Apostles and Evangelists and Pastors and Teachers might all with one voice cry out and complain we have laboured in vain nor what follows of Christs ascending and giving gifts to men for the perfecting of the Saints for faith and vision must eternally remain distinct saith was never ordain'd to give forth that perfection that is reserved to vision faith is perfect in its kind that is it carries us up to Christ to enjoy a relative perfection there and the Prophets and Apostles as to that have not lost their labour but it doth not subjectively reveal or bring forth perfection upon us that is reserved for vision I know there are that fancy and imagine themselves to have attained or at least do assert it in Theâ—i that some have and that more may attain that perfection but come to the Hypothesis Have they themselves attain'd it I have not met with that confidence in any to assert it nor should I ever the sooner believe them if they should For this perfection is a Feast that is not to be opened till the guests are all come and the house of God is full nor till Christ the Feast-maker is present among them visibly and gloriously For as much as this point of the time of Christs glorious Kingdom on Earth is of so main consequence as that which will strike so great a stroak in the controversie depending between us I shall therefore according to the evidence that shines forth unto me in the Scriptures clear this up more particularly with the grounds of it 1. And my first ground is that for all the works of God done under the Sun his works of Salvation as well as judgment there is an appointed time as Solomon shews at large Eccl. 3.1 and so on Therefore the Church dealing with God about her deliverance urges it upon this ground Thou wilt or thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion for the time to favour her even the set time is come Psal 102.13 The instances are so copious and known for this that it were loss of time to insist on them Israels deliverance out of Egypt was set for the time and God kept his time to a day when the 430. years were expired the very same day did God bring them forth by their Armies Gen. 15.13 Exod. 12. last their deliverance from the Babilonish Captivity was set and promised after 70. years and was punctually observed so for our Saviours Incarnation it was in the fulness of time and when he entred upon his Ministry he makes this way for himself to be received by them Mark 1.15 The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand Repent ye and believe the Gospel what can be plainer than this that there is a time and season for every season and manifestation of the Kingdom of God This was the time for Christs first appearance there are times also proper times for his second coming and his illustrious appearance 1 Tim. 6.14.15 which in his times or in its own or proper times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall shew if it were not so if the issuings forth of all Gods counsels and purposes were not tymed what mean all those times that are set in Daniel and the Revelations Indeed the time is not always reveal'd to us but it is always appointed with God and therefore sometimes the Spirit speaks only in general as Dan. 11.35.36 and Habaâ— 2.3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time And of that day and hour knoweth no man faith our Saviour Mark 13.32 which yet shews the day and hour is set for his second coming And though this Scripture may seem to dash our confidence of knowing it because it is said no not the Angels which are in Heaven neither the Son but the Father The answer is ready that as we could not know it without the Son or till it was reveal'd to him so he having received the knowledge of it as he did of the whole Systemâ— of the revelation after his ascention we are upon those advantages now that Christ himself was not in the days of his flesh when this was spoken Christ in his humiliation was in all things like to us but now all things are naked and open to him and he sent and signified his revelations by his Angel to his Servant John to shew to his Servants the things which must shortly come to pass and John according to command hath left them on Record for us and blessed is he that readeth c. for the time is at hand So that it is clear as the Sun that though God hath his foreknowledge of all things in Eternity and though Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world yet in the making forth and exhibition of the works and wonders of God to men there is a time set and appointed for every purpose orderly to appear and give forth its voice and particularly expresly and eminently the Apostle saith of this day for as much as he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained Acts 17.31 2. The time for the exhibition of the glorious state of this Kingdom is the second the visible the illustrious appearance of Jesus Christ 2 Tim. 4 1. Who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom where his appearing and his Kingdom are joyned together as contemporating and commencing together at the same time not his first appearance which was then past but his second appearance speaking of it as to come and therefore saith shall judge in the future tense For the furthur clearing of this let any one that is in good earnest set himself to consider how probable or likely it may be that the glorious state of Christs Kingdom can be exhibited without the personal revelation of the Lord Jesus in Glory appearing in it I am sure in that foretast given of it in the Transfiguration our Saviour's Person bare the great eminent part according as in the intimation he gave of it before hand by his words might be concluded and expected for though Mark who wrote to Greekes and in the Greek Tongue say only there are some standing here who shall not tast of Death till they see the Kingdome of God come with power yet Matthew who wrote to the Jews and pend his Gospel in Hebrew dilivers our Saviours intimation with this Accuracy of his person to appear in it Mat. 16. ult Till they see the Son of man comeing in his Kingdom That action was a little Model or draught of Christs Kingdom and therefore whatever was there we may conclude will be in Christ's Kingdom though there to be expected in a larger figure Now in the transfiguration there was the person of Christ in a Glory beyond what the Disciples could well bear and that not only on his countenance but his Garments Then Secondly there were Moses and Elias in glory representing the Saints departed
receive the same Answer 1 Cor. 2.9 10. Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of Man the things that God hath prepared for them that Love him The Original Text to which the Apostle refers is Esa 64.4 where the words runs thus For since the beginning of the World men have not heard nor perceived by the Ear neither hath the eye seen O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him VVhere by the context both before and after in the same Chapter and in the next these things that no eye but God hath seen issue expresly into a New Heaven and a new Earth long life Building Planting a long injoying of the works of their Hands their seed and offspring to be blessed and the enmity of all the Creatures to cease All these though things not seen as yet yet are in their own nature visible enough if men have Eyes answering though much exceeding those terrible things which God did when he brought up Israel out of Egypt and came down upon Mount Sinai in a visible glory which the Church mindes the Lord of in the 3. vers of that 64th Chap. Invocateing the Lord to do the like things again yea threatning a greater kindness that the expects from him if he do but consult his own provisions and stores for that is the meaning of the 4th vers as if she had said Thou hast greater things to shew then ever any Eyes besides thy self O God hath seen and yet the Eye that saw Paradice and that state of innocency and that saw Solomons Temple and the prosperity of that time had seen very great glories but the glory of the new Creation of the second Adam of the true Solomon is to be unspeakably greater every way and in every respect both inward and outward else the Precedent and the pattern was very improperly alledged for that was outward as well as inward and here Sir I thank you again for this Text also which being unmuzled and speaking freely is fully for a visible Kingdom which when you consider I hope you will come over to us and be for it too Not will the next verse you take in relieve you at all where the Apostle saith But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God whereupon you note they are therefore deep profound and mysterious because invisible and could not be so deep c. Were they not the invisible things of God The things whereof we treat even that new State of things which Christ will bring with him at his next coming are deep things and such as without the Revelation of the Spirit we could never have known or had ground to expect and it is called The finishing of the mystery of God but to say there is no mystery but invisible is to deny God manifest in the Flesh to be the mystery of Godliness which I believe you did not consider when you wrote your description of Faith as the evidence of things not seen which you next fall down unto Take it with the former explication viz. That the things not seen are not necessarily all of them things in their own nature simply invisible but with reference to the present time not seen as yet and it hurts me not at all And so we must understand them for whatsoever is the Subject matter of a promise is the Object of our Faith Hope and Expectation which as hath been sufficiently proved and instanced are not only invisible things but also things visible and which shall be seen in their Season But whereas presently hereupon you make the Works of God invisible incomprehensible c. As he himself is How then Sr. can God be made known by them even to natural men as he is said to be Rom. 1. There is I grant a three fold Sence in which the works of God are as you express it Infinite Eternal every way invisible and incomprehensible in all the compleat dimensions of them even as he himself is viz. They are so 1. In the Principle in which they are wrought 2. In the Wisdom and Power by which they are conducted and managed 3. In the end to which they are ordained in which sence Solomon is to be understood That whatsoever God doth it shall be for ever nothing can be put to it nor any thing taken from it as much as to say there is neither Redundancy nor Deficiency in it But if the Children those highest and best pieces of the works of his hands be pertakers of flesh and blood a caduke faint and weak appearance in the present state and yet the Work of God is perfect and abides forever will it be ever the less perfect or rather will it not appear in its perfection when this vile covering upon the Face the Majesty the glory of God in his works shall be done away This Kingdom of Christ which we expect is that alone which can rend this Vail and uncover the Face of the Glory of God in all his workes and it is the proper work of this Kingdom so to do Esa 25.6 7 8. And to exalt the Lord alone in that day then he that blesseth himself in the Earth shall bless himself in the God of truth and he that Sweareth in the Earth shall Swear by the God of truth Esa 65.16 where we may learn that the Earth and God the Earth and Truth and so Visible and Invisible are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inconsistent the Earth the lowest part of his ways and works his Footstool yet truth yea the God of Truth found there the Earth not such a vain shadowy empty thing in that day as it hath been hitherto but the God of truth filling the Earth and all the things of the Earth When you see this will not your Heart rejoyce I am perswaded it will as little as you now know the meaning of that outward visible Kingdom of Christ for this is the new Heaven and new Earth that we speak of a state so new that it shall perfectly blot out the remembrance and leave no footsteps of the former Vanity as the Prophet Esay acquaints us in the 17th vers of that 65th Chapter which state of things yet is and must be acknowledged though not simply Invisible yet as far remote from the common sence and understanding of men as you can desire and to have a great depth and mysteriousness in it a Path which the Vultures eye never saw the Tabernacle of God with men grace and nature God and Man the Creator and the Creature Heaven and Earth things visible and invisible like bretheren dwelling together in unity mutually infolding encompassing one another mutually giving and given forth one of another This is that which the Prophet celebrates with that high Elogium in that fore quoted place Eza 64.4 That no Eye besides thee O God hath seen Till I see this I
it and for the familiarity into which Christ will entertain all his as there he entertain'd the Nobles of Israel though not for the terrour of it Secondly as outwardly priviledges and advantages may consist with so they all shall be added and annexed to this Kingdom and shall serve and Minister in it This is so express that it is asserted by our Saviour in totidem verbis in two of the Evangelists Mat. 6.33 Luk. 12.31 Seek first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you And in how full a stream the Prophets of the old Testament are found to concur and joyn I need not acquaint you Sir nor such as you are diligent perusers of the Scriptures And if those places in the Evangelists do only promise and secure to us things that we need as to some by the words foregoing v. 32. They may seem to be restrained yet the Prophets speak of a freer dispensation in the end the places are too many and frequent to need quoting And if any shall say those things are to be understood spiritually I say spirituality is the intern form and Essence of this Kingdom but that which is added to this must be something else otherwise why is it said to be added And if the Scripture hath no where restrained the sense and meaning of these expressions to a meer spiritual nature and import by what authority may we presume to be so Magisterial as to impose such a sense and interpretation upon them against not the sence and interpretation only of others and perhaps men as spiritual as our selves but against the express voice of the Scriptures as to instance in some places Psal 67. where this glorious state of Christs Kingdom on Earth is Prophetically celebrated when his way shall be known upon Earth not in Heaven only and his saving health among all Nations not the Jews only as then or in Christendom as now when all the people shall praise him then it is said the earth shall yield her increase and all the ends of the earth shall fear him Now will it not be a violent suppression and muzling the Scripture to understand this of the Earth yielding her Increase meerly spiritually and mystically so Esa 65.16 He that blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth Shall we take this Earth of Spiritual things or rather is it not to declare to us the spiritual use and enjoyment that we shall have of Earthly blessings in that day which denies not nor takes away the Vse of them but rectifies it according to a third Scripture Esa 62.8.9 The Lord hath Sworn by his right hand and by the Arm of his Strength Surely I will no more give thy Corn to be meat for thine Enemies and the Sons of the strangers shall not drink thy Wine for which thou hast laboured but they that have gathered it shall eat it and praise the Lord and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the Courts of my Holyness as Israel was required to bring their special offerings as in liew of the whole and to eat and drink and rejoyce before the Lord under the Law So Zach. 9. last How great is his goodness and how great is his Beauty Corn shall make the young Men chearful and new Wine the Maids and Mal. 3.10 Bring ye all the Tithes into the Store-house that there may be meat in my house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of Hosts if I will not open you the windows of Heaven and pour out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it And I will rebuke the Devourer for your sake and he shall not destroy the Fruits of your ground neither shall your Vine cast her Fruit in the Field c. and if you say these are antiquated promises to the Jews I answer they hold to the worlds end and the last times of Christs Kingdom as they shall excell those past times in spiritual glory so they shall not come short of them in those outward promises We live upon the terms of the New Covenant as delivered by the Prophets to the Jews and that very New Covenant Jer. 31. is yet to give down its milk more freely then ever it hath done and see what is said of Israel when they return and it shall be made good to the whole Israel of God Gentiles as well as Jews They shall Sing in the heights of Sion and flow together to the goodness of the Lord for Wheat and for Wine and for Oyle and for the young of the flock and of the herd Jer. 31.12 Now how great confidence is required in that man that shall restrain these Scriptures to a spiritual meaning only I must confess it must be much greater then is with me Besides many others that might be alleadged from Esa 65. as promises of long life of planting Vineyards and building houses and long enjoying the works of their hands yea Esa 30.23.24 not only to Israel is promised their bread shall be fat and plenteous but that in that day Their Cattel shall feed in large Pastures the Oxen likewise and the young Asses that ear the ground shall eat clean Provender winnowed with the shovel and with the fan and the enmity of the Bruit creatures shall cease I dare not for a world say these things are meerly mystical and allegorical Sir I heartily close with you that the spirit of the Kingdom stands not in any nor in all these put together but in righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost but that all outward blessings are as the body the image the cloathing of this beautiful inward form and life is what I verily hope and believe If the particulars as already alleaged appear not of that force give me so much patience while I recollect them and give you a brief Synopsis of them together adding some other particulars to them whereby it may appear that so far is the Kingdom of Christ from not having in it any thing at all of worldly concernment that the whole Creation the World All the Kingdoms of the world will be found to be the concern of it till all be brought at last to lye in the Armes Bosom and Embraces of it as the whole World hath lain in the wicked one as it is govern'd influenced and mannaged by him Therefore is this Kingdom of Christ deservedly called 1. A New Creation not only Mystically and Radically or Seminally as in the present state of Faith and Suffering but manifestly and explicitely as grown up or risen into its own body and proper appearance Rev. 21.1.5 where we have the entireness of this Creation expresly recognized by the two constitutive parts of it a new Heaven and a new Earth can any thing be fuller And these words are true and faithful 2. This new Creation is a World and is so called Heb. 2.5 The world to come 3. This world
in our hearts by the Spirit this is another glass that conveys the eye-beams to the glass of his Person and to his Blood which he hath carried into the holy place and to his Glory that as our Forerunner he is there entered into for us so here is glass upon glass or one glass serving to another but all this while we see not the Face of God but as in a glass but our Lord Jesus in his second appearance will then be no longer a glass but the very face of God unto us then we shall not converse with him through the forementioned glasses of Scriptures of Ordinances of Graces or his spiritual Form begotten in our hearts but shall see face to face and know as we are known the Person of the Lord Jesus shall then give forth unto us the very Face the very Image the very Life the very glory of God therefore it is said he shall come in the glory of the Father this was that he said to Maâ—y Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father and this was that he said to his Disciples I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of this Vine until that day when I drink it now with you in my Fathers Kingdom Mat. 26.29 And when we shall thus immediately converse with this ever blessed and full object God our Father shining forth giving forth himself nakedly immediately fully through the Person of our Lord Jesus his essential Image how great must the fruit of such a sight of such a converse with God needs be how unspeakably great must that glory be that shall then be revealed in us Christ is in full glory already in himself but he hath not his full glory in us nay how small a portion hath he of it did not the Scriptures so abundantly testify of our imperfection our meanness were not our infirmity so great a part of Scripture Revelation our own sense and feeling our own experience might suffice to acquaint us with it but so utterly imperfect are we that we are not capable of our own imperfection without Scripture Revelation nay without Spirit Revelation and is this to be boasted as a state of perfection I will be bold to say The greatest perfection now is to know our imperfection They are the most perfect men that see most of their imperfection But shall we never attain a further perfection then a sence of imperfection Is this all the glory to be revealed in us the revelation of our shame no nor the covering of it neither by a Robe of imputation That Kingdom of God that is in us now in suffering must be in Reign in Triumph in Victory Isa 25.8 There is a victory in Faith in the present time that stays the Soul but the victory of Faith ends not the Battle but looks to this victory of that day of glory Isa 42.1 3. when the judgment that was given for us in Christs death or rather in his Resurrection shall be brought forth unto victory when our right shall be acknowledged and all our Rights Priviledges Immunities all the glorious Acquest of our great Captain the Lord Jesus shall be given forth paid in and performed to us All the promises all our hopes the hope of righteousness by saith Gal. 5 5. that Believers through the Spirit have waited for all along to that day when all the work that Sin hath made all the works of the Devil 1 Joh 3 8. All this dark scene of wrath and trouble that came in by Sin All these waters of the curse that have covered the face of the Earth since the Fall shall all be dryed up and pass away for ever This and not any thing short of this is the absolute perfection and glory of Christs Kingdom You will not say that this is actual and present it neither is nor can be so 1 Pet. 1.13 because it is that grace that is to be brought unto us at the Revelation of Jesus Christ as the Scriptures abundantly acquaint us It is so appointed by the Father It is his good pleasure which is enough to stop any further enquiry God is Love and as free as we can desire hath given us all things pertaining to life and godliness 2 Pet. 1.13 1 Joh. 5.11.12 but 't is through the knowledge of him even our Lord Jesus Christ He hath given us Eternal life but this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath Life He that hath not the Son hath not Life All his communications to us are by and through his Son and he hath cut out his work for him Joh. 12.49 50. ch 14.31 Act. 17.31 both for his first and second appearance and Christ takes it and finishes it up as his Father gives him command He hath appointed the day when he shall judge the world and when he shall save his people and that is at his second appearance Heb. 9. last And this work of Salvation can no more be performed so as God will have it be for his full glory and our full joy without Christs personal appearance the second time in glory then the work of reconciliation by his death could be without his coming in our infirmity the first time and therefore the Apostle in Gods behalf engages that God shall send him again Acts 3. and he shall bring him again into the world saith the Author to the Hebr. ch 1.6 Indeed the Salvation the Change the glory is too great for any hand to bring but Jesus Christ in Person But of this we may have occasion to speak more ere we have done I come to your fourth Position 4. Position That the Kingdom of God and of his Christ is a Kingdom of much meekness and gentleness and goodness and heavenly moderation in all the various appearances or administrations of it This position and all that stands under it is of so Mild so Humane so Generous so Christian an aspect that I shall desire even to be found peacably and amicably comporting with it and I thought to have passed it in silence without a word more but yet to prevent any misunderstanding and that I be not by this Applaudatory Testimony involved in any Concession prejudicial to my Cause give me leave to subjoyne these two or three Animadversions following 1. That though Christs Kingdome be a Kingdom of much meekness and gentleness and goodness c. Yet that Christ is a Lyon as well as a Lamb and that this Lamb hath his Wrath as well as his Meekness Rev. 5.5 and chap. 6.16 And that his Enemies must expect to feel the one as his subjects servants and friends shall find the other 2. That both the Gentleness and the wrath of the Lamb have their times and their seasons and each is beautiful in its season the present time or the times of the militant state are times while the gentleness the patience the long-suffering of God waits upon his Enemies and all that time
and the Holy Ghost entirely within themselves in the unity of the God-head where God and his Kingdom God and all his works are one This is the Original Kingdom the head of all here both God and his Kingdom are properly invisible to any created Eye 1 Kings 8.12 or understanding dwelling in thick darkness as Solomon saith possessing all entirely to and within himself in an incommunicable glory this is properly the Kingdom of the Father The Kingdom of Christ is the Mediatory Kingdom wherein Christ as God-man is set up from everlasting in Heaven in a heavenly state and glory to make forth to created understanding the invisible glories of God and of his Kingdom as a living Image and representation thereof Of this state of Christs Person and Kingdom before the world Solomon speaks by the Spirit in a most high and divine strain Prov. 8. from v. 12. to v. 32. and our Saviour himself recognizeth it in those expressions of the Son of Man in Heaven and in that Prayer Joh. 17. Joh. 3.13 Glorâ— thou me with the glory I had with thee before the world was And the Apostle Paul Phil. 2. saith He was in the form of God Both these Kingdoms which are one though distinguished are eternal from eternity and to eternity suffering no dammage or diminution by time or any the chances changes or injuries of time In both which known to God and known to Christ Act. 15.18 are all their works from the foundations of the world In the Kingdom of God there Christ as a Mystery and all things else created and increated lay in the Bosom of the Father In the Kingdom of Christ in this Heavenly state The world and all the times of it lay in the Mediatory bosom before they were brought forth into actual existence in themselves So the Apostle saith We were chosen in him before the foundations of the world Eph. 1.4 and he is before all things Col. 1.17 and in him all things consist and stand in a most harmonious frame and he is the head of the body the Church 1 Cor. 11.3 Rev. 5.5.20.16 who is the beginning and the head of every man the head of this world In this state is Christ properly the rooâ— of David and of all things which lay eternally as a Mystery hid in him and there lay his own humanity which in time he was to take up of the Virgin as He and all his Mediatory Kingdom and glory was a mystery hid in God Eph. 3.9 But now in the second place there is a state of this glorious Mediator and of his Kingdom revealed on earth which is properly the Subject of our debate that the will of God may be done on Earth by the Son of Man on earth and in the state of his Kingdom on earth as it is done in Heaven in and by the Son of man in Heaven and in the heavenly state of his Kingdom there which is the second Petition that follows in that Doctrine of Prayer which our Saviour instructs us in immediately following upon the first Thy Kingdom come Now this Kingdom of Christ may also be considered in a twofold state viz. In a state of exercise and suffering and this state lasts from the fall of man who being set in honour continued not and runs down through all the times of this degenerate world till Christs second and glorious appearance 1 Rev. 9. and is called by John in his Revelation the Kingdom and Patience of Jesus Christ The other state of Christs Kingdom is the Victory and Triumph Esa 25.8 when he even his Father who hitherto worketh with the Son Joh. 5.17 and the Son worketh also shall have put all Enemies under his Feet 1 Cor. 15.24 27. and shall put down all Rule Authority and Power as it is inimical or contrary to him and this state of the Kingdom is called Peace Esa 9.7 and rest ch 11.10 his rest shall be glorious and this properly is that Kingdom whereof we enquire Now Sir having premised this distinction of the Kingdom of God and his Christ let us apply it This state of Christs Kingdom in peace in rest and victory in the visible manifestation of it to every created understanding and eye you can by no means say was from everlasting nor hath been all the times of this world but hath its proper times to be exhibited and those in the end of this old corrupt degenerated world by its appearing it will make all things anew and will be the restitution of all things That which may be a vail before our eyes in discerning this Truth is the glorious things that are spoken of this present state of the City of God and the Kingdom of Christ in the present state of it in Faith in which it is truly a Kingdom though a suffering Kingdom and gets the better of all its opposers though not without blows and blood and it gives rest and peace to all the subjects of it mystical inward and spiritual rest and peace Heb. 4.3 1 Pet. 1.8 Isa 26.3 Philip. 4.7 Psal 110.2 in the midst of enemies and troubles for we which have believed do enter into rest and rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory and our minds are kept in perfect peace even with a peace which passeth all understanding and so Christ rules in the midst of his Enemies and God hath given us the Victory 1 Cor. 15.57 through our Lord Jesus Christ yea we are come to Mount Sion Heb. 12.22 the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem Eph 2.6 1 Joh. 5.4 Joh. 12.31.16.17 and are set down with Christ in heavenly places having overcome the world by Faith and the Prince of this World is judged and cast out and we inherit all things But we must remember all this glory is in death and suffering and under the Cross both inwardly and outwardly and all the life and glory that we feel and experience is but to carry us up under the Cross and dying of the Lord Jesus as the Apostle at large discourses 2 Cor. 4 from the 7. verse to the 15. and in that refreshing Ordinance of the Supper we shew forth the Lords Deaâ—h till he come which death being the gate of life all Believers in their successive generations are passing through and will or must be so till the Lord come This is the gate to the City Rev. 22.14 call'd there Gates because through many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of God and as Christs suffering was his great Obedience called obedience unto Death and is that which is meant by that phrase Lo I come to do thy will O God So this is the doing of Gods will and commandments by Believers the presenting their Bodies a living Sacrifice thereby proving by experience the good and acceptable and perfect will of God This is the way to the City which the fool that is drunken with the Spirit of
whom God shall bring with his Son at his next appearing and then there were Peter James and John as representing the whole number of Disciples or Surviveing Saints and there was between both these departed and Christ and between Christ and his Disciples familiar converse and discourse in and during that Scene of Glory Now such as the earnest is such must the full payment be in the same Coyn it were a grand Soletism to state a glorious Kingdome of Christ with out Christ appearing in glory in that Kingdom and therefore David in the prophetical view he takes of this day Psal 68.17 Sees the Lord among them as in Sinai in the holy place and the Prophet Micah when he sees by the same spirit the full reduction of Israel sees their King passing before them and Lord on the head of them Mich. 2. last But Secondly how can it be otherwise but that the Lord must appear from Heaven in this glorious state of his Kingdom because of the great the Stupendiously great and ineffable works that are then to be done the ministry and effecting whereof is committed to Christ and to this his glorious appearing so that here is a complex argument the things to be done are singular rare extraordinary effects and they are such as will yeild to no power but that of the Lord Jesus in person as the raising of the dead and the judgment of the quick and dead and the changing of the surviving Saints there is no man in his wits will say these are the works of every time nor of any times but Christ's being reserved to those times for the glory of Christ and of his appearance as it was his voice that shook the earth at the giving of the Law so it is his voice that must now shake Heaven and Earth both Heb. 12. last It is his Voice must raise the dead Joh. 5.28 Not only the Mystical dead in Sins and Trespasses by his mistical or Spiritual voice put forth in the Ministry of the Gospel of which he may be understood to speak ver 25. in manifest difference from his way of speaking here but the dead properly and therefore whereas of the other he had said ver 25. The hour is coming and now is He saith not so of this hour ver 28. that it now is but that it is coming which is meant of his personal voice even as by his personal voice he raised Lazarus This is indeed marvelous in comparison wherewith the other though very marvelous yet hath no marvel in it and therefore out Saviour says marvel not at this yet Christ having said it who shall dare to question it So likewise Christ in person is to be Judge of all men Christ appearing as man in that forementioned 17th of Acts. though this man is God also So also the times of refreshing depend or derive themselves from the presence of the Lord they issue and now from that Bosom Act. 3.19 and that we might not put it off with a spiritual presence the next words shew it is personal and he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you not Christ shall send the comforter but the Father shall send Jesus again whom the Heavens must receive untill the times of the restitution of all things what violence must be offered to these and 20 other Scriptures if we allow not these times of refreshing and this restitution of all things to be not of all times but special times and to come in with the revelation of Christ's glorious person from Heaven therefore he is called in Malachy the Sun of righteousness who with his chearing warming enlivening rayes and influence shall both enlighten and quicken his own dead body first through them all things in their just order I confess they that state the utmost glory of Christs Kingdom to lie in the reformation of the old state of things to a better degree only are not obliged by that their judgment to expect Christ's personal appearance in the work his spiritual appearance or the power of his spirit in the way of Faith having already succeeded in that work and done much and being able to do more but it is not a higher or better degree of what now is that will answer the heart and design of this Love nor the grounded hopes and expectations of the Saints but a new state of things an old thing is but an old thing still be it repaired never so firmly and so is an old state the new state hath a new root and springs up in a new Image But these are but Terms let us attend the thing the Root of this new state is the person of the Lord Jesus called the Lord from Heaven the Lord that spirit that quickening spirit and such as he is such must the state be that is brought forth by him as is the Heavenly such must they then appear to be when he shall appear for he shall then appear in glory in the glory of the Father in the glory of a quickening spirit he is a quickening spirit now and we are now the Sons of God but it doth not yet appear but is hid in God his appearing is when he shall appear in us in changing us we mistake Christ's appearance if we look on it only us an objective appearance as a glorious object that shall affect our natural sences though he is and will then be a most glorious object but if we be not furnished with Spiritual sences to take in his glory we shall be confounded by it as all his enemies on whom he shall let it forth will be but if Christ should do no more but set himself in the eye of his people as a glorious object this were not to appear as a quickening spirit to appear as a quicknening spirit is to appear in a work of transformaâ—ion throughout to the transforming of Soul and body therefore it is said when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is that is we shall see him as a quickening spirit by the power whereof our very Bodies shall be changed and made like unto his glorious body and this he shall do in an instant in the twinkling of an eye for that is the working of a spirit much more of this quickning spirit therefore ir is said his reward is with him and his work before him a quickening spirit carries his own effect in his own efficiency certainty presently at once and in an an instant It works not long and leisurely gradually and successively that is the difference between the present state and that how long are we getting Victory over corruption but no soone shall Christ appear as a quickening spirit but sin shall be so utterly annihilated as if it had never been neither root nor Branch of it left to them that look for him shall he appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex secundo the second time without sin unto salvation But this is
have taken it for the last and general Judgment whereof it was a lively figure and representation Revel 6. from 12. to the end 5. The next coming of Christ is his coming upon the man of sin after he had by the space of a thousand years fixed his throne and Usurpation over all Christendome for the generallity of it called the Holy City Setting himself in the Temple of God whom the Lord by the Spirit of his mouth in his witnesses and reformers consumes and brings to a skeleton in order to destroy him with the brightness of his coming Now as all the appearances of Christ to the Fathers and the Prophets were gradual and preparatory workings to his first Personal appearance wherein and wherewith also he ministred the light and notice of his second appearance so all these several comings of Christ since his ascention are so many gradual steps and preparations to his second and glorious Personal appearance and coming And as none of those appearances of his to the Fathers and the Prophets were his first personal appearance such as was promised and intended by God and expected by those that believed the promises so neither do any of these comings since Christs ascention discharge the promise of God or the expectation of believers but that they groundedly expect not only a farther and fuller Revelation of Christ but a Personal appearance and descending of the Son of man from Heaven bodily after the same manner as he appeared the first time and as he ascended though in a far greater glory which second appearance of his in person will finish our Salvation as his first did perfect our reconciliation The necessity of this second and personal appearance for these ends will appear more clearly after we have removed one objection which may lie in the minds of many it is this Christ is a spirit a quickning spirit the Lord that spirit His Body is spiritual a spiritual body can act at a distance why therefore may not all that is to be performed for the Church be done by Christ without changing his place why must we needs understand his descending from Heaven to be Local visible and bodily Why may not a vertual presence serve the turn and especially when the phrase of Scripture favours such a sence for it is said he cometh in a cloud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 21.27 and he shall descend from Heaven in a shout in the voice of the Archangel in the Trump of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if the shout the voice of the Archangel the Trump of God were the vehicle and the vertue or power of Christ put forth therein were all the appearance he makes and all the voice he puts forth and not his Organical voice It was the voice of Angels that shook the earth at the giving of the Law though it be call'd his voice he putting forth his power therewith and with that voice and with that effect is this shaking of Heaven and Earth parallel'd Heb. 12. To which may be added that Christ is God as well as Man and hath all power in Heaven and Earth and his very humane Nature is carried up to the right hand of power and in association with his Divine Nature is thereby qualified to act as a spirit yea as God and the Centurion could say when he sought Christ for his servant and Christ told him he would come and heal him speak but the word and thy servant shall be healed as much as to say no need of Local motion or corporal application to all which I answer 1. Of the power of Christ who is the true God and eternal life there is no dispute He can do whatsoever he pleases by a word by a Beck by a motion of his will nor do we limit circumscribe or give Laws to a spiritual body which in the spirit is and can act as the spirit so that the question is not of what is simply possible to Christ but the question is what is the will the counsel the determination and appointment of the Father 2. The same argument will lie against the necessity of Christ's first Personal appearance for Christ was the Lamb slain from the Foundations of the world in the eye of God and his Sacrifice did operate as an atonement with and on the behalf of all the faithful from the begining and they beheld this Sacrifice and reaped the comfort of it in all their Sacrifices under the Law yet all this made not the personal appearance of the Lamb of God in flesh needless for all those figures had their vertue from this and all the Faith of the Saints look unto this in those shadows Now if notwithstanding all this it was necessary that Christ should come in the flesh and fulfil those shadows that pointed to him which had else all been in vain The cause is the same here in respect of his second appearance for all the judgments that have been hitherto shewed and executed on Jews or Heathens for resisting Christ or on the Antichristian world for mocking of Christ have not yet succeeded so as to make Christ's Victory perfect to put all Enemies under his feet nor all the Salvation outward or inward that he hath wrought for his followers have not given them rest from all their labour and sorrow Isa 14.3 and hard Bondage wherein they have been made to serve both inward and outward they have not yet received the hope Gal. 5.5 or Harvest of the righteousness of Faith but wait for it they have not yet received the quiet and full possession and fruition of their inheritance Eph. 1.14 neither of Heaven nor Earth but only the earnest of it The whole payment awaits this second glorious Personal appearance of the Lord Jesus from Heaven Not but that the things are great which have been done by the spirit and were Faith improved what a glorious improvement farther might be made of our present state and interest but as that first ministration of the Law though glorious in its end and tendency Yet as that end drew near did Sink and became less powerful in the Letter and even declined as a shadow and came to nothing so this ministration of the Gospel from Christ's first appearance may be expected to be with the generallity of professors of Christianity as Christ's second appearance comes on insomuch that the very Faith of it will be even vanished out of the Earth Luk. 18.8 And little but the form of goodliness without the power to be found among many if not the most of professors yea the sincere the true seed will be sensible of great sailours great decayes of spirit Isa 32 1◠to relieve which is that promise of the spirit to be poured from on high on the wilderness the latter raine and of sending Elias Joel 2.23 Mal. 4.5 to turn the heart of the Fathers to the Children and
in the night that shall lift up their voice and sing for the Majesty of the Lord when the shadow of Death shall dwell upon all the Inhabitants of the Earth As it fared with the Jews from the times of the second Temple the state of their worship and civil policy was sinking and declining every day more and more after that little reviving and that little help wherewith they were holpen in the dayes of the Maccabees as the day of Christs first appearance drew nearer and nearer whereby they that waited not for the consolation of Israel and looked not with some comfortable assurance and evidence for that Redemption in Jerusalem were in a most deplorable and desponding condition so hath it for a long time succeeded with surrogated Israel since the new Erection of Churches collapsed and faln during the long Babilonish Captivity under the Beast and so it will be more and more as Christ withdraws as a Bridegroom from us in the comforts of his first appearance as he did from his Disciples for a little time by his Death during which time they Mourned and had Sorrow as a Woman when her hour is come till he visited them again in the Spirit which was for an instruction to us in Type and Figure of his withdrawing the Comforts of his first Appearance before his great illustrious and visible appearance in Person the second time This is that Song in the Night even the hope and expectation of this Appearance that is to relieve us in this mystical Night which therefore it concerns us to state aright according to Scripture Rule and evidence both for time and manner that our joy may be grounded regular and full which otherwise will be Lame and totter if we place it not upon both the Leggs and Bases of it his Person as well as his Spirit his Presence as well as his Power In this light I hope and express it again The shadows of the evening are not so far stretch-out upon you and me but we may yet meet and rejoice in the mutual communicating of our right and regular apprehensions touching this Kingdom of Christ and the near the very near approaching glory of it when and whereby it is that you will substract and withdraw from a CARNAL PARTY that matter of joy which you have without an Evil Designe I verily hope and believe Ministred unto them by your appearing against this hope and expectation In which hope I rest Dear Sir Consider what I say and the Lord give you unstanding in all things Octob. 16. 1676. Your affectionate friend Brother and Servant in our great and dear Lord J. S. A Brief Synopsis of the most material evidence for the drawing nigh of our Redemption contained in each Sermon of that little Book I sent you intituled News of a New World IN the first Sermon the four Watches mentioned by our Saviour Mark 13.35 are open'd as measuring all the Times from his Ascension to his second personal coming and are distinctly applyed viz. the evening contains all that time from Christs departure to the rising of Antichrist in which space of time these three remarkable Events do accur 1. Jerusalem was destroyed 2. The Churches of Asia were dismantled And 3dly Heathenism was abolished in the Roman Empire This time lasted to the opening of the sixth Seal and Constantines coming to the Empire The midnight Watch which is the darkest and most dangerous Watch wherein all are wrapt up in sleep is also the longest continuing all the times both of the Beasts Growth and Rampancy by the space of a thousand years during which mystical Night Isa 30.29 Rev. 14.13 the Church the Invisible Church had a mystical Song and Reign with Christ which the rest of the world understood not The Cock-Crowing-Watch began from the times of Reformation about the year 1300 with the fifth Trumpet lasting all the times of that Trumpet and great part of the sixth till the pouring forth of the sixth Phyal Then saith the Lord Behold I come as a Thief and from thence fourthly commenceth the Morning-Watch containing but a short space of time but of great moment and consequence being as I humbly conceive Daniels 45 Prophetical days from the end of his 1290 days which commencing about the year 1650 are so far past as from that time and have left but 18 or 19 years to compleat the 1335 days which bring us to that time whereof the Spirit himself saith Blessed is He that waiteth and cometh thereunto And whereas it is said Ye know not when the Master of the house cometh whether at Even or at Midnight or at the Cock-Crowing or in the Morning It is there shewed that this is not to involve the second personal and glorious coming of Christ in uncertainty but to shew a concern All ages would have in one coming of his or other all the former being but preliminary or leading in a way of gradual growth and preparation to his last coming In that Sermon also is shewed the necessity of Christs spiritual and powerful coming in our Spirits without which his outward personal coming will be of no advantage to us and also the necessity of his personal coming to those that know his spiritual and powerful coming in some measure as a glorious Ministry to awaken and call up that life of the Spirit of Christ that lies bound as in a sleep even in the Saints themselves And thus his spiritual and his personal appearance are reconciled and it is manifest we rest not in a visible and personal appearance without the spirit and power of that appearance revealed and working in us no more then we may rest in a spiritual appearance or the hopes of his personal Appearance without the thing it self in due time to be performed The import of the second Sermon is to shew that the times of the Man of Sin are expired and the times of Christs second glorious appearance are drawing on a pace and very near 1. From the Calculation of the Prophetical Periods both in Daniel and the Revelation 2. From the opening of the signs of the times given by our Saviour and Recorded by three of the Evangelists In the calculation is shewed the Agreement of both the Prophets Daniel and John in the term of expiration though they differ in their Epocha The one viz. Daniels time measuring the conculcation of his People and Nation by the four Monarchies and Johns number of 1260 days measuring the answerable treading down of the holy City among the Gentiles by the Papacy Accordingly the Epocha of the former is pitcht from Julian about the year of Christ 360 the latter from the time of that Famous defeat of Eugenius by Theodosius in which the life and cause of Heathenism in the Roman Empire expired and way was made for the man of Sin to get up into the Temple of God which was about the year 390 but both these times viz. of 1290 days in Daniel and 1260