on earth for it is their priviledge at their entrance into their Kingdome and throughout the whole space of their reigne to judge the world that is all Nations of the Gentiles with the Judgement of Government and Reformation with the exercise of a Civill and temporall power over them as in the Prophecies of the Gentiles subjection unto them it may plainely be seene And it is their priviledge at the last resurrection to judge the world and the Devill that is all evill as well Angels as men by a joynt approbation of their finall and perfect condemnation of the full accomplishment I say of their eternall reprobation that is the wicked men that have been their oppressours and judge the Angels that is the evill spirits that have been their tempters and therefore shall not be thrust downe to the barre amongst them but advanced to the bench against them an addition doubtlesse to their former happinesse and no abatement of it Mr Petrie's Answer Some word of Isaiah 35.10 must be taken in another then the proper signification for if the word Sion be not taken for the Christian Church but for that bill within Jerusalem and the word Returne be meaned of bodily returning of the Jewes the words everlasting joy being taken for worldly joy â—ooâ—er â—dicts the â—â—neâ— of the thousand yeares Monarchy which shall end with an insurrection of the Gentiles against the Jewes but if the redeemed of the Lord be expoued sâ—n the faithfull whom Christ our Lord hath redeemed with his bloud and their returning and comming to Sion be their repenting and joyning to the society of the Saints then the everlasting joy is cleare by the words of our Saviour John 16.22 Ye now have sorrow but I will see you againe and your heart shall reioyce and your joy shall no man take from you And as the Judgement is unquestionable so it is justly doubted whether the Apostle meaneth the Jewes 1 Cor. 2.3 seeing our Saviouâ— saith Matth. â—9 28 Ye who have followed me in the regeneration when the Sonne of man shall siâ— on the Throne of his glory shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel where the twelve Tribes are not Judges but judged But certainly be meaneth not of their judging in the temporall Monarchy seeing the Angels shall not be judged before the universall Judgement And the Apostle saith how much more things appertaining unto this life whereby it appeares that in the first part of the verse he understands a Judgement not in this life And in both respects these words of the Apostle are a diminution doubtlesse unto that imagined Monarchy Reply Without doubt if the Reader will take all to be true that you say he shall never finde you in an errour But if you have no better reason to prove that the words Sion and Returne must be taken in another then a proper signification but because you conceit that the worde everlasting joy cannot consist with the insurrection of the Nations at the expiration of the thousand yeares you doe but deceive your selfe with this reason For though the thousand yeares peacefull reigne shall be terminated by the Gentiles insurrection at the loosing againe of Satan yet the joy of the Jewes here reveal'd is not limited by it For we read indeed of the surrounding of the Saints by the Nations Rev. 20. ver 9. but we read not there of any feare in them or hurt done unto them yea wee read onely of the finall overthrow of their enemies And whereas the better to countenance your Argument you call the everlasting joy here a worldly joy I pray what reason moves you to imagine that the joy promised by God to the converted Jewes whom he calls his elect and whom others he saith shall call the holy people and the seed which the Lord hath blessed should rather be a worldly joy then such a joy as our Saviour promised his Disciples John 16. ver 22. Is it because the Jewes are to be Inhabitants on the earth after they receive this everlasting joy and were not the Disciples Inhabitants of a more sinfull world then these Jewes shall be when they were made partakers of the joy which no man could take from them This reason then cannot prove your Epithite to belong rather to the joy of the Jewes then to the joy of the Apostles and yet unlesse this be the reason of your calling it a worldly joy I cannot conceive why you should thinke that after the Jewes are so plentifully inspir'd with the Spirit of God as the Prophets doe foreshew they shall be their joy should not be as spirituall and inseparable as the Apostles was And although it be unquestionable from the passage of St. Paul in the 1 Cor. chap. 6. ver 3. that the Judgement of all evill as well Angels as men is at the last resurrection to be passed on them by the joynt-approbation of the whole number of the elect yet seeing it is not unlikely that by the world ver 2. the Apostle meanes rather the Nations of the Gentiles in the time of Christs reigne on earth then the number of the reprobate at the generall Judgement of the dead it may justly be doubted whether by the word Saints in that place also the Nation of the Jewes be not comprehended with the faithfull which our Saviour shall bring with him as well as in the 20. chap. of the Rev. where it is foreshewed that the Nations of the foure quarters of the earth shall be gathered together against the Saints at the end of the thousand yeares And the words of our Saviour to his Disciples Matth. 19. ver 28. Ye who have followed mee in the regeneration when the Sonne of man shall sit on the Throne of his glory shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel doe help to confirme and not to confute the Government of the Gentiles by the Jewes For as the Apostles shall be made the supreme Governours of their owne Nation under our Saviour so doubtlesse shall other glorified Saints both of the Jewes and Gentiles be chiefe Governours under our Saviour over other Nations according as it is satd Rev. 5. ver 10. and chap. 20. ver 4. and as the parable Luke the 19. of the Noble-mans distributing of ten Cities to one servant and five to another doth imply for who is that Noble-man which is gone into a farre Countrey to receive for himselfe a Kingdome and to returne but our Saviour whom the Heavens must receive untill the times of restitution of all thing c. Act. 3. ver 21. who also spake that Parable because he was nigh unto Jerusalem and because the Jewes erroneously thought that the Kingdome of God should immediately appeare should be set up then at his first comming And as the glorified Saints shall be chiefe Judges under Christ so wee may well thinke that many of the unglorified Saints of the Jewish Nation shall be imployed by them in the
can have any truth in it And lastly as for the contents of your parenthesis certainely we doe not imagine that the raised Saints the Saints which the Lord shall bring with him whom alone Rev. 20.4 doth concerne shall not live throughout the whole space of a 1000 yeares reigne for we know that they can dye no more after their resurrection But we beleeve that the converted Jewes and all the Gentiles that are lest to wit after the extraordinary destruction which for their generall opposing the Jewes shall light on them at our Saviours appearing we beleeve I say that these and their posterity shall live in the like mortall condition as we doe now though they shall live much longer then we doe now Israel's Redemption And lastly The reigne of Christ doth not beginne till Antichrist is destroyed so that a metaphoricall interpretation of the first resurrection would make good this conclusion That most of the Saints shall rise many hundred yeares before their reigne there being no lesse distance of time betwixt the houre of their calling and Antichrists confusion Mr. Petrie's Answer I have before made it cleare that Christs Kingdome is already begun for he reigneth in the midst of his enemies not onely by his power over-ruling disappointing and turning all their plots upon their owne pates but also in comforting the hearts of the godly so that they are a terrour to the whole earth even to their enemies who are many times more afraide at the prayers of the godly then at the cannons of other enemies and subdue the spirits of the world and binde Kings in chaines stronger then iron And therefore that assertion falleth The reigne of Christ beginneth not till Antichrist be destroyed and that absurdity following that assertion is falsely imputed to that interpretation Reply You have before alledged Psal 110. to shew that Christ doth now reigne in the midst of his enemies and we have shewed that that prophecy is not to be fulfilled untill he comes from the right hand of his Father and therefore you have onely said and not proved that Christs Kingdome is already begun And That he doth now by his divine power over-rule and dispose of the actions of men and by his Spirit comfort the hearts of the godly is nothing to the question in hand For thus he governed the whole world and his Church in the world as much before his incarnation as he hath done since But the prophecies which foreshew our Saviours Kingdome on earth doe clearely manifest that he is to reigne over the world in the same manner as temporall Kings doe over their Subjects to wit visibly and civilly that in the time of his Kingdome I say the acts of his government are to be the immediate acts of his manhood onely although they proceede originally from his Godhead And surely this Kingdome is not yet begun nor shall beginne till Antichrist be destroyed and consequently the foresaid absurdity touching the great distance betwixt the rising and reigning of the Saints doth inevitably follow upon the spirituall interpretation of the first resurrection And whereas you say That the enemies of the godly are many times more afraide of their prayers then at the cannons of other enemies you herein contradict experience it selfe for what doe the Mahometans or any Pagan Nations regard the prayers of Christians whose very faith they account foolishnesse or what doe persecuting Christians themselves regard the prayers of the persecuted whom they thinke to be worthily punished by them doubtlesse they are no more afraide of them then Saint Paul was when through a mistaken zeale he was so exceedingly madde against them that he punished them in every Synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme de persecuted them to strange cities And therefore though the prayers of the righteous may prevaile very much with God for their owne and their enemies good or for the disappointing of their enemies devicâ—s and attempts yet certainely their enemies can neither see nor regard this unlesse God open their eyes as he did Saint Pauls to behold the perversnesse of their own wayes and the innocency and uprightnesse of them whom they so much despise Israel's Redemption The assumption is grounded on Rev. 11.15 which shewes that till the time of the seventh Trumpet with the beginning whereof the last viall doth concurre The Kingdomes of * The Kingdomes of this world It is not said The Kingdome of heaven to wit of the third heaven the incorruptible habitation of Saints and Angels or of another world I say of another in substance But the Kingdomes of this world that is this world which is now shall till then be divided into many Kingdomes shall wholly become Christâ— and be made by him one heavenly Kingdome a Kingdome in which men shall live after an heavenly estate and condition a Kingdome in which Gods Will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven For seeing that cannot possibly become any mans possession which doth utterly cease to be what other construction can be given of these words but this That the government of all the Kingdomes of the world is hereafter to be taken into Christs owne hands as he is man And indeede how else should they then become his after such a manner as they are not now his if not by a subiection to his manhood for as he is God they were alwayes his and all will grant that this Scripture doth plainely foreshew a deposing of all the Kings of the earth at the accomplishment thereof A deposing of them I say in such a way that their Kingdomes may become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ which cannot be by abolishing and dissolving the earth on which they must reigne but may and shall be by subduing and conquering them and the Kingdomes over which they must reigne this world doe not become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Châ—ist Mr. Petrie's Answer The assumption he would say assertion but it is marked before the Author is no Logician is grounded on Rev. 11.15 the words are The Kingdomes of this world are become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ Here it is not said Our Lord and his Christ shall not reigne till this time but this is all that the words import Nâ—w is no Kingdome but our Lords and his Christs And if it be objected It is no where said so of Christs reigne till this time of the seventh trumpet and therefore it cannot be true that our Lord and his Christ doe reigne till then I answer ye have heard before that in the midst of these Kingdomes doth Christ reigne even among them and over them But all their Kingdomes shall be utterly destroyed and his Kingdome shall be for ever and ever saith John and therefore not for a thousand yeares onely Now if we lay together what is said of the Jewes reigne bare and this answer we shall likewise see the vanity of that observation on the margine upon
to be understood of a spirituall wrath doe indeed rather confirme then confute this exposition Seeing it is plaine that the Apostle in ver 28. speakes of such Jewes onely who for the Gentiles sakes that were to be received into their roome were become the enemies of the Gospell of Christ and consequently not of such on whom God had mercy or would have mercy any otherwise then in making of them instruments for the fulfilling of his promise made unto the Fathers touching that elect remnant of their posterity whom he purposed to call by a generall conversion Object 10 Tenthly you say That the estate of the Church is described such that the godly shall be mixed with the ungâ—dly even till Christ come and gather the tares from the wheat to be burned Matth. 13.39 Sol. 10 And surely we say not that Christ shall reigne on earth before he comes to doe this but when he comes to do this And therefore also his Kingdome for so he calls it ver 41. shall not be a Kingdome of such carnall delight as you to vilifie the truth ascribe unto it It being the onely scope of this parable and anonother in the same chapter to set forth the righteousnesse thereof Your last words are All these and such like passages the Millenaries willingly passe over But let the reader judge whether you have not more cause to be ashamed of such arguments then we have to be afraid to answer them Israel's Redemption And in my conceit Saint Peter in the very next verse doth intimate as much for having before used the word Day he warnes them not to be ignorant of this one thing That one day is with the Lord as a thousand yeares and a thousand yeares as one day As if he had told them that the day he spake of was indeed a thousand yeares the Holy Ghost alwayes using it in this sense when it is emphatically applied to our Saviours comming or the Jewes redemption Which as it is already proved shall happen at the same time And though God as he is eternall cannot be measured by time and as he is immutable feeles no alteration in time a thousand yea ten thousand times ten thousand yeares and one day houre or minute of a day being in this respect all one to him yet this shift cannot void the exposition already given seeing the apparent dependance of these words on the former doth clearely prove that Saint Peter intended not to shew what a thousand yeares and one day were to God in regard of his nature which it is like they knew before but only what is usually meant by one day in the word of God And indeed to what purpose had this sudden and serious advertisement been inferred if the Apostle did not hereby discover unto them besides the largest definite and limited acception of the word such a speciall relation of a thousand yeares to one day as cannot belong to any other number when as touching Gods immensity and immutability one day might as well have been compared with ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands or thousands as I said as with one thousand yeares Mr. Petrie's Answer Whatsoever be your conceit you may see that the Apostle hath another purpose there for ver 4. he telleth of scoffers jeering at the promise of Christs comming because all things continue as they were and so all things seeme to have subsisting in themselves he refutes this imagination and showes that the world both was made and continueth by the word of God who is able to destroy as sometimes he did and hath appointed a day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men Here he putteth the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men for that the scoffers say where is the promise of his comming so that at his comming he will judge and punish the ungodly which is contrary to the opinion of the Millenaries Then ver 8. he answereth to that opinion of delay saying One day is with the Lord as a thousand yeares He saith not one day is a thousand yeares as the Millenaries make the commentary shorter then the text but is as a thousand yeares and therefore here is no exposition but comparison as if he had said albeit a thousand yeares seeme a long time to us and so the world seemeth to have continued long yet it is not so with the Lord to whom all time is short or none And then he shewes the end why God delayeth that comming to wit in long-suffering toward men awaâ—ing the repentance of the last of them Whereby you see another meaning and another purpose even contrary to that conceit of the Millenaries The Apostle might have named many millions of yeares as one day in respect of Gods eternity but according to the usuall custome of speech he nameth a round great number for any number Reply You had no other shift to avoid the answering of my former answer but to call it a shift And here you have dealt no better with me then you have often done before to wit left out what was most unpleasing to your selfe and instructive to the read 〈◊〉 and made a flourish against the rest and yet all this will not serve your turne for first it is a manifest slander to say That Christs judging and punishing of the ungodly is contrary to the opinion of the Millenaries For doe not we say that the destruction of the Army in Armageddon is to be at our Saviours descending as it is plainely revealed Rev. 19. and alluded unto chap. 14. ver 19 20. and that there shall be then also a destruction of all obstinate and rebellious sinners as it is foretold in 2 Thes 1.7 8 9 10. and Rev. 16.20 21. and intimated in the parable of the tares and the net cast into the sea Matth. 13. and doe we not say likewise that when the new insurrection of the Nations shall be at the end of the 1000 yeares peacefull râ—igne fire shall come downe from God out of heaven and devoure them Rev. 20 And doe we not hold that all this shall be before the last act of the great day of the Lambes wrath in which the sentence of damnation shall be pronounced against all unbeleeving sinners at the last resurrection All this then being undeniable there can be no truth in your foresaid words And as in ver 5 6. the Apostle shewes the faithfull why the wicked should make a scoffe at the promise of Christs comming and in ver 9. gives them the reason of Gods putting off of his comming so long so in ver 8. hee makes no answer to the opinion of delay but puts them in minde of the meaning of the day of judgement spoken of in ver 7 which two verses doe seeme to be brought in by way of Parenthesis For though a 1000 yeares which seeme a long time to us be but a short time with the Lord as you say yet doubtlesse that which seemes a short time to us
their generall conversion For the * Isa 32. ver 13 14 15. time is set in which the Spirit shall be poured on them from on high and in which their so plentifully and so plainely foretold deliverance shall be fully accomplished at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ And therefore beloved Reader seeing thou knowest these things before beware that thou be not still led away with the errour of an unwarrantable and indeed pernicious intepretation by reason whereof the way of truth is evill spoken of but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom be glory both now and for ever Amen Farewell Thine in the service of the Lord ROBERT MATON AN ANSWER TO Mr. PETRIE'S Preface Preface FIrst Some Prophecies speake plainly of Christ and cannot be understood of another Esa 9.6 Unto us a child is borne unto us a sonne is given his name shall be called Wonderfull c. Some are typicall or delivered with covers of things signifying Christ his offices and benefits And of these some are spoken of the type or thing signifying and can be understood onely of the thing signified and some are true both of the type and of Christ either in the same or in a different manner that is some are true of both in a proper sense some are true of both in a tropicall or figurative sense and some are true of the one properly and of the other figuratively All these sorts are manifest in sundry Prophecies here I touch one for all 2. Sam. 7.12 When thy dayes be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers saith the Lord unto David I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowells and I will establish his Kingdome This was true in the person of Solomon and of Christ too properly v. 13. He shall build an house for my name This was true of Solomon in the proper acceptation of the word house and figuratively of Christ who said Matth. 16.18 Upon this rock will I build my Church It followes I will establish the throne of his Kingdome for ever This was not true of Solomon in respect of his person for he died neither of his posteritie from whom Jacob had foretold that the Scepter should depart at the coming of Shiloh Gen. 49.10 but of Christ it is true for his Throne is established for ever and ever Heb. 1.8 v. 14. I will be his Father and he shall be my son This is true of Solomon in respect of adoption and of Christ in respect of eternall generation Fiftly it is said there If he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of man but my mercy shall not depart from him as I tooke it from Saul This is true of Solomon and not of Christ who was free of sinne unlesse we understand his members or their sinnes imputed unto him v. 16. Thy house and thy Kingdome shall be established for ever before thee thy Throne shall be established for ever This cannot be understood of David or Solomons house or Kingdome as experience proves now for the space of 1600. years and more but of Christs house and Kingdome which shall never faile By this one passage it is manifest First how miserable ignorance it is to expone all the Prophecies after one and the same manner or in a proper sense onely Secondly that the Evangelists and Apostles exponing these Prophecies in a spirituall and figurative sense doe not wrest them even albeit these have been fulfilled some way before but according to the intendment of the Spirit they bring them unto Christ who is the end of the Law and scope of the Prophets Answer The Prophecies which we have alledged for the Jewes deliverance and our Saviours reigne on earth are all plaine prophecies and therefore your distinguishing of the prophecies into plaine and typicall prophecies is very unseasonably that I say not craftily applyed against us However in the first place the Reader may observe that we have as much reason to beleeve that the Prophecies which speak plainly of the Jewes cannot be understood of any others as we have to beleeve that the Prophecies which speake plainly of Christ cannot be understood of another and consequently that you doe very erroneously interpret these Prophecies when you understand by them the conversion of the Gentiles And secondly he may observe that having cited 2 Sam. v. 12. When thy dayes be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowles and I will establish his kingdome You say This was true in the person of Solomon and of Christ too properly Which is as much as we say to wit that God shall establish unto Christ a civill and proper Kingdome as he did unto Solomon And indeed it is beyond the force of these words in the 16. verse Thy house and thy Kingdome shall be established for ever before thee thy throne shall be established for ever To prove that Christs reigne and Solomons that the type and thing typified are not both to be understood properly and in the same manner seeing the word for ever is not here to be taken in an unlimited sense for an infinite time but in a limited sense for a long time as we shew in our reply by many instances out of scripture and so doth intimate unto us onely that Christs Kingdome aâ— it is to be the longest that ever was on earth so it is to be the last too it is not to be left to other people as Daniel saith chap. 2. ver 44. but is by Christ himselfe to be delivered up to God even the Father at the last resurrection And that not onely Solomons reigne but his building of an house to the Lord too is to be properly fulfilled in Christ the Prophet Zechariah chapter 6. ver 13. doth plainely reveale Behold saith he the man whose name is the Branch and he shall grow up out of his place and he shall build the Temple of the Lord even he shall build the Temple of the Lord and he shall beare the glory and shall sit and rule upon his Throne and the counsell of peace shall be between them both In which words the Temple of the Lord doth signifie the Temple at Jerusalem as the verses following doe shew and there is no other signification of this phrase in all the old Testament as we have observed in our reply to your answer where you expound our Saviours building of the Temple of the Lord of the raising of his body from the grave and yet here you make it to foreshew the immoveable perseverance of those that were after his incarnation to be called to the profession of his name by a lively faith So unstedfast are you and unresolved in what sense to take his building of an house unto the Lord. And therefore although such typicall prophesies as are compound oracles were to have a
of the Law and the text Psal 34. verse 22. which you apply to the redemption of the faithfull from etternall torments by the death of the Messias is meant of Gods delivering of them out of temporal calamities and afflictions as the foregoing verses doe plainely shew And lastly your argument touching old Simeon that he craved no longer life to raigne with Christ on earth doth make as much against his beliefe of Christs spirituall as his personall raigne and against his beliefe of Christs suffering as against either of these and surely though he prayed to depart because it was revealed unto him that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord Christ yet the testimony he gave of Christ that he should be the glory of his people Israel which doth as well intimate the generall conversion of the Jewes and Christs raigning amongst them as his being a light to lighten the Gentiles doth imply the conversion of the Gentiles this testimony I say doth shew that Simeon did hope to live againe to raigne with Christ although he did then desire to depart having seen him And to this hope of the Saints as well as to the hope of the glory which shall follow their reigne St. Paul alludes when he saith that others of the faithfull Jewes were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtaine a better resurrection Preface Fourthly And neverthelesse many Iewes sought righteousnesse by the workes of the Law and not by faith Rom. 9.32 and they look'd upon the promises with a bodily eye onely as if the Messias were to erect an earthly Monarchy at Ierusalem And looking thorâ—â—â— these spectacles they could not think that Jesus Christ is the Messias and so they stumbled at his worldly basenesse and being miscaried in their braines they could not see his spiritual power and benefits After their miserable example others acknowledging Jesus Christ to be the promised Messias and not considering the difference of the promises have not attained fully unto the truth of them and so have erred in mistaking his natures and benefits Thus Eblon thought him to be a man and not God as if all the promises could have been performed by a man endowed with singular grace Cerinthus likewise held that Christ is onely a man and because he saw him not sitting on the throne of David he held that Christ is not risen from the dead as yet but shall rise and reigne in Jerusalem a thousand yeares and all his Subjects shal be satisfied with all manner of pleasures in meate drinke marriage festival dayes and offer oblations and sacrifices Euseb lib. 3. chap. 25. Answer That the Jewes were in an error which sought righteousnesse by the workes of the Law we willingly acknowledge but that they did erre in taking the promises touching Christs Kingdom and their owne deliverance in a proper sense wee cannot think For wee know that the multitude would have made Christ a King Joh. 6. verse 15. and that Nathaniel that righteous Jsraelite said unto our Saviour Rabbi thou art the sonne of God thou art the of King Israel Joh. 1 verse 49. and it were too in jurious to our Saviours innocency who came into the world to beare witnesse unto the truth Joh. 18. verse 37. to imagine that he would not upon these occasions have shewed them that they were mistaken in his Kingdom if he was never to be such a King as the Jewes thought he should be and would then have made him had he not avoided it by hiding himselfe from them And indeed by the parable Luke 19. touching the Noble-mans going into a farre countrey to receive for himself a Kingdom and returne which he put forth of purpose because the Jewes did looke for the immediate appearing of his Kingdom by that parable I say he did as good as tell them that they did rightly conceive of the nature of his Kingdom but not of the time when it should appeare that they truely thought he should raigne visibly over them on earth though they were deceived in expecting the accomplishment of it then at his first coming For what was the Kingdom of God which the Jewes thought shuld immediately appeare was it the glory that shall follow the Judgment of the dead doubtlesse they thought not that the Judgment of the dead should immediately ensue Or was it the meanes of salvation that they lookt for doubtlesse then they knew that they had long injoyed this even as their peculiar The Kingdom of God then which they so earnestly and so soone expected must needs be the Kingdom which God had foretold that Christ should govern personally on earth when he should be set by him on the Throne of his Father David For indeed Christ can bring with him no other Kingdom for himself that is no other Kingdom to govern as man but this from that farre countrey whither he is gone to receive for himself a Kingdom and to returne And therefore t was not their looking through these spectacles as you phrase the proper exposition of the prophecies that made them to deny that Jesus was the Christ but rather stumbling at his meane condition onely they did to him what Gods hand and Counsell had determined before to be done And as the Jewes were no example of misbeliefe in looking for their deliverance from captivity and for our Saviours personall raigne amongst them so doubtlesse the proper acception of the prophecies concerning our Saviours raigne did no more occasion Ebion and Cerinthus to mistake his natures and deny his divinity then the proper acceptions of the prophecies concerning his incarnation suffering did and therefore seeing it is not possible that the true understanding of one part of the Scripture should thrust us into the misapprehension of another part thereof we may well thinke that it was the want of a due consideration of those texts which doe demonsâ—â—ate the divine nature of Christ and not the truth they held touching his raigne that drew them into this error For it is either through the want of a carefull searching into the Scriptures or by reason of some sinister and by-respects onely that all errors have both their rise and continuance in the Church of God Preface Fiftly Vpon this occasion the Apostle John wrote the Gospel again and more largely then any other of the Euangelists speakes of Christs Godhead his wonderfull workes his Kingdom resurrection and his coming againe especially that the Sonne of man is now glorified chap. 13.31 that he hath overcome the world chap. 16.33 that his Kingdom is not of this world and if his Kingdom were of this world his servants would fight that he should not be delivered unto the Jewes but now is his Kingdom not from hence chap. 18.36 And of the condition of his Subjects he saith Remember the word that I said unto you the servant is not greater then the Lord if they have persecuted me they will also persecute you chap. 15.20 verily I say
Hierom on Esa l. 18. and Augustin ad Quod vult de haeâ—â—si 8. write of it as a damned error and we read of few or none in this opinion til in this last age it comes apace with the Anabaptists and some English Novatours few write against it because the arguments are so silly and rediculous that every understanding person reading them findes not onely the weaknesse of the grounds but even out of them doo gather pregnant arguments in the contrary Albeit these Authours doe agree in the time and place of this imagined Monarchy yet they write one against another in many circumstances thereof as is marked hereafter Answer It is as possible that you may misreport Eusebius touching Papias as touching the occasion of St. John's writing of his Gospel and as you doe Hierome and Augustine who you say write of the millenarian Tenet as a damned error whenas * Sicut mundus sex diebus suit creatus scprimus suit sabbatismus ità mundum sex millia annorum duraturum posteá secuturum sabbatismum in mille annis postremis ad hoc scilicet sabbathum celebrandum resurgentibus sanotis Quâ— opinio esset utcunque tolerabilis si aliquae deliciae spirituales in illo sabbatismo affuturae sanctis per Domini praesentiam crederentur Nam etiam nos hoc opinâ—ti fuâ—mus aliquandò Sed cùm eos qui tunc resurrexerunt dicam inimoderatissimis carnalibus epulis vacatâ—ros in quibus cibus sit tantus et potus ut non solum nullam modestiam teneant sed modum quoque ipsius incredulitatis excedant nullo modo ista possunt nisi a carnalibus credi Aug. lib. cit Augustine lib. 20. de civ Dei cap. 7. saith That it is a tolerable opinion if it were beleeved that the glorified Saints should receive spirituall delights by Christs presence which is that we hold and he saith too that he had been of this minde himselfe but left it as in seemes fâ—â— no other cause but because many câ—â—nal minded thought that the raised Saints should eate and driâ—ke beyond moderation And * Post captivitatem quae sub Vespastano et Tito et posteà accidit sub'Hadriano usque and consummationem seculi Rumae Hierusalem permansurae sunt quanquám sibi Judaei auream atque gemmatam Hierusalem restituendam putent rursusque victimas et sacrificia et conjugia sanctorum et regnum in terris Domini Salvatoris quae licet non sequamur damnare tamen non possumus quià multi virorum Ecclesiasticorum et Martyrum ista dixerunt Hier. loc cit Hierome on Jer. 19. verse 10 having set downe the opinion though wrongfully as Mr. Mede affirmes Comment Apocal. pag. 285 saith of it which things though we imbrace not yet we cannot condemne because many faithfull persons and Martyrs of the Church have said them However it was as easie for Eusebius or any other to condemne Papias for a man of small judgment as it is for you to say that our arguments are so silly and ridiculous that every understanding person reading them findes not onely the weaknesse of the grounds but even out of them doth gather pregnant arguments in the contrary t was as easie I say for Eusebius to write the foresaid words as it is for you to write these albeit the Reader may plainly see that you doe but slander our arguments herein For besides the plaine texts and prophecies in the new Testament there are far more prophecies in the old to shew our Saviours corporal reigne on earth then there are to shew his birth and death and as clearly delivered to the understanding But be it as Eusebius saith that Papias was a man of smal judgment yet that he shewed it not in being of this opinion not onely the Scriptures but the judgment of Irenaeus and other Ecclesiasticall persons who followed him in it doe attest of whom we cannot intertaine such an unjust beliefe as to thinke that they would prize the antiquity and authority of Papias word above the authority and antiquity of the word of God it selfe But that this truth might be universally abhorred and rejected as an error after the 320. yeare of our Lord we easily beleeve For it is unquestionable that many a truth and error did change titles each with other as popish ignorance superstition and idolatry grew in request and needs then must this truth which ascribes the accomplishment of the predictions of Christs Kingly Office to their right owner soone vanish out of mens minds and leese its lustre and repute whenas that Man of sin was shortly to appeare who to exalt his power above all that is called God should as blasphemously as deceitfully apply these prophecies to himselfe And lastly that we agree not in all circumstances about this opinion doth no more derogate from the truth and worth of it then the differences that are amongst other Christians doe derogate from the truth and necessity of any subject wherein they doe disagree Preface Seaventhly They speak not now of feasts and sacrifices as Cerinthus did but if they will maintaine this opinion I see not how they can eject them seeing the Prophets speake as eâ—pressely of them as of Christs Kingdom Jer. 33.17 Thus saith the Lord David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel neither shall the Priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings and to kindle meate offerings and doe sacrifice continually See ver 21.22 Zech. 14.16.21 But that these and such other texts should be expounded spiritually it is plaine by Mal. 1.11 where incense and offerings are not restrained unto the Jewes at Jerusalem but made common unto the Gentiles every where and more plainely in the New Testament If the Millenaries will exporte with us these texts of spirituall Sacrifices they cannot shew any probable reason why the prophesies concerning Christs Kingdome should not likewise be exponed spiritually And Hierome in Isa 63. lib. 18. saith If we grant these words to be exponed carnally let them heare the like promises made unto Sodom as unto Jerusalem Ezek. 16.53 When I shall bring againe their captivity the captivity of Sodom and her daughters and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters then will I bring againe the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them when thy sister Sodom and her daughters shall returne then thou and thy daughters shall returne Wherfore saith Ierome these houses mentioned Isa 65.21 must be understood of vertues or the diverse mansions beside the Father and of such houses our Saviour speaks Mat. 7. verse 24. I will liken him to a wise man who builds his house on a rock And the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5.1 wee have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens Because we cannot conceive of Heaven in such a manner as it is it pleaseth God to insinuate it into our affections by similitudes of things pleasant unto us
bones as our Saviour saith Luke 24.39 though neither sinfull nor corruptible what place should such material creatures inhabite but a material place and if they shall inhabite a material place what more glorious City can we fancy to our selves then the foresaid City is whose foundations walls and gates are all precious stones whose street is pure gold like cleere glasse whose gates are kept by Angels and in which the Throne of God and of the Lambe is whence the river of water of life prooceeds on the sides whereof the tree of life growes And what should move us to take this tree and consequently any of the other materials in an allegorical sense here rather then Gen. 2. verse 9 and chap. 3. verse 22. Or how can we think that God would so exactly and fully reveale the materials platforme and contents of this City if there were no such thing what shall we say that God is not where he saith he is or that these things are not such as he saith they are doubtlesse to doe either were an abominable presumption And consequently the proper exposition of such plaine prophecies is the onely intended sense of the Holy Ghost and you doe as ridiculously as dangerously affirme that our Saviour's words Mat. 7. verse 24. and St. Pauls 2 Cor. 5. verse 1. are meant of vertues For according to this exposition our Saviour should have said I will liken him to a wise man that builds his vertues are 4 rocke whereas indeed he compares the lively and active faith of an obedient hearer to a house built on a strong foundation and not to vertues And St. Paul should have said we have vertues of God vertues not made with hands eternall in the Heavens Wheras he speakes of the immortal and glorified bodies which the Saints shall receive of God at their resurrection and not of vertues Yea you might have said as well that the tenâ—a commandement Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors house is thus to be understood Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors vertues And that where we reade of our Saviour Luk. 14. verse 1. That he went into the house of one of the chiefe Pharisees it is to be understood that he went into the vertues of one of the chiefe Pharisees And if this be not to make the word of God a ball of waxe a thing capable of any shape and impression what is Preface Eightly I know some Millenaries will take it hardly that they are called the offspring of Cerinthus seeing they disser from him in sundry particulars and some say it 's no matter who hath said it before whether Cerinthus or Swenkfold if it be true I answer searcely any heretique did ever renew an old heresy in all the particulars and neverthelesse it is truly called the same heresy and we call them so no more then they be such and when any opinion hath no other father nor abettours but heretiques it is odious Answer We were altogether unwothy to beare the name of him in whom we doe beleeve and to participate of the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ if having so sure a foundation of our faith as the plaine word of God is we should be any whie dismaid at the Names of Heretiques and heresy Or aâ— any other opprobrious termes that can be used against us It is enough for the Disciple that he be as his Master and the servant as his Lord if they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub how much more shal they call them of his houshold saith our Saviour Mat. 10. verse 25. Evil language and evil entreating are the Legacy of Christs servants in this life and whosoever shall either for feare or shame refuse to confesse Christ and his words before men of him will Christ be ashamed him wil he deny when he cometh in his own glory in his Fathers and of the holy Angels It is not then the calling of us the offspring of Cerinthus or any other usage as we truâ—â— that shall make us to neglect so great salvation as at the first began to be preacht by the Lord and hath been confirmed unto us by them that heard him But this reproachfull language doth rather cause us to admite at your excessive and inexcusable boldnesse who not withstanding so many cleare prophecies and infalible arguments as we have alledged for the confirmation of this truth can yet give out that it hath no other father nor 〈◊〉 bettours but heretiques Surely we have intimated before and we doe often maintaine in our reply that God hath both by his prophets his Sonne and his Apostles revealed and taught this truth unto us and therfore Cerinthus was no more the Father of this opinion then he was the Authour of the Revelation which some also have affirmed because it doth plainely reveale the thousand yeares reigne of Christ which Cerinthus held Neither were the abettours of this opinion all heretiques For as our Saviour and the Apostles taught it so the primitive Christians beleev'd it and after them some of the Fathers and since many worthy Divines who were I dare say as free from faction and private fancies as any in the ages wherein they lived and doubtlesse as able also to judge of the true meaning of the Scriptures Preface Ninthly By this historical narration Beloved in the Lord you may see that this doctrine is no new light revealed in this last age as you have heard some teach but an old Jewish fancy and Cerinthian fable old errors are like old whores that is the more to be abhorred What I have done here is for your good for 1. you have heard this error preached instead of the Doctrine of Christ albeit it was first preached by the enemies of Christ by some of the Authours of the Apologetical-narration for Independency who had in their Congregation not onely Millenaries but grosse Anabaptists and so their practice manifestly declares what they writ obscurely in that Narration pag. 12. saying we tooke measure of no mans holinesse by his opinion whether adverse unto us c. Their Dinah is liberty of conscience their grand ammunition is Anarchie or no discipline and they call it a bondage to be tied in the faith 2. The booke of M. Maton called Israels Redemption hath been oft put into your hands and upon severall occasions of my declaring the truth in this point you have been intreated to put that booke into my hand wherefore you have need of an Autidote Peruse this plaine refutation of it wherby I hope you shall see that the reward of your serving Christ is not meate that perisheth but everlasting life which the Sonne of man shall give unto you Joh. 6.27 and that the Kingdom of God comes not with observation or worldly respect and attendance but behold the Kingdom of God is within you Luk. 17.20 And as the wicked cannot have hope of long immunity from just punishment of their bodies and soules in Hell so our deliverance
from the bondage of corrupion into the glorious liberty of the children of God shall not be long delayd Walke you therefore in holinesse with sincerity and cheerefulnesse as it becomes the heires of so great salvation and give all diligence to make your calling and election sure for so an entrance shal be ministred unto you aboundantly not into an earthly Monarchy but the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Answer Beloved in the Lord you are told here by Mr. Petry that this historical Narration of the original of the Millenarian Tenet and his refutation of my booke are for your good And had it been so indeed I had not now answered the one or repli'd unto the other yea I had rather laid my hand upon my mouth or empoly'd it about the publique retractation of mine own opinion But I find not in either ought of that sincere and upright dealing as is pretended in these words That which I sinde is this that Mr. Petrie is too much of the minde of the Lawyers in the Gospel of whom our Saviour said Luk. 11. verse 52. that they had taken away the key of knowledge that they entred not in themselves and them that were entring in they hindred And that as the Pharisees best project to discountenance our Saviours miracles was to say that he did cast out Devils through Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils and their most prevalent motive to disgrace his doctrine was to say that he was a glutton and a wine-bibber a friend of publicans and sinners So Mr. Petrie's chiefest sleight to disparage the truth we hold is to say that it hath no other Father nor abettours but heretiques that it is preacht by such as have in their Congregation grosse Anabaptists and are friends to whatsoever Novellers And that it teacheth the voluptuous carnall living of the raised Saints and their dying againe after they are raised And doubtlesse beloved if you should be as ready to receive these tares into your hearts as Mr. Petrie is to sow them there your eares would be stussed with prejudice and your hearts choakt up with indignation against us but as we wish better things unto you so we hope better things of you even such things as accompany salvation We hope I say that you are as wise as the Bereans of whom the Apostle saith that they were noble in that they received the word with all readinesse of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so And if you examine our words by this rule by which the Bereans examined St. Paul's and were so highly commended by him for it we doubt not but you will with one consent affirme That in the point in Question we and not our adversaries doe say as God saith And that we make not the meate that perisheth but everlasting life the reward of the glorified Saints although we truly affirme that these Saints may and shall eate drinke after their resurrection As it is said Mat. 26. verse 29. and Luk. 22. verse 16.18 And that you will affirme too that we truly hold that the Kingdom of God is not yet come although our Saviour Luk. 17. verse 20. answered the Pharisees who demanded when the Kingdom of God should come that the Kingdom of God was within or amongst them For that which our Saviour there cal'd the Kingdom of God is not meant of the Kingdom it selfe of which the Pharisees inquired but of the outward meanes by which that Kingdom is obtain'd As it is Mat. 21. verse 43. and thus also Rom. 14. verse 17. righteousnesse and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost are cald the Kingdom of God because these things doe intitle men to that Kingdom and manifest unto others that they doe belong unto it neither of which the observing or not observing of difference in meats and drinks can doe And in the 1 Cor. 4. verse 20. it is said The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power that is our interest in the Kingdom of God is neither obtained nor attested by our disccursing preaching and professing of the truth onely but by our carefull and conscionable performance of those things which wee are commanded And therefore beloved that you may not mistake the meanes and evidences of God's Kingdom for the Kingdom it selfe but may by the injoyment and effectual use of these be assured in your selves and make knowne unto others that you are heires of that that you have an inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God we beseech the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that the word of Christ may dwell in you richly in all wisdom and that our Lord Jesus Christ himselfe and God even our Father which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace may comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and worke AN answer to M. Petries Rules for interpreting of the Scripture inserted pag. 8.9.10.11 after his answer to the prophecy of Amos ch 9. ver 11. Bee which partly because they were devised of purpose to enthrall the readers judgement that hee might not perceive the true meaning of the scriptures as the preface was to perswade him that the scripture is not the ground of the Millenarian Tenet and partly because I would not disjoyne my replies by such a large digression I thought fit beloved to present unto thee in this place His introduction to them is this Mr Petris And here for understanding this and such ober prophecies I add these undoubted rules Answer Undoubted rules must be grouâ—ded on undoubted authority but these for the most have none either from Heaven or of men The first rule The land of Canaan was a type of the Kingdom of Christ and so was Jerusalem and Sion because these were types of this Kingdom so glorious things were spoken of them Psal 46.4.5 and 48.1 2. and 87.1 2 3.5 which texts are more safely understood of Christ 6 Kingdom then of that earthly Jerusalem and Sion yea very hardly can they be understood of them Answer You have brought no text to shew that the land of Canaan was a type of Christs Kingdom but we bring many to shew that it shall be the proper inheritance of Christ the Saints in the time of his Kingdom And the glorious things which are spoken of Jerusalem or Sion in the 46.48 and 87. Psalmes and in many other places of the scripture are spoken of it because it was to be the City of the great King as is foretold Psal 48. v. 2. that is of Christ in the time of his personall raigne over the whole earth and therefore these words which texts are more safely understood of Christ's Kingdom then of that earthly Ierusalem and Sion yea very hardly can they be understood of them are as falsely as faintly spoken by you for is it not said in the foresaid verse Beautifull for situation the joy of the whole earth
hold then you your selfe are that which follows is your explication of these words Amos 9. verse 15. They shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them saith the Lord God Which passage you answer First by that text Jer. 4. verse 1. where you say we have the same promise but expressed with a condition How the same promise certainly the promise in Jer. was made to Israel before she went into captivity before that judgement was come upon her for her abominations But the promise in Amos is made to Israel after she should come out of captivity after the wrath of God against her should cease And whereas you say further that it is usuall in the Scriptures that earthly promises are expressed sometime with a condition and sometime without it but are alwaies understood conditionally It is to be noted that here you confesse the promise Amos 9. verse 14 15. to be an earthly or outward promise and conditionally understood which pag. 8. you interpret of spiritual houses and benefites as you doe also that text Isa 65. verse 21. in your preface and others in other places And yet it is not true that all outward and earthly promises are conditional promises for those which are mixed with spiritual promises as in Jer. 32. verse 37. c. and in Ezek. 36. verse 24. c. and in many other prophecies or that doe contemporate with such outward and bodily promises as are mixed with spiritual promises as this of Amos doth those earthly promises I say cannot be conditional promises seeing the spiritual promises with which they contemporate are promises of the condition it self And therfore the prophecy of Amos chap. 9. verse 11. c. is an absolute prophecy a prophecy hereafter to be fullfild when the Spirit of God shal be powred on the Jewes from on high as it is Isa 32. verse 15. c. And not a conditionall prophecy a prophecy formerly canceld for want of obedience Secondly you answer the foresaid text of Amos by shewing a different acception of the word land which you say as it is not alwaies expounded of the earth so sometimes it is put for the grave and for Heaven But the instances by which you would prove this doe faile you very much for besides that mens graves are in the earth it is not the word land of it selfe but this phrase of speech the land of darkenesse that is put for the grave Job 10. verse 21. and the land of the living that is us'd Psal 27. verse 13. which doth not signify Heaven as the Authours of the English annotations on the whole Bible printed 1645. doe observe but the surface of the earth on which the living are at the land of darkenesse doth a place under the superficies of the earth where the bodies of the dead remaine And happily David spake here of the land of Canaan in relation to the time in which Christ himselfe and all the Saints that are to come with him should have their abode in it in which respect as it may properly so it may very fitly too be cald the land of the living of the living that shall die no more But if this phrase did signify Heaven as you say yet it will no more follow from these words that the land of Canaan was a type of Heaven then it will follow from those in the 10. of Job that it was a type of the grave And sure we are that Amos prophecy is to be fullfild in the land whither the text saith that the Israelites shall returne from their captivity and where they shall build themselves houses and plant vineyards from which they shall no more be carried captives as they have formerly been For the meaning of there words that they shall no more be pulled up out of their land is parallel with that Dan. 2. verse 44. that their Kingdom shall not be left to other people And here also it is to be noted that this part of your answer doth crosse the former part For there you say that this prophecy of Amos was a conditional prophecy and so not accomplished for want of obedience in the Jewes and yet here you say that they were brought againe into their land and that they were not pulled out of their land but are planted in their true land whence they shall no more be pulled out so that here you exalt those Jewes up to Heaven which before you did thrust downe to Hell for not fulfilling the condition required of them and therfore you must know your owne minde better in understanding the Scripture and speake more significantly and truly then you doe in this inference before you can frustrate the marginal note in the 9. page of my booke To my booke accused Welcome my booke more welcome unto mee With stripes and wounds then to have scaped free 'T is all I lookt for when I sent thee forth That most would deem thee vile and of no worth For 't is the lot of truth as 't is of those That godly live to have the most her foes And sure where wrested Scripture doth withhold The beames of truth and give us drosse for gold There nought a truth more doubtful can conclude Then doth the favour of the multitude Which hadst thou purchast I should then have fear'd I had obscur'd what now I hope I 've cloar'd And shall by God's assistance still make good Against all bawlings of the carping brood ISRAELS REDEMPTION REDEEMED The first part Jsraels Redemption THat Christ is already a Mat. 1. v. 20.21 Luk 2.11 Ioh. 1.29.30 c. come that as a Prophet he hath b Maâ— 4.17 Luk. 4.15 c. cald us to repentance and aâ— a Priest hath been a c 1 Ioh. 2. Heb. 2.17 Rom. 3.25 propitiation for our sinnes and not for ours onely but also for the sinnes of the whole world having by d Heb. 9.28 ch 10.14 Mar. 8.31 Ioh. 10.15 Rev. 5.9 once offering himself perfected for ever them that are sanctified is the faith of Christians and the infidelity of the Jewes But that he shall come as a King to raigne on earth and restore againe the Monarchy of Israel is the faith of the Jewes and the infidelity of Christians And I thinke it a matter equally difficult to perswade either part to the mutual embracement of each others beliefe Mr Petries answer What new spirit is this Whether be such persons Jewes or Christians they oppose themselves unto all Jewes and Christians 2. Whether doe they understand the difference twixt Jewes and Christians It was never yet heard that the Jewes doe beleeve that Christ Jesus shall come as a King they said Away with him wee will not have him to raigne over us They say that the Messias shall come but they speake not of his comming twice or thrice looke all the Iewish Rabbies and aske them who are alive they will say but once This conceit of Christs comming to raigne
Redemption The next prophecy shall be that of Joel who mentions the very signes which our Saviour said should be the immediate fore-runners of the Jewes Redemption And it shall come to passe afterwards saith he in his 2. chap. at the 28 ver that I will powre out my spirit upon all flesh and your sinnes and your daughters shall prophecy your old men shall dreame dreames and your young men shall see visions and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those dayes will I powre out my spirit and I will shew wonders in the Heavens and in the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoake the Å¿ Isa 24. v. 23. Mat. 24. v. 29. Rev. 6. v. 12. Sun shall be turned into darkenesse and the Moone into blood before the * Great not onely in regard of the strangenesse and dreadfulnes of events of things then to come to passe but great also in regard of the long continuance and tract of time which God in his revelations hereafter to be fulfild doth by the word Day as well without this epither as with it frequently import great and terrible t Ezek. 39.8 Mal. 4.5 Iude 6. Rev. 16.14 Day of the Lord come And it shall come to passe that whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be delivered for in Mount Zion and in Hierusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord hath said and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call And in the 3. chap. at the 1. ver Behold in those daies and in that time when I shall bring againe the captivity of Judah and Hierusalem I will also gather all Nations and will bring them downe into the valley of Jehosaphat which in the 14. verse is called the valley of decision and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel whom they have scattered among the Nations and parted my Land And at the 15. verse againe The Sun and the Moone shall be darkened and the starres shall withdraw their shining the Lord also shall roare out of Zion and utter his voyce from Jerusalem and the u Isa 2.19 c. Ezek. 38.19.20 Hag 2.22 Mat. 24.29 Rev. 16.18 ch 6.13.14 Heavens and the earth shall shake but the Lord will be the hope of his people and the strength of the children of Israel Mr. Petrie's Answer The Apostle Peter not onely makes use of these words but expones them and shewes the accomplishment of them in some degree as it is said in the sixth rule before for Act. 2.16 he saith This is that which was spoken by the Prophet Ioel And it shall come to passe in the last daies c. And verse 22. Ye men of Israel heare these words Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God among you by miracles wonders and signes which God did by him in the midst of you as ye your selves know Reply The Apostle repeats but expounds not the Prophets words and consequently shewes not the accomplishment of ought that the Prophet affirms shall be done All that he shewes is this That the thing which then happened to the Apostles was the worke of the same spirit which Joel spake of but he saith not that it was the same worke The same spirit indeed was then powred out but it was not the same powring out of the spirit And for want of distinguishing betwixt the effusion of the same spirit and the same effusion of the spirit you affirme that those things which the Prophet saies the spirit shall doe not long before the Lord's second comming were then done at his first comming And the reason you bring from St. Peters words Act. 2. verse 22. to shew that the prophecy of Joel was then fulfild in part is a very strange one For the Prophet shewes what others shall doe through the extraordinary inspiration of the Spirit before the Day of the Lord comes and the words you have alledg'd doe shew what works Christ himselfe did when he was come Israel's Redemption I am not ignorant that the darkening of the Sun and Moone is sometimes taken allegorically and by way of allusion but that therefore it should be so understood here it doth not follow for where it is figuratively applyed it signifies the judgement it selfe which is to befall those people of whom it is spoken but where it is literally used it is put onely for a signe of an eminent destruction which shall suddenly follow it as the great and terrible Day of the Lord shall doe at the accomplishment of this prophecy Mr. Petrie's Answer Where the darkenesse of the Sun and so it may be understood of the Moone is used properly it is not put onely for a signe of an eminent and imminent destruction as it is manifest Luke 23.45 which was a Testimony from Heaven of Christ's innocency for conviction of the murtherers and chap. 21.25 the signes in the Sun and Moone and in the starres and the distresse of Nations upon the earth with perplexity and the roaring of the sea and waves are all to be understood properly as signes before the great and terrible Day of the Lord. So what is promised in the 28. and 29. verses of the second chap. of Joel was truely albeit not altogether fulfilled in the daies of Peter even how-beit the words of the 30. and 31. verses be properly understood and not wholly fulfild til the time immediately preceding the last comming of Christ Reply That the darkning of the Sun or of the Moone properly taken especially if supernaturall as this here is a signe of an eminent and imminent destruction you confesse but that it is onely so you deny And were this true I have not spoken much out of the way But the instance you bring of the darkning of the Sun at the time of our Saviours passion makes nothing for you For whereas you say it was a testimony from Heaven of Christ's innocency for conviction of the murtherers the historie of the Gospel tels you no such thing and interpreters are against you Sicut enim Deus tenebris involvebat terram Aegyptum sic etiam nunc totam Judâ—â—am in signum iraâ—i Dei et futurae poenae saith Pareus on the 27. chap. of Mat. at the 45. verse that is As God did once bring darknesse on the land of Egypt so likewise did he now on the land of Judea as a signe of his wrath and their ensuing punishment So Chrysostome too It was an undoubted signe of Gods anger for that which they did against him And Origen It was a presage of the future darknesse which should over-spread the whole Jewish Nation To which Dr. Mayer consents and with Origen concludes from the time of the darknesse continuance being three houres that the Jewish Nation should be in darknesse till about the Evening of the world Although then Christ's innocency may well be gathered from it yet for ought I can finde you goe alone in alledging it as a reason of the darknesse
Earth and together with Ephraim with the ten Tribes from Assyria which as i Joh. 7. ver 35. yet never came back and therefore this is not yet fulfil'd Mr Petrie's Answer 1. There is no mention of returning here but of recovering of the remnant of his people 2. Who be these his people Looke the tenth verse In that day there shall be a roote of Jesse which shall stand for an Ensigne of the people to it shall the Gentiles seeke and his rest shall be glorious And behold how the Apostles expones these words Rom. 15.12 Esaias saith there shall be a root of Jesse and he that shall rise to reigne over the Gentiles in him shall the Gentiles trust Now whereas the Apostle expones his people to be the Gentiles may they not be ashamed who will understand onely the Jewes so that there is meaned the recovery of Gods people or the Gentiles from Assyria Egypt or wheresoever they be Reply 1. There is mention of recovering the remnant of his people from Assyria Egypt Paphros Cush Elam Shinar Hamath and the Islands of the Sea and of smiting the River that men may goe over dry-shod and of a high-way for the remnant of his people that shall be left from Assyria like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the Land of Egypt And how much doth this recovering differ from a returning 2. Who the people be that are meant in this Prophecie the words Israel Judah and Ephraim doe shew and not the tenth verse where the Gentiles are mention'd For why should those things which concerne the Jewes here be understood of the Gentiles which are onely mentioned by the by as it were rather then that which is said of the Gentiles be understood of the Jewes of whom so much is spoken in this Chapter And where have you learned to take Judah and Ephraim or Israel for the Gentiles Surely the Apostle expounds not the Jewes by the Gentiles nor the Gentiles by the Jewes but rehearseth the 10. ver of this chapter to shew that Christ was to bring salvation to the Gentiles as well as unto the Jewes and this Prophecie of the Gentiles being mixt with that which concernes the Redemption of the Jewes is more likely to be meant of the coming in of the fulnesse of the Gentiles at Christs next appearing then of the comming in of the substituted part of the Gentiles in the time of the Jewes blindnesse And therefore seeing God hath made mention of the Gentiles by name in those Prophecies which concerne them and of the Jewes by name in those which concerne them it behoves us to give to the Jew the Prophecies that beare the Image and superscription of the Jewes and to the Gentile those which beare the Image and superscription of the Gentiles and not so needlessely so irrationally and so unjustly to give unto the Gentiles all that belongs unto the Jewes Whereas then the Apostle quotes this Prophecie out of Isaias onely as a testimony to prove that Christ came as well for the good of the Gentiles as the Jewes if you had any regard of what you say you would never have cal'd it an exposition nor have publish't it to the world as a rule to interpret the Prophecies which concerne the Jewes of the Gentiles The objections which you have alledg'd against your selfe out of the foresaid Prophecie are these The first objection It is said He shall assemble the out-casts of Israel and the dispersed of Judah Mr Petrie's Answer The Gospel which is Christs Standard hath been preached unto them Jam. 1.1 and so their assembling is into the bosome of the Church Reply And so you separate these words from the rest of the Prophecie and apply them to the calling of the Jewes at the first preaching of the Gospel of purpose to delude the Reader for the Prophecie speakes of their returne into their owne Countrey and not at all of the preaching of the Gospel unto them in other Countries as any one may perceive And yet although the Gospel was in the first dayes thereof preach't to the Jewes scattered abroad what effect had it amongst them surely St. Paul Act. 13. ver 45 46. and in the 1 Thess 2. ver 14 15 16. doth testifie that such was their malice against the Apostles for preaching of it that they laboured all they could to raise up enemies against them thereby to hinder the growth of the Gospel not onely amongst their owne Nation but amongst the Gentiles also so that even in this sense Israel and Judah the twelve Tribes are not yet assembled And it is observable how palpably you here contradict your former words for here you expound Israel and Judah properly of the Iewes onely as your quoting of the first chap and first ver of the Epistle of St. James doth shew and yet in the second part of your Answer you tell us that both the Prophet and St. Paul doe expound his people to be the Gentiles The second objection It is said the envie of Ephraim shall depart and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off c. Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. The meaning is whereas there had been contentions twixt the Tribes one against another and both against the Gentiles and Gentiles against them both under Christ shall be an end of that malice 2. In the citation of this Prophecie the 14. ver is omitted because they cannot see how it can be verified of the peaceable Kingdome which they imagine but seeing the words preceding and the words following containe one and the same Prophecy and these words in the middle part cannot be exponed of that Monarchy it is evident that no part of this Prophecie can be understood of that Monarchy but the meaning is plaine if they be exponed of the Christian Church thus The Apostles flee that is quickly preach unto other Nations and brought them in a short space unto the obedience of Christ not going in troopes from Province to Province but at the same time they went one by one into severeâ— Nations 3. This ver being omitted the 15. ver is quoted and out of it they doe imagine that a way shall be made for the Jewes through the Sea and all floods shall be dried up before them But if these words shall be exponed properly what kind of Miracle shall that be shall the Jewes who are scattered into all the corners of the Earth have a dry passage through every river and the Egyptian or Red-sea be destroyd Or is it not rather in a spirituall sense that the Lord will remove all impediments which may hinder the course of the Gospel and he hath opened a way into that Kingdome of Heaven from which we were exiled in Adam and spirituall Pharaoh is drowned or destroyed in the Red-sea or bloudy death of Christ and by a mighty wind of preaching the Lord hath made his power knowne every where even as sensibly as when he brought Israel
out of Egypt Reply 1. In this first part of your answer you say that whereas there had been contentions twixt the Tribes one against another and both against the Gentiles and the Gentiles against them both under Christ shall be an end of that malice All which is very true and here the Reader may see you at once confesse all that we affirme for you take Ephraim and Judah properly and affirme that they are againe to be united under Christ and not onely one with another but with the Gentiles too all malice being laid aside And is not this to say with us that it is not yet fulfill'd for can you prove that the twelve Tribes are already converted and united or that all malice is at an end twixt Jewes and Gentiles certainly you cannot and what need we then any further witnesse for habemus confitentene reum your owne mouth hath condemened you and quitted us 2. This part of your answer hath no relation to the objection but is a quarrell against us for omitting the 14. ver in the citation of this Prophecie which we did you say because we saw that it could not be verified of the peaceable Kingdome which wee imagine But this Kingdome is plainly held out unto all in the word of God and is not the fruit of our imagination which is nothing worth but as it is enlightned from hence And though the 14. ver will not consist with the peace of this Kingdome yet it will very well consist with the returne of the Iewes before this Kingdome who in their passage to their Land may have many particular victories over their Enemies as well in this returne as in that out of Egypt onely and this is all that the 14. ver doth shew with which the verses preceding and following speaking onely of their returne and alledgd to shew their returne doe better agree then with the Apostles preaching of the Gospel to severall Nations whereof there is not a word spoken in this verse nor in any other that I have alledg'd and seeing you have interpreted Judah and Ephraim in the 13. ver of the Iewes in opposition to the Gentiles how could you expound the 14. verse there the same persons are meant of the Apostles or understand by their spoyling them of the East the preaching of the Gospel 3. That the tongue of the Egyptian sea shall be utterly destroyed and the river give a passage to the Iewes as Iordan did in time past is the expresse word of God in this chapter and is the hand of the Lord shortned thinke you that he cannot doe such Miracles now as he did heretofore or is his mind changed that he will not doe what he hath said or hath he forgotten what he spake by the Prophets so long agoe I know you dare not affirme ought of this and yet surely some such impious thought doth seeme to be the best ground that you have for the strange metamorphosis that you make of this Prophecie by your mysticall application of it For what kind of Miracle say you shall that be shall the Jewes who are scattered into all corners of the Earth have a dry passage through every river and the Egyptian 〈◊〉 Red-sea be dryed up But you forget your selfe for the text saith River not Rivers and the the River is in the Scripture by way of excellency put for Euphrates and yet admit it were in the Text as you say it were but the reiteration of the same Miracle and cannot God as well make all rivers yield them a drie passage as any one river hath he power to doe it once and hath he not power to doe it againe yea as oft as he pleaseth or can he not doe greater Miracles then any here foretold or then any that he hath hitherto done Why then should your Faith straine thus at a gnat at the drying up of a river or the destroying of the tongue of the Egyptian Sea when as it can so easily swallow a Camel in destroying the plaine history of Gods word by incredible allegories and incongruous interpretations Israel's Redemption Such another Prophecie is that of Ezek. in his 37. chap. at the 19. ver Thus saith the Lord God I will take the stick of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim and the Tribes of Israel his fellowes and will put them with him even with the stick of Judah and make them one stick in my hand and at the 21. ver Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the Heathen whither they be gone and will gather them on every side and will bring them into their owne Land and I will make them one Nation in the Land upon the Mountaines of Israel and one King shall be King to them all and they shall be no more two Nations neither shall they be divided into two Kingdomes any more at all neither shall they defile themselves any more with their Idols nor with their detestable things nor with any of their transgressions but I will save them out of all their dwelling places wherein they have sinned and will cleanse them for they shall be my people and I will be their God And in Hosea 1. ver 10. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea which cannot be measured nor numbred and it shall come to passe that in the place where it was said unto them Ye are not my people there it shall be said Ye k Ier 24. v. 6 7. c. 32. ver 37.38 Zech 13. ver 9. are the Sons of the living God Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one Head and they shall come up out of the land for great shall be the Day of Jezreel In both which Prophecies the Lord hath promised that the Jews shall againe live under one King onely as they had done before the division of the Tribes and that in their owne land too which hath not been yet performed and therefore the time of these Prophecies is yet to come Mr Petrie's Answer 1. The like Prophecy is likewise exponed but for further clearing of these I add That of Ezek. 37. is exponed by Christ Joh. 10.14.16 I am the good Shepherd and know my sheepe and other sheepe I have which are not of this fold them also I must bring and they shall heare my voice and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd Where you see that Christ is the Shepherd and by consequence the King too unlesse they will understand the 24. ver of Ezek. 37. of two different persons and the people over whom he reigneth are his sheepe not onely of the Jews but of another fold whom Christ bringeth into the same fold that is into the same Church 2. The same words speaking of Christ and calling him David and King and Shepherd shew that they must he spiritually understood 3. The 25. ver may be more easily understood in
the spiritual then earthly sense to wit the land that I have given unto Jacob and they shall'd wel therein for ever and my servant shall be their Prince for ever for that land was not given unto Jacob neither doe the Millenaries say that the Jews shall dwel for ever in Jerusalem but for a 1000 yeares and then Christ's Kingdom shall cease But expone that one word land typically for the thing typified thereby and all the other words goe currently even to the end of the chap. as we see the Apostle expones the 27. ver of the Corinthians as a part of these people 2 Cor. 6.16 Now seeing certainly Christ is the King and Shepherd and the people are the Jewes and Gentiles who were strangely divided but now are one Church by faith in Christ therefore the people of Israel and Ephraim who after the division were alwaies idolatrous may well be exponed typically for the Gentiles and so the union is easily understood which otherwise very hardly or scarcely can be conceived seeing now through many ages Ephraimites are not knowne in any part of the earth As for that text of Hosea it is exponed of the Gentiles Rom. 9.25.26 and therefore the Prophet changeth the word Israel into Jezreel that is the seed of God signifying that the time wherein the Lord shall gather his seed or the faithfull in all Nations from the bondage of the Devil shall be very great and wonderful to all the world Reply 1. Surely your further clearing is no other then a further clouding as the very reading of this prophecy and that which our Saviour hath said Joh. 10. ver 14. and 16. is of it selfe sufficient to discover For Ezek. speaks of uniting the Jews together under one King in their owne land and our Saviour speaks of uniting the Jews and Gentiles into one Church after a certaine number of elect Gentiles should be cald Other sheepe saith he I have which are not of this fold that is other elect servants which are not of this Nation them also I must bring and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd Where it is to be noted by the words them also I must bring that he speaks onely of such elect Gentiles as were to be cald before the Jews and Gentiles should make one sheepfold and not after they were one sheepfold For when they are all brought then it is that there shall be one sheepfold and not while they are bringing No the words of our Saviour Mat. 21. at the 43. ver will not admit of such a meaning for The Kingdom of God saith he shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruit thereof Whereby it is evident that the Other sheepe he speaks of in the 10 chap. of St. Iohn should be brought to the faith when the Nation of the Iewes should be deprived of the meanes of salvation and consequently when it could not possibly be one Church And therefore in saying that the Iewes and Gentiles are at this time one sheepfold you contradict our Saviour and affirme that the Iewes are now saved without the ordinary meanes of salvation For this they have not but shall have it when the time comes in which the Jews and Gentiles shall be one sheepfold And then also the Jews shall be one Kingdom agane in their owne land and Christ shall reigne over both Jews and Gentiles together And thus our Saviour's words doe neither expound Ezek. prophecy nor shew that the Jews and Gentiles are now one sheepfold But rather point out the time when Ezek. prophecy shal be fulfilled to wit when the Jews and Gentiles shal be one fold under one Shepheard So much have you mist your aime in alledging these propheticall words of Christ 2. The words David King and Shepheard will no more prove that the temporal prophecies or temporal part of the prophecies in which they are used are to be spiritually and figuratively understood then Gods words to David Thou shalt feed my people Israel 2 Sam. 5. ver 2. will prove that David's Kingdom was not a temporal Kingdom nor he a temporal King Or then David's owne words of his people But these sheep what have they done will prove that the whole Kingdom of the Jews were all faithfull persons 3. Being conscious that all which you have said before to make men take these prophecies in a mysticall sense will nought availe you if the word land in the prophecies should be properly understood of the land of Canaan you now endeavor to perswade them to take this figuratively also and your first reason to induce them to it is like to that by which Jereboam dissuaded the Israelites from going up to Jerusalem because it may be more easily understood you say in the spiritual then an earthly sense But what is that spiritual sense which may so easily be understood and yet was so hard to be described that you could not tell us what it was But sure I am that God hath told us by the Prophet what land he minds to joyne the Tribes together in even in their owne land ver 21. in the land upon the mountaines of Israel ver 22. in the land that he gave unto Jacob his servant ver 25. which circumstances doe infallibly manifest that it can be meant of no other land or place but Judea And therefore the second reason you bring to shew that it is best to take the word land spiritually is both false and impious For that land you say was not given to Jacob. No did not God say to Jacob in a dreame The land whereon thou liest to thee will I give it and to thy seed c. Gen. 28.13 and hath he not said here in this prophecy the land that I gave unto Jacob my servant no marvel th n that you can so lightly reject all the plaine texts of Scripture that speake for us when as you dare thus affreâ—r God himselfe and tell him to his face that he did not doe that which he saith he did doe Neither will the words for ever in the text any whit excuse you seeing the Lord saith plainly that he gave That land to Jacob of which he saith that they and their children and their childrens children should dwell in it for ever And yet the very next words wherein your Fathers have dwelt doe put it out of doubt that it is meant of Judea and consequently the dwelling of their childrens children in it for ever is to be understood of their dwelling in it successively and the word for ever is to be taken finitely for a long time to wit as long as men shall succeed each other on the Earth as it is in many other places of Scripture and 〈◊〉 fiâ—iâ—â—ly for time without end And whereas you say that 〈◊〉 in the 2 Cor. 6.16 expounds the 27. verse of this Prophecie of the Corinthians as a part of the People the Prophet here speaks of it is not so for as the
can that belong to the Gentiles which was prophecied onely of the Jewes as is declar'd by the Prophets wife of whoredomes and children of whoredomes which he tooke of purpose to upbraid the Idol-worship and spirituall whoredomes of the Israelites ver 2 and therefore when she conceived and bare him the second sonne Call his name said God Loammi for ye are not my people and I will not be your God the Israelites then they were to whom this Prophet was sent and of whom it was said Ye are not my people Mr. Petrie's Answer It was not prophecied of the Jews onely for it is plaine that Hosea speakes of the Israelites as well vs of the Jews and generally the Apostle speaks Rom. 10.12 there is no difference between the Jew and the Greeke for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him So that albeit the Prophet was sent personally unto the Israelites yet his words were no lesse true and meaned of the Gentiles who then were not the people of God but now through Christ are the people of God for whosoever shall call upon the Name of God shall be saved Reply I have here cal'd the ten Tribes Jews in opposition to the Gentiles and you say that this was not prophecied of the Jews onely for it is plaine that Hosea speaks of the Israelites as well as of the Jews A wild exception for are not these Israelites Jews certainly Israelites and Jewes are the proper names of that Nation And though after the division of the Tribes Israel and Judah were often used to distinguish the two Tribes from the ten and the ten from the two yet the word Jews was never thus us'd For by this Name all the Tribes are cal'd in the History of Hester and in many other places and in that instance that you bring out of the Rom. chap. 10. ver 12. the word Jew is taken indifinitely for any Jew And wherefore is it that you urge these words of the Apostle doe you think that it proves the name Jew to be indifferently taken for a Jew or a Gentile surely these words shew that the beleeving Gentile is as acceptable to the Lord as the beleeving Jew and that there is nothing in the Jew which can move God to bestow grace on him rather then on the Gentile as the following words confirme but they shew not that God takes a faithfull Jew for a faithfull Greeke nor a faithfull Greeke for a faithfull Jew And therefore you cannot conclude from hence that albeit the prophet was sent personally unto the Israelites yet his words were no lesse true and meaned of the Gentiles for though through Christ all beleevers are the people of God yet through Christ a beleever of one Nation is not made a beleever of another Nation though every one that confidently cals upon the name of the Lord shall be saved yet every one that cals on the name of the Lord shall not thereby become a Jew And how can you take Israelites for Gentiles who are of different Nations from them and yet will not take Israelites for Jews which is a Name belonging equally to all the Tribes But you herein condemne St Paul who sometimes calls himselfe a Jew and sometimes an Israelite and could he be both if these Names doe not equally belong to the same Nation Israel's Redemption And the place where they were told so was their owne land and therfore in that place it shall againe be said unto them Ye are the sonnes of the living God ver 10. And this Piscator grants to be the meaning of it here in the Prophet but withall he holds that it is applyed in the 9. of the Rom. to the conversion of the Gentiles because the Israelites being thus rejected of God were become like unto the Gentiles who until the preaching of the Gospel were not his people but notwithstanding this reason me thinkes it is very unlikely that the Apostle should borrow a prophecy from the Jews to prove Gods mercy towards the Gentiles which is in sundry places of the Scripture so properly and distinctly foreshewne as you may see by the authorities which are urged to this purpose in the l v. 19.20 10. and m v. 9.10 11.12 15. chap. of the same Epistle Mr Petrie's Answer 1. Where it is said ver 10. in that place ye may reade on the margine in stead of that it was said c. and therefore that word proves nothing 2. It is no lesse true that the Gentiles are the people of God even in the same lands where they did not serve God 3. This is no applying by way of similitude but accommodating as Piscator speaks to another particular that as the Israelites by Idolatrie became like unto the Gentiles so the Gentiles receiving the Gospel are Jews or the people of God And this exposition is not onely likely but very certaine seeing the Apostle expones these prophecies of God's mercy towards the Gentiles as you may see by the authorities which are urged to this purpose in the 10. and 15. chap. of the Epistle to the Rom. and elsewhere Reply 1. Arias Montanus renders the original Et erit in loco quo without any such marginall note at all And the Septuagint reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it shall come to passe that in the place where c. And this expression agrees best with the scope of the Prophecie which foretells their returne againe to their owne Land in which it had been said unto them yee are not my people yea the Apostle too alledgeth these words agreeable to the translation in the text and in the latter part of the sentence relates to them with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illic vocabuntur there they shall be call'd c. And therefore this proves so much that of force you must grant the accomplishment of the Prophecie in its proper sense 2. And what though the Gentiles are the people of God even in the same Lands where they did not serve God shall not therefore the Jewes be call'd againe the people of God in the same Land where once they forsooke God or shall this Prophecie be therefore understood of them to whom the Prophet was not sent to say as he did to the Israelites Ye are not my people 3. I thinke not that the Apostle did apply this Prophecie by way of similitude to the Gentiles and much lesse that he did accommodate it to them as to those of whom it was meant by the Holy Ghost For the Holy Ghost fore-shewes not the calling of the Gentiles under the name of the Israelites but in their own name And surely if it cannot be prov'd that the Apostle expounds these Prophecies of Gods mercy towards the Gentiles till the Authorities alledg'd in the 10. and 15. chap. of this Epistle to the Rom. doe shew it it will never be prov'd for those Prophecies speake onely of the Gentiles and how then doe they
and were it not to expound Notum per ignotius to make the Comment more obscure then the Text to say that by the building of the Tabernacle of David James meant the visiting of the Gentiles before spoken of Thus then whatsoever talke you make of the present conversion and union of the Jewes with the Church of the Gentiles yet when you come to apply the Scriptures you debarre them of all interest in those Prophecies or that part of a Prophecy which concernes them alone so much doe you favour their conversion or esteeme their company But as you hold the words in the 14. vers to have reference to Simeons Prophecy so you must remember that Simcon saith of Christ that he should be a light to lighten the Gentles before he saith of him that he should be the glory of his people Israel and what doth this imply but that a substituted part of the Gentiles were to become the Church of Christ before the Nation of the Jewes should receive the Gospel for being indued with the spirit of Prophecy he could not speake at randome and therefore the very order of these words is observeable with which Saint James his changing of the first words of the Prophecy In that they into After this doth very well agree which might else as well if not better have beene alledg'd according to the Prophets expression had this Prophecy beene no more but a larger explanation and further confirmation of the Gentiles calling And if you looke into the latter part of Amos Prophecy recorded by St. James you may see that at the building againe of Davids Tabernacle there is not onely mention of the residue of men that should then seeke after God but of the Gentiles too upon whom God's Name is call'd before that for why else should they be thus distinguished from other Gentiles that are then to seeke the Lord as well as they And what will follow from hence upon your expounding the building of the Tabernacle of David of the first calling of the Gentiles certainely this will follow that the first calling of the Gentiles was not the first calling of the Gentiles seeing the people upon whom God's name all is call'd is alwayes meant of a people that doth worship the true God And consequently from the words after this I will return wil build again the Tabernacle of David inferr'd upon the foresaid visiting of the Gentiles in the 14. ver and from the words that the residue of men might seeke after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my Name is call'd referr'd to the time when it is againe to be built it must needs follow that here is an expresse mention as well of the Nationall conversion of the Jewes after the visiting of the Gentiles as of the calling of a substituted part of the Gentiles before such a conversion of the Jewes for as the Tabernacle of David cannot possibly signifie the Nations of the Gentiles so the building againe of it cannot be meant of God's receiving those Nations for his people which were never before his people And thus this Prophecy of Amos shewes not the calling of the Jewes onely nor the calling of the Gentiles onely but the order of both for which purpose it was alledged by the Apostle to wit to shew that a substituted part of the Gentiles should be called before the generall conversion of the Jewes and that all Gentiles whatsoever that were then left both of the call'd and uncall'd should make one Church with the Jewes when the Tabernacle of David was againe built that is upon the conversion deliverance and setling of the Jewes in their own land according as the foresaid Prophecies doe declare And whereas you seeme to deny that this Prophecy was taken out of Amos onely because the Apostle speakes not onely of Amos but saith generally to this agree the words of the Prophets you shew great weakenesse in it for besides that it is an usuall manner of speaking to put the plurall number for the singular and the singular for the plurall he might very well say to this agree the words of the Prophets because other Prophets also foretell the same thing although he brought an instance onely out of one of them for I am sure that this prophecy is wholly in Amos with a little difference from this translation according to the originall but none according to the Septuagint as Doctor Mayer affirmeth And why doe you say before Iames alledgeth the prophecy of Amos if you did not thinke it to be the prophecy of Amos and if you knew that but a part of it was his why did you not shew what words were spoken by him and what words by some other Prophets But you could not for to this agree the words of the Prophets is indeede as if he had said to this agree the words of Amos in the booke of the Prophets For the minor or lesser Prophets were all in one volume called the booke of the Prophets and therefore when a testimony is brought out of any of them it is most commonly alledged as from the whole booke and not from that prophecy where they are written in the booke And thus you may read As it is written in the booke of the Prophets Acts 7.42 instead of as it is written by Amos in the booke of the Prophets And Acts 13.40 which is spoken of in the Prophets that is by Habbakkuk in the booke of the Prophets And in all this I hope I have fully answered this great doubt the mentioning whereof doth either shew your little insight in Divinity if you were not able to satisfie your selfe therein or your great delight to wrangle if you knew the answer to it 3. You deny that the Apostle Paul alledgeth the prophecy of Isaiah to shew the generall conversion of the Jewes after the conversion of the substituted Gentiles for he saith not you say and then all Israel shall be saved but and so all Israel shall be saved But though he saith not and then yet Paraeus tels you that this and more then this is understood for he saith there is an Ellipsis of the antecedent a defect or leaving out of something that should have been spoken before So that the full rehearsing of the Apostles minde herein had been thus For I would not brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery that blindenesse is in part happened to Israel Vntill the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in and then when the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in the blindnesse shall cease and so all Israel shall be saved And doubtlesse this is the true meaning of what the Apostle hath more briefely uttered And yet we doe not grant that the Apostle shewes no order and difference in time because he saith not and then but and so For the distance of time betwixt Israel's casting off and calling againe is exprest by the words Vntill the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in without
last place you taxe me for omitting the 12. and 13. ver in the testimony of Jer. chap. 33. and for overslipping likewise the 18. and 22. ver But not one of these verses was in that part of the chapter which I have cited and therefore they were neither overslipt nor purposely omitted as you have purposely omitted in the 12. verse these words againe in this place which is desolate without man and without beast and in the 13. verse these and in the places about Jerusalem shall the flocks passe againe under the hands of him that telleth them that so you might make way for your mysticall interpretation in the entrance whereof you doe so sawcily flout at the glory of Christs Kingdome saying what is this the glory of Christs Kingdome that sheep shall lie in his Citie certainly the chiefest glory of Christs Kingdome is that mercy and truth shall meet together and peace and righteousnesse kisse each other but yet the promised fertility and pleasantnesse of the Land of Canaan and the encrease and prosperity of man and beast upon it shall help set forth the glory thereof also seeing the glory of a Kingdome on earth doth as well consist in the abundance of outward and temporall blessings whereby the evills that would come through want and povertâ— are prevented as in the abundance of inward and spirituall blessings whereby the evills that would follow upon riches and plenty are avoided yea it is more glory for the servant of God to keep himselfe holy and righteous in the midst of prosperity and delight then when there is a scarcity of the creatures which conduce to the pleasure and welfare of his body And whereas you say further that the Lord understands here the spirituall sheep of Christ c. as he expoundeth it Ezek. 34. v. 31. Ye flock of my pasture are men I am your God You doe herein apparently bely God for although God doth in that chapter of Ezek. call the Jewes his sheep and his flock yet it doth not therefore follow that by flocks in this chap. of Jer. he understands men also yea the words which you have omitted doe cleerly shew that this word is here to be taken properly for why doth God say in the 12. verse Againe in this place which is desolate without man and without beast and in all the Cities thereof shall be an habitation of shepheards causing their flocks to lie downe but to shew that there should be againe an increase of men and of beasts in that land and what doth God meane when he saith in the 13. ver that in the Land of Benjamin and in the places about Jerusalem and in the Cities of Judah shall the flocks passe againe under the hands of him that telleth them Doth he meane that Ministers should tell their Congregations as Shepherds tell their flocks or rather that there should be againe both flocks and men to looke to them and to tell them as formerly they had done and so the concealing of these words doth plainly witnesse against you that you made the foresaid impious flourish against your owne Conscience And as you could not be ignorant that by flocks here cattell are meant and not men so you had no ground in the Text wherefore you should conceit that sheep shall lie in the Cities as the inserting of the words there even c. into the Text doth declare for the Lord saith In this place and in all the Cities thereof shall be an habitation of Shepherds causing their flocks to lie downe Whereby it is manifest that Shepherds shall dwell in the Cities but not that their flocks shall have their folds there but by the Cities where their â—â—â—ding shall be and in that there shall then be Shepherds as well in the cities as in other places it shewes what a great increase of cattle shall then be and besides who knowes not that cattell may be driven into Cities to be sold there or for some other occasion and so may passe under the hands of him that telleth them in the cities themselves But suppose that these words in Jer. were mystically to be understood what would you gaine by it when ask is expressely said that for the Shepherds of these flocks shall be an habitation in this place that is in the Land of Judea and afterwards more particularly in the Cities of the Mountaines in the Cities of the Vale and in the Cities of the South and in the Land of Benjamin and in the places about Jerusalem and in the Cities of Judea doth not this prove that these faithfull Congregations if the Prophecie were to be mystically taken must needs be Inhabitants of Judea and not of other Countries And yet you can shew no reason wherefore we should take spirituall promises in these Prophecies for spirituall I blessings and not temporall promises for temporall blessings and must we thinke neverthelesse that when God saith I will strengthen the house of Judah and will save the house of Joseph and I will bring them againe to place them and they shall be as though I had not cast them off And I will cause you to dwell in the Cities and the wastes shall be builded and the desolate land shall bee tilled whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by and they shall say This land that was desolate is become like the garden of â—â—en and the waste and desolate and ruined Cities are become fenced and inhabited And I will cause the showre to come downe in his season then shall be showres of blessing and the tree of the field shall yield her fruit and the Earth shall yield her increase and they shall be safe in their land and shall know that I am the Lord when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them out of the hands of those that served themselves of them and they shall no more be a prey to the Heathen neither shall the beasts of the Land devoure them but they shall dwell safely and none shall make them afraid Must we thinke I say that in these and such like promises God hath the same meaning as he hath where he saith I will cleanse them from their iniquitie whereby they have sinned against me and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me and whereby they have transgressed against me And in those dayes and in that time the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sinnes of Judah and they shall not be found for I will pardon them whom I reserve I will sprinkle cleane water upon you and ye shall be cleane from all your filthinesse and from all your Idols will I cleanse you and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walke in my Statutes and you shall keepe my judgements and doe them Hath God in those first promises the same meaning that he hath in these last then shew us how wee
31. ver 38. and Isa chap. 60. and 62. and in many other places This is your first parallell for which you had no ground in the text The rest are these Christ is called the salvation of the Lord and Simeon saith My eyes have seene thy salvation The Messiah is called a light unto the Gentiles and Simeon saith a light to lighten the Gentiles Christ iâ— called the glory of Sion and Jerusalem and Simeon saith the glory of thy people Israel And will it follow from this that Isaiah's prophecies were at that time fulfilled surely no more then it will that they were fulfilled when Isaiah spake the same words but this will follow that these texts of Isaiah and Simeon's prophecy are one in their contents and that the fore Simeon's words doe no more shew that Isaiah's prophecies were fulfilled at Christ's first comming then Isaiah's doe that Simeon's prophecy was then fulfilled Which doe indeed shew that Christ is to be the glory of his people Israel at his next appearing and not before For seeing to be the glory of his people implies a greater happines to belong to the Iews of whom the Redeemer came then to the Gentiles to whom he is said to be a light is it likely that this should be fulfilled when now and then a Jew should seeke God amongst the Gentiles or rather when the Gentiles in generall should seeke God amidst the whole Nation of the Jewes or rather I say when as Isaiah speakes the Tribes of Iacob shall be raysed up and the preserved of Israel restored when they shall come from the North and from the West and from the land of Sinim When the waste and desolate places and the land of their destruction shall be even now too narrow by reason of the inhabitants and they that swallowed them up shall be far away When the Lord shall feed them that oppresse them with their owne flesh and they shall be drunken with their owne blood as with sweet wine and all flesh shall know that the Lord is their Saviour and their Redeemer the mighty one of Jacob. When the glory of the Lord is risen upon Sion and the Gentiles shall come to their light and Kings to the brightnes of her rising When the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto her and the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto her When the multitude of Camels shall cover her the Dromedaries of Midian and Ephah and all they from Sheba shall come and shall bring gold and incense and shew forth the praise of the Lord. When all the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto her and the Rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto her when they shall come up with acxceptance on God's altar and God shall glorify the house of his glory When the glory of Lebanon shall come unto her the firre tree the pine tree and the boxe tree together to beautify the place of God's Sanctuary and when God shall make the place of his feet glorious When the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve Sion shall perish yea shall be utterly wasted When violence shall no more be heard in her land wasting nor destruction within her borders but she shall call her walls salvation and her gates praise When the Gentiles shall see her righteousnes and all Kings her glory when she shall be called Heph-Zibah and her land Benlah In a word when the Jewes shall be cal'd The holy people The redeemed of the Lord and Sion shall be called Sought out a City not forsaken When the time comes wherein all this and much more which is revealed in the chapters of Isaiah cited by you shall come to passe then and not til then shall our Saviour declare himselfe to be the glory of his people Israel as Simeon hath foretold And so by the testimony of these prophecies that part of Simeon's prophecy which concernes the glory of the Jewes is to be referred wholly to our Saviour's second comming when as well the residue of men the Gentiles that are yet uncal'd as the Gentiles on whom God's Name is already cal'd shall all goe up to worship the Lord at Ierusalem shall all seeke salvation amongst the Iewes and not the Iewes amongst the Gentiles And therefore when the Iewes and Gentiles shall be so united as these and many other prophecies doe foreshew there is to be no disagreement at all betwixt the Iewes or betwixt them and any other nation in the practise of religious duties Which thing too this marginall note doth so clearely prove out of the prophecy of Amos alledged by St. Iames that you could make no better reply to it then to call it a long tailed note and a frivolous discourse And whereas you say that there was an unanimous consent in the true worship of God betwixt the Jewes and other Nations when they did conveen in the generall Synode Act. 15. Surely there was not one whole City and much lesse was there any one Nation of the Gentiles at that time converted And if a few Turks should become Christians you might as well infer from this that there were an unanimous consent in the worship of God betwixt Christians and the Turkish Nations as you can conclude from that meeting or from all that were then converted that the Jewes and any much lesse all other Nations were united in the true worship of God And indeed the uniting of the Jewes and Gentiles into one Church so often and so plainly foretold by the Prophets and confirmed by our Saviour Ioh. 10. ver 16. is not of some Jewes and Gentiles onely as it was in the first dayes of the Gospel nor of some Nations of the Gentiles and a few Jewes as it hath been since the conversion of the substituted Nations of the Gentiles nor of all the Jewes and some Gentiles as it was under the Law nor of all the Jewes and a part of the Gentile Nations but of all the Tribes of the Jewes and all the Nations of the Gentiles The marginall Note But it matters not much which of the two is here spoken of for seeing the Prophet doth plainly shew a future restoring of the Jewes and yet the intent of the Apostle was onely to prove that God had then cal'd the Gentiles it cannot otherwise be but that the words after this in the prophecy being applyed to the foresaid visiting of the Gentiles by the preaching of the Gospel must needs conclude that the extraordinary restauration of the Jewes foreshewne by the Prophet was to follow the calling of the Gentiles then begun by the Apostles Mr. Petrie's Answer The Prophet Amos in that chap. before ver 11. speakes not of the calling of the Gentiles and the Apostle cites the same words of ver 11. for the calling of the Gentiles neither hath the Prophet these words after this but in these dayes and howbeit the Apostle cite them so yet this must be understood of the order of things mentioned by the Prophet which
paraphrase in place of the text if not of purpose to make that which hath been said the more plainly appeare to wit that the day of the Jewes deliverance is to await the accomplishment of the surrogated Gentiles vocation For though this consolatory prophecy according to the order of the things revealed to the Prophet hath relation only to a foregoing judgement denounced against the Jewes yet it is not therefore misinferred here by the Apostle as a subsequent too of the anticipated conversion of the Gentiles and that because the very same time which was foreappointed by God for the execution of that punishment upon the forsaken Jewes was also foreappointed by him to be the time for the promulgation of his mercy towards the substituted Gentiles as these next words that the residue of men might seeke after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my Name is cal'd doe most clearely intimate For what is meant by the residue of men but the remainder of those Nations which are not to be converted til the foresaid redemption of the Jewes their redemption I say as well out of all countries into which they are scattered and from all Nations amongst whom as was foretold they have been sifted so many hundred yeares as from all their sinnes which moved God to use such severity towards them And what by the Gentiles on whom Gods Name is cal'd but the remnant of those Nations which are now already or shall if any more shall while David's Tabernacle lies waste become the people of God in the hardned Jewes stead So that this prophecy doth as well prove a profession of the Gospel by a great part of the Gentiles before the Jewes deliverance and in the time of their blindnesse as by all that are left of them afterwards For that by a people on whom God's Name is cal'd or which is called by God's Name is to be understood a people belov'd of God and cal'd out from other Nations to serve him as the Jewes were heretofore and as Christians are now I thinke none will deny or that by the residue of men and all the Gentiles upon whom God's Name is cal'd all other Nations besides the Jewes are meant And was there then ever aâ— yet such an unanimous consent in the true worship of God betwixt the Jewes and all other Nations as is here foretold surely never betwixt them and any one Nation No nor long betwixt themselves And the more the pity no lesse odds hath a long time been and stil is amongst Christians both in their opinion and practise of religious duties Vide Commentationum Apocalyp partem primam de sigillis pag. 55. 56. Mr Petrie's Answer This is meere cavilling Before the calling of the Gentiles was not God averse from them and they from him and therefore when he looked graciously upon them he is truely said to returne unto them Againe in the words of Amos immediately preceding wee see that the Lord was offended with Israel and when he sent the salvation of God and glory of Israel among them it may be as truely said that he returned unto them Thirdly it is often in this note repeated that he had quite forsaken the Jewes but the Apostle cannot suffer this phrase Rom. 11.18 Hath God cast away his people God forbid for I also am an Israelite c. but more of this purpose hereafter Reply This is meere carping for to returne doth necessarily imply a former abode in that place or among that people to which the returning is or a former possession of that thing which doth returne For can it be said that you are returned to a place where you never were before or could Nebâ—tchadnezzar have said I lift up mine eyes unto Heaven and mine understanding returned unto mee if he had not been formerly endued with understanding It is not a sufficient reason therefore to prove that God did returne unto the Gentiles when he look't graciously upon them because he was before their calling averse from them and they from him unlesse it can be shew'd withall that God was sometime before that aversenesse not averse from them And whereas you say further that in the words of Amos immediately preceding the Lord was offended with Israel and when he sent the salvation of God and glory of Israel among them it may be truly said that he returned unto them If you had said and when he shall raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen and close up the breaches thereof c. he may be truly said to return unto them you had said the truth for the Prophet saith it is this and not the first comming of our Saviour that declares Gods returne to Israel after the full accomplishment of the wrath before denounc't against it which wrath had not wholly seized upon them untill Judah and Benjamin were dispersed also at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans and before this the Apostles were turned from the Jewes to the Gentiles so that God had then ceased to be their God as our Saviour had said Matth. 21. ver 43. and therefore when he shall againe become their God as he hath foretold he will at the rebuilding of Davids Tabernacle then shall this Returne the Apostle speaks of be fulfill'd unto them for as God cannot be said to returne to a people in respect of a donation of outward and temporall blessings unlesse they be first taken from them so neither can he be said to returne to a people in respect of a participation of inward and spirituall blessings unlesse they be first depriv'd of the meanes of salvation which formerly they enjoy'd And it is very remarkable here how wavering you are both in your interpretation and application of God's Returning mention'd by the Apostle for first you understand it of Gods returning to the Gentiles in calling them by the preaching of the Gospel and presently after you understand it of his returning to the Jewes in sending Christ among them of whom neverthelesse you have hitherto deny'd that this Prophecie doth speake But I have said that the Jewes were quite forsaken and the Apostle you say cannot suffer this phrase Rom. 11. ver 1. Hath God cast away his people God forbid c. And yet the same Apostle in the same ch at the 15. ver saith If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead and ver 32. For God hath concluded them all in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all and was not the Nation of the Jewes quite cast off when all the Tribes were thus concluded in unbeliefe or will you say that they have still continued the people of God under the Gospel as well as under the Law if you will not you must needs grant that the Nation is quite forsaken quite cast off although not so forsaken not so cast off as never againe to be received to mercy although some
you may the better beguile others of the truth For first the union foreshewed in these Prophecies is not to begin untill the Nations which shall oppose the Jewes after their returne be miraculously overthrowne at the comming of our Lord Jesus Christ as the foresaid Prophecie of Isaiah chap. 66. at the 15 16 19. ver c. compar'd with the 38. and 39. chapters of Ezek. with the 3. chap. of Joel and with the 19. chap. of the Rev. at the 11 12 13 14 15 c. doth plainly declare And secondly at the accomplishment of the union foreshewed by these Prophecies All Nations must goe up to worship before the Lord at Jerusalem as the latter part of the 66. chapter of Isaiah doth shew to which we may adde the Prophecies in the 8. chap. of Zecha at the 20. ver c. and in the 14. chap. at the 16. ver c. The words are Thus saith the Lord of Hostes it shall came to passe that there shall come people and the Inhabitants of many Cities and the Inhabitants of one Citie shall goe to another saying Let us goe speedily to pray before the Lord of Hostes I will goe also yea many people and strong Nations shall come to seeke the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of Hostes In those dayes it shall come to passe that ten men shall take hold out of all Languages of the Nations even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying We will goe with you for we have heard that God is with you And it shall come to passe that every one that is left of all Nations which came against Jerusalem shall even goe up from yeare to yeare to worship the King the Lord of Hosts and to keep the feast of Tabernâ—cles and it shall be that who so will not come up of all the Families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King the Lord of Hosts even upon them shall be no raine And thirdly at the accomplishment of this union the Jewes shall not seeke unto the Gentiles but the Gentiles in generall unto the Jewes onely for instruction in the wayes of God as Isaiah saith chap. 2 ver 2. and 3. and Micah chap. 4. ver 1. and 2. It shall come to passe in the last dayes that the mountaine of the Lords house shall established in the top of the mountaines and shall be exalted above the hills and all Nations shall flow unto it and many people shall goe and say Come yee and let us goe up to the Mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us his waies and wee will walke in his pathes for out of Sion shall goe forth the Law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem And fourthly at the accomplishment of this union and throughout the whole time of its continuance which it exprest Rev. the 20. ver 2 3. there is to be an uninterrupted peace over all the world as the following words of the foregoing prophecy of Isa Micah doe manifest And he shall judge amongst the Nations shall rebuke many people they shal breake their swords into plow shares their speares into pruning books nation shal not lift up sword against Nation neither shall they learne warre any more With which agreeth that of Hosea chap. 2. ver 18. In that day I will make a Covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowles of Heaven and with the creeping things of the ground And I will breake the bow and the sword and the battell out of the earth and will make them to lie downe safely And to this wee adjoyne the prophecy Psal 46.8 9. Come behold the workes of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the earth He maketh warres to cease unto the ends of the earth he breaketh the bow and cutteth the speare in sunder he burneth the chariot in the fire And fiftly at the accomplishment of this union the converted Jew shall not be governed by the ecclesiastical and civill lawes of the Gentiles as it is now but the Gentiles by the ecclesiastical and civill lawes of the Iewes as is before shewed by their going up to Ierusalem to worship and to be instructed in the wayes of the Lord. And as touching their civill grovernment it is further evidenced by the prophecies in which the Gentiles great subjection to the Iewes is revealed Of which sort are the prophecies Isaiah chap. 14.1 2. chap. 49.22 23. chap. 60.9 10 11 12. c. and chap. 61.4 5 6 7. And thus good reader thou hast the true sense and scope of the prophecies with which as Mr Petrie saith I have needlesly silled many pages and doubtlesse it was very needfull for him to say so seeing their perspicuity is so irresistible that he could finde no mysticall paraphrase against it to puzzle thee withall Israel's Redemption But to say that this is now fulfilled in the time of the substituted Gentiles vocation is to overthrow what was before affirmed and to take great paines to beguile our selves and others of the truth it is I say to put out our owne eyes and bid others follow us for St Paul in the 11. of the Rom. tells us plainly that the Jewes â—re broken off from their Olive tree and that we are graffed in for them that they are cast away that they are hardened that God hath concluded them all in unbeliefe and that through their fall salvation is come unto us to provoke them to h Deut. 32.21 jealousie And therefore it cannot possibly be maintained that the Jewes and Gentiles are as yet one i Ioh. 10.16 sheepfold Mr Petrie's Answer The Apostle saith not that all the Jewes are broken off but rather the contradictory ver 1. and 5. neither saith he that God hath shut up all the Jewes in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all the Jewes but us our former translation saith conforme to the originall God hath shut up all in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all whereunto the words of the same Apostle Gal. 3.22 The Scripture hath coucluded all under sinne that the promise by saith in Jesus Christ might be given to them who beleeve Here the Apostle is not speaking of the Jewes onely but generally both of Jewes and Gentiles and so farre must his words be extended thereto seeing he is speaking of them ver 30. and 31. and so the meaning of ver 32. is It was the counsel of God to suffer both Jewes and Gentiles to fall into unbeliefe or disobedience as the mond Apeitheia likewise imports and the word sin teaches Gal. 3. that he might save all his elect both of Jewes and Gentiles after one way not by their workes but of his mercy onely And therefore I cannot possibly conceive how a man of understanding can bring or receive such a conclusion out of these words as this It
in saying that the union of the two people of the Jewes and Gentiles consists in the union of the Church under the Old and New Testament You doe herein grant first that the Church under the New Testament is the Church of the Gentiles and so not of the Jewes and Gentiles both as it should be if it did proportionably consist of the Jewes and Gentiles And secondly you doe herein grant that the Apostles words Ephes 2. ver 11. c. are meant of this union for you cannot conceive that the union betwixt the two people consists in the union of the Church under the Old and New Testament unlesse you doe conceive withall that the places which speake of their union are so to be understood And thirdly you doe herein contradict the preceding prophecies which you grant to foreshew the same uniting of the two people for these Prophecies doe plainely declare the uniting of the whole Nation of the Jewes with all the Nations of the Gentiles on the earth and not the uniting of Gentiles under the Gospel with Jewes under the Law not the uniting I say of one part of Christs mysticall bodie the Church then in heaven with another part thereof newly cal'd to the Faith on earth Israel's Redemption And besides how the bringing of the Jewes out of all Nations upon horses and in Litters and in Charrets and upon mules and upon mens shoulders can beare any other but a literall sense or how the vaile that is spread over all Nations can now be said to be destroy'd when as so many of them runne a whoring after their owne inventions I cannot conceive Yea Even unto this day saith St. Paul of the Jewes in his time when Moses is read the vaile is upon their heart Neverthelesse when it shall returne unto the Lord the vaile shall be taken away 2 Cor. 3. ver 15. and 16. But we see not yet Israel return'd yea we see it fallen into more grosse ignorance and superstition and therefore the vaile is not yet taken away and consequently is not yet destroyed from all Nations Mr. Petrie's Answer Whether he cannot or will not conceive it may be doubted many 1000. have conceived both those he gives no reason of his doubting in the former and the cause of his doubting in the other is naught for albeit the vaile be not taken away from all the Jewes and from all of all the Nations in which sense it shall never be taken away seeing the Church on earth is alwayes a mixt company yet certainly it is taken away from the Jewes and all the Nations to wit so many of them as turne to the Lord which are so many as the Starres in heaven that is innumerable to men For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared unto all men Tit. 2.11 And God who hath commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ so writes a Jew unto the Gentiles 2 Cor. 4.6 Reply The reason of my doubting in the former passage is because neither you nor any other can give a reason sufficient to prove that the bringing of the Jewes for an offering unto the Lord out of all Nations upon horses and in Litters and in Charrets and upon mules and upon swift beasts c. to his mountaine at Jerusalem is not to be taken in a proper sense for the best reason you can shew is as it seemes that many thousands have conceived these words in another sense which is as good a reason to prove that other sense to be the true sense of them as it is to say that Mahomet was no false Prophet because many millions have and doe erroneously conceive him to be a true Prophet And why did you not afford us a sight of that other sense which so many 1000. have taken these words in and of the important reasons that mov'd them so to doe seeing you confesse page 10. that the Scripture is properly to be taken unlesse the proper sense be dissonant from the scope of the text or contrary to the analogie of Faith or honesty of manners neither of which hath been prov'd of the proper sense of these words nor of any of the Prophecies upon which you strive so much to impose a figurative sense And as you have not brought a reason to remove my doubting in this former passage so you have not prov'd the reason of my doubting in the other to be naught For in saying that albeit the vaile be not taken away from all the Jewes and from all of all the Nations in which sense it shall never be taken away c. yet certainly it is taken away from the Jewes and from all Nations to wit so many of them as turne to the Lord c. In saying thus you say nothing to the purpose for was it not thus when the Prophet spake these words was not the vaile then taken away from as many of the Jewes and of other Nations as were then turn'd unto the Lord And when St. Paul said Even unto this day when Moses is read the vaile is upon their heart neverthelesse when it shall returne unto the Lord the vaile shall be taken away were there not then more Jewes converted to the Christian Faith then have been ever since and yet the Apostle saith that the vaile was then upon their hearts and speaks of the removing of it from them as of a thing to be done and not then done although those were then converted which God had appointed to be then converted And therefore the Apostles words are to be understood of the removing of the vaile from all the Jewes and not from some onely And the Prophet saith likewise that God will destroy the Covering cast over all people and the vaile that is spread over all Nations which cannot be fulfill'd when onely a part of the vaile is destroy'd as you understand it but shall be when the whole vaile is destroyed And that it shall be wholly destroyed the Prophecie of Isaiah chap. 2. v. 2 3. which shewes that all Nations shall goe up to the mountaine of the Lords house to be taught in his wayes and the same Prophets words ch 11. v. 9. for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea And the Prophecies which shew that all Nations shal goe up to Jerusalem to worship doe with the preceding Prophecie joyntly testifie and therefore this first clause of your parenthesis doth flatly denie what God doth frequently affirme And the Scripture which you have alledg'd is us'd onely as a daring glasse to dazzle the eyes of the heedlesse or unlearned Reader for that of Tit. chap. 2. ver 11. hath relation to the severall ages Sexes and conditions of men as the preceding verses doe shew so that to all men there is no more then to all sorts of men young and
this chap. that shewes the first comming of our Saviour And fourthly you say that in the words following that testimony he speakes of the calling of the Jewes and Gentiles together as was exponed before And wee have before shewed this exposition to be notoriously false and that from the 11. ver to the end of the chap. nought but the wonderfull redemption of the Jewes is foretold As then you have not yet disproved the proper sense of these prophecies so doubtlesse you cannot fit them with an allegoricall paraphrase For first as here are many severall kinds of beasts mention'd so you must finde out as many severall degrees or dispositions of men to expound them by And secondly seeing in an allegoricall sense these prophecies are apply'd to the conversion of men you must tel us why after their conversion some are cal'd Wolves Leopards Lyons Beares and Cockatrices and others Lambs Kids calves and oxen I say after their conversion for these names they are distinguished by when they are said to lie downe together and to feed together and to doe no hurt And thirdly you must give us the meaning of these phrases The sucking childe shall play on the hole of the aspe and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den The Lyon shall eate straw like the Oxe And dust shall be the Serpents meate And fourthly seeing here is mention not onely of irrationall creatures but of rationall also of mankind as well as of beaster you must tel us first what Converts are alluded unto under the names of these severall sorts of beastes and what Converts are meant by the little child the sucking child and the weaned child and secondly why the names of these beastes are not to be taken properly for the beastes themselves whenas the things here rehearst doe so well agree with them and they are plainely distinguished from mankind too And unlesse you can give us reasonable satisfaction in all this you doe but vainely say that these words may be better exponed allegorically then properly Yea the proper sense of these Prophecies is further confirmed by the food which God created for every beast of the earth and every fowle of the aire and every thing that creepeth on the earth to live by to wit the green herb Gen. 1. ver 30. and by restraint of the wilde beasts and fowles both from their ravenous disposition and feeding the whole time of their being in the Arke for seeing Noah was to provide foode for them as well as for himselfe and his Family Gen. 6. ver 21. it must needs be granted that as the Wolfe the Lamb and the Leopard the cow the Lyon and the Beare c. did then lie downe together so they did feed together too and that the Lyon did eate straw or hay like the Oxe this I say must needs be granted unlesse we can imagine that Noah did take in flesh into the Arke for the ravenous creatures to live by at that time Israel's Redemption And besides is there no hurt nor destruction in all the Christian world that we should thus flatter our selves with such vaine fancies or rather when was there none or where is the Nation shall I say or the Citie yea the village amongst us where cruelty is not practised where such mischiefs are not to be found as can scarcely be parallelled in the Common-wealths of the most barbarous heathen And as for those words for the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord which seeme to have been the occasion of the former interpretation in my conceit they imply but this that therefore God will restore to these creatures their primitive obedience and cause them to be no more offensive to his people because he hath determined to make himselfe at that time so well knowne over all the earth that his people shall no more offend him and so the feare of God shall at once be put againe into the hearts of men and the feare of men into the hearts of the creatures for the enmity of the creatures is but the issue of mans sinne and therefore when God shall pardon the house of Jacob and cleanse them from all their iniquities as hath been said the sinnes of men which are the cause and the curse of the creatures which is the effect shall depart together Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. Albeit this Author will not give glory unto God in fulfilling his promises yet wee see that others are not so ingrate as Act. 9.31 Then had the Churches rest throughout all Judea and Galileâ— and Samaria and in other times we finde that the Christians had their halâ—yonian dayes twixt these ten great persecutions and afterwards in the dayes of Christian Emperours and godly Kings 2. Neither doe the Prophets or Revelation speaking of these times say There shall never be hurt nor shall ever any man destroy one another but rather the propertie of the Church in this world is to be militant and neverthelesse Wolves and Lyons forsake their crueltie in the person of many converts and therefore these byberbolicall complaints might well been spared 3. It doth puzzle the Author that Esay saith chap. 11.9 For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord and therefore fancieth a private conceit for exponing these words of which he gives no reason but we have given sufficient reasons for the allegoricall interpretation which is confirmed by these words to wit that the abundance of the knowledge of the Lord is the cause why wicked men leave their wickedneffe and adjoyne themselves unto the meek of the earth as our Saviour saith Matth. 10.16 I will send you as sheep among Wolves Of whom certainly many became sheep of Christs fold which is a more proper effect of knowledge then the changing of beasts affections Reply 1. We thinke that God is best pleased with us and most glorified by us when we confesse the truth albeit against our selves and therefore as wee are not so ingrate to denie that God hath given paâ—ticular Churches rest not onely from foraigne enemies but homebred also not onely from heathenish persecutors but from hereticall too so we are not so ungodly to denie our owne unrighteousnesse and unthankfulnesse towards God notwithstanding such mercy conferred upon us For even when these Churches have had such rest then have they provok't God afresh by more then heathenish impieties and oppressions so that rest from persecution hath been the very seed-time in which the tares of all impietie and injustice of all manner of misgovernment and miâ—beliefe have been sow'd afresh amongst us and the spring-tide in which that oursed and numerous brood of the flesh which St. Paul reckons up Gal. 5. ver 19. c. hath been manifest in us as adultery fornication uncleannesse lasciviousnesse Idolatrie witcheraft hatred variance emulations strise seditions Heresies envyings murthers drunkennesse revilings covetousnesse and such like For it was in the time of Israel's rest that the faithfull Citie
became an harlot and full of murderers that her Princes grew rebellious and companions of theeves that every one of them loved gifts and followed after rewards that they judged not the fatherlesse nor the cause of the widow that they joyned house to house and field to field till there was no place that God looked for Judgement but behold oppression and for righteousnesse but behold a cry that the Harpe and the Viol and the Tabret and Pipe and wine were in their Feasts but they regarded not the worke of the Lord nor the operation of his hands Esa the 1. and 5. chapter 8. And have Christians made any better use of their rest from persecution and destruction surely no. For it was in the very infancie of the Church that Ephesus was threatned for leaving her first love Pergamos for the Doctrine of Balaam and the Doctrine of the Nicholaitans Thyatira for suffering Jezabel to seduce the servants of God to commit fornication and to cate things offered to Idols Sardis for that her workes were not found perfect before God that is to proceed from a sincere heart and an upright affection and Laodicea for her lukewarmenesse in Religion Rev. the 2. and 3. chapter And seeing it was thus in the first and best age of the Christian Church how bad thinke you hath it been since surely the same Apostle will tell you chap. 9. ver 20 21. And the rest of the men that were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the workes of their hands that they should not worship Devills and Idols of gold and silver and brasse and stone and wood which neither can see nor heare nor walke neither repented they of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their fornication nor of their thefts And 't is this great wickednesse of Christians themselves 't is their envying at their contention with and their defrauding of each other 't is the mischiefe they devise against and the hurt they daily doe one to another that I have spoken of and not of the hurt they receive from others not of suffering by their heathenish neighbours before the whole Empire became Christian or by heathenish Nations since that time and therefore in this part of your answer you have quite mistooke the marke and brought a record of some particular Churches rest from suffering instead of their rest from sinning 2. In the next you give but a false fire for we are discoursing of what doth inevitably follow from these Prophecies according to the allegoricall interpretation of them and therefore if the Rev. or the Prophets doe speake otherwise of the times to which you referre these Prophecies then these Prophecies doe it is an undeniable evidence against you that either the allegoricall sense is not the true sense of them or that these Prophecies are not to be accomplisht in the time to which you apply them as indeed they are not for they shall not burt nor destroy in all my holy mountaine saith the Lord which words doe infallibly shew that the innocencie of the creatures whom this is spoken of shall be such as cannot possibly consist with the many mischievous that I say not unnaturall actions of Christians amongst themselves but may very well be fulfill'd in the generall agreement and gentlenesse of the dumb creatures at the appearing of our Lord Jesus at which time it is that these Prophecies which reveale the Jewes proâ—ritie in their owne land and those which reveale the joynt-embracement of the truth by all Jewes and Gentiles and these which reveale the reducement of the dumbe and insensible creatures to their originall perfection are all to be accornplished and therefore although it be the propertie of the Church to be militant in this world that is untill the appearing of Christ yet in that new world she shall be triumphant she shall be rid of all her adversaries of all her disturbers as is plentifully declar'd by the Prophets and implied in the first part of the 20. chap. of the Rev. But whereas you have alledg'd these words as a reason to prove that there shall be alwayes hurt done by Christians in this world for these you say are the beasts of whom these Prophecies are to be understood certainly you are much mistaken in this argument for it will not follow that Christians must needs be hurtfull to themselves because it is the property of the Church to be militant in this world that is till our Saviours comming to receive hurt from others And yet though we denie your Argument wee denie not what you would infer from it to wit that Christians are hurtfull to each other yea we say and that without an hyperbole that they are so hurtfull that even for this very cause these Prophecies cannot not be understood of them For wee dare not with you first to make them contradict other Scripture by wresting of them to a false sense and then to uphold our errour by a flat denyall of that which God hath spoken in them by affirming I say that these words they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my mountaine are thus to be understood they shall hurt and destroy in all my holy mountaine Yea wee hold it much safer to denie the allegoricall sense of them and so their present accomplishment withall neither of which any other Scripture or any circumstance in these Prophecies doth enforce then to denie what God hath so plainely reveal'd in them 3. And yet you goe on like a Conquerour and beare the Reader in hand that the words in the 9. ver for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord doe puzzle the Author and that therefore hee fancieth a private conceite for expounding these words of which he gives no reason But surely it doth not puzzle the Author so much as to make him contradict any thing that God doth say as you have done to justifie the allegoricall interpretation of these Prophecies and therefore it is evident that your exposition is the private conceit seeing it crosseth the text and not mine which though you accuse you could not shew to be contrary unto the text Yea the reason which I have given for it for you wilfully belie me in saying I have given none is not onely very agreeable unto the proper sense of these Prophecies but to reason it selfe for what could more illustrate the wisedome Justice and mercy of God in the restauration of these creatures then to ordaine that man the creature whose disobedience had been the occasion of subjecting all other inferiour creatures unto vanitie should againe by his obedience springing from the abundant knowledge of his maker become the occasion of delivering them from this bondage of corruption and therefore though it be true that the saving knowledge of the Gospel hath made and doth still make wicked men to leave their wickednesse yet it is not true that the calling of men out of the state of nature into the state of
creatures deliverance that it is a deliverance but of a part of the creatures and surely we doe not say that the deliverance of the sensitive creatures is the deliverance of all the creatures but we say that all the insensitive creatures too shall be restor'd to their Primitive perfection and so delivered from the bondage of corruption when these are as other Prophecies doe foreshew of them And seeing you acknowledge the Renovation of the creature to be its deliverance we marvell what you meane in saying that the Apostle is speaking there of the finall deliverance of the creature For if you meane by the finall deliverance a further renovation of it surely we know but of one renovation of the creature that the Scriptures speake of and that is to be a perfect renovation of it but if you meane annihilation and dissolution of it you hold one more deliverance of the creature then any other Divine doth to wit a deliverance by renovation and a deliverance by abolition but wee denie that the Apostle speakes there of the dissolution of the creature and that this is cal'd a deliverance of the creature from the bondage of corruption in any place of the Scripture Yea wee see not how the creatures deliverance from the bondage of corruption should be a delivering of it into a greater corruption nor how the creature should rather earnestly expect such a deliverance from the bondage of corruption by which all the kinds of it shall be destroyed then desire to continue subject to this bondage under which all the kinds are preserved And seeing the creatures bondage of corruption is the vanitie to which it was made subject by reason of mans sinne after its creation and so cannot be meant of that corruptible condition of the creature in which it was created subject to death and dissolution it must needs follow as wee conceive that the creatures dissolution cannot be its deliverance For such as the bondage is such must the deliverance be but the bondage was the alteration which befell it through mans sinne after its creation which was adventitious to it and not its corruptibilitie which was made naturall to it by creation and consequently the deliverance must be a restauration of it the deliverance of the sensitive creatures a restauration from their hurtfull and untamed disposition to a mild and harmelesse and of the insensitive of the Starres and Heavens from a malignant influence to a favourable and from a dimmer to a clearer brightnesse c. And whereas you say that the Author collecteth nothing particularly from that text Isaiah 65. ver 25. Surely he collects as much from that Prophecie as from the other and to this end hath alledged both together because both doe reveale the same thing but if you want a particular observation from this text you may take notice that he saith And dust shall be the Serpents meat whereby he shewes that when the Lyon shall eate straw like the bullock when all other beasts and creeping things of the earth and fowles of the aire shall live by that food which was appointed for them at the creation Gen. 1. ver 30. the Serpent onely shall feed still on the nourishment of his curse Gen. 3. ver 14. as a memoriall of his being the instrument of mans fall and so of subjecting his fellow-creatures into vanity thereby And how could you say that there is not any word of the Jewish Monarchy in this Prophecie whenas these are the verses immediately foregoing And I will rejoyce in Jerusalem and joy in my people and the voyce of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voyce of crying There shall be no more there an infant of dayes nor an old man that hath not filled his dayes for the child shall dye an hundred yeares old but the siner being an hundred yeares old shall be accursed They shall build houses and inhabit them and they shall plant Vineyards and eat the fruite of them they shall not build and another inhabit they shall not plant and another eate for as the dayes of a tree are the dayes of my people and mine elect shall long enjoy the worke of their hands they shall not labour in vaine nor bring forth for trouble for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord and their off-spring with them and it shall come to passe that before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will heare The Wolfe and the Lamb shall feed together c. What thinke you of all this doth it not plainly shew the future establishment and prosperity of the Jewes in their owne Land as the latter part of the 11. chap. doth their returne to it and are not the dumb creatures as plainly distinguisht here from the Jewes as in the 11. chap. from the Iewes and Gentiles what then shall we say of you who have so little care of your credit and regard of your Conscience as to denie that here is any word of the Jewish Monarchy surely you have need of such Readers as will swallow all you say with an implicite faith for if they take the course of the noble Bereans and search whether it be as you say or not you will often be found a traitour to the manifest truth of God a crime doubtlesse of no low ranke a sinne of no light dye Israel's Redemption Another Prophecie touching the renewed estate of the creatures is to be seen in the 30. chap. of Isa at the 23. v. Then shall be give the rain of thy seed that thou shalt sow the ground withall and bread of the increase of the earth and it shall be fat and plenteous In that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures The Oxen likewise and the young Asses that eare the ground shall eate cleane provender which hath been winnowed with shovell and with the fanne and there shall be upon every high hill rivers and streames of waters in the day of the slaughter when the towers fall Moreover the light of the Moone shall be as the light of the Sunne and the light of the Sun shall be seven-fold as the light of seven dayes in the Day that the Lord t Mal. 3. ver 17 18. bindeth up the breach of his people and healeth the stroke of their wound But the great increase of the light of the Sunne and Moone here spoken of is in the 60. chap. at the 19. ver plainely gainesayed the words are these The Sunne shall be no more thy light by day neither for brightnesse shall the Moon give light unto thee but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light and thy God thy glory Where if it had been said that the Sun should no more burne them by day nor the Moone by night as it is in the 121. Psal or smite them as it is in the 49. chap. of Esa at the 10. ver I could have sent you for an answer to the fourth chap. of the same
Prophet at the 5. ver The Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Sion and upon her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night for upon all the glory shall be a defence And there shall be a Tabernacle for a shadow in the day from the heat and for a place of refuge and for covert from storme and from raine But seeing it is said The Sunne shall be no more thy light by day these places will be better reconciled if we acknowledge that in the 60. chap. there is a mixt rehearsall of those blessings which are proper onely to the heavenly Jerusalem which as it is Rev. 21. ver 23. and chap. 22. ver 5. hath no need of the Sunne neither of the Moone to shine in it with those which the Jewes shall receive at the restauration of their earthly Jerusalem for such a mixture of things which shall in their execution be many generations apart is very usuall in the Prophets Mr. Petrie's Answer Here he shewes no Argument for this purpose but gives a buze for reconciling the 26. ver with chap. 60.19 but all this travell might have been saved if he had considered that Isa in chap. 30. hath a particular warning for the Jewes in his owne time he speakes not there of any returning of the people but in the beginning he reproveth them for their confidence in Egypt and for their contempt of the Word and in the midst he foretelleth the mercies of God on them and lastly assureth them of the destruction of their enemies the Assyrians by name all which were accomplished in his owne time as we may finde in chap. 37. and for these causes nothing in that 30. chap. can make for the restauration of the creatures at that imagined Monarchy Reply How you say he shewes no Argument for his purpose but gives a buze for reconciling the 26. ver with chap. 60. ver 19. And doe you speake this in good earnest I pray then tell us when the light of the Moone shall be as the light of the Sunne and when the light of the Sunne shall be seven fold as the light of seven dayes if it shall not be fulfill'd at the time of our Saviours reigne on earth For as yet it hath not been thus and after the last resurrection it cannot be because then the day and night shall come to an end as it is Job 26. ver 10. because then these Heavens in which the Sunne Moone and Starres are set shall passe away shall be no more found as it is Rev. 20. ver 11. and Job 14. ver 12. And therefore it must needs be thus at the restoring of the Kingdome to Israel or as the Prophet here expresseth it in the Day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people and healeth the stroke of their wound and so here is not onely a buze but such an argument too for our purpose as you knew better how to avoyde then answer how to conceale then to reconcile with your opinion and yet if you like not the buze you speake of I can give you another buze for perhaps that text in the 60. ch may be thus understood to wit that the cloud which chap. 4. the Lord hath promised to create upon every dwelling place of mount Sion shall both defend it from the heat of the Sunne and be it selfe a light unto it by day and that the shining of the flaming fire which he will create shall be in stead of the brightnesse of the Moone unto it by night But all my travell in the reconciling of the 26. verse of this chapter with the 19. ver of the 60. chap. might have been spar'd you say if I had considered that Isa chap. 30. had a particular warning for the Jewes in his owne time and so repeating the severall heads of the chap. you conclude all which were accomplisht in the Prophets owne time as we may finde in chap. 37. And what doe wee findâ— there doe we finde that the threatning against the Jewes chap. 30. for their confidence upon Egypt and their contempt of Gods word was fulfill'd in Sennacheribs threatning to come up against Hezekiah no but the contrary that Sennacherib was disappointed of his purpose by Hezekiahs prayer unto the Lord. Doe we finde then that the destruction of the Assyrian which is foretold in the 30. chap. was fulfill'd in that slaughter of an hundred and fourscore and five thousand of Sennacherib's Army mention'd chap. 37 no for that slaughter was an extraordinary Judgement of God by an Angel sent in the night to destroy them but the destruction spoken of in the 30. chap. was to be in more then one place and to be performed with Tabrets and Harpes and in battles of shaking as the 32. verse doth declare Doe wee finde then that the mercies of God foretold in the midst of the 30. chap. for the people shall dwell at Sion in Jerusalem thou shalt weepe no more And there shall be upon every high mountaine and upon every high hill rivers and streames of water Moreover the light of the Moone shall be as the light of the Sun c. Doe we finde it recorded in the 37. ch that these things were fulfill'd in the Prophets dayes no wee finde not a word there touching ought of all this Prophecie and therefore the 37. chap. is onely a Chronicle of that which passed betwixt Hezekiah and Sennacherib and no Register of the accomplishment of what is foretold in the 30. chap. and consequently Mr. Petrie in affirming this of purpose to shift off the invincible evidence of that which wee have alledged out of the 30. chap. for the restauration of the creatures hath shewed himselfe a teacher fit for none but such as the Prophet mentions chap. 30. ver 10. who said unto the Prophets Prophecie not unto us right things speake unto us smooth things prophecy deceits Israel's Redemption And it is the more likely to be so here not onely because the words immediately following in both Prophecies are in sense all one for they shew the same reason wherefore the Sun and Moone should no more give light unto them but also because the happinesse which the Jewes shall then be made heires of shall never againe be interrupted by any misery For the ransomed of the Lord shall returne and come to Sion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads They shall obtaine joy and gladnesse and sorrow and sighing shall flee away Esay the 35. at the 10. ver And lest one should conceit that the Judgement of the dead plainely describ'd in the 20. chap. of the Rev. at the 11 12 c. shall either suspend or disturb this joy Saint Paul in the 1. Epist to the Cor. the 6. chap. the 2. and 3. ver hath told us that the Saints shall judge the world * These first words may not unfitly be referr'd also to the time of the Saints reigne
for Mr. Maton thinkes that Christ shall continue visible King of this Kingdome and Mr. Archer thinkes that Christ shall restore the Kingdome unto the Jewes and returne into the Heavens till the thousand yeares be whered and in the meane time the Jewes shall be Kings Till these into questions be decided we might supersede and neverthelesse let us heare what they can say for a temporary Kingdome of Christ whether oâ—er Jewes and Gentiles Reply The temporary Kingdome of the Jewes hath been already demonstrated by such evident Scriptures and unanswerable Arguments from them as you durst not to examine and it is now praised be God for his good leave and assistance delivered also from that darknesse which your deluding allegories and farre setcht interpretations doe draw over it and thereby set free from that disgrace and contempt which you strive so much to bring is into amongst the Gentiles And our next taske is to discover the like fraudulent dealing in your Answers to those texts and reasons by which wee have prov'd that our Saviour who shall restore this Kingdome shall also reigne over it on earth And first that the Reader may not take distaste at us before he heare us you tell him here that these sew Millenaries agree not concerning the person of their King for Mr. Maton thinks that Christ shall continue visible King of this Kingdome and Mr. Archer thinkes that Christ shall restore the Kingdome unto the Jewes and returne unto the Heavens Herein indeed wee agree not and as I heartily wish that all Christians did so rightly understand the word of God that there might be no difference at all amongst them so seeing offences must needs come and that there must be heresies and divisions amongst us that they which are approved may be made manifest 1 Cor. 11. ver 18 19. I had rather differ from any man in opinion then for any by respect to depart from one jot or title of the truth which is either plainely reveal'd in the Scripture or may be gathered from it by infallible consequence And sure I am that as wee find often mention of our Saviours comming againe so Job tells us chap. 19. ver 25. that his Redeemer shall stand at the latter day upon the earth to wit at the day of his next appearing and the Saints resurrection as these words immediately following doe declare And though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God c. And St. Luke ch 1. v. 31 records that the Lord shall give unto him the Throne of his Father David and Jer. chap. 23. ver 5. that he shall reigne and prosper and shall execute Judgement and Justice in the earth and so say Isaiah and Zechary yea and we conceive it to be for this reason especially that Judea is cal'd the Land of Immanuel Isaiah 8. ver 8. and we reade not of his departure from the earth againe untill the earth it selfe shall passe away at the last resurrection Yea unlesse our Saviour should as well reigne over the Jewes as restore their Kingdome to them wee cannot conceive why he should descend before the universall Judgement seeing he can as well restore the Kingdome of the Jewes in Heaven where he is as if he should descend unto the earth to doe it But yet your collection from this difference to wit that â—till these two Questions be decided you may superside is a very dangerous Doctrine For though superside be a very fine word yet as you use is it hath a very soule consequence for you would have the Reader conceive that there is no truth in the subject wee treat of because there is some difference betwixt us in the stating of it whereas indeed all truth is made the more firme and manifest by difference else what shall wee say of our Religion there being scarce any one head or Article in Divinity about which there hath not been or is not now some difference or other amongst Christians if then wee must superside from if wee must let passe if wee must have nothing to doe with those things in which there is not a full agreement amongst us we must omit the use of the Lords Supper because Papists differ from Lutherans and Calvinists from both about the presence of Christ in the Sacrament Wee must not beleeve our election or Justification because Divines doe differ about the materiall and formall canses of the one and the moving and meriting causes of the other and because there is a difference betwixt you and us about the manner and place of our Saviours Kingdome we must not believe that he hath any Kingdome yea we must quite cast off the worship of God because we cannot agree about the forme of it some being for a set forme and others against it some againe for premeditated and others for extemporary prayers And thus to make one truth odious you stick not to make a shipwrack of the faith even at once to destroy our whole Christian practise and beliefe so contrary is your advice to that of the Apostle in the 1 Thess chap. 5. ver 21. Prove all things hold fast that which is good Now for conclusion of this first part I will adde Mr. Brightmans words touching the 7. and 8. ver of the 66. chap. of Isaiah and the 3. ver of the 110. Psal Many such places of Scripture saith he might he brought to this purpose he meaneth to shew the generall conversion of the Jewes and perhaps it would be profitable to bring them at least for this end that our Writers might have occasion thereby given them to consider more diligently of these places from the right interpretation whereof I feare mee that we wander when as we make them to speake of things that he past whereas they doe fore-tell of things yet to come In his Revel of the Apoc. chap. 19. on the 8 and 9. verses pag. 791. and his words on the 11. ver of the 6. chap. of the Cant. Time saith he will teach many things to be in the Prophets which we commonly interpret as though they were past whose event is yet to come and especially as it seemeth to mee in the calling of the Jewes which verily little confidered of ours hath darkned I will not say perverted the proper and naturall meaning of the Prophets in many places 1 COR. 4. v. 8. c. NOw yee are full now ye are rich ye have reigned as Kings without us and I would â—o God yee did reigne that we also might reigne with you For I thinke that God hath set forth us the Apostles last â—s it were men appointed to death for we are made a spectacle unto the world and to Angels and to men We are fooles for Christs sake but yee are wise in Christ we are weake but yee are strong ye are honourable but wee are despised Even unto this present houre we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have
Christians pag. 1. This is one untruth to wit That I have granted that Christ hath executed his Kingly office The next is That I have said that he sits on a Throne in heaven as man which though it be in it selfe a truth for Christ himselfe saith of himselfe and am set downe with my Father in his Throne Rev. 3. ver 21. Yet it is not true that I have said these words for thus I have said that the place where he now sits is the Fathers Throne a Throne in which he hath no proper interest but as God These are your misreports of what I have idsa to which we may adde your affirming that it hath not been proved that the Prophets have spoken of a Kingdome on earth when as the Prophecies which I have alledged for it are so plaine that you left them as one afraid to behold their evidence Now your contradictions follow for having also falsely affirmed that this Proposition Christ sits on a Throne in heaven as man is one thing â—bout which we disagree you thus descant on it If these words as man be understood according to the Logicall acceptation it may be granted Thus farre you affirme that according to the Logicall acceptation Christ sits on a Throne in heaven as man and yet you subjoyne presently for what agreeth unto any man as man belongeth unto all men and indeed iâ— belongeth not unto all men to sit on the throne of Majesty Whereby you deny that according to the Logicall acceptation Christ sits on a throne in heaven as man It followes and neverthelesse Christ sits at the right hand of the Father as God-Man or Mediatour Here likewise you affirme that Christ sits on a Throne in heaven as man though not onely as man but as God too and yet you immediately subjoyne and in this sense we deny this assertion to wit that Christ sits on a Throne in heaven as man as it seemes this Author takes it But surely this Author hath not spoken the words and yet he will not deny that Christ doth fit there as man lest he should deny what Christ himselfe and the Apostles have said neither will he affirme that Christ sits there any otherwise then as God-man or Mediatour although his sitting doth properly belong unto him as man onely But you have said that Christ both sits and sits not there in a logicall acception and that he sits there as God-man and yet not as man Thus contrary are you to your selfe and withall as contrary to the truth in misapplying your distinction For whereas you say It may be granted that Christ sits on a throne in heaven as man if these words be understood according to the logicall acceptation of them it is notoriously false for the words as man in this sense doe imply somewhat essentially belonging unto man which cannot be affirmed of Christs fitting on a Throne in heaven to wit that it doth essentially belong unto his humane nature for then it should inseparately belong unto him and to all other men besides this then you should have deny'd and affirm'd onely that he sits there as such a man as Mediatour Put you out of your great skill in Logique in which you will allow me no insight have first affirmed both members of your distinction and presently deny'd both such a subtile or rather simple discourse have you extracted out of your logicall principle And that the Reader may see how unseasonable and unreasonable you have alledged this Philosophicall rule as well as the Propheticall and Apostolicall writings and revelations he must know that this maxime what agreeth unto any man aâ— man belongeth unto all men is generally true onely of meere man in opposition to other creatures and not of our Saviour who is both God and man and so as well distinguisht by his humane properties from his divine nature and by his essentiall attributes from other creatures as by his mediatory offices from other men Wherefore it followes not that what belongs unto Christ as man belongs unto all men because we usually say that all that belongs to Christ as man which belongs not to him as God which appertaines to his humane and not unto his divine nature Whether it be proper to him as man in opposition to other creatures as to laugh and to be borne of a woman or common also to other creatures as to be hungry and thirsty to eate and drinke to walke to weepe to groane c. Or proper to him as such a man as Mediatour in opposition to other men As to be borne of a Virgine to dye for our sinnes to rise againe for our justification to sit on a Throne in heaven and to reigne visibly on earth over all Nations These and such like we say doe not in propriety of speech belong unto Christ as God but as man because they are the properties of his humane nature As on the contrary it belongs unto him as God and not as man to be equall with the Father to be infinite omnipotent omniscient c. And thus much for your answer in grosse which is indeed a very grosse answer You goe on to catch at particulars which you thus alledge The 1. Particular That the Jewes are yet to receive a Kingdome in which they shall hold them captives whose captives they are Mr. Petrie's Answer Here a little change of a little word makes a great difference for the text saith whose captives they were And now they say they are The Prophet is speaking by name of the Assyrians whose Monarchy is now destroyed and the Interpreters shew the acomplishment of that Prophecy according to the Prophets morning a but that prophecy speakes not of them whose captives the Jewes now are neither know we whose captives they are seeing they live as free Subjects wheresoever they live Reply It is true that the text saith whose captives they were but seeing the deliverance which the Prophecy foreshewes hath not been hitherto accomplished we may truely say whose captives they are and therefore there is no such great difference in this change as you pretend For unlesse you can prove that the whole Nation of the Jewes whose redemption this Prophecy doth conceane as these words for the Lord will have mercy upon Jacob and will yet chuse Israel doe shew Vnlesse I say you can prove that the whole Nation that all the Tribes have been set in their owne I and and aâ— their returne thither have brought strangers with them whom they have possessed there for servants and handmaids and have ruled there over their oppressours over those who formerly ruled over them which I am sure you cannot doe it is not very materiall whether we say whose captives they were or whose captives they are And if there be any difference in the change it is onely because the Prophets expression doth seeme to point to that last generation of the Nations under whom the Jewes shall remaine captives immediately before their deliverance But
sate downe at the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstoole that is looking for the time in which his enemies shall be subdued unto him as the 1. ver of the 110. Psal doth manifest where the words are these The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right hand donec ponam untill I shall make not untill I have made thy enemies thy footstoole So that he sits not there while it is doing but untill it must be done untill the time ordained for the accomplishment of it All then that the Apostle affirmes in this text likewise to be already done is this That Christ is sate downe at the right hand of God as was foretold but as for the other part of this prophecy he saith plainely That Christ now expects onely when it shall be fulfilled and if this be not sufficient to make you confesse that the enemies which David here prophecied of are not yet made subject unto Christ that which follows in the Psalme will put it beyond exception for he nominates what enemies are here meant the time when and the manner how they are to be made Christ's footstoole The enemies he speakes of are men the Kings and Heads of the earth as we finde ver 5 6. The time when is the day of his powder The day in which the Jewes shall be as willing to receive him as in the day of his poverty they were to be rid of him as we learne ver 3. Thy people shall be willing in the dry of they power The manner how is by an eminent destruction brought on these Kings and their forces as the 5 and 6. verses doe informe us also which being compared with the latter part of the 19. chap. of the Revel doe plainely shew that this destruction which David foretels is the very same with that which Saint John there reveales for that is to be effected at our Saviours descending from heaven and so is this for it is to be at his comming againe from the right hand of the Father And therefore here is a good ground too for another Throne and that a Throne on earth And your answer to this text is a meere contradicting of it for whereas the Apostle saith That Christ being sate downe at the right hand of God expects till his enemies be made his footstoole You say plainely that his enemies are made subject unto him even his greatest enemies And for want of scripture to justifie this answer you subjoyne as it is granted before and so father it on me But you shew not where it is granted neither can I imagine what you meane by it unlesse you meane that it is granted by my alledging of the same Apostles words Phil. 2. ver 15. to wit That Christ having by his passion spoiled principalities and powers made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in himselfe But surely though it may be true That Christ after the accomplishment of the worke of our Redemption on the crosse triumphed over the evill spirits in his owne person making a shew of them openly that is leading them captives in the time of his triumph as some expositours understand it yet it is not true that these principalities are the enemies recorded in the 110. Psalme whence Saint Paul tooke the foresaid text Neither is it true that the evill Angels were then held in a continued subjection by Christ for the space of a 1000. yeares as they shall be in the time of his reigne on earth when he casts them into the bottomlesse pit when he shuts them up from deceiving the Nations as it is foretold Revel 20.2 3. For as before Christs passion Satan could no more deceive the elect then he can since so hee hath been no more straitened of his liberty in walking up and downe in the earth nor of his power in tempting men unto sinne since Christs triumphing over him in his owne person then he was before if he hath so much for it is of the time under the Gospell that it is said Revel 12.12 Woe to the Inhabitants of the earth and of the sea for the devill is come downe unto you having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time 'T is of this time that Saint Peter saith Our Adversary the Devill as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devoure 1. Ep. chap. 5. ver 8. And 't is that we may be able to stand against the wiles of this enemy that Saint Paul adviseth us to put on the while armour of God Ephes 6.11 c. Yea it is in the Christian Church that some were to give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils as Saint Paul writes 1. Tim. 4.1 and that there should be false teachers who privily should bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them As Saint Peter writes 2. Ep. 2. chap. 1. ver c. And they are the Christians of the last dayes of whom S. Paul foretells 2 Tim. 3.1 That they shall be lovers of their owne selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to Parents unthankefull unholy without naturall affection truce breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traitours heady high-minded lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God having a forme of godlinesse but denying the power thereof And if these be the fruites of Satan's subjection and in prisonment what then are the fruites of his power and freedome Doubtlesse Satan cannot be held in subjection to be bound up as he must be in the time of Christ a reigne as long as new enemies doe arise against Christ in his poore members seeing it is onely through the liberty and power that this Arch-makebate hath in the world that good men suffer for the truth and evill men oppose it that I say men are kept from a generall peace and unity over the whole earth And therefore in confessing that new enemies still arise against Christ you doe Italy gainesay what you before falsly affirmed to wit that the evill Angels Christs greatest enemies are now held in subjection by him that they are now deprived both of their power and liberty to doe hurt to rebell against Christ and to raise persecution against those that are Christs as they shall be I say not in this time of the world but in that in which Christ shall reigne personally on earth Yea if Christs enemies mentioned in the foresaid Psalme be now made his footstoole if they be now wholly subdued unto him for this is the meaning of their being made his footstoole how can new ones still arise The 5. Particular Seeing be sits now on his Fathers Throne therefore neither is this the time nor that the place in which his Throne in to be erected not the place because in one Kingdome there can be but one Throne and not the time for then he should sit on his own Throne which now he doth not Mr. Petrie's
Answer If this be not to deceive with words I know not what it is to deceive One and the same throne is called the throne of God and of the Lambe Revel 22.5 and therefore his Fathers throne is his owne throne as he saith generally John 17.10 All my things are thine and all thine are mine and so both parts of the proofe fall to the ground Is one Kingdome is but one throne and that throne belongeth to the Father and to the Sonne and now befits on his owne throne as it is said expressely unto the Sonne Heb. 1.8 Thy throne is for ever and ever and he prayeth for no other glory but that which he had before the world was John 17.5 Reply It doth ill become a deceive to cry out against deceit Our Saviours words Revel 3.21 are very plaine they are no parable To him that overcometh saith he will I grant to sit with mee in my Throne loe here a Throne in which the Saints shall sit with Christ it follows Even as I also overcame and am set downe with my Father in his Throne Loe here a Throne in which no man can sit but himselfe and therefore here are two distinct Thrones But you object That one and the same throne is called the throne of God and of the Lambe and therefore say you his Fathers throne is his owne throne And therefore say we you are slipt from the matter in question for whereas you should prove that the Throne which Revel 3. Christ calls my throne is not a distinct Throne from that which he calls the Fathers throne you prove onely that the Fathers Throne is Christs owne Throne which no Christian will gainsay For it is his by proper interest as he is God and by purchased interest as I may say as the Lambe of God as a crucified Saviour and yet it is not that Throne which properly belongs unto him as he is man as he is the Sonne of David For this he is to receive on earth where others where they that overcome shall sit with him And in opposition to this Throne on earth it is that he calls the Throne in heaven the Fathers throne Revel 3.21 which Throne Revel 22.3 after the expiration of the time of his reigne on Davids Throne he calls the Throne of God and of the Lambe And so your argument being mistaken the scriptures alledged to confirme it are of no force to beare downe the truth of a double Throne mentioned Rev. 3.21 The 6. Particular He hath a throne which belongeth unto him as man and to the throne of the Father he hath no proper interest but as God Mr. Petrie's Answer Shew then any text that speakes of his two thrones yea if he have or shall have any throne as man and not as God it must be given unto him but it is now given unto him to sit on his Fathers throne and his given throne is the throne of his Father Reply You here fall backe to somewhat that you had left behinde but unlesse you had proposed a wiser challenge it had been more for your credit to have let it alone For is it not strange that one so well read in the scripture as you seeme to be should call on us to shew any text that speakes of Christs two thrones Surely we have shewed you already one unanswerable text Rev. 3.21 and yet you will not beleeve it To shame you then if not to satisfie you we will shew you others For what are the Thrones of which Saint John saith Rev. 20.4 And I saw thrones and they sate upon them and judgement was given unto them Are not these the Thrones in which they that overcome shall sit with our Saviour And are not the Thrones on which the Disciples shall sit judging the twelve Tribes of Israel some of these Thrones deubtlesse they are For as it is said Matth. 19.28 That the Disciples shall sit on thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel which necessarily shews a government over others so it is said Revel â—0 4 That they sat on thrones and judgment was given unto them not on them that is They were made Judges over others not others over them And where should the Saints departed sit on seates exercising judgment over others but on earth and when but in the time of our Saviours Kingdome who shall bring them with him when I say but in the time of his 1000. yeares reigne as it is Luke 22.29.30 and Rev. 20.4 For in heaven they cannot sit judging any because there are none to be judged by them there are none but themselves and at the judgement of the dead they shall not judge any any otherwise then by way of approbation because this is our Saviours priviledge onely as his words John 5.22.27 and the single throne Rev. 20.11 doe declare and indeed it is not likely that the Saints who are saved onely by our Saviours righteousnesse shall pronounce glory to themselves and perdition unto others The time therefore in which our Saviours Throne shall be accompanied with the Thrones of the Saints must needes be the time of his 1000 yeares reigne on earth after which time and the little season of the selfe-ruining insurrection of the Nations that must follow it he is to sit alone on the white Throne spoken of Rev. 20.11 to give sentence on the dead and taking the full number of the elect with him into the new Jerusalem to sit againe in the Throne of God and of the Lambe in the height of glory Rev. 22.3 And thus we have laid before you other texts which shew that our Saviour shall have a Throne on earth and consequently that he hath another Throne besides that where he now siâ—s And that his Throne on earth is a Throne given unto him the words of the Angel Gabriel Luke 1.32 doe witnesse And the Lord shall give unto him the Throne of his Father David And his owne words John 5 27. And hath given him authority to execute judgement also because he is the Sonne of man But you by your wily if not rather weake arguing would perswade us to thinke that Christ cannot have another Throne given him because the Throne where he now sits is a given Throne Which is just as true a reasoning as this King James was first crowned King of Scotland therefore he could not afterward be crowned King of England Israel's Redemption And the reason of it as is intimated in the first words is because the time in which all that shall overcome are to be called is not yet at an end and this also the answer which was made to the soules under the Altar who cried for vengeance against their persecutours doth fully confirme For it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow-servants also and their brothren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled Revel 6.11 and when this iâ— done g Rev. 11.15.17 then shall Christ sit
in his own Throne and they that overcome shall sit with him For he that overcometh and keepeth my words unto the end to him saith he will I give power over Nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of a Potter shall they be broken to shivers even as I rreeived of my Father Rev. 2.26 Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. The force of this reason is Christ shall not be a King till all his Subjects be called and overcome but his Subjects are not all yet called which forme is alike with this Ferdinand shall not be Emperour till all his Subjects â—e bo nâ— and he victorious whereas some of his Subjects are comming daily into the world and it may be more of them are daily departing This is a rediculous reason and so is the other 2. Neither doth the prayer of the Saints make mention of his earthly Kingdome but of subduing or rivenging their enemies which shall be without an earthly Monarchy to wit by punishing them in hell 3 That text Rev. 11.15 speakes not of a proper Kingdome of Christ and farre lesse of an earthly Kingdome but of the Kingdome of our Lord and his Christ if 〈◊〉 had been said of our Lord and Christ or of our Lord Christ it might be thought to be the proper Kingdome of Christ which he as man governes or shall governe but when it is said of our Lord and of his Christ we see a distinction of persons and unity of power And therefore it is cleare that the text Rev. 2.26 is impertinently cited for proofe of that thing which is not and is imagined to be on earth whereas that power is in heaven Reply 1. Doubtlesse you take this for a very witty comparison but the truth is it is a very ignorant one For the force of this reason is not as you make it say that Christ shall not be a King till all his Subjects be called and overcome But it is this That Christ shall not receive his Kingdome till all those Subjects those glorified Saints which shall come with him in his Kingdome are called and have overcome So that the forme is like this Ferdinand shall not be Emperour till all those Subjects those Nobles that shall waite on him at his coronation be borne and able to attend him And Ferdinand being a mortall King is to be accompanied by mortall attendants but our Saviour being an immortall King is to be accompanied with immortall attendants with all those beleevers which have already or shall hereafter overcome the temptations and afflictions of this world before his appearing and his Kingdome which Saints being but a part though the choisest part of our Saviours Subjects are indeed ridiculously compared by you to all Ferdinands Subjects borne and unborne 2. Though the prayer of the Saints Rev. 6.10 doth not mention our Saviours Kingdome on earth yet seeing the revenge they call for is deferred till the number of those that shall be slaine for the word of God be fulfilled we know that it is not to be executed till our Saviours comming And in what manner it is then to be done by him the 14. chap. of the Rev. from the 14. ver to the end doth declare And the 19. chap. also at 17. ver c. Where the fowles of heaven are summon'd to the Supper of the great God to eate the flesh of Kings and the flesh of Captaines and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh of all both bond and free both small and great And surely this judgement on the Saints enemies is to be a temporall judgement on earth at our Saviours comming with the Saints to receive his Kingdome as the 11. and 14 verses of this Prophecy doe shew and not an eternall judgement on their bodies and soules in hell which is not to seâ—ze on them till the giving up of Christs Kingdome at the Judgment of the dead till above a 1000 yeares after this overthrow in which the fowles are to feast on their carkasses as in the 20 chap. of the Rev. at the 11 verse c. it is revealed 3. That text Rev. 11.15 speakes not you say of a proper Kingdome of Christ but of the Kingdome of our Lord and his Christ And by this reckoning our Saviour hath no proper Kingdome at all and consequently is not properly a King for what Kingdome belongs to Christ which may not as well be called the Kingdom of our Lord as the Kingdom of his Christ But certainly the Kingdom which this text saith shall become the Kingdomes of Christ are the Kingdomes of this world and therefore Kingdomes on earth and proper Kingdomes both which you deny And they are to become Christs Kingdomes at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet and not before that is at the time of his appearing againe and therefore they are to be his to governe as he is man and so by your owne confession to be properly his Although then we grant that these words the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ doe intimate a distinction of persons and unity of power which is more then Pareus grants who enclines to a distinction of natures and unity of persons yet it will not follow from hence that the Kingdomes of this world which our Saviour at his comming shall receive into his owne possession as he is man shall not be his proper Kingdomes For they are said to become the Kingdomes of our Lord not because they are not now his but first because at the accomplished donation and actuall subjection of them unto Christ God shall more marvellously declare his supreame power over them then ever he did And secondly because they shall then be his after a more speciall manner then they are now his because I say he shall then be worshipped and obeyed in them all according to the righteous rule of his owne Lawes And yet they are said to become the Kingdomes of Christ onely in regard of the administration of the immediate government of them For Christ alone shall then be visible King over them as now others are and therefore shall be as properly a King on earth as any of them who now beare rule in these Kingdomes And this the next words of the text doe confirme which say not and they but and he that is Christ alone shall reigne for ever and ever And therefore that text Rev. 2.26 is very pertinently cited for proofe of that thing which shall be on earth and is not now in heaven For our Saviour though then in heaven did not say that he had given the Saints in heaven or Saints on earth power over the Nations on earth but that he would give them power over them And surely we cannot thinke that the Martyrs Rev. 6.10 would call on God to hasten the time for the avenging of their bloud on them that dwell on the earth if they could now do it themselves if they
approved schooles who have all confessed the same truth that I speake for and stucke to that proper interpretation of these scriptures which I follow For not to speake of the primitive Christians or of many of the Fathers after them there have been many approved men for learning in these latter tâ—nes that have been witnesses of this truth amongst whom are Brightman Alstedius Wendelinus and Mede whom you your selfe pag. 14. commend for a renowned Author although you shake off his choisest proofes as easily as Sampson shooke off the Philistins cords and breake through his strongest arguments as forcibly as Sampson did through the gates of Azzah which he carried away in a triumphing manner such wonders doe you worke by your canonicall or rather carelesse arguing And yet for all this you must give me leave to make so bold with you againe as to tell you That as the plainesse of this text in hand and of the fore-cited scriptures doth compell us to acknowledge the proper sense of them so I trust both the love of the truth the feare of God and a desire to keepe a good conscience will ever constraine us to sticke to it For it is manifest by your taunting termes that you could finde neither scripture contradicting nor necessity forbidding the proper sense of our Saviours words for the confirmation whereof this rule is here alledged Israel's Redemption For besides that there is little analogy and resemblance betwixt a perpetuall l Rev. 22.3 praising and worshipping of God and the businesse of a politicke government here spoken of besides this I say we are already informed that though our Saviour be now in heaven yet he sits not there in his owne Throne and consequently is not yet in the Kingdome which the Father hath appointed him Mr. Petrie's Answer What impudence is here Doth not David say Psal 16 11. In thy presence is the fulnesse of joy at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore and Psal 17.15 I shall be satisfied when I wake with thy likenesse and Psal 36.8 They shall be abundantly sitis fied with the fulnesse of thy bouse and thou shalt make them drinke of the river of thy pleasures These and many more are spoken of the joyes in heaven by resemblance with earthly Kigndomes and we have already shewed that he bath been misinformed or misinformeth of another Throne and another Kingdome Reply Here you startle the Reader with a very foule exclamation but an evill tongue as it doth not become you so it will nothing benefit you Yea it deepely staines you innocency before God very much impaires your reputation amongst men especially upright men and sets up your wounded conscience as an irreconcileable Judge against you Looke into the Epistle of Saint James chap. 3. ver 6. and you may see both the abominable off spring and originall of it So is the tongue saith he amongst the members that it defileth the whole body and settethou fire the course of nature and it is set on fire of hell That therefore it may not burne hereafter in those flames from whence it is now too much inflamed thinke seriously on this passage and from henceforth give better language to others though your enemies then you have done to me for telling you the truth Now as for your answer I conâ—sse these texts to be Davids words and that there are some metaphoricall phrases in them But I deny that they have any resemblance with the civill affaires of an earthly Kingdome or that there is any comparison to be made betwixt them and our Saviours saying Luke 22.28 so that the impudence you speake of may well recoile on your selfe For the text Psal 16.11 shews onely that the fulnesse of alljoy and delight is in the enjoyment of the sight of God and to be at the right hand of God doth betoken the highest place of honour and glory in heaven which is proper to our Saviour who is said to sit at the right hand of God in allusion to a custome amongst men who are wont to set those whom they will most honour whom they most delight in at their right hands And that Text Psa 17.8 shews that David after the resurrection when he shall have a glorified body as Christ now hath shall be perfectly happy shall be as he would be For these words to awake after thy likenesse are all one with those of Saint Paul in 1 Cor. 15. 42 43 44. To rise in incorruption in glory in power to rise with a spirituall body For if we have been planted together in the likenesse of Christs death we shall be also in the likenesse of his resurrection saith the same Apostle Rom. 6.5 and because we are laid into our graves as one that lies downe in his bed to sleepe and shall be raised out of them as one that riseth out of his bed from sleepe therefore it is that the Prophet useth awake in stead of arise And the text Psal 36.8 is referred by Musculus to Gods bountifull provision in this life for all men indifferently and by Calvine better as well to the outward and temporall as to the spirituall and eternall benefits of God towards the faithfull his words are Some restraine it to spirituall graces but unto mee it seemeth a more likelyhood that under it are comprehended all Gods benefits that pertaine as well to the use of this present life as to the eternall heavenly blessednesse And so refers it as well to joyes on earth as to joyes in heaven And happily seeing the Prophet makes mention here of the house of God it is best understood of the great comfort which men shall receive through Gods loving kindnesse towards them in the time of our Saviours Kingdome on earth when Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lord shall again be rebuilt and all Nations shall flow unto it as it is Isai 2.2 or as it is Zech. 14.16 shall goe up from yeare to yeare to worshippe the King the Lord of Hosts and to keepe the feast of Tabernacles When I say in the mountaine of the Lords house in the restored Jerusalem the Lord of Hosts shall make unto all people a feast of fat things a feast of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wines on the lees well refined And shall destroy the face of the covering cast over all people and the vaile that is spread over all Nations Isai 25.6 c. And besides every understanding man knowes that to drinke of the river of thy pleasures is a metaphoricall expression seeing pleasures are not the nourishment of the body and so properly and corporally dranke of but belonging to the soule to which they are as comfortable as sweete and wholesome waters to a thirsty body But to drinke wine to eate the Passeover to eate and drinke at our Saviours table to eate bread in the Kingdome of God to sit on seates and judge the twelve Tribes of Israel are all proper expressions and so
quite different from the other And as spirituall pleasures appertaine to the Saints on earth as well as to the Saints in heaven so doe eating and drinking agree as well with glorified as unglorified bodies as well with the state of immortality as with the state of mortality For our Saviour did eate on earth at his Disciples table after his resurrection and he saith that the glorified Saints shall eate and drinke with him at his table after their resurrection And further he saith that after the last Judgement there is in the new Jerusalem the fruit of the tree of life to be eate of and the water of the river of life to be dranke of his words are To him that over cometh will I give to eate of the tree of life in the midst of the Paradise of God Rev. 2.7 and againe Rev. 22.14 15. Blessed are they that doe his Commandements that they may have right to the tree of life And whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely And indeed seeing God creates nothing in vaine it were vaine to thinke that the tree of life should beare twelve manner of fruites monthly unlesse they were to be fed on or that the river of the water of life should runne through the midst of the streete in the holy Jerusalem if it were not as well to be dranke of by the Saints in glory as to nourish the tree of life on the sides of it And therefore unlesse you can bring better proofes to shew that I am misinformed or doe misinforme then these texts of the Psalmist or any you have cited hitherto you your selfe will be found an over-hasty misinformer against the truth Israel's Redemption And as it is evident from his owne words that the Throne of his Kingdome is not now in heaven so it is plaine from Saint Pauls in 1 Cor. 15.12 that it shall not be thereafter the judgement of the dead his words are these As in Adam all dye even so in Christ shall all be made alive But every man in his owne order Christ the first fruites afterwards * They that are Christs at his comming-If there were not to be some distance of time betwixt the resurrection of these and other men it had been as easie for the Apostle to have said they that are dead or all that are in the grave And if there shall be a precedencie of time then no doubt but it shall be such a precedency as may bring some advantage and honour unto the Saints and therefore not onely of a few houres or dayes but of a more notable continuance and length of time of many yeares For if Christ should descend for no other purpose but to call all men to judgement then as there would he need of none so there could not well be any priority of time to distinguish their resurrection because in that act both good and bad must be assembled before him at the same time and the wicked doubtlesse should then be raised as soone to see his comming as the just to meete and accompany him therein they that are Christs at his comming and therefore not the m Zech. 14.5 1 Thes 3.13 chap. 4. ver 14 15 16. 2 Thes 1.10 Col. 3.4 Martyres onely Then commeth the end what presently after his comming no but when he hath delivered up the Kingdome to God even the Father and when shall that be when he shall have put downe all rule and all authority and power For he must reigne till He that is the Father hath put all his enemies under his feete which will be fully accomplished when the last enemy shall be destroyed which is death and when all things shall be thus subdued unto him then shall follow that inutterable glory that height of happinesse where the Sonne also himselfe shall be subject unto him that did before put all things under him that God may be all in all Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. Whether the Apostle might have said so or so Can any man gather necessarily out of these words so great a distance of time betwixt the resurrection of the godly and of the ungodly Here the Apostle nameth the godly and not the ungodly not importing any notable distance of time but because he had said ver 22. In Christ all shall be made alive which words cannot be properly and univocally meaned of the ungodly whose rising shall be for the accomplishment of the second death therefore here ver 23. he justly â—mits the mention of the ungodly and speakes of the godly as also he doth 1 Thes 4.16 17. where we find expressely an order among the godly saying The dead in Christ shall rise first and then we who are alive and remaine shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meete the Lord in the aire The Apostle in both texts speakes of the same comming of Christ as this Author acknowledgeth and applyeth the words to the same purpose pag. 50. As none will say that there shall be any notable priority in time betwixt the one and the other sort meeting Christ so and farre lesse doe these words speaking onely of them that are in Christ import two resurrections different the one from the other the space of a 1000 yeares Yea and the Apostle saying That we shall be caught up and meete the Lord in the aire and so shall be ever with him How can any imagine that we shall come downe againe from the aire to abide so long a space upon the earth and therefore he speakes there of the generall resurrection when they who are in Christ shall be ever with him not in a temporall but everlasting glory And seeing the Apostle speakes both here and there of the same resurrection certainely he speakes not here of a resurrection before the time of the generall judgement 2. pag. 49. After these words of Paul at his comming Mr. Maton inserteth and not the Martyrs onely Why inserteth he these words doth any who denyeth this earthly Monarchy say that the Martyrs and no more shall come with Christ no but some Millenaries say so And here he would marke a word against them Be it so 3. He wresteth the words thus Then commeth the end what presently after his comming no but when he hath delivered up the Kingdome to God even the Father and when shall that be when he shall have put downe all rule and authority and power c. Here instead of explication is a very contradiction of the text by inserting a negative and conveighing it closely with a query The particle Then hath relation to the words preceding and the word Comes is not in the originall as yee may see by the divers characters in the translation and it may as well be rendred Then or at that time is the end when he shall have delivered up c. So that the very time when he shall deliver the Kingdome is when they who are Christs shall arise at his comming And
therefore there shall be no notable distance of time betwixt the resurrection and the generall judgement and consequently these words of Paul doe clearely prove that the reigne of Christ as God-man doth not beginne after his next comming nor can without contradiction unto the Apostle any notable space of time be betwixt his next comming and the last subduing of all things The 25 verse proveth the same for when it is said For he must reigne till he hath put all his enemies under his feete thereby is teached more clearely in the originall language that now he reigneth and continues reigning and consequently he is not to begin his reigne even as it is said Heb. 2.8 Thou hast put all things under his feete and when they who are in Christ shall be made alive death the last enemy shall be destroyed and then is the end of administration Reply 1. The reason which you alledge against the distance of time betwixt the resurrection of the godly and ungodly to wit that the last clause of the 22 verse So in Christ shall all be made alive is not properly and univocally meant of the ungodly whose rising shall be to the accomplishment of their second death this reason is a meere mistake or rather a groundlesse untruth For as in Dan. 12.2 the words Sleepe and Awake are indifferently applyed to the death and resurrection of the just and unjust as in this chap. ver 20. the word Sleepe is indifferently applyed to all that are dead and ver 12 13.15 16 21.29 The dead are opposed to the living in generall to all that live a naturall life on earth and so are meant of all that are departed out of this l fe both elect and not elect In like manner the word Shâ—ll be made alive ver 22 is opposed onely to the first and naturall death of the body to the corruptible state of it in the grave and not to the spirituall death of the soul or to the second and supernaturall death of the body and consequently doth equally comprehend the resurrection of the good and bad as the 21 verse doth further confirme For since by man came death to all both good and bad by man came also the resurrection of the dead of all both good and bad So that the Apostle discoursing here of a proper and bodily resurrection speakes onely of such a death as is common to all which is a bodily death and such a resurrection as is common to all which is a bodily resurrection And having proved the resurrection and shewed also in what order it shall be fulfilled towards the end of the chapter he tells the Saints with what bodies they themselves shall arise to wit with incorruptible with glorified with spirituall bodies And as for the text in 1 Thes 4.16 17. it doth shew onely that the Saints which are living at our Saviours comming shall not be caught up to meete Christ before those that are dead For when the Saints who are dead shall be raised out of their grayes then the Saints that remaine alive shall together with them be caught up into the cloudes to meete the Lord. So that this order as you call it is an order betwixt the Saints remaining alive at our Saviours comming and the Saints deceased before his comming and not an order touching the distinct rising of all those that are dead which is that which Saint Paul affirmes in the 1 Cor. 15.23 c. And whereas you would make it a matter incredible that our Saviour and the Saints shall come downe againe from the aire to abide so long space on earth onely because it is said That they shall meete the Lord in the aire and so shall ever be with the Lord. You doe shew your selfe to be either very forgetfull of what you have read in Gods word or that you tooke but little notice of it when you did read it For doth not Zech. 14.5 tell us That the Lord shall come and all the Saints with him Seeing then the Saints shall meete the Lord in the aire as Saint Paul saith and seeing also when they are met the Lord shall come and all the Saints with him as the Prophet saith whither shall they come but from the aire to the earth Surely whatsoever you or any other through your perswasion may imagine of it Job makes no doubt of it For chap. 19. ver 25 26 27. he saith I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet in my flâ—sh shall I see God whom I shall see for my selfe and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reines be consumed within me And Jeremiah seconds him chap. 23. ver 5. in expresse termes touching our Saviours abode on earth Yea seeing our Saviour at his comming with his heavenly host shall take the Beast and false Prophet alive in battell and make a feast of their Armies for the fowles of heaven as it is revealed in the 19 chap. of the Revel and tread them in the winepresse of his wrath that the bloud shall come even unto the horse-bridles by the space of a 1000 and 600 furlongs as it is foretold Revel 14.19 20. Shall he descend to the earth to doe this thinke ye or shall he not And why also may not the Saints when they have met the Lord as well be ever with him though he first descend with them to reigne on earth as if he should goe immediately backe with them into heaven Nescis haud dubio nescis 2. You might well have spared this passage unlesse you could have shewed that I had markt any thing against the truth But doth the Apostle prove them onely to be in an errour who hold that none besides the Martyrs shall rise reign with Christ at his coming Surely he markes a word against those too who hold that all the dead shall rise at Christ comming for every man saith he in his owne order Christ the first-fruites afterwards they that are Christs at his comming Loe here the order of the Saints that dye before Christs appearing is to be the next that shall rise after Christ himselfe And when then is the order of the rest of the dead but when the time of Christs 1000 yeares reigne on earth is finished when the last enemy is destroyed which is death which shall not be utterly destroyed till the last resurrection till all men be raised from the dead For seeing the Apostle without any relation to the severall estates of the just and unjust after their resurrection speakes here onely of the rising of their bodies which equally and univocally belongs to them all why should we thinke that he would not as well have mentioned the resurrection of the just if they were to rise at the same time with these if the words But every man in his owne order doe not intimate any order doe not intimate a priority of
my Father hath appointed unto me that yee may eate and drinke at my table in my Kingdome and sit on seates judging the 12 tribes of Israel Which words as they doe plainely distinguish the time of Christs temptations from the time of his Kingdome so they doe shew too that the Apostles Kingdome was then onely appointed unto them by our Saviour and not then enjoyed by them And you cannot deny it unlesse you will say that the Disciples did then sit on seates judging the twelve Tribes of Israel or that Christ himselfe did then reigne for it is his owne Kingdome which he here appoints unto them Neither will the texts which you have cited prove that the time of our Saviours and the Saints persecution and affliction doth contemporate with the time of their reigne For that Psal 110.2 Reigne thou in the midst of thy enemies doth shew onely that he shall reigne amongst those who shall declare themselves enemies to him and his both before and when he comes to reigne and not that his enemies shall have any power to molest much lesse to raise persecution against him and his when he doth reigne for the 1 verse doth manifest that these enemies are to be made his footstoole at his very entrance into his Kingdome at his comming from the right hand of God at which time it is that he is to reigne amidst them and not before And that text Rom. 8 37. doth shew onely that through Gods speciall love towards us we are enabled to conquer aâ—l tribulation distresse perill or whatsoever else that can be brought on us for our faith in Christ and consequently that we doe now contend for a Kingdome but not that we doe now reigne for who will say that when two strive for the mastery either of them is conquerour â—ill one be vanquisht or that when two Princes contend for a Kingdome either doth reigne over the other till one be quite subdued unto the other and such certainely is our condition in this life and no other For now yee are full now yee are rich yee have reigned as Kings without us and I would to God yee did reigne that we also might reigne with you saith Saint Paul 1 Cor. 4.8 where he goes on For I thinke that God hath set forth us the Apostles last as it were men appointed to death for we are made a spectacle unto the world and to the Angels and to men c. What! would the Apostle have thus denved that he did reigne onely because many tribulations did attend him if the reigne of the Saints and their sufferings were consistent Doubtlesse he would not and therefore though they depart out of this life as conquerours over all temptations through the grace of God that is in them yet they live not here as Kings but as combatants neither doe they finish their conquest till the appointed time of thâ—ir life be finished And when should they be Kings but when they receive their crownes which is not while they fight nor presently after they have overcome but when they receive their bodies againe to weare them but at the day of Christs next appearing which shall be a Coronation day to all them that love that day as the same Apostle's words doe witnesse 2 Tim. 4.7.8 I have fought saith he a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth is laid up for me a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me onely but to all them that love his appearing And in the 2 chap. of the same Epistle also ver 11.12 he thus plainely distinguisheth the time of the Saints reigning from the time of their suffering It is a faithfull saying for if we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reigne with him Here Mr. Petrie further excepts against two particulars in the parenthesis of my foresaid words The 1 Particular And shall not their bodies as well reigne with Christ as their soules but these we know are and shall be yet captives to the grave Mr. Petrie's Answer When Christ shall come the last enemy shall be destroy'd and the bodies and not the Soules which dye not shall be made alive and both shall be with him for ever Reply You should here have told us whether the bodies of the Saints shall not reigne with Christ as well as their soules in stead whereof you tell us that their soules dye not and that when Christ comes their bodies shall be made alive and both bodies and soules shall be with him for ever I dare say this answer was never learned in any approved schoole and I beleeve indeed that this Querie did put you to a stand For if you should have denyed that the bodies of the Saints must reigne as well as their soules you could shew no reason for it And if you should have granted it you had herein denyed your owne Tenet to wit that the Saints do now reigne because while they are in this life they suffer in their bodies all manner of distresse they are hungry thirsty naked scourged buffeted banished tormented and when their soules depart out of this life their bodies are left behind to moulder into dust So that neither while they are in the body nor when they are out of the body are their bodies in a condition agreeable to a regall estate to the quiet free honourable powerfull and delightsome estate of Kings of such as rule over others Yea it is in regard of their bodily afflictions onely that they are here of all men most miserable and the spirituall conquest of their souls is indeed the principall occasion of mens tyrannizing over their bodies and of their conquering and destroying the life thereof The 2 Particular Are the Saints that shall be found alive at Christs comming exempted from his Kingdome for if he should reigne till then and then give up his Kingdome to his Father they are exempted Mr. Petrie's Answer He is a King till then and governeth all who are and shall be and when he shall come they who shall be found alive shall be caught up to meete him And because the clearing of this point may serve for clearing the whole matter I adde by way of explanation As the sinne of Adam was committed against God the Father his revolting or apostasie was a diminution of the Fathers Kingdome so the bringing of the faithfull into his obedience is the rendring of that Kingdome It is true the offence was against the Sonne and Holy Spirit but the worke of the creation being the worke of the Father in a speciall manner as it is intimated in the Creede the sinne was directly against the first Person When obedience was not given the Father might have executed his justice on the offenders as he did on the Angels Now as when a part of an earthly Kingdome rebelleth against the King directly and
to our Saviours second comming as a comfortable effect is foreshewed by them all besides the pious and prosperous establishment of the Jewes in their owne land It necessarily followes first That this is meant by the times of refreshing c. And secondly That the prophecies touching this subject are properly and historically to be understood I say historically for what is a prophecy but an history of things to come as a Chronicle is an history of things past Doubtlesse these words are plaine enough to a man of farre meaner capacity then you are And as I have said it once so I dare say it againe That as the Prophets speake not more of any one thing then they doe of the redemption and restauration of the Jewes so nought which can be applied to our Saviours second comming as a comfortable effect is foreshewed by them all but this Which last words you purposely misapprehend that you might have somewhat to say For whereas I have said onely That there is no comfortable effect belonging to Christs second comming which all the Prophets have foreshewed but this You make me say that none of the Prophets have spoken of any other thing that can be applied to our Saviours comming but this And then you bring an instance out of Dan. 12.1 2. Where you say is mention of the great Prince of great trouble even to the time of deliverance and then awaking of some not for a space of time but to everlasting life and of others at the same time unto shame and everlasting contempt But surely as the matter of the first Parenthesis is not affirmed by us so the contents of the last are but a false glosse For though the Prophâ—t sâ—ith That many of them that slâ—epe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt yet he saith not that all these shall â—ise at the same particular time And the first verse which shewes that the great Prince shall stand for the children of Daniels people and that they shall at that time be delivered every one that shall be found written in the booke that is That God hath appionted to be delivered doth plainly intimate that the Jewes shall be then greatly hated and oppressed by other Nations as the two last verses of the preceding chapter compared with Rev. 16.12 13 14 16. and with the 7 chap. of this prophecy and other prophecies doe plentifully declare and consequently it doth foretell that which we affirme to be meant by the times of refreshing to wit the deliverance of the Jewes of Daniels people both from their spirituall and bodily bondage For why else is the deliverance of the Jewes onely spoken of who have so long been and still are captives both to unbeliefe and to other Nations strangers to Christ and to their owne countrey And whereas you tell us That the restoring of the Kingdome of Israel was so often revealed by the Prophets rather to keepe the Jewes from the distrust of our Saviours comming thou to comfort them against the losse of their bodily liberty and native inheritance Doubtlesse it was rather for this then for the other seeing they did reveale also many particular prophecies touching our Saviours incarnation which revelations did more directly confirme their beliefe of Christs comming then those touching the deliverance of their posterity and the restoring of their Kingdome to them could And seeing you confesse here That the prophecies touching the restoring of Jerusalem and that Kingdome did concerne the Common-wealth of Israel which was afterwards destroyed You doe herein apparently admit of that proper sense of the prophecies which you have before so much opposed For the dâ—struction of a temporall Kingdome cannot be repaired but by the regaining of that freedome and command which it formerly enjoyed And yet you presently recall this for having said That howsoever that Kingdome shall be ruined yet it shall be restored you adde immediately And all Nations shall by the preaching of the Jewes come into the obedience of Christ and so receive lawes from the Jewes as being captives unto them whose captives they might be for a time So that you speake forward and backward all in a breath and are as one in the midst of a bog who knowes not where to fixe his foote For first you grant that the Kingdome of whose restauration the Prophets write so much was the temporall Kingdome of the Jewes and by and by you make the restoring of this temporall Kingdome to be the converting of the Gentiles by the preaching of the Gospell which is a very ridiculous impossibility And as this your inconstancy so your expression is observable for first though you understand that which you speak of to be already past yet you deliver it in the future tence and as hereafter to be fulfilled And secondly yoy say That the Nations shall by the preaching of the Jewes become captives unto them But surely the state of grace is very unfitly termed a captivity seeing it brings with it the greatest freedome the freedom of the conscience For where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.17 And if the calling of men to the faith of Christ should make them captives I pray what will become of the spirituall reigne of the Saints which is all the reigning that you allow them under Christ And besides the Prophets words That the Jewes shall possesse the Gentiles in the land of the Lord for servants and for handmaides that they shall take them captives whose captives they were and shall rule over their oppressours doe plainely shew that the Gentiles shall be captives to the Jewes in the like manner as the Jewes were to the Gentiles to wit by a bodily subjection and captivity which cannot be whâ—le the Jewes themselves remaine captives under the Gentiles And therefore we doe truely imagine that the faithfull did expect and the Prophets in their revelation touching Jerusalem and that Kingdome to be restored did speake of a monarchy on earth Neither doth this imagination contradict any testimony of the Apostles touching the expectation of the faithfull before Christs incarnation For who will say that this antecedent of S. Paul Heb. 11.14 15 16. The Patriarches Abraham Isaac and Iacob did in their corruptible condition when they lived as strangers and pilgrimes on the earth desiâ—e a better countrey that is aâ— heavenly for so the Apostle interprets himself and nâ—t as you doe will beare this consequence Therefore when they shall rise in incorruption they shall not reigne on earth a 1000 yeares Or that this proposition of Saint Peter 1 Epâ—st chap. 1. ver 9. c. The beleeving Jewes did by faith in Christ receive the salvation of their soules of which salvation when it should be purchased by the sufferings of Christ and when conferred upon the whole Nation of the Jewes the Prophets which prophecied of the grace that should come unto the
the beleeving Iew was he not so before Christs incarnation as well as since was he not Abrahams seed before as well as since was he not heire according to the promise before as well as since What hinders then but that the Iewes may notwithstanding this spirituall union and fellowshâ—p with the beleeving Gentiles be as heretofore so at their generall conversion againe advanced above all other Nations by many not onely outward favours and priviledges but by a greater measure of inward gifts and abilities also Israel's Redemption Neiâ—her was the Temple then destroyed but afterwards and therefore the things here spoken of are all to be accomplished at his second comming and that not in heaven but on earth On earth I say and in e Jerusalem where f Davids Throne was For his feete shall stand in that day Isai 33.20 â—hap 50. ver â— 2 3.9 10. Psal 122 5. to wit when he comes or if God himselfe be here by an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 figuratively described when he brings him to receive his appointed Kingdome on the Mount of Olives which is before Ierusalem on the East from which Mount our Saviour ascended and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the East and toward the West and there shall be a very great valley and halfe the mountaine shall remove toward the North and halfe of it toward the South And ye shall flâ—e to the valley of the mountaines for the valley of the mountaines shall reach unto Azal yea ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the Earthquake in the dayes of Uzziah King of Judah And the Lord my God shall come and all the g Iu de ver 14 15. Rev. 19.11 12 13 14 15 16. Saints with theâ— And it shall come to passe in that day that the light shall not be cleare nor darke but it shall be one day which shall be knowne to the Lord not day nor night but it shall come to passe that at evening time it shall be light And it shall be in that day that h Psal 46.4 Eze. 47.1 c. Ioel. 3.8 living waters shall goe out from Jerusalem halfe of them toward the former sea and halfe of them toward the hinder sea In Summer and in Winter shall it be and the Loâ—d shall be King over all the earth In that day shall there be one Lord and his Name one All the Land shall be turned as a plaine from Ceba to Rimmon South of Ierusalem and it shall be lifted up and inhabited in her pl ce from Benjamins gate unto the place of the first gate unto the corner gate and from the Tower of Hananiel unto the Kings wine-presses And men shall dwell in it and there shall be no more utter destruction but Ierusalem shall be safely inhabited Zech. 14.4 c. Mr. Petrie's Answer Christ said Destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it up againe Then said the Iewes Forty and sixe yeares was this Temple in building and wilt thou reare it up againe in three dayes but he spake of the Temple of his body saith the Evangelist Iohn 2.19 So the true Temple is Christs body which the Iewes destroyed and he raised it up againe and in this sense the Disciples did beleeve the Scriptures after the resurrection of Christ ver 22. And therefore the things spoken in these Scriptures are accomplished at his first comming not onely in heaven last on earth according to the different portions thereof In heaven and on earth I say and in true Ierusalem and on the true Throne of David for his feete stood in that day to wit when he went to receive the fuller accomplishment of his Kingdome on the Mount of Olives which is by Ierusalem on the East from which also he ascended and the Mount or Olives hath been cloven in the midst thereof toward the East and toward the Wâ—st when not onely the members of the Church but all the world was shaken at the powerfull preaching of the Gospell even more gloriously then at the giving of the Law Heb. 12.26 So that nothing could hinder the course thereof And the Iewes have fled to that valley of the mountaines when they did imbrace the Gospell which is low in worldly mens esteeme and of high esteeme before God And the valley of the mountaines hath reached unto Azal For the preaching of the Gospell hath been an excellent stone marke shewing the righ way as it is exponed 1 Sam. 20.19 on the margine of the late translation to the Kingdome of heaven Yea they have fled like as they did flee from before the earth quake in the dayes of Vzziâ—h King of Iudan to wit they have been astonished at the wonderfulnesse of Gods workes And the Lord hath come And so forth as it followes in Zach. 14. where he shewes the perpetuall light of the glorious Gospell ver 6 7. and the continuall flowing of the wholesome waters in the Kingdome of Christ ver 98. and the removing of all impediments for the security of the elects conversion and salvation You see here that our Saviour came not onely to conquer death which is the last enemy that he shall destroy and therefore not to be destroyed till the last resurrection but also to take the Kingdomes of the world unto himselfe and hath made them all acknowledge his authority and hath put downe all contrary power and authority for all Nations have praised Christ and given laud unto him Rom. 14.9 10.11 That there is one shepheard and one sheepfold that the Dominions Kingdomes and greatnesse of the Kingdomes under the whole Heaven have been possessed by the People and Saints of the most High that is as the Gospell hath exponed it by the faithfull Israel Rom. 14.12 bowbeit all hath not been possessed at the same period of time Reply Was ever scripture more apparently wrested more impertinently alledged Behold saith Zechariah the man whose name is the Branch and he shall grow up out of his place and he shall build the Temple of the Lord even he shall build the Temple of the Lord c. chap. 6. ver 12. This is the prophecy and your interpretation this Christ said Destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it up againe c. John 2.19 And interpretation doubtlesse as wide from the sense of the Prophet as the Iewes apprehension was from the meaning of our Saviours words For shew us where the Temple of the Lord is in all the old Testament which was then all the scripture taken in any other sense then for the house of Gods worship at Ierusalem Or the building of the Temple of the Lord in any other sense then for the building of that Temple Yea looke but into the 14 and 15 verses immediately following and it is unquestionable that the same words are there taken for the Temple of the Lord in Ierusalem And besides seeing the Prophets shew so plainely that our Saviour shall
reigne over the Iewes in their owne land and that Ierusalem shall againe be built Why should we not beleeve that both the building of the Temple of the Lord and his reigning on the Throne of his Father David shall be as properly fulfilled in Christ the antitype as they were in Solomon the type Whereas then you say further That in this sense the Disciples did beleeve the Scriptures after the resurrection of Christ I pray what scriptures this prophecy Surely it is false that they did any where cite this prophecy to prove our Saviours resurrection from the dead And the words of the Evangelist are plaine When therefore he was risen from the dead saith Iohn his Disciples remembred that he had said this unto them to wit that he had said to the Iewes Destroy this Temple c. and they beleeved the Scripture that is the scripture which foreshewes our Saviours resurrection as Psal 16. alledged by Saint Peter Acts 2.25 c. and Psal 2.7 alledged by Saint Paul Acts 13.33 c. And the word which Iesus had said that is and they beleeved also that this saying of his to the Iewes was meant of the resurrection of his body and not as you say they did that it was an interpretation of Zechariah's prophecy which for shewes indeed the building of the Temple of the Lord but not the destroying of it by the Iewes nor the building of it in three dayes no nor the building of it untill the man whose name is the Branch should sit and rule on his Throne Neither did our Saviour say plainely Destroy the Temple of the Lord as the false witnessâ—s acâ—used him nor absolutely destroy the Temple but darkely and inrelation to his owne body destroy this Temple as his words touching the raising of it in three dayes doe intimate and the Evangelist doth afterwards expound it And he said also I will raise it and not I will build it which shewes the making of a Temple where was none before and therefore cannot be applyed to the quickening of our Saviours body a temple then in being and not to be corrupted in death And as for your confused exposition of the prophecy of Zech. 14.4 c. it is not onely contrary to the truth but to reason it selfe For first which is flat against the truth you ascribe the accomplishment of this prophecy to our Saviours ascending to the Saints in heaven and to the time succeeding his ascension whereas it is manifest by the words in the first verse which you have concealed And the Lord my God shall come and aâ—l the Saints with thee that it is to be fulfilled at his descending with the Saints from heaven and in the time succeeding his descension And secondly which is not onely against the truth but against reason also you affirme That by the cleaving of the Mount of Olives towards the East and towards the West is meant the shaking of all the world at the preaching of the Gospell And That by the Iewes flying to the valley of the mountaines is meant their imbracing of the Gospell Which is as if you had said that the Iewes did then imbrace the Gospell when they fled from it or that the Iewes in flying from the Gospell fled to the Gospell For as you interpret the cleaving of the Mount of Olivers from which the Iewes were to fly of the preaching of the Gospell so you interpret the valley of the mountaines to which the Iewes were to flee of the same also And who sees not by this and by your expounding of the 6 and 7 verses Of the perpetual â—ight of the Gospell and the 8 verse Of the continuall flâ—â—wing of the doctrine of the Gospell and all of the Gospell and of nothing but of the Gospell that by such a liberty of interpreting any one may make the plainâ—st scripture that is to say onely as he faith and so to patronize and defend any dangerous opinion against the truth clearely revealed in it The truth therefore of this prophecy is no other then that which the Prophet himselfe hath plainely told us to wit that the Mount of Olives shall be cleft in the midst by an earthquake at the comming of our Saviour with all the Saints and that the Iewes which are gathered together neere unto it shall then flye for feare of this earthquake as they fled for feare from before the earthquake in the dayes of Vzziah King of Judah And the effect of this earthquake is described ver 10. where it is said And all the Land shall be turned as a plaine from Gâ—ha to Rimmâ—n South of Jerusalem and it shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place from Benjamins gate unto the place of tho first gate unto the corner gate and from the tower of Hananiel un to the Kings wiae-presser And man shall dwell in it and there shall be no more utter destruction but Ierusalem shall be safely inhabited And as this part so all the rest of the prophecy is to be understood likewise according to its owne stile and language which is so obvious that it needes no inter preration and the light thereof cannot be more obscured then by such a glosse as you have put upon it And thus it being undeniable that this prophecy of Zech. doth foreshew our Saviours second comming his comming with all the Saints and the things then no be performed by him it necessarily followes That he shall come not onely to conquer death first in part at the resurrection of the Saints that shall rise to meete him and to come with him and then wholly at the resurrection of all others when he shall passe the sentence of salvation on the elect and of damnation on the reprobate but in the interim in the space betwixt this first and second resurrection to be King over all the earth as this Prophet saith ver 9. to take the Kingdomes of this world unto himselfe as Saint Iohn reveals Rev. 11.15 to put downe all rule and all authority as Saint Paul affirmes 1 Cor. 15.24 and to set up that dominion glory and Kingdome at the manifestation whereof all people nations and languages shall serve him as Daniel foreshewes chap. 7. ver 14. which he shall doe by an extraordinary destroying of the most and greatest of his enemies in batte'l and by causing every one that is left of the Nations to goe up from yeare to yeare to Ierusalem to worship the King the Lord of Hafts as Zech. here and many other Prophets besides doe declare Israel's Redemption You see here that our Saviour comes not onely to conquer death which is the last enemy that he shall d stroy and therefore not wholly to be destroyed till the last resurrection but also to take the Kingdomes of this world unto himselfe to put downe as Saint Paul hath said all the authority and power of other Nations that there may be one shepheard and one sheep-fold Dan. 7.27 that the Kingdome and dominion
delivered then all this is in the texts which we have brought and can bring for it And therefore we both have and can prove by scripture even expresse scripture that the restored Ierusalem shall be the place of Christs Throne although it be beyond our power to make you acknowledge that we can and have proved it it being the pâ—culiar act of the Spirit of God to doe this of that Spirit I say whose apparent testimonies you so presumptuously resist and so lightly esteeme ISRAELS REDEMPTION CHAP. III. That the Kingdome of Israel and the thousand yeares reigne of the Saints shall concurre ANd thus even one prophecy of Zech. doth clearely unfold all that we averre touching our present subject to wit That our Saviour shall reigne on earth and in Jerusalem For as it tels us That the Lord shall be King over all the earth that in that day there shall be one Lord and his name one So it saith too that at the very instant of our Saviours descending All the Land shall by an earthquake be turned as a plaine from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem and it shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place from Benjamins gate unto the place of the first gate unto the corner gate and from the tower of Hananiel unto the Kings wine-presses c. Moreover another notable content of this prophecy is That when our Saviour comes to reigne over all the earth he comes not alone but brings all the Saints with him Mr. Petrie's Answer We see neither that be shall come to reigne after that manner over all the earth neither that he shall bring all his Saints with him and for this last point be alledges no text of scripture but will have it to be taken on his bare word which we refuse to doe We reade that when be shall come to judge he shall bring all the holy Angels with him Matth. 25.31 and all Nations shall be gathered before him and that be shall send his Angels to gather the elect from the foure winds but that they shall come with him into an earthly Monarchy we finde no where And neverthelesse as if it were unquestionable he addeth Reply Unlesse you had made a covenant with your tongue to deny every thing that we prove you could not have said That we alledge no text of scripture which shewes that Christ shall bring all the Saints with him For what is the meaning of these words Zech. 14.5 And the Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with thee Or what meanes Saint Paul when he saith 1 Cor. 15.23 Afterward they that are Christs at his comming doth he not meane that all the Saints departed shall then rise and can they rise in their bodies at Christs comming and yet not come then from heaven to be reunited to their bodies These tâ—xts we have alledged in exprâ—sse termes and do you take them for canonicall or apocrypha if for canonicall then surely your foresaid report of us is apocrypha And yet this is not all that we have to say touching this point for as you read Matth. 25.31 That Christ shall bring all the holy Angels with him so you may read too in 1 Thes 3.13 these words At the comming of our Lord Jesus with all the Saints And chap. 4.14 Them also that sleepe in Jesus will God bring with him And Jude ver 14. out of the prophecy of Enoch Behold the Lord commeth with ten thousands of his Saints And therefore that Christ shall bring all the Saints with him is not our bare word but the plaine word of God And so it is too that they shall come to reigne with him on earth as we have already proved and the texts following doe further declare And besides how can you choose but beleeve that Christ shall bring all the Saints with him though there were no expresse scripture for it seeing you beleâ—ve that all the dead shall rise at the same time surely you must either deny this or grant that Israel's Redemption Which words as they doe establish the literall sense of the r Luke 14.14 ch 20.35 36. Ioh. 6.39.40.44 54. Phil. 3.11 1 Thess 3.13 ch 4.14 c. Ezek. 37.12.13 fiâ—st resurrection mentioned in the 20 chap. of Rev. So they make the Kingdome of Israel and the 1000 yeares reigne of the Sainâ—s there spoken of to synchronize and meete together for why shall the Saints come with him but because they have a share in his Kingdome and are to be his assistants in it as he told the Disciples Luke 22.28 Mr. Petrie's Answer The first resurrection of bodies imports a second resurrection and so either these who rise shall dye againe and rise againe at the second resurrection or they who shall rise at the first shall not dye at all and others shall rise againe at the second resurrection This Authour makes it no where manifest which of these two be holdeth and Mr. Archer holdeth the first opinion but neither of them hath any warrant from Scripture and the testimonies that are cited here on the margine shew that there shall not be such a resurrection of the righteous for it is said Luke 20.35 They who shall be accounted worthy to obtaine that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they dye any more for they are equall unto the Angels being the children of the resurrection If they can dye no more and be equall unto the Angels then they shall not rise at a second resurrection neither shall they live an earthly life which in the best degree is inferiour unto the life of the Angels John 6.39 This is the Fathers will that of all that he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day and ver 44. No man can come unto me except the Father who hath sent me draw him and I will raise him at the last day If the last day be the day of the generall judgement as certainely it is even supponing the temporall Monarchy for a 1000 yeares and the elect shâ—ll not be raised till the last day as these words imply then there shall not be a first and second resurrection unlesse the second resurrection be after the last day and consequently there not being a resurrection of the children of God till the last day the first resurrection mentioned Rev. 20. cannot be understood of the bodies but rather arising from sinne whereof mention is made Ephes 5.14 and Col. 3.1 He cites also Phil. 3.11 If by any meanes I might attaine unto the resurrection of the dead These words name the dead generally and make nothing for a first and second resurrection but ver 20. it is said Our conversation or freedome is in heaven whence also we look for the Saviour who shall change our vile body that it may be like unto his glorious body If the freedome POLITEVMA of the godly be in heaven then they expect not a
these cited words which is It is not said the Kingdome of heaven to wit of the third heaven or of another world I say of another in substance but the Kingdomes of this world that is which is now and shall till then be divided into many Kingdomes shall wholly become Christs and be made by him one heavenly Kingdome c. For if we remember what is said that here Iohn speakes of the Kingdome of our Lord and of his Christ he speaks not of the Kingdome of the Iewes on earth seeing he makes a distinction of two persons our Lord and his Christ that is the Father and the Sonne and that Kingdome is for ever and ever Reply As little Logicke as the Author hath left he can tell that Assertion is not a logicall but rhetoricall terme And he doth remember also that in the schooles where he was bred they were wont to call the minor propositioâ— the Assumption as he hath done here and can make it evident by this syllogisme If the reigne of Christ as man doth not bâ—ginne till Antichrist is destroyed then the spirituall interpretation of the first resurrection doth make most of the Saints to rise many hundred yeares before their reigne But the reigne of Christ as man doth not beginne till Antichrist is destroyed Therefore c. Now what will you call this minor proposition will you call it an Assertion or an Assumption if an Assertion you call it as no Logician calls it if an Assumption then why may not I call it so too without any offâ—nce to the learned in Logicke Your answer followes in which you say It is not said here our Lord and his Christ shall not reigne till this time But this is all the words import now is no Kingdome but our Lords and his Christs And surely this comment is a great deale more obscure then the text For if you meane onely that at the accomplishment of this prophecy there shall be no Kingdome over which the Lord and his Christ shall not reigne this is no more then what you affirme to be done by our Lord and his Christ already for you say That at this present time Christ reigneth in the midst of these Kingdomes even among them and over them But you must needes acknowledge a difference betwixt his reigning over them now and his reigning over them then or else you make this prophecy to be no prophecy to foreshew nothing at all And wherein can this dâ—fference consist but in his reigning over these Kingdomes hereafter in his humane nature which he doth now over rule only by his divinâ— providence for if by your foresaid words you should mean that at the accompl shment of this prophecy there shall be no Kingdom but a spirituall Kingdome which is all the Kingdomes you will allow Christ this is not onely contrary to the light of the text but of reason it selfe For there can be no spirituall Kingdome on earth unlesse there be withall a temporall a civill Kingdome in which it may be set up And the text speakes not of spirituall Kingdomes but of temporall for it saith The Kingdomes of this world that is the temporall and civill Kingdomes which the Kings of this world doe reigne over These Kingdomes it saith be they the Kingdomes of Christian or of heat hen Princes shall become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ that is shall by the Lord be put under the government of his Christ as he is man And therefore the Kingdomes themselves shall not be then utterly destroyed as you say but be made one Kingdome under Christ as we say And indeede if we doe but call to minde the time when this prophecy is to be fulfilled which is at the sounding of the last trumpet when Christ himselfe shall descend from heaven we cannot imagine that the Kingdomes of this world should then become the Kingdomes of Christ any otherwise then by a subjection unto his manhood then by submitting themselves to the â—ules of that Ecclesiasticall and civill policy which he their King shall then command to be observed by them And now if the reader consider this and remembers also what cleare prophecies there are for the restoring of the Kingdome of the Jewes he will plainely perceive that the time when the Kingdomes of this world shall become the Kingdome of Christ is to be the very same in which he shall restore againe the Kingdome of Israel And your precious subtilty touching a distinction of two persons our Lord and his Christ that is the Father and his Sonne doth make nothing against this synchronisme For they are said to be the Kingdomes of the Lord partly because he shall them make it more manifest then ever he did that they are his to dispose of and partly because no other Lawes but the Lords shall be observed in them And of his Christ because no man but he shall be supreâ—me Head and Governour over them And surely the Kingdomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this world cannot be the Kingdomes of the Father and the Sonne for ever if you take this word in an unlimited sense seeing neither this world in which they are nor the civill societies of men of which they doe consist shall be of an infinite duration And I thinke too that you will not say that by the Kingdomes of this world that Kingdome of eternall glory is meant in which the Sonne also himselfe shall after the judgement of the dead be subject unto the Father unto him that before put all things under him Israel's Redemption And this also is intimated by the binding up of t Rev. 20.1 2 3. c. Satan a thousand yeares with which the reign of the Saints contemporates Mr. Petrie's Answer He said before This chapter is controverted to wit by the Millenaries on the one part and all Christians on the other and now he saith This his conceit is intimated in the binding up of Satan which is as if he had said It is all undoubted what he saith and all is false that all Christians say whereas Christians have given better warrants of their exposition then Millenaries are able to doe Reply I say not that the whole chapter is controverted for doubtlesse no Christian will deny that the latter part thereof doth speake of the judgement of the dead at the last resurrection But I speake of a controverted place in this 20 chapter which is that touching the first resurrection And yet suppose the whole chapter had been controverted I might neverthelesse say that this or that truth is not onely intimated but plainely exprest in it as the first bodily resurrection is plainely exprest in ver 4 5. notwithstanding the disagreement of expositours about it And as the deliverance of the Jewes the restoring of their Kingdome and our Saviours personall reigne on eath are all so plainely exprest in the propheticall scriptures as that nothing can be more plainely spoken although the proper interpretation of them
cannot be a long time to the Lord. And therefore albeit the last part of Saint Peters reciprocall proposition may favour your interpretation yet the first part will not suffer it Seeing that which is but one day with us cannot possibly be as a thousand yeares with the Lord although the space of a thousand yeares with us may be but as one day with the Lord. And consequently the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one day in ver 7. must needes be meant of a propheticall day of a day consisting of yeares of so many yeares at least as the Apostle here speakes of and not of a naturall day of a day consisting of houres for how else should one day be with the Lord as a thousand yeares in regard of continuance of time And whereas you say That it is not said one day is a thousand yeares but is as a thousand yeares I pray what difference in sense is there betwixt these propositions certainely the adverbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as doth not alwayes intimate a comparison but hath divers acceptions amongst which Pasor reckons its denoting of the truth and certainty of a thing for one And when it is used comparatively it doth include an exposition also as it were easie to prove by many instances and we need looke no further then the 10 verse of this chapter for an instance But the day of the Lord will come saith the Apostle as a thiefe in the night here the comparing of it to the comming of a thiefe doth shew that as it is unknowne to all so it is unexpected too of the ungodly on whom it shall come as a thiefe in the night that is altogether unlookt for and to whom also it shall be as the comming of a thiefe in the night that is fearefull unavoidable and full of horrour and amazement And thus it is evident that our exposition of ver 7. is the onely adequate and full exposition of the Apostles words and that yours is but a defective and partiall exposition of it Israel's Redemption This then being so I see not but that Gods fore-appointment of a thousand yeares continuance to the world for * Sicut e septenis annis septimus quisque annus remissionis est it 〈◊〉 e septem millibus annorum mundi septimus millenarius millenarius remissionis est R. Ketina Vid. Com. Apoc. par 2. pag. 287. each severall day of its first weeke the weeke of its creation might in all likelihood be the ground of this propheticall sense of the word Day wherein it was afterwards delivered by the infallible Pen-men of holy writ Mr. Petrie's Answer The certainty of all the appointments of God we acknowledge and the infallibility of his pen-men but where is it revealed that God hath appointed a thousand years continuance to the world for each severall day of the first weeke On the margine he cireth Rab. Ketina comment Apoca. par 2. p. 287. where are some testimonies in the Rabbines to this purpose Let Jewes follow Jewish fables to us Christians hath God spoken in the last dayes by his Sonne Heb. 1.2 whom he hath bidden us heare Certainely with a limitation to heare none others Reply I do not say it is revealed in Scripture that God hath appointed unto the world a thousand yeares continuance for each severall day of its first weeke but that Gods fore-appointment of so many thousands of yeares continuance unto the world might happily be the ground of this propheticall sense of the word Day in the scriptures Which space of time it doth comprehend whensoever it is emphatically applyed to the time of our Saviours appearing or the Jewes redemption as Isai 11.11 chap. 27.12 13. and Amos 9.11 and 2 Thes 1.10 and 2 Tim. 4.8 doe testifie And these texts in which it hath the epithet great annext to it Joel 2.31 Mal. 4.5 Jude ver 6. Rev. 6.17 chap. 16.14 And the learned doe so understand the word Day too in Gods threatning to Adam Gen. 2.17 because that threatning must needes be meant of a punishment that should come on Adam for his disobedience and consequently of a bodily death which yet he suffered not till neere nine hundred and thirty yeers after And thus it is manifest that we take this word in no other sense then the Prophets doe to whom God spake by his Spirit in time past or then the Apostles doe to whom God spake by his Sonne first and by his Spirit afterwards or then God did as many learned Divines acknowledge in the foresaid passage to Adam And therefore we borrow it not from the Jewish sables although we will not reject any truth that the Jewes hold for feare of being upbraided with their sables or with the name of Jewes But what I so much out of charity with the Jewes now Is not this the Name whose mysticall interpretation hath stood you in such stead in the wresting of the prophecies which concerne them by Name and none else and did you not say pag. 16. that the faithfull are called Jewes not onely typically but likewise for the speciall comfort of the Jewes How did you dare then so boldly to abuse that Name by which you say the faithfull are so frequently â—iled in Scripture And what comfort can it be to the Jewes that you lay claime to this Name in the scriptures where it belongs not to you that you seeme to take delight in it there and yet in your writings and common discourse use it as a by-word and terme of reproach or how can we thinke that you apply the prophecies touching the Jewes to the Christians for any other reason but because you thinke such great and glorious mercies too good for the Jewes how I say can we thinke otherwise when as we see they are so odious unto you that in meere scorne and derision of the truth we hold you call us Jewes by way of opposition to Christians I pray remember what our Saviour is as man is he not a Jew me thinkes then if â—â—ought else could yet the reverence you owe to him should have with held you from such an uncivill usage of this Name Israel's Redemption To this also may be added that iâ— Matth. 24.31 which shewes that when the Sonne of man desâ—ends He shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet and they shall gather together his Elect from the foure windes from one end of the heaven to the other at which time two shall be in the field the one shall be taken and the other left two women shall be grinding at the Mill the one shall be taken and the other left and as Saint Marke record two men shall be in one bâ—d 〈◊〉 one shall be taken and the other left chap. 17.34 But if our Saviour at his comming shall presently give â—â—ntence on all that are not writteâ— in the Booke of life if he shall make no stay on earth before he undertake this businesse then why shall the
of thâ—se Nations when this Gog and Magog is destroyed shall be the Gog and Magog foretold in Rev. 20. to arise when the thousand yeares peacefull reigne is finished Whereby it is manifest that against your owne knowledge you have misreported the evidence of my reasons and charged me with a contradiction of your owne devising And as it is very false that I am in this point contrary to my selfe so it is as false that I am herein contrary to Clavis Apocal. For the fourth synchronisme of the 2 part doth infallibly prove that the Army of the Nations mentioned Revel 20. is to be a distinct Army from that in Rev. 16. whose destruction is revealed chap. 19. The words inferred upon the second argument of this synchronisme pag. 26. are these Marke here reader the chronicall character by which it is intimated that this whatsoever it is concerning Satan being taken and condemned after his second loosing it succeedeth the vision of the former chapter concerning the Beast and false Prophet being vanquished taâ—en and thereupon cast into the lake burning with fire and brimstone by him which sate upon the white horse as in order of narration so also in the time of the thing done For otherwise it should not have been said that Satan was sent thither where both the Beast and false Prophet were except both the Beast and false Prophet had been sent thither first Neither can any man of judgement say by way of evasion that this warre of chap. 20. after a thousand yeares is not different from that of the former chapter when as not onely the character already brought but also all circumstances on both sides are repugnant the parties the battell and the manner of the slaughter there with the sword herewith fire yea and the event of either warre unlike as anon the matter being demonstrated shall be made plaine there the binding of Satan onely for a time but here a condemnation to eternall fire c. And Clav. Apocal. in part 1. synchro 7. doth speake nothing of the Gog and Magog in Rev. 20. but of the utter destruction of the Beast and Babylon at the effusion of the last viall Israel's Redemption And to this conjecture Isai 27.12 doth sufficiently confirme For the great sound of the Trumpet before spoken of in Saint Matthew as a warning of the gathering together of the elect is there said to be a warning also of the Jewes returne the words are these It shall come to passe in that Day that the Lord shall beate off from the channell of the river unto the streame of Egypt and ye shall be gathered one by one O ye children of Israel and it shall come to passe in that day that the z Isaâ— 18.3 Zech. 9.11 great Trumpet shall be blowne and they shall come which were ready to perish in the Land of Assyria and the outcasts in the Land of Egypt and shall worship the Lord in the holy Mount at Jerusalem Mr. Petrie's Answer If this be a conjecture how is it sufficiently confirmed by the Prophet or if it be sufficiently confirmed why is it called a conjecture A conjecture it is and hath no warrant from the Prophet for the Prophet and Evangelist are not speaking of the same purpose the Prophet is speaking particularly of the Jewes deliverance out of Syria and Egypt and of the tâ—umpet that did sound at the proclamation of Cyrus for their returne which was past before the dayes of the Evangelist And neverthelesse our Authour concludeth triumphantly Reply And why may not a conjecture be as well confirmed by scripture as grounded on scripture yea whence can such a conjecture have a better confirmation then from scripture And that this conjecture to wit That some of them who are left when the elect shall be gathered together at Christs comming shall be left to perish in the great destruction which shall then light on all Nations that sight against the Jewes and others of them to be eye-witnesses of Gods wonders at that time that this conjecture I say is warranted by the Prophecy of Isaiah touching the Jewes returne chap. 27. ver 12 13. it is evident first from the identity of the signe which is to precede the accomplishment of this Prophecy and that of our Saviour Matth. 24.31 For what is the great sound of the trumpet mentioned by the Evangelist but the blowing of the great trumpet foretold in Isaiah And secondly it is evident from the contents of the prophecy which speake not of the returne of the two Tribes of the returne of the captivity of Judah and Benjamin from Babylon but of the returne of the ten Tribes of the returne of the captivity of the children of Israel from Assyria who as Divines confesse did never yet returne And admit it had been spoken of the returne of the two Tribes yet it could not be already accomplished because it foreshewes the returne of the Jewes out of Assyria in a time when they shall be ready to perish there which cannot be affirmed of the Jewes that returned to Jerusalem upon the proclamation of Cyrus by whom they were so much favoured And by whose command the Jewes that returned were so much enricht with silves and gold with goods and with beasts c. as it is written Ezra 1.4 And although it be true that Cyrus made a Proclamation throughout all his Kingdome for the returning of the Jewes yet we â—eade not of the sounding of any trumpet at the proclamation And if it had been a custome to doe so not one but many trumpets doubtlesse had been sounded at the publishing of that proclamation which was by many messengers sent into all the Provinces of Cyrus Kingdome to whom God had given all the Kingdomes of the earth Ezra 1.2 And lastly this Prophecy doth intimate a gathering and bringing of the Israelites to Ierusalem by the extraordinary power of God A gathering of them I say not by the helpe and assistance but against the will and resistance of earthly Princes as is plainely foretold Zech. 9.12 13.14 15 16. and in many other Prophecies And seeing we have alledged so many cleare prophecies for the vindication of the truth we hold why may we not say as the Apostle doth Heb. 12.1 after that he hath by divers instances set forth the force and efficacy of a justifying faith to wit that we are compast about with a great cloud of witnesses of which surely every single prophecy as it is of it selfe sufficient so it ought to give satisfaction to a Christian who is as well bound to manifest his obedience towards God by the readinesse of his beliefe as by the righteousnesse of his life By his confiding on the accomplishment of Gods prophecies as by his conforming to the practise of Gods precepts as it is said 1 John 3.23 Israel's Redemption And thus being thrâ—ughly satisfied by this cloud of witnesses the double Jury of Prophets and Apostles with which I find the doctrine of
an humane fancie that it may be drawne into scorne and contempt under this notion And surely seeing it is a great unbeliefe to despise the revealed truth of God therefore we have great need to beware of such unbeliefe as it is said in the use Israel's Redemption Thirdly not to contemne or revile the Jewes a fault too common in the Christian worlds and that partly because we are unmindfull as well of the Olive from whence we were taken as of that into which we are graffed whose root beares us and not we the root and partly because we misapply the infallible promises of God by which he hath so freely and so feelingly so often and so openly declared that he will again graffe them in For if we were cut out of the Olive tree which is wild by nature and were graffed contrary to nature into a good Olive tree how much more shall they which be naturall branches be graffed into their owne Olive trees Rom. 11.24 Mr. Petrie's Answer Whether serveth more for to move us to love the Jewes to know that the Jewes and Gentiles are one in Christ whensoever they shall be converted or to thinke that the Jewes shall not be converted till Christ come againe and thou they shall be Lords over the Gentiles a 1000 yeares The former doctrine presently throweth downe the partition wall and this opinion still holden it up at least for a 1000 yeares Reply This Query as it doth in it selfe containe an apparent untruth so it is grounded on a misreport of our Tenet For first it makes us to thinke that there shall be no Jewes converted untill the whole Nation be converted whereas we hold the partiall and as I may so call it typicall conversion of them the conversion of them I say in their first fruites with you and the generall and contemporating conversion of them the conversion of them in the whole lump against you Onely we say that the partiall and successive conversion their conversion in some particular persons and families hath since the Apostles dayes been very thinne and rare Secondly you make us to thinke that the Jewes shall not be converted till Christ comes when as we hold that they shall be converted before his comming and be wholly freed from the opposition of the Gentiles at and by his comming at the judgement which shall light on the world when he descends to destroy the Army in Armageddon And thridly you make us to thinke that there shall be no spirituall union betwixt the Jewes and Gentiles in the time of the thousand yeares reigns whereas there is not to be a full and perfect union betwixt them in their acknowledgement and worship of the true God till then and in that time As our Saviours prophecy John 10.16 and Zech. 14.16 c. and Isai 2.2 3 4. and many other doe witnesse And though the Gentiles shall then be tributaries to the Jewes yet they shall be much more happy in this subjection wherein they shall have Christ for their King and the glorified Saints for their chiefe governours under him then ever they were in their former liberty which for the most part they so much abused to the provocation of Gods everlasting wrath against them Even as now you account that Jew which is become the Lords free-man which savingly embraceth the truth of the Gospell much more happy in his captivity under and subjection to the Gentiles then if he were Lord of the whole earth and withall a stranger from the covenants of promise having no hope and being without God in the world These are your misreports and as for your Query it selfe it is false to imagine that the knowledge of the conversion of a few Jewes can move us to a greater love towards them then the knowledge of the conversion of the whole Nation can And what love soever you may grant to be due to them in your dispute of it we may well thinke that you make shew of little towards them in your actions as these words pag. 65. Let Jewes follow Jewish fables c. doe manifest In which there neither appeares any symptome of your desire of their conversion nor of your love towards them or us Israel's Redemption And lastly earnestly to beseech God that he would speedily put into execution the meanes which he hath appointed for their conversion that he would even in these our dayes bring this mystery to light by powring on his people the spirit of grace and supplications whereby they may beleeve and repent For their happinesse will both increase and consummate ours Zech. 12.10 so also the Apostle * If the fall of them c. Observe here what Iewes are said to occasion the riches of the Gentiles Not those that beleeved when the Apostle wrote this although many of them were the first instruments of the Gentiles conversion and much lesse they that have beleeved since that time for these as they come farce short of the others both in number and qualifications so they may be said rather to have taken of us then given unto us to have inherited the riches of the Gospel with us but not increased them Not the first beleevers thereof nor such which hitherto have so slowly and thinly followed them but the stiffe-necked and stubborne Iewes who slew Christ who martyred and persecuted his Disciples They are here said to be the reconciling of the world and the riches of the Gentiles And that because their fall and casting away moved God so soone to visit us with the tidings of salvation And their fulnesse the receiving of them it must be that shall perfect us The receiving of them I say which were then cast away but how not in their owne persons for it is impossible that the same men should fall and not fall should be cast away and not be cast away but in their posterity and that not in part and by sits but wholly and at once For the Apostle speakes not of particular men and families but of all the Tribeâ— of the whole Nation And indeed what but a generall conversion of the Iewes can bring such felicity to the Gentiles as shall not onely parallel but exceed the blessings which we have already received by their unbeliefe If the fall of them be the riches of the world and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles how much more their fulnesse and againe If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead Rom. 11.12.15 Now to our Lord Jesus Christ who is both the light of the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel who is the faithfull witnesse and the first begotten of the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the earth Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sinnes in his owne bloud and made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and
Jewes did enquire and search diligently will inferre this conclusion Therefore at the redemption of their bodies at the perfecting of their salvation through the revelation of Jesus Christ they shall not reigne with Christ on earth Israel's Redemption And here we may call to minde too our Saviours words to Iames and Iohn when they requested that one might sit on his right hand and the other on his left in his Kingdome To sit on my right hand and on my left said he is not mine to give but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father Mr. Petrie's answer We may call to mind too his words ye know not what you aske Matth. 20.22 and the words of the Evangelist ver 24. When the ten heard it they were moved with indignation against the brethren Which words shew that howbeit Christ had spoken of his Kingdome yet at that time Iames and Iohn were both ignorant and ambitious Reply You tell us here that we may call to mind too our Saviours reprehensive words Matth. 20.22 and the Evangelists words ver 24. touching the indignation of the ten against the brethren But surely it is best to call to mind the truth which as it is plainly taught in our Saviours direct answer ver 23. so it is necessarily implyed in the other disciples indignation who doubtlesse would rather have marvelled at the strangenesse of their suite then have been any whit offended with them for it had they sought that which no man should at any time enjoy And therefore although you may charge the two brethren with ambition for seeking to be preferred above the other disciples and with an erroneous conceit touching our Saviours unlimited choise of the persons that should sit at his right and left hand yet you cannot charge them with ignorance touching the subject and matter of their request to wit that there were such places to be had which they aimed at Israel's Redemption Which saying as it doth shew that our Saviour had before acquainted the Apostles of his Kingdome so it intimates that his Kingdome is to be held on earth where onely this may be fulfilled for in heaven it cannot be done unlesse we will grant that other men shall be as highly exalted there as our Saviour is to wit to the right hand of God Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. Albeit never one shall sit on his right hand nor his left yet nothing in these words is for this purpose seeing he saith not there that any shall sit but onely To sit on my right hand is not mine to give 2. Matth. 19.28 he speakes of sitting on the Throne of his glory which must be in heaven seeing he speakes absolutely his glory and his glory is greater in heaven then can be on an earthly Throne And he saith unto his Disciples When he shall sit on that Throne ye who have followed me in the regeneration shall sit upon twelve thrones And may not some of these thrones be on his right hand and some on his left hand I enquire not now what these thrones may be but there ye see multitude of thrones in glory as Kings in their State may have thrones for their greatest Peeres Reply 1. Doubtlesse if never one shall sit on Christs right hand nor his left there can be nothing in our Saviours answer to prove this for no scripture doth teach that that shall be done which is never to be done But how shall we know whether any shall sit at his right hand and his left but from scripture And if the scripture is to be sole Iudge in this case as indeed it is our Saviours answer is an unquestionable evidence to prove this For he saith not onely as you answer for him It is not mine to give but he saith It is not mine to give but to them for whom it is prepared of my Father What! were the places on his right hand and on his left then prepared of his Father to be given by him to some and yet can you say that never one shall sit on his right hand nor his left and that nothing in these words is for this purpose Alas that of all Gentiles a Christian of all Christians a scholar of all scholars a Divine should so wilfully and presumptuously beare false witnesse against Christ himselfe 2. 'T is true that Matth. 19.28 our Saviour speakes of sitting on the Throne of his glory and that he said unto his Disciples when he should sit on that Throne they also should sit not on multitude of Thrones but on twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel And therefore that Throne of his glory is not to be in heaven as you say but on earth as we say seeing neither our Saviour nor the Disciples shall judge any in heaven And we willingly grant that some of these Thrones are to be on his right hand and some on his left And therefore we say also thâ—t they cannot be in heaven because then some of the disciples if not all should be as highly exalted there as our Saviour to wit to the right hand of God Which is a dignity that no creature but the Sonne of man shall have Israel's Redemption Which is a Prerogative peculiar to the Sonne alone a preheminence I say which the chiefest of the Angels never enjoyed For to which of the Angels said he at any time Sit on my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footstoole Heb. 1.13 Mr. Petrie's Answer Christ sitting on a Throne sits on the right hand of God but to speake absolutely To sit on a Throne in heaven is not to sit on the right hand of God no more then any Prince is advanced to the right hand of a King albeit be sit on a Throne and inferiour to the King and his eldest Sonne Reply 'T is true that Christ sits on a Throne in heaven as he himselfe saith Rev. 3 21. and t is true likewise that he sits on the right hand of God as the Apostle saith Heb. 1.13 and chap. 10. ver 12. but it is not true that I have said To sit on a Throne is to sit at the right hand of God And therefore this instance as it is alledged by you being a meere perverting of my words you answer your selfe not me And yet your answer is but a bundle of superfluous words For who knows not that to sit on a Throne onely is one thing and to sit on a Throne at the right hand of a King is another thing and therefore that though to sit on a Throne onely be not to be advanced to the right hand of a K ng yet to sit on a Throne or out of a Throne at the right hand of a King is to be advanced to the right hand of a King As Bathsheba was to the right hand of her sonne Solomon 1 King 2.19 Israel's Redemption And the same Apostles words in 2 Tim. 4. may not be forgotten I charge thee saith he before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quicke and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdome For why should Christs appearing and his Kingdome be joyned together yea why should his Kingdome be added as the end of his appearing unlesse both were to contemporate unlesse his Kingdome were to begin at his appearing not before it Mr. Petrie's Answer The menâ—ioning these two together and in that order doth no more import such a beginning then the end of glory is the beginning of vertue because the Apostle saith in the same order he hath called us unto glory and vertue 2 Pet. 1.3 howbeit glory be named before vertue glory is after vertue Reply Although the end doth alwayes precede the means to the end in the intention and in this text of Saint Peter in the expression also yet as we say not that Christs appearing is the like medium to his Kingdome as vertue is to honour so we deny that the order of Saint Pauls words in 2 Tim. 4.1 is like to this of Saint Peters and that our Saviours appearing is the end for which he is to reigne For that our Saviour is to reigne that he may appeare there is no scripture to testifie but thâ—t he is to appeare that he may reigne not onely this text of Saint Paul but many prophecies doe witnesse as that of Zech. 14.4 c. which shews that he shall reigne on earth after his comming with the Saints And that Rev. 11 15. which shews that at the time of his descending the Kingdoms of this world are to become his and that Rev. 19 which shewes in what manner the Kingdomes of this world are to become his to wit by destroying the Kings and mighty men on the earth in battell and giving their flesh to the fowles of heaven And that Rev. 20.2.3 which shewes that after these Kings are thus destroyed and their Kingdomes obtained Christ shall shut up Satan in the bottomâ—esse pit the space of a 1000 yeares And lastly that propheticall parable Luke 19 11. c. which was purposely spoken against the false opinion of the Iewes who even generally thought that Christs Kingdome should immediately appeare For it declares plainely that the Nobleman went into a farre countrey not to reigne but to receive a Kingdome and to returne and that when he was returned and had â—eceived his Kingdome hâ— gave to one servant authority over ten cities and to another â—â—er five c. And slue those that would not that hâ— shouâ—d reigne over thâ—m and is not this all one as if he had said that he was not to reigne then whilest he was among them as they expected nor in the time of his absence from them in heaven but when he should returne to them againe from heaven And besides that our Saviours Kingd me is to beginne at his appearing and not before and so according to the order of the Apostles words it is evident in that it is said Who shall judge the quicke and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdome Where by the judging of the quicke and the dead which necestarily followes his appearing is shewed to be his imployment in his Kingdome The judging I say of his enemies that would not that he should reigne over them by a temporall but terrible destruction at the beginning of his Kingdome as the foresaid parable and the prophecies of Zech. 14. and Iohn 19. and others doe declare And the judging of his Subjects by a civill judgement in the time of his reigne as the same parable likewise and the Thrones of judgement promised to his Disciples and to them that overcome and all the Prophecies of his and the Saints reigne on earth doe manifest And the judging againe of his rebellious subjects by a temporall but totall destruction when his 1000 yeares peacefull reigne is expired as the Prophecy Rev. 20.7 8 9. doth shew And lastly his judging of all both good and bad at the delivering up of his Kingdome to God even the Father at the last resurrection of the dead when he shall pronounce the definitive sentence of a perfect and compleate salvation to the one part to the elect and of a perfect and compleat condemnation to the other part to the reprobate According as it is largely expâ—est Matth. 25.32 c. and as it is implyed Rev. 20.15 in these words And whosoever was not found written in the booke of life was cast into the lake of fire Israel's Redemption And to my seeming that propheticall image in the 2 of Dan. ver 13. which represented both the orderly succession and diver secondition of all the then following Kingdoms of this world unto the Kingdome of Christ shadowed there unto us by the stone that was cut out without hands doth give good light to this of Saint Paul For in what manner those Kingdomes have succeeded each other in the like manner is the Kingdome of Christ to succeede them as appears by the same phrase of speech which is attributed as well to the setting up of this Kingdome as to any of them to wit That it shall breake in peeces and consume all those Kingdomes Ver. 34 35 44 45. And therefore sâ—eing these words are meant of a conquest and succession by force of Armes in all the former Kingdomes how can they be otherwise understood in this of Christ which is to succeed them all as they have succeeded each other both in time and place as ver 35. doth fully declare Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. In the seeming of many millions that image doth not signifie a temporall Monarchy of the Jewes which is the point in hand and the seeming of so many contrary to the seeming of one might satisfie for all that long discourse following neverthelesse I adde albeit these foure Kingdomes did succeed one another yeâ— the Kingdome of Christ did not succeed or was the last of them or after them in time for it is written ver 41. In the dayes of these Kings not after them shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdome which shall never be destroyed and it shall breake in peeces the iron the brasse the clay silver and gold It shall breake the silver and the gold then it shall be before the brasse and the iron And of what King can that be understood but of Christ who saith Isai 10.12 I will punish the stout heart of the King of Assyria and chap. 37.29 Because of thy rage against me I will put my hooke in thy nose c. 2. Whereas it is alledged that the 35. ver doth fully declare that succession in time and place certainely the 35. ver is not contrary to the 44. ver which shewes plainely that this Kingdome shall be in the dayes of these Kings and breake them in peeces and therefore these words shall breake them in peeces signifie a conquest by power but neither by succession in time nor by force of armes Reply 1. You were here a little too hasty in
elect onely be gathered together and the rest left behinde seeing that great Assist it to be hâ—ld chiefly for the condemnation of ungodly men Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. Here is nothing to prove the Monarchy of the Jewes 2. The two Evangelists speake there of the gathering of the Elect and taking them up as also 1 Cor. 15.23 yet they speake not exclusively as if the ungâ—dly shall not be judged nor raised but they speake of separation and â—hereby of taking the elect into the â—are and heavens whereas the wicked shall not be taken up but left on the earth and be condemned and sent to hell Matth. 13.40 41. and it followeth ver 43. Then shâ—ll the righteous shine forth c. The particle then shewes that the wâ—ckâ—â— shâ—ll bâ—â—ast into the furnâ—â—e of fire as soone if not sooner as the righteous shall shine in the Kingdome of the Father 3. If the righteous shall be taken up and the ungodly left on the earth that is the one taken away from the earth and the wicked left on the earth then the godly shall not have earthly doâ—inion 4. If Christ at his comming shall hold that great assise chieâ—ly for condemnation of the wicked how then shall the godly be quickned and the wicked be left in their graves after them for the space of a 1000 yeares These things cannot agree Reply 1. Here is nothing you say to prove the Monarchy of the Jewes But here is something we say for the confirmation of our Savâ—ours reigne on earth which is all one 2. The Evangelists speake here onely of the gathering of the elect to meete Christ at his comming and not at all of the raising and judging of the ungodly because that is not to be done at the beginning but at the end of his reigne And then it is that the whole number of the elect and of the reprobate shall be separated one company on his right hand and the other on his left and not one part caught up to the aire and the other left on the earth And we confesse that the casting of the wicked into hell mentioned in that parable Matth. 13.42 shall be at the entrance of the time in which the righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdome of their Father But we deny that this casting of the wicked into hell is meant of their casting in after their resurrection when they shall all at once receive the sentence of dâ—mnation from Christ himselfe For first it is not said here that they shall be gathered together before Christ as it is said Matth. 25.32 c. But that the Angels shall gather them out of Christs Kingdome and cast them into a furnace of fire that is shall destroy them in every place over the world where they then are and cast their soules into hell as is intimated by the binding of the tares in bundles to burne them That is as they finde them here and there in the field And secondly it is said that they shall be gathered out of Christs Kingdome and cast into bell that is shall be taken away from the place where and from among the men over whom Christ shall then reigne And therefore this gathering of the wicked iâ— to be at the beginning of Christs Kingdome and before their last judgement and not at the end of Christs Kingdome when they shall be fetcht out of hell againe to receive their last judgement And that the foresaid judgement is meant of a temporall destruction on all obstinate sinners that are living at Christs comming and not of the eternall destruction of their bodies and soules together at the last resurrection it is evident also from Rev. 20.9 where it is revealed that all the ungodly that are to oppose the Saints at the end of the thousand yeares reigne shall be devoured by fire from heaven before the last resurrection so that there shall be none of them living on the earth when they are to be gathered before Christ at the last judgement and consequently that gathering of them cannot be the same with this gathering of them when they shall be on the earth Matth. 13. And so by the Kingdome of their Father mentioned ver 43. must needes be meant the Kingdome of Christ spoken of ver 41. which in called the Kingdome of their Father because Christ with whom these Saints shall reigne shall receive it of God who is both his and their Father 3. The righteous shall be caught up to meete Christ and to come along with him to the earth And not to stay with him in the aire or to be carried up to heaven from thence as hath been shewed already more then once And therefore this is but a trifling argument 4. This argument is a supposition of that which we deny For it is our argument against you That seeing the elect onely shall be raised and gathered together at Christs comming and the ungodly which are left in their graves and that the mischievous ungodly which are living shall be left also to perish extraordinarily as it is Matth. 13.41 42. and the rest to be eye-witnesses of Gods wonders at that time and to become converts by it as it is Isai 66.19 20. Joel 2.32 Zech. 14.16 Rev. 11.13 and in other places Therefore the last judgement the great Assise which is to be held chiefly for the condemnation of ungodly men cannot be at or presently after Christs comming but shall be at the end of his reigne And so this part of your answer is a meere perverting of my words which agree so well in themselves and with the word of God that you had nought to say against that which they prove and therefore you fallaciously make them to grant what they doe indeed disprove Israel's Redemption Who doubtlesse are not to be left that the evill Angels may fetch them for they shall be partakers with them of that judgement and therefore will be as unwilling to appâ—are before that barre as they Neither is it likely that they shall be left because the good Angels cannot at once assemble them to the place of judgement and the elect to meet the Lord in the aire if these things were to be done at the same particular time And therefore as I suppose they shall be left either to perish in that generall destruction which shall come upon all Nations that fight against the Jewes whom our Saviour shall then redeeme or to be eye-witnesses of Gods wonders in all countries at that time Mr. Petrie's Answer What can either good or evill Angels doe without the Lords Authority and what can they not doe when he willeth but certainely the wicked shall both be witnesses of Gods wonders and likewise perish in that generall destruction that cause of their condemnation is touched before Reply We know that neither the good nor bad Angels can doe any thing without the Lords Authority but what is this to the force of my words which consists in this that
seeing the good Angels which can at once assemble the unjust to the place of judgement and the elect to meet the Lord in the aire shall yet gather the elect onely and leave the rest behinde therefore these things are not to be done at the same time And consequently that the judgement of the dead is not to be at the time of Christs ascending For then doubtlesse the wicked should as well be gathered to the place of their last judgement as the elect shal to meet the Lord in the aire And it is flat against the expresse word of God Isai 66.19 20. Joel 2.32 Zech. 14.16 Rev. 11.13 to say that all the wicked that shall be eye-witnesses of Gods wonders at the time of our Saviours descension shall perish in the destruction that shall then come on the earth Israel's Redemption For that by Christs judging the quicke and the dead mentioned in 2 Tim. 4. cannot be meant one kind of judgement Psal 2.8 c. Ps 110.2 c. Ps 149.6 c. Isai 30.25 Cha. 66 1â— 16. c. to wit the sentence of damnation that by his judging the quicke I say cannot at all be meant the last and compleat but rather a former and inchoate judgement of ungodly men it appeares out of Rev. 20. where it is shewne that the Saints enemies shall be all slaine before the last resurrection And we cannot say that these which are to be left shall be a part of that Army there spoken of because that Gog and Magog is to be destroyed at the end of our Saviours reigne that is immediately before the last resurrection whereas these shall be alive at the time of that generall distresse which shall light on the world at his entrance into that appointed Kingdome as the gathering together of the elect who are to reigne with him doth declare Mr. Petrie's Answer Here at before are strange imaginations 1. That text 2 Tim. 4.1 cannot be meant of the last but a former judegment Who ever said before that Christ shall yet appears twice to judge the quicke and the dead For suppone that onely the godly shall be raised at Christs comming yet they will not say that he shall judge them seeing they say that they shall not stand at the barre 2. The judging of the quicke and the dead shall be before the time of the last resurrection as that forme of arguing imports whereby it followes that Christ shall judge the quicke and the dead in a former and inchoate judgement Who shall remaine then to be judged in the compleate judgement at the last resurrection 3. I will say no mere of that fancy concerning these that shall be left and the destruction at the entrance of that Kingdome but marke that God and Magog is to be destroyed at the end of our Saviours reigne that is immediately before the last resurrection or which is one after the reigne of the Jewes But that Army of Gog and Magog is the same with the Army mentioned in Revel 16.14 as Napeir proveth Prop. 32. And Mr. Maton proveth in his treatise of Gog and Magog pag. 94 95 And I have shewed before that the sixt viâ—â—ll mentioned in Revel 16.12 13 14. is the same with the sixt trumpet yea and Clavis Apocalyp in par 1. synchro 7. makes it to concurre with the destruction of the Beast and Babylon which shall be before the Monarchy of the Jewes as the Millenaries hold and therefore in this point Mr. Maton is contrary to himselfe and to Clavis Apocal. as well as unto Christians who deny that Monarchy of the Jewes Whereby it is manifest that what he speakes here without reason must be wrong and amended by these reasons which he hath lo. cit And consequently that great battell shall be fought not after but before the Jewes shall reigne if ever they shall reigne in that manner Reply The truth is strange to none but to such as make themselves strange to it He seemeth to be a sitter forth of strange gods said the Athenians of Saint Pauls preaching unto them Jesus and the resurrection Acts 17.18 When as indeed their Gods were the strange Gods and not his God they in an errour and not he And yet how strange soever our former imaginations doe seeme to you we have shewed that they are not so strange as true And that these words doe bring such strange things to your cares was not the fault of the Authour but the errour of the Printer and the over-hastinesse of the Stationer who sent his bookes abroad before he had received a copie of all the faults whereof the words here omitted were the greatest and are to be corrected as they are now set downe to wit thus For that by Christs judging the quicke and the dead mentioned 2 Tim. 4.1 cannot be meant one kinde of judgement to wit the sentence of damnation that by his judging the quicke I say cannot at all be meant the last and compleat but rather of former and inchoate judgement of ungodly men it appeares out of Rev. 20. where it is shewne that the Saints enemies shall be all slaine before the last resurrection This is the true forme of my words and in this forme they doe wholly disanull the two first parts of your answer for the destroying of the Army in Armageddon at Christs comming Rev. 19. and of the Nations that shall againe be gathered against him and his at the end of his reigne Rev. 20. are temporall judgements on the ungodly and before their last judgement the judgement after their resurrection And therefore Christ shall not appeare twice to judge the quicke and the dead but shall twice judge these ungodâ—y after his appearing That is once by a former and inchoate judgement in their temporall destruction in their first death And againe by a finall and compleate judgement in their eternall destruction in their second death And as for the third part of your answer it is but a slanderous information against me For I say not that the Gog and Magog mentioned in Rev. 20. is the same with the Army mentioned Rev. 16.14 but that Ezekiels Gog and Magog is the same with that Army as the reaâ—ons which I alledge pag. 94 95. doe shew And I say that the Gog and Magog in Rev. 20. is a different Gog and Magog from Ezekiels as these words pag. 128 doe witnesse And this Gog and Magog in Rev. 20. is to be the multiplyed posterity of those that are left of the Nations at the beginning of the thousand yeares when the Army of the Beast and false Prophet and of the Kings of the earth and of the whole world who as the parallell shewes are the Gog and Magog foretold by Ezekiel shall be destroyed in Armageddon And againe pag. 129. I say That the Nations which shall oppose the Jewes at their expected returne are to be the Gog and Magog foretold by Ezekiel and that the posterity of those which shall be left alive