murthers drunkennesse revilings covetousnesse and such like For it was in the time of Israel's rest that the faithfull Citie became an harlot and full of murderers that her Princes grew rebellious and companions of theeves that every one of them loved gifts and followed after rewards that they judged not the fatherlesse nor the cause of the widow that they joyned house to house and field to field till there was no place that God looked for Judgement but behold oppression and for righteousnesse but behold a cry that the Harpe and the Viol and the Tabret and Pipe and wine were in their Feasts but they regarded not the worke of the Lord nor the operation of his hands Esa the 1. and 5. chapters And have Christians made any better use of their rest from persecution and destruction surely no. For it was in the very infancie of the Church that Ephesus was threatned for leaving her first love Pergamos for the Doctrine of Balaam and the Doctrine of the Nicholaitans Thyatira for suffering Jezabel to seduce the servants of God to commit fornication and to eate things offered to Idols Sardis for that her workes were not found perfect before God that is to proceed from a sincere heart and an upright affection and Laodicea for her lukewarmenesse in Religion Rev. the 2. and the 3. chapter And seeing it was thus in the first and best age of the Christian Church how bad thinke you hath it been since surely the same Apostle will tell you chap. 9. ver 20 21. And the rest of the men that were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the workes of their hands that they should not worship Devills and Idols of gold and silver and brasse and stone and wood which neither can see nor heare nor walke neither repented they of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their fornication nor of their thefts And 't is this great wickednesse of Christians themselves 't is their envying at their contention with and their defrauding of each other 't is the mischiefe they devise against and the hurt they daily doe one to another that I have spoken of and not of the hurt they receive from others not of suffering by their heathenish neighbours before the whole Empire became Christian or by heathenish Nations since that time and therefore in this part of your answer you have quite mistooke the marke and brought a record of some particular Churches rest from suffering instead of their rest from sinning 2. In the next you give but a false fire for we are discoursing of what doth inevitably follow from these Prophecies according to the allegoricall interpretation of them and therefore if the Rev. or the Prophets doe speake otherwise of the times to which you referre these Prophecies then these Prophecies doe it is an undeniable evidence against you that either the allegoricall sense is not the true sense of them or that these Prophecies are not to be accomplisht in the time to which you apply them as indeed they are not for they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountaine saith the Lord which words doe infallibly shew that the innocencie of the creatures whom this is spoken of shall be such as cannot possibly consist with the many mischievous that I say not unnaturall actions of Christians amongst themselves but may very well be fulfill'd in the generall agreement and gentlenesse of the dumb creatures at the appearing of our Lord Jesus at which time it is that these Prophecies which reveale the Jewes prosperitie in their owne land and those which reveale the joynt-embracement of the truth by all Jewes and Gentiles and these which reveale the reducement of the dumbe and insensible creatures to their originall perfection are all to be accomplished and therefore although it be the propertie of the Church to be militant in this world that is untill the appearing of Christ yet in that new world she shall be triumphant she shall be rid of all her adversaries of all her disturbers as is plentifully declar'd by the Prophets and implied in the first part of the 20. chap. of the Rev. But whereas you have alledg'd these words as a reason to prove that there shall be alwayes hurt done by Christians in this world for these you say are the beasts of whom these Prophecies are to be understood certainly you are much mistaken in this argument for it will not follow that Christians must needs be hurtfull to themselves because it is the property of the Church to be militant in this world that is till our Saviours comming to receive hurt from others And yet though we denie your Argument wee denie not what you would infer from it to wit that Christians are hurtfull to each other yea we say and that without an hyperbole that they are so hurtfull that even for this very cause these Prophecies cannot be understood of them For wee dare not with you first to make them contradict other Scripture by wresting of them to a false sense and then to uphold our errour by a flat denyall of that which God hath spoken in them by affirming I say that these words they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my mountaine are thus to be understood they shall hurt and destroy in all my holy mountaine Yea wee hold it much safer to denie the allegoricall sense of them and so their present accomplishment withall neither of which any other Scripture or any circumstance in these Prophecies doth enforce then to denie what God hath so plainely reveal'd in them 3. And yet you goe on like a Conquerour and beare the Reader in hand that the words in the 9. ver for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord doe puzzle the Author and that therefore hee fancieth a private conceite for expounding these words of which he gives no reason But surely it doth not puzzle the Author so much as to make him contradict any thing that God doth say as you have done to justifie the allegoricall interpretation of these Prophecies and therefore it is evident that your exposition is the private conceit seeing it crosseth the text and not mine which though you accuse you could not shew to be contrary unto the text Yea the reason which I have given for it for you wilfully belie me in saying I have given none is not onely very agreeable unto the proper sense of these Prophecies but to reason it selfe for what could more illustrate the wisedome Justice and mercy of God in the restauration of these creatures then to ordaine that man the creature whose disobedience had been the occasion of subjecting all other inferiour creatures unto vanitie should againe by his obedience springing from the abundant knowledge of his maker become the occasion of delivering them from this bondage of corruption and therefore though it be true that the saving knowledge of the Gospel hath made and doth still make wicked men to leave
CHRISTS Personall Reigne on Earth One Thousand Yeares with his SAINTS The Manner Beginning and Continuation of his Reigne clearly proved by many plain Texts of Scripture and the chiefe Objections against it fully answered Explaining the 20 of the Revelations and all other Scripture-Prophesies that treat of it By Robert Maton Preacher of the Word Containing a full reply to Mr. Alexander Petrie a Scotch Minister who wrote against his Booke called Jsraels Redemption Divided into two Parts The first concernes the Jewes Conversion to the Faith and Restoration into a visible Kingdom in Judea and the second our Saviours visible Reigne over them and all other Nations at his next appearing Joel 3.2 In the Valley of Jehoshaphat c. pointing out the very place Isa 8.20 To the Law and to the Testimony if they speake not according to this word it is because there is no light in them LONDON Printed and are to be sold by John Hancock in Popes-Head-Alley 1652. ISAIAH 49. v. 13. c. SIng O Heaven and be joyfull O earth and breake forth into singing O mountaines for God hath comforted his people and will have mercy upon his afflicted But Sion said The Lord hath forsaken mee and my Lord hath forgotten me Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the Sonne of her wombe yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee Behold I have graven thee upon the palmes of my hands thy walls are continually before me Thy children shall make haste thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall goe forth of thee Lift up thine eyes round about and behold all these gather themselves together and come to thee as I live saith the Lord thou shalt surely cloth thee with them all as with an ornament and bind them on thee sa a Bride doth For thy waste and thy desolate places and the Land of thy destruction shall even now be too narrow by reason of the Inhabitants and they that swallowed thee up shall be farre away The children which thou shalt have after thou hast lost the other shall say againe in thine eares The place is too straight for mee give place to me that I may dwell Then shalt thou say in thine heart Who hath begotten me these seeing I have lost my children and am desolate a captive and removing to and fro and who hath brought up these Behold I was left alone these where had they been c. ROM 11. VER 28. c. As concerning the Gospel they are enemies for your sake but as touching the election they are beloved for the Fathers sake For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance For as ye in times past have not believed God yet have now obtained mercy through their unbeliefe Even so have these also now not believed that through your mercy they also may obtaine mercy For God hath concluded them all in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all TO THE READER Courteous Reader THere are two main obstacles which debarre men from the apprehension of Gods word the one a strange language the other a strange interpretation The first is proper to Papists the other is common to Protestants and Papists and is indeed the more dangerous seeing an unknowne tongue doth onely bide the truth from the unlearned and so may somewhat easily be avoyded but a false interpretation doth equally deprive both the wise and the simple of it and so causeth the blind to leade the blinde For whatsoever text of Scripture is expounded any otherwise then God meant by it it is according to its interpretation the word of man and not of God and consequently in adhering to such interpretations we believe not what God saith but what man doth make him say Now of Scriptures that are misunderstood some are so difficult that it is not possible to give a peremptory interpretation of them of which sort are some passages in Daniel in the Revelation and here and there in other parts of the Scripture and in these we should either confesse our ignorance or deliver our thoughts as evidences only of our desire to attaine to the perfect knowledge of Gods word Others againe are so plaine that every common and ordinary understanding if left to it selfe cannot choose but take them in their true sense and not in that which is thrust upon them by a false glosse And of these some have been a long time controverted and others have as long past unsuspected amongst which are the many Prophecies which God hath reveal'd touching the future restauration of the Jewes and the personall reigne of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth And surely whatsoever was the ground of the misinterpretation of these Prophecies at the first whether an hatred of the Jewes whom alone in their proper sense they doe concerne or some sinister and selfe-respects whatsoever I say was the ground of it at the first the continuance of it hath been occasioned by the inconsiderancie of the ungrounded application of the words Jew and Israelite indifferently to the Jewes and Gentiles and of the words Israel Sion and Jerusalem to the Church of the Gentiles when as there is not one text in all the Scripture wherein a Gentile is cal'd a Jew or an Israelite or wherein the Church of the Gentiles is cal'd Israel Sion or Jerusalem Those texts Rom. 2. ver 28. and 29. and chap. 9. ver 6. and 7. are both by Piscator and Pareus understood of the Jewes only And these words Gal. 6. ver 16. upon the Israel of God are both by the ordinary and interlineary glosses understood likewise of the Jewes onely so that it is as if the Apostle had said And as many as walke according to this rule peace be on those Gentiles and mercy and peace and mercy on those Jewes And surely if that text be not thus distinctly understood of the faithfull Jewes and Gentiles there will either be a tautologie in the words or else the last words must be understood of the Israel in blindnesse to whom the Apostle doth here also wish mercy according to that which he saith of them Rom. 10. ver 1. That his hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel was that they might be saved And that the Tribes of the children of Israel Rev. 7. ver 4. are properly to be understood Ribera and others acknowledge and Pareus though he enclines to an allegorical interpretation of them in his commentaries on the Revelation yet in his explication of the 18. doubt of the 11. chap. to the Rom. he thus resolutely determines against it Quod Oraculum ad literam de conversione Judaeorum planè intelligendum videtur quoniam Israelitae signati in frontibus ibi disertè discernuntur a signatis gentibus populis linguis reliquis ver 9. Which Prophecie saith he doth plainely seeme to be understood of the conversion of the Jewes according to the letter because the sealed Iewes are expressely distinguisht from
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 help somewhat to justifie the truth of this proposall I shall omitting this division onely glance at them in the ensuing confirmation of the subject Which comprehends in it these two assertions First That the Kingdom of the Jewes shall againe be restored unto them Secondly That our Saviour at his comming shall restore it Mr. Petrie's Answer The Querie comprehends neither of the two because as I said it affirms nothing And the asked matter comprehends them not Not the first because it is of the Kingdom of Israel and not of the Jewes and as all are not Israelites who are of Israel Rom. 9.6 so neither are they all Israelites or the children of God who are of Israel according to the flesh but the children of the promise are counted for the seed therefore the Kingdom of Israel mentioned there may he another then the Kingdom of the Jewes Neither is the other assertion comprehended in the question because it askes not of his second or third comming but of now wilt thou now restore the Kingdom Reply The Querie comprehended both because both are intimated in the Querie and doe necessarily follow from the Querie And you have not shewed us any Querie that affirms nothing nor in what sense this Querie doth affirme nothing In the asked matter there is the Kingdom to be restored and from hence proceeds the first assertion And the person that should restore it and from hence proceeds the second assertion But the first is not here comprehended you say because the Querie is of the Kingdom of Israel and not of the Jewes as if the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of the Jewes were not to be understood of the same people No say you For all are not Israelites who are of Israel Rom. 9.6 a worthy reason for it is as if you should say by the Kingdom of Israel cannot be meant the Kingdom of the Jewes because all that are Israelites by birth are not elect Israelites Israelites according to the flesh and according to faith also For this onely is the meaning of the text cited by you Rom. 9.6 and so proves not that the Kingdom in the text belongs to any other people language or nation but the Jewes of whom alone interpreters doe understand it And therefore you should have spoken out and told us plainly what the other Kingdom you speake of was For we know of no more but two besides this in Question betwixt us And these are commonly cal'd the Kingdom of grace by which is meant the Saints or Church on earth before Christs appearing And the Kingdom of glory by which is meant the Saints or Church in Heaven And that neither of these Kingdoms is meant in the text I prove thus Not the Kingdom of grace for at that time the Jewes themselves alone were this Kingdom and that could not be restored unto them which as yet they had not lost and not the Kingdom of glory for that likewise could not be restor'd which as yet they had not And none can imagine that the Apostles Querie is thus to be paraphrased Lord wilt thou at this time take all the faithfull up with thee into Heaven And therefore seeing it could not be meant of either of these Kingdoms it must be meant of the Kingdom of the Jewes on earth or of none Which is our first assertion And the other is comprehended here too For although the Querie askes not of his second comming but of now yet seeing Christ was to restore it and did it not while he was on earth it necessarily follows that he shall doe it at his descending againe to the earth Which is our second assertion and thus both are found in the text And besides if you take the word â— as all are not Israel who are of Israel in the Apostles meaning i. e. all not are not faithfull Israelites that are descended of Israel then it is an apparent tautology to add so neither are they all Israelites or the children of God that are of Israel according to the flesh and if you doe not take the Apostles words in this sense then it is notoriously false to say that all are not Israelites to wit by nation who are of Israel by birth And is it not a pretty inference All Israelites are not Israelites therefore the Kingdom of Israel there may be another then the Kingdom of the Jewes Surely you might as well have said therefore the Pope shall be St. Peters successour For this conclusion hath as much dependence on the anteceden as the other Israel's Redemption CHAP. I. Of the restoring of Jerusalem and the Jewes returne ANd first of the first That the Kingdom of the Jewes shall again be restor'd unto them For they asked of him saying Lord wilt thou at this time restore againe the Kingdom to Israel So evidently doe these words expresse an earthly Kingdom I meane onely a Kingdom 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 me thinks they should not so rashly have rejected the consequence And that for these reasons Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. Me thinkes you speake non-sense Many expositours expone these words otherwise seeke and you shall finde Secondly why may wee not thinke that the Apostles meaned as Simeon did Luk. 2.30 31 32. or as the repenting thief did Luke 23.42 or as Christ did verse 43. certainly these did not meane of an earthly Monarchy neither is there any word in this text shewing that they meaned otherwise Thirdly albeit no expositour would deny that the Apostles did understand an earthly Kingdom yet it followse not They thought so therefore it shall be so No more then it follows The Apostles did not for a time beleeve the calling of the Gentiles Act. 11.3 therefore the Gentiles are not called But the consequence hath reasons he saith whereof the first two are topicall and by way of probabilitie pag. 5. When the Authour saith The reasons are probable and I may say childish will any Christian change his faith for them certaine faith should have sure grounds lest the wind of tentation blow it away and therefore I might leave these probabilities as not worthy of reading or answer neverthelesse consider them Reply 1. Me thinks you might as wel have shewed the non-sense as said it was non-sense But many expositours you say expone these words otherwise This shews not that I have spoken non-sense in saying that I have met with no such But I doubt it shews that you speake an untruth which is worse then non-sense For you might as easisy have nam'd some of them as have said it and bid me looke them out And had there been any I
texts not of the Jews onely but of the Christian Church and it may be easily understood that these have written according to their consciences and therefore if these be Judges this authour hath lost the cause Reply 1. Had not these prophecies been to the same purpose you might well have thought that I had had as little regard what sense I wrested the Scriptures to as you your selfe have And seeing they are all to the same purpose you had the lesse reason to quarrell at the number of them But it was a great eye-soare unto you to see such and so many witnesses together all maintaining the truth we hold and you oppose And because you could not reply unto them by any credible interpretation in your allegorical way you slide from them with no more nor weightier words then these but number prevaileth not in this case Surely it is a poore case that you who have laboured all this while to perswade the reader that we can bring no plaine proofes for what we say should now be affraid to let him heare what God hath said for us and what you could answer for your selfe But you saw very well that these prophecies were too cleare to be obscured with the vaile of a figurative sense and too eminent to be put on the roll of conditionall prophecies because many of them doe as well containe spiritual blessings as temporal blessings and there can be no doubt of their doing God's will to whom that Spirit and those graces are promised by which alone men are inabled to doe it And for a taste of what I have said take the prophecy of Jeremiah chap. 32. at the 37. ver Behold I will gather them out of all countries whither I have driven them in mine anger and in my sury and in great wrath and I will bring them againe unto this place and I will cause them to dwell safely Here is an outward and temporal promise And they shall be my people and I will be their God and I will give them one heart and one way that they may feare me for ever for the good of them and their children after them And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turne away from them to doe them good but I will put my feare into their hearts that they shall not depart from me Here is an inward and spiritual promise after which it follows yea I will rejoyce over them to doe them good and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soule For thus saith the Lord like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised c. And the like prophecy is in the 33. chap. of Jer. at the 6. ver c. and in the 36. chap. of Ezek. at the 24. ver c. and in the 39. chap. at the 25. ver c. And in the 36. chap. at the 8. ver this prophecy is made to the Mountaines of Israel O yee mountaines of Israel ye shall shoot forth your branches and yeeld your fruit to my people of Israel for they are at hand to come for behold I am for you and I will turne unto you and ye shall be tilled and sowen and I will multiply men upon you all the house of Israel even all of it and the Cities shall be inhabited and the wastes shall be builded and I will multiply upon you man and beast and they shall increase and bring fruit and I will setle you after your old estates and I will doe better for you then at your beginning and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Yea I will cause men to walke upon you even my people Israel and they shall possesse thee and thou shalt be their inheritance and thou shalt no more benceforth bereave them of men c. Now as none of the former prophecies will beare the title of conditional prophecies so neither will this for the land it selfe could neither doe any thing for which God should make such a promise unto it nor for which he should refuse to fulfill unto it what he hath promised And I am perswaded that he who will deny that these prophecies are to be understood of the prosperity and happinesse of the Jews onely that will deny I say that they are properly and historically to be taken or that they are as yet to be fulfilled will not sticke to say any thing 2. If they affirme that these prophecies were partly though not onely accomplisht in the time of the plagues that I say their accomplishment did continue as well then as at other times they affirme that which is altogether inconsistent with the uninterrupted prosperity of these prophecies which shew that none of the people of whom they are spoken shall be left in captivity among the Heathen or be a prey any more to the Heathen but that they shall dwell safely in their owne land without feare and without sorrow And that they shall have such increase of cattle corne and other fruits of the earth that there shall come no more famine upon them And who seeth not by this that these prophecies cannot possibly belong to the troublesome and distressed state and condition of the Christian Church or to any other people but the Jews who alone live dispersed in captivity But you deny that the plagues spoken of in the Rev. were to be continued plagues you should then have shewed what intervalls of joy the Church hath had from the time that the Dragon began to persecute the woman which brought forth the man child And went to make warre with the remnant of her seed Rev. 12.13.17 For doubtlesse persecution hath bin a constant attendant on the servants of God ever fince the first preaching of the Gospel T is true indeed that the Gospel at the first made a great conquest on the Gentiles but how was it done surely not by the contentious hearts bloody hands of the Apostles and their successours but by a constant lifting up of their hearts and hands in prayer and by an undanted offering up of their lives in persecution And it is hard to say when all Christian Churches together have had rest from open persecution But grant that there had bin no such persecution at all in any Christian Kingdome unto this time yet doubtlesse that maxime of St. Paul in the 2 Tim. at the 12. ver Yea and all they that will live godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecution had stood firme and passed still for an undoubted truth For the servants of God might neverthelesse have bin mockt reviled hated and opprest albeit they had not bin haled to prisons tortures and death it self and yet let that Hell on earth the devillish Inquisition witnesse whether this also might not have bin effected in a more cruell barbarous manner in a secret then in an open persecution You
calling againe is exprest by the words Vntill the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in without which or the like words in the premises the word then in the conclusion had beene of little force as the want of it after such a plaine marke and boundary of Israels blindnesse is not considerable for seeing the Apostle saith blindnesse is in part hapned to Israel untill the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in and adds presently after and so all Israell shall be saved and confirmes it too with a Prophecy which concernes the pardoning and purifying of the Jewes onely who that calls his wits about him can beleeve that the Apostle meant neverthelesse that blindnesse should never depart from that Nation which doome your expounding of all Israel of none but of the called of Israel and of the Gentiles doth necessarily put upon it For by the words and so all Israel shall be saved you doe not understand a further calling of any but the accomplishment of the whole number of the beleeving Jewes and Gentiles formerly call'd and therefore the blindnesse being to continue untill the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in and then according to your opinion the calling of men to salvation to cease it must needs follow that in your sense there is to be no other end of Israel's blindnesse then the eternall condemnation and perdition of almost that whole Nation Whose generall conversion many of the Fathers and the most and most learned men amongst Protestants and Papists doe acknowledge to be both plainely foretold here by St. Paul and abetted by the Prophecy alledg'd out of Isaiah which you grant to be the same in sense with the Prophecies before recited and yet the want of this poore particle then must sway the scales on your side against so many evident authorities of God and man And seeing you prize your conceit so highly you might very well have afforded us a paraphrase of the 25. and 26. verses of this Chapter that so we might have knowne your meaning fully and seene how you could make all St. Paul's words here suite with that mysticall sense which you take Israel in But to say no more of a Text which is one of the maine pillars of the Tenet you so much condemne then therefore the conclusion must be expounded according to the preceding words that is All Israel are the called of Israel and of the Gentiles is to bring the Reader into a wood or labyrinth rather and there to leave him to seeke his way out himselfe For the preceding words are that blindnesse is in part hapned to Israel untill the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in and the meaning of them you say is All Israel are the called of Israel and of the Gentiles and the conclusion is and so all Israel shall be saved and the meaning of this also you say is All Israel are the called of Israel and of the Gentiles For the conclusion you say must be exponed according to the preceding words that is All Israel are the called of Israel and of the Gentiles Auditum admissi risum teneatis amici is this to helpe or hinder the Reader in the understanding of the Apostle And yet for all this stirre about All Israel 't is not your distinction betwixt Israel and all Israel that can prove the word Israel to be mystically taken For besides that there is an apparent oppofition betwixt the Jewes and the Gentiles throughout this Chapter and that the Israel which is to be saved hath relation onely to the Israel that is before said to be in blindnesse and not to the words untill the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in which are added to shew the distance of time betwixt the blinding and saving of Israel besides all this it is not generally true that all Israel is more then Israel seeing the word Israel alone is more often used for the whole Nation then all Israel is Neither is it true that all Israel here doth comprehend both Jewes and Gentiles for he useth the universall note all in the last place and not in the first because all none excepted were to be converted although all none excepted were not to be blinded And lastly it is not true that all Israel here is more then Israel here for Israel to whom blindnesse is hapned in part comprehends both the beleeving and unbeleeving Israelites and consequently all Israelites and although all Israel be more then the blinded or not blinded part of Israel that is then Israel divisively taken yet it is not more then Israel indivisively taken then Israel to whom blindnesse is hapned in part and in part not hapned for thus Israel in the 25. v. is all Israel too because it contains all beleevers unbeleevers of the Jews together although it be not all Israel as it is appli'd to the beleeving or unbeleeving Jews severally and apart and therfore in saying that all Israel is more then Israel to whom blindnes is hapned in part you do say that all Israel is more then all Israel though it be more then the beleeving or unbeleeving part of Israel yet to argue thus from hence all Israel is more then the blinded part of Israel therefore it comprehends the Jewes and Gentiles both is just such an argument as this all England is more then almost all England therefore it is England and Scotland too or all your wit is more then the greatest part of your wit therefore it is your wit and your folly both And whereas you say that in this signification the proofe following in the cited testimony must necessarily be understood you doe hereby closely endeavour to put the like mysticall meaning upon the words Sion and Jacob in Isaiahs Prophecie but 't is not the delivering of your meaning so darkely nor the pressing of it upon the Readers beleefe with such an irrationall necessity that will ought availe you For Sion doth signifie in this place the people of the Jewes of whom the Deliverer that is Christ our Saviour was to be borne and Jacob is never used but for the person of Jacob or the posterity of Jacob which last acception is the meaning of it in this Prophecie and how then shall the turning away of ungodlinesse from Jacob be understood but of saving all Israel the whole posterity of Jacob by calling them out of the blindnesse in which they are And consequently this Prophecy also doth shew the Nationall conversion of the Jewes after the fulnesse of the substituted Gentiles is come in or when the time comes in which thorough the wonderfull deliverance of the Jewes not a part as now but all that were left of the Gentiles shall together with them serve the Lord. But these conjectures you say destroy one another for if the calling of the Iews shall be after the fulnes of the calling of the Gentiles then all the Gentiles that shal be left cannot be called through the wonderfull deliverance of the Jews
the man that uttered this selfe-conceited query Whether doe they understand the differences betwixt Jewes and Christians pag. 1. This is one untruth to wit That I have granted that Christ hath executed his Kingly office The next is That I have said that he sits on a Throne in beaven as man which though it be in it selfe a truth for Christ himselfe saith of himselfe and am set downe with my Father in his Throne Rev. 3. ver 21. Yet it is not true that I have said these words for thus I have said that the place where he now sits is the Fathers Throne a Throne in which he hath no proper interest but as God These are your misreports of what I have idsa to which we may adde your affirming that it hath not been proved that the Prophets have spoken of a Kingdome on earth when as the Prophecies which I have alledged for it are so plame that you left them as one afraid to behold their evidence Now your contradictions follow for having also falsely affirmed that this Proposition Christ sits on a Throne in heaven as man is one thing about which we disagree you thus descant on it If these words as man be understood according to the Logicall acceptation it may be granted Thus farre you affirme that according to the Logicall acceptation Christ fits on a Throne in heaven as man and yet you subjoyne presently for what agreeth unto any man as man belongeth unto all men and indeed it belongeth not unto all men to sit on the throne of Majesty Whereby you deny that according to the Logicall acceptation Christ fits on a throne in heaven as man It so lowes and neverthelesse Christ sits at the right hand of the Father as God-Man or Mediatour Here likewise you affirme that Christ sits on a Throne in heaven as man though not onely as man but as God too and yet you immediately subjoyne and in this sense we deny this assertion to wit that Christ sits on a Throne in heaven as man as it seemes this Author takes it But surely this Author haâ—h not spoken the words and yet he will not deny that Christ doth sit there as man 〈◊〉 he should deny what Christ himselfe and the Apostles have said neither will he affirme that Christ sits there any otherwise then as God-man or Mediatâ—ur although his sitting doth properly belong unto him as man onely But you have said that Christ both sits and fits not there in a logicall acception and that be sits there as God-man and yet not as man Thus contrary are you to your selfe and withall as contrary to the truth in misapplying your distinction For whereas you say It may be granted that Christ sits on a throne in heaven as man if these words be understood according to the logicall acceptation of them it is notoriously false for the words as man in this sense doe imply somewhat essentially belonging unto man which cannot be affirmed of Christs sitting on a Throne in heaven to wit that it doth essentially belong unto his humane nature for then it should inseparately belong unto him and to all other men besides this then you should have deny'd and affirm'd onely that he sits there as such a man as Mediatour But you out of your great skill in Logique in which you will allow me no insight have first affirmed both members of your distinction and presently deny'd both such a subtile or rather simple discourse have you extracted out of your logicall principle And that the Reader may see how unseasonable and unreasonable you have alledged this Philosophicall rule as well as the Propheticall and Apostolicall writings and revelations he must know that this maxime what agreeth unto any man as man belongeth unto all men is generally true onely of meere man in opposition to other creatures and not of our Saviour who is both God and man and so as well distinguisht by his humane properties from his divine nature and by his essentiall attributes from other creatures as by his mediatory offices from other men Wherefore it followes not that what belongs unto Christ as man belongs unto all men because we usually say that all that belongs to Christ as man which belongs not to him as God which appertaines to his humane and not unto his divine nature Whether it be proper to him as man in opposition to other creatures as to laugh and to be borne of a woman or common also to other creatures as to be hungry and thirsty to eate and drinke to walke to weepe to groane c. Or proper to him as such a man as Mediâ—tour in opposition to other men As to be borne of a Virgine to dye for our sinnes to rise againe for our justification to sit on a Throne in heaven and to reigne visibly on earth overall Nations These and such like we say doe not in propriety of speech belong unto Christ as God but as man because they are the properties of his humane nature As on the contrary it belongs unto him as God and not as man to be equall with the Father to be infiâ—â—ite omnipotent omniscient â—c And thus much for your answer in grosse which is indeed a very grosse answer You goe on to catch at particulars which you thus alledge The 1. Particular That the Jewes are yet to receive a Kingdome in which they shall hold them captives whose captives they are Mr. Petrie's Answer Here a little change of a little word makes a great difference for the text saith whose captives they were And now they say they are The Prophet is speaking by name of the Assyrians whose Monarchy is now destroyed and the Interpreters shew the accomplishment of that Prophecy according to the Propheâ—s meaning but that prophecy speakes not of them whose captives the Jewes now are neither know we whose captives they are seeing they live as free Subjects wheresoever they live Reply It is true that the text saith whose captives they were but seeing the deliverance which the Prophecy foreshewes hath not been hitherto accomplished we may truely say whose captives they are and therefore there is no such great difference in this change as you pretend For unlesse you can prove that the whole Nation of the Jewes whose redemption this Prophecy doth concerne as these words for the Lord will have mercy upon Jacob and will yet chuse Israel doe shew Vnlesse I say you can prove that the whole Nation that all the Tribes have been set in their owne Land and at their returne thither have brought strangers with them whom they have possessed there for servants and handmaids and have ruled there over their oppressours over those who formerly ruled over them which I am sure you cannot doe it is not very materiall whether we say whose captives they were or whose captives they are And if there be any difference in the change it is onely because the Prophets expression doth seeme to point to that last generation of
Father because it is appointed unto him by the Father and sometimes Christs Kingdome because as man he is to reigne visibly in it and sometimes the Kingdome of God because Gods power shall be revealed after a wonderfull manner at the setting of it up and because none but Gods Lawes shall be observed in it and sometimes the Kingdome of heaven because the chiefe governours of it shall come from heaven and because it shall be of an heavenly condition in regard of the holinesse and righteousnesse thereof for as our Saviour and the glorified Saints shall then as perfectly doe Gods will on earth as it is now done by them in heaven so shall their righteous judgement occasion a more righteous dealing amongst all others over the whole earth then was ever yet observed in any particular Kingdome Israel's Redemption I know these words are taken by Interpreters for a metaphoricall expression of those joyes which we shall receive in * In heaven where the holy Jerusalem is that great City Rev. 21.10 c. distinguished to Ezâ—k chap. 4. ver 2. c. chap. 45. ver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. which I take to be the modell and platforme of the city that is to be built at the Jewes redemption by these and many more differences First because the builder and maker of the one iâ— God Rev. 21.2 but the other men shall build Ier. 31.38 Ezâ—k 40.8 Secondly the materialls of Ierusalem which is above are all gold and precious stones Rev. 21.18 19 20 21. but the materialls of that other Ierusalem shall not be such Ezek. 40.16 17 21 c. Thirdly in this city there is no Temple for the Lord God Almighty and the Lambe are the Temple of it Rev. 21.22 but that city shall have a Temple Ezek. 40.41 c. Fourthly in this city the river of water of life proceedeth out of the Throne of God and of the Lambe Rev. 21.1 but in that city waters not the river of life though endu'd with healthfull and nourishing qualities because of the place whence they are to proceed Ezek. 47.9.12 shall issue from under the threshold of the Temple for the forefront of the house shall stand towards the East and the waters shall come downe from under the right side of the house at the South-side of the Altar Ezek. 47.1 c. Fifthly in this city the tree of Life only grows on either side of the river and beares twelve manner of fruits monethly Rev. 22.2 but by the river that shall issue out of the Sanctuary of that city shall grow all trees for meate Ezek. 47.12 Sixthly in this city there is no night they need no candle nor light of the Sun for the Lord God giveth them light and the Lambe is the light thereof Rev. 21.23.25 ch 22.5 but in that city there shall be night and the light of the Sun shall then be sevenfold Isa 30.26 ch 60.11 Seventhly this city shall descend to the new earth with which there shall be no sea created Rev. 21.1.2 but the waters which shall come from that city shall go into the sea and being brought forth into the sea the waters shall be healed Ezek. 47.8 and therefore that city is to be built before the annihilation of the first earth with which there is a sea heaven but it is a currant axiom in our Schooles Non esse alitera seu propria scripturae significatione recedendum nisi evidens aliqua necessitas cogat scripturae veritas in ipsa litera periclitari videtur That we must not forsake the literall and proper sense of the scripture unlesse an evident necessity doth require it or the truth thereof would be endangered by it and I am sure here is no such cause for which we should leave the naturall interpretation of the place yea we are by many other passages in the scripture rather compelled to sticke to it Mr. Petrie's Answer It may be doubted whether this Author hath been bred in schooles or what he calleth our schooles seeing he so abuseth thetoricall termes as literall sense for proper sense metaphoricall sense contra-distinguished to figurative sense and keepes no logicall canons in his arguing and I thinke he did never learne such interpretation of scripture in any approved schoole As for this rule he may see partly by that is said and shall see more hereafter that these words cannot be understood of an earthly Kingdome neither doe these fore cited compell us as he boldly saith to sticke unto the earthly sense of this text in hand Reply It may well be doubted whether pride or choler did most oversway your judgement in this answer For though I willingly confesse my selfe to be a man not worthy to be numbred amongst the learned yet unlesse I should make as little conscience of lying for an advantage as you doe you cannot chuse but know what schools I was bred in for the title-page of my Book doth publish it to the world And doubtlesse these schooles have ever yeelded men as eminent for judgement as righteous in their life and as zealous for the truth as those that you have been bred in or any other schooles in Christendome besides But that which you here first indict me for is this That I abuse rhetoricall termes as literall sense for proper sense And I pray what Divine doth not as often or oftner use literall sense for proper sense then for the true sense whether proper or figurative and what is the meaning of literall sense in this approved axiome but a proper sense For doubtlesse there is no necessity that can compell us to leave the true sense of the scripture although it may to leave the proper sense And yet the axiome runnes thus We must not forsake the literall or proper sense c. which being rendred according to your acceptation of the word literall the true or proper sense what sense will there be in the axiome Your next censure is That I have contra-distinguished metaphoricall sense to figurative sense But it had been honest dealing to have shewed the place or else not to have said so for an accusation without proofe doth onely declare the plaintiffe a slanderer Your third complaint is That I keepe no Logicall canons in arguing No Sir it is not for every one to doe this it is for such as you are for such as are scholars such men will observe a canonicall method in arguing and make as excellent use of logicall maximes as you have done pag. 30. of this maxime What agreeth unto any man as man belongeth unto all men The last censure is That I never learned such interpretation of scripture in any approved schoole Surely the interpretation of scripture is to be learned from God and not from man for that interpretation is most true and infallible when the coherence of the text doth point out the sense or when one scripture doth expound another of the same nature And yet I goe not alone but am accompanied with many