Now in the days of this fourth Roman and Western Monarchy there shall be a stone cut out without hands Dan. 2.34 36. which shaâ—l first ruine these Kingdoms it smote the Image on the feet that were of iron and clay vers 34. and so swallowed up the whole Image all the foregoing Monarchies were brought under it and by it to nothing ver 35. and it became a Monarchy over the whole Earth wherever any of the former Monarchies had ruled ver 35. that is as it is explained ver 44 45. a Kingdom which that Stone shall obtain set up by the God of Heaven And whereas the other Monarchies were erected by men on earth though permitted by God this Kingdom or Monarchy shall swallow up in it all foregoing Monarchies and that by no humane means or policy for it was without hands or not in hand that is not of man but a divine work every way and it shall reach and swallow up not only the feet and toes but the legs of brass the breast and armes of silver the head of gold Dan. 2.34 35. that is all Kingdoms and States that were from first to last under any of the Monarchies shall be swallowed up by and come under this And this is a fifth Monarchy which shall arise in the World after the former four which is to be understood of a state of Christs Kingdom here upon earth as appears 1 Because it is called a Stone as Christ is the Stone which the Builders refused yet is becom the Head of the Corner 1 Pet. 2.3 to 8. And fills the whole Earth ver 35. 2. 't is a Stone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui non ect in manibus which is not in hand or not cut out with hands because by God immediately without humane help this Kingdom shall be reared up 3. It s duration that it shall last for ever shews it is meant of Christs Kingdom no people shall swa low it up as they have done all other Monarchies the Babylonian was left to the Medes and Persians and this to the Grecians and the Grecians to the Romans but this shall be left to none but shall be for ever Dan. 2.44 that is to the Worlds end It is left to no other Kingdom for at the Worlds end when Christ delivers it up he delivers it not to any other people but to the Father 1 Cor. 15.24 ¶ The next text we may look into and as it were the eldest daughter of these already handled is that 20th chapter of the Revelation of which I shall speak a little more largely wrapping in many other Scriptures handling the fame thing with it Where first we have ver 1. the Lord Jesus Christ descending and coming down from Heaven in those words I saw an Angel come down from Heaven having the Key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand This Angel is Christ called Michail Rev. 12.7 who destroys the works of the Devil and is stronger then he to bind him and cast him out of the aire into the pit It is he that conquered him upon his white Horse who went forth Rev. 6.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut vinceret that he might conquer He cast him down to the earth Rev. 12.8 He defeated him in his Lieutenant the Eeast He hath the Keyes of Hell and Death and his regal power and authority is norably set out by the Emblem of a great chain in his hand And here he doth three things unto him 1. He apprehends him he laid hold on the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Devil and Satan He layes hold upon him by his power and gripes him as one in fury The Description of the Dragon here and chap. 12. v. 9. is one and the same to shew that it is the same Devil that there was cast into the earth and now by this descending Angel the Lord Jesus Christ is cast into the pit 2. He binds him the term of his bondage being expressed and bound him he ties him up from his former liberty and chains him as men do desperate dogs or mastiffs and that for a long time And bound him a thousand years 3. Imprisons him the place where is in the bottomless pit that is an Abyss which he before feared Luke 8.31 they besought him that he would not command them to go 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the deep or pit as it is here the original word is one and the same And the Manner how was very securely he shut him up and set a Seal upon him As sometimes it was with Daniel in the Lions den Dan. 6.17 And with Christs body in the Sepulchre Matth. 27. ult which shews the certainty and fulnesse of this restraint and the compleat power and superiority of the Angel over him who shall no more suffer Satan this thousand years to range abroad and to disturb the Reign of Christ and his people and to do mischief as before being fast shut and locked up in prison he shall neither use his former violence nor subtilties Lastly the end of all this is that he should deceive the Nations no more which I conceive is not to be understood absolutely and simply as if he should not have any liberty to deceive any man living as some would have it but with respect to such extent and successe as before he shall not now prosper in his designes and attempts And it signifies a new and further restraint beyond that in Rev. 12. where he was cast down to the earth when he was cast down from open heathenism and open persecution as a Dragon under that notion he was cast out of the Church yet he did begin presently to try a new way and that not without success For as before he had made the world mad in their heathenism so now he makes them mad in idolatries and superstitions substituting the Beast in his room and place giving him his power and seat and great authority Rev. 13.2 And causing that all both small and great rich and poor free and bound should receive a mark in their hands or forehead else they should not have the liberty to buy or sell pray or preach traffick or trade with any But now he shall be bound from that liberty of deluding the Nations any more either by his Paganisme as he did in the first period or by superstition and idolatry as in the second Neither yet shall he tempt them any more so as to disquiet and trouble their peaceful reign with Christ on earth But to go on this preparation being made we reade verse 4. I saw saith John Thrones and they sate upon them and Judgment was given unto them and I saw the soules of them that were beheaded for the witnesse of Jesus and for the Word of God and which had not worshipped the Beast neither his Image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and THEY lived and REIGNED with Christ a thousand years In which
divided hate and devour hurt and destroy one another I leave it saith that Reverend mystery Searcher Mr. Mede to the judgment of learned men and men well able to judge in such like mysteries in Divinity whether this be not the best and easiest way to deal with the Jewes not to wrest those plain Prophesies touching things appertaining to this last and glorious coming of Christ to his first coming for while we do so the Jewes laugh and scorn at us and are hardened in their infidelity The Apostle Peter takes this course to convert the Jews Acts 3.19 Repent saith he and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord And he shall send Jesus Christ which was preached unto you whom the Heavens must receive until the times of the restitution of all things of which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy Prophets since the world begun 4. Because unlesse this opinion of Christs Millenary Kingdom and reign with his Saints a thousand years be granted and received nothing of certainty can be brought concerning the true and genuine sense of the 20th chapter of the Revelation and that in the 7. of Daniel and many other of the Texts before named wherein a mans Conscience can safely rest Which amongst some others Pareus himself confesseth who saith the more he studied it the lesse he found out whereby to untie the knot which had so tortured all Interpreters only this he saith he found that it is more easie to tell what this thousand years are not then what they are And a little after he saith I do not therefore here promise you that after all others I shall so untie this knot of a thousand years as to satisfie all men in this Millenary Reign of the Martyrs and Saints with Christ The Reason is given by a learned Writer because he left the letter of the Text and did turn the whole discourse to an Allegorical sense without any sufficient reason or necessity at all It hath doubtlesse been the unhappy fate of many by their learning in their Expositions to make plain Scriptures dark and difficult texts far more difficult then before 5. Because it seems altogether unreasonable to go about to inâ—erpret that whole place in the 20. chapter of the Revelation figuratively because of one or two figurative expressions in it which yet have an eaâ—te explication without any figure In a plain â—â—â—â—ence we may somtimes meet with one trope or other but it doth not therefore necessarily follow that all and every word in the sentence must be so taken nor is that reasonable Propter unius verbi translationem nen totus locus figuratè accipiendur est saith Austin Neither indeed is this Prophesie of a thousand years propoled under representations and pictures as many others are in the Apocalyps but it is declared in as clear and elegant word as you can posibly imagine be it by the Holy Ghost never so really meant 6. Because this Interpretation of a thousand years after the Armageddon battel and the dâ—struction of Antichrist in Christs second coming doth best agree with all those Scriptures which speak or this subject which consider a long tract of time in it as well as in his first-coming as was shewed before Now we are not to think that because the Lord Jesus Christ shall come as a Thief or like the L'ghtning that therefore he shall presently like a thief or like the lightning vanish or disappear Nor because his second coming is joyned with the final Resurrection and last Judgment properly and strictly so called therefore they shall be done presently together and all at once but every thing shall be fulfilled in its own order and time In a processe of time sensibly and by degrees will the Lord proceed in the restitution of all things after the same manner as his proceeding was in the Creation of all things though he could have created all things in one and the same moment God will never huddle his works on helps 7. Because to interpret the first Resurrection of a piritual resurrection from sin is altogether new and unheard of and unknown to all Orthodox Antiquity and that almost till Austins time And was first of all found out by Tyconius the Donatist of whom Austin borrowed it whom afterward Primasius followed Gregory and others Yea they that deny this Interpretation deny that which was of old denied by the Hereticks against the Orthodox as it doth plainly appear from Justin Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew which Dialogue is set down at large by Mr. Mede at the latter end of his Commentary upon the Revelation whither I refer the Reader But to clear the thing beyond doubt Consider that though the death in sin may be called a death yet it is not nor any wherein Scripture called the death either first or second if that death in sin be the death then it is the first death and the Life of Grace the first Resurrection and then all that have a part in this should be freed from the second death which second death by this reckoning must be the death of the body but that we see is false for the godly die the death of the body as well as the wicked Therefore let us give way to the plain truth which is in a word thus The first death is the death of the body or a bodily death the second death is the death of the soul or the soules everlasting punishment in Hell And the first Resurrection or the first order in the Resurrection for I speak not here of Christ and those that arose then is the Resurrection of the body or a bodily Resurrection of the Saints and they that have part in this are none but such as are holy and by this their being within the Compass of the first order in the Resurrection or being raised in the first Resurrection they are beyond all fear of condemnation in hell which is the second death Therefore the Text says Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath no power which Resurrection as we see cannot be meant of the life of grace but must be meant of that corporal Resurrection which is opposed to a bodily death or the death of the body and not to the death in sin 8. Because although Christs Oeconomical or Mediatory Kingdom is but one in regard of its essential forme yet it is indeed twofold in respect of its accidental forme For Christs Kingdom which is humble low and cometh not with observation and is much accompanied with the Crosse and persecuted according to his first coming which was humble and low to his very passion is one thing And his glorious Kingdom is another which comes with observation as lightning shining upon the earth and in great peace and security according to the nature and condition of his
day of Judgment when the thousand years are ended That an houre is thus taken for time in general appears Rev. 11.13 The same houre was a great Earthquake i e. A Kingdom quake a Nation quake And the tenth part of the City fell which no man will understand of the same twenty fourth part of the same individual day but of time in this general acceptation 2. We are to put a difference between the last day in general and the last day in special Now what is the last day in general but the great day of Judgment at the dawning of which the thousand years we speak of shall begin and then the godly shall rise In the evening of which day the thousand years shall end and the wicked one shall rise and not before But if we speak of the last day in special it may have another day or another year to follow after it acoording as the day or year is that we speak of As suppose we speak of the last day of this world it hath a day and a year and another word to succeed it Mat. 12.32 The world to come Eph. 1.21 Heb. 2.5 As the old world of which St. Peter speaks had 2 Pet. 2.5 with 2 Pet. 3.6 But if we speak of the last day of the next world it is the ultimate day of all or the last day under the Sun and hath no day to succeed it but eternity And here we are to take notice the thousand years we speak of are in the world to come And in the last day of this world shall be the resurrection of the just And in the last day of the next world shall be the resurrection of the wicked And further we are to know that in those two places of John viz. John 11.24 and 6.4 where the last day is spoken of there is mention only of the resurrection of the just no mention at all of the resurrection of the wicked and therefore it may be supposed they are left out because they shall not be raised up at that time but be stayed till afterwards 3. We are to put a difference between one moment and another and we say the moment in which the just shall be changed is the begining of the thousand years and the moment in which the wicked shall be raised is the end of the thousand years Furthermore by the word moment and twinkling of an eye is meant the suddenness of the change and not the time when it shall be And we also the Apostle speaks not of the wicked but of the just only and why should they be left out if that were their time of raising or changing but we see by other Seriptures that they shall have another time Obj. 5 The Saints shall be caught up from the Earth to meet the Lord in the aire 1 Thes 4 16. How then can they reign with Christ on the earth Answ This will prove no impediment at all these things being well considered 1. When Christ ascended up to Heaven it is not to be doubted but the Angels met him by the way what man will say they did not return to heaven with him 2. It is the custome when the Judges ride the Circuit whither they intend to come the Sheriffs and Justices ride to meet them and to accompany the Judges to the place of judicature And no other is the case here When Christ is coming to the Earth the Saints shall be caught up to meet him in the aire when they have so done they return back and go with him to the Earth from whence they came 3. It is not said that Christ shall come from Heaven to meet the Saints such a speech would imply that they are about to go to Heaven with Christ and that Christ came to meet them in the way and to bring them thither but the text faith the Saints shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air this speech doth imply that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming from Heaven to Earth and the Saints meet him by the way and return with him to the Earth whence they came and he is going 4. Lastly unless the Saints did meet him in the aire and return with him to the Earth Christ should not stand at the Latter day upon the Earth as Job saith he shall Job 19.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 novissimo super pulverem staturum i.e. I know that at or in the last he shall stand on the dust That is at the last day he shall stand on the dust of the Earth which the most certain and literal expressions the Hebrews have for that purpose Neither else could Christ come with all his Saints as the Scripture saith he shall Zach. 14 5. And the Lord my God shall come and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnes sancti tecum all his Saints with thee Or which is all one he shall come with thee and all the Saints So 1 Thes 3.13 At the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints So 1 Thes 4.14 Those which sleep in Jesus Christ will God bring with him And whether will God bring them with him but to the Earth whence they were caught to meet him Object 6 Of what quality the first death is of that quality the first resurrection is But the first death was a spiritual death or death of the soul in sin and from hence followed the second death which is the death of the body Answ 1 If the first death be a spiritual death what shall we call the death of the body shall we call it the second death as this Objection doth and as in order it follows that which is here called a death or shall it be called a third death The second death it cannot be for that is of the soul and body in hell and every of the Saints escape that Rev. 20.6 On such the second death hath no power But the Saints escape not the death of the body The third death it cannot be for we read in Scripture of no such death it remaineth then that the death of the body is the first death is the death of the body as well as the death in Hell the second 2. We must distinguish between death properly taken and improperly taken The first death properly taken is the death of the body and the first resurrection properly taken is the resurrection of the body Now John speaks of death properly taken and not of the other and of the resurrection properly taken and not of the other As appears by this that this resurrection is such to the godly first as it is to the wicked afterward which is a proper resurrection 3. We are to distinguish between death visible and invisible The first death visible is the death of the body And the first visible resurrection is the resurrection of the body Now the Apostle John speaks of death visible and of a resurrection visible and not invisible and therefore he hath it in a vision