Records as they challenge no lesse then beleefe to what I have written from them that equall these Scriptures with the Canonicall and are indeed altogether incompatible with a Jewish Antichrist so they manifest also to the whole world that I have uttered no yesterdayes doctrine no deformed issue of a private and distempered Spirit hatcht in a corner and nurst in a conventicle studyed in a closet or cloister and preacht onely in a chamber or covent but such things as accompany (r) Heb. 6. v. 9. Salvation Such words as every free Christian every uncaptived conscience will plainely perceive and publikely confesse to be the (s) Act. 26. v. 25. words of sobernesse and Truth Even her words (e) Prov. 1. v. 20. c. whose wont it is to utter t her voyce in the streetes in the chiefe place of concourse in the opening of the gates and in the City saying How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fooles hate knowledge Let old Tobit speake for the rest I beleeve that our Brethren shall lye scattered in the earth from that good land and Jerusalem shall be desolate and the house of God in it shall be burned and shall be desolate for a time And that againe God will have mercy on them and bring them againe into the land where they shall build a Temple but not like to the first untill the time of that age be fulfilled and afterwards they shall turne from all places of their captivity and build up Jerusalem gloriously and the House of God shall be built in it for ever with a glorious building (v) Act. 3. v 19 20 21. as the u Prophets have spoken thereof And all Nations shall turne and feare the Lord God truely and shall bury their (w) Is 2. v. 20. Idols So shall all Nations praise the Lord and his people shall confesse God and the Lord shall exalt his people and all those that love the Lord God in truth and justice shall rejoyce shewing mercy to our brethren Gloria Deo Vita Regi Pax Regno Glory to God on high on earth increase To the Kings age and to the Kingdome peace FINIS GOG AND MAGOG OR THE BATTLE OF THE GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTIE By ROBERT MATON Minister and Mr of Arts and sometimes Commoner of Wadham Colledge in OXFORD Hab. 2. v. 3. The vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it shall speake and not lie though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry LONDON Printed by R. Cotes for Daniel Frere and are to be sold at his shop in little Britaine at the signe of the red Bull. 1642. DEUT. 32. v. 2.36.43 The Lord shall judge his people and repent himselfe for his servants when he seeth that their power is gone and there is none shut up or left Rejoyce O yee Nations with his people for he will avenge the blood of his servants and will render vengeance to his adversaries and will he mercifull to his land and to his people Jerem. 10. v. 11.10 The (b) Isa 2.20 Zeph. 3.11 gods that have not made the heavens and the earth even they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens But the Lord is the true God he is the living God and an everlasting King at his wrath the (c) Isa 2.19 21. Rev. 6.15 16 17. earth shall tremble and the Nations shall not be able to abide his indignation Isaiah 14. v. 24. c. The Lord of Hosts hath sworne saying surely as I thought so shall it come to passe and as I purposed it shall stand That I will breake the Assyrian in my land and upon my mountaines tread him under foot then (d) Isa 10.24 25 26 27. shall his yoke depart from off them and his burden from off their shoulders This is the purpose that is purposed upon the (e) Eze. 38 39. Ioel. ch 3. Micah 4.12 13. Zeph. 3.5 Zek. 12.14 whole earth and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the Nations For the Lord of Hosts hath purposed and who shall disannull it and his hand is stretched out and who shall turne it backe Isaiah 30. v. 27 c. Behold the Name of the Lord commeth from farre burning with his anger and the burden therereof is heavie his lips are full of indignation and his tongue as a devouring fire And his breath as an over-flowing streame shall reach to the middest of the necke to sift the Nations with the sieve of vanitie and there shall be a bridle in the jawes of the people causing them to erre Ye shall have a song as in the night when an holy solemnity is kept and gladnesse of heart as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountaine of the Lord to the mighty one of Israel And the Lord shall cause his glorious voyce to be heard and shall shew the lighting downe of his arme with the indignation of his anger and with the flame of a devouring fire with scattering and tempest and hailestones For through the voyce of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten downe which smote with a rod. And in every place where the grounded staffe shall passe which the Lord shall lay upon him it shall be with tabrets and harpes and in battels of shaking will hee fight with it For Tophet is ordained of old yea for the King it is prepared he hath made it deepe and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a streame of brimstone doth kindle it GOG AND MAGOG OR THE BATTLE OF THE GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTIE EZEK 38.2 Sonne of man set thy face against Gog the land of Magog the chiefe Prince of Meshech and Tuball and prophesie against him c. THat we may the better know what enemies are meant by Gog and Magog in the 20. chap. of the Rev. it will not be amisse first Vers 8. to examine who are meant by Gog and Magog in the 38 and 39. chap. of Ezekiel And this can no way be so well found out as by comparing Ezekiels prophesie with other Prophesies For albeit this of Ezekiel be in forme and manner of expression somewhat different from others and in matter much more copious than others that being delivered here plainly fully and together which is in some but obscurely glanc't at and in others revealed but in part or at most by parcels as we say that is some part in one place and some in another yet that Ezekiel goes not alone in the subject of this Revelation it is evident by the Querie made by God himselfe in the very same Prophesie Thus saith the Lord God Art thou hee of whom I have spoken in (a) Hab. 2.3 old time by my servants the Prophets of Israel which prophesied in those dayes many yeares that I would bring thee against them chapter the
flaming fine taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ when he shall come to be glorifyed in his Saints and to be admired in all them that beleeve in that Day For seeing the beast to whom these Kings were to give their strength was to (q) Rev. 13 v. 12. exercise all the power of the first beast before him and that it was given to the first beast (r) ch 13. v. 7. to make warre with the Saints and to overcome them it necessarily followes that the warre which these Kings were to make while they should agree to give their Kingdomes unto the beast was likewise to be with the Saints whom they should overcome not with the Lamb who should overcome them Neither wil it suffice against the force of this argument to say that they who fight with the Saints doe fight with the Lamb that they who overcome the Saints by the Sword are yet over come by them through faith for the first beast did as much fight against the Lamb in this sense as these Kings was as much overcome by the Saints in this sense as they who yet is neither said to warre with the Lambe nor to be overcome by the Saints And sure I am it is recorded in the 7. chap. of Dan. that he beheld the presumptuous horne of the fourth beast exhibited to him in a dreame making warre with the Saints not the Lambe and prevailing against them Vntill the ancient of Dayes did sit and the time came that the Saints possessed the Kingdome And whether that horne be all one with the beast and false Prophet in the Rev. and so is to prolong his dominion his persecuting power in wearing out the Saints who were to be (s) Dan. 7. v. 25. given into his hand even untill the time of the (t) Rom. 8. v. 19.21 manifestation and glorious Liberty of the Sonnes of God spoken of by Saint Paul as a thing earnestly expected by the (v) cha 8. v. 19. Creature even the (w) ch 8. v. 22. whole creation let the (x) Dan. 7. v. 11. Apoc. 19. v. 20 21. Analogy of their destruction and the (y) Dan. 7. v. 11.18.22 26 27. Rev. 19. v. 11 12 c. expiration of the fourth beast the Roman Empire at the accomplishment thereof Let these things I say together with the interpretation of the vision made to (z) ch 7. v. 23 24 c. Daniel and the parallell observed by Master (a) Comment Apâ—c par 2. p. 279 280. Meade betwixt the Thrones Judgement and Kingdome of the Saints revealed in both prophecies determine the matter Thirdly the state of the world at our Saviours appearing shall be as it was in the dayes of Noah both for security and profanenesse for When the Sonne of man commeth shall he finde faith on tâ—e Earth saith Christ Luke the 18. at the 8. ver which is a plaine proofe that there shall not be whole Kingdomes and armies of faithfull Christians but onely here and there (b) Luk. 17. v. 34 35 36 one Neither doth this saying contradict the * Ob. If there shall be at Christs comming such scarsenesse of faith it is not lâ—kely that there shall be such a multitude of beleeving Jewes conversion of the Jewes Sol. Pareus giveth this solution that although there shall be in the end of the world a multitude of beleeving Jewes yet their number shall be but small in respect of the unbeleeving Gentiles To this Solution this further may be added that the failing of faith which Christ prophesieth of must be specially he should have said onely understood of the Gentiles where Christ had beene preached and beleeved upon that even there where it was more likely that faith should have beene none shall be found for when the Jewes shall be called faith shall waxe very faint and cold among the Gentiles Willet in his sixfold Comment upon the Epist to the Rom. Chap. 11. Quest 27. p. 511. at that time because the word Earth is figuratively put for the people of the Earth and by The People of the Earth all the Nations besides the (c) Num. 23 v. 9. Jewes are in the Scriptures usually understood So in the 28. of Deut. at the 10. ver we read All the peopâ—e of the earth shall see that thou art called by the Name of the Lord and they shall be afraid of thee in the 1 of the Kings the 8. Chap. at the 43. ver That all the people of the earth may know thy Name to feare thee as doe thy people Israel In the 2 of Chron. the 32. chap. at the 19. ver They spake against the God of Jerusalem as against the Gods of the people of the earth And in the 1 of Kings the 10. Chap. at the 24. ver All the earth sought to Solomon to heare his wisedome which God had put in his heart And they brought every man his present Where the word Earth alone is equivalent with the people of the earth in all the former instances and therefore seeing it doth as well by it selfe as together with its adjunct signifie the Nations of the Gentiles onely why should it not be so taken in our Saviours speech yea it must needes be so taken for as he said when the Son of Man commeth shall he find faith on the earth So he said also that as well of the Jews only as to the Jews only Behold (d) Mat. 23 v. 37 38 39 your house is left unto you desolate verily I say unto you ye shall not see me untill (e) Mar. 14. v. 62. Psal 118 v. 21 22 â— ye â—oâ—â— 3â— 16 the time come when ye shall say Blessed is he that commeth in the Name of the Lord Luke the 13. at the 35. ver And shall we thinke that our Saviour would have given such a testimony of the Jewes unlesse he had knowne that they should be a penitent and converted people a people endued with the (f) Zech. 12 v. 10. Spirit of grace and supplication when they saw him next doubtlesse he would not And therefore this gratulatory acclamation doth no lesse set forth unto us the comfortable estate of the Jewes at Christs appearing then the former saying doth the desperate estate of the Gentiles at that time For Blessed is he that commeth in the Name of the Lord are the very same words which with so much (g) Luk. 19. v. 37.38 alacrity and cheerfulnesse of minde were chanted out before our Saviour by his Disciples and those that met (h) Ioh. 12. v. 12.13 him when he was riding to Jerusalem to shew the City a glimpse of his royalty and can they ever then become the language of those that shall flye from his presence to hide themselves in caves and dens of the earth nay seeing they are to be resumed againe by the same people at the
and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel 7. v. 14. the God of the whole earth shall he be called For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit and a wife of youth when thou wast refused saith thy God For a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy redeemer For this is as the waters of Noah unto mee for as I have sworne that the waters of Noah should no more goe over the earth so have I sworne that I would not bee wroth with thee nor rebuke thee For the mountaines shall depart and the hils shall be removed but my kindnesse shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Jer. 31. v. 15. c. Thus saith the Lord A voyce was heard in Ramah lamentation and bitter weeping Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted because they were not Thus saith the Lord Refraine thy voyce from weeping and thine eyes from teares for thy worke shall be rewarded saith the Lord and they shall come againe from the Land of the enemy And there is hope in the end saith the Lord that thy children shall come againe to their owne border 1 Chron. 16. v. 34.35 O give thankes unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever And say ye Save us O God of our salvation and gather us together and deliver us from the Heathen that we may give thankes to thy holy Name and glory in thy praise ISRAEL'S REDEMPTION OR THE PROPHETICALL HISTORY OF OVR SAVIOURS KINGDOME ON EARTH ACTS 1.6 They asked of him saying Lord Wilt thou at this time restore againe the Kingdome to Israel THat Christ is already (a) Matt. 1.20 21. Luk. 2.11 Joh. 1.29 30 c. come that as a Prophet hee hath (b) Matt. 4.17 Luk. 4.15 c. cald us to repentance and as a priest hath been a (c) Joh. 2.2 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 Mark 8.31 Luk. 24.46 Joh. 10.15 Rev. 5.9 once offering himselfe perfected for ever them that are sanctified is the faith of Christians the infidelity of the Jews but that he shall come as a King to reigne on earth and restore againe the Monarchie 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 mutuall imbracement of each others beleefe and yet with submission to impartiall judgements be it spoken I find not in the Scriptures more voyces for the one than for the other and therefore do verily beleeve that neither Tenet apart but both together do make up the full and (e) Rom. 8.23 ch 11.12.15 Eph. 1.14 ch 4. v. 30. Rev. 10.7 compleat mystery of our Redemption Which by Gods gracious assistance I shall to his owne glory and our Christian comfort clearely prove in the examination of the words now read unto you For they asked of him saying Lord wil thou at this time restore againe the Kingdome of Israel The words you see are a querie and such propositions imply three things 1 A person or persons proposing it 2 A matter or subject proposed 3 A person or persons to whom it is proposed The persons here are the Disciples asking the question and our Saviour answering them as the context declares the matter enquired of is the restauration of the captivated Soveraignty of the Jewes as the text it selfe doth informe us these are the parts yet because it would be impertinent in this businesse to speake any thing of the persons but onely as their joynt authority may helpe somewhat to justifie the truth of this proposall I shall omitting this division onely glance at them in the ensuing confirmation of the subject God shall set up a Kingdome ever all the earth which comprehends in it these two assertions 1 That the Kingdome of the Jewes shall againe be restored unto them 1 That the restored Jewes shall be the royall Nation of that renued world 2 That our Saviour at his comming shall restore it And first of the first that the Kingdome of the Jewes shall againe be restored unto them For they asked of him saying Lord wilt thou at this time restore againe the Kingdome to Israel So evidently do these words expresse an earthly kingdome I meane onely a Kingdome to be held on earth that no expositor which I have met with doth deny it and therefore seeing they could not but imbrace the sense mee thinkes they should not so rashly have rejected the consequence and that for these reasons First because the authors of this demand were not babes either in yeares or understanding but the Apostles themselves Men who had followed (f) Mat. â—â— 19. our Saviour from the very time that he manifested himselfe to the world by preaching and miracles and suffered not so much as a (g) Mat. 13.36 parable to escape their knowledge Mat. â— 17 men to whom (h) Act. 1.3 hee had shewed himself â—alive after his passion by many infalâ—ible pâ—oofes being â—â—eâ—â— of them forty dayes and speaking to them of the things pertaining unto the Kingdome of God And yet that these men should now at their last conference with him be mistaken in a matter of such importance as this is which concernes the purpose of God touching the whole Nation of the Jewes is as I beleeve and as I thinke you will all say a thing altogether unlikely and so it is too that all the Apostles should be of the same mind unlesse it had beene a truth formerly taught them and not as it is imagined an errour then newly vented by them A second reason which makes mee distast the censure here cast on our Apostles is because our Saviours answer is alleadged as a sufficient ground for it whereas it will appeare even to a weake judgement by that his answer the Apostles opinion is as much established as their curiositie is reprehended for they askt whether hee would at that time restore againe the Kingdome to Israel to which hee answered It is not for you to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his owne power as if hee should have said it is enough for you to know that such a thing shall be done and by whom but as for the time when it shall be done this the Father hath put in his owne power and therefore ought not to be enquired of by you nor to be revealed by me This is the whole meaning of the reply and now give you your verdict whether you find the Apostles hereby condemned for holding of an untruth
that is the Judge of Israel before spoken of that hee I say shall stand and feed or rule in the strength of the Lord in the Majesty of the Name of the Lord his God and they that is the Jewes shall abide for now that is at this comming of our Saviour hee shall bee not as when hee tooke our nature upon him of no (k) Isay 53. v. 2 3. forme nor comelinesse a man despised and rejected of men a man of sorrowes and acquainted with griefes but he shall be (l) Zech. 9.10 Psal 72.8 great unto the ends of the earth that is over all the world untill hee and his shall at the last judgement exchange the earthly Hierusalem the (m) Jer. 3. v. 17. ca. 14. v. 21. Throne of his Kingdome which is to be (n) Jer. 31.38 built againe by men for that imperiall Hierusalem not (o) 2 Cor. 5.1 made with hands eternall in the heavens Another Prophesie much like unto this is that of Amos in his 9. chap. at the 8. vers Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinfull Kingdome and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob saith the Lord for loe I will command and I will sift the house of Israel among all Nations like as corne is sifted in a sieve yet shall not the least graine fall upon the earth And at the 11. vers In that day will I raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen and close up the breaches thereof and I will raise up his ruines as in the dayes of old that they may possesse the remnant of Edom and of all the Heathen that are called by my Name saith the Lord that doth this I will bring againe the captivitie of my people Israel and they shall build the wast cities and inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards and drinke the wine thereof they shall also make gardens and eate the fruit of them and I will plant them upon their land and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them saith the Lord God Now although this Prophesie tooke effect on the tenne Tribes at their transplantation began by (p) 1 Chro. 5. v. 6. 2 King 15. v. 29. Cap. 16.9 Tiglath-Pileser King of Assyria and ended by Shalmaneser his successour who also brought up strange Nations and placed them in their stead (q) 2 King 17. v. 5 6 24. cap. 18. v. 9 c. which people were from Samaria the ancient metropolis of that Province called (r) Joh. 4.9 Samaritanes yet who is able to maintaine that it was fulfilled on the other two for not the house of Joseph nor the house of Judah only but the house of Jacob wholly is here spoken of and why else is the Tabernacle of David afterwards exprest as a prime agent in the restauration if it were not before included as a succeding patient in the dispersion of Israel who then I say is able to maintaine that this Prophecie was fulfilled on Judah and Benjamin untill their overthrow by the Roman Emperour Vespasian ever since which time they also remaine forsaken scattered and despised captives yea who dares affirme it when God hath said that at their returne from this universall captivity †The usuall answer of a condititionall promise will take no hold on this or the like places of the Scripture for as God hath here past his word that hee will no more pull them up out of their land so in the 32. chap. of Jer. at the 39. 40. vers the 50. chap. at the 20 vers In the 36. of Ezek. at the 27. vers in the 37. at the 23. in the 39. at the 7. vers and in the 3. of Zeph. at the 13. vers All which Prophesies do in the time of their fulfilling concurre with this he hath likewise promised to give them one way and one heart that they may feare him for ever Never to turne away from them to do them good but to put his feare into their hearts that they shall not depart from him That the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sinnes of Judah and they shall not be found That hee will put his spirit within them and cause them to walke in his statutes and to keepe his judgements and doe them That they shall defile themselves no more with their Idols nor with their detestable things not with any of their transgressions That he will make his holy name knowne in the midst of his people Israel and will not let them pollute his holy Name any more And that the remnant of Israel shall not doe iniquity nor speake lies neither shall a deceitfull tongue be found in their mouth And therefore God having thus equally engaged himselfe as well to keepe the Iewes from sinne as to free them from bondage it is as impossible that the accomplishment of this Prophesie should be frustrated and the fruition of these blessings forfeited for want of obedience as that God should either forget or not regard or be unable to fulfill his word and consequently the appointed time for the finishing of such Prophesies is yet to be expected hee will so plant them in their Land that they shall no * more be pulled up out of it which yet should not be true if it it had beene spoken of any deliverance before our Saviours comming to suffer The next Prophesie 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 hee in his 2. chap. at the 28. vers that I will powre out my spirit upon all flesh and your sonnes and your daughters shall prophecie 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 24.23 Mat. 24.29 Rev. 6 12. Sun shall be turned into darknesse and the Moone into blood before the (*) Great not onely in regard of the strangenesse and dreadfulnesse 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 fulfilled doth by the word Day as well without this epithet as with iâ— frequenâ—ly import great and terrible (t) Eze. 39. vers 8. Malac. 4.5 Jude ver 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 at the 3. chap. at
2. cap. 16. p. 410. reasons which Wendelinus in the 19. chap. and 2. Section of his naturall Contemplations at the 391. pag. brings to the contrary will give abundant satisfaction For first the Apostle doth apparently distinguish the Jewes from the Gentiles by the word Israel when he saith that blindnesse is in part happened to Israel untill the fulnesse of the Gentiles be come in And therefore I much doubt whether he would in the very next line by the same word indifferently comprehend both Jewes and Gentiles especially seeing the Israel that is to be saved must needes have relation to the Israel that was before said to be in blindnesse And then too what is become of the mystery here spoken of if the words And so all Israel shall be saved should not signifie such a conversion of the Jewes as must follow the vocation of the Gentiles for that some particular Jewes were at that time to be gathered to the Church they knew before seeing many such were then amongst them some of which did first conveigh the Gospell to them And therfore in my judgement those Divines deale most sincerely with the Text who acknowledging the literall sense thereof doe send us to that of Isaiah in his 66. chap. at the 8. ver as to a plaine proofe of this opinion who saith he hath heard such a thing who hath seene such things shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day (l) Zech. 3. v. 9. or shall a Nation be borne at once for as soone as Zion travailed she brought forth her children Where the wonderfull and unheard of conversion of a whole Nation at once such as never happened to any Nation of the Gentiles together with the expresse mention of Zion and the evidence of the following verses should me thinks be motive enough to make any impartiall Reader understand this Prophecy of the Jewes which yet implyes not so much a returne of the whole Nation to their Country as to their God and therefore could not be fulfilled by the returne of a part of them from Babylon at which time too the Kingdome of God that is the true worship of God the meanes by which that Kingdome is obtained was amongst them onely but hath since according to our Saviours Prophecy in the 21. chap. of Matth. at the 43. ver beene taken from them and shall againe according to this be suddenly and extraordinarily restored into them as Joel also before intimated by the plentifull distribution of Gods Spirit in the last dayes 2. That the surviving and subjected Gentiles shall gladly embrace the knowledge and seaâ—e of God with the Jewes You have hitherto heard of the deliverance and happinesse of the Jewes only I shall now acquaint you with their partakers which shall be such as are left of the Nations that are then to be destroyed as you may see in the fore-quoted chap. of Isai at the 15. and 19. verses Behold the Lord will come with fire and with his Charets like a whirlewind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire for by (m) Ezek. 39. v. 4 5 6 c. Mal. 4. v. 1. Psal 50 v. 3 2 Thess 1.1.7 8. c. fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh and the slaine of the Lord shall be many And I will set a signe among them and I will send those that escape of them unto the Nations to Tarshish Pul and Lud that draw the bow to Tuball and Javan to the Isles afarre off that have not heard my fame neither have seene my glory and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles And they shall bring all your Brethren for an offering (n) Isa 18. v. 7. unto the Lord out of all Nations upon Horses and in Charets and in Litters and upon Mules and upon swift beastes to my holy mountaine Jerusalem saith the Lord as the children of Israel bring an offering in a cleane vessell into the House of the Lord. And I will also take of them for Priests and for Levites saith the Lord. For as the new Heavens and the new Earth which I will make to wit at the judgement of the dead when this Heaven and Earth shall passe away as it is in the 20. of the Rev. at the 11. ver and in the 21. at the 1. ver as these shall remaine before me saith the Lord so shall your seed and your name remaine to wit after the foresaid returne from their captivity And it shall come to passe that from one New Moone to another and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to (o) Psal 68 u. 29.31 Psal 100. v. 1.2 4. worship before me saith the Lord and they shall goe forth and looke upon the carkeises of the men that have transgressed against me for their worme shall not dye neither shall their fire be quenched and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh And in his 60. chap. at the 9. ver and the 61. at the 4. ver They shall (p) Iâ—a 53. v. 12. build the old wastes they shall raise up the former desolations and they shall repaire the waste Cities the desolations of many generations And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks and the sonnes of the alient shall be your Plough-men and your Vine-dressers But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord Men shall call you the Ministers of your God ye shall eate the riches of the Gentiles and in their glory shall you boast your selves For your shame you shall have double and for confusion they shall rejoyce in their portion therefore in their Land they shall possesse the double everlasting joy shall be unto them Surely the Isles shall waite for me and the Ships of Tarshish first to bring my Sonnes from farre their silver and their gold with them unto the name of the Lord thy God and to the Holy One of Israel because he hath glorifyed thee And the Sonnes of Strangers shall build up thy wals and their Kings shall minister unto thee For in my wrath I smote thee but in my favour have I had mercy on thee Therefore thy gates shall be open continually they shall not be shut day nor night that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles and that their Kings may be brought For the (q) Ier. 12. v. 14 15 16 17. Nation and Kingdome that will not serve thee shall perish yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted The sonnes also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves downe at the soles of thy feete and they shall call thee the City of the Lord the Zion of the Holy One of Israel Whereas thou hast beene forsaken and hated so that no man went thorow thee I will make thee an eternall excellency a joy of many generations Thou shalt also sucke the milke of the Gentiles and shalt sucke
37. ver hath alledged them as the onely (z) Ioh. 12. v. 39. cause that our Saviours side was pierced of which fact doubtlesse there had beene no necessity if the Prophecy were not to be understood in a literall sense And to say with others that it was thus fulfilled in the Disciples who beheld our Saviours sufferings is not onely to rob the Prophecy of its right end but also to make the Disciples guilty of their Masters death For the Text saith expressely They shall looke upon me whom they have (a) Psal 22 v. 16. c. pierced Where also it followes And they shall (b) Mat. 24. v. 30. mourne for him as one that mourneth for his onely Son and shall be in bitternesse for him as one that is in bitternesse for his first borne In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Meggidon But who can at the same time earnestly bewaile that mans death whose punishment they themselves doe not onely procure but scoffe at As all that murdered Christ did at his And what comparison is there betwixt the griefe of a few fearefull and scattered Disciples for a day or two and the solemne mourning of all Judah and Jerusalem and that to every family apart and their wives apart As therefore this Prophecy doth concerne the Jewes onely and chiefely the Tribes that crucified their Saviour so doubtlesse it shall then receive its accomplishment when God at their generall conversion Zech. 12. v. 10. Shall powre upon them the Spirit of grace and supplications that so they may at once obtaine the forgivenesse of their sinnes and thus lament their forefathers malicious and cruell contrivance and their owne hereditary and wilfull approbation of the death of Christ who shall then descend unto them to restore their Kingdome and to raigne over all the earth as it is in the 14. Chap. of the same Prophet at the 5. and 9. verses 3. That the whole creation shall be restored to its originall perfection And thus much of the felicity of that remnant of the Nations which shall out-live the rest at the Jewes returne Now a word or two of the alteration of the sensitive and senselesse creatures at that time The Wolfe saith Isaiah in his 11. Chap. at the 6. ver shall dwell with the Lambe and the Leopard shall lie downe with the Kid And the Calfe and the yong Lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them And the Cow and the Beare shall feed their yong ones shall lye downe together and the Lyon shall eate straw (c) Gen. 1. v. 30. cha 6. v. 20 21. like the Oxe And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the Asse and the weaned Childe shall put his hand on the Cockatrice den They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountaine for the earth shall be (d) Hab. 2. v. 14. full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea And in the 65. Chap. at the 25. ver The Wolfe and the Lambe shall feed together and the Lion shall eate straw like the Bullocke And dust (e) Gen. 3. v. 1â— shall be the Serpents meate They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy Mountaine saith the Lord. Where we may observe against such as understand by these expressions the effects of Preaching on the hearts of cruell-minded men that they are a part of those Prophecies which concerne the Jewes deliverance and therefore can have no relation to the calling of the Gentiles 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 City yea the Village amongst us where cruelty is not practised where such mischiefes are not to be found as can scarcely be paralleled 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 beene 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 beene said the sinnes of men which are the cause and the curse of the Creatures which is the effect shall depart together As then there can be no sufficient reason alledged for the allegoricall interpretation of these prophecies so if we beleeve Gods revelations touching the Jewes returne there can be no reason urged to the contrary that will force us to forsake the literall sense of them By which sense I am sure that passage of Saint Paul in the 8. Chap. of the Rom. at the 21. ver is so well explained that the great strife about the signification of the word Creature there may be soone decided and by which too the opinion of those who from that place would make the sensitive Creatures Co-partners with us of that glory which followes the last resurrection fals to the ground for is not the exchange of a ravenous disposition for a quiet and peaceable and the freedome from the abuse of sinne A delivery of the creature from the bondage of corruption and the (f) Dan. 7. v. 21 22. glorious liberty of the Sonnes of God what is it but the flourishing estate of the Jewes before spoken of under Christ their Head who accompanyed with all the Saints departed and then living shall come and receive dominion (g) Dan. 7. v. 14.27 ch 2 v. 44. Rev. 15. v. 4 ch 20. v. 4.6 and glory and a Kingdome that all People Nations and Languages may serve him as you shall heare anon Another Prophecy touching the renewed estate of the Creatures is to be seene in the 30. Chap. of Esay at the 23. ver Then shall he give the raine 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 lange pastures The Oxen likewise and the young Asses that eare the ground shall eate cleane Provender which hath beene winnowed with the 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 Sunne shall be sevenfold as the light of seven dayes in the day that the Lord (h) Mal. 3. v. 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 gainesaid the words are these The Sunne shall be no more thy light by day neither for brightnesse shall the Moone 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 Sunne 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. of Esay at the 10. ver I could have sent you for an answer to the 4. chap. of the same Prophet at the 5. ver The Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies a cloud and smoake 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 beat and for a place of refuge and for a covert from storme and from raine But seeing it is said The Sunne shal 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 Sun 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 with the Prophets 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 Zion 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 we should conceit that the judgement of the dead plainely described in the 20. Chap. of the Rev. shall either suspend Ver. 11 12. c. ver 2. or disturbe this joy Saint Paul in the 1. to the Cor. and the 6. Chap. hath told us that The Saints shall judge * These first words may not unfitly be referred also to the time of the Saints reign on earth for it is their priviledge at their entrance into their Kingdome and throughout the whole space of their reign 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 â—aâ—â— 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 the world that is the wicked men that have beene their oppressors ver 3. and judge the Angels that is the evil spirits that have been their tempters And therefore shall not be thrust downe to the bar amongst them but advanced to the bench against them An addition doubtlesse to their happinesse and no abatement of it And this is as much as I need say though not above halfe that the Prophets say concerning the Kingdome in the Text. I will therefore shut up all with that solemne Protestation of God in the 31. of Jer. at the 35. ver Thus saith the Lord which giveth the Sun for a light by day and the Ordinances of the Moone and of the Starres for a light by night which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roare the Lord of Hoasts is his Name If those Ordinances (i) Ier. 33. v. 20.25 depart from before me saith the Lord then shall the seed of Israel also cease from being a Nation before mee for ever Thus saith the Lord If Heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done saith the Lord. And with that humble complaint of Israel whom God in the 7. of Micah at the 8. ver makes to prophecy thus of her selfe Rejoyce not against me O mine enemy when I fall I shall rise when I sit in darknesse the Lord will be a light unto me I will beare the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him untill be plead my cause and execute judgement for me He will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his righteousnesse And so I passe from the thing to be restored which is the Kingdome of Israel to the Person by whom it is to be restored which is Christ the Lord at his next appearing For they asked of him saying Lord wilt thou at this time restore againe the Kingdome to Israel That our Mediatour hath undergone the offices of a Priest and Prophet the Gospel is our witnesse That Christ shall reigne on earth proved 1. By consequence Isa 14. v. 1 2 3. but considering that the Jewes are yet to receive a Kingdome a Kingdome in which they shall bold them captives whose captives they are and in which peace and righteousnesse shall flourish on the earth considering this I say we may justly doubt whether our Saviour hath as yet executed the office of a King and so much the rather because he tooke our nature on him as well to performe his kingly office therein amongst us as either his priestly or propheticall the glory of this being indeed the reward of that contempt and torment which he suffered in the others and though it cannot be denied that he hath already (k) Col. 2. v. 15. spoyled principalities and powers that is the evill spirits and hath made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in his crosse nor that he is (l) Eph. 4. v. 8. ascended up on high and hath led captivity captive and given gifts unto men nor that he is become the (m) Col. 2. v. 10. Head of all principality and power that is of the Saints and holy Angels and is set (n) Heb. 1. v. 3. ch 8. v. 1 ch 10. v. 12. ch 12. v. 2. downe at the right hand of the Throne of God so that he
among them I the Lord have spoken it and in his 37. chap. at the 24. vers David my servant shall be King over them and they shall have one Shepheard and they shall also walke in my judgements and observe my statutes and doe them and they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant wherein your Fathers have dwelt and they shall dwell therein even they and their children and their childrens children for ever and my servant David shall be their Prince for ever And in the 9. chap. of Isaiah at the 6. vers Vnto us a child is borne unto us a Sonne is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderfull Counseller the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end Vpon the Thron of David and upon his Kingdome to order it and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever the zeale of the Lord of Hosts will performe this And in the 52. chap. at the 13. vers Behold my servant shall deale prudently he shall be (g) Ps 1â—8 v. 22.23 24 c. exalted and extolled and be very high As many were (h) Luke 2. v. 34.35 astonied at thee his visage to wit at the time of his suffering was so marred more then any man and his forme more then the sonnes of men so to wit at his next appearing shall he sprinkle many Nations the Kings shall shut their mouthes at him for that which had not beene told them shall they see and that which they had not heard shall they consider And in the 4. chap. of Micah at the 6. vers In that day saith the Lord will I assemble her that halteth and I will gather her that is driven out and her that I have afflicted and I will make her that halted a remnant and her that was cast (i) Rom. 11. v. 12.15.32 off a strong Nation and the Lord shall reigne over them in Mount Zion from henceforth even for ever And in the 72. Psal at the 6. vers He shall come downe like raine upon the mowen grasse as showers that water the earth In his dayes shall the righteous flourish and abundance of peace so long as the Moone endureth He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth They that dwell in the Wildernesse shall bow before him and his enemies shall licke the dust The Kings of Tarshish and of the Iles shall bring presents the Kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts Yea all Kings shall fall (k) Isa 45. v. 22.23 Phil. 2. v. 10 downe before him (l) Ps 22. v. 27 28. Rev. 14. v. 6 7. ch 15. v. 4 all Nations shall praise him And in the 102. Psal at the 13. vers Thone shalt arise and have mercie upon Zion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come for thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof So the Heathen shall feare the name of the Lord and all the Kings of the earth thy glory When the Lord shall build up Zion he shall appeare in his glory Now that these prophecies doe concerne the reigne of Christ alone I thinke no man doubts and that they are already fulfilled it cannot bee proved For neither did Christ at his first comming sit on Davids Throne nor any other of Davids linage or of that Tribe or of the other Tribes for the Scepter was then departed from Judah and a Law-giver from betweene his feete Neither were Judah and Israel then in the land together neither 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 (m) Is 33. v. 20. ch 50. v. 1 2 3 9 10. Jerusalem (n) Ps 122. v. 5. Davids Throne was For his feete shall stand in that day to wit when he comes to receive his appointed Kingdome on the Mount of Olives which is before Ierusalem on the East from which Mount also he ascended and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst therof toward the East toward the West there shal be a very great valley and halfe the Mountaine shall remove toward the North and halfe of it toward the South And ye shal flee to the valley of the Mountains 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 K. of Judah And the Lord my God shall (o) Iude v. 14 15. Rev. 19. v. 11 12 13 14 15 16. come all the Ss. with thee and it shal come to passe in that day that the light shall not be cleare nor dark 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 (p) Ps 46. v. 4. Ezek. 47. v. 1. c. Ioel 3. v. 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 Lord 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 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 and men shall dwell in it and there shall be no more utter destruction but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited Zech. the 14. at the 4. vers You see here that our Saviour comes not onely to conquer death which is the last enemy that he shall destroy 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 rule and all the authority and power of other Nations that there may be one Shepheard and one Sheepfold that the (q) Dan. 7. v. 27. Kingdome and Dominion and greatnesse of the Kingdome under the whole Heaven may be possest by the people of the Saints of the most High That is as the former prophesies doe expound it by the people of (r) Ps 148. v. 14. Israel And this as I thinke is the time of which he spake these words Verily verily I say unto you (s) Iohn 1. v. 15. Hereafter shall yee see Heaven open and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the (t) Heb. 1. v. 6. Sonne of man For that this may be fulfilled it
not to be at all or not neere (b) Matth. 24. v. 48. Luk. 12. v. 45 at hand then it cannot be that at his comming the faithfull shall be rejoycing and praâ—sing God for their greatest enemies overthrow which ever were and shall be men most carnally secure Secondly I say that this demand is grounded upon a false supposition viz. that our Saviour shall make no stay on earth when as indeed his 1000. yeares reigne is to begin at his next appearing and not before And lastly I say that seeing the last temporall judgement which shall befall the adversaries of Christ and his Saints is to be when the 1000. yeares reigne is fulfilled and that there is no mention of any space of time which is to intercede that destruction and the summons to the last resurrection Seeing I say that God is silent in this matter it is not for vaine man to fasten his owne fancies on Gods Word And to promise a longer abode to the Saints on this earth then God hath revealed And that too for no other end but to praise him for their greatest enemies overthrow which doubtlesse they shall not forget to doe nor without great joy performe when they are translated into that place where it shall be all their employment to magnifie and extoll Gods Name for all the blessings they have both here and there received of him Quest 3 The Third and last Question askes Whether any intimation of the prosperous and pious estate of the Jewes after the judgement of the Kings in Armageddon can be found in the Apocalypse Which is the presumption of the fift Parallel Answ MY Answer is that thus much is intimated in the 20. Chapter for as in Ezekiel and Joel after the generall judgement of God upon all the Nations that shall seeke the re-inthraldome or extirpation of the Jewes at their returne the great and impregnable (c) Dan. 2. v. 44. ch 7. v. 14. Isa 2. v. 1 2 3 4. restauration of Jerusalem is immediately revealed So in the Apocalypse the very next vision to that of the destruction of the Armies to be gathered together by the Beast and false Prophet is the binding up of Satan and the rising and reigning of the Saints with Christ a thousand yeares And that this thousand yeares reigne shall be accomplished in the Land of Judea and so concurre with the happy establishment of the Jewes foreshewne (d) Dan. 7. v. 27. Isa 51. v. 1 2 3 c. ch 61. v. 1 2. Psal 47. Psal 98. by the Prophets me thinkes these reasons doe demonstrate For First it being manifestly declared in the 4. 6. ver of this chap. That the Saints shall * And that on earth too for how else can they reigne with him but a 1000 yeares precisely seeing it is wel known that Christ hath been bodily present in heaven ever since his Ascension And why he should not begin his reigne there at his I t entrance thither rather then any time since that or give up his Kingdom again before he comes from thence to judgement as the spirituall interpretation of the first resurrection doth make him to doe are doubts I thinke which the oppugners of Christs reigning here on earth will be as unwilling to hearken to as they are unable to satisfie reigne with Christ a thousand yeares which necessarily proves his corporall presence amongst them and in the 8 9. ver That the Nations in the foure quarters of the earth Gog and Magog shall be gathered together against the Saints when the thousand yeares are expired which necessarily proves their Kingdom to be on (e) Rev. 5. v. 10. Rom. 4. v. 13. earth All this I say being unquestionable the inferences hereupon must needes be these 1. That the time of the Saints thousand yeares reigne is to succeed their bodily resurrection for how else can they reigne so long on earth or how else can Christ be amongst them here in his humane nature and 2. That the place of the Saints residence all that while is to be in no other land but Judea For how else can Christ with whom the Saints must (f) 1 Thes 4. v. 17. be sit on the Throne of his Father David and reigne over the house of Jacob which was promised him by an Angel sent from God before his conception Yea why else hath God left upon record so many predictions of the Jewes generall and unaccomplisht deliverance and of the wonderfull restauration of Jerusalem and Judea at that time comparing the future fertility and pleasantnesse of that now desolate Countrey even with the Garden of (g) Isa 51. v. 3 Ezek. 36. v. 35. Eden it selfe Secondly that which doth confirme the 1000. yeares reigne of the Saints in Judea is the expresse mention of the beloved City in the 9. ver For either these words must be taken mystically and improperly for the * This way runnes the wholstream of Expositors And admit that they were mystically to be expounded yet how such a Church as shall reigne a thousand yeers without disturbance and when the 1000. yeers are expited suffer no harme by those that shall then gather them selves against her and onely such a Church is set forth unto us by the beloved City the tents of the Saints as the precedent and subsequent verses doe clearely shew how such a Church I say can be taken for the Church that now is which is to continue an afflicted and persecuted Church untill our Saviours appearing I cannot conceive Militant Church or literally and properly for some particular City Now if they should be taken in the first sense then because the Nations Gog and Magog are to compasse the tents of the Saints about and the beloved City we must grant That all the Christian or at least all the Protestant Nations which possesse many large Dominions whereof some are severed from the rest by great and wide seas shall yet at last be all inviron'd by their enemies which is very unlikely if not impossible And because the Saints adversaries are to come from the foure quarters of the earth we must grant also that the Kingdomes where these Christians inhabite are no part of the foure quarters of the earth which were to swallow an apparent untruth Wherefore seeing the consequences of the mysticall interpretation are no better I hope wee may the more boldly embrace the literall sense of the words which for ought I perceive doth draw after it no such harsh and uncouth doctrines And in this sense we may upon good grounds affirme that by the Beloved City no other City but Jerusalem can be meant For First it is evident that the faithfull City the holy City the City of God are severall periphrases and individuall expressions of Jerusalem And why then should not the beloved City be so too seeing the Epithet beloved may well be applied to Jerusalem which hath all the former titles but cannot in reason be given to
the Cities of the (h) Num. 23. v. 9. Deut. 32. v. 43. Ps 95. v. 5. Luke 12. v. 30. Rev. 2. v. 29 ch 11. v. 18. ch 16. v. 19. Nations which are no where called by such names Secondly we finde in the 11. chap. of the Apocalypse that Jerusalem is intitled the holy City in a prophecy which concernes the very time of its desolation this present time wherein it is (i) Luke 21 v. 24. trodden under foote of the Gentiles And much rather then may it be call'd the beloved City in a prophecy which concernes the time of its exaltation the time wherein it shall become the royall City of Christ and the Saints in his Kingdome Thirdly Jerusalem is by ancient Geographers termed the Navell or Center of the habitable earth Yea it is said in the fifth of Ezek. at the 5. vers This is Jerusalem I have set it in the midst of the Nations and Countries round about her And where but neere the midst of the earth can that City be which the Nations of the foure quarters of the earth shall beset Fourthly and lastly In a prophecy which contemporates with this and such prophecies doe best expound each other it is thus written Out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem and therefore by the Beloved City here Jerusalem must needs be understood Now the foresaid prophecy is delivered by Isaiah in the beginning of the second chap. and by Micah at the entrance of the 4. chap. And as the title and superscription in Isaiah doth infallibly prove the literall interpretation of the prophecy So doth the subject thereof the impossibility of its accomplishment untill the things foreshewne here by Saint John shall come to passe to wit untill the shutting up of Satan a thousand yeeres and the living and reigning of the Saints with Christ all that time For seeing Satan is to bee bound up for no other end but this That he may not deceive the Nations and seeing that when he must be loosed againe he shall presently deceive the Nations it necessarily followes that no other time but the time of Satans imprisonment can concurre with that pious and peaceable condition of the world which Isaiah speakes of heare his words It shall come to passe in the last dayes saith he that the mountaine of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountaines and shall be exalted above the hils and all Nations shall flow unto it And many people shall goe and say Come yee and let us goe up to the (ii) Ezek. 43. v. 12. mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his wayes and we will walke in his paths for out of Sion shall goe forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Ierusalem And be shall judge among the Nations and shall rebuke many people and they shall beate their swords into ploughshares and their speares into pruning bookes Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation neither shall they learne warre any more And is not this the time then of which it is said in the 10. of the Revel at the 7. ver That in it the mystery of God shall be finished as hee hath declared by his servants the Prophets And is not this the Rest also which Saint Paul in the 4. of the Heb. at the 9. vers concludes to be yet remaining to the people of God Surely in my conceit if the Rest promised to that people the people of Israel were not to be enjoyed in the (k) Isa 8. v. 8. Land whither Joshua led them then the Apostle went a wrong way to worke The first resurrection the thousand yeeres reigne of the Saints on earth more fully examined◠confirmed when he endeavoured to prove a Rest yet remaining to them because Ioshua gave them none For no man can once imagine that by bringing them into Canaan he either did or could bring them to that Rest which was never to be had there And thus much may suffice in answer to the Querie it selfe But to make good what hath been said against all contradiction we must take into our consideration the thousand yeares reigne of the Saints as it is founded upon the spirituall interpretation of the first resurrection And because some Scriptures urged against the opposite Tenet are the onely props of this exposition I shall by the way propose a saying upon which the maine confidence of the Antimillinarians doth rely it being taken by them to be altogether inconsistent with a double resurrection of the dead and consequently with the literall sense of the first resurrection The words are in the 5. chap. of Saint John at the 28. vers and runne thus The houre is comming in which all that are in the graves shall beare his voyce and shall come forth They that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evill unto the resurrection of damnation I must confesse if touching the matter in question we had no light but from this present text or that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were of a simple signification onely the place alleadged might passe for an undoubted proofe of a single resurrection a resurrection of all mens bodies at one time But as we know that there are many passages in the Apostolicall writings which make more for us then this doth against us and which ought therefore rather to be the measure of this then this of them so we know also that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of large use even in the Scripture it selfe For though it properly signifies that artificiall part of time which is called an houre as Matth. the 20. at the 6. vers Yet sometimes it is metonymically taken for a dangerous time as John the 12. at the 27. vers and sometimes synecdochically contracted to a moment as Luke the 12. at the 12. vers or lengthened to a day as Marke the 6. at the 35. vers or stretcht out to moneths yeares and ages and then it is usually interpreted by the word Time And there be nothing in this place of Saint Johns Gospel repugnant to such a translation nor in such a translation to the Millenarian assertion why should not we as well read The time is comming as others doe The houre For if the same word doth in the first (l) Phil. 4. v 5. James 5. v. 8. Ep. of Saint John the 2. chap. at the 18. vers comprehend all the time from our Saviours death unto his comming againe which amounts already to above one thousand and sixe hundred yeares much rather may it here include all the time from the beginning of our Saviours reigne unto the last judgement which is to be but a thousand and odde yeares and consequently this text may very well agree with a double resurrection and be thus ex ounded The time is comming in which that is
within the compasse whereof all that are in the graves shall heare his voyce and come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life when this time begins and they that have done evill unto the resurrection of damnation when this time shall end And surely seeing the same Apostle hath in the 20. chap. of the Revel plainely recorded this first and second resurrection I am perswaded that the repetition of the word here would have beene enough to have suggested unto our Adversaries this construction of the text had they as seriously sought the manifestation of the truth as they have done the advancement of their owne erroneous fancy But whilst they have wrested this place in the Gospel to make it seeme irreconciliable with the literall interpretation of that in the Rev. they have at once quite lost the true meaning of both places Ch. 20. v. 4.5.6 and chain'd up their understandings lest they should lanch out to descry the true latitude of a principall Article of Christian beliefe For had they beene willing to know so much 1 Cor. 15. v. 22. c. they might have found Saint Paul also thus voting for us As in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive But every man in his owne order Christ the first fruits afterwards they that are Christs at his comming Now as it is evident that the word Order doth imply a distance of time betwixt the rising of Christ and of those that are Christs so doubtlesse there being no intimation of the rising of any others at his comming besides those that are his it doth imply a distance of time too betwixt the resurrection of these and of those that are not his For the next words Then commeth the end have no relation to Christs comming but to his delivering up the Kingdome to God even the Father when once the last enemy shall be destroyed which is death whereby and not by Christs comming the last resurrection of the dead is intimated And betwixt the accomplishment of this judgement and the resurrection of those that are Christs at his comming and not before the one or after the other there is expresse mention of Christs putting downe all rule authority and power over the whole world and of his reigning Which last employment doth necessarily presuppose a time befitting the Majesty of so (m) Ps 48. v. 2. Ps 47. v. 2.3 Matth. 5. v 35. Luke 1. v. 32. great a King and consequently the Order holds as well betwixt the resurrection of those that are Christs and those that are not Christs as betwixt the resurrection of Christ himselfe and those that are Christs And this Apostle elsewhere speaking of the resurrection which is to concurre with our Saviours descension from heaven hath not a word of the rising of any but of them that are dead in Christ 1 Thes 4. v. 16. Whereby he closely shewes that the resurrection of those that are Christs at his comming is that first resurrection in which whosoever have part the second death hath no power on them Rev. 20. v. 6. but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ and shall reigne with him a thousand yeares Which last words of Saint John doe no way thwart Saint Pauls in the verse following where he tels us that the Saints shall meete the Lord in the aire 1 Thes 4. v. 17. and so shall ever be with the Lord for the thousand yeares reigne is to be measured by the time of the Nations subjection to Christ and the Saints before their seduction againe by Satan and not by the time of the Saints abode with Christ which shall never have an end nor by the whole time of Christs and the Saints tarrying on this earth which besides the thousand yeares containes also that little season which is allotted for the falling away and destruction of the Nations before the last resurrection And so having shewne that the Antimillinarians can find no firme footing in the Scriptures to withstand the literall interpretation of the first resurrection I proceed to what they say concerning the thousand yeeres reigne of the Saints And heare I finde them at oddes about the meaning of the words some taking them indefinitely for a long time to wit for all the time from the first going forth of the Gospel till Antichrists reigne Others definitely for a thousand yeares and no more for which acknowledgement we are beholding to the emphaticall affix the speciall article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the compasse of five verses is foure times added to this number being never prefixt where the number or word otherwise implying a certaine time is to be taken in an unlimited sense Againe I finde these that agree upon a thousand yeares precisely very much disagreeing about the placing of them for one will have them begin at the Incarnation another at the Passion or Resurrection of our Saviour a third at the Preaching of Saint Paul a fourth at the destruction of Jerusalem and a fifth confuting all these will not have them beginne till the dayes of Constantine the great about the 300. yeare after Christ and some also not till Luthers time and yet all of them will have a part of Antichrists reigne included within the compasse of the thousand yeares reigne because some of them that are to reigne with Christ are particularly described by their not worshipping of the Beast And thus as the former sort of Antimillinarians doe grossely erre in placing Christs reign before Antichrists whereas a great part of them which should reigne with Christ were to suffer under Antichrist so doe these other Antimillinarians erre as much in confounding the time of Christs reign with the time of Antichrists reigne From whence it doth necessarily follow First that the Saints which are to reigne with Christ shall suffer in the time of Christs reigne Secondly that but a part of those which shall suffer under Antichrist are to reigne with Christ And Thirdly that some if not the most of them which shall be slaine by Antichrist are to suffer after Christs thousand yeares reigne All which is either beside or flat against the text For First it is flat against the text to affirme that any of the Saints which are to reigne with Christ shall suffer in the time of his reigne For we read That Satan is to be shut up that he may deceive the Nations no more till the thousand * Hujusinodi mille vel quinquaginta vel etiam centum annos a Christo nato nobis obtigisse quibus a seductione Satanae Gentes immunes ab ejusdem persecutione libera fuerit Ecclesia in terris bisce militans equidem at credam vix adduci possum Et de persecutione qâ—â—dem res ita manifesta est ut non putem è sanis fore qui contradicat siquidem hanc ecclesiae militantis perpetuam fore sortem ipse Christus praedixit eventus a nato
the time or after the time of the thousand yeares reigne but before it and consequently not a part but all of them are to be with Christ when he doth reigne Thirdly and lastly it is point blank against the text to hold that any of them which shall be slaine by Antichrist are to suffer after Christs thousand yeares reigne For although it is said that the Saints shall be compassed about by the Nations which Satan shall deceive when the thousand yeares are fulfilled yet there is no mention of the death of any of the Saints but onely of an extraordinary and sudden destruction of their enemies And so it is plaine that these Antimillinarian consequences doe all crosse the text And of the same colour and sutable unto their fancy of the thousand yeares reigne is the application of Gog and Magog in the 20. of the Rev. to the Pope and the Turke both as some or to the Turke onely as others of them interpret it For we read not that Gog and Magog are to make warre asunder in severall parts of the world as the Pope and Turke doe Nor that their warre is to be a long continued warre in which many battels are to be fought and new supplies raised one after another to maintaine it as it is in the Popes and Turkes wars Neither doe we reade that onely one particular Empire or a few or many Nations are comprehended by these words but all the Nations even the Nations of the foure quarters of the earth who as they are speedily and at once to be drawne together against the Saints by the procurement of the Devill so they are even in a moment to be overthrowne by the power of God by sire sent downe from God out of Heaven And whereas the Antimillinarians would have this Gog and Magog to contemporate with the battell in Armageddon it cannot be For seeing the Beast and false Prophet are mentioned as partners with Satan in the gathering together of the army which is to be destroyed in Armageddon it is altogether unlikely that they should have been here left out and none but Satan spoken of if this Gog and Magog were to be understood of the same army And that which doth confirme this and which I would have all Antimillinarians to lay to heart is because the destruction of this Gog and Magog doth follow after that battell which is to be in Armageddon as well in the order of its execution as in the order of its Revelation For in the 10. vers of the 20. chap. of the Rev. it is said That the Devill which deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the Beast and false Prophet are that is are to be when Satan shall be cast in thither to them and consequently they are to be there before him Which should not be true if the destruction of this Gog and Magog and of the army in Armageddon were all one for then they should be cast in all together seeing the casting in of Satan at the destruction of this Gog and Magog is as expressely delivered as the casting in of the Beast and false Prophet is at the destruction of the army in Armageddon or if none should be cast in thither till the last judgement who were so likely to leade the way to the place of eternall torment as he for whom that burning lake was chiefely (p) Matth. 25. v. 41. prepared as he and his Angels I say who first fell irrecoverably themselves and shortly after drew man into sin also This then being undeniable that the Beast and false Prophet are to be in the lake of fire and brimstone before Satan shall be cast in thither who dares define that the time betwixt the casting in of the beast and false Prophet and the casting in of Satan shal be either more or lesse then that which the holy Ghost hath left upon record to wit the whole space of the Saints reigne and of the little season in which the Nations are againe to be seduced And consequently the first resurrection is to be literally understood The thousand years reigne is to be on earth And this Gog and Magog in the 20. of the Rev. is to be the multiplyed posterity of those that shall be 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 parallel declares are the Gog and Magog foretold by Ezekiel shall be destroyed in Armageddon And as this doth necessarily follow upon the foresaid text upon the casting of the beast and false Prophet into the lake of fire and brimstone so long before the casting in of Satan so it is intimated too in that at the time of the gathering together of this Gog and Magog there is no mention of any Kings nor allusion to any eminent person or persons that shall then beare any sway amongst the Nations to whom Satan may first and chiefely apply himselfe and of whom he may make such use in the gathering of them together as he shall doe of the Kings beast and false Prophet at the gathering of the first Gog and Magog And againe it is implyed in that it is said that Satan shall go out to deceive the Nations by which it appeares that all the time of his imprisonment they are not to be deceived and consequently they are neither to be ignorant nor negligent of their duty towards (q) Is 2. v. 1 2 3 4. Ch. 60. v. 12 14. Ch. 61. v. 4 5 6. Ch. 66. v. 19 20 23 24. Ch. 14. v. 1 2. Zech. 8. v. 20 21 22 23. God or man but to live peaceably and piously under the Saints Whereas the beast and false Prophet are alwayes to be deceived and to deceive and from the first houre of their rising to the time of their destruction to persecute and make spoyle of the Saints And thus I hope I have made it manifest that the three parallel'd prophecies doe all foreshew the same Great Day of God Almighty and consequently that the Nations which shall oppose the Jewes at their expected returne are to be the Gog and Magog prophecied of by Ezekiel And also that those which shall be left alive of the Nations when this first Gog and Magog is destroyed and which shall in their generations for a thousand yeares space together enjoy the happinesse of the Saints reigne that the last I say of their posterity shall be the Gog and Magog foretold in the 20. chap. of the Revelation And now seeing that in lanching into the depth of so great a mystery I have done but as my Saviour commands me Search the Scriptures Iohn 5. v. 39 for in them yee thinke yee have (r) Rev. 1. v. 3. eternall life and they are they which testifie of me And seeing that my conscience informed and confirmed by such an harmonious consent of Scriptures such
a Diapason of propheticall voyces doth beare me witnesse that besides the irreconciliable jarring of divine dictates this mystery cannot without the losse and denyall also of some most comfortable remarkable and if not now yet for future times (s) Rom. 11 v. 25.26 necessary truths be otherwise understood I shall as well for the (t) 1 Iohn 4. v. 1. Isa 8. v. 20. Acts 17. v. 11 liberty of mine owne beliefe as for the restraint of others unjust censures conclude with the words of our Church in the 20. Article where she determines That though the Church hath authority to judge in controversies of faith Yet it is not lawfull for the Church so to expound one place of Scripture that it may be repugnant to another And that although the Church be a witnesse and keeper of holy Writ yet beside or contrary to the same it ought not to enforce any thing to be beleeved for necessity of salvation Malachi 3. v. 6. I am the Lord I change not therefore ye sonnes of Jacob are not consumed Nahum 1. v. 2. c. God is jealous and the Lord revengeth the Lord revengeth and is furious the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserveth wrath for his enemies The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storme and the clouds are the dust of his feete He rebuketh the Sea and maketh it dry and dryeth up all rivers Bashan languisheth and Carmel and the flower of Lebanon languisheth The mountaines quake at him and the hils melt and the earth is burnt at his presence yea the world and all that dwell therein Who can stand before his indignation and who can abide in the fiercenesse of his anger his fury is powred out like fire and the rooks are throwne downe by him The Lord is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him But with an over-running flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof and darknesse shall pursue his enemies What doe yee imagine against the Lord hee will make an utter end affliction shall not rise up the second time For while they bee solden together as thornes and while they are drunken as drunkards they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry Obadiah v. 15. c. The day of the Lord is neare upon all the Heathen as thou hast done it shall be done unto thee thy reward shall returne upon thine own head For as ye have drunke upon my holy mountaine so shall all the Heathen drinke continually yea they shall drinke and they shall swallow downe and they shall be as though they had not beene But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance and there shall be holinesse and the house of Jacob shall possesse their possessions And the house of Jacob shall be fire and the house of Joseph a flame and the house of Esau for stubble and they shall kindle in them and devoure them and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau for the Lord hath spoken it And they of the South shall possesse the Mount of Esau and they of the plaine the Philistines and they shall possesse the fields of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria and Benjamin shall possesse Gilead And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possesse that of the Canaanites even unto Zarephath and the captivity of Jerusalem which is in Sepharad shall possesse the Cities of the South And Saviours shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau and the Kingdom shall be the Lords Habakkuk 3. v. 3. c. God came from Teman and the Holy One from Mount Paran his gloâ—y covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise And his brightnes was as the light he had horns comming out of his hand and there was the hiding of his power Before him went the Pestilence and burning coales went forth at his feete He stood and measured the earth he beheld and drove asunder the Nations and the everlasting mountaines were scattered the perpetuall hils did bow his wayes are everlasting I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction and the curtaines of the Land of Midian did tremble Was the Lord displeased against the rivers was thine anger against the rivers was thy wrath against the sea that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy charets of salvation Thy bow was made quite naked according to the oathes of the Tribes even thy Word Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers The mountains saw thee they trembled the overflowing of the water passed by the deep uttered his voyce and lift up his hands on high The Sunne and Moone stood still in their habitation at the light of thine arrowes they went and at the shining of thy glittering speare Thou didst march thorow the Land in indignation thou didst thresh the heathen in anger Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people even for salvation with thine anointed thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation unto the necke Selah Si quid novisti rectius istis Candidus imperti si non his utere mecum If ought thou knowest that 's more true then this Shew 't Gentle Sir if not take mine as ' t is Jude ver 24.25 Now unto him that is able to keepe us from falling and and to present us faultlesse before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy To the onely wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty dominion and power now and ever Amen FINIS Errataes PAge 2. line 16. for of r. to p. 4. l. 1. by that r. that by p. 5. l. 12. for time r. times p. 6. l. 10. for Judges r. Judge l. 21. for vacation r. vocation p. 7. l. 31. for imperiall r. empyriall p. 10. l. 7. for And at r. And in p. 11. l. 25. the phrase is changed to wit No way put for by no meanes referred which seeing it is the same in sense may passe without noting p. 11. l. 25 for Is r. It remaines c. p. 14. l. 6 for of the beasts r. of all c. p. 17. the letter k is misplaced for it is put in the 7. line before these words yee are not my and it should have beene put in the 8 line before these yee are the sonnes c. p. 24. l. 5. for vers 17. r. vers 37. p. 37. l. 16. for to pray before the Lord of Hosts r. to pray before the Lord and to seeke the Lord of Hoasts p. 37. l. 33. for I know the r. I know that p. 38. l. last for turne r. returne p. 44. l. 12. for their happinesse r. their former happinesse p. 48. l. 2. pericitari r. periclitari Faults escaped in the Margent PAge 1. c for Iohn 2.2 r. 1 Iohn 2.2 p. 19. the letter o in the margent which should have beene put before these words in the text It is confest is left out p. 19. q Id. l. 7. c. 7. r. cap. 12. and in this margent quot Id. l. 9. c. 9. which should have beene referred to the word Dan. in the last line is wholly left out p. 21. for quoquo modo adversan r. adversantâ—â— and in the second note for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 47. for fourthly the river r. fourthly in this City the river p. 20. s Cor. a tap in c. 3. for Hof r. Hos