Apostles and Evangelists and Pastors and Teachers might all with one voice cry out and complain we have laboured in vain nor what follows of Christs ascending and giving gifts to men for the perfecting of the Saints for faith and vision must eternally remain distinct saith was never ordain'd to give forth that perfection that is reserved to vision faith is perfect in its kind that is it carries us up to Christ to enjoy a relative perfection there and the Prophets and Apostles as to that have not lost their labour but it doth not subjectively reveal or bring forth perfection upon us that is reserved for vision I know there are that fancy and imagine themselves to have attained or at least do assert it in Theâ—i that some have and that more may attain that perfection but come to the Hypothesis Have they themselves attain'd it I have not met with that confidence in any to assert it nor should I ever the sooner believe them if they should For this perfection is a Feast that is not to be opened till the guests are all come and the house of God is full nor till Christ the Feast-maker is present among them visibly and gloriously For as much as this point of the time of Christs glorious Kingdom on Earth is of so main consequence as that which will strike so great a stroak in the controversie depending between us I shall therefore according to the evidence that shines forth unto me in the Scriptures clear this up more particularly with the grounds of it 1. And my first ground is that for all the works of God done under the Sun his works of Salvation as well as judgment there is an appointed time as Solomon shews at large Eccl. 3.1 and so on Therefore the Church dealing with God about her deliverance urges it upon this ground Thou wilt or thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion for the time to favour her even the set time is come Psal 102.13 The instances are so copious and known for this that it were loss of time to insist on them Israels deliverance out of Egypt was set for the time and God kept his time to a day when the 430. years were expired the very same day did God bring them forth by their Armies Gen. 15.13 Exod. 12. last their deliverance from the Babilonish Captivity was set and promised after 70. years and was punctually observed so for our Saviours Incarnation it was in the fulness of time and when he entred upon his Ministry he makes this way for himself to be received by them Mark 1.15 The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand Repent ye and believe the Gospel what can be plainer than this that there is a time and season for every season and manifestation of the Kingdom of God This was the time for Christs first appearance there are times also proper times for his second coming and his illustrious appearance 1 Tim. 6.14.15 which in his times or in its own or proper times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall shew if it were not so if the issuings forth of all Gods counsels and purposes were not tymed what mean all those times that are set in Daniel and the Revelations Indeed the time is not always reveal'd to us but it is always appointed with God and therefore sometimes the Spirit speaks only in general as Dan. 11.35.36 and Habaâ— 2.3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time And of that day and hour knoweth no man faith our Saviour Mark 13.32 which yet shews the day and hour is set for his second coming And though this Scripture may seem to dash our confidence of knowing it because it is said no not the Angels which are in Heaven neither the Son but the Father The answer is ready that as we could not know it without the Son or till it was reveal'd to him so he having received the knowledge of it as he did of the whole Systemâ— of the revelation after his ascention we are upon those advantages now that Christ himself was not in the days of his flesh when this was spoken Christ in his humiliation was in all things like to us but now all things are naked and open to him and he sent and signified his revelations by his Angel to his Servant John to shew to his Servants the things which must shortly come to pass and John according to command hath left them on Record for us and blessed is he that readeth c. for the time is at hand So that it is clear as the Sun that though God hath his foreknowledge of all things in Eternity and though Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world yet in the making forth and exhibition of the works and wonders of God to men there is a time set and appointed for every purpose orderly to appear and give forth its voice and particularly expresly and eminently the Apostle saith of this day for as much as he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained Acts 17.31 2. The time for the exhibition of the glorious state of this Kingdom is the second the visible the illustrious appearance of Jesus Christ 2 Tim. 4 1. Who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom where his appearing and his Kingdom are joyned together as contemporating and commencing together at the same time not his first appearance which was then past but his second appearance speaking of it as to come and therefore saith shall judge in the future tense For the furthur clearing of this let any one that is in good earnest set himself to consider how probable or likely it may be that the glorious state of Christs Kingdom can be exhibited without the personal revelation of the Lord Jesus in Glory appearing in it I am sure in that foretast given of it in the Transfiguration our Saviour's Person bare the great eminent part according as in the intimation he gave of it before hand by his words might be concluded and expected for though Mark who wrote to Greekes and in the Greek Tongue say only there are some standing here who shall not tast of Death till they see the Kingdome of God come with power yet Matthew who wrote to the Jews and pend his Gospel in Hebrew dilivers our Saviours intimation with this Accuracy of his person to appear in it Mat. 16. ult Till they see the Son of man comeing in his Kingdom That action was a little Model or draught of Christs Kingdom and therefore whatever was there we may conclude will be in Christ's Kingdom though there to be expected in a larger figure Now in the transfiguration there was the person of Christ in a Glory beyond what the Disciples could well bear and that not only on his countenance but his Garments Then Secondly there were Moses and Elias in glory representing the Saints departed
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
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
he sheweth hard things to his people giving them the wine of Astonishment lifting up the right hand of their Adversaries upon a most excellent Councel and design that must be acknowledged such as will turn to the eminent and superlative advantage of his people and interest and to the repenting of his Enemies and making his judgment more clear and conspicuous upon them for when patience hath had its perfect work then the Lord will not hold his peace He breaks his painful silence Isa 42.13 14 Dan. 7 9 10 He crys out like a Travelling woman he devours he destroys at once His Throne is like the fiery flame and his wheeles as burning fire a fiery stream issues and comes forth before him Dan. 7.9.10 as we had a figurative representation from mount Aetna some few years agoe from which place of Daniel it is probable the Apostle takes the Description of our Saviours appearance 2 Thes 1.7 When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe in that day And this is the proper season of Christ's glorious visible Kingdome which the Book I sent you drives at and this is the proper appearance of Christ and his aspect towards Enemies and therefore called the terrible day of the Lord till then the Kingdome the People the Interest of the Lord Jesus are that stone that is refused by the builders that the Princes and the Prelates fall upon and seek to remove but cannot but instead thereof break themselves upon it it hath borne all the fell blowes of the Roman Empire both Heathen and Papal and all the kindreds of the Earth from the primitive dayes until now but this stone under all its misusage like the Palm-tree shoots the higher as Israel in Egypt multiplyed the more as their oppression grew till it becomes a mountain and then it shall fall upon those that have fallen upon it and grind them to powder Mat. 21.44 3. Though in this day and Kingdom of patience which measures the militant state neither doth the Lord nor must the servant of the Lord strive much less strike nor use the Sword or any violence to propagate Religion or to displace the powers of the world how much soever they suffer under them yet Christ hath all along in a most clean unblemished righteous way of proceeding come upon these his and his Churches Enemies and hath raised up adversaries against them who have avenged the Churches quarrel upon them as he raised Cyrus against Babilon and many times he gives these Namrods up to the invasion of the Civil rights and liberties of men Psal 78.13 whereby they give men a just quarrel against them and thus he divides the waters and makes way for his ransomed ones the earth helps the woman though the earth designs it not Rev. 12.16 and the wicked are snared in the works of their own hands Psal 9.16 as you very well observe and I do but fall in with you in this observation p. 50. then which you say there is not a more pleasant sight in all the world in which admirable judgments of God Mens cause is one but Gods cause is another 4. Though the Spirit of this Kingdom of Christ doth not carry forth the Subjects of it to War or violence for Religion sake that is to avoid personal suffering or to impose their light upon others but they leave God to perswade Japhet and to aveng their injuries of that kind yet it doth not make it unwarrantable or unlawful for them in a cause of civil liberties under lawful powers that shall take up the defence of their Country and their established laws and liberties to use the material Sword for by being the Subjects of a higher Kingdom then this world they are not discharged from the duty they owe their Prince their Country themselves as men in case of unjust invasion or usurpation within or from without but are the fittest and best instructed men to use the Sword aright their civil relation to humane Society being not dissolved but improved by this higher relation and therefore Christ himself disowns not the title of a Warriour but is called Rev. 19 11. The Lord of Hosts and in righteousness doth he judge and make War 5. Though it be none of the praise of the friends and followers of this meek and lowly suffering Lord while he hath patience with his persecuting and oppressing Enemies to anticipate his judgments and to be taking the Sword into this own private hands in their own time and season yet let us exercise that gentleness and moderation as not to cast off all such who are in their judgments too ready too officiously to employ themselves this way in zeal for Christ though not according to knowledge it being an error that may be found in a Disciple as you know it was in Peter who when his Master was apprehended drew his Sword and laid about him and smote off the right ear of Malchus and was but the same spirit that was found in other of the Disciples that would have called for fire from Heaven upon those that would not receive their Master in that tender he made of himself to them and of his inestimable Treasures sufficient is the rebuke which our Saviour gives to such Mat. 26.52 They that take the Sword in this way and without his Warrants shall perish by the Sword 5. Position 5. Position Your fifth and last Position is That the Kingdom of God and of his Christ is an unlimited Kingdom a boundless Prerogative not capable of any restraints or confinements or limitations whatsoever In this Position you necessarily engulph me in great deeps wherein the Lord be our Pilot and bring me off safe Your Position bears an Antithesis or opposition to the glorious and visible manifestation of Christs Kingdom in the end of time while you make it alike through all time as in Eternity I must therefore here first distinguish the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of his Christ and then secondly distinguish the times and seasons of both these Kingdoms for they have one state in Eternity and another state in time and in time there are two states one in suffering and the other in triumph 1. First then I say there is a Kingdom of God and a Kingdom of his Christ and these are distinct Kingdoms You know Sir the glorious persons in the Trinity of the Godhead are rightfully distinguish'd though not to be divided So may the Kingdom of God and of his Christ 2. The Kingdom of God is that which is exercised by the blessed Trinity the Father the Son
this world knoweth not But whatever any that are truly regenerate may in a fluster of mystical Wine or under a strong engagement to maintain their opinion and to make good their prejudice against the expected glory witnessed by others perhaps weakly and with a mixture of offence I say whatever such may say of a fulness and sufficiency in the present State yet when they come to themselves they will find there is no Son whom the Father receiveth and chasteneth not yea that is not in the ordinary tenour of Gods dispensation to him held under the Cross in one kind or other and chastened every morning with chastisement of one sort or other If his outward condition be prosperous he is exercised with inward temptations or withdrawments whether he feels it or no and t is so much the more grievous in a right understanding if he feel it not and this upon that high and indispensable account and law of conforming us to the Image of the first born Rom. 8.29 Heb. 2.10 the Captain of our Salvation who was made perfect by sufferings And I believe Sir you are not without your exercise in this kind though you thus speak and write as if you were in the Kingdom Triumphant and not Militant And in this state of continual dyings if we had not rich and strong Cordials we should never endure It is certain we have as much as we shall have in Heaven in respect of the ground and object of our rejoycing we have the same God and Father the same Jesus our Head and Bridegroom the same Spirit our guide and comforter the same eternal things to look to to reckon upon the Covenant ordered in all things and sure we are what ever we shall be as to the essence of our state the Sons of God 1 Joh. 3.2 we have as true as firm a Right as ever we shall have as glorious a righteousness covering us all over we are not in the flesh Rom. 8.9 but in the Spirit if the Spirit of God dwells in us But alas Sir our sight of these things is weak they are therefore but an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to us a Riddle we are and we are not we have and have not we live and live not I confess we are to be blamed and shamed that we improve these glorious supports no more that we live at no higher a Rate that we appear in no better Equipage no more answerable to the grace the bounty the benificence the munificence of our heavenly Father who from the magnificent glory hath called to us in Christ when he called him his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased no more answerable to the care and concern of our Lord Jesus who speaks to us from Heaven from his exalted state calling to us to live Heb. 12.25 and be of good chear because he lives But alas the way up into this activity and strength of faith is not in man much less is it in overlooking over-bearing suppressing denying the loud voice and witness of our state of infirmity which is the general voice of Scripture and our own experience but in owning in lying down into our own shame and bearing our reproach and then will his strength be perfected in weakness 1 Cor. 12 9. Mat. 24.28 and wheresoever the Carcase is thither will the Eagles be gathered together self-sufficiency self riches self fulness makes the Soul poor kills the life and activity of Faith The Eagles of Resurrection-life and glory descend upon the Carcase of a self-annihilated Christian Therefore saith the Apostle When I am weak then I am strong So that we most consult our true interest or the interest of our true life when we receive the sentence of Death in our selves when we sink down into the death lye down into the grave of Christ with Christ when we despaire in our selves And therefore Sir give me leave here to be free with you what voice is that I hear pag. 36. where upon my words Alas we see either but darkly you retort Alas for us indeed if it were only so you go on But pray Sir what do you mean by we we that are in a Gospel state we that are called out of darkness and slavery into the marvelous light and glorious liberty of the Son or Sons of God Are we still in darkness or do we see things but through a glass darkly Are we still in bondage to any thing of imperfection I deny it absolutely Joh. 9.40.8.33 Ans Are we blind also said the Pharisees we were never in bondage to any man said the Jews Sir I do not rank your Person and Spirit with them I know you are of another Spirit though I parallel your Speech Imperfection is one thing and bondage to imperfection is another as corruption and the bondage of corruption are two things Again the Gospel state may be considered in its militancy and in its victory The former state of it may doth most acknowledge imperfection corruption residing remaining though not in bondage thereto The latter state will put it off and lay it aside for ever The present imperfection is not in saith as it is a grace a gift of God for to faith Mark 9.23 all things are possible where it hath its perfect work and is not resisted By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death Heb. 11.5 But faith was never ordained to make infirmity not to be infirmity but to support under it till the season be come to put off infirmity and therefore Enoch when he was taken to Vision was translated and did put off the infirmity of the flesh and was translated to vision of the object which he before saw but by saith Much less is the imperfection in the object which is perfective even of the subject into which it is received but not while it is there only in saith but when it shall be seen and enjoyed adaequately so that the perfection of the believer as the Gospel throughout witnesseth is when he and his object meet in a visible sensible full and adaequate fruition when both he and his sight are perfected together by the glorious appearance of Jesus Christ in his adaequate person as God-man Else what is the meaning of the Apostle when that which is perfect is come 1 Cor. 13. and when Christ who is our life shall appear Col. 3.3 and when he shall appear we shall be like him 1 Joh. 3.3 which he in that place of the Corinths exemplifies by the comparison between a Child and a Man upon which you interrogate Is there no such man or are there no such men now alive or any where to be found If there be Sir I pray shew them or tell us where we may find them else your question is vain It is not your God forbid Sir that you or I should think so that makes any evidence of it nor what you subjoin that then Prophets and
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
in the night that shall lift up their voice and sing for the Majesty of the Lord when the shadow of Death shall dwell upon all the Inhabitants of the Earth As it fared with the Jews from the times of the second Temple the state of their worship and civil policy was sinking and declining every day more and more after that little reviving and that little help wherewith they were holpen in the dayes of the Maccabees as the day of Christs first appearance drew nearer and nearer whereby they that waited not for the consolation of Israel and looked not with some comfortable assurance and evidence for that Redemption in Jerusalem were in a most deplorable and desponding condition so hath it for a long time succeeded with surrogated Israel since the new Erection of Churches collapsed and faln during the long Babilonish Captivity under the Beast and so it will be more and more as Christ withdraws as a Bridegroom from us in the comforts of his first appearance as he did from his Disciples for a little time by his Death during which time they Mourned and had Sorrow as a Woman when her hour is come till he visited them again in the Spirit which was for an instruction to us in Type and Figure of his withdrawing the Comforts of his first Appearance before his great illustrious and visible appearance in Person the second time This is that Song in the Night even the hope and expectation of this Appearance that is to relieve us in this mystical Night which therefore it concerns us to state aright according to Scripture Rule and evidence both for time and manner that our joy may be grounded regular and full which otherwise will be Lame and totter if we place it not upon both the Leggs and Bases of it his Person as well as his Spirit his Presence as well as his Power In this light I hope and express it again The shadows of the evening are not so far stretch-out upon you and me but we may yet meet and rejoice in the mutual communicating of our right and regular apprehensions touching this Kingdom of Christ and the near the very near approaching glory of it when and whereby it is that you will substract and withdraw from a CARNAL PARTY that matter of joy which you have without an Evil Designe I verily hope and believe Ministred unto them by your appearing against this hope and expectation In which hope I rest Dear Sir Consider what I say and the Lord give you unstanding in all things Octob. 16. 1676. Your affectionate friend Brother and Servant in our great and dear Lord J. S. A Brief Synopsis of the most material evidence for the drawing nigh of our Redemption contained in each Sermon of that little Book I sent you intituled News of a New World IN the first Sermon the four Watches mentioned by our Saviour Mark 13.35 are open'd as measuring all the Times from his Ascension to his second personal coming and are distinctly applyed viz. the evening contains all that time from Christs departure to the rising of Antichrist in which space of time these three remarkable Events do accur 1. Jerusalem was destroyed 2. The Churches of Asia were dismantled And 3dly Heathenism was abolished in the Roman Empire This time lasted to the opening of the sixth Seal and Constantines coming to the Empire The midnight Watch which is the darkest and most dangerous Watch wherein all are wrapt up in sleep is also the longest continuing all the times both of the Beasts Growth and Rampancy by the space of a thousand years during which mystical Night Isa 30.29 Rev. 14.13 the Church the Invisible Church had a mystical Song and Reign with Christ which the rest of the world understood not The Cock-Crowing-Watch began from the times of Reformation about the year 1300 with the fifth Trumpet lasting all the times of that Trumpet and great part of the sixth till the pouring forth of the sixth Phyal Then saith the Lord Behold I come as a Thief and from thence fourthly commenceth the Morning-Watch containing but a short space of time but of great moment and consequence being as I humbly conceive Daniels 45 Prophetical days from the end of his 1290 days which commencing about the year 1650 are so far past as from that time and have left but 18 or 19 years to compleat the 1335 days which bring us to that time whereof the Spirit himself saith Blessed is He that waiteth and cometh thereunto And whereas it is said Ye know not when the Master of the house cometh whether at Even or at Midnight or at the Cock-Crowing or in the Morning It is there shewed that this is not to involve the second personal and glorious coming of Christ in uncertainty but to shew a concern All ages would have in one coming of his or other all the former being but preliminary or leading in a way of gradual growth and preparation to his last coming In that Sermon also is shewed the necessity of Christs spiritual and powerful coming in our Spirits without which his outward personal coming will be of no advantage to us and also the necessity of his personal coming to those that know his spiritual and powerful coming in some measure as a glorious Ministry to awaken and call up that life of the Spirit of Christ that lies bound as in a sleep even in the Saints themselves And thus his spiritual and his personal appearance are reconciled and it is manifest we rest not in a visible and personal appearance without the spirit and power of that appearance revealed and working in us no more then we may rest in a spiritual appearance or the hopes of his personal Appearance without the thing it self in due time to be performed The import of the second Sermon is to shew that the times of the Man of Sin are expired and the times of Christs second glorious appearance are drawing on a pace and very near 1. From the Calculation of the Prophetical Periods both in Daniel and the Revelation 2. From the opening of the signs of the times given by our Saviour and Recorded by three of the Evangelists In the calculation is shewed the Agreement of both the Prophets Daniel and John in the term of expiration though they differ in their Epocha The one viz. Daniels time measuring the conculcation of his People and Nation by the four Monarchies and Johns number of 1260 days measuring the answerable treading down of the holy City among the Gentiles by the Papacy Accordingly the Epocha of the former is pitcht from Julian about the year of Christ 360 the latter from the time of that Famous defeat of Eugenius by Theodosius in which the life and cause of Heathenism in the Roman Empire expired and way was made for the man of Sin to get up into the Temple of God which was about the year 390 but both these times viz. of 1290 days in Daniel and 1260