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A76490
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A discourse upon the powers of the world to come, or, The miraculous powers of the Gospel, and kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and their certain return at the kingdom of Christ in its succession / by T. Beverley.
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Beverley, Thomas.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing B2138; ESTC R205346
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146,914
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191
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the Whales Belly What is said of our Lord Jesus Mat. 4. v. 24. when It is said The Fame of him went out throughout all Syria And they brought unto him all sick persons those which were possess'd with Devils those which were Lunatick and had the Palsy and he healed them his opening the Eyes of the Blind cleansing the Lepers making the Lame to walk the Dumb to speak the Deaf to hear the giving to speak with Tongues to Interpret strange Tongues But above all Raising the Dead appears to All perfect Miracle the Raising of Lazarus when Dead Three Days John 11. 14. so alarm'd the Jews and affrighted the Sanhedrim who sat in Counsel upon it that they said If we let him alone all men will believe on hiâ— and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our Nation All these are Miracles of Mercy and both these sorts both of Judgment and Mercy we allow to be Miraculous because they are above the Standard of Gods general Government of the World and settlement of what we call Nature in this present State of it And thus I have labour'd in this First and Fundamental Point to define the Nature of Miracle because it will give Light all along the Discourse and guide to the chief Point viz. That they a pertain to the Kingdom of Christ and World to come CHAP. III. Giving yet a more Strict and Exact Description of Miracles in Five Particulars I Find it necessary to come up yet closer and nearer to the Nature of Scripture-Miracles or its Account of them and that so that I may shew how close they lead up to that World to come And herein I shall observe most particularly the Words the Spirit of God uses to express Miracles by I will to this purpose insist on these Five Particulars 1. The First Thing that speaks Miracle and that is indeed the most Proper and Essential Description of Miracles is That in Miracle God acts by an immediate Hand and does not work by any Second or Subordinate Cause whatever Instrument Conveyance or Minister of his Power he may use When he works perfectly as the Creator he is alone and there is no other with him in his Work He shews himself immediately by his own Hand and stretched out Arm If God blesses Physick and the sick man is recovered This is indeed Miracle if we consider the First Spring God is at the Fountain of All Mâ—ans For he is the First Cause When a Man by Diligence in his Calling grows Rich This Men say is no Miracle He was a Diligent and an Industrious Laborious Man and he had besides these and these Opportunities But if we believe the Scripture This is not to be attributed to the Second Cause but to the First and in that it is Miracle For The Blessing of the Lord maketh Rich and The Lord maketh Thee to grow Râ—ch as we Read in Moses and a man to whom God giveth Riches saith Solomon But yet the Scripture it self does not call this Miracle because a Train of Second Causes waits upon the First and to a common Eye hides it In Miracle God does All and he works like himself suddenly and not according to the Leisure and Slowness of the Second Cause He heals immediately He pour'd Riches on Solomon like the most High Possessor of All He commands and the Effect stands up together in the same moment he commands If a Man hath Cataracts on his Eyes and goes to a Skillful Oculist and he Couches them as we speak we do not call this Miracle because an Hand of Natural Cause waits upon God here for Concurrence But when by the Power of Christ Men had their Eyes opâ—ned without the use of Means Then Every One agrees It is the Hand of God and calls it Miracle I say therefore This is One Thing in Miracle and I beseech the serious Consideration of it because there is such assurance in Scripture God will come to do great Things immediately by his own Hand He will do them as he said he would Answer the Idolatrous Enquirers in Ezekiel by Himself by his own immediate Power According to this we are instructed Exod. 7. 5. When I stretch out my Hand saith God upon Aegypt Miracle is the stretching out of God's Hand and Chap 8. 19. when the Magicians could not do what Moses did They then said This is the Finger of God Here then is the Nature of Miracle It is God's shewing his own Finger The Magicians acted by a Power as we say behind the Curtain They acted by the Devil But when Aaron smote the Dust of the Earth and it became Lice Then the Magicians themselves acknowledged This is the Finger of God because they tryed to do so with their Enchantments and could not This therefore plaâ—nly declares Miracle when it comes to that that no Angelical Power can do it nor can he trusted to do it as God's Commissioner Then it is Miracle Then it is a Power of the World to come which God hath not put into Subjection to Angels either Good or Bad. The Magicians acting by the Intervention and utmost Power of Bad Angels did some Things as Moses and Aaron so long they did not own Miracle But when they come to that They acting by Created Power could not do nor were any way Commission'd to do Then they cryed out The Finger of God And it is very observable our Lord makes use of the very same word in arguing the Truth of that so great Miracle of Casting out that Potent Devil Luke 11. by the Power of God and not as the Magicians by the Power of Belzebub or the Devil as the Magicians did If I by the Finger of God cast out Devils saith Christ then no doubt the Kingdom of God is come upon you Where are Two Things most Remarkable concerning Miracles 1. That Miracles are by the immediate Power of God Patrated or Effected 2. That there is a certain undoubted and inseparable Connexion between the Kingdom of God or the World to come and Miracles or Effects of the Immediate Divine Power or Finger which shall indeed bring it in All in it being Highest Power and so is All that works for it There is therefore a peculiar Word chosen by the Spirit of God in the New Testament to Express Miracle by and it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Power so very often in Scripture and most Remarkably Miracles are call'd Heb. 6. Powers of the World to come Now I find by the Consent of the most Sage Interpreters Those Powers of the World to come are understood of Miracles They are Powers Demonstrative of Immediate Divine Power and Powers proper to the World to come prepar'd for all manner of Service to it and which shall in the Due and Just Time introduce it and as I observed before we find the same Expression taken out of Exodus and so Acts 4. They are the Hand of God stretched out and his Arm as
of his Kingdom of the New Creation there should be a Miraculous Appearance A Light therefore shone round and other Manifestations of the Powerful Visible Presence of Christ were given at it All this shews then another great Reason why God is pleas'd to make Miracles the Conveyance as I have said the Chariot of his Mighty Spirit and what End but that God would give Testimony That a New Creation a New Heaven a New State of Things a World to come shall be when the Gospel shall attain its Glory Then shall be a Visible Representation of the Inward Spiritual Glory The Case and outside to the Inward Glory shall be the outward Glory the outward Glorious State of all Things some Parcels and Portions of which are according to the Word of God shewn with the Gospel at such Times and in such Cases on such occasions as the Lord sees meet For this is Demonstration If without Miracles Christ drew Souls when he pleased even whole Cities as that of Samaria John 4. without any Miracles we Read of And if notwithstanding Miracles he left many to the Blindness and Hardness of their Heart It is then Evident There is no necessity of Miracles but the Spirit powr'd out from on High is Enough and only Enough with Miracles or without for Conversion It follows then Miracles are wrought chiefly because God would give Pledges and as I said Parts and Peices of the World to come before hand that shall be a Visible Glory over and upon the Spiritual Invisible Glory of the Gospel at its Height and Perfection Tho it may Collatterally serve for Confirmation and a Testimony to it now Yet still Miracles duly attend the Gospel in the World in the Days of Christ and of the Apostles in All its Grander Appearances in the World as is allowed and agreed on all sides I Argue then seeing the Gospel is yet in a very Imperfect State of Acquist or of getting the whole World into its possession therefore when ever the Gospel is to come out again in that Glory and Power as to bring the uttermost Ends under it Then even in Course there must be there shall be a return of Miracles Tho as I shall Argue much more because the Gospel shall then Introduce the Kingdom of Christ and the World to come It must be attended by Miracle But to Argue first according to the Allowances of Men with whom we now deal let us look on the second Psalm v. 7. saith Christ I will declare the Decree the Lord hath said unto me Thou art my Son This Day have I begotten thee Ask of me and I shall give thee the Heathens for thy Inheritance and the uttermost ends of the Earth for thy possession This shall indeed be done by Angry Power by a Rod of Iron where the Gospel does not prevail but yet it is to be done also and principally too by the Gospel For Psal 110. When the Lord shall send the Rod of Christs strength out of Zion That he shall Rule in the midst of his Enemies and even as other Scriptures say to the very Ends of the Earth His People shall be willing in the Day of his Power and through the Power of Converting Grace he shall as in regard of Abundance of Converts have the Dew of his Youth the Children of his Youth Renewed at that Time Like the Eagles as numerous as the Drops of Dew from the dawn of the Morning His People perswaded by the Gospel shall come in as Free-will Offerings in so great numbers When this Day of Christ's Power therefore shall be and the Effects of the Gospel Preaching so mighty then according to all Rules of Proportion Miracles shall return to attend the Gospel But I Argue further from positive and Express Scriptures beyond Contradiction and indeed I do not find many that are so unreasonable as to disagree however they may think that Miracles shall not Return that the Gospel must have yet a greater Publication to the ends of the Earth than it yet hath had For we know what vast parts of the Earth there are now that are without the Gospel not only without the Belief of it but without the very Sound of it or at least a Sound that is at all Considerable if any at All Yet few think it shall be so to the very End Few think God hath done what he intends to do that God hath gone over the World with the Gospel as far as he hath any purpose to go and that he intends to go no further But whoever may think so Christ Discoursing concerning the End hath told us Matt. 24. 6 14. There shall be Wars and Rumors of Wars but yet we must not be so shaken in Mind as to think therefore The End must needs be For saith he The End is not yet It is True saith Christ I have been Prophecyed of as the Prince of Peace and that under my Government Wars should be made to Cease to the Ends of the Earth that the Nations should learn War no more but beat their Swords into Plowshares and their Spears into Pruning hooks That I should Break the Bow and Cut the Spear and Arrows Asunder and Burn the Chariots in the Fire And therefore when ever you have Wars and Rumors of Wars you may think that it must needs be I must Come and put an End to all Things as in this State of the World that I may put an End to Wars But saith Christ These things must be yet the End shall not as yet be And therefore I freely profess though we see the World at this Day almost All in a Combustion in a Flame Every one knows what an Universal State of War there is at this Time yet I should not look on this as an Argument of the near Approach of the Kingdom of Christ if there were not more Assured Arguments from the Scripture Line of Time For Christ hath told us that there shall be such Things all along and we may see by the History of All Nations There have been Wars and Rumors of Wars all along and yet this is no Argument The End shall yet be But v. 14. Christ tells us what shall be an assured Argument The End shall be that is The End of this State of the World For saith he v. 14. This Gospel This very Gospel of the Kingdom it is very Remarkable It is the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ It shall be Preached in all the World for a Witness unto all Nations and then shall the End Come Surely there can be nothing more Express and Full to the purpose That there must be just upon the End a Preaching of the Gospel in all the World Take what Preaching of the Gospel you will that hath been before if the End hath not Followed upon it That is not the Preaching of the Gospel on which the End Follows that is here spoken of This must needs be granted For when Christ says such things shall Be