their Peace and Reconciliation with God through that expiation that he should or hath made for their sins thirdly in the like way also to evidence to them at one time or other Å¿ Act. 2.36 that he is their powerful King and Protector that hath and doth and will subdue all his and their Enemies and keep them in a loyal and good condition by Faith and Grace unto Salvation Twelfthly Consider that the general more eminent and glorious execution of those three great Offices for his universal Church more remarkably in the World is in these three great Periods of his manifesting himself in the World according to all that his t Joh. 4.34 Father had given him to do 1. As u 1 Pet. 3.19 20. the great Prophet of his Church by his Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in all his immediate Messengers till his coming in the Flesh and so Christ is said to preach in the time of Noah to the Spirits in Prison as St. Peter speaketh 1 Pet. 3.19 20. 2. As w Psal 110.4 Heb. 5.6 7. Chap. the great high Priest in the second Period after his coming in the flesh when putting an end to all the Types and Shadows of his Priesthood he actually undertook in his Person and executed the Work and Office of Priesthood as the great High Priest having made a full and perfect attonement and satisfaction for the sins of all his People he ascended into the x Heb. 8.1 Holy of holies the highest Heavens there sitting at the right Hand of God the Father powerful and glorious there to execute and improve that Office by making intercession for his People till his coming again 3. y Rev. 11.15 5.10 In the third great Period of the World under the seventh Trumpet Christ will appear more eminently in executing the Office of a King in this general consideration in respect of his Universal Church subduing wonderfully and manifestly in the world z Rev. 2.27 Rev. 19.11 to the end his own and his Churches Enemies powerfully a Deut. 30.4 5 6. graciously enabling his Saints to walk in the obedience of his Laws taking away in a great degree the evils of sin and suffering with the causes of both by b Rev. cap. 19 20. binding of Satan and destroying the wicked powers of the World c. I say in a great degree though not then c Rev. 20.7 8 9 10. totally nor finally Lastly Consider how Christ hath and doth and will work in these three great Periods of the World In the first he wrought by d 1 Pet. 1.11 12. his Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation making known the Will of the Father in all things for substance respecting Faith and Obedience In the second By e Joh. 1.17 Joh. 14.17 Joh. 17.17 his Spirit of Grace and Truth powerfully sanctifying his people more eminently and largely then in the former In the last When he will take to himself his Kingly Power Rev. 11.15 19. by f 2 Cor. 3.18 2 Tim. 1.7 his Spirit of Power and Domination What things concern this third Period see further after the large Paper December 7. 1664. Novemb. 3. 1663. Part of a Letter sent to a Friend not long after the Writer thereof had more intensively inquired into the last times in order held out in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ contained under the seventh Trumpet Rev. 11.9 and Thousand years of Christ's Reign on Earth Rev. 20. AS for the New-Jerusalem since the bar was taken away whereby I have formerly conceived it to be an Article of Faith which the Scripture expresly declared viz. That the Heavens must contain Christ's Person till his coming the second time to Judgement My meaning was to the last Judgment I have I say found much since in Scripture but especially in the Book of the Revelation to tend to a coming of Christ as the great Monarch to set up his glorious Kingdom upon the putting down all other worldly Powers that stood in opposition to him 1 Cor. 15. when he will begin to judge the quick and dead Rev. 11.17 18. I have lately perused Mr. Archers Book of Christ's Personal Reign and though in all things therein I am not satisfied yet I cannot find solid reason in many things to dissent and in other things it seemeth convincing and doubtless in his time he was a very discerning Christian and I had of late before I read that or any other of the like nature since my most earnest search into mystical Prophecies of the latter times the same apprehensions of divers passages in Scripture which I find to agree with his Book as the applying what our Saviour promised to his Disciples when he came to his Kingdom which I find will be in the Thousand years Rev. 20.4 promised to the New-Jerusalem Inhabitants Rev. 3.21 that then they should sit on twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel And that of our Saviour Luke 21.24 that Jerusalem should be trodden under foot till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled but to be raised up again then And when he wept over Jerusalem he said They namely that People of the Jews should not see him thenceforth till they said Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord Mat. 23. ult denoting that then they should see him And that Promise Zech. 12.10 to the end which is in a way of mercy foreshewing how upon their Conversion they should mourn in humble contrition and look to him at his appearing when that Nation shall be born in a day Isa 66.8 which judicious Expositors apply to the expression Rev. 1.7 Behold he cometh with Clouds and every eye shall see him and they also that pierced him that is the People of the Jews that after their imprecation on themselves and on their children shall be accomplished will as the Apostle Paul speaks Rom. 11. appear to be beloved for their Fathers sake when those times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Act. 3.19 and then all Israel shall be saved both of Jew and Gentile And though many grave Divines for a long time interpreted all that hath been spoken to this purpose for the most part to a spiritual sense yet the things that some hold out to the contrary seem easie to be answered so that if this Opinion or rather matter of Faith be but freed from those evil additions that the subtilty of Satan in the primitive times thrust upon it as if it should be a Kingdom of sensual pleasure for before this misrepresentations or false aspersions rather as Mr. Mede notes it was very antient And freed likewise from that bold presumption and scandalous wickedness of our latter times for any under pretence of Christs Kingdom given to the Saints to go about by the Sword or any other unlawful means to divest Magistrates and Governors of their Offices to take that Kingdom before Christ give it to them
Divine Essence both in the Eternal Decrees and in the execution of all f Psal 33.6 joyntly in their order concurred and so g John 5.17 with John 14.10 11 16. will do from Eternity through all Times unto all Eternity Secondly that all the glory of God the Father was by the Eternal Decree to be manifest h 2 Cor. 4.6 Heb. 1.3 Joh. 1.3 4 5. in Jesus Christ his onely begotten Son the Lamb slain in the Eternal Decree of the Father i Rev. 13.8 1 Pet. 1.19 20. before the foundation of the world was laid And according to the said Eternal Decree the holy Ghost k 1 John 5.7 one God co-essential and co-equal with the Father and the Son l John 15.26 proceeds from the Father and the Son the m 1 Tim. 2.5 Mediator between God and Man as the sole n Gen. 11.2 John 14.16 17 26. efficacious Worker and Accomplisher of all spiritual good in and for Angels and Men o Jam. 1.17 all real good in all Creatures which in their several p Exod. 20.11 Orders and Natures they were capable of receiving Thirdly Accordingly in the Creation God made the q Prov. 3.19 Prov. 8.27 28 29 30. World by his Wisdom the Eternal Word John 1. the Spirit sitting as it were upon the surface of the Waters then covering the Earth powerfully to produce the Creatures then to be made and so both the Heavens with the Angels as Divines conceive and the Earth were made the first day Gen. 1.1 as all that were made in the whole World afterward in the five following days which the word Elohim in the plural number put with the Verb Barah in the singular number denoting the Trinity of Persons in the Unity of Essence seems to declare whose concurrence in the making of man is likewise very remarkably exprest when God said Let Us make Man after Our own Image after Our likeness Gen. 1.26 Fourthly The making of r Ephes 1.11 Angels in Heaven and Man and all Creatures in the World was in the execution of the said incomprehensibly glorious Trin-Une-Deity in their several Orders Natures Stations and Conditions Fifthly As no other but the holy and good Will and Pleasure of the infinitely glorious and incomprehensible GOD was the reason and cause why they were all made absolutely as they were so that they should be for Himself as Å¿ Prov. 16.4 his Word witnesseth as their utmost End and no other inconsistent Reasons or Ends ought to be given or assigned by men Sixthly As the t Gen. 1.31 whole Creation was all good suitable to the Author of it so the preserving ordering over-ruling and disposing of all Creatures according to his good Pleasure by his infinite Wisdom Power Providence and Goodness u Rom. 11.33 is not to be measured or judged by any scantling of any created Capacity who will notwithstanding be w Psal 51.4 justified in his saying and clear when he is judged there being in such his proceedings so many fathomless depths in respect of Creatures which it is not lawful for any men to search into further then Gods Word doth warrant them but in things not revealed or forbidden x Deut. 29.29 they are not to enquire Seventhly Since God according to his said Eternal Decree and good pleasure of his will at the Fall of our first Parents in Paradise revealed and testified his wonderful powerful Grace That the blessed Seed of the Woman should break the Serpents Head there is sufficient ground y Psa 51.5 for ever to humble all mankind and z 1 Cor. 15.10 for ever to exalt Gods free and rich Grace therein and a Matt. 11.28 Tit. 2.11 12. all men are thereby engaged to use all GOD's means to obtain their part therein Eightly According to the Declaration of that wonderful rich and free Grace of God for the Salvation of his People and for carrying on his great Design therein As the Father Son and holy Ghost by an Eternal Decree had purposed so to be wonderfully glorified in the powerful Redemption and Salvation of b Rom. 8.28 30 33. his elect People in such a way of free Grace so in the creation of all things all sorts of Creatures were made c Act. 15.18 in a capacity to carry on that Design and from that very period of their first being holily and most wisely over-ruled and disposed of d Psal 119.91 in reference thereunto and so ever since have been are and shall be most wonderfully holily and powerfully though many times secretly and unsearchably throughout all Ages by the joynt concurrence of all the said three Persons of the most sacred Trinity in their order of working e Eph. 1.11 Heb. 6.17 2 Tim. 2.19 John 13.18 to the infallible perfecting and compleating of the said Design Decree and Purpose Ninthly That the f Isa 42.2 1 Pet. 1.19.20 John 3.16 1 Tim. 2.5 mannagement and administration of the great work of Mediatorship between God and Man ever since the said promised Seed was revealed to our first Parents hath been committed to Jesus Christ the Son of God who in his Word commands all men g Mat. 17.5 Luk. 9.35 to hear him h Psal 2.12 1 Pet. 2.6 by acknowledging receiving and obeying him Tenthly That the mannagement and administration of Mediatorship between God and Man hath ever since been executed by Christ in his three great Offices wherein He and he onely is to appear most powerful wonderful gracious and glorious to his Church upon Earth as her great i Act. 3.22 Prophet k Heb. 5.5 6. Priest and l Psal 2.6 King Eleventhly Christs execution of the said three great Offices is two ways to be considered 1. More generally for his universal Church in respect of the m Gen. 3.15 Psal 110.1 Rev. 11.15 several seasons wherein in order he was to execute them severally most eminently until his work of Mediatorship should perfectly be accomplished and n 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20 21. full reconciliation made between God and all his elect People his o 2 Cor. 12.12 27. mystical Body the true Church being compleat in all the Members of it and perfect Union and Communion attained with himself as their Mystical Head together with the p 1 Joh. 1.3 Father and the holy Spirit as also with the glorious Angels and one with another in most happy enjoyment of all Good to all Eternity 2. It is again considerable particularly and specially in respect of every truly believing Soul in the particular application of the efficacy of those three great Offices to them by his holy Spirit making good means and ordinances efficacious to every faithful Soul so exhibiting himself to them q Act. 3.22 as their great Prophet inwardly powerfully and savingly teaching them all necessary Truth and Doctrine secondly r Heb. 7.15 as their great High Priest in the like way evidencing
to whom it will belong as being appointed to them by his Father in his own time namely at Christs appearing Here consider that Christ saith he came not to destroy the Law and Paul saith he established the Law and this is necessary to vindicate this Doctrine from scandal and to warn well-meaning persons that they think not upon seeming-fair pretences of good to attempt to do evil God having revealed that he will set up that Kingdom himself and that only in his own appointed time On the other side saith our Saviour He that breaketh the least Commandment and teacheth men so shall be the least that is none in the Kingdom of Heaven As he answered the mother of Zebedees children Mat. 20.23 It shall be given to them for whom it is appointed of my Father appointed as well for the time when as persons to whom These and the like errors being removed from it I think it may have an honourable and comfortable place in matter of true Christian Faith as containing the best times of the most holy Catholick Church upon Earth that we are to believe or hope for and the excellentest Communion of Saints that we are in this world to expect And likewise that we are now specially by our prayers to labour to promote as God of old directed his People when their time of deliverance from Babylon drewon Jer. 39. Then said he they shall call on me and I will answer c. And when Daniel by Books understood the mind of God therein he set himself by fasting and prayer to seek for and help forward if it might be the accomplishment of such revealed Grace So now also that new Babel is abundantly revealed to God's People to be shortly to be thrown down and the New-Jerusalem much more abundantly revealed in Scripture shortly thereupon to be set up The Faith and Prayer of God's People ought in their sphear to seeks to promote it and I observe the Dutch Notes though by men of different Judgments yet in the Preface of the nine last Chapters of Ezekiels Prophecy apply what is there said to some wonderful Glory of a Jerusalem to come of which the former restoring of the Jews from old Babylon was but a Type Besides I observe many Psalms and many passages in many other Psalms more than I reade in Mr. Archers Book to tend so this way that otherwise as such Prophetical-Scriptures besides seem not to have any probable fulfilling but according to Revelation Interpretation as I may call it which I must acknowledge I never did nor ever was like rightly and groundedly to have understood but according to the tenour of that blessed Book And as Israels coming out of Egypt tended to the actual giving of them after forty years space the possession of Canaan of old so God's Peoples coming out of the spiritual Egyptian Antichristian bondage now approaching tends to bring all God's true Israel into the New-Jerusalem that comes down from Heaven Rev. 20. and is it not a main drift of the most if not of all the petitions in the Lord's Prayer to this purpose for when hath Gods Name been so comparably hallowed in Earth as it is in Heaven as then it will be both by Men and Angels in all he is made known by to his People When wil his Kingdom come with such power to any sutableness in Earth as it is and will be in Heaven but when the Kingdoms of this World are the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ Rev. 11.15 And likewise when at the same time Rev. 19. God's People shall so rejoyce when the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth because as it followeth in the next verse his Bride hath made her self ready And consequently when will the Will of God be done in Earth as it is by the blessed Angels in Heaven but when his Subjects are of most obedient hearts and loyal spirits as they will be under such a prevalent reigning of Christ When may daily Bread this day any day be so comfortably and confidently prayed for and expected as when the particular promises of the greatest confluences of Temporal and Spiritual Blessings are to be fulfilled in their proper season to their best purposes c. When may we with such comfort and confidence pray for forgiveness of our Trespasses this day any day as when our hearts shall witness with us we least allow our sins When shall we be so assured of our own pardon as when our spirits are most free and clear in pardoning others in case they offend against us When can we so confidently pray to be delivered from the evil one and evil works with the consequents thereof this day any day as when Satan shall be known to be bound Rev. 20.3 and many great temptations removed and a very great measure of Grace attained and near Communion with Christ enjoyed in this World Yea and will not the following enforcements of Prayer set down by our Saviour be then most clearly applicable when the Kingdom is most manifestly Gods and the Power both to obtain it at his own time and pleasure and so likewise to retain it appears clearly his and consequently all Glory as his due shall be rendred unto him to all eternity Amen Amen And for the Martyrs and Saints to be raised at the entrance of Christ on this his Kingdom to have their part in the New Jerusalem I had the like thoughts before to what I find in other Authors That they should be in a state such as Christ was in after his own Resurrection while he was not ascended to his Father but when I consider the many Prophesies of all those great things in the Old Testament so confirmed in the New and specially applyed in the Revelation to the New Jerusalem not only by allusion but by application of the Spirit of God and Christ himself in a special manner Rev. 10.7 as he declared to his Servants the Prophets And at that time reward is to be given to his Servants the Prophets Rev. 11.18 and to his Saints and to them that fear his Name both great and small as it follows in the same Scripture And it is of main weight in this point that when the Chorus was set about the Throne Rev. 4.1 2 3. c. when Saint John was to receive the Visions of that Book there is a glorious appearance of God described and the Rainbow round about the Throne as doing all to his Church through the Covenant of Grace through the Blood of Christ his only begotten Son and the seven Lamps burning before the Throne deciphering the seven Spirits or the Holy Ghost with his Gifts and Graces as Rev. 1.4 more clearly in Rev. 5. there is a Book in the Hand of him that sat upon the Throne which none was found worthy to open but the Lamb that had been as it were slain having seven Horns and seven Eyes vers 6. which occasioned the four living Wights and twenty four Elders to sing a
62.12 whereupon they shall come to her Isa 60.3 and that with earnest desire and high estimation of her Zech. 8.22 23. and be joyned to the Lord and become his People also with her Zech. 2.11 These Nations and Kings shall bring to her Sons and Daughters Isa 60.4 and 49.22 Enrich her mightily with abundance and precious things Isa 60.6 17. She shall eat the Riches of the Gentiles Isa 61.6 and suck the Milk of the Gentiles and the Brests of Kings Isa 60.16 who shall be her Nursing Fathers and Queens her Nursing Mothers Isa 49.23 bringing her Presents and Gifts Isa 60.6 and 45.14 they shall fall down and make supplication Isa 45.14 they shall worship with their Faces to the Earth and lick the dust of her Feet Isa 49.23 Zech. 14.16 Strangers shall be her Servants Isa 61.5 Yea such as will not serve her shall be destroyed Isa 60.12 Zech. 14.17 She shall be a Crown of Glory in the hand of the Lord and a Royal Diadem in the hand of her God Isa 62.3 And this her Excellency shall never be changed her days of mourning shall be ended Isa 60.19 20. Her Joy everlasting Isa 61.7 For ever shall her Land be inhabited Isa 60.21 Zech. 14.11 For to the Lord is she married Isa 62.4 who sweareth by his right Hand and the Arm of his Strength to give her no more over to her Enemies Isa 62.8 At that day the Lord shall be King over all the Earth and in that day shall there be one Lord and his Name one Zech. 14.9 Thus we see what glorious Promises are made to the New Jerusalem when the Promises of the New Heavens and the New Earth shall be accomplished with many other of the like nature whence it may appear how strongly pre-possession of prejudice against an Opinion or Doctrine may carry grave and otherwise judicious men away from the Way of Truth sometime upon one advantage or other as by Prescription by Multitudes of wise learned or even good men if they try not all things to hold that which is good which was mine own late Error in this particular or at least want of defecation of appendant Errors cunningly by Satan affixed on this Truth as we observed in ancient and modern seducements not distinguishing between the Depravation and Corruption of that Truth and Truth it self which in its Original was pure and untainted as in other cases many times when the corrupt super-additions of men have long prevailed to mingle themselves with anciently untainted Truths which when men can learn to view with unprejudiced minds and adhere to with uninterested Affections will soon appear to them in their native excellency But for the said New Jerusalem the more I observe many places of Scripture not onely in the New Testament and Revelations but in the Psalms the Prophets and even the Historical Parts the more I am minded thereof from time to time And besides Psal 2. 8. 96 98 99. which one mentions specially I have taken notice of sundry others since God hath opened my eyes as he did Hagars of old to see these refreshing Waters of Comfort as Psal 89. 50. and divers passages in others which seemed to tend that way as Psal 146.5 6 7 8 9 10. 148.11 12 13 14. 149. throughout and those nine last Chapters of Ezekiel which the Dutch Bible reckons like Daniels to be Revelations of the Old Testament which set forth things to be accomplished in the New though they seem not to own the Opinion yet sometimes again lay grounds of it The second and seventh of Daniel speak much of Christs Kingdom and many other places too largely here to rehearse The Spirit of God seems to me to have spoken so largely thereof and in many specialties likewise to these purposes and the things themselves seem so to approach as evidently may appear from the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ the best Expositor of the meaning of his own Prophetical Spirit that it much concerns all Gods People diligently to search and examine all such Truths as he hath set down there for our now seasonable Instruction and Consolation being sunk down near to the very dregs of the Worlds evil Times And as our Saviour on Earth directed to search the Scriptures for Salvation so now being in Heaven he directs his People to search them in this for consolation And as then he said In Moses the Prophets and the Psalms it is written of me for the former so for this he not onely points out Moses the Prophets and the Psalms in the old Testament but hath likewise taught the Apostles the Evangelists with many other persons divinely inspired in the New Testament to give witness to these things Vide the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or peaceable consideration of Christs Kingdom c. and lastly by his own wonderful gracious divine though mystical Revelation to the beloved St. John wherein very much is held out concerning his own Kingdom and the New Jerusalem and as it was when by the Ministry of Christ and his Apostles the Doctrine of the Resurrection had been more cleared then in former times yet afterward the Apostle Paul shews a further Mystery concerning the same 1 Cor. 15. We must saith he all be changed though not all dye so many things are still Mysteries to us concerning both the New Jerusalem and the Resurrection though concerning both our Saviour in his Revelation hath last super-added greater further Discoveries in both than any were before at least in evidence and clearness Yet how are the Eyes of very many with-held from discerning these things and in great part it is like to be so to all save to them to whom it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God which he uses to do as Christ himself informeth us to Babes and Sucklings when they are hid from the Wise and Prudent Mat. 11.25 and therefore to be humbly and faithfully sought And though the Apostle Paul concerning the Jews general Conversion had discoursed largely in the ninth tenth and eleventh Chapters of the Epistle to the Romans yet still he reckons that Doctrine mystical v. 25 c. Let all such therefore as are of truly Christian Spirits wait upon God as by other means so by faithful and earnest Prayer to the true Teacher of his own Mysteries as may appear requisite in a matter of so great importance concerning all Gods faithful People who seem to have their peculiar interest therein Rev. 3.21 and 20.4 5. and 10.18 which is incomparably greater and better for that thousand years then all the Crowns and Scepters and Kingdoms of the World not improved in Christs service in the mean time Part of a Letter dated May 20. 1664. tending to the opening of the seven Seals Trumpets and Vials with the Order of their Times useful for such as are unacquainted with Revelation-Mysteries with some Additions to the like purpose THe first six of the seven Seals
pass through that momentany change and be wrapt up with the Faithful likewise then raised to meet Christ in the Air in a glorious condition For though such as were raised before in the beginning of Christ's Reign were before in an excellent state in regard of their bodies suitable to what Christ's was in before he ascended unto the Father yet then it seems probable they will be more glorious bodies than formerly mortal eyes could endure to behold therefore saith the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 15.51 We shall not then all sleep but we shall all be changed both living and dead All be changed both living and dead or raised before namely all that are faithful and he repeats it again the more strongly to assertain it ver 52. latter part of the verse for the Trumpet saith he shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed It seems also necessary that there be a distinct consideration of the state of such as are of the New-Jerusalem come down from Heaven which seems to be the City whose Maker and Builder is God as it is said Heb. 11.10 which is again said ver 16. to be prepared by him for the faithful Fore-fathers that dyed not having received the Promises ver 13. who without us will not be made perfect ver last having all dyed in Faith which is probable to he meant by our Saviour when he calls it the City of the great King Mat. 5.35 where his Deputies the twelve Apostles shall sit on twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Luke 22.30 on whose twelve foundations of the Wall thereof shall be written the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb Rev. 21.14 and seems to be the chief mansion-place of the blessed holy then raised Saints having part in that first Resurrection wholly then freed from the second death Rev. 20.6 upon which the Glory of the LORD will then eminently shine continually to the eclipsing of the glory of the Sun and Moon Isa 60.19 Rev. 21.23 22.5 Very glorious things saith the Psalmist in a prophetical rapture are spoken of thee O City of God Psal 87.3 as is observable in that whole Psalm Again the then happy estate of the converted and reduced twelve Tribes of Israel and Judah those two sticks united into one Ezek. 37. together with the converted Gentiles in their fulness then come in Rom. 11. who together with very large endowments of inward spiritual Grace and therewith abundance of temporal prosperity which the Prophets largely spake of with very much exemption from the evil of sin and suffering when Satan is bound the Churches enemies destroyed or subdued and brought under which happy estate they and their posterity will successively enjoy through all the Generations of the said thousand years according to the Prophecies or Promises Deut. 30. ver 1 to 11. Isa 61.9 The Seed which the Lord hath blessed Ezek. 37.25 They and their Childrens Children for ever and my Servant David that is Christ the Messiah shall be their Prince for ever Isa 59. last Deut. 4.30 31. with many texts more and which were theirs not in a mortal that is a changeable condition from a natural life by some removal or Translation as otherwise they should have no Seed or Posterity to enjoy those many Promises all the thousand years so neither should they at last be lyable to any evil attempt of Satan and wicked men called Gog and Magog though by gracious Promise such as live at that last Period of time are secured from the evil even of the attempt likewise Many other things the holy Scripture seems to hold forth in reference to the differing state of the naturally living and the Saints raised at the beginning of the thousand years and as for the restitution of all things in respect thereof without Scripture-Warrant why look we for any more than Gods removing the Curse as the inflicting that from the Fall hath been the efficient Cause of all that Bondage that hath been ever since upon the Creatures held on by the means of Satan till then when he shall likewise be bound Thus in such a way if the distinction between the last mystical Trumpet and the last said sounding Trumpet and the state of the raised Saints and such as then will remain in their natural Life be well observed it may greatly make way for the clearing by degrees by the help of Gods Word and Spirit many excellent Truths respecting these things wherein much caution and moderation will still be very useful and necessary in what things are not clear and evident c. Decemb. 7. 1664. This Paper sent upon occasion of a Book to be perused not having the right Series or Order of the Book of the Revelations and is added here as a Supplement to the former Letter AS for the perused Author he was manifestly a man of great Abilities Worth and Piety as is evident from his grave judicious and truly pious Determinations Discourses Cases and Treatises of several Subjects and many Expositions along that large Book of his upon the Revelations and first more particularly in the most things handled by him on the three first Chapters to the seven Churches of Asia and on the fourth and fifth Chapters setting forth the Glory of God the Creator and Christ the Redeemer But as for the right series of things following in that Divine Book he appears not to have attained the right Key so far as I can by the guidance of God's Word and Spirit as I believe with such other helps which in special mercy have hitherto been afforded me discern and to this purpose I shall endeavour by his Grace to set down some brief hints of Differences between him and others which upon the former accounts I much rather approve of as namely of judicious Mede and some others since him yet living though haply in some things I may differ from all yet I conceive Light and Darkness may so thereby the better discover themselves and illustrate each other that whoso like the Noble Bereans shall search the Scriptures answerably concerning what shall be set down may probably find whether all these things be so for as no mans eminency should lead us into error so no mans meanness should make us neglect or despise the Truth he tenders especially the Divine and Heavenly Truths which God hath set forth in his Word for the true Comfort and Edification of his Church I shall briefly for what is past give onely some hints of both for the most part refering to a former Letter to such purposes dated May 20. 1664. which this Paper may be a supplement unto but haply somewhat more largely of what is to come as God shall direct and enable me whose assistance I must confess to his Glory I have formerly experimentally found First then What this Author understandeth in the Seals That the Horses signifie the Church and the Persecutions thereof along the Primitive Times seem to me
more aptly otherwise to denote with Mr. Mede and others the dispensations of God in the world as in Zach. 1.10 both towards the Church and others with whom they had to do namely the Roman Empire called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the New Testament and though both the Books of the Seal-Prophecie and the little Book chap. 10. speak much in some sort of both yet each chiefly relates to one as namely the Seal-prophecy for the most part to the Empire and the Book-prophecie for the most part to the Church as after may more by Gods assistance appear which is to be observed until the Empire and Church become one under Christ's Kingdom in the time or haply after the time of the seventh Trumpet Therefore after the Lamb Christ Jesus had received the Book at the Hand of him that sat upon the Throne chap. 5. in the Chapter following John heard the thundring Voice of one of the Beasts saying Come and see when the Lamb opened the first Seal where he beheld a white Horse and he that sat on him had a Bow and a Crown was given to him and he went conquering and to conquer denoting the dispensations of God's Grace in the world through Jesus Christ who received of the Father this Book of Revelation of the things concerning the Church and her Enemies and hath all power to fulfil and execute them accordingly here first set forth by the white-Horse so tendering Peace by the Preaching of the Gospel which like a Bow shoots out Arrows as Psal 45. piercing the Hearts of all sorts it is sent unto and by which Christ will be Victorious and Glorious c. and therefore in the sending abroad of this Gospel he goes conquering of all sorts thereby and to conquer and subdue all such as shall oppose and persecute it This hath been his design ever since this white-Horse was sent abroad guided by that Rider and this is and will be pursued till he fully have the Crown of Victory when his Enemies shall become his Foot-stool Psal 110. at the day of the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Titus 2.13 to begin at or about the destruction of Antichrist 2 Thess 2.8 when he will come with Clouds Rev. 1.7 and when all Families of the Earth shall mourn seeing the Son of man coming in the Clouds with Power and great Glory Mat. 24.30 and 26.64 of which design the Spirit of God by the Holy Prophet speaketh eminently Psal 45.4 saying Ride on in thy Majesty because of the VVord of Truth of Meekness and Righteousness viz. to subdue unto his Obedience by conquering and his right Hand will teach him terrible things by conquering and subduing his Enemies and such as withstand him And this in all parts of the Revelation will be evident for persecution will follow the Gospel as the Shadow the Substance so long as the Seed of the Serpent and the Seed of the VVoman have their aboad together in the world and therefore in this Book in the following Seals God seems thereby to manifest what dispensations be would shew towards such persecuting Enemies in all the following Seals and Trumpets till that time of eminent victory and conquest begin to be manifest unto men in the VVorld at the foresaid Period for the great comfort of his Church to be believed from his VVord and which should be applyed daily for the warning of wicked men if they will be admonished Mr. Mede doth very appositely apply the Red Black and Pale Horses to such purposes in the three following Seals observing from the Histories of the Primitive times how they were accomplished and as likewise Mr. Fox observes remarkably that after the Roman Governours had rejected the offer of receiving Christ and that Satan bad engaged them in Persecutions above thirty of their Emperours successively came to untimely deaths but how such Judgements of Sword Famine Pestilence followed one another upon the Empire and sometimes all together besides as may be observed from the first second and third Seals but especially from the fourth as more particularly is set down by the aforesaid Mr. Mede I would therefore have observed in the fifth Seal the remarkable different dispensation of God Rev. 6. when most of the ten Persecutions had raged and sent home such multitudes of believing Christians to blessedness by their sufferings that by the opening of that fifth Seal is signified to the Church how God was mindful of the Blood of the Martyrs by the crying of the Souls under the Altar for revenge not that they in Happiness then did complain or so did really cry for Vengeance but that God looked upon what had been done to them as an occasion whereupon he would revenge them but yet not presently but after their Brethren which should soon after suffer as they had done had been likewise killed which seemed to have been fulfilled in the Tenth Persecution under Dioclesian and Others which continued ten years together which probably was the ten days Tryal and Tribulation formerly spoken of Rev. 2.10 And accordingly in the sixth Seal came the great Earthquake when the Sun became like Sackcloth of Hair and the Moon like Blood and the Stars fell and the Mighty men hid themselves in the Caves of the Earth when the wrath of the Lamb was two ways manifest first In dethroning the Dragon and casting him down to the Earth in abandoning the Heathenish Idolatry and secondly By cutting off his Instruments the-then-wicked Rulers of the World by the means of that Reforming Victorious Conquerour the Emperour Constantine the Great when God's hand was so heavy upon Dioclesian Maximianus Galerius Maximinus Maxentius Licinius and many Governours under their Command with their Armies and particularly on Ponticius Culianus Theotimus with many others as Stories testifie And afterward by taking away by degrees the Seat and Throne of the former Beast who received afterward the deadly wound upon which the Dragon had so prevailed before to persecute the Saints as appears in the Trumpets following which proceeded out of that seventh Seal all of which sounded their several Wrath and Judgements against it till it went into utter perdition under every form both East and West But before the execution of that Wrath God would Chap. 7. Rev. 7. 14. have both his 144000's of the Faithful sealed where those Trumpets Blasts should come who should be saved from the spiritual mischief of them and after the sealing of those 144000 Cap. 7. are an innumerable company of Palm-Bearers of all Nations and Tongues which the said Author rightly conceives to be the great confluence of Christians when the Jews with the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in which will I doubt not be in the time of Christs powerful Reign for this is the course observable in this Book as may hereafter be more manifest that the Spirit of God first setteth down what Blessedness shall ensue the sufferings of his People before
Appearance by his Spirit of Grace and Truth In setting down therefore what concerns this third and last Period I shall endeavour to express them either as matter of Faith or as things that are probable or lastly as things onely conjectural as the nature of the things may be and as the clearness or obscurity of the grounds of them may give occasion First I believe there is abundant evidence from Scripture that Christ our Saviour will after the coming of Elias Personally in a glorious manner appear with Clouds as Rev. 1.7 or in the Clouds at or about the great destruction of Antichrist which will be as Lightning shining from one end of the Heavens to the other and such appearing of his to the Jews seems to me probable to be the means of their more general Call and Conversion when that Nation will be born in a day as it were Isa 56.8 and thereupon will be their mournful contrition promised as a Mercy Zach. 12.10 And then will likewise be the Conversion of many Nations of the Gentiles not yet called to bring in their fulness as the Apostle speaketh Rom. 11. And then Satan being bound from seducing the Nations for the thousand years the Glorious Kingdom of Christ upon earth will be set up wherein the New Jerusalem coming down from God in the time of the new Heavens and new Earth wherein Righteousness shall dwell or a King shall Rule in Righteousness as the Prophet speaketh The State of that New Jerusalem whose Maker and Builder is God will be exceeding glorious a kind of Triumphant State for the raised Saints in their Order who probably shall have their chief Mansions there till all the deceased Just shall be raised and to the end of the world the Apostles or other eminent Saints probably shall be Rulers there by Christ's appointment and all other Governours that are converted to the Truth and live their Natural Life shall have their directions in Government from them in the New Jerusalem and all the Teachers in the Church shall probably have much instructions from them as they from Christ in whose Light they shall see Light the Lamb being the Light of the City Rev. 21. and that both Spiritual and Visible whose Tabernacle is then said to be with men when I conceive he will be in some glorious manner manifest unto the raised Saints there whose glory they shall then behold visibly being then made capable to behold it that none else then living can do except so as it was made discernable to them by Clouds at his first appearing Yet they likewise shall all be abundantly filled with his Grace and Wisdom and exceedingly rejoyce in all manner of his goodness then manifest to them according to their then present capacity yet in different degrees and measures and this state will be as intailed to the posterity of the Faithful that they and their Seed shall be blessed they shall live long lives but how long I dare not say but as the dayes of a Tree shall their lives be nor what way of removal or manner of death or translation or change I know not but I believe much Mercy and Grace will be bestowed upon them and their off-spring suitable to such an happy Reign of Christ wherein he shall be acknowledged Sovereign by all the Faithful and all authority mannaged under him and for him Isa 49. When Kings shall eminently be Nursing-Fathers and Queens Nursing-Mothers to his Church and People and the Government upheld in good hands to promote good and restrain evil as it was for the most part contrary before but when Satan being loosed out his Prison for a little space shall seduce the wicked Hypocrites of those times and draw them from all quarters of the Earth against the Camp of the Saints and the Beloved City upon which attempt God will destroy them casting the Devil into the Lake of Fire where the Beast and false Prophet had been long before and put an utter end to the World by the dissolution thereof at the consummation of all things with the last general Resurrection of the wicked and general momentany change of the Saints at the sound of the last Trump and Voice of an Arch-Angel 1 Thess 4.16 both such as were alive on Earth and such as were asleep to meet Christ in the Air from thenceforth ever to be with the Lord whereupon follows the general Judgement Many particulars of these natures it is probable will in God's time be apparent from Scripture which we can now but guess at which God to his Faithful Servants may discover concerning which we shall only say with the Antients Elias cum venerit nodos solvet Now for the main substance of all this Doctrine what is it but the explaining of such Articles of Christian Faith as we all profess to believe concerning these things in the true Scripture sence wherein Christ hath taken special order to have his Faithful People rightly instructed as in many particulars forenamed First When we Profess We believe that Christ shall come from the Right Hand of the Father to Judge quick and dead He will so come at his glorious appearing to destroy Antichrist to begin his Judgement and make his Foes his Footstool Ps 110. until which he was to sit at his Fathers Right Hand in Heaven then the Scripture saith He judges quick and dead as Rev. 11.18 and elsewhere though afterwards likewise in this sence Rev. 10. the Angel Christ Swears Time should be no more which seems to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 28.20 so the end of the dayes Dan. 12. for the same Period vide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that it is the day of Judgement at least begun Mr. Mede largely and excellently shews in his fourth Letter to Mr. Hain and to Dr. Twisse c. both from Scripture and Antiquity and that he will wonderfully Reign with his raised Saints a thousand years Why should it be doubted when his Word speaks so much and evidently for it though the Truth hath by Satans slights been clouded for a time wherein there seems to be as it were an appointing of the great last Assizes and calling together the Assessors thereof the Saints doth not the great Law-giver and Judge inform his Church of these things and he must needs be the best Expositor of his own Will c. Sept. 27. 1664. A Paper sent upon occasion of some discourse concerning the great and glorious Appearance of Christ about the time of finishing his Kingdom of Patience and of setting up his Kingdom of Visible Power on Earth the first being the Kingdom of the Stone cut out of the Mountain Dan. 2. Then the Kingdom of this Stone becomes a Mountain as Mr. Mede fitly distinguisheth their times by Regnum Lapidis Regnum Montis AS for the personal appearance of Christ at the destruction of Antichrist and the general calling of the Jews when that Nation shall be born in a day as Isa 66.8 many
the Pope should not be Antichrist in his forty two months much less Christ have a thousand years Reign on Earth afterwards And lastly The seventh Vial that Satan hath to pour on Christ's Kingdom seems not unfitly to be conceived to be by displacing the Vials chap. 16. from their own time unto Christs Reign whereunto they are not competible whereof the subject matter will be then taken away or making a groundless great Chasm of above a thousand years difference from the sixth to the seventh when Satan is to be cast into the fiery Lake which is a business of a much differing nature many wayes from all the Vials as well as in time c. And thus of Satans seeming seven Vials on Christ's Kingdom but the glorious appearance of Christ will shortly abolish all appearance of truth in them and so all Satans Vials upon Christ's Kingdom will be utterly ended and yet will not that Kingdom be thereby in the least degree impaired Lastly Whereas the said learned Author interpreteth the New Jerusalem to be the Church Tryumphant besides the many considerable reasons to the contrary in the Letter of November 3. 1664. he might have observed that the Lamb's Wife was spoken of before chap. 19.7 by which he there understands the coming in of the Jews to the Catholick Church I conceive rightly and that the beloved City cap. 21.2 spoken of chap. 20. as being before the Battel of Gog and Magog when the Devil stirred up the Hypocrites of those times which had been long held under by good Government then to attempt to besiege that Beloved City though to his and their utter ruine that so they might receive that portion of Hypocrites as the Antichristian Scoffers had theirs before when both sorts should meet with their Leaders the Pope and the Devil in the Lake of fire and chap. 21. being but a further decyphering of the same City should therefore be expounded accordingly of that City that was in the thousand years it being the observable Method of the Holy Ghost in that Book after some more obscure expressions of things more generally afterwards to give more full and particular explications of the same as in the seventeenth Chapter an Explication of Babylon and the Beast c. and what was said of the ruine of Babylon chap. 14. explained by the Vials chap. 15 16. and further of the last Vials chap. 18 19 and part of 20. and so sometimes in the 19 20. further explained chap. 21 22. besides many things belonging to the New Jerusalem are incompetible to the state of the Church Triumphant in Heaven see the forementioned Letter Novemb. 3. 1663. And for the first Resurrection it may appear not to be of the Spiritual Resurrection of the Soul from sin both from the drift of the Holy Ghost further to open the Mystery of the Resurrection which Saint Paul had in some respect shewed before 1 Cor. 15. And the Doctrine thereof hath been gradually set down in the Scriptures and this chap. 20. giveth light thereunto above all others both as to the Resurrection of the Just and Wicked which are opposed one to another as first and second and their distinct times set out for as chap. 11.18 When the Kingdoms of the World shall be Christs then he gives reward unto his Servants the Prophets and to his Saints and to all that fear his Name both small and great such as not only suffered for him who are said chap. 20. to be beheaded for him c. but such as have done his Will on earth shall have such reward from him in earth as 2 Tim. 2.12 And for such Souls that is Persons in Scripture language to live again what sence in Reason or Religion can fitly be applyed to such sufferers or others but such first Resurrection I know many learned men have tired their parts to find shifts to avoid this but have been more sollidly and substantially answered besides many others by Mr. Mede and Dr. Homes in his Answer to Pareus Dr. Predeaux and others in one part of the Dawning of the Day-Star read them seriously c. Mr. Mede conceives that Resurrectio Justorum will be in acting all or most of the thousand years every one in their own Order and the Ancients conceived there will be mora delay in respect of some c. but that the living again of such as were so beheaded to be meant of the Spiritual Resurrection is far from the scope of the Text besides all other considerations about it see the Appendix in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the forenamed Authors it is actum agere to say much of it c. And for the number of a thousand years to be taken indefinitely as it is contrary to the judgment of learned men on both sides for many considerable Reasons so somewhat this learned Author mentions himself namely That that that Thousand Years so often spoken of in respect of Saints and Satan and with all the considerable circumstances what was done at the beginning of them with all the continuance and what should be at the end of them c. might have swayed his judgement otherwise if he had not been prejudiced against the whole Doctrine thereof and all that concerns it for those Souls said to be Beheaded cannot fitly be said to live again but in respect of that state namely of their bodily living again wherein they had died before for as the Spirits of just men they lived ever since their departure from their Bodies so that living again denotes their living bodily and living in a different manner then they had done before Now the drift of all these things being for the comfort and edification of all God's People in this great point of the Resurrection of the Just and being specially useful against the evil times going before the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ when Antichristian Tyranny should most rage in the World God in Mercy to his People is pleased now again to cause the Light of these Precious Truths to break forth again more then they have done in many Ages last past when that said Glorious Appearance of Christ and beginning of the Day of Judgement and Joyful Resurrection following upon it do in their order neer approach It is much to be desired and earnestly prayed for that true Christians would duly weigh and consider them being so mainly for their Edification and sound Consolation if they will not overlook their own good or put it off from themselves since the great goodness of Christ is therein manifest towards them And now for a summary of these things I shall add to make up the former Theses concerning the third Period of Christs Kingly Office to be eminently manifest therein where he will work as I said by his Spirit of Power and Domination as he did in the Old Testament by his Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation and in the New till his Glorious