A SERMON OF THE Fifth Monarchy Proving by Invincible ARGUMENTS That the Saints shall have a Kingdom here on Earth Which is yet to come after the Fourth Monarchy is destroy'd by the Sword of the Saints the followers of the LAMB Preached by Mr. THO. GOODWIN on Rev. 5. 9 10. By which it will appear that it is for the same Truth that formerly was so much contended for that some of the People of God suffer at this day Published for the Truths sake Prov. 24. 21. And meddle not with them that are given to change Printed at London for Livewel Chapman at the Crown in Popes-head-Alley 1654. To the Reader THe doctrine of the SAINTS REIGN ON EARTH is matter of great Comfort to the People of God because of the glory which shall be revealed in that day This Sermon coming to my hands at such a time as this wherein the Truths of Christs Kingdom this Reign of the Saints are SO blasphemed and spoken against even by the quondam-Assertors and Professors of them and when men are become SCOFFERS this term FIFTH-MONARCHY-MEN being made a mark of Ignominy and Reproach I thought it my duty to communicate it to thee Reader that the Truth may be vindicated and the Saints comforted in this evil day This Excellent man hath proved this Truth by such undeniable Demonstrations that I am perswaded all the Enemies Christ and It hath are not able to gainsay To perswade thee to ponder them I suppose I need not the honour and esteem the worthy Arthor hath in the hearts of all good men that have either heard or read him will be a suffictent Motive Onely give me leave to point out a few things to thee We are told page 6. That the Saints have an influence in the managing the affairs of the world by their Prayers If so let us consider what a TOTTERING CONDITION they are in who have the trayers of the Saints engaged against them yea though but of a few despised ones who are not clothed with the glory and power of this world I do remember that this good man told us in another * Preached Feb. 5. 1645. on Rev. 15. from ver 1 to 5. Sermon That the prayers of a few Saints have a mighty prevalencie to turn the state of affairs in the world The prayers of the Saints against those that oppress them will still bring the vintage the vintage of Gods wrath on Protestants that provoke him on them An Angel cries out of the Temple seeing the Name of Christ profan'd by those that profess Christ and yet are opposers of the Saints God hears their voice and sends it for them and will continue to do it c. Further we are told in the afore-mentioned page That though the Saints know not what Christ will do next yet they are guided as it were by a spirit of Prophecie to seek for those very things which he is about to do Then how cautious ought we to be of CENSURING those of Gods people who go beyond us in their prayers and desires lest we prove Opposers of the Spirit of God in them Again page 6 7 c. That the Saints in heaven rule the world and by converse with the Angels have a knowledge of the great things that are done on earth When a soul is converted there is joy in heaven and when Rome is destroyed there will be joy in heaven Rev. 18. 20. and Rev. 6. 9 10. The souls under the altar newly slain they cry to God to avenge their blood Now what may we think the Saints in heaven who within these ten yeers last past lost their lives in the Cause of Christ are EMPLOYED ABOUT at this time they understanding by the Angels what great are come to passion our earth May we not justly fear they are crying to God How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood c. Surely things are not now as if THE GREAT INTEREST OF STATES AND KINGDOMS were minded the Imprisonment of the Saints speaks another kinde of language But let us not be discouraged our Lord Jesus hath foretold these things that so we might prepare our selves and when they come to pass our hearts may not be troubled These are signes of his coming and many more he gives us that he is coming and will not tarry Come Lord Jesus come quickly Even so Amen By a servant of the Saints who waits for and expects the Kingdom and Power of our Lord Jesus A SERMON OF The fifth Monarchy Revel 5. 9 10. And they sung a new song saying Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation And hast made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth THe scope of this whole Chapter is as I have shewed you heretofore to set forth in the beginning of this Prophecie The solemnity of Christs undertaking to be king and to execute under God all his decrees contained in this book to fulfil and accomplish them in governing this world to the end thereof for the good of his Church In the first verse therefore you have all being acted in a Comick way God the Father sitting upon a Throne holding a book in his hand and to glorifie Christ the more that he alone was able to undertake the execution of the things contained in that book a Proclamation was made Who in heaven or in earth was able to open the book and to loose the seals thereof so vers 2. In this strait because none was found worthy to do it Jesus Christ steps up and takes the book out of the hand of him that sate upon the throne so vers 7. And then from vers 8. the Chapter is spent in the acclamations of the spectators of all sorts which are cast into three several Rings or Rounds standing round about the throne There is first the acclamation of the Church of men on earth vers 8 9 10. There is secondly the acclamations of the Angels standing round about the Church of men in a Ring remoter then they from the throne vers 11 12. And then you have the common multitude that do stand without every creature in heaven and in the earth and in the sea all singing Praise and glory to him that suteth on the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever I am yet in the acclamation of the Church of men on earth contained in the 8 9 and 10 verses Where you have first their description vers 8. Secondly the song which they sing in the 9 10 verses and that for two things first because that the Lamb had redeemed them so vers 9. and secondly for advancing them to be kings and priests unto God And then lastly you have an Inference or a triumphant conclusion they collect from all what they had seen and
for seven yeers to feed among the beasts of the field the Angel that comes down and gives the command for it saith This matter is not by me alone but it is by the decree of all the watchers that is of all the angels and by the word of the holy ones they all concur in it And thus Junius interprets that place I added likewise for the strengthening of this a third Scripture Revel 6. 9 10. where the souls under the altar newly slain having their souls severed from their bodies under that great and last persecution under Dioclesian for to those times doth that cry refer they cry for vengeance upon their blood Not onely doth their blood cry as Abel's is said to do from the beginning of the world but their souls are said to cry The Papists that they may bring in the doctrine of the invocation of Saints departed which is that great doctrine of devils or of Daemons rather which the Apostle foretold should be brought up in the world and is the greatest idolatry that ever was upon earth they teach that the souls in heaven do there know all things here below in the glass of the Trinity and of the Godhead And our Divines that they may wholly take away that Argument for invocation of Saints from the Papists many of them have denied that there is any knowledge at all of the things that are done here belowe But my brethren there is no connexion between their knowledge of the great affairs of this world and having an influence into them and their invocation none at all For First no man is able to affirm that they know all particular things here and yet me-thinketh no man should deny but that they have knowledge by the Angels that are continually messengers from heaven to earth of the great things that are done here There is joy thorowout all heaven when a soul is converted And in Rev. 18. 20. when Rome is destroyed as there will be joy thorowout the whole earth so there will be joy thorowout the heavens also when that City is ruined in which is found the blood of all the Apostles and of all the Martyrs and Saints slain by the power and authority of that City for so God hath ordered it from the Primitive times to this day then saith he Rejoyce over her thou heaven and ye holy apostles and prophets for God hath avenged you on her I say there is no connexion between those two That because they may be supposed to know some of the great affairs of the world that therefore they must be invocated Invocation therefore is upon these grounds denied by our Divines and justly too For First it is certain and cannot be denied that the Angels do know the things of this world for they attend there as ministring spirits continually which the other do not and yet because they know them it is no argument at all that therefore we may invocate Angels or pray unto them to pray for us If a man were sure that an Angel were by him and now attending on him as I am certain there are Angels attending the Saints for they are their great guard in all places especially in the Churches in their publike Worship yet he hath no warrant at all to desire that Angel to pray for him God hath not appointed such a way of communion between us and him Secondly we have no warrant to believe that the Saints in heaven do hear us when we pray unto them to pray for us and least of all to think that one Saint should be able to hear a thousand nay ten thousand Saints on earth at one time it is the greatest absurdity in the world to imagine it and yet how many suitors hath that one virgine Mary The Saints departed may be supposed to have a great interest and priviledge and participation with Jesus Christ and a great honour communicated to them for the managing of the great affairs of this world and yet there is no consequence nay the clean contrary that therefore we should invocate them because that no man can be assured nay it is certain they do not hear the prayers of any much less can they hear the prayers of so many which is the dotage of the Church of Rome But lastly it is flat Idolatry and that for this reason Because that Christ being ascended into heaven is constituted and appointed a Mediator there and therefore for any to pray to the Saints in heaven to pray for them is to have another Mediator before Christs face whereas he alone hath took on him that office for There is one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus And so now I pass from the Explication of those words and come to the third thing which I take it is more eminently aimed at in the text and in these words We shall raign on earth I shall open what I conceive to be the meaning of these words exceeding briefly not intending to make a Subject of any thing in this Chapter For when I first took it in hand I onely purposed to run cursorily over it First then it is evident that there must be some great eminent advancement yet to come as the consequent of Christs being King which these Saints here had in their eye This I shall open to you by degrees For first if you mark it upon Christ's taking the book which was his undertaking to be King of the world they fall out into this Outcry of praise and rejoycing We shall raign on earth This is the fruit this is the issue this is the conclusion of Christ's having taken the kingdom and undertaking to be King And it must needs too be some great and eminent thing which must have an eminent and conspicuous accomplishment for it is that thing which is next in their thoughts They over-look all priviledges else and do pitch upon this and parallel it with Redemption For if you mark it their song of praise runs but upon these two things Thou hast redeemed us with thy blood and hast made us kings and we shall raign on earth Secondly it is some eminent thing to be fulfilled at an eminent time to come For mark the difference Thou hast made us kings say they thou hast given us that title and that honour at the present but we SHALL raign speaking of it as of a thing yet to come They are kings and they do raign in that respect by prayer but yet they raign in sackcloth yea but we SHALL raign say they Now that you may the better understand how it is to come and when it is to come for otherwise in all other respects the Saints are Kings in all ages but I say that there is a peculiar time in which it is to be accomplished which they have now in their eye To make this clear to you do but consider the natural contexture of what now followeth in this discourse They utter this you see in the beginning
of the book in this vision of Chap. 5. which as I have shewn is the prologue to the whole that follows They utter it when they did but first see Jesus Christ undertake to be King of the world and had taken the government thereof upon him and the execution of the decrees contained in that book he took out of the hand of him that sate on the throne Before the end of the world should come there was a long time and a great many things that were contained in this book in this roll which Christ took which was written within and without that were orderly one after another to be performed therefore in the next Chapter to this after this Vision is past which as I said is the prologue there is first a going forth to conquer Behold saith he vers 2. a white horse and he that sate on him had a bowe and a crown was given unto him and he went forth conquering and to conquer He had begun to set upon the world then he went forth conquering but he must go on to conquer for he had the Heathenish world to conquer and he hath the Antichristian world and he hath the Mahumetane world to conquer And all his conquest is carried on till towards the later end by his bowe he takes nothing out with him else he overcomes by his Word which are the arrows he shoots into the hearts of the Kings enemies as you have it in Psal 45. 5. So that now all the story thorowout this book afterwards it is but the story of Christs conquering of his Kingdom with his bowe and with his arrows and executing the decrees that were contained in the roll he took out of his Fathers hand When you come towards the end of the book in the 19 Chapter he that in the sixth Chapter you saw when he went first out riding upon a white horse you shall see him with Armies attending of him whereof he is the General riding likewise upon a white horse I saw saith he vers 11. heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sate upon him was called Faithful and True and in righteousness he doth judge and make war For towards the later end when he comes to grapple with the Antichristian world he doth do it by the Sword and not by his Bowe onely And therefore when he speaks of the Beast chap. 13. who had made war with the Saints he tells us vers 10. that he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword It shall be the sword that shall end it Therefore he that at first went forth upon a white horse with nothing but his bowe you see him in the nineteenth Chapter coming to make war the Armies which were in heaven following him And what is the issue of it Vers 20. The Beast was taken and with him the false prophet whether the Mahumetane party and the Pope I will not now determine but they were altogether ruined and destroyed cast into a lake of fire burning with brimstone All this Jesus Christ doth before he comes fully to possess his kingdom And this you have related to you between the 6 Chapter and the 20 Chapter Well now at the 20 Chapter you shall see that what they said at the beginning would be the issue of Christ's taking upon him the government of the world and undertaking to fulfil the Decrees contained in the book the same is declared to be made good then as being the eminent season for it For after that he had taken the Beast and the false Prophet an Angel came down from heaven so vers 1. having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand and he lays hold on the dragon that old serpent which is the devil and Satan and bindes him a thousand yeers and casteth him into the bottomless pit and there shuts him up sets a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more c. And then vers 4. I saw thrones and they sate upon them and judgement was given unto them And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God and which had not worshipped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and raigned with Christ a thousand yeers But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand yeers were finished This is the first resurrection Blessed and holy is he vers 6. that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death shall have no power but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall raign with him a thousand yeers Mark what they say at the beginning when they saw Jesus Christ undertake the Kingdom the very same after he had conquer'd all his enemies the Beast and the false Prophet and then taken the devil and all and flung him for a time into the bottomless pit is here fulfilled That which before they said would be the issue of Christs government is here in the very same terms said to be accomplished Here in the 5 Chapter they say Thou hast made us kings and priests in Chap. 20. 6. they are said to be priests of God and of Christ. Here they say And we shall raign on earth in the 20 Chapter it is twice repeated first vers 4. They raigned with Christ a thousand yeers and again vers 6. And they shall raign with him a thousand yeers This I say shews it evidently that at the beginning they had this in their eye as that which should be the issue and close of Christs governing the world But you will say Is what is said in Chap. 20. meant of the Saints raigning on earth Certainly yes and the reason is this Because during this raign Satan is said to be bound Now to have Satan bound while the Saints raign in heaven is unnecessary and needless for how can he disturb them or be an annoyance to their kingdom there Whereas you see that by way of preparation to this kingdom they shall have on earth both the Beast and the false Prophet are taken and Satan himself bound Neither secondly can it be meant of the raign of the Saints in heaven for that is for a longer time then a thousand yeers and those Saints that were slain in the Primitive times they have already raigned longer then a thousand yeers But that which doth most clearly evince it is this That in the 7 verse the devil is said to be let loose And when the thousand yeers are expired saith he Satan shall be loosed out of his prison Therefore it must necessarily be meant neither of the kingdom of heaven after the day of Judgement nor of the kingdom of heaven before the day of Judgement but of a kingdom which they shall have on the earth as the words are in this 5 Chapter Me-thinks my brethren that thus much should be evident to
all mens apprehensions by paralleling the words used here at the beginning of Christs reception of the government of the world and the words expressed at the later end viz. in Chap. 20. when Christ had thus accomplished the decrees contained in the book I say Me-thinks thus much should be conspicuous to all mens understandings That there is some eminent kingdom for the Saints after all when the enemies of Christ the Beast and the false Prophet and Satan himself is overthrown when the decrees of this book are accomplished when the time of this Prophecie is run out that then I say there is an eminent kingdom for the Saints to have on the earth Thus much I say me-thinks should be evident to any mans understanding It is that which in the beginning these say will be the end of Christs kingdom here it is that which they comfort themselves withal and it is that which in order followeth Christs accomplishing the decrees of his Father and the ruine and destruction of his enemies There have been those that have made this to be already fulfilled namely That there hath been a time wherein the Saints in heaven that were killed in the Primitive times had a great deal of honour put upon them for a thousand yeers and the Saints on earth had a great deal of peace which they compute to be from the time of Theodosius the Emperour till the persecution arose afresh by the Pope and the Antichristian party and they reckon it to be about a thousand yeers But it is evident that that is not the meaning For the time of this Raign here spoken of must be after the Beast is destroyed for in the 19 Chapter vers 20. it is said The Beast was taken and cast into the lake and then follows in the 20 Chapter their raigning with Christ a thousand yeers And likewise all the Vials mentioned in the Chapters before were first to be poured out upon him and therefore it cannot be during the Popes raign And then again it cannot be during that time neither because it is said that the devil is bound up that he should deceive the nations no more Now during the raign of the Beast Satan never deceived the nations more then then so Chap. 13. 13. He deceiveth them that dwell on the earth Never did he deceive men more both with Idolatry and Superstition never was there raised more Wars and Persecutions against the Saints then during the raign and time of Popery The Saints indeed have had a great deal of honour put upon them by the Papists in Canonizing of them and the like but alas it was all but a false honour it is not the honour and priviledge that the raigning with Christ a thousand yeers gives them neither would they have so rejoyced in it when Christ first took upon him to be king not rejoyce I say in that glory and honour which the Popish world gave them during those times of Popery no We shall raign on earth say they this was it which was the ground of their rejoycing and which they had then in their eye Therefore as this was not begun when these Saints here in the 5 Chap. first spake it so neither shall it begin until the Beast and the false Prophet be destroyed You must first see the accomplishment of those great things that are written in this Book concerning Antichrist and his Kingdom which will be the close of the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and then follows that which you have in the 20 Chap. the 4 5. and 6. vers The next Question will be What persons he speaks this of when he saith We shall reign on the Earth Clearly of those that are redeemed unto God by the blood of the Lamb Christ Jesus out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation But the great Querie will be whether they speak this of themselves personally or whether they speak it of all the Saints successively that is not onely we now but all the Saints in many ages to come shall be persecuted and opprest as we were by Heathenish Rome so they shall be under Antichristian Rome for in Rome is found the blood of all the Saints therefore I do not so much fear any Protestant-persecution yet in the end though we now by our blood lay the foundation and do but sow to it yet there is a crop to come up one day of a Kingdom which Jesus Christ hath undertaken to bring into this world which his Saints shall have You may very well interpret it so and certainly for my part I take it to be that which was their aim And the language of the Scripture doth import as much We shall not all die saith Paul but we shall be changed Did Paul think to live until the day of Judgement No yet he speaks in the person of We and the Christians then might have said the like and yet those persons all died He meaneth therefore the whole Community and Fellowship of the Saints whom the Apostle Peter in 1 Pet. 2. 9. calleth a Generation and a Nation and therefore now as a Nation that knows that one day they shall prevail and have a Kingdom as the Jews think though they suppose it many yeers to come and do not think that they themselves shall enjoy it yet speaking in the language of their Nation and Generation may say We shall one day be the top of Nations and have these and these Priviledges that is Not we that now live but all of this Nation this Generation this Kindred as they are called also And thus it hath a passable and a fair interpretation We shall reign on earth So that the plain Doctrine or Observation is but this That there is in the end a Kingdom to come here for the Saints that after all the Kingdoms of the World have had their time and their date by which the Saints have all along been opprest and injured there is even on earth a Kingdom to be given unto them when all Nations shall be converted unto God and the Saints in them be the prevailing party in the World The Scripture seems to run much this way The first man that I finde of an Englishman that distinctly fell into this Notion was a man of much holiness and piety Mr. Wood. now with God I 'll tell you the occasion that led him into these thoughts as he himself in a manuscript I have lying by me expresseth it I went saith he to recollect all the promises that are in the whole Book of God made unto the Saints beginning at Genesis and so going along throughout all the old Testament not dreaming of any such notion as this is I found no check at all in my thoughts until I came to read some of the Prophecies in Isaiah which professedly speak of the times of the Gospel which speak such great high and glorious things of spiritual enjoyments of God with outward peace
prosperity As now to give you an instance or two Isa 2. from vers 3 and so on In the last dayes the mountain of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares c. neither shall they learn war any more The like you have in Micah 4. the whole Chapter So in Isa 25. 6 7 8. when the vail shall be taken from off the hearts of the Jews as Paul interprets it in 2 Cor. 13. he tells you of the peace and glory that shall be in that nation and how the Lord will wipe away tears from off all faces and the rebuke of his people shall be taken away from off all the earth whereas before they should lie under all sorts of reproaches over all the World Likewise in Isa 60. 9 10 and so to the end you have promises of all sorts to this purpose how that the gates of the Church should be continually open they should not be shut day nor night that men saith he may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles and that their kings may be brought for the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish yea those nations shall be utterly wasted The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet and they shall call thee The city of the Lord The Sion of the holy One of Israel Whereas thou has been forsaken and hated so that no man went thorow thee I will make thee an eternal excellency a joy of many generations Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles and shalt suck the brest of kings For brass I will bring gold and fortron I will bring silver and for wood brass and for stones iron Violence shall no more be heard in thy land wasting nor destruction within thy borders but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation and thy gates Praise The Sun shall be no more thy light by day c. Also in Isa 65. 16 17. He who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of the earth c. for behold I create new heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into minde Behold I create Jerusalem a rejoycing and her people a joy and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying There shall be no more an infant of daies nor an old man that hath not filled his daies And they shall build houses and inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them c. So in Zech. 14. 9. The Lord shall be King over all the earth in that day there shall be one Lord and his Name one I cannot stand to single out those things in these Chapters and many others of the like kinde which are most emphetical you may do it when you read them Now saith he when I read these promises as likewise that in Dan. 7. that after all the four Monarchies whereof the remainder of the fourth standeth shall be destroyed the kingdom dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High When I found such promises saith he as these are I knew not what to think I wondred at it and was amazed Hereupon he saith he read some Commentators whom he found to expound them all of Heaven and the glory thereof set out in an allegorical way but yet this satisfied him not for it seemed evident to him that it was to be understood of a Kingdom here on the Earth for he perceived there was mention made of sinners and of men that die and the like and therefore reading other interpretations he found them apply it to Ordinances and and other Spiritual enjoyments of God with abundance of outward peace and prosperity Hence therefore he concluded that there must necessarily be a time in which these promises must be fulfilled and accomplished for the Saints have alwaies in all ages been more opprest under the Gospel then ever they were under the Law they have prophesied in sackcloath and have been the outcast and the reproach of all the Kingdoms and are so accounted even to this very day Daniel you know was a Court-like Prophet for he lived in the alteration of those great Monarchies the Assyrian to the Babylonian and the Babylonian to the Persian and God did reveal himself accordingly to him for you shall finde his prophecie spent most in describing the four Monarchies that should be in the world the description you shall finde specially set down in the 7 Chapter where having described the three first Monarchies he cometh at the 23 vers to the fourth the fourth Beast which he saith shall be the fourth Kingdom upon Earth which shall be divers from all Kingdoms and shall devour the whole Earth and shall tread it down and break it in pieces as the Roman Empire did the Reliques whereof remain in the Turk Pope to this day But after all these Beasts were ended I beheld saith he vers 11. even till the Beast was slain and his body destroyed and given unto the burning flame For in Rev 19. the Beast is taken and so there is an end of him And as for the other Beasts he saith They had their dominion taken away yet their lives were prolonged for a season But in the end and conclusion of all what saith he I saw one like the Son of man vers 13. and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed And vers 27. The kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High The text you see is express that the Kingdom here spoken of is a Kingdom which the Saints shall have after the four Monarchies are destroyed which he saith shall be a kingdom not in heaven but under the whole heaven where there are People Nations and Languages men who shall continue in their several varieties which in Heaven they do not for there is neither Tongue nor Kindred nor Nation there Let me speak another thing to you Discoursing once with a Papist who defended as you know they do the truth of their Religion and the supremacy of the Roman Church he brought this Argument to me Read saith he the Prophets you shall finde some of them make mention of a Mountain that shall be set upon the top of all the Mountains to which all the people of God shall resort in a conspicuous manner that peace and outward prosperity shall attend and
accompany that Church or Mountain the riches of the Nations shall be brought into it Kings shall bow down their heads unto it and lick the dust of their feet c. Where saith he were these and the like prophecies ever fulfilled if not in the Church of Rome And for my own part I must acknowledge that let any one read such prophecies as these are and give me an answer how or when they either are or can be fulfilled unless this be granted for a truth That after all is done there is kingdom to be given unto the Saints upon the Earth When you come to deal with the Jews you shall finde that they alwaies knew and expected and do now know and expect a kingdom to come for them in the end The Apostles themselves seemed to have such thoughts for in Act. 1. 6 7. when Christ was about to ascend into Heaven they ask'd him Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel Christ you see doth not deny that there was a kingdom to come for them onely he saith It is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power Plainly intimating that there was a time and a season which God had for it which he reserveth in his own power And the Apostle Peter when he comes to deal with the Jews and preach the Messiah to them in Act. 3. knowing that their great mistake lay in looking that the Messiah should even from the first come to them as a glorious Monarch and restore to them the kingdom and not come meek and lowly as he did riding upon an Ass he deals with them according to their own Principles onely removeth their mistake Repent ye saith he vers 19. and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refershing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Iesus Christ which before was preached unto you whom the heaven must receive until the times of the restitution of all things The very word which the Disciples used in Acts 1. Wilt thou not restore say they which God hath spoke by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world began You Iews saith he expect a restitution but here is your mistake this Jesus must first be preached and he must go into Heaven and the Heaven must receive him till that time of restitution cometh and then he will at least manifest himself unto you He that wrote that little book called The Voyage into the Levant he saith That he had often occasion to converse with the Iews whom he generally found to be in expectation of their Messiah and when he told them of these kinde of notions that were up and down this Kingdom and other places of Europe concerning a Kingdom that God would give unto his Saints here upon the Earth after the calling of the Jews and that their Messiah would manifest himself unto them even according to their own expectations he saith They were infinitely taken with the hearing of it It suiteth with all their Notions and with their Expectations and with all the Interpretations the Rabbins have given of those Scriptures And consider one thing more All sorts almost out of all quarters of the world though they run several waies yet they fall all into this Notion As now for instance Those that are for the Restoration of Churches to their first purity they conclude for this reigning for a thousand yeers and that the Saints shall have thrones given them c. There is a time coming say they after Antichrist is down when there will be a resurrection of Churches to their first purity and glory in which there shall be onely Saints without mixture of others And so they interpret that place in Rev. 20 5 6. This is the first resurrection blessed and holy is he that hath his part in the first resurrection And say they Until then all Churches will be but as dead things the great resurrection is reserved till that time Others that are for the coming of Christ in Spirit as the language of some is they say this also That towards the end of the World Jesus Christ will break forth to his people with a great deal of glory and splendor so as never before The very Jesuites themselves have been so much convinced that such things are to be in the later daies that some of them have written a book of the fifth Monarchy onely indeed they do apply and appropriate it unto themselves and call that kingdom which they say shall be in those daies Regnum Jesuiticum The scope I have in saying this is to shew you that although men run several waies in their explication and expectation of this time the Jews going one way the Papists another and those amongst our selves several waies yet as it is an Argument and a strong one That there is a God and that the Notion of a Deity is stamped in the Spirits of men because all Nations have pitched upon worshipping of some God although their error hath been to worship the false so the variety of waies that men have run and the expectations that men are in of such a time coming as I speak of it argueth still for the substance that there is some such thing although one mistake and another mistakes and perhaps none can distinctly tell what is to come This I am certain of that the Primitive Christians did abundantly comfort themselves with this Notion and the consideration of it And here you see the Saints had it in their eye at the very first when Christ took the Government of the World upon him as that which should be the close of his Kingdom We say they shall reign on the earth there is a Kingdom reserved for our Generation speaking as I said in the language of the Communion of Saints And there is all the reason in the World for it besides what I have mentioned out of the Scriptures for First The Saints that have been opprest here in this World it is a righteous thing with God to give that Generation rest and that they should have their turn after all Kingdomes are dissolved that what Adam lost should be restored to them again Secondly That all those promises which my brethren have had an accomplishment but in an indirect way as that which Christ which the Psalms also mention The meek shall inherit the earth That all the prayers that have been put up as That thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven That Abraham and his seed should be heirs of the world That there shall be a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwelleth which saith Peter we look for and that promise if you look in Isa 65. I am sure you will finde to be made to men on earth for he saith plainly They shall build houses and inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of
them c. There are those that go yet further and say That though there is such a Kingdom belonging to the Saints yet they say withal That the Saints that have been before they shall during that Kingdom rise again so interpreting that place in Revel 20. according to the very letter I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus and for the word of God and which had not worshipped the Beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand yeers but the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand yeers were finished This is the first resurrection Which resurrection that shall thus usher in this reign some interpret of a generation of Saints a multitude of Converts that shall come with the same Sprit and Power that all the Saints formerly beheaded had and so they are said to rise again in them as Elias is said to rise again from the dead in Iohn Baptist who came in the Spirit and Power of Elias But there are these reasons given to the contrary and that it must be meant of a true Resurrection and of a Resurrection taken in a proper sense for First It is said That the souls of them that were beheaded they lived how by a resurrection for he saith It is the first resurrection Now how do souls rise no way but by having their bodies united to them They are the souls of men that have been killed and killed by the sword now their Resurrection must be answerable to their death it is made the reward of it Their natural lives were taken away their Resurrection to life therefore must be taken in the same sense and proportion to the life which they lost And then again observe it is the very same souls in which you shall finde a great deal of emphasis for read the 6 Chap. vers 9. c. I saw saith he the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held lying under the altar crying with a loud voice c. They were the Primitive Martyrs for this was in the beginning of the book Now here in the 20 Chapter he saith I saw those souls or the souls of them that had been slain for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God he useth the same description and he addes to them for the 6 Chap. is meant of the Primitive Christians slain under heathenish Rome those that had been slain under Antichristian Rome for he speaks of such as had purified themselves from Antichrist and which had not worshipped the Beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they saith he lived and reigned with Christ a thousand yeers But the rest of the dead lived not again No wicked men shall rise then they are reserved until the day of judgement But to what end is this First That as these Saints do now govern the World invisibly as I said before so they may then do it visibly And great must needs be the glory and happiness of those times Secondly That which the Angels do now invisibly the Saints shall then do visibly The Angels now have this World subjected to them and all the affairs thereof and the execution of the Decrees of God are still said to be done by them But saith the Apostle Heb. 2. 5. Unto the Angles God hath not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak And he doth not speak of the World to come after the day of judgement for it is that Kingdom which Christ shall have before he giveth up all things unto the Father This world here therefore is subjected unto the Angels that do ministerially rule and who do work with the Spirits of men this way and that way for the good of the Church in opposition to Satan But then all shall be done by the Saints in a visible maner Thirdly Hereby they are made conformable to the same state and condition Jesus Christ was in whilst he was in the World he was mean he was under all sorts of oppression he dies his Soul goes to heaven he riseth again and after he was risen he stays here below for many days converseth with his Disciples at times instructeth them in the things of the Kingdom of God appeareth disappeareth c. And if you ask me What will the life of men be thus risen I ask What was the life that Jesus Christ led during those forty dayes before he did ascend And if you object that this will be a diminution to their happiness I answer It was no diminishing of the happiness of Jesus Christ Assuredly he injoyed more blessedness being risen and his Soul and Body united then when his Soul singly and alone was blessed and yet for those forty dayes he was here upon the Earth Think my brethren of the day of judgement whenas Jesus Christ himself will come with all his Saints and Angels out of the place of Heaven into this visible World and it will ask a long time to judge the World because he will judge it as a man and lay open the secrets of all hearts and we may be sure that will be done in this visible World The Angels that come down from heaven to earth do yet see the face of God therefore it is no derogation to the happiness and blessedness of the Saints And if you ask me Whether during this time they shall eat and drink I answer The children of the Resurrection neither marry nor give in marriage or do any such thing but they are as the Angels of God Christ after his Resurrection lived not upon any such thing no more shall the Saints although the number of them upon the earth shall be innumerable for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord and the Name of God and of Christ shall be set up in the whole earth and the greater part of the World shall be Saints And though those that shall then be found alive may haply eat and drink and build houses c. yet those that rise again shall not I have as briefly as I could opened this thing to you which here these Primitive Christians in the very beginning of the book have in their eye Whether it be meant onely of that generation of Saints and of the Resurrection in the 20 Chap. or onely a Resurrection by way of succession in comparison of former times or whether yea or no it shall be a true and proper Resurrection I leave undetermined onely this I say That certainly there is some great thing after all the Kingdoms of the world have had their turnes for the Saints to have and that on earth both by the promises in this book and by all the prophecies of all the Prophets which have been since the World began And therefore as Peter saith Seeing we expect such things what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness FINIS