from God whose Kingdome habitation and dwelling from whence the soule came is boundlesse endlesse and limitlesse and therefore a place of liberty because it is without any restraint and every soul while it is in the mortall body of clay is confined and bounded with its mortall wall of earth the body and chained in by the naturall corruptions of the sinful flesh And so every soule while it is in the body is in prison because it is by the body restrained from its former liberty it had in heaven from whence it came into the mortal body wch former liberty was boundless and limitless Therfore it was those soules that were in the mortal bodies of those wicked men of the old world that lived in the days of Noah before the flood that Peter speaks of that were the spirits in prison preached unto by that quickning spirit or lively spirit of God the holy Ghost by wch the dead body or flesh of Jesus Christ was quickned or raised the 3d day again to life from the dead It was that same Spirit or holy Ghost sent by Jesus Christ into Noah that did preach in Noah to the spirits or soules of those wicked men that lived in the days of Noah before the flood wch were in prison then imprisoned in their mortall bodies by their finfull flesh whose sins were so provoking of the Almighty that the Lord said It repented him that he had made man on the Earth and it grieved him at the heart These mens soules or spirits were so imprisoned in their bodies and so chained in by their corruptions of the flesh that they could not hear the Spirit of God preaching unto them in Noah for repentance amendment of life but were like the deafe Adder that stoppeth his eare against the Charmer charm he never so well Peter saith that God did suffer their disobedience long and with patience waited for the repentance amendmēt of life all that while time Noah was preparing of the Arke And thus is this Text to be interpreted and understood to the glory of God because it sets forth his truth and therefore that clause in the Apostles Creed ought to be razed and for ever put out and no longer suffered for Catholicall as from an Apostolicall Author being it was from a Papisticall Antichristian Diabolicall Jesuiticall Author the Devils chiefe erroneous instruments on earth That Jesus Christ shall reign one thousand yeares on Earth SAith the Apostle Peter No prophesie of the Scripture is any private interpretation neither came it by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost The Scripture is not the word of men but it is the word of God And saith the Text the Prophesie of John is The revelation of Jesus Christ to shew unto his servants things that must shortly come to passe Therefore Christ sent and signified the same by his Angel to his servant John One and the same holy Ghost delivered the whole word of God though by divers Instruments amongst whom John was one and the last who saith I saw an Angell come downe from heaven having the key of the bottomlesse pit and a great chaine in his hand And hee laid hold on the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Devill and Sathan and bound him a thousand yeares and cast him into the bottomlesse pit and shut him up and set a seale upon him That he should deceive the Nations no more untill the thousand yeares should be fulfilled Iohn doth not prophesie of any thing to come but what was answerable agreeable to former prophesies and promises Therefore let men in these dayes try the prophesies of Iohn with other Scriptures as the noble Bereans in the Apostles dayes tryed the Apostles doctrine and then the very truth of God will appear according to the promise of Jesus Christ Whatsoever you shall aske the Father in my name he will give it unto you Therefore ask and you shall receive Aske by prayer for heavenly wisedome in faith and you shall receive a good understanding Seeke and you shall finde Seeke by searching of the Scriptures for the truth and you shall find eternall life Knock and it shall be opened unto you Knocke at heaven gates by a fervency in heart for the spirit of God and the gates of heaven shall be opened the holy Ghost shall come in unto you and he shall reveal all things unto you that be written whether past present or to come God in the beginning created the whole works and creatures that be mortall within the first fixe evenings and mornings And loe all things were very good But when that old Serpent the Devill and Sathan that enemie of man by his subtilty had beguiled Eve and by her Adam and so in them all man-kinde by sowing tares of disobedience in the whole mortality of God The Lord said the whole earth and creatures were so corrupted through the deceit of the Devill that it repented God that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at the heart And still even so long as the Devil shall have power over the whole mortality of God he will deceive the Nations but Iesus Christ by his servant Iohn hath promised the whole mortality a whole deliverance from the power of the Devil for a thousand years by sending an Angel with power from heaven downe into this world to lay hold on and arrest the Devill at the suite of Iesus Christ with an action from God Almighty out of the Court of Gods glorious justice without bail or main prize to cast him into the bottomlesse pit and to shut him up and to set a seale upon him because he by his instruments shut up the body of Iesus Christ in the grave with a great stone and sealed him up with the signet of the Scribes Pharisees that he should not rise again according to the Scriptures for the redemption of his redeemed ones And for the Devils deceiving of the Nations from the creation unto that time shall he be kept in shut up for one compleat 1000. years during which thousand yeares all the mortall creatures on the earth at that time shall be so freed from the Devils evill power according to former prophesie and the promises of God by the Prophet Isaiah That the devouring Lyon shall eate grasse as an Oxe and all creatures shall be atpeace even at the same peace they had in the day of the creation before man sinned by reason whereof the Devil had a power to work in all creatures the evil of malice and death this 1000. years of the Devils confined and restrained power from his working and acting of evill in any wise either by tempting to evill or dying for evill or by evill There shall be no death neither shall there be any children gotten or borne for getting of children is an act of sinne because it
Art thou a Ruler in Israel and knowest not these things viz. The great errour in that which is called the Apostles CREED And the reall truth of JESUS CHRIST his glorious conquering personall reigne on Earth over the Devill Sin and Death for one thousand yeares WITH Mans salvation by the free grace and favour of God and Jesus Christ Laid open by him who heartily desires the manifestation of all the truths of God and of Jesus Christ And the utter extirpation of all the errours of MEN WILLIAM FARMER Gent. That Christ betwixt his buriall and his resurrection did not descend into Hell nor then preach to the damned spirits in PRISON THE Church of England doth allow of and acknowledg 3. Creeds And the now Assembly of Divines have adheringly ratified confirmed and manifested them all that is the Nycen Creed the Apostles Creed and the Athynasian Creed Nothing ought to be counted Apostolicall that is not grounded upon and answerable unto the Apostles Doctrine Our Apostles Creed is That Christ was Crucified dead and buried he descended into Hell the third day he rose again from the dead There is no Doctrine of the Apostles that Christ betwixt his buriall and his Resurrection descended into Hell therefore it is no Apostolicall Doctrine Whatsoever is not Apostolical ought not to be made Catholical The Nycen Creed which is counted Catholicall sayes that Christ suffered for our salvation descended into Hell rose again the third day from the dead That Christ suffered for our salvation or rather that Christ suffered for our sins was finished when he had received the vineger and said it is finished Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit and having said thus he gave up the Ghost or his divine Spirit or God-head departed out of his humane body and then was his full sufferings finished as Christ himselfe saith Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that the Scripture might be fulfilled as this Nycen Creed saith well Although he be God and man he is not two Christs but one Christ so when his God-head was departed from his man-hood then hee had finished or fulfilled all Scripture as a sufferer because he was a perfect Christ no longer then he was God and man no more then a man that is a dead man is a perfect man for the dead body cannot suffer because it hath no sense so that it was only the humane body of Christ laid in the grave that was in Hell because the grave is the dead bodies Hell and the grave is called hell in divers Scriptures and so is this Nycen Creed to be understood The Athanasian Creed saith That Christ suffered and was buried and the third day rose againe according to the Scriptures and therefore a truth for what the Spirit of God hath revealed that only is truth but the Spirit hath in no Scripture revealed that Christ betwixt his buriall and his resurrection descended into hell as that which is called the Apostles Creed doth affirm therefore it is none of the Apostles Doctrine This Doctrine that Christ betwixt his buriall and his resurrection descended into hell is a hellish Antichristian Romish doctrine derived from their diabolicall errour upon that their mis-interpretation of the Spirit of God from those words of the Apostle Peter where he saith That Christ hath once suffered for sinnes the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickned by the spirit the holy Ghost by which Spirit also he went and preached to the spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient to God when once or at that time that that the long-suffering or forbearance of God waited in the dayes of Noah while the Arke was preparing From which Text doe the erroneous Antichristian Doctors of Rome gather and conclude that Christ betwixt his death and Resurrection divinely in his God-head went amongst and preached unto the Infernall damned spirits and to this purpose have inserted those their owne diabolicall words and Doctrine amongst the Apostles doctrine and made the same Catholicall as part of a Church-article to believe the same as faith unto salvation This doctrine interpretation is antichristian because it doth contradict the Doctrine and words of Jesus Christ himselfe who said to the penitent Thiefe upon the crosse To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise To be in Paradise is to be in a place of pleasure this Paradise was Gods kingdome of glory which is Christs kingdome as the Spirit revealed the same to that Thiefe who said Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome The humane bodie of Jesus that same day after he was dead was laid safe in Josephs Tomb or grave which is called hell where there is no pleasure neither can a dead body take any pleasure therefore the humane dead body could not that day be in Paradise and for Christs Divine Spirit or God-head at all to be or that day to be amongst the damned spirits could not then that day be in Paradise because the damned spirits are not in pleasure but excluded from pleasure and reserved in chaines of darknesse unto the great and terrible day of the Lord where no pleasure is Therefore it is an infallible truth that when Jesus Christ said to the Thiefe to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise he spake of his own divine Spirit or God-head and of the thiefe's invisible internall immortall eternall spirit or soule which came from God and not of their mortall bodies which came from the earth and lay in the earth And when he spake of Paradise he did not speak of that earthly Paradise in Eden into which the man was put after his creation but of that heavenly Paradise into which man should be fetched after his redemption by a resurrection in which Paradise as Jesus Christ affirmeth is pleasure for evermore and so are the Romish Doctors and their antichristian diabolicall doctrine with their false interpreation confuted The true meaning of the holy Ghost in Peter by those words of Peter are thus to be interpreted and understood that Peter and all others by God appointed for that purpose into whom the holy Ghost was sent and spake as the Spirit gave them utterance did not speak preach or reveale the will or mind of God to the mortall bodies of men because the mortall bodies of men are to perish and so cannot for ever retaine the word of God which is to endure for ever as Jesus Christ saith Heaven and Earth that is the whole mortality shall passe away but not one jot or tittle of my word shall pass away But the Spirit of God doth direct the word of God to the immortall eternall soules or spirits of men because the souls or spirits of men and the word of God are to endure for ever and so the souls are able to retain the word for ever And every soule of man is an immortall eternall living spirit
1656. yeares In relation by comparison to that may be supposed that Iohn doth declare the time of Christ his patience and waiting on Sathan the deceiver for as God in vengeance did not destroy the old world untill he with patience had suffered their evill manners 1656. yeares So may it be supposed that Christ will not destroy the power of Sathan the deceiver untill with patience hee hath waited and borne and suffered in himselfe and members Sathans evills 1666. yeares from his own birth for John saith Here is wisdome let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man and his number is 666. David in his dayes did number the dayes of a man to be 70. yeares and Iohn here to 66. yeares because of the decay of nature for it cannot be thought that mans life toward the end of the world of which John treates should be 666. but 66. may be and also is commonly seene by which supposition it may be gathered that Christ with patience will wait and forbear Sathans evils ten yeares longer then God did beare with the old world The one was 1656. yeares and the other will be 1666. yeares according to this collection Christ will beare and suffer the evils of Sathan before hee take vengeance on the Devill to destroy or confine his power for a thousand years untill 1666. yeares from the birth of Jesus Christ to deliver the whole mortality from the power of the Devill as Paul saith The fervent desire of the creature waiteth when the Sons of God shall be revealed for the creatures earnestly desire the revelation of the time that the Sons of God shall be delivered because the creature is subject to vanity not of its own will but by reason of him which hath subdved it under hope The creature did not offend it was the man male and female Adam that did offend but the creature because it was created for man must abide the curse with man therefore the creatures also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God for wee know that every creature groaneth with us also and travelleth in paine together unto this present and not only the creature but we also which are the first fruits of the Spirit even we do sigh in our selves and wait for the adoption even for the redemption of our bodies or an assurance of our parts in the blessed first resurrection which shall bring us the redemption of our bodies who are the adopted Sons of God in Jesus Christ by which blessed first resurrection shall our bodies be delivered out of the Devils prison the grave and the bodies hell to Gods Saints against whom the Devill had no further power but to kill our bodies and to imprison them in the mortall hell the grave of earth from whence our bodies came and unto which we did expect they should returne again for a time and as the corne there lyes in the earth waiting with the Husband-man for the first fruits of the spirit which is that blessed first resurrection of all that are dead in Christ from Abel the first that dyed and all others dead before and the living then in the year of Christ from the birth of Christ 1666. shall be partakers of Jesus Christ his glorious reign for that 1000. years of the Devils confinement or imprisonment That man is only and alone saved by the free favour or grace of God and Jesus Christ and not at all by man nor of any thing that man can doe THe grace of God is the favour of God and the free grace of God is Gods free favour And that which is free is compleat and absolute of it selfe and hath no partner nor partaker neither is under any controule And so it was the free favour or grace of God which did arise or spring from the love of God in Jesus Christ to choose some in the second Adam Jesus Christ out of the All that was lost in the first Adam For God who hath an al-seeing eye did see or fore-see all men lost in the first Adam before the world was and that was before man was a living creature and man was a living creature before he was a lost creature and therefore God did before the world was through his love in Jesus Christ and meer mercy towards poor lost man predestinate by his power elect or choose through his love such as should be saved God did predestinate by his power such as should be saved by pulling of poore lost man out of the snares and thraldome of Sathan by the perfect obedience and satisfactory sufferings of Jesus Christ for mans sins who himself sinned not And this was a free favour or grace of God to man to give Christ his Son unto the death to ransome sinfull man from sinne because man in himselfe had nothing worthy to move God thereto and therefore was it the free grace or favour of God And as Paul saith That God did give up Jesus Christ for us all to the death Saith Christ Father if it be possible let this cup of thy fury wrath or indignation passe from me neverthelesse not my but thy will be done And as Jesus Christ the Sonne and second person in the Trinity is God as well as God the Father and first person in the Trinity So Jesus Christ as he was God did give up himselfe to the death for sinners because in them there was nothing worthy that could or did move him thereunto and therefore was it the free favour or grace of Jesus Christ to dye for mans redemption And that Christ did freely lay downe his life a ransome for sinners saith Christ know this that if I did not lay downe my life freely all the Devils in hell and all the men on earth could not take it away from me For if I should pray unto my Father for a rescue because I am unjustly condemned hee would give or send me more then twelve legions of Angels And so are all such as shall be saved by the free favour or grace of God and of Jesus Christ through the power of God in Jesus Christ predestinated unto salvation by the free grace and favour of God and of Iesus Christ and not by any thing at all in man for if there could be any thing in man towards his owne salvation Then were not the salvation of man from the free grace and favour of God and Iesus Christ if man had any share or part in his owne salvation but that the salvation of man is wholly and alone from the free grace and favour of God and of Iesus Christ is thus proved God did predestinate elect and choose man unto salvation before he was created therefore man could have no share or part in his own salvation God did elect and choose through his love in Iesus Christ before the world was such as should be