lastingness no comparison for that shall abide as long as the moon endureth When the Lord Christ reigneth there shall be great honour and subjection given to him by the great ones and it will fare well with the poor vers 12. 13. 14. also vers 2 4 6. of this 72. Psalm then shall that be fulfilled and made good Psal 67. 3. 4. 6. 7. Let the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee O let the nations be glad and sing for joy for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon earth Let the people praise thee As they will do then they will sing Hallelujans and prayse to the lamb what followeth then then shall the earth yeeld her encrease very fruitful times then and God even our own God shall blesse us and all the ends of the earth shall fear him It will be so eminently then In the next place take we knowledge of that very eminent place Isa 65. It is the prophecy where the new heaven and the new earth are spoken of and promised see what is said in vers 13. Therefore thus sayeth the Lord behold my servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry to wit the wicked and unsaved nations and people behold my servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty behold all with a behold very observable my servants shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed vers 14. Behold my servants shall sing for joy of heart but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and howl for vexation of spirit vers 15. And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen for the Lord God shall slay thee and call his servants by another a new name a great difference then like that of Dives and Lazarus we see here is eating and drinking then for so did Adam and Eve and so did our Lord Christ in the day of his being here both before his death and after his resurrection Luk. 24. 42. 43. And so very likely will those changed alive then do for they will be men and women It followeth as a reason and that with a behold also vers 17. For behold I create a new heaven and a new earth The old will be done away and forgotten vers 18. They are bidden to rejoyce for the great blessednes and glory Jerusalem will be in God will create them so a rejoycing a praise Vers. 19. The voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her nor the voice of crying It is easy to see to what time and state that belongs this world affords no such exemption from weeping and crying only it will as to the full fulfilling be in the blessed world to come Vers. 21. They shall build houses and inhabit them they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them Vers. 22. They shall not build and another inhabit they shall not plant and another eat it fares so in this world many times but it will not then for as the dayes of a tree which are many so shall be the dayes of Gods people It followeth and mine elect shall long injoy the work of their hands their building and planting c. vers 23. They shall not labour in vain as many do in this world nor bring forth for trouble of which we made mention before For they are the blessed of the Lord and their off-spring with them Vers. 25. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together The same with that in Isa 11. of which before It is not hard to conceive what time this relateth unto it relateth to and is a prophecy of the new earth that God will create when there shall be the restoration of all things When it shall all come to passe and be so as is declared whether we believe it or no. The prophet Jeremiah declareth something to the like effect Ier. 33. 6. 7. 8. 9. I will bring them health I will cause their captivitie to return I will cleanse them from all their iniquitie and it shall be to me a name of joy and praise before all the people of the earth For the great prosperitie God will procure unto it And vers 11. The voice of joy and the voice of gladness the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride c. For he will cause their captivitie to return And so he goeth on in a promisary way of good things to the end of the 16th verse See the prophecy at large I spare to set it down for fear or being over-large And consider to what time it relateth for its full fulfilling at the time of the branch of righteousness growing up to David in the land it will be We may also minde that Ier. 50. 19. 20. When Israels captivitie shall be returned c. and the iniquity of Israel and Judah sought for and not be found for there shall be none we spake of it before Hosea the prophet mentioned by holy Paul Rom. 9. Eyeing the time of their great return and Gods gracious return to them Hos 2. 18. In that day to wit of the restoration I will make a covenant with them and with the beasts of the feild and with the fowls of heaven and with the creeping things of the ground and I will break the bow and the sword and the battel out of the earth I will make them lie down safely It may easily be minded what day this relateth unto it being the same with Isa 11. mentioned before when the hurtful nature of the creature will cease and mans enmitye also and wars cease to the ends of the earth and the restoration of all things and the peaceable kingdom of the Lord Christ takes place then it will be so and it is not like to be before Vers. 19. I will betroth thee to me for ever The marriage of the lamb will be nigh then yea I will betroth thee to me in righteousness c. vers 21. And it shall come to passe in that day I will hear the heavens and they shall hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Iezreel and I will sow her to me in the earth to wit the new earth as to the fulfilling of it it is not sayd in heaven but in the earth Further see what the prophet Ioel sayth chap. 3. 18. And it shall come to passe when Ierusalem shall be holy and no stranger passe through her any more as they shall in no wise then Rev. 21. 27. at that day then at that day the mountains shall drop down new wiue and the hills shall flow with milk and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord and shall water the valley of Chittim It will go ill with Egypt then vers 20. But Judah shall dwell for ever and Jerusalem from generation to generation for God will then cleanse so as never before I conceive by changing of
whole heaven shall be given to the Saints of the most high Our Lord Christ will be then the greatest monarch that ever was on earth 1. Tim. 6. 25. he will be the only potentate the king of kings and Lord of Lords he will be far advanced in power and dignitie beyond and above all principalities and powers and might and dominion and every name of power and dignitie by which the potentates of this world are named that is named in this world and that which is to come far above them all will the Lord Christ be then it will be happy for the Saints then for he is their head and they shall share with him therein they shall reign on earth when he reigneth he will deligate power to them they shall be invested with great authority and shall reign with him on earth He will give power to the faithfull improvers of their trust Luk. 19. 17. 19. to one to be ruler over ten Cityes and to another to be ruler over five Cityes And in like manner it is likely to others to be over nations and countryes according to that Psal 45. 16. thou shalt have children whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth Like to be fully fulfilled and made good then and as it followeth vers 17. I will make thy name to be remembred in all generations therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever the promise to the overcomers in the Church of Thyatira speaks forth much and comports with the psalmist before Rev. 2. 26. 27. he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end to him will I give power over the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of Iron c. even as I received of my father to wit power to do it Those alive and believing at the coming of the Lord Christ then changed in a moment will be such overcomers and keepers of his works to the end in an eminent wise and haply may have that power given to them then together with all other overcomers that had been dead before to that time then raised Holy Paul saith 2. Tim. 2. 12. if we suffer we shall also reign with him and saith it is a faithfull saying as it is a blessed word and comfortable Rom. 8. 17. if so be we suffer with him we may be also glorified together The world to come it will not be under the subjection and rule of Angels Heb. 2. 5. he hath not put in subjection unto the Angels the world to come of which we speak haply this present world is so under them but that to come shall not but it will be under the Lord Christ and the Saints they will be made unto God kings and priests and shall reign on the earth at that happy day in the new earth when our Lord is come they shall have full power and reign Jude speaketh of the Lord Christ his coming with ten thousand of his Saints to execute judgement on ungodly sinners whose day will be over then like unto rich Dives Lazarus day will take place then the righteous will have the day then and the preheminence Rev. 20. 4. the martyrs for Christs sake it is said of them by way of eminence as to rule and gevernment above the rest of the dead Saints then also raised and reigning They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years And again vers 6. it is said of all the raised Saints compared with other Scriptures including the changed at that time they shall be Priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years And we may believe it for these sayings are no fables or insignificant expressions Whither they be believed or no they will be found to be the true sayings of almighty God and shall with the rest of the Prophecyes and sayings concerning good things to come for the righteous be made good and fulfilled to the full whatever fulfilling in a degree they may have had before This also held forth is submitted to the consideration of the wise in heart A Post-script or an Appendix to the whole THere are many great Prophecyes and sayings in the holy Scriptures of the old and new testament that hold forth very great good things and a very blessed and happy time the righteous shall have and enjoy and be made partakers of hereafter when the Lord Christ shall come and his reward with him when the refreshing from the presence of the Lord and the restoration of all things shall take place which are recorded to encourage the servants of God to believe and hope and wait patiently for the appointed time There are very high attestations recorded in the holy Scriptures of the sureness and certainty of them which we shall a little enquire into and set down for encouragement to believe hope on and wait patiently for the great grace and blessed good things that shall be brought unto us and we shall enjoy at the revelation of Jesus Christ 1. Pet. 1. 13. I should tire the reader and as it were hold a candle to the sun to go about to set down what might be gathered out of the holy Scriptures this way two or three places we shall venture to propose and set down and leave the rest In Isa 51. likewise Isa 54. we may see how God himself asserts his faithfullness in his word and promises of good to his people as sure as the waters of Noah the floud that drowned the old world but shall no more do it so sure will he perform his promises of good things to his people As sure as he divided the sea and made it a way for the redeemed to passe over see the places In Jer. 31. 35. 36. 37. See how the Lord setteth forth himself by his greatness in the great works he hath done of old and upholding of them by his mighty power the ordinances of heaven and the foundations of the earth that cannot be measured or searched out so will he be in his word and promises to the seed of Israel his people see the place And consider what the prophet Micha sayth Mich. 7. 20. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the dayes of old The words of prophecy contained in the holy scriptures they are very sure very stable setled in heaven confirmed by the promise and oath of almighty God it is impossible for him to lye or fail our Lord Christ hath given a high testimony Math. 24. 35. Heaven and earth shall passe away but my words shall not passe away Hath he spoken and shall he not do it hath he promised and shall he not perform it he hath highly engaged himself therein he is faithful he is able he will make it good and perform it There is nothing hard for him he is mighty in power and wonderful in working What he hath declared by his servants the prophets there shall nothing fail thereof but
reserved in heaven for you to wit such as are begotten again to a lively hope thereof by the resurrection of Jesus Christ but must be first sown in weakness before they come to be raised in glory or else changed in a moment without which there is no coming there to inherit earthy Adam cannot flesh and bloud so cannot attain to that happy estate though they should cry Lord Lord open to us it would be in vain This briefly premised concerning the resurrection the better to give light and make the ensuing matter more easily conceived of it being of neer affinity to it namely the mysterie of being changed in vers 51. CHAP. II. Containing a brief proposal of sundry things to consideration touching the mistery of the living then not dying but being changed in a moment at the coming of the Lord Jesus VErs 51. Behold I shew you a mystery we shall not all dye but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump c. the matter is high and considerable a mystery or great secret little known or understood He begins the declaring of it with a behold which sets a mark on it as some noteable great thing great secret little known which behold calls for the minding and consideration of I shew you I Paul the Apostle of the gentiles And he was a man of much knowledge and understanding in the great mysteries of the Gospel and also of an infallible spirit He hath declared and shewed it and none besides himself hath done it and he hath done it again and again and positively asserted it to us I shew you you gentiles to whom he wrote his epistle You the Church of Corinth and all other the servants of the Lord Jesus the thing shewed is a mistery that ye may know understand and believe it The Apostle proceeds to declare it first negatively we shall not all dye then positively he attests that we shall all be changed There is much considerable in both the persons in both in the which he includes himself We shall not and we shall enquirie may be made who he means by we it is very likely he means the servants of God believers in Jesus Christ then alive in the body at the coming of the Lord Christ those are the we that shall not dye those are the we that shall all be changed The prayer of the Lord Christ will be answered then and in them father I will that those which thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory c. Joh. 17. 24. Not one related so shall fail of that great blessednes Death will have a great check a great blow then and lose of his power over the righteous ones at that very time that moment as the Apostle after expresses Over the unrighteous and unsaved people and nations death may have power not only in respect of killing their bodyes which will be till a little before the final judicature or the second and last session of judgement begins Rev. 20. 9. but also in keeping under or in the grave the whole wicked all being then dead until the time that session is begun who are then raised to come thereunto to be judged as in Rev. 20. 11. 12. 13. and at the end and as the conclusion thereof death and hell or the grave shall be cast into the lake of fire never to have power or a being more as in vers 14. but as is said before death hath no power over the righteous after that Christ our Lord is come it being said in Rev. 21. 4. There shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things to wit The old heaven and earth with the dying and sorrow c. therein are passed away which I conceive is to be understood not only in respect of the saints that are raised at the coming of our Lord Christ that they shall not dye any more as also the saints who were then changed that they shall not dye at all But also in respect of the converted in that time who if any alteration afterward pass upon their bodyes it will in all likelyhood be a change and shall not dye it being said as before in respect of the righteous we shall not all dye but we shall all be changed the not dying but changing of the saints that remain alive to the coming of the Lord Christ being an eminent token and forerunner thereof Further we may take knowledg that in the holy scripture account that to sleep in the grave and to dye are one and the same and so to say we shall not all sleep and we shall not all dye are terms equivolent and do import one and the same thing see Act. 13. 36. David fell asleep and was layd to his fathers c. them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 1 Thes. 4. 14. So Dan. 12. 2. Many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake c. as to that of death or dying see the many expressions as here in Adam all dye death went over all it is appointed to men once to dye c. Heb. 9. 27. Jacob went down into Egypt and dyed he and our fathers Acts. 7. 15. so as his negation of the Apostle leadeth to take knowledge of a very high case wherein there is much of mistery we shall not all dye the restriction that is in this all is only to the righteous then living and remaining at the coming of the Lord Christ this all relateth only to them they are the all that shall not dye but be all changed then but none of the unrighteous shall be so At which time death that had reigned so long over Adam and all his posteritie his power over the just over the righteous shall then be superseded they shall be put into a condition out of his reach having put off mortalitie and put on immortality and life everlasting As every thing that hath a beginning will have and end so will death and in order to the ceasing of his power over the righteous and putting a stop to his universal reign it will begin then So as that appointment of death to all men Heb. 9. 22. is to be understood So to wit untill this time take place this Mystery be actually opened we shall not all dye as it is said when this corruptible hath put on incorruption and this mortal hath put on immortality and made this happy change then it shall be and also that Prophecy fulfilled death is swallowed up in victory vers 24. latter part By the way we may take notice who would have thought in a likely way that that Prophecy Esa 25. 8. should reach so far as to that time and to have its fulfilling then so long after who is there that would have understood it so had not the Apostle so declared it that then death
not the things he had been speaking of but a case wherein there should be not dying or rising again but a changing in a marvellous manner in a moment in the twinkling of an eye Let the reader judge CHAP. VII Containing the holding forth that the righteous living and remaining at the coming of the Lord Christ changed in a moment In special the Israelites the seed of Abraham will be the inhabitants of the new earth and habitable world to come with some scriptures discussed that seem plainly to speak it forth THat there will be a new earth and an habitable world to come something hath been sayd before and that the righteous alive at the coming of the Lord then changed in a moment shall be the inhabitants of it not excluding the raised then living in the body again We shall now dilate a little by way of enquirie what the holy scriptures speak and hold forth concerning the same First the Apostle Peter 2. Peter 3. 13. speaking of the hebrews commonly called Jewes who are said to be the first in order Rom. 1. 16. chap. 2. 10. To every man found working good glory honor and peace to the Jew first and also or after to the gentile It was so in regard of the offer of grace and salvation it is very like it will be so then Peter he sayth we according to his promise look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness or righteous men and women according as the prophet Isaiah saith Isa 60. 21. 22. Thy people also shall be all righteous they shall inherit the land for ever to wit the land of promise the land of Canaan a little one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong nation a nation born in one day I the Lord will hasten it in his time when the redeemer shall come again to Sion and all Israel shall be saved which shall more fully be fulfilled at the time of their being so changed in a moment as declared by him And on the other side holy John tells us Rev. 21. 27. There shall in no wise enter into it to wit the holy city any thing that defileth or is unclean neither whatsoever worketh abomanation or maketh a lie but they which are written in the lambs book of life those shall dwell in Gods mountain then or his hill Psal 15. 1. namely those raised and changed ones not excluding the children of the resurrection The Lord Christ shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven Mark 13. 27. Very like to be made good in these changed ones not excluding the raised And that this will be made good then see that in the fore going verse And then shall they see the son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory comporting with this And that in a special wise it relates to them take we knowledge of that in Zech. 10. 6. 8. 9. 10. which as to its more full and through fulfilling seems in my apprehension to eye that time This seeing of the son of man at his coming may minde us of that of our Lord Christ Math. 23. 39. Ye shall not see me henceforth till we shall say blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord when every eye shall see him and they also which peirced him Rev. 1. 7. Further we may take notice what Ezekiel holds forth Ezek. 36. Ezek. 37. In the 36th chapter He declares the great displeasure of God against his people the children of Israel and speaks of great calamitie that had been upon them the heathen people being the instruments in Gods hand who dealt cruelly with them and that when God hath pitty upon them and returns to them to take them again to be his people then he would cause his fury against those enemies to break forth and they should bear their shame and punishment this from the 1. to the end of the 7th vers Then followeth very high and great promises vers 8. 9. For behold I am for you and will turn unto you c. vers 10. And I will multiply men upon you all the house of Israel c. vers 11. And I will multiply upon you man and beast and settle you after your old estates and will do better unto you then at your beginnings c. And so goeth on to the 16th verse in a promissary way Where the prophet begins again a further relation of their sin and the wrath that attends and the reason of the stop and staying of their misery namely the pitty and compassion he had to them and the regard he had to the honor of his great name Vers. 24. God speaks of gathering Israel from all countries and bringing them to their own land the iniquity of it being removed in one day And vers 25. and 29. he speaks of full cleansing promised vers 26. a new heart promised and a new spirit to be given the stony heart to be taken away and a heart of flesh given corruption wholly put off and incorruption put on a great change indeed much the same we are treating of vers 27. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes Verse 28. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers which land shall have the iniquity of it removed in one day And ye shall be my people and I will be your God The fulness of the blessing of the new covenant See what followeth to the end of the chapter and weigh the whole Chapter 37. First we have that of the dry bones set together with flesh and synews and covered with skin and life breathed into them with the interpretation of it vers 11 12 13 14. These bones are the whole house of Israel The opening of graves as to the full or utmost fulfilling of it seemeth to eye the resurrection We have likewise the two sticks made one to wit Israel and Judah made one as vers 17. explained in vers 21. behold I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen whither they be gone and will gather them on every side and bring them into their own land vers 22. And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel and one king shall be king to them all and they shall no more be two nations neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all Then in vers 23. There is the promise of preservation from pollution the promise of full cleansing of full salvation and being kept in that happy condition they were changed into and God to be their God and they his people And as in vers 24. David Gods servant to be king over them and they to have one shepheard Then followeth that very observable and remarkable vers 25. And they shall dwell in the land that I
have given unto Jacob my servant wherein your fathers have dwelt to wit the land of Canaan and they sball dwell therein even they and their children and their childrens children for ever and my servant David shall be their prince for ever We may take knowledge of the great thing in vers 26. and to the end of the chapter as first a covenant of peace God will make with them then for a thousand years only no it shall be everlasting comporting with Psa 72. 7. In his days shall the righteous flourish and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth God will set his sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore And as verse 17. He will have his Tabernacle amongst them as sometime he had of old wherein the glory of God was and a cloud covering of it and as it shall be when the new heavens and the new earth take place which holy John in Rev. 21. 3. holds forth with a behold as a great thing behold the Tabernacle of God is with men relating to the same time a great thing for God to dwell with men on earth as once he did and will do again then and further God be their God and they his people in a very eminent manner which crowns the whole And then as in vers 28. The heathens the unsaved of the nations shall know Gods favour and goodness to Israel and that it is he that doth sanctifie them when his sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore In chap. 36. 11. God sayth he will do better for them then at their beginning when they enjoyed so great things by vertue of his presence with them so as this prophecy clearly relates to the Israelites and by any thing yet appearing it hath never been made good and performed since Ezekiells time There was never such gathering and bringing out of their graves never such uniting as one nation nor have they had since his time one king over them so united David to wit Christ Gods servant hath never been king or prince over them never did they enjoy such an happy and blessed estate never did they and their children and their childrens children dwell in the promised land for ever neither was Gods sanctuary and Tabernacle planted in the midst of them since Ezekiels time to this day All must be fulfilled and made good so declared by Ezekiel without the least fayler And although much of this may be fulfilled before and more especially when the Jewes are returned to their own land and converted yet there is no time so likely for it to have its full and utmost fulfilling as at the coming of the redeemer When all Israel shall be saved at that happy time of the restoration of all things which God hath spoken c. In the time of the new earth the dwelling of the righteous and saved people in the world to come wherein there will be incorruption and immortalitie and everlasting life And if any shall think it may have its fulfilling sooner even in this day and in this world and especially before the time comes of the Jewes return and conversion and shall think to make it out by allegorising and a spiritual meaning and saying that all or most of this is come and done already within them so drawing a vale over this great prophecy it will signifie little for that no happy attainer sooner will any wayes hinder the full and final fulfilling then all other fulfillings falling short of that time in comparison will be imperfect and one jot or title must not fail thereof That in Rev. 7. seemeth very much the same and to comport with what we have been treating of before concerning the changed in a moment and these so sealed as likely to be one and the same and concurring also in the time in order to the things attending the coming of the Lord Christ and in holding forth the first-ship or preheminence of the Israelites the seed of Abraham It is declared that an Angel having the seal of the living God the Apostle Paul tells us what that seal is 2. Tim. 2. 19. this Angel vers 2. he cryeth to the Four Angels appointed to hurt the earth to forbear the doing of it till he had sealed the servants of God in their forheads so as being sealed or marked in their foreheads they thus might be known at least to the Angels that were to hurt the earth The words are hurt not the earth neither the sea nor the trees the words are short but very comprehensive till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads This hurting the earth in my apprehension is likely to relate to that great burning spoken of at the end of the world and the judgements that should attend it before and after it being like the proceed Ezek. 9. 4. of marking the mourners before the going forth of the Angel to destroy And being compared with that in Rev. 22. 4. It will inform us where and when this sealing and marking will be In the earth at the great burning of the then world at the coming of the Lord Christ and the restoration and new earth as before Holy John Vers. 4. Having heard the number declares it to be One hundred and fourty and four thousand in the whole sum of them so sealed or marked to be as before And that number was made up of all the tribes of Israel twelve thousand of every tribe wherein there is much of union one nation then and there is much of equalitle it seemeth to eye that of Ezekiel about the dividing the inheritance by Lot in the holy land to all the tribes as set forth in Ezek. 48. very considerable but dark as yet and also it speaks forth that preheminence will be to Israel Gods nation they as Noah and his family were of the old world and were reserved to be the first inhabitants of this present world so those then sealed and not dying but living are those that shall be the inhabitants of and have preheminence above the gentile believers then living and changed and also partakers thereof in the world to come and so be alive in both as Noah and his family were Not hereby excluding the raised saints from their great interest and share therein then it being sayd vers 9. After this I beheld and to a great multitude which no man could number hapily the gentle believers then changed and all that have slept in Christ since the creation and fall of all nations and kinreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white Robes they had changed and put off the old robes of corruption and put on new of incorruption and purity and had Palms in their hands Much felicity and abundance of peace Psal 72. 7. and as followeth vers 10. They cryed with a loud voice saying salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb Of the sealed ones
so SOmething hath been said before concerning the great things that attend the coming of the Lord Christ and come to passe then as the restoration of all things Act. 3. 21. A new heaven and a new earth the raising the dead saints out of their graves the changing the living in a moment the beginning of the world to come with other things very many that have been mentioned before and may be further said after that are held forth in the prophecies and sayings in the holy scriptures relating to the latter day not yet fulfilled nor like to be in the full made good till that happy day in that blessed world to come of which we shall dilate a little In the former chapter we treated of what Ezekiel hath foretold Ezek. 36. Ezek. 37. Of the dry bones and the two stiks with the interpretation of the same The matter relating to Israels restoration and re-union and their full enjoyments of the promises made to Abraham Isaack and Jacob which had not been made good in Ezekiel his time but were after to be fully made good according as he declared which to this day hath not been made good and not very likely so fully to be so in any time yet to come in this world but much more probable to be made good then to the full when that nation shall be so born in one day and be no more two but one nation for ever they and their Childrens children for ever at that blessed day when the world to come shall take place when that of the redeemers coming to Sion and to such as turn or are turned from iniquity in Jacob hath its full fulfilling which is not very like to be till the Lord himself comes for he himself hath said ye shall not see me henceforth till the time come when ye shall say blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Luk. 23. 35. The lambs standing on Mount Sion with the sealed ones having their fathers name written on their foreheads and the singing the new song which none could learn but they that pure virgin state and being without fault before the throne of God it will not I conceive be so fully in this world but in that blessed world to come All those forementioned things will very fully contemporise with that blessed time and state without any allegorie interpretation or framing a spirituall notion to make the matter good for it will be even so in the letter visibly and be made good without the least failer Further that of the Prophet Isaiah is very considerable as to this matter Chap. 65. 17. where the new heaven and the new earth is held forth with a behold a great thing behold I create new heavens and a new earth vers 18. I create Jerusalem a rejoycing and her people a joy And therefore in the beginning of the vers it is said be glad and rejoyce for ever in that which I create for behold I create a very great thing so he goeth on to the end of chapter In Isa 66. 8. Who hath heard sach a thing shall a nation be born at once in a moment in the twinkling of an eye as those alive at the coming of the Lord shall be changed then As soon as Sion travelled she brought forth see the whole to the 22. vers And that in special in the 14. 15. 16. See if they do not eye the very time of the destroying of this world by fire and the taking place of the blessed world to come when the new heaven and the new earth will take place of which before And the certainty and stableness is confirmed by that vers 22. For as the new heavens and the new earth which I shall make shall remain before me saith the Lord so shall your seed and your name remain This comporteth with that Isa 59. 21. very considerable As for me this is my covenant with them saith the Lord my spirit that is upon thee being changed so and my words which I have put in thy mouth to wit of thanksgiving and praise shall not depart out of them mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed from henceforth and for ever And this I conceive relateth to the coming of the redeemer to Sion when all Israel shall be saved Rom. 11. 26. then as Isa 60. 1. arise and shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee Jerusalems happy day will then be come We might mention much more of holy Isaiah for that he had great light in this matter and hath held forth much as in chap. 60. and so to the end of his prophecy which the reader may please to consider As likewise in divers other places which I forbear to mention lest we should be too large All that hath been said as to its full fulfilling seemeth to relate to the time of the world to come and the Israelites the seed of Abraham principally not excluding the gentile Saints from sharing in the blessedness of that day and walking in Jerusalems light when it shall be very great indeed The light of one day being from the sun then as the light of seven dayes Isa 30. 26. that that changing in a moment will effect it to the highest degree of being translated out of darkness into this marvelous light 1. Pet. 2. 9. In the next place we may take notice what the Prophet Ieremiah holds forth Ier. 30. 31. and 32. of which we shall dilate a little Ier. 30. 10. Iacob is bidden not to fear nor Israel to be dismayed for God will save them from afar and their seed from the land of their captivitie and Iacob shall return and be in rest and quiet and none shall make him afraid he goeth on with further promises and threatnings against the wicked then at the same time to wit in the latter days when God will perform the intents of his heart reade on to the 22th verse where he sums up all and they shall be my people and I will be their God very happy will their condition be for blessed is the people whose God is the Lord. Ier. 31. 1. he saith at the same time will I be the God of all the families of Israel and they shall be my people In an eminent wise they shall be so to God and he so to them a very great thing the one hundred forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel those sealed ones with their fathers name written on their foreheads will be so Gods people and God their God so The twelve thousand of every tribe and all Israel when they shall be saved by the coming of the deliverer to Sion and the two sticks according to Ezekiels vision and the interpretation of it one nation and no more two for ever but one born in a day changed in a moment then will God be their God and they his people so at that day So he
to the lively hope of he tells us in the words following it is to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away it is safe and in sure hands it is reserved in heaven for believers they are kept by the power of God through faith for that great salvation ready to be revealed and it is kept for them and shall be brought unto them they shall not need to go to fetch it but when will it be at the revelation of Jesus Christ 1. Pet. 1. 3. 4. 5. He wills the servants of God to hope on for that great grace that shall be brought unto them at the revelation of Iesus Christ vers 13. Then will Abraham and Isaack and Iacob be chief among the holy ones as it is said many shall come from the east and from the west and shall sit down with Abraham Isaack and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven Math. 8. 11. This seemeth to eye that in Isa 25. 6. The feast the Lord will make unto all people in his holy mountain a feast of fat things and wine well refined full of marrow and fat things see the place it eyeth in a likely way as to its full fulfilling such a time when Abraham and Isaack and Iacob and the holy prophets and Apostles c. shall feast together in the kingdom of Christ It looketh beyond the spiritual feast of the gospel to a time as vers 8. When death shall be swallowed up in victory Which the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 15. 54. Relateth to a very far time for the making of it good and fulfilling of it even the time of the kingdom of the Lord Christ in the world to come When corruption shall have put on incorruption and mortality immortalitie And as it followeth agreeing with and speaking out that to be the time all tears will the Lord wipe away from the faces of his people and the rebuke of his people shall be taken away from off all the earth This world will not as to the full fulfilling of it afford such a happy day the waited for salvation of the people of God shall then be fully enjoyed and great shall be their joy and rejoycing Redemption from the captivity of sin and satan from death and the grave sore enemies and cruel tyrants believers have redemption from them all in the bloud of Christ and may reckon and account themselves virtually ransomed and delivered by their redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ and that they are redemed ones by the price of his most precious bloud but this is only virtually and in the first fruits in the sure promise in the earnest to wit the spirit the redeemer shall fully come to Sion then shall the great redemption and deliverance take place Rom. 11. 26. the deliverer shall come to Sion and shall turn away ungodlynesse from Iacob or as holy Isaiah expresseth it the redeemer shall come to Sion and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob. It is good and true in both readings those believers that have turned to God by faith and repentance he shall come to them and coming he shall take their iniquities quite away I conceive by chainging them in a moment in the twinkling of an eye putting off their corruption and putting on incorruption so he shall come to the turned and likewise turn away their iniquitie The redemption of the body shall be then from the prison and power of the grave Rom. 8. 23. A great thing which believers have in the promise and in the earnest to wit the spirit they shall have then in the enjoyment of it the whole man Body and spirit with all the parts and faculties of both united in one full and perfect and it will be eternal redemption which the redeemer the Lord Christ hath obtained for his Heb. 9. 12. No more slavery then to sin or death or the grave Christ our blessed redeemer hath fully subdued it then and will set us fully free so as instead of saying as sometime holy Paul did who shall deliver us from this sinful body of death to wit subject to sin death and the grave those great tyrants we by faith may say according to our present interest and hope what shall then be sayd and sung aloud in the full posession and enjoyment of it by way of praise to their redeemer Rev. 5. 9. Thou art worthy c. For thou wast slain and hast redeemeed us by thy bloud out of every kinred and tongue and people and nation and hast made us unto our God kings and Priests and we shall reign on the earth then followeth that great thanksgiving of that great number in the three following verses in praise of the redeemer The time this relateth unto when it will be made good and fulfilled it is very likely it will be then when our Lord cometh the second time when the raised from the dead and the then living changed shall take place when they shall meet the Lord Christ and come with him to the new earth where he will fully set up his kingdom and throne then will that be fully made good Isa 35. 10. Isa 51. 11. The ransomed of the Lord or the redeemed shall come to Sion with joy and songs and everlasting joy shall be on their heads they shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and mourning shall flee away Their rejoycing and felicitie then shall not be of the length of a kings reign as to instance in Solomon in whose dayes there was great felicity but it lasted not beyond his dayes but this shall be everlasting as long as the sun and moon endureth Psal 72. 7. This world affords it not nor never will it is likely as to the fulness of it Trouble and sorrow and disquiet hath been and is at the present the portion and lot of the righteous here in this world our Lord hath told us so Ioh. 16. 20. Ye to wit the righteous shall weep and lament that is their condition here for a season what shall the men of the world do but the world shall rejoyce it is their day ye namely the righteous shall be sorrowful oh but when that time comes they shall then rejoyce your sorrow shall be turned into joy and their joy shall none take from them As to the fulnes of it it 's the time when sorrow and tears and pain and death shall be no more we know what time that is it is Jerusalems happy day in the new earth in the world to come then it will be so and all made good and fulfilled in the fulness and length of time Of neere affinity with redemption is salvation or being saved which we shall dilate on a little Not after the way of a theam or common place but only as salvation by Jesus Christ the blessed saviour of such as believe in him The beginning of it and first fruits here in regeneration in this world and the full harvest and perfection in the world to come at that
them in a moment for the Lord dwelleth in Sion and his tabernacle will then be with men Rev. 21. 3. And he will dwell with men In the next place see what the prophet Micha sayth also in the matter Mich. 4. 1. It shall come to passe in the last dayes not yet made good that the mountain of the Lords house shall be exalted and established c see the place vers 3. And he to wit the Lord Christ when he cometh especially shall rebuke strong nations and judge many people And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning-hooks nation shall not lift up a sword against nation neither learn war any more a blessed peaceable time then Vers. 4. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his figtree and none shall make them afraid though they have no defensive arms for there will be no need of them sure enough to be made true and good for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Then at that day will be the peaceable kingdom of the Lord Christ and he as vers 7. The Lord shall reign over them in mount Sion from henceforth and for ever See what the prophet Zechariah sayth also Zech. 3. 9. 10. And I will remove the iniquity of that land to wit the land of Canaan chiefly in one day namely the day of the restoration and when it shall be so then they shall call every one his neighbor under the vine and under the figtree The prophet Malachy speaketh of the blessedness of that day even upon the same account Mal. 3. 12. And ye shall be a delightfull land sayth the Lord God There are other high prophecyes in Isaiah as that Isa 49. from vers 5. to vers 13. and from thence to vers 24. See what great things of like importance are said which I shall forbear to dilate on So Isa 52. Isa 54. Isa 55. 11. 12. There are prophecyes in the holy scriptures that speak of inheritances and possessions of Lot and sharing by Lot that seem as to their full fulfilling to relate to that happy day of the restoration and the new earth promised taking place As some time of old the land of Canaan was by promise given Israel for an inheritance by the Lord was after a long time divided to them by Lot and accordingly possessed by them in a way of particular propriety for they had not only a general light in the whole land as so given them of God but they had a particular interest in a part of it as it fell unto them by Lot where the Lord himself was the determiner as Solomon sayth Prov. 16. 33. The Lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord whither that land so promised and after a long time possessed and divided by Lot was not a type of the new earth promised and expected and of some higher division and sharing at the restoration of all things may be considered and the rather because of what Ezekiel hath declared which will have its fulfilling and making good though as yet we understand it not it is very probable it is not yet fulfilled but will sure enough which the day will declare fully though to us it is dark and we understand little Every tribe as well as the whole people will have their share and Lot and the strangers will share with them where his dwelling is with them then Ezek. 47. 22. 23. very considerable The twelve tribes they are to have every one their share or Lot and the prince his and he must not take any of the peoples share from them to drive them out of their possession see Ezek. 46. 18. The twelve tribes will have interest in the city and every one a gate called by their name and the name of the city from that day very probable to be the day of the restoration will be the Lord is there He will be so in the new earth Rev. 21. 3. The prophet Obadiah hath something to the same effect vers 17. But in mount Sion there shall be deliverance and there shall be holyness and the house of Jacob shall possesse their possessions Vers. 19. And they of the south shall possesse the mount of Esau and they of the plain the philistins and they shall possesse the feilds of Ephraim and the feilds of Samaria and Benjamin shall possesse Gilead vers 20. And the captivitie of the host 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 Vers. 21. And saviours or judges and disposers shall come upon the mount Sion to judge the mount of Esau And this it will be when the kingdom shall be the Lords for as yet it hath not been nor is it likely so fully to be till that happy time takes place The rather is that considerable because of what the new testament holds forth this way Eph. 1. 10. In the fulnes of times in the Lord Christ he should gather together in one the things in heaven and the things in the earth even in him restore them make them new all good and holy as at first Vers. 11. In whom we have obtained an inheritance or Lot Vers. 13. 14. The spirit of promise is sayd to be the earnest of our inheritance to wit of our interest and right unto it and that we shall in time possesse it we have for the present the earnest we shall have in the appointed time the full purchase it will be redeemed and settled on those it is redeemed and purchased for to the praise of the glory of him that hath done it for his Ephes. 5. 5. It is spoken of by the Apostle as a known thing that no wicked unclean person hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ or of God to wit in that kingdom to come Col. 1. 12. the Apostle speaketh of giving thanks unto the father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light The saints will then have inheritance given unto them at that time when Jerusalems light is come and the glory of the Lord riseth upon her Isa 60. 1. when she will sine gloriously holy Peter in like manner 1. Pet. 1. 4. blesseth God for the lively hope the servants of God are begotten again unto by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance the description of it suiteth with the restoration and change it is incorruptible and undefiled it will be so when it falls in with that time when the iniquity of that land is removed and the curse taken from the earth and it made new in the inheritance then and there then will be no corruption or defilement for there shall in no wise enter any that defileth Rev. 21. 27. it is said further that it fadeth not away as many times in this world mens inheritances do but it will