other Light God and the Lamb are the Temple of it that cannot be defiled The City hath the Tree of Life Bearing Twelve several kinds of Fruit viz. an universality and perfection of Life and a River of Life Clear as Chrystal Proceeding from the Throne Heb. 12. 25. Rev. c. 20. c. 21. c. 22. Q. But how does so Great a State and the so High Expressions of it work as to the Delivery up of the Kingdom to God All in All and to Christ as the Bond of union A. These Two ways First That the State of Delivery up of the Kingdom to God All in All cannot be better expounded to us then in those so divine words of our Lord in his Mediatory Prayer John 17. 21. That They All may be one as Thou Father art in me And I in Thee That They also may be one in us that the World may Believe that Thou hast sent me And the Glory which Thou gavest me Have I given Them that They may be one as we are one I in Them and Thou in me That they may be made perfect in one and that the World may Believe that Thou hast sent me and hast loved Them as Thou hast loved me Father I will that Those which Thou hast given me may be with me where I am and may Behold my Glory which Thou hast given me For Thou loved'st me before the Foundation of the World Oh! Righteous Father The World hath not known Thee But I have known Thee And These have known that Thou hast sent me And I have declared to them Thy Name and will declare it that the Love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in Them and I in Them Q What Arises from these words to our present purpose A. First That so High Expressions can fit no State but of God All in All even as He was before the Foundation of the World All in All and to which State Our Lord's words so much Refer when All the Saints are thus one with God in Christ then is He thus All in All as before the World began Secondly That as this State Requires the Highest Purification of which the Purification of the Virgins for the Royal Bed of Ahasuerus is but a dark Emblem so no Expressions of such a preparatory Purification but as before Represented in the New Jerusalem and Kingdom of Christ can be parallel to such a Purification But They Reach it and Admirably Reach it The present State of Sanctification is much too Low for it The Purity of the Bride the Lambs Wife and of the Saints in this Kingdom Rises to it Thirdly All this Preparation and this Eternal Vnion is in the Eternal word who was with the Father and One with him and whom the Father loved before the Foundation of the World And He thus prepares his Saints not only in this State though here also but in his Kingdom most Highly Compleatly Perfectly and therefore especially John 17. 24. 26. Q. Give me the second way how so Great a State and so High Expressions of it work to the Delivery up of the Kingdom to God All in All A. In that although this Kingdom of Christ be so Holy so Heavenly so Pure so much of God in it and so Happy and Blessed in Christ and in his Saints yet because It is the Kingdom of the Man Christ Jesus and of his Saints in a visible Created Glory and not the Highest Vnion to God All in All Christ Gives this Last Declaration of the Name that is of the Nature and Glory of God He freely Delivers up this his Kingdom and the Son as in humane Nature suffers most willingly that Glory of Himself and of his Saints to be Swallow'd up by God All in All and unites them with Himself to the Father as He is the Eternal word and so They are with Him for ever Beholding the Glory He had with the Father before the World was which is the Highest Instance of self-denial of all Created Glory and Giving up All to God All in All that could be given John 17. 5. Q. What Signs are there of such a Preparation in the Kingdom of Christ for God All in All A. In Token of this this State is call'd a Sabbatism a Paradise There is a Tree of Life and a River of Life All which Point to the Higher Perfection of Vnion with God All in All then was even in that Kingdom of Christ Even as Priesthood and a Temple-State do For though God and the Lamb be the Temple Yet God being our Temple is not so High as our Vnion to God All in All. Q. How does the State of the wicked Agree with this so High State of the Kingdom of Christ in preparation to their being cast into the Lake when God is All in All A. Their being in a Visible State and beholding the Glory of Christ and of his Saints in a Visible State gives them that Conviction that the Father sent Christ that He Loved the Saints as He Loved Christ that They are Forc'd to Know and to Believe it For this They could not see here but would be Highly perswaded of the Contrary And when the Saints are Delivered up to God All in All and They in the Lake It is not then to be seen by Them In this Kingdom then It must be seen And yet in this very State they being Irreconcileable to the Divine Kingdom They are even with the Comfort of the Saints Beholding their Abhorr'd State and way Cast into the Lake that They might be no more Annoyance to the Divine Kingdom but at an utter Separation from it Remembred no more cut off for ever from the Hand of God in a Land of Silence Forgetfulness and Vtter Darkness Ezek. 14. 22. Rev. 20. last Q. But how are the Saints below Fitted then for this State of being Deliver'd up to God All in All A. They having their part in all the Priviledges of the Saints above and being Caught up to Christ before the Delivery up of the Kingdom are thereby fitted to be Deliver'd up with All Saints and to be united to God All in All. Q. But seeing the Saints of Christ have been also All Sinners and many of Them very Great Sinners and some not brought home to Christ till Death Whereas many of the Lost have been of Fair and Innocent Lives how can such a difference in this Visible State of the Resurrection consist with the Glory of Justice then to be manifested A. The Infinite Richness of Grace having made in All the Saints the Great difference of Vnion to Christ in the Glory of whose Righteousness They Appear and thereby in the Participation of the Divine Nature Their Sins are so Blotted out through the Blood of the Lamb in this State of Re-enlivening as though They are sought for They cannot be found And even the Works of the Few Moments of Holy Action as of Converts how near Death soever Follow Them and are so enlarg'd by the
Kingdom of Christ preparing to Cleanse his Sanctuary for his Kingdom 1772 So we must be in the 2218 Even Morn Q. Why then did not the Papacy wholly Fall at the Reformation A. That there might be as punctual a performance of the Full Time of the Three Times and a Half to the Papacy as could consist with the Kingdom of Christ to which some Appearance was at that Time due Q. Can the Reformation then be perfect A. No For the Thunders that open'd to it were Seal'd and There are They of the Synagogue of Sathan that stay the Glory of it till the Philadelphian State come And then even They shall worship at Philadelphia's Feet Rev. 3. 9. c. 10. 4. Q. When shall that be A. At the very same Time when the Popacy falls For They of the Synagogue stand by that Title and then Bow For Christ makes them by Grace so to Worship that is to Bow Q. How can such a Computation consist with No One Knowing of that Day and Hour not the Angels nor the Son but the Father only Mark 13. 32. A. God is said therefore as on purpose to Give the Revelation to Jesus Christ to shew to his Servants what before was only in the Father's Cognizance And then Blessed is He that Reads or Expounds and They who Hear or understand what is so Reveal'd by God to Christ. Revel 1. 1. 3. Q. But Christ further says Watch for you Know not the Day nor the Hour when your Lord cometh Mark 13. 35. A. That Watch is a Spiritual Watch without which tho' a Man Knew the day or Hour never so precisely Yet He would not Know the day and Hour of his Lords coming but It would be to Him as of a Theif in the Night and as a man dics in that Watch or the neglect of it So Christ comes upon Him tho' many Hundred Years after Death if It were not such a Watch the Apostle had discharg'd the Thessalonians of it by Adjuring them not to expect the day of Christ till after the Apostasie and in Them all Christians after till that Apostasie expire 2 Thess 2. 1. Q. Are the Thousand Years of Christ's Kingdom Litterally or Mystically to be understood A. They are both ways to be understood Litterally Adding so many Years to the Time Allotted to the Visible Creation till All be Deliver'd up to God Himself Mystically as a Thousand Years are a Cube of Time signifying the perfection of Time which none of the Patriarchs after Adams Fall could Attain how near soever They came to it Gen. 5. Q. Is it no Impeachment to the Kingdom of Christ never ending that Sathan is loos'd at the end of the 1000 Years and Deceives the Nations to a new Attempt A. No For It only gives Just occasion to Christ to magnifie his Power Judiciary Authority Justice and the Final Putting down All Rule and Power and Subduing the Last Enemies the Devil the Dead and Death and Hell And having Quickly drawn up all the Living Saints to his Own Throne first according to 1 Cor. 15. 24. 51. 1 Thess 4. 17. Rev. c. 3. 21. Rev. 20. and so Giving up the Kingdom every way perfectly prepar'd to God All in All the Glory of having Faithfully managed and happily Atcheiv'd All Things is for ever due to Him John 17. 24. Q. Are the Worship and Ordinances of the New Testament any way Prefigurative of this Kingdom of Christ A. Very Fully For the Gospel is the Gospel and word of this Kingdom The Prayer we stile The Lords Prayer is the Prayer of this Kingdom Taught to all his Disciples The Lords Day is the Type and Pledge of that Sabbatism Baptism is the Figure of being Sav'd 1 Pet. 3. 21. from that Deluge of Fire The Lords Supper is the shewing forth his Death till He Come 1 Cor. 11. 26. Then that Passover is fullfill'd and that Fruit of the Vine drunk New Luc. 22. 16. 18. Nor can any of the Old Testament Types Prophecies and Promises be Fully Drawn out but in that Kingdom and Appearance So that in Summ it is the Everlasting Gospel God hath always been Gospelizing throughout the Old and New Testament Rev. 10. 7. Q. But if These Truths are of this Great Weight Can the Churches of the Saints be so unacquainted with Them A. Even as the Jewish Saints and the very Apostles were Ignorant of the Sacrifice Resurrection Ascention and Intercession of Christ so Fundamental Points till the Powring down the Spirit for Preaching the Gospel then Even so and much more may the Saints of Gospel Times even now till the Second Powring down the Spirit for the Preaching the Everlasting Gospel be and have been Ignorant of the Full Dimensions of the Redemption of Christ Fulfill'd in his Kingdom of the Glory of that Oeconomy to the Highest Glory of God the Father in his Creation and Love of Man of the Resurrection as such a visible Appearance of the Just and Vnjust for a Thousand Years the Dead in Christ Rising first Of the Mystery of the Saints Remaining and Living on Earth making up the Full Number of all Saints and not Dying but being Chang'd of the necessity according to this Oeconomy of the Infinitely Holy and Wise Being of such a Preparation for the Saints as Priests of God and Christ a Thousand Years to be Vnited to God All in All And notwithstanding this Ignorance They may be True Churches of Saints but the nearer the Time Approaches the Slowness of Heart to Know and Believe these Things will Argue a greater Lukewarmness for the Kingdom Glory and Coming of Christ and It hath been all along a dark Shade of the Apostasie upon the Churches Q. What Spirit are we then to be of with Relation to the coming of Christ in this his Kingdom A. Of the Vehement and even Passionate Spirit of the Bride which says Come Make hast my beloved to the Mountain of Spices Anointed for thy Kingdom with that Precious Oyntment that Antichrist now Counterfeits to his Death as the Great Prince Messiah the Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec and thy Saints as Kings and Priests with Thee in that Great Day of thy Nuptials in thy Kingdom Rev. 22. 17. Cantic 8. 14. Exod. 30. 33. Psal 110. 4. Rev. 20. 2. Q. You seem to have forgotten this Marriage so great an Emblem of the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ in Scripture A. I Reserv'd it as the Best Wine for the Last For it is indeed most often so made use of in Holy Writing by Solomon in that most Prophetick Nuptial Song of his of the Kingdom by Esay c. 62. 5. by Christ often and He makes his Coming to be on purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the sake of the Wedding and not as we Translate from it Luc. 12. 36. By the Apostle Paul Calling it as the Kingdom is Call'd Mystery Ephes 5. 25. 32. By the Apostle John in the Prophecy of the Kingdom just Appearing Rev. 19. 7. c. 21. 2. c. 22. 17. And it Carries Great Argument and Instruciton Q. What is the Argument A. That the Kingdom which is this Wedding every where in Scripture is not yet For the Bridegroom is now Taken from us as Christ Foretold He would be Luc 5. 35. Nor can it be at the Kingdom Deliver'd up For the Second Adam of which the First Adam's and Eves Marriage was the Type who is the Bridegroom is then the Bridegroom no longer But He Unites Himself with the Bride to the Father All in All John 17. 21. c. Q. What is the Instruction A. In Three Things 1. That even the Wise Virgins not Bearing this New Wine in their Old Bottles slumber even as the Foolish though with Oyl in their Vessels Grace in their Hearts which the Foolish not Having were shut out Mat. 25. 1. c. And 2. That we ought to be in Fasting and Sackcloth as the Children of the Bride-Chamber all these Days of the Bridegrooms being Taken from us Luc 5. 35. 3. That we should Hearing with an Ear to Hear and Thirsting most Affectionately to the Bridegrooms Saying Behold I come Quickly Resound Even so come Lord Jesus That He may say to us in Grace Come Then Also and with me Drink the Water of Life Freely And that we may do Thus The Grace of the Lord Jesus be with us All. Amen Rev. 22. 17. to the End FINIS
THE CATECHISM OF THE KINGDOM OF OUR Lord Jesus Christ IN THE Thousand Years Shewing by Scripture That the Great Articles of the Redemption the Resurrection the Mystery of the Saints not Dying but Chang'd the Judgment the Delivery up of the Kingdom to God All in All cannot be Explain'd at Full Dimensions without it Luke 1. 4. That thou mayest know the Certainty of the Things wherein Thou hast been Catechized or Instructed London Printed for the Author 1690. To the Bishops Assembled in Parliament And to the Evangelical Episcopacy throughout the Protestant Acts 2â— 28. 1 Pet. 5. 2. Churches of Christ in these Nations Grace Mercy and Peace from God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ by the Eternal Spirit I Have heretofore Represented to you the Majesty and Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ that shall Seven Times hence after the Expiration of the Apostasie now Ecclipsing it be Daily more and more Visible Till it shine out in perfect Glory This I have done according to the Sure Word of Prophecy which is of no private Interpretation but being Scripture must be search'd even as All other Scripture and so be as All other Scripture Profitable and it hath this Excellency above other Scripture That It particularly shines as a Light in a Dark place viz. In this Time of Eclipse or as the Pole-Star in the Night that we may know whereabout we are in Time and State Yet because the General Prepossession of Men Caring for none of these Things would not have Prophetic Scripture Search'd that I might make Acceptable this Great Truth every way I have now Represented it as It is Carv'd and Wreath'd into the whole Analogy of Faith the Great Articles and Principles of the Doctrine of Christ according to the most Instructive Scriptures viz. the Redemption the Resurrection the Eternal Judgment the Saints not Dying but Chang'd the Delivery up of the Kingdom to God All in All which cannot be without the Kingdom of Christ Explain'd at full Dimensions Now I call the Following Treaty hereof a Catechism as an Intimation of the Plain manner of Handling for the benefit of All and of the necessity of Consideration and Repeated Application of our Minds to it and also to shew The Kingdom of Christ though it yet lye Hid in its Roots the Fore-nam'd Articles is still a Fundamental Truth and so though Catechism may seem below your Orb yet This of the Kingdom of Christ even as All Catecheticall Truths deserves the Gravest and most Awful Judgments to Try and Recommend Them I do Acknowledge my self the unworthiest of the Servants of Christ in the most Abased Circumstances and lay my self at the Feet of the Church of Christ with most Penitential Confessions and Acknowledgments Yet I must be Bold in our God to say He hath been pleased to Reveal to me of an Infant Understanding in Compare and the Chief of Sinners what He hath not so fully Reveal'd to the more Holy and Prudent Even so Father For so It seemed Good in thy sight I most Humbly therefore Beseech and do even Adjure you by the Coming of our Lord Jesus and by our Gathering together to Him in the General Assembly of his Kingdom That You would either shew by Scripture These Things cannot be so or Receive this Ministery as the Oracles of God and Testify your Regard to it that now makes in your Ears the cry of the Bridegrooms Coming in his Kingdom That none of us may be among the Slumbring though Wise Virgins much less among the Foolish And You to whom This Address will first Come ought to be the more Watchful because the Worldly Splendor of Your Sphere not so well Agrees with the present Ecclipse of Christian Glory with the Tribulation and Patience of the Kingdom of Christ and that Sackcloth and Fasting state for the Bride-grooms Absence You should then surmount that Disagreement by more Eminent Services to this Kingdom least There should seem Any Surrogation in the Reformation to the Feet of Clay the Papacy the Cardinalism the Roman Hicrarchy who as the most Diametral opposites to the Kingdom of Christ Receive the First Stroke of the Stone Cut out of the Mountains without Hands and so You Receive the Dishonour of any part in their Fall at least of Lukewarmness for that Glory of Christ Or least as They by a False Glory as if 't were the Glory of Christ Glittering in this worldly Glory Rob the True Light and are Effaced by that True Light Appearing or its Epiphany You should at all share in that Effacement That we may be therefore All Guided by the Father of Lights with whom is no Variation nor Shaddow of Turning to Try the Spirit of this Doctrine and not to Call the Light of it Darkness but to Come perfectly out of the present Ecclips to Go on to Perfection in the Doctrine of Christ is and shall be the most zealous Prayer of Your most Humble most Affectionate Servant in the Gospel of the Kingdom Tho. Beverley The General PREFACE To all Christians I Know it will be said with Plausibleness against this Following Catechism We had rather Preach and Hear of the Plain Safe Fundamental Points of Faith and Repentance of the Resurrection of the Dead and of Eternal Judgment in the Ordinary way of Discourse The Old Wine we have Tasted is Better We will not as it were Ask a Sign and Tempt God in Isay c. 7. seeking to understand Prophecies and Mysteries But is it not enough for you to weary Men but will ye weary my God also who hath given you Prophecy to search it and the Strong meat of Scripture and not only the Milk as to Children unskillfull in the word of Righteousness He hath commanded you to leave not by way of Forsaking the Word of the Beginning of Christ but to Go on to perfection not dishonourably staying in Foundations without a Superstructure He hath given you the Example of steddy Resolution herein This we Heb. c. 5. 11. c. 6. 1. will do if God permit He hath in a Figure Represented to you the Primitive Christian Church not doing thus though it was so plentiful a Partaker of mighty effusions of * Wonderful Gifts the Holy Spirit had a Liberal Taste of the Good word of God They Tasted of the * Miracles mighty Powers of the World to come viz The Kingdom of Christ Yet through Resting in Principles not Loving Truth not Going on to Perfection They Dwindled away and fell into the Antichristian Apostacy and came to Crucify in that Spiritual Sodom and Egypt even Rome Call'd Catholick Church now where also Our Lord was Crucified viz. under its Dominion the Son of God afresh in his Witnesses and have put him to an open Shame And through the Impossibility of Repentance as such an Antichristian Church as we see Rev. 16. 9. It cannot be Renewed But under all the Droppings of the Reformation upon it it is a Ground over-grown with
Briars and Thorns and is very nigh now to a Curse whose End is to be Burn'd Rev. 18. But of Reformed Churches and Christians we Hope Better Things and Things that have Hold of that Great Salvation of the Kingdom though we thus speak The Lord therefore shall give you a Sign a Mahar-Schalal-Hash-Baz a Sign of his making Isay c. 6. c. 9. 9. haste to the Prey For as soon as the Child now Born shall by a seven years Age know to chuse the Good and Refuse the Evil That Great City shall be Forsaken of its Ten Kings who have so long given their Kingdom to the Beast and so its Tenth shall Fall and the Witnesses shall Rise And this as it were New Song shall be Sung and the Everlasting Gospel Rev. 14. 1. Preached and we shall be as New Bottles fill'd with the New Wine of the Kingdom And these Truths shall be no longer call'd Novelties Whimsies and Intoxications nor men say any longer We like the Old Wine Better For Christians shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pursuers of Truth in Love Ephes 4. 13. c. as of perfect Age Growing up to the Fullness of Christ and Strong Meat shall belong to them as Having Senses exercis'd to discern Good and Evil. For then the Apostacy shall go off and the mighty Gifts that were but Tasted at first as to length of Time shall Reeurn with Miraculous Powers of the World to come Because it shall then be drawn near and it shall never End Now the mistake is Great that These miraculous Powers ceas'd because the Canon of Scripture was sufficiently Seal'd The Mystery of Iniquity growing up to the Apostacy caus'd the Cessation when That Ends These shall Return Let us therefore in our Earnestest Going on to Perfection wait upon Christ till be Rises upon this Glorious mount of Prey in the Succession of his Kingdom when the Light of one Day then shall be as the Light of seven now Even the Sun shall be asham'd and the Moon Confounded when He Comes to Reign before his Ancients Gloriously And now His going forth is Prepared as the Morning we shall know if we Follow on to know the Lord. But if Any will be Ignorant It must be so If Any one Aggrieved Scripture is open Let him Implead what 's Written I stand on the Justification by Divine Help THE CATECHISM OF THE KINGDOM OF OUR Lord Jesus Christ Question WHere is the Doctrine of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ to be found Ans It is especially to be found in the opening of Prophetical Scripture being the Mystery spoken of by all the Prophets Revel 10. 7. Acts 3. 21. Quest What is the Rule of the True Explication of Prophecy Ans That of the Apostle He that Prophesies let Him Prophecy according to the Analogy or proportion of Faith Rom. 12. 6. Quest What is the Analogy or proportion of Faith Ans It is the Form of sound words according to the whole Scripture which is a Table so exactly square nothing can without plain Injury be Added to it or Taken from it Quest Is the Kingdom of Christ to be thus explain'd Ans I Trust we shall Find it so by Searching All Scripture with Noble Minds whether those Things are so or not and thereby giving heed to that most Sure word of Prophecy that we shall do well to take heed to as to a Light that shineth to us in a dark place So we shall Find it no Cunningly devised Fable Acts 17. 11. 2 Pet. 1. 16. 19. Quest What then is to be understood by the Kingdom of Jesus Christ A. The Kingdom of Jesus Christ is the Glorious and Visible Appearance of Christ Himself with all Saints who have died in Him and whom He will bring with Him who shall dwell with Him in the New Heaven he hath promis'd in the Region of the Air above And for the Full Glory of this Kingdom There shall be a Generation of Saints in the New Earth below who are the Living the Remaining Both sorts Rescued from the common Fire for the Perdition of ungodly Men. 1 Thess 4. 13. to the end 2 Pet. 2. 9. c. 3. 7. 13. Q. Is it not enough that there be a Day of Judgment and a State of Glory and Happiness to Christ and his Saints in the Highest Heaven and of punishment to the wicked in the Lowest Hell A. God hath in his word declar'd to us That is not enough but There shall be upon Greatest Reasons given us therein a New Heaven and a New Earth and a State of Saints in both and of the Enemies of Christ being made his Footstool that there may be a most visible Appearance of the Glory of the one and of the Contemptible dishonourable and condemned State of the other 2 Thess 1. 5. to v. 11. with Dan. 12. 1. 2 Rev. 19. 14. 15. to the end c. 20. 4. 6. Q. What shall be the Highest Spirit and Constitution of this State A. It is an Oeconomy or dispensation wherein there is a most exalted State of Holiness and Purity in the enjoyment of God and of Jesus in his Redemption Rev. 5. 9. and c. 4. 5. of the Communion of his Spirit Free from Sensuality and Impurity and in perfect Happiness and Security from all Toil Grief Pain Death and Curse so that all the Saints are Priests of God and of Christ and Reign with Him Rev. 20. 6. c. 21. c. 22. v. 1. to v. 7. Q. What do you mean by an Oeconomy or Dispensation A. It is the free dispose of Things after the Counsel of Gods own Will for the Manifestation of his Wisdom to Angels and Men in this or that way as the Master of the Great Family of All Things Ephes 3. 9. 10. Q. But hath not this doctrine been generally charg'd with Carnality and sensual Inclination A. This hath been the Art of Sathan and of Antichrist to Bring out of Repute so Great a Doctrine of Christ that It is peculiarly call'd the Everlasting Gospel that the Antichristian Kingdom of this World as a Dead Child might be put in its place Q. What then is the State of the Saints dead in Christ whom He Brings with Him and who shall be in the New Heaven A. They who are Accounted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection from the Dead neither Marry nor are Given Luke 20. 35. 36. Rom. 8. 23. 1 Cor. 5. 3. in Marriage Neither can They Dye any more being the Children of God and of the Resurrection and The Adoption But They Sit on Thrones and Judge Angels and the World with Christ and Reign with Him a Thousand Years not upon but over the Earth They see the Face of God and of the Lamb and Rev. c. 20. c. 21. c. 22. his Throne is in the midst of Them as His Servants They serve Him and his Name is in their Foreheads He is their Light and their Temple They Eat of the Tree of Life and Drink of the
and his Kingdom are Joyn'd 2 Tim. 4. 1. He shall Judge the Quick and the Dead at his Kingdom and at his Appearance Q. Give a proof of the Kingdom at his Resurrection A. The Apostle plainly declares it For he says Every one shall Rise in his own Order Christ the First Fruits and They which are Christs at his Coming And without Any other Mention of his Kingdom He says He must Reign till he hath put All his Enemies under his Feet Now when did this Reigning Begin but at his Coming Or where did the Apostle Give any Intimation of his Reigning but at his Coming according to all the Fore-mentioned Scriptures And when He Comes and Descends and no Longer Sits at the Right Hand of God Then God first makes his Enemies his Footstool not when he Sits but when He Comes and then He Begins to Reign and He Reigns Till all his Enemies are his Footstool And when He Descends and Comes and Reigns The Dead in Christ Rise and then He Brings Them with Him His Kingdom and the Resurrection of his Saints Begin together Q. What Place then hath the Day of Judgment A. The Day of Judgment is the same with the Kingdom of Christ and with the Resurrection All Begin Continue and End Together with this Difference The Judiciary Sentence is at the Beginning Rev. 19 last and at the End c. 20. 13. 14. 15. and between a Righteous and Holy Government which Government the Scripture often calls Judgment Psal 72. 4. And All Men whether They Rise to Life or to Condemnation are before and as it were about the Tribunal or Judgment Seat which is also the Throne of Christ and Receiving according to what They have done in the Body whether it be Good or Evil during the whole space of the Resurrection Kingdom and Judgment of Christ 2 Cor. 5. 10. Q. How long then does the Kingdom of Christ the Appearance in the Resurrection and the Day of Judgment last A. The Grand and the most Definitive Time in which Christ shall Reign with his Saints is while Sathan is bound and That is a Thousand Years And the Apostle Peter having named the Day of Judgment Immediately as it were Adjures Christians not to be Ignorant that One day as if He should say That One Day of Judgment is with the Lord as a Thousand Years and the several viz. Six Thousand Years before it but as each one day so making that Day of Judgment a Sabbatical Day or Sabbatism Rev. 20. v. 2. to 8. 2 Pet. 3. 8. Q. But seeing as hath been said The Living Remaining Saints have a State in this Kingdam of Christ in the New Earth even as the Saints dead in Christ have in the New Heavens How can so long a space as of the Thousand Years consist with the Apostles Doctrine 1 Cor. 15. 52. that speaks as of a close Connexion betwixt the Dead being Rais'd and the Wee of the Saints being Chang'd For saith He Behold I shew you a Mystery We shall not All dye but we shall All be chang'd in a moment in the Twinckling of an Eye at the last Trumpet For the Trumpet shall sound and the Dead shall be Rais'd Incorruptible and we shall be chang'd All as it were in one moment A. The Apostle shews the suddenness and Immediate effect of the Power of Christ in both Raising the Dead and Changing the Living but the so close Connexion betwixt the Raising and the Changing does not thence Follow For within the Time of John's Seventh and last Trumpet when the Kingdom of Christ Begins its Succession and which contains all from that Kingdom of Christ so beginning and its being Deliver'd up The Dead shall be Rais'd and the Living chang'd but at several distances of Time Forthe Apostle says the Dead in the Third person shall be â—aâ—â—'d To shew the Wee of Saints of the first person are of a different State and order of Time in being Chang'd from the Dead in Christ that shall be Rais'd Q. But it does not seem that this change of persons can bear the weight of so Great a point of doctrine A. I allow it if there were not that Great Consenting Scripture 1 Thess 4. 17. where the Apostle puts the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or afterwards betwixt the Saints dead in Christ at the Coming of Christ Rising first and the Living Chang'd or which is the same Caught up that He had put betwixt the Resurrection of Christ and his Saints Rising at his Coming which hath made as great a distance as 1700 Years already For saith the Apostle the Lord Himself shall descend with a shout with the Voice of the Arch Angel with the Trumpet of God and the Dead in Christ shall Rise First Then we which are Alive and Remain shall be caught up viz. without Dying Now the word which is here Translated Then was 1 Cor. 15. 27. Translated Afterward and may therefore very well allow the distance of above a 1000 Years in one as in the other which distance the Translators knowing betwixt Christ's Resurrection and of his Saints at his Coming Translated Afterwards a word of distance in our English But not understanding so well that distance betwixt the Raising and Changing the Saints they render the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thess 4. 17. Then which signifies often with us the same moment but this varies not the Truth of Things and of Scripture Q. How is the State of the Kingdom of Christ bounded at the Period or End of it A. By the Saints Living and Remaining being Caught up to Christ in the Air by the Subduing the last Enemy Death and by the Delivering up the Kingdom to God All in All So that the Coming of Christ and his Appearance in and at his Kingdom the Dead in Christ Rising His Saints the Wee left Living and the Judiciary sentence on his Enemies to be his Footstool at the beginning and these Great Pillars at the end bound at each Point this Greatest Oeconomy of the Fulness of Times and not only distinguish but exalt it far above all other Time And herewith Admirably Agrees the whole State of Things in the last Trumpet of the Prophecy of the Revelation wherein we have several Expressions of the Kingdom of Christ or his Taking to Him his Great Power and Reigning The Heavens open to Him with his many Crowns and the Title or Name on his Vesture and on his Thigh King of Kings Lord of Lords His Reigning and his Throne in the New Jerusalem The Time of the Dead being Judg'd and Rewards Given to All that Fear'd his Name Great and Small and the destroying them that destroy'd the Earth A voice Commands to write the Blessedness of All the Dead in the Lord and their Sabbatism Yea from henceforth or Immediately Christ with a Crown and on a White Cloud Giving down it Dew as the Dew of Herbs that the Earth may disclose its dead c. and Reaps his
21. 8. Q. How is This to be Applied to the Casting the Devil Hell and Death with all their Dead into the Lake just before Christ Delivers up the Kingdom A. Hence it Appears That the Action of the Devil in Deceiving is only Chain'd up but not utterly Abolish'd in the thousand Years Kingdom of Christ For He is Loosed out of Prison for a Little Space after the Thousand Years and He Deceives the Nations again But Fire comes down suddenly from Heaven on those Nations in the very Attempt and then an utter end is put to Sathans whole Action For He is Cast into the Lake and so notwithstanding the Victory over Death in the First Resurrection of Dead Saints and the Living Remaining Saints not Dying but being Chang'd Yet till They are all Actually Chang'd so that Mortality or Possibility of Dying Puts on Immortality and Corruption puts Incorruption and so Mortality is swallowed up of Life in the Living Remaining Saints Caught up even as in the Dead in Christ Rising first who cannot Dye any more being in perfect Immortality Luc. 20. 36. Death and Hell with all their own Subjects the Dead are not Cast into the Lake so as to be utterly Abolish'd from any possible place in the Kingdom of God Then They are and when this Last Enemy Death is thus subdued Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then so Long after his First Beginning to Reign Delivers up the Kingdom having Done all to be Done as the Second Adam and God is All in All But still and for ever even Eternally That Lake Burns with Fire and Brimstone For the Kingdom of Life shines in the Face of it with Everlasting Torment while it is not yet able to Return one of its Sulphur Steams in Revenge 1 Cor. 15. 24 55 56. Revel 20. 10. to the end 2 Thess 1. 9. Q. Have we any Accounts of Time kept in Scripture from the First Creation to the Times of Restitution or of the Kingdom of Christ A. There hath been for the sake of it kept a Constant Account of Time from one Point to the other Q. What Reason have you to think so A. Because as the First Coming of Christ in the Flesh is said to be in the Fulness of Time viz. of that Time Because it was in be in the Fulness of Time viz. of that Time Because it was in the Just Time according to Daniels seventy Weeks and according to the Agreement of all Christians So this Time of the Heading of All Things under Christ in his Kingdom is call'd the Fulness not of Time as of one Time but of Times as of all Times Issuing according to Just Account into it And further it is call'd the Oeconomy or the wise Order of All Times in Relation to it by the Supream and wise Pater-Familias or Governour of the World who as the Great Potentate King of Kings and Lord of Lords Giving the whole Family of Angels and Men a Show of and for his Glory would have it at this Fulness of Times for a Thousand Years and These are call'd Gods or Christs Proper Times and the Times of Refreshment and the Times of Restitution as in the Just Place of that Time All which speaks that there was a Strict Calculation of Time for it and to it Gal. 4. 4. Ephes 1. 10. Acts 3. 21. 1 Tim. 6. 15. Q. Where is This Account of Time to be Found A. It is to be found all along Holy Scripture in this manner In the First Roll of Patriarchs from the Creation to Shem the Head of the New World after the Flood 1658 years Genesis 5. c. 11. 10. From Shem to Abraham Receiving the Promises by the Second Roll of Patriarchs 425 Y. Gen. 11. to c. 12. From thence to the Going out of Egypt immediately before the Tabernacle of Testimony set up 430 Y. Exod. 12. 40. c. 40. From thence to Solomon's Temple Begun in his Fourth Year and so to his Death 516 Y. 1 Kings c. 6. 1. c. 11. 42. From thence to Ezekiel's Divine Temple and City drawn by his Bearing the Sin of Israel divided from Judah so many Days for Years according to the Reign of Israel's Kings to their Captivity and then by the Kings of Judah to 14 years after the City Jerusalem smitten and the Temple Burnt 390 Y. Ezek. c. 4. 4. 5. c. 40. 1. c. From thence to the End of Judah's Captivity drawn by the Forty days for Years of Ezekiel Bearing the Sin of Judah as from that vision of the City and Temple to Cyrus his First year 40 Y. Ezek. c. 4. 4. 5. c 40. 1. Ezra 1. 1. From thence by the Sanctuary that then lay Trodden under Foot to the Sanctuary of the Vniversal Church Cleans'd drawn in the 2300 Evens Morns according to the Prophetical Cypher before nam'd and establish'd for after Times of a Day for a Year 2300 Y. Dan. 8. 13. 14. Q. Can we know whereabout we are in nearness to the Kingdom of Christ by so long a Line of Time A. If we would be diligent in Searching and Comparing Scripture we might find this Line divided into 75 Years before Daniel's 70 Weeks began for the Word going forth to Restore and Build Jerusalem Into 490 by those 70 Weeks for the Death and Resurrection of Messiah and the first Apostolical Preaching to the Jews Into 1260 of the Roman Papal Apostasie Into 30 and 45. after that Apostasie making first the 1260 1290 then the 1290 1335. The first 75 in preparation to the Litteral Jerusalem and Temple Restor'd after Litteral Babylon falling and the last 75 preparing to the New Jerusalem after Mystical Babylon falling exactly Answer One after Another and by all these Summs laid together we certainly know There must be 400 between the Weeks ended and that Apostasie began From whence It Follows we must be in the 2218 Even Morn just 7 Years before the Fall of Mystical Babylon Dan. 9. 24. c. 12. 11. 12. Q. Is there any other way of knowing the Time A. There is even plainly Running into ordinary Observation For there are Time Times Half a Time plainly given to the Beast the last Part of the Roman Fourth Monarchy in Daniel c. 7. 25. and Sworn to Him for Scattering the Holy People c. 12. 7. and the Church is Accordingly said to be in the Wilderness for those Times in the Revelation Rev. 12. 14. Now at the Reformation There was such a Retrenchment of the Papal Power as could not be till the Morning of the Half Time with the Truth of Prophecy Then there might even as Christ might Rise at the Morning of the Third day though according to Prophecy He was to be Three days and Three nights in the Heart of the Earth The Reformation therefore Beginning at 1517 by Luther as all Agree and the Half Time being an 180 Years as being the Half of 360 a Time It must needs be There can be but 7 Years to the End of the 1260 and so to the