receive the same Answer 1 Cor. 2.9 10. Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of Man the things that God hath prepared for them that Love him The Original Text to which the Apostle refers is Esa 64.4 where the words runs thus For since the beginning of the World men have not heard nor perceived by the Ear neither hath the eye seen O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him VVhere by the context both before and after in the same Chapter and in the next these things that no eye but God hath seen issue expresly into a New Heaven and a new Earth long life Building Planting a long injoying of the works of their Hands their seed and offspring to be blessed and the enmity of all the Creatures to cease All these though things not seen as yet yet are in their own nature visible enough if men have Eyes answering though much exceeding those terrible things which God did when he brought up Israel out of Egypt and came down upon Mount Sinai in a visible glory which the Church mindes the Lord of in the 3. vers of that 64th Chap. Invocateing the Lord to do the like things again yea threatning a greater kindness that the expects from him if he do but consult his own provisions and stores for that is the meaning of the 4th vers as if she had said Thou hast greater things to shew then ever any Eyes besides thy self O God hath seen and yet the Eye that saw Paradice and that state of innocency and that saw Solomons Temple and the prosperity of that time had seen very great glories but the glory of the new Creation of the second Adam of the true Solomon is to be unspeakably greater every way and in every respect both inward and outward else the Precedent and the pattern was very improperly alledged for that was outward as well as inward and here Sir I thank you again for this Text also which being unmuzled and speaking freely is fully for a visible Kingdom which when you consider I hope you will come over to us and be for it too Not will the next verse you take in relieve you at all where the Apostle saith But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God whereupon you note they are therefore deep profound and mysterious because invisible and could not be so deep c. Were they not the invisible things of God The things whereof we treat even that new State of things which Christ will bring with him at his next coming are deep things and such as without the Revelation of the Spirit we could never have known or had ground to expect and it is called The finishing of the mystery of God but to say there is no mystery but invisible is to deny God manifest in the Flesh to be the mystery of Godliness which I believe you did not consider when you wrote your description of Faith as the evidence of things not seen which you next fall down unto Take it with the former explication viz. That the things not seen are not necessarily all of them things in their own nature simply invisible but with reference to the present time not seen as yet and it hurts me not at all And so we must understand them for whatsoever is the Subject matter of a promise is the Object of our Faith Hope and Expectation which as hath been sufficiently proved and instanced are not only invisible things but also things visible and which shall be seen in their Season But whereas presently hereupon you make the Works of God invisible incomprehensible c. As he himself is How then Sr. can God be made known by them even to natural men as he is said to be Rom. 1. There is I grant a three fold Sence in which the works of God are as you express it Infinite Eternal every way invisible and incomprehensible in all the compleat dimensions of them even as he himself is viz. They are so 1. In the Principle in which they are wrought 2. In the Wisdom and Power by which they are conducted and managed 3. In the end to which they are ordained in which sence Solomon is to be understood That whatsoever God doth it shall be for ever nothing can be put to it nor any thing taken from it as much as to say there is neither Redundancy nor Deficiency in it But if the Children those highest and best pieces of the works of his hands be pertakers of flesh and blood a caduke faint and weak appearance in the present state and yet the Work of God is perfect and abides forever will it be ever the less perfect or rather will it not appear in its perfection when this vile covering upon the Face the Majesty the glory of God in his works shall be done away This Kingdom of Christ which we expect is that alone which can rend this Vail and uncover the Face of the Glory of God in all his workes and it is the proper work of this Kingdom so to do Esa 25.6 7 8. And to exalt the Lord alone in that day then he that blesseth himself in the Earth shall bless himself in the God of truth and he that Sweareth in the Earth shall Swear by the God of truth Esa 65.16 where we may learn that the Earth and God the Earth and Truth and so Visible and Invisible are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inconsistent the Earth the lowest part of his ways and works his Footstool yet truth yea the God of Truth found there the Earth not such a vain shadowy empty thing in that day as it hath been hitherto but the God of truth filling the Earth and all the things of the Earth When you see this will not your Heart rejoyce I am perswaded it will as little as you now know the meaning of that outward visible Kingdom of Christ for this is the new Heaven and new Earth that we speak of a state so new that it shall perfectly blot out the remembrance and leave no footsteps of the former Vanity as the Prophet Esay acquaints us in the 17th vers of that 65th Chapter which state of things yet is and must be acknowledged though not simply Invisible yet as far remote from the common sence and understanding of men as you can desire and to have a great depth and mysteriousness in it a Path which the Vultures eye never saw the Tabernacle of God with men grace and nature God and Man the Creator and the Creature Heaven and Earth things visible and invisible like bretheren dwelling together in unity mutually infolding encompassing one another mutually giving and given forth one of another This is that which the Prophet celebrates with that high Elogium in that fore quoted place Eza 64.4 That no Eye besides thee O God hath seen Till I see this I
as are common to all his comings as 2 Pet. 1.16 we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ which place undoubtedly intends his visible and personal glorious coming which was exhibited in the tranfiguration as in a Type or foretast and is to be in a like glory and visibility of his person in due time yet he speaks of it with no speciality but power which is common to all his comings so likewise that day of Christ which the Apostle Paul sets the Thessalonions right in who were ready to think the day of the Lord to be at hand 2 Thes 2. was this day of his glorious Personal appearance we look for yet the Apostle speaks of it only as an Epiphany which is a Term applicable to any glorious manifestation of his spiritual presence and appearance So in the third place the Revelation of Jesus Christ is a Term common to his spiritual as well as his personal appearance and is used promiscuously 1 Cor. 1.7 It is there used of his spiritual appearance waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ which in the Greek is the Revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ but in the second to the Thes 1.7 The same word is used in his Personal coming that which I note from hence is that the Personal appearance of Christ is a powerful a glorious coming and appearance a revelation but every powerful glorious coming or revelation is not the second appearance or revelation of Christ's person I shall take the several comings in order as they lie in the New Testament there is a spiritual coming of Christ which he promised his Disciples to abate their grief for his departure when he was about to leave them a little while Joh. 14.18 I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you This I take to be over and above besides the promises of the comforter of whom he had spoken in the verses immediately before I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter even the Spirit of truth Christ and the spirit though the same in nature yet are Personally distinguished so also vers 28. He repeats this promise ye have heard how I said unto you I go away and come again unto you And again ch 16.16 A little while and ye shall not see me and again a little while and ye shall see me which he inculcates again vers 22. ye now therefore have sorrow but I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice and your joy no man taketh from you all these Scriptures intend not that visible appearance which Christ made to his Disciples after he arose for many reasons 1. Because they are all consecutive of the sending of the comforter which was not sent till after his Ascention 2. The sight of Christ before his Ascention was not improved to such glorious advantages as he tells them this shall be to instance but in two only the 1. you have Joh. 14.20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you The second you have ch 16.23 In that day ye shall ask me nothing verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you hitherto ye have asked nothing in my Name ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full But after that the Holy Ghost came upon them they received power as our Saviour tells them they should to improve the advantages of their state and interest yet I say this was more then the sending of the comforter to them even the exhibition of his spiritual person to the eyes of their minds or their inward man for so Christ hath appeared and exhibited himself according to his good pleasure and as the exigence hath required to his chosen ones both before his coming in the flesh and since to many Saints and Martyres to Saints on their death beds as well as to Martyres in their sufferings for Christ hath and ever had a person in the spirit Before Abraham was I am Joh. 8.58 Joh. 1.20 he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not he in this spiritual person appeared to the Patriarks and spake unto the Prophets Thence had they that assurance of the word that came to them and that confidence to engage upon it against all the disswasions of flesh and blood as Abraham in leaving his own Countery and offering his Son and against all the Terror of men and this world yea this presence this appearance how hath it triumphed over all the power of the enemy and swallowed up death the King of Terrors in Victory and that this hath been through the spiritual sence and demonstration of the Lord himselfe both their own affirmations and the Testimony of the Holy Ghost himself in the Scriptures do shew which speak of the Lords appearing to them The next that we read of Christs comings to pass over his sending the spirit in the day of Pentecost and the manifestation of the spirit in manifold extraordinary gifts then and afterwards during that age of the Apostles is his coming in the destruction of Jerusalem dismantling the Jewish Church and Nation and removeing Judaism of this coming the Epistles are full and many of those intimations are mistaken as if intended of Christs last coming as that Phil. 4.5 Let your moderation be known unto all men the Lord is at hand and those places in Heb. 10.25.37 and ch 12.26 and James 5.8 They all refer immediately to the destruction of Jerusalem though through that as a Type they look at the destruction of earthly Jerusalem and Babylon at Christ next coming Thirdly we find a coming of Christ both promised and threatned to the seven Churches of Asia 1. The Church of Ephesus is threatned if she repent not that Christ will come unto her quinkly and remove her Candlestick 2 Rev. 5. and so the Church of Pergamus vers 16. is threatned with Christ coming to them and to sight against them with the sword of his mouth But the faithful in Thyatira are incouraged to hold fast that they had till he came vers 25. So also the Church of Philadelphia ch 3.11 Behold I come quickly hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown and to that pittiful Laodicea vers 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man here my voice and open the door I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me Thus God came in the dismantling of these Churches also saveing all the sound Materials he found in them providing otherwise for them 4. The next coming of Christ we read of is his coming at the opening of the 6th seal in the dissolution of the Heathen Empire or of Heathenism in the Roman Empire which is set forth in such a stile as some
have taken it for the last and general Judgment whereof it was a lively figure and representation Revel 6. from 12. to the end 5. The next coming of Christ is his coming upon the man of sin after he had by the space of a thousand years fixed his throne and Usurpation over all Christendome for the generallity of it called the Holy City Setting himself in the Temple of God whom the Lord by the Spirit of his mouth in his witnesses and reformers consumes and brings to a skeleton in order to destroy him with the brightness of his coming Now as all the appearances of Christ to the Fathers and the Prophets were gradual and preparatory workings to his first Personal appearance wherein and wherewith also he ministred the light and notice of his second appearance so all these several comings of Christ since his ascention are so many gradual steps and preparations to his second and glorious Personal appearance and coming And as none of those appearances of his to the Fathers and the Prophets were his first personal appearance such as was promised and intended by God and expected by those that believed the promises so neither do any of these comings since Christs ascention discharge the promise of God or the expectation of believers but that they groundedly expect not only a farther and fuller Revelation of Christ but a Personal appearance and descending of the Son of man from Heaven bodily after the same manner as he appeared the first time and as he ascended though in a far greater glory which second appearance of his in person will finish our Salvation as his first did perfect our reconciliation The necessity of this second and personal appearance for these ends will appear more clearly after we have removed one objection which may lie in the minds of many it is this Christ is a spirit a quickning spirit the Lord that spirit His Body is spiritual a spiritual body can act at a distance why therefore may not all that is to be performed for the Church be done by Christ without changing his place why must we needs understand his descending from Heaven to be Local visible and bodily Why may not a vertual presence serve the turn and especially when the phrase of Scripture favours such a sence for it is said he cometh in a cloud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 21.27 and he shall descend from Heaven in a shout in the voice of the Archangel in the Trump of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if the shout the voice of the Archangel the Trump of God were the vehicle and the vertue or power of Christ put forth therein were all the appearance he makes and all the voice he puts forth and not his Organical voice It was the voice of Angels that shook the earth at the giving of the Law though it be call'd his voice he putting forth his power therewith and with that voice and with that effect is this shaking of Heaven and Earth parallel'd Heb. 12. To which may be added that Christ is God as well as Man and hath all power in Heaven and Earth and his very humane Nature is carried up to the right hand of power and in association with his Divine Nature is thereby qualified to act as a spirit yea as God and the Centurion could say when he sought Christ for his servant and Christ told him he would come and heal him speak but the word and thy servant shall be healed as much as to say no need of Local motion or corporal application to all which I answer 1. Of the power of Christ who is the true God and eternal life there is no dispute He can do whatsoever he pleases by a word by a Beck by a motion of his will nor do we limit circumscribe or give Laws to a spiritual body which in the spirit is and can act as the spirit so that the question is not of what is simply possible to Christ but the question is what is the will the counsel the determination and appointment of the Father 2. The same argument will lie against the necessity of Christ's first Personal appearance for Christ was the Lamb slain from the Foundations of the world in the eye of God and his Sacrifice did operate as an atonement with and on the behalf of all the faithful from the begining and they beheld this Sacrifice and reaped the comfort of it in all their Sacrifices under the Law yet all this made not the personal appearance of the Lamb of God in flesh needless for all those figures had their vertue from this and all the Faith of the Saints look unto this in those shadows Now if notwithstanding all this it was necessary that Christ should come in the flesh and fulfil those shadows that pointed to him which had else all been in vain The cause is the same here in respect of his second appearance for all the judgments that have been hitherto shewed and executed on Jews or Heathens for resisting Christ or on the Antichristian world for mocking of Christ have not yet succeeded so as to make Christ's Victory perfect to put all Enemies under his feet nor all the Salvation outward or inward that he hath wrought for his followers have not given them rest from all their labour and sorrow Isa 14.3 and hard Bondage wherein they have been made to serve both inward and outward they have not yet received the hope Gal. 5.5 or Harvest of the righteousness of Faith but wait for it they have not yet received the quiet and full possession and fruition of their inheritance Eph. 1.14 neither of Heaven nor Earth but only the earnest of it The whole payment awaits this second glorious Personal appearance of the Lord Jesus from Heaven Not but that the things are great which have been done by the spirit and were Faith improved what a glorious improvement farther might be made of our present state and interest but as that first ministration of the Law though glorious in its end and tendency Yet as that end drew near did Sink and became less powerful in the Letter and even declined as a shadow and came to nothing so this ministration of the Gospel from Christ's first appearance may be expected to be with the generallity of professors of Christianity as Christ's second appearance comes on insomuch that the very Faith of it will be even vanished out of the Earth Luk. 18.8 And little but the form of goodliness without the power to be found among many if not the most of professors yea the sincere the true seed will be sensible of great sailours great decayes of spirit Isa 32 1◠to relieve which is that promise of the spirit to be poured from on high on the wilderness the latter raine and of sending Elias Joel 2.23 Mal. 4.5 to turn the heart of the Fathers to the Children and
delights in the Body or Image of its manifestation without waits for it and is perfected in it for though it be said my strength is perfected in weakness yet it rests not till it hath removed weakness and therefore saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 13 4. though now we are weak in him yet we shall live by the power of God towards you We shall have a time to shine and be acknowledged a time to appear what now we do not Otherwise this bodily and visible Creation were in vain 1 Cor. 14.2.14 and as the Apostle speaks of speaking in unknown Tongues in the Spirit they speak Mysteries but their understanding was unfruitful so hero even Christ should in vain take flesh and in vain retain human nature and form in glory Nay he is not glorified in his human nature if his Members shall not therein be glorified likewise with him Do we suffer in our bodies and in our outward circumstances suffer with Christ and suffer for Christ and shall we not in the same be glorified together was the Earth made in vain to be only the range of wild Beasts was it not made to be inhabited and planted with righteousness and for the will of God to be done in it and will you call this an outward Kingdom and inconsistent with spirituality because it is visible and the object of sence Are we not fain in the present state to abstract from our bodies our sences when we would converse with Divine things as the Prophets that were in Trances when in the visions of God is not this through the weakness of the Vessel and is it not the glory of God and the happiness of Man when this shall be done away When also there shall be no pricking Bryar nor grieving Thorn no Persecution no oppression no wants no sickness nor pain do not these much hinder us from bringing forth those delicious fruits of Praise which we shall abound in when these are removed Sir I wonder that a person as you are that are not only acquainted with the Theory of what I speak but the experience that have suffered under the finest and most refined formes of this old World and their unrighteous usurpation in the things of God of which I perceive you have a quick sence still remaining with you that your ears should be so heavy to the News of a New World Were it a cunning devised Fable an officious Lye to deceive the pain of the present circumstances I should commend your high resolution not to be beholden to such collusions or were we in a hasty spirit of wrath and reveng calling for fire from Heaven upon our Persecutors you would be justified if you should tell us we know not what spirit we are of But when it is not our device but Gods revealed Counsel and design It is not our ease but his glory that is chiefly concern'd herein pray let us not be wiser then he nor more free of his glory and our own sufferings then he himself is pleased to be LET GOD HAVE A KINGDOM AMONG MEN. Give it not away to Satan to Antichrist they have had it long enough Is it not said for thy Glory All things are and were Created Is not his Name blasphemed continually every day while they that Rule over his people make them to howl Is this all the Kingdom God shall be allowed in the world to be glorified in the faith and patience of his suffering Saints Doth not the Apostle say It is a righteous thing with God to render tribulation to them that trouble you and to you that are troubled rest with us c. Contend for spirituality as much as you will I shall joyn with you There is need enough so to do but oppose not the visibility the universality of Christs Kingdom who must be King over all the Earth known and acknowledged by all Zach. 14.9 And whereas you say towards the end of your Book That this expectation savours too strongly of the spirit of the old persecuting Jew who through the expectation of such a glorious Messiah rejected the Messiah in that tender he made of himself and Crucified him I hope Sir you intend not hereby to cashiere and cut off that people from their part in the glorious state of that Kingdom who if they had not particuler promises and assurances of a special regard to them in the turn of things that God will make in that day and that they were not to be an eminent and signal instance of the irresistable power and prevalency of the rich free and boundless grace of God as I am well satisfied they are from the 11th to the Romans and multitudes of other places yet for the universality of this Council of grace which is to take in the whole Earth they must upon that account be allowed to come in for their share with the rest of the Nations Their error was that they overlook't the Testimony of the Prophets yea of the spirit of the Messiah himself in the Prophets that testified before hand of the sufferings of Christ and of the glory that should follow they were not mistaken in expecting a glorious Messiah but in expecting him out of the order and time that God had set for it but now that Christ hath suffered yea and his Body mystical hath fill'd up the measure of his suffering in themselves under the 42 months of the Beast if we deny him his Kingdom shall we not not only persecute him but all his members likewise worse then the Jews did You say in the entrance upon this argument you would not be concluded as a meer stranger to the nature and circumstances of this controversie having read Mr. Brightman and Mr. Mede but found them defective Sir I have that charity for Philalethes according to the Import of his name and for the long experience and acquaintance I have had with him that he would not prevaricate with his light nor speak or write against the least truth he was convinced of But Sir you are not ignorant that though truth be eternal in its spring-head in God yet in respect of its discovery to us it is the daughter of time there are seasons for all truths to come forth into the world there was so for the Gospel 1 Tit. 2.3 Mr. Brightman lived and died remoter from the times of this light Mr. Mede who lived nearer to them saw farther But besides Sir there is as in one place of your Book pag. 65. you express a certain Divine position and configuration of minds as well as things that disposeth or indisposeth them for some truths and therefore considering this position and configuration in Mr. Mede who was alwaies in his opinion for conformity and for the Hierarchy in the Church it is to be admired that he should engage so far as he did in this cause of Christ's glorious Kingdom on earth and it adds no small weight to the evidence of that truth that against the
for Jesus sake but with this Counsel and design That the Lâ—fe also of Jesus might be made manifest in our Body yea in our Mortal flesh which expectation and hope he casts into the times of the Resurrection vers 14. Or the day of Judgment as it is in the next Chap. vers 10. when we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Text may be rendred that he may receive such things by or through his Body according to that he hath done where the Body is brought in not as the instrument of those things done as the Translation in the English would carry it but for that state of man wherein he shall receive his full reward whether for good or bad which is when the Body shall be reunited to the Soul as in the Resurrection for if the Apostle should refer the doing of good or bad only to the Body or those things wherein the Body was the Agent or Instrument it would be too short to take in all good and bad there being many both good and bad fruits wherein the Body hath no hand as all mental Sins and spiritual wickednesses and so spiritual vertues and graces his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad For this cause it is that he says in the former Chap. vers 16. We faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction which is but for a Moment worketh for us c. While we look not at the things that are seen but the things that are not seen c. Here lies the knot what are these things NOT SEEN This is the strength of your Argument if there be any strength in it The Apostle shews both before and after what he means They are things that relate not only to the Soul but to the Body the mortal Flesh the Earthen Vessel or the Earthly house of this Tabernacle which shall be exchanged for a Building of God an House not made with hands a House from Heaven a Vessel of Gold which the same Apostle in the former Epistle Chap. 15. calls a Spiritual body Now is all this a meer INWARD SPIRITUAL AND INVISIBLE Glory Give me leave Sir to tell you what hath led you out of the way it it the taking of the things not seen for things Invisible whereas the Apostle is not heard to speak so in this place The words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not things simply or in their own nature absolutely invisible but with respect to the present time as it is restrained in a parallel case and instance of Noah Heb. 11.7 Noah warned of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 touching things not seen as yet viz. The destruction of the old World by the Flood a thing which they saw and felt to their cost in the season appointed And so the recompence of reward that Moses had respect unto and the promises unto Abraham that he should be the Heir of the World they were things not seen as yet but not in their nature invisible but were seen in their time in bringing Israel into Canaan as an Earnest of the whole world to be given in due time to the seed of the Antypâ—â—â—l Abraham So also the Apostle speaks of this hope that remains still to the People of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we see not yet all things put under him He doth not say we shall never see but implies the contrary nay we have earnest of it in the glory and honour with which our Lord Jesus the head of this mystical body is Crowned Such is the Apostles Argument and such is his sence and so is he to be taken in this your place of the Corinths the things the Apostles lookt unto and comforted themselves in were things not seen as yet for they take not place till the Resurrection and the day of Judgment which I suppose you overlooking or not considering the time of this glorious visible Administration but thinking I took up as perhaps too many do in a corruptible state of things in changes made by men on this side the Resurrection of the Dead hath been a stumbling block that hath turned you out of the way whereas it is not till the Resurrection of the Just that we look for this reward as our Saviour himself determines Luk. 14.14 When the Dead shall be raised incorruptible and we that survive shall be changed Now to deny a visible and outward Kingdom and Glory when the bodies of men shall put off Mortality and there shall be an universal change in the whole nature of things in Heaven and Earth and all Creatures and in all Administrations is without any plausible pretence either of Reason or Scripture It must be granted that all along in all times there have been by dispensation certain visible Earnests and foretasts of this recompence serving as Types and Prefigurations for the confirmation of our Faith and Expectation as in Enoch during the times of the Old World in the bringing of Israel out of Egypt in Moses time in the flourishing raign of Solomon c. In the Translation of Elijah in the transfiguration of our Saviour and there have been some rare examples that have pressed farr and bid high for perfection as Paul even for the Resurrection of the Dead to pass by those in every age who put themselves forward in their own spirit which will come to nothing but never any in their mortal flesh attained the full glory of this state but only a little portion of it it being the glory of another time and that which awaits the Second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints as Enoch the first of these Instances witnesseth in his Prophecy And now Sir I have done with this your second proof and I thank you for bringing it into the field it hath done us more service then you though I hope all is a service to you and you will find and acknowledge it so in the end but I speak with reference to your present cause and engagement you must needs be sensible that your own weapons are turned upon your self for these things that are not seen to which the Apostles and Believers do look have been proved to be the things of the resurrection such as concern the glory of our bodies and the restitution of all things as well as the perfecting of our spirits and to be called things not seen not for the invisibility of their nature but for that the time of their appearing is not yet So that now unless you will say which I know you will not that the putting all things even Death it self in subjection under Christ and his Saints is no part of the Kingdom of God and of Christ you cannot say it is wholly inward and invisible Your third Quotation may
is a Kingdom Daniel 7.27 And the Kingdom and Dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High This promise comes in upon the dissolution of the fourth and last Monarchy both East and West The little Horn that riseth after the Ten being the Turk and therefore did not the very express terms and circumstances in the Text decide it the Time the Place the order of Succession would carry it to be a vissible and powerful Kingdom to be exercised here on Earth The very notion of a Kingdom imports a collection a panoplia of all delights but when it is said the Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven it imports an Vniversal Monarchy or the Monarchy of the Universe whereof the four precedent Monarchies were but improperly so called by a Synecdoche and this Universal Monarchy to be most absolute most full most perfect for all felicity and abundance otherwise it could not invite and unite all the Earth as it shall do for the Kings shall bring their glory into it it shall be set in the top of the Mountains many Nations shall say come let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord and they shall find themselves at rest here and therefore is the reign of the Lord Jesus celebrated with such joy by the Spirit of Prophesy Psal 96. The heavens and the earth and the Sea and the Fields and the Trees of the Wood are called upon to rejoyce and sing and so in the next Psal 97. The Lord reigneth let the earth rejoyce let the multitude of the Isles be glad thereof so that as there shall be Righteousness Peace and Joy Heavenly and Divine within which is the whole substratum of your model of Christs Kingdom so over above and besides this shall righteousness likewise dwell in this new earth and shall fill all the administrations of this new World and the Kingdoms thereof and Peace as the work of this righteousness and Joy as the fruit of all these are the Mystical flowers and fruits that shall adorn this new state of things when the Winter of the Militant and suffering state is over and gone 4. This Kingdom contains in it and under it All the Kingdoms of this World Rev. 11.15 Possibly not all at first but only the Kingdoms of the fourth Monarchy both East and West but in the process of it it shall reap and gather in all the rest for the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish Esa 60.12 Yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted the whole Chapter is of it and in the last Chapter of that Prophesy we are made acquainted with one means how this shall be brought about vers 19. where the Lord saith I will set a * And what difference between a Signo Digito monstrari dicier hic est Sign among them and I will send those that escape of them unto the Nations to Tarshish Pul and Lud that draw the Bow to Tubal and Javan and to the Isles afar off that have not heard my Fame neither have seen my Glory and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles He had said before vers 15. Behold the Lord will come with fire and with his Chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire for by fire and by his Sword will the Lord plead with all flesh and the slain of the Lord shall be many Then they that escape of these judgments shall be sent to the Nations who shall be armed and instructed not only with the Gospel of tydings of Christs first appearance but with the tydings of his second appearance and shall declare unto them what Christ hath done to the fourth Monarchy utterly consuming it and making it as the chaff of the Summer threshing floor to be carried away with the wind for ever for there will the judgment begin and this Embassy will prevail with many and those that stand out must expect the like severity and to be broken in pieces with the Rod of Iron as a Potters Vessel is broken to Shivers This is no mystical business no more then the destruction of Jerusalem was of old by Titus and Vespatian nor then the destruction of Heathenism was under the Sixth Seal Now if Christs Kingdom shall do all this and yet not concern it self with the world I much marvel 5. But this will be yet more clear if we consider in the next place that this time of Christ's coming is called the times of refreshing and Restitution of all things and if all things shall be restored then as the Apostle argues on the like universal Term. There is nothing excepted there is a dissolution is first to pass and that is upon an all too seeing all these things shall be dissolved saith the Apostle Peter but the work of Christ rests not there for nevertheless we according to his promise look for a new Heaven and a new Earth the restitution shall be as larg a restitution of all things where by the way we may learn that the new Heavens and Earth are the same Heaven and Earth new cast as I may say to which the word dissolution doth point as Plate that is melted down and cast in a new Mould and takes a new form and therefore it is called a restitution to its Pristine beauty integrity and innocency though I conceive the pattern to which it shall be restored is the pattern in a higher mount than Paradice even that mount where corruption never entred nor can enter for it is said as is the Earthly such are they that are Earthly and as is the Heavenly such are they also that are Heavenly and as we have born the Image of the Earthly we shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly 1 Cor. 15.48.49 Which is a glory far superior to the glory of the terrestrial Adam and that state of things which was Mutable and corruptible at the best and therefore if this renovation were but the restoring all things to that state it could not properly be said That it were new for Solomon saith nothing is new that hath been of time before Now when and how this great change shall be the Apostle tells us ver 53. when this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality 6. That which yet farther strengthens this is The Redemption of our Body which the Apostle saith the most spiritual Believers even notwithstanding their being possest of the first fruits of the Spirit yet even they groaning within themselves do wait for Rom. 8.23 and this the Apostle calls the Adoption Adoption is of Strangers whereby the Apostle intimates that till the body be redeemed we are as Strangers or in a Strange form and appearance not like the Sons of God as John saith 1 Joh. 3.1.2 Therefore we see Christ at
whole Creation doth unto this day Yea we that have the first fruits of the Spirit saith the Apostle even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the adoption viz. the redemption of our body Sir I trust we are not and shall not be found without our mouths filled with praises for this inward Kingdom of God in the Spirit in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the holy Ghost nor for this glorious freedom and liberty in the inward man but yet we groan and are allowed so to do and it is our duty and the Spirit himself assists us in this groaning and assists us with his sighs and groanes which are deeper then ours for the glorious completion of this Kingdom and the manifestation of it In respect whereof and in comparison with which our present state is but a prison and that in two respects the one respecting the inward the other the outward liberty First in respect of the inward this Spiritual inward liberty of which you treat though in respect of the ground and object of it which is Christ and the work of our Redemption wrought by his Death be full and perfect in its self yet in respect of its Application it is neither fully given forth nor but weakly apprehended by us The times of the full giving forth being reserved till Christs second appearance when the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be seven fold as the light of seven days viz. In the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people and healeth the stroak of their wound Esa 30.26 At present though the Object be uncovered in comparison with the times of the Law yet our sight is weak and therefore our weak eyes need a Glass as the Apostle saith 2. In respect of the outward The vision of our peace is as a book that is Sealed The times of this world are the Seales upon it six of them were open'd long since the seventh containing all the Trumpets and Phyalls under it is opened so far that there remains but the last Trumpet and Phyal which sticks but by a little Wax and then the times of this world are ended and the book flies open and then that is written within shall be perfectly manifested Now Sir let me bespeak you in your own words p. 30. Look not awry upon these things neither manifest any manner of dislike or neglect or carelesness Gallio like about them And take not the present in payment for the whole Look into the ancient Types of this Redemption we wait for they were not meerly inward and spiritual but outward also The deliverance of Israel out of Egypt the bringing back of the Babilonish captivity The bringing up of the Christian Church from under the Heathenish persecution These were but in part and shall this glorious Kingdom we expect fall short of these God forbid That measure of outward Liberty we enjoy at this day is by the Prerogative dispensation of this Kingdom of our Lord Jesus which hath set foot in these Nations and will not let go its hold till it hath wrought out a full liberty and deliverance for us I come now to the other part of your third Position that this Kingdom of Christ is of absolute perfection and glory which I readily assent to and the perfection and glory of it to be greater than what you instance or describe but not actual in the present state but only in hope and enjoyed at present only by Faith I say first the perfection and glory of this Kingdom of Christ is greater than what you rest in for the perfection and glory you describe rests in God and in the Person of the Lord Jesus and we are interessed in it only by faith for this is all the evidence you bring or indeed can bring for the absoluteness of this perfection and glory our imperfections manifold testifying against us that we are not actually or manifestly perfect throughout in our whole spirit Soul and Body nor in either part of them and therefore by the convincing evidence of this imperfection you are driven to fly to your Metaphysicks of unum bonum verum vel perfectum p. 44. and to grant that we in our selves and of our selves are still the same only look what we are to God that we are in Him and not in our selves p. 42. and very studiously and industriously you purge your self of placing this perfection in the flesh or in the letter but that it hath its being and foundation wholly and altogether in the life and power and spirit of the Lord Jesus c. p. 47.48 which is so well spoken that I wish those that rejoice in your book as countenancing their dream of perfection may understand it and come to a better understanding by it But is this all the perfection we ever look for in Christs Kingdom an objective perfection shall there be two Men always in us the Old and the New the Flesh and the Spirit shall we be always torn and divided and drawn asunder by two Centers two Laws the Law of our Members rebelling against the Law of our Minds T is most certain our Life our Perfection our Glory shall ever be more objective than subjective even to Eternity that is our happiness our blessedness more properly more truly consists in the Relation we have to God and Christ in the Vnion we have with God and Christ then in any habit qualities or graces that are wrought in us or by infusion imparted or communicated to us and with us else what means the Beatifical Vision But there is a vast difference between the way of apprehending this glorious full and perfect object of all blessedness now in the present infirm state and hereafter We now walk by faith saith the Apostle not by sight but then we shall walk by sight and not by faith while we walk by faith the object is at a distance for faith is the evidence of things not seen the substance of things hoped for now hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for therefore faith is not sight properly though the Apostle calls it a seeing in a sort because it makes a kind of supply of the want of sight yet 't is but a dark but a weak sight and therefore says he we now see through a Glass darkly for the weakness of the sight and the remoteness of the object the glass is needful The Lord Jesus his Person his transactions is in this our present state but as a glass through which we see God and this glass is very remote He is in Heaven and we now see him not as the Apostle Peter says 1 Pet. 1.8 and there will abide till the times of the restitution of all things and we only see him by Faith through the revelation of Scriptures the representation of Ordinances and the spiritual form of himself brought forth
in our hearts by the Spirit this is another glass that conveys the eye-beams to the glass of his Person and to his Blood which he hath carried into the holy place and to his Glory that as our Forerunner he is there entered into for us so here is glass upon glass or one glass serving to another but all this while we see not the Face of God but as in a glass but our Lord Jesus in his second appearance will then be no longer a glass but the very face of God unto us then we shall not converse with him through the forementioned glasses of Scriptures of Ordinances of Graces or his spiritual Form begotten in our hearts but shall see face to face and know as we are known the Person of the Lord Jesus shall then give forth unto us the very Face the very Image the very Life the very glory of God therefore it is said he shall come in the glory of the Father this was that he said to Maâ—y Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father and this was that he said to his Disciples I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of this Vine until that day when I drink it now with you in my Fathers Kingdom Mat. 26.29 And when we shall thus immediately converse with this ever blessed and full object God our Father shining forth giving forth himself nakedly immediately fully through the Person of our Lord Jesus his essential Image how great must the fruit of such a sight of such a converse with God needs be how unspeakably great must that glory be that shall then be revealed in us Christ is in full glory already in himself but he hath not his full glory in us nay how small a portion hath he of it did not the Scriptures so abundantly testify of our imperfection our meanness were not our infirmity so great a part of Scripture Revelation our own sense and feeling our own experience might suffice to acquaint us with it but so utterly imperfect are we that we are not capable of our own imperfection without Scripture Revelation nay without Spirit Revelation and is this to be boasted as a state of perfection I will be bold to say The greatest perfection now is to know our imperfection They are the most perfect men that see most of their imperfection But shall we never attain a further perfection then a sence of imperfection Is this all the glory to be revealed in us the revelation of our shame no nor the covering of it neither by a Robe of imputation That Kingdom of God that is in us now in suffering must be in Reign in Triumph in Victory Isa 25.8 There is a victory in Faith in the present time that stays the Soul but the victory of Faith ends not the Battle but looks to this victory of that day of glory Isa 42.1 3. when the judgment that was given for us in Christs death or rather in his Resurrection shall be brought forth unto victory when our right shall be acknowledged and all our Rights Priviledges Immunities all the glorious Acquest of our great Captain the Lord Jesus shall be given forth paid in and performed to us All the promises all our hopes the hope of righteousness by saith Gal. 5 5. that Believers through the Spirit have waited for all along to that day when all the work that Sin hath made all the works of the Devil 1 Joh 3 8. All this dark scene of wrath and trouble that came in by Sin All these waters of the curse that have covered the face of the Earth since the Fall shall all be dryed up and pass away for ever This and not any thing short of this is the absolute perfection and glory of Christs Kingdom You will not say that this is actual and present it neither is nor can be so 1 Pet. 1.13 because it is that grace that is to be brought unto us at the Revelation of Jesus Christ as the Scriptures abundantly acquaint us It is so appointed by the Father It is his good pleasure which is enough to stop any further enquiry God is Love and as free as we can desire hath given us all things pertaining to life and godliness 2 Pet. 1.13 1 Joh. 5.11.12 but 't is through the knowledge of him even our Lord Jesus Christ He hath given us Eternal life but this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath Life He that hath not the Son hath not Life All his communications to us are by and through his Son and he hath cut out his work for him Joh. 12.49 50. ch 14.31 Act. 17.31 both for his first and second appearance and Christ takes it and finishes it up as his Father gives him command He hath appointed the day when he shall judge the world and when he shall save his people and that is at his second appearance Heb. 9. last And this work of Salvation can no more be performed so as God will have it be for his full glory and our full joy without Christs personal appearance the second time in glory then the work of reconciliation by his death could be without his coming in our infirmity the first time and therefore the Apostle in Gods behalf engages that God shall send him again Acts 3. and he shall bring him again into the world saith the Author to the Hebr. ch 1.6 Indeed the Salvation the Change the glory is too great for any hand to bring but Jesus Christ in Person But of this we may have occasion to speak more ere we have done I come to your fourth Position 4. Position That the Kingdom of God and of his Christ is a Kingdom of much meekness and gentleness and goodness and heavenly moderation in all the various appearances or administrations of it This position and all that stands under it is of so Mild so Humane so Generous so Christian an aspect that I shall desire even to be found peacably and amicably comporting with it and I thought to have passed it in silence without a word more but yet to prevent any misunderstanding and that I be not by this Applaudatory Testimony involved in any Concession prejudicial to my Cause give me leave to subjoyne these two or three Animadversions following 1. That though Christs Kingdome be a Kingdom of much meekness and gentleness and goodness c. Yet that Christ is a Lyon as well as a Lamb and that this Lamb hath his Wrath as well as his Meekness Rev. 5.5 and chap. 6.16 And that his Enemies must expect to feel the one as his subjects servants and friends shall find the other 2. That both the Gentleness and the wrath of the Lamb have their times and their seasons and each is beautiful in its season the present time or the times of the militant state are times while the gentleness the patience the long-suffering of God waits upon his Enemies and all that time