not distempered in his braines may see the ground of this Monarchy very unsure to wit a meere Querie Acts 1.6 The disciples asked him Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom of Israel a querie neither affirmeth nor denieth and neverthelesse how great a Kingdom is built on it If they can finde a surer ground why will they not choose it for their text better they have not and therefore they must be doing with this Reply No good Christian will be either asham'd or affraid to suffer for the truth's sake And therefore we had much rather be defam'd revil'd and if God hath so appointed it worse handled by you or any others then reclamante conscientiâ against our owne knowledge yeeld to be deluded by you this answer being in very deed conpounded of nought but falsehood and deceit For first the ground of this Monarchy is not unsure although a Querie it being grounded not on what the Apostles knew not and would have knowne to wit the time when the Kingdom should be restor'd but on what they knew and doubted not of to wit that the Kingdom should be restor'd Which had they not knowne or at least not thought they could not have asked when it should be restor'd And had they but thought it they would for their better assurance first have askt whether before they would have askt when it should be restored Neither can we grant this to be a * Queries as Rhetoricians do distinguish them are either simple or figurative and affected Simple Queries are such as are proposed for instruction and knowledge-sake and are either meerly simple when there is no more in them but what is doubted of as what is truth Iohn 18 verse 38. or not meerly simple when there is no more in them then what is doubted of as where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eate the passeover Mat. 26. verse 17. in which querie the doubt is not touching the subject it selfe whether the passeover should be prepar'd but touching a circumstance belonging to the subject touching the place where it should be prepar'd and such a querie is this of the Apostles the subject the restoring of the Kingdom is not doubted of nor the person that should restore it but the circumstance of time onely when it shold be restored And these queries though they do not expresly formally affirme or deny yet they do implicitly vertually affirme or deny meere querie untill you have defin'd what a meere querie is for you seeme to me by this proposition A Querie neither affirmeth nor denieth to take all queries to be alike if you doe not you say it onely fallaciously to make the unlearned reader thinke so that by this meanes he might the more readily beleeve all you say against us and if you doe you are very much mistaken as all your rhetoricians will shew you who reckon up many sorts of Queries among which there is one so opposite to your words that it more certainly and vehemently affirmes or denies then a bare affirmation or negation can doe and such a one is that in St. Mat. chap. 7. verse 16. Doe men gather grapes of thornes or figs of thistles which is a farre more forcible deniall then St. Lukes Of thornes men doe not gather figs nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes chap. 6. verse 44. so on the contrary Is there no balme in Gilead is there no Physitian there Jer. 8 verse 22. doth more movingly affirme then the bare affirmation doth And of this sort of interrogatory asseverations and negations the Scriptures have very many especially God's answer to Job and the prophecy of Micah And therefore untill you can bring better proofe to shew this ground unsure we need not seeke for another text to build so great a Monarchy on although we bring many other to strenghthen beautify and finish the building Israel's Redemption The words you see are a Querie And such propositions imply three things First a person or persons proposing it Secondly a matter or subject proposed Thirdly a person or persons to whom it is proposed The persons here are the disciples asking the question and our Saviour answering them as the
Redemption The next prophecy shall be that of Joel who mentions the very signes which our Saviour said should be the immediate fore-runners of the Jewes Redemption And it shall come to passe afterwards saith he in his 2. chap. at the 28 ver that I will powre out my spirit upon all flesh and your sinnes and your daughters shall prophecy your old men shall dreame dreames and your young men shall see visions and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those dayes will I powre out my spirit and I will shew wonders in the Heavens and in the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoake the Å¿ Isa 24. v. 23. Mat. 24. v. 29. Rev. 6. v. 12. Sun shall be turned into darkenesse and the Moone into blood before the * Great not onely in regard of the strangenesse and dreadfulnes of events of things then to come to passe but great also in regard of the long continuance and tract of time which God in his revelations hereafter to be fulfild doth by the word Day as well without this epither as with it frequently import great and terrible t Ezek. 39.8 Mal. 4.5 Iude 6. Rev. 16.14 Day of the Lord come And it shall come to passe that whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be delivered for in Mount Zion and in Hierusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord hath said and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call And in the 3. chap. at the 1. ver Behold in those daies and in that time when I shall bring againe the captivity of Judah and Hierusalem I will also gather all Nations and will bring them downe into the valley of Jehosaphat which in the 14. verse is called the valley of decision and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel whom they have scattered among the Nations and parted my Land And at the 15. verse againe The Sun and the Moone shall be darkened and the starres shall withdraw their shining the Lord also shall roare out of Zion and utter his voyce from Jerusalem and the u Isa 2.19 c. Ezek. 38.19.20 Hag 2.22 Mat. 24.29 Rev. 16.18 ch 6.13.14 Heavens and the earth shall shake but the Lord will be the hope of his people and the strength of the children of Israel Mr. Petrie's Answer The Apostle Peter not onely makes use of these words but expones them and shewes the accomplishment of them in some degree as it is said in the sixth rule before for Act. 2.16 he saith This is that which was spoken by the Prophet Ioel And it shall come to passe in the last daies c. And verse 22. Ye men of Israel heare these words Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God among you by miracles wonders and signes which God did by him in the midst of you as ye your selves know Reply The Apostle repeats but expounds not the Prophets words and consequently shewes not the accomplishment of ought that the Prophet affirms shall be done All that he shewes is this That the thing which then happened to the Apostles was the worke of the same spirit which Joel spake of but he saith not that it was the same worke The same spirit indeed was then powred out but it was not the same powring out of the spirit And for want of distinguishing betwixt the effusion of the same spirit and the same effusion of the spirit you affirme that those things which the Prophet saies the spirit shall doe not long before the Lord's second comming were then done at his first comming And the reason you bring from St. Peters words Act. 2. verse 22. to shew that the prophecy of Joel was then fulfild in part is a very strange one For the Prophet shewes what others shall doe through the extraordinary inspiration of the Spirit before the Day of the Lord comes and the words you have alledg'd doe shew what works Christ himselfe did when he was come Israel's Redemption I am not ignorant that the darkening of the Sun and Moone is sometimes taken allegorically and by way of allusion but that therefore it should be so understood here it doth not follow for where it is figuratively applyed it signifies the judgement it selfe which is to befall those people of whom it is spoken but where it is literally used it is put onely for a signe of an eminent destruction which shall suddenly follow it as the great and terrible Day of the Lord shall doe at the accomplishment of this prophecy Mr. Petrie's Answer Where the darkenesse of the Sun and so it may be understood of the Moone is used properly it is not put onely for a signe of an eminent and imminent destruction as it is manifest Luke 23.45 which was a Testimony from Heaven of Christ's innocency for conviction of the murtherers and chap. 21.25 the signes in the Sun and Moone and in the starres and the distresse of Nations upon the earth with perplexity and the roaring of the sea and waves are all to be understood properly as signes before the great and terrible Day of the Lord. So what is promised in the 28. and 29. verses of the second chap. of Joel was truely albeit not altogether fulfilled in the daies of Peter even how-beit the words of the 30. and 31. verses be properly understood and not wholly fulfild til the time immediately preceding the last comming of Christ Reply That the darkning of the Sun or of the Moone properly taken especially if supernaturall as this here is a signe of an eminent and imminent destruction you confesse but that it is onely so you deny And were this true I have not spoken much out of the way But the instance you bring of the darkning of the Sun at the time of our Saviours passion makes nothing for you For whereas you say it was a testimony from Heaven of Christ's innocency for conviction of the murtherers the historie of the Gospel tels you no such thing and interpreters are against you Sicut enim Deus tenebris involvebat terram Aegyptum sic etiam nunc totam Judâ—â—am in signum iraâ—i Dei et futurae poenae saith Pareus on the 27. chap. of Mat. at the 45. verse that is As God did once bring darknesse on the land of Egypt so likewise did he now on the land of Judea as a signe of his wrath and their ensuing punishment So Chrysostome too It was an undoubted signe of Gods anger for that which they did against him And Origen It was a presage of the future darknesse which should over-spread the whole Jewish Nation To which Dr. Mayer consents and with Origen concludes from the time of the darknesse continuance being three houres that the Jewish Nation should be in darknesse till about the Evening of the world Although then Christ's innocency may well be gathered from it yet for ought I can finde you goe alone in alledging it as a reason of the darknesse
44. And doubtlesse it is not nor ver 44. to such a setting up of our Saviours Kingdome as we hold For whereas you say That this Kingdome shall be set up in the dayes of these Kings and not after them It is as if you had told us That a King cannot overcome and succeed other Kings in their Kingdomes while they reigne but after their reigne When as indeed they cannot lose their Kingdomes but while they have them but in the dayes of their reigne and not after them And so you have not yet shewed us any reason why this phrase It shall breake in peeces and consume these Kingdomes should not as well be taken properly when it is attributed to the setting up of our Saviours Kingdome as when it is attributed to the setting up of the other Kingdomes And therefore we have still good reason to beleeve that the forcible and destroying fall of the stone upon the image doth betoken no lesse then a conquest and succession by force of armes Israel's Redemption And as the falling of the stone upon the feece of the image upon the last and divided Kingdomes of the iron Empire doth probably imply Mr. Petrie's Answer The dreame implyeth nothing contrary to the exposition and therefore leave probabilities that are contrary to certainties Reply Doubt lesse the dreame implyeth nothing contrary to the exposition but both dreame and exposition doe point out our Saours personall reigne on earth For the confirmation and manifestation of which truth we bring not probabilities onely but certainties too yea such certainties as all your wit and wiltnesse are not able to answer or obscure and therefore me thinks you have no cause to be offended with such variety of testimonies And had I said also that this which I called onely a probability had been more then a probability I had not overlasht For seeing God by this image foreshewed Nebuchadnezzar what Kingdoms should succeed his unto the second comming of Christ all which time the Jewes should remaine captives and tributaries And that the falling of the stone on the feete of the image did intimate both the second appearing of Christ for the first was when he was borne of a Virgine when he was cut out without hands and the expiration of the time allotted to the Kingdomes represented by the image It necessarily followes that when the stone should fall on the image when the Kingdome of God should be set up as it is expounded the Kingdoms prefigured by the image should be no longer should all be subdued and that the mountaine filling the whole earth the visible and Monarchicall Kingdome of Christ on earth should succeed alone Israel's Redemption For if the Kingdome of God there spoken of were to be understood of a Kingdome which should so be set up in the dayes of these Kings that their reigne should notwithstanding continue together with it as not onely these but all former Kingdomes also have done with the Church militant with the Kingdome of grace which therefore cannot be the Kingdome there foreshewne then doubtlesse it should have been represented by some part of the image it selfe as the contemporating Kingdomes of the divided Empire are by the mixture of iron and clay and not by a thing so different from it and adverse unto it by a stone I say so wonderfull for it beginnâ—ng operation and encrease For it was cut out without hands and when it had smote the image became a great mountaine and filled the whole earth Which the Churches as yet never did whose fall and growth too as they import a more powerfull speedy and generall conquest over these Kingdomes by this Kingdome then either the gold received from the silver the silver from the brasse or the brasse from the iron so they imply the utter extirpation and totall abolition of that mannâ—r of policy and government which these Kingdomes have usâ—d of which it is said That they became like the châ—ffe of the Summer threshing-flores and the winde carried them away that no place was found for them ver 35. And with this sense of the interpretation of the vision very well agreeth that in the second Psalme ver 8. Aske of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession Thou shalt bâ—eak them with a rod r Rev. 2.27 ch 19.15 of iron thou shalt dash them in peecâ—s like a pâ—tters vessel And thaâ— in Psal 110.2 The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion rule thou in the midst of thine enemies The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath He shall judge among the heathen he shall sill the places with dead bodies he shall wound the heads over many Countries He shall drinke of the brooke in the way therefore shall be lift up the head Yea and that too in Psal 149.2 Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the children of Zion be joyfull in their King Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people To binde their f Sam. 1.9.10 Psal 47. Psal 99. Kings in chaines and their Nobles in fetters of iron to execute upon them the judgement written This honour have all his Saints Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. Then teach God how he shouldâ— eveale his will 2. It is revealed in expresse words ver 44.3 There was reason to expresse it by a different thing because the foure were of one quality and this was of another quality My Kingdome saith he is not of this world John 18.36 It is more wonderfull more powerfull and more generall then any of them and all the Kings who will not serve this King shall perish he shall breake them with a rod of iron Psal 2.8 he shall strike them though in his wrath Psal 110 5. and binde them with chaines and their Nobles with fetters of iron Psal 149.8 Reply 1. We leave this presumption to your selfe who have so boldly told God what is most for his glory pag. 15 16. and what is most to the praise of his mercy and bountifulnesse pag. 68. 2. It is revealed in expresse words ver 44. That God shall set up a Kingdome in the dayes of these Kings But not that these Kings and the Kingdomes which God shall set up are to continue together Yea the Kingdome of God could not breake in peeces these Kingdomes could not succeed them by conquest unlesse they should be in the possession of their severall Kings when the Kingdome of God is thus to be set up And seeing these Kingdomes are to be broken in peeces are to be consumed by the Kingdome which God shall set up how can you once imagine that their conversion and not their confusion that their instruction and not destruction that their amending and not their ending I meane onely in respect of
he cannot put it into act untill he descend to take the Kingdomes of this world unto himselfe Thus we finde that he had power to lay downe his life and power to take it againe before he did either John 10.18 And that all judgâ—ment even the judgment of the great day was committed unto him at his fiâ—st comming John 5.22 And thus it appeares that aâ—l your answers to the consequâ—nces by which we have proved our Saviours visible reigne on earth are of no consequence at all ISRAELS REDEMPTION CHAP. II. That Christ shall reigne personally on Earth prov'd by expresse Prophesie ANd thus it hath bin proved by consequence that our Saviour shall hereafter reigne on earth You shall now heare it directly and expressely affirmed Behold saith the Angel to the Virgine Mary thou shall conceive in thy wombe and bring forth a Sonne and shalt call his name Jesus he shall be great and shall be called the Sonne of the Highest and the Lord shall give unto him the u Matth. 2.6 Acts 2.30.31 Throne of his Father David Luke 1.31 Behold saith Jeremiah in chap. 23. ver 5. c. the dayes come saith the Lord that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch and a King shall †Ch. 33.15.16 reigne and prosper and shall execute judgement and justice x Isa 8 8. Job 19.25 Hob. 1.2 in the * Whatsoever losse Luke 19.11 12 13.14 c. Acts 3 19.20.21 Revel 11.15 Rom. 4.13 the disobedience of the first Adam brought on himselfe and his posterity that no doubt the second Adam hath recovered with advantage for himselfe and his chosen But the first Adam lost not onely hiâ— right to heaven but the happy estate too which an innocent life would for a long time have continued to him and his on earth And therefore that intercourse and familiarity with God that rule and command over men and all other creatures which Adam before the advancement of mankinde to it highest happinesse should have here enjoyed if he had not fell that and fore more then that shall Christ with hiâ— chosâ—n inherit at his next appearing And now seeing even reason it selfe doth thus strongly â—â—ation for our Saviours future soveraignty what unreasonablenesse were it in us any longer to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bt the literall accomplishment of these and all other sacred revelations which so fully describe and â—â—â—â—â—earely confirme it earth In hiâ— dayes Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby he shall be called The Lord our righteousnesse Behold saith Zechâ—â—riah in chap. 6. ver 12. the man whose name is the Branch and he shall grow up out of his place and he shall build the Temple of the Lord even he shall build the Temple of the Lord and he shall beare the glory and shall sit and rule upon his Throne and he shall be a Priest upon his Throne and the Counsel of peace shall be betweene them both And in Ezek. 34.22 c. I will save my flocke and they shall no more be a prey and I will judge betweene cattell and cattell and I will set up one Shepheard over them and he shall feede them even my Servat David he shall feede them and he shall be their Shepheard And I the Lord will be their God and my Servant David a Prince among them I the Lord have spoken it And in chap. 37. ver 24. c. David my Servant shall be King over them and they shall have one Shepheard and they shall also walke in my judgements and observe my Statutes and doe them and they shall dwell in the Land that I have given unto Jacob my Servant wherein your Fathers have dwelt and they shall dwell therein even they and their children for ever and my Servant David shall be their Prince for ever And in Isai 9.6 c. Vnto us a child is borne unto us a Sonne is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his Name shall be called Wonderfull Counseller the mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of peace Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end Vpon the Throne of David and upon his Kingdome to order it and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever the zeale of the Lord of Hosts will performe this And in chap. 52. ver 13. c. Behold my Servant shall deale prudently he shall be y Psal 118.22.23 24. c. exalted and extolled and he very high As many were z 1 Luke 2.34 35. astonied at thee his visage to wit at the time of his suffering was so marred more then any man and his forme more then the sonnes of men So to wit at his next appearing shall he sprinkle many Nations the Kings shall shut their mouthes as him for that which had not been told them shall they see and that which they had not heard shall they consider And in Micah 4.6 c. In that day saith the Lord will I assemble her that halteth and I will gather her that is driven out and ber that I have afflicted and I will make her that halted a remnant â—â—â—â—ber that was cast farre a Rom 〈…〉 15.32 â—ff a strong Nation and the Lord shall reigne over them in Mount Zion from henceforth even for ever And in Psal 72.6 c. He shall come downe like raine upon the mowne grasse as showers that water the earth In his dayes shall the righteous flourish and abundance of peace so long as the Moone endureth He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth They that dwell in the wildernesse shall how before him and his enemies shall licke the dust The Kings of Tarshish and of the â—fles shall bring presents the Kings of Sheha and Seba shall offer gifts Yea all Kings shall fall b Ps 68.29.31 Isa 45.22.23 downe before him c Psal 22.27.28 Phil. 2.10 Rev. 14.6 7. chap. 15.4 all Nations shall praise him And in Psal 102.13 c. Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come for thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof So the heathen shall feare the Name of the Lord and all the Kings of the earth thy glory When the Lord shall build up Zion he shall appeare in his glory Now that these prophecies concâ—rne the reigne of Christ alone I thinke no man doubts and that they are already fulfilled it cannot be proved Mr. Petrie's Answer These texts may prove something against your fellow Mr. Archer who thinks that Christ after he hath put the Jewes in possession of their Monarchy shall ascend againe into the heavens and the Jewes in the meane time shall reigne till his third comming But they prove nothing against us who hold that Christ reigneth on the true Throne of David Reply This answer
elect onely be gathered together and the rest left behinde seeing that great Assist it to be hâ—ld chiefly for the condemnation of ungodly men Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. Here is nothing to prove the Monarchy of the Jewes 2. The two Evangelists speake there of the gathering of the Elect and taking them up as also 1 Cor. 15.23 yet they speake not exclusively as if the ungâ—dly shall not be judged nor raised but they speake of separation and â—hereby of taking the elect into the â—are and heavens whereas the wicked shall not be taken up but left on the earth and be condemned and sent to hell Matth. 13.40 41. and it followeth ver 43. Then shâ—ll the righteous shine forth c. The particle then shewes that the wâ—ckâ—â— shâ—ll bâ—â—ast into the furnâ—â—e of fire as soone if not sooner as the righteous shall shine in the Kingdome of the Father 3. If the righteous shall be taken up and the ungodly left on the earth that is the one taken away from the earth and the wicked left on the earth then the godly shall not have earthly doâ—inion 4. If Christ at his comming shall hold that great assise chieâ—ly for condemnation of the wicked how then shall the godly be quickned and the wicked be left in their graves after them for the space of a 1000 yeares These things cannot agree Reply 1. Here is nothing you say to prove the Monarchy of the Jewes But here is something we say for the confirmation of our Savâ—ours reigne on earth which is all one 2. The Evangelists speake here onely of the gathering of the elect to meete Christ at his comming and not at all of the raising and judging of the ungodly because that is not to be done at the beginning but at the end of his reigne And then it is that the whole number of the elect and of the reprobate shall be separated one company on his right hand and the other on his left and not one part caught up to the aire and the other left on the earth And we confesse that the casting of the wicked into hell mentioned in that parable Matth. 13.42 shall be at the entrance of the time in which the righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdome of their Father But we deny that this casting of the wicked into hell is meant of their casting in after their resurrection when they shall all at once receive the sentence of dâ—mnation from Christ himselfe For first it is not said here that they shall be gathered together before Christ as it is said Matth. 25.32 c. But that the Angels shall gather them out of Christs Kingdome and cast them into a furnace of fire that is shall destroy them in every place over the world where they then are and cast their soules into hell as is intimated by the binding of the tares in bundles to burne them That is as they finde them here and there in the field And secondly it is said that they shall be gathered out of Christs Kingdome and cast into bell that is shall be taken away from the place where and from among the men over whom Christ shall then reigne And therefore this gathering of the wicked iâ— to be at the beginning of Christs Kingdome and before their last judgement and not at the end of Christs Kingdome when they shall be fetcht out of hell againe to receive their last judgement And that the foresaid judgement is meant of a temporall destruction on all obstinate sinners that are living at Christs comming and not of the eternall destruction of their bodies and soules together at the last resurrection it is evident also from Rev. 20.9 where it is revealed that all the ungodly that are to oppose the Saints at the end of the thousand yeares reigne shall be devoured by fire from heaven before the last resurrection so that there shall be none of them living on the earth when they are to be gathered before Christ at the last judgement and consequently that gathering of them cannot be the same with this gathering of them when they shall be on the earth Matth. 13. And so by the Kingdome of their Father mentioned ver 43. must needes be meant the Kingdome of Christ spoken of ver 41. which in called the Kingdome of their Father because Christ with whom these Saints shall reigne shall receive it of God who is both his and their Father 3. The righteous shall be caught up to meete Christ and to come along with him to the earth And not to stay with him in the aire or to be carried up to heaven from thence as hath been shewed already more then once And therefore this is but a trifling argument 4. This argument is a supposition of that which we deny For it is our argument against you That seeing the elect onely shall be raised and gathered together at Christs comming and the ungodly which are left in their graves and that the mischievous ungodly which are living shall be left also to perish extraordinarily as it is Matth. 13.41 42. and the rest to be eye-witnesses of Gods wonders at that time and to become converts by it as it is Isai 66.19 20. Joel 2.32 Zech. 14.16 Rev. 11.13 and in other places Therefore the last judgement the great Assise which is to be held chiefly for the condemnation of ungodly men cannot be at or presently after Christs comming but shall be at the end of his reigne And so this part of your answer is a meere perverting of my words which agree so well in themselves and with the word of God that you had nought to say against that which they prove and therefore you fallaciously make them to grant what they doe indeed disprove Israel's Redemption Who doubtlesse are not to be left that the evill Angels may fetch them for they shall be partakers with them of that judgement and therefore will be as unwilling to appâ—are before that barre as they Neither is it likely that they shall be left because the good Angels cannot at once assemble them to the place of judgement and the elect to meet the Lord in the aire if these things were to be done at the same particular time And therefore as I suppose they shall be left either to perish in that generall destruction which shall come upon all Nations that fight against the Jewes whom our Saviour shall then redeeme or to be eye-witnesses of Gods wonders in all countries at that time Mr. Petrie's Answer What can either good or evill Angels doe without the Lords Authority and what can they not doe when he willeth but certainely the wicked shall both be witnesses of Gods wonders and likewise perish in that generall destruction that cause of their condemnation is touched before Reply We know that neither the good nor bad Angels can doe any thing without the Lords Authority but what is this to the force of my words which consists in this that
should not know the Prophet though they heard and followed him so it hath been your utmost endeavour all along to corrupt and dazle the readers judgement that he might not know the truth of the Prophecie that is set before his eyes and publisht in his eares Now the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who commanded the light to shine out of darkenesse shine in our hearts that as of sincerity as of God we may give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ That Isay without handling of the word of God deceitfully we may by manifestation of the truth commend our selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever Amen Glorificetur Deus praedicetur veritas exerceatur pietas restituatur integritas Let God be glorified truth taught piety practised righteousnesse restored Redeat Pax regnet Rex regat Lex Let peace returne the King reigne the Law rule To my Booke excus'd THy wounds are heal'd and now thou must along To tell thy torturers they did thee wrong That thou wast no deceiver although They Did straine their wits to hide thy truth away Lest passing * John 11.48 unexcus'd the simplest might Have taken too much heed of the upright Report thou mak'st and claspt thee with such love As no * Acts 5.34 c. Gamaliel should e're remove Tell this to them and after greet thy friends Who prize the truth more then their private ends Courteous Reader THere was of late in this Kingdome one Mr. Mede a grave and learned Divine of the University of Cambridge who in his Treatises on the Revelation which he publisht to the world some yeares before his death doth plainely professe that he held not onely the Jewes generall conversion but their returne to their countrey too and the thousand yeares reigne of Christ and the Saints on earth Of which reigne as he hath a particular Tract so in the fourth synchronisme of the second part of his Clavis Apocalyptica he shewes by infallible arguments that it is to succeed the utter destruction of the Beast and false Prophet and to contemporate with the 1000 yeares binding up of Satan That it is I say to be in the time betwixt the destruction of the two Armies revealed in Rev. 19.20 which he there clearâ—ly proves to be two distinct Armies Against this Authour while he lived no man moved his pen although there was both time and opportunity to have done it but since his decease which is an usuall course with the enemies of the truth as there have been many who have voted against him without answering any of his workes so there have been some who have undertaken to examine here and there a piece of his labours amongst whom Mr. Petrie is one who in pag. 14.60.61 of his answer to Israels Redemption doth assay the confutation of two of Mr. Medes synchronismes The first is the seventh synchronisme of the first part of Clavis Apocalyptica which he thus encounters Mr. Petrie And here by the way observe that the renowned Authour of Clavis Apocalyptica is mistaken in his seventh synchronisme wherein he saith that the powring forth of the seven vials is contemporary with the end of the Beast and Babylon Answer He saith indeed that they contemporate with the ending that is with the declining estate with the totall destruction of the Beast and Babylon which the vials shall by their severall plagues gradually bring to passe but not that they doe all contemporate with the very end with the last moment of the Beast and Babylon which is proper onely to the powring out of the last viall For then shall great Babylon come in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fiercenesse of his wrath as it is revealed Rev. 16.19 And then shall the Army in Armageddon be destroyed and the Beast and false Prophet taken in battell and cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone as it is declared Rev. 19.20 Mr. Petrie For albeit it be said chap. 15.2 That they who had gotten the victory over the Beast sang the song of Moses it followes not that the Beast was then destroyed Answer Surely it followes as well that the Beast shall be destroyed when the song of Moses is sung by the conquerours of the Beast as it doth that Pharaoh and his Host were destroyed when it was sung by Moses and the Israelites For seeing it is againe to be sung upon the like occasion and noâ— before the destruction of the Beast must as necessarily precede the second singing of it as the destruction of the Egyptians did the first And this the fourth verse doth confirme which shewes that by reason of Gods judgments which shall be made manifest unto the world at the singing of this song All Nations together shall come and worship before the Lord as the Prophets have said and as Saint Paul doth intimate by the comming in of the fulnesse of the Gentiles Rom. 11.25 which thing cannot come to passe while Satan the deceiver of the Nations is at liberty and the Beast and false prophet his instruments are subsisting Mr. Petrie Neither albeit the first and fift and last vials be powred on the Beast followeth it that they were not powred till the last time of the destruction of the Beast seeing the Saints in heaven and on earth too may rejoyce for their particular victory over the Beast as yet reigning and the vials may be powred on the Beast at severall times even some of them on the Beast in the height of her pride to the end that men may have warnings of the judgements of God on the Beast in her greatest pompe Answer This also followes as the 1 verse of the 15 chapter doth witnesse where the seven vials are called the seven last plagues and why are they called so but because they were not to be powred out till the last time the time of the destruction of the Beast Impossible then it is that these last plagues these plagues which were to befall the Beast in her last time onely should befall her in her height of her pride in her greatest pompe that is long before her last time For this is all one as if you had said that the Beast then began to be destroyed when she was most insensible of her destruction when she had least cause to feare it And therefore though the Saints in heaven and on earth too may rejoyce for their particular victory over the Beast as yet reigning yet doubtlesse they shall not sing Moses song of thanksgiving for the utter overthrow of the Beast before the Beast be utterly overthrowne And though the vials were to be powred out at severall times yet as in their orderly powrings out they were suddenly to succeed each other so likewise they were all