Christians exhorted to Take heed of falling from their own Firmament or Firmation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verse 17. That They may shine as that Firmament Dan 12. 3. 4. Their Wresting of Scriptures to their own Perdition Universally more Particularly the Prophecies for their own Papal Kingdom and against the Kingdom of Christ And that Discourse of the Apostle Paul 2 Thes 2. They Writhe wholly from Themselves which would They have Observed it and ask'd as Judas their Type Is it I It would have Answered Them as Christ did Him Thou sayest This is a Great Brand by which the Son of Perdition with all his Adherents may be known whose Character is as the Judasses of the Christian Church Son of Perdition and Two Times Going into Perdition Compare John 17. 12. 2 Thess 2 13. Revel 17. v. 8. v. 11. These Remarks upon the Apostle Peter's Prophecy as I style it I have been larger upon to shew I am Conscious of no Recoyl of Mind concerning it and though some Things may seem wiredrawn yet the Manner and Symmetry of Prophecy the Great Rule of its Interpretation will Justifie me Argum. 4. I do indeed so Rely upon the Prophecy Revel 20. Concerning the Thousand Years that if I had only that Scripture I should think it sufficient although it be but One and although it be Propheick Because I find the Letter so Express as that the Thousand Years are no less than Six several Times Named And I Observe the Apostle's Discourse upon Melchisedech so Weighty so Large with so severe a Reproof of the Unteachableness of Christians concerning it Heb. c 5. â—0 c. 6 1. with Reâ—erence to it throughout c 7. All of it to be Suspended upon One single Oracle and that Prophetick also Psal 110. 4. The Lord hath Sworn and will not Repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedech Referring to a small Historick Memoir Genes 14 18. 19 20. and that on purpose Contriv'd to be Dark and under a Veiâ— Yet the Apostle severely Reproves a Dulness of Hearing of it Whereas the Christians then might have said We Desire only plainer more undoubted Truths more genearlly Treated Principles and fundamental Points But the Apostle Silently Threatens the Danger of Ayostacy on not Going on to Perfection by grounding his so Earnest Exhortation to Go on upon that Danger of Apostacy without so Doing And indeed there is Great Reason to think a Prediction of the Great Antichristian Apostacy in the Bulk not to be Repented of not to be Renewed to Repentance according to Râ—vel 16. is lodg d in it and that That very Apostacy came in upon the Ignorance of and not Acquiescency in Christ's Melchisedechian Priesthood after the Power of an endless Life but setting up that Kingdom and Priesthood in Counterfeit For what is the Melchisedechian Priesthood of Christ but a Priesthood on a Throne Zech. 6. 13 And what is the Papacy but a Counterfeit of that a Priest on a Throne the False Propbecy Included also as the True is in the Priesthood of Christ And why was this Golden Calf Idolatry brought in by that false Aaron as his Vicar but to supply the Absence of Christ Gone up to the Mount and not knowing That it is Witnessed of him He liveth and is as Active for his Church and Saints Above as Below while on Earth so far as is necessary till he brings forth all his Saints Appearing also in the Glory of his Melchisedechiaâ— Priesthood as Kings and Priests also But to Return to the Prophecy Revel 20. I observe as I have already observed There is not only the Shell or Words but the Deep Reason of Things as All Prophecy and most particularly all the Lines of the Revelation before it Run into It and Center in it and All Require such a Kingdom of such a State of New Heavens and New Earth and of a Duration of Time that may speak Perfection to Accomplish Them And that Duration this Prophecy Declares to be a Thousand Years and then All to be Drawn up into Eternity and no otherwise to End Argum. 5. The Observation upon the Thousand Years I made heretofore in my Patriarchal Line p. 58. does much sway my Judgment still concerning the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ viz. By the Recollection of each Patriarch's Life whol and together is most Pompously set out That none of these Holy Men Attain'd a Full Thousand Years of Life though some Life 's swell'd so much above Nine hundred as if they would mount to a Thousand yet it was said to Them Hitherto shall you come and no further for a Thousand in Sacred Record is a Number of Perfection that is not Allowed to any Years of Life in Adam's Apostate State but Reserv'd for the Restitution of the Second Adam and p. 165. As if the Thousand Years were a Tree of Life Guarded with Cherubims that none might Take of it Enoch had a particular Exemption of not Dying yet no One might be in a Visible State on Earth One Thousand Years wherein I am Confirm'd by Reading what Dr. Sherlock so Reverend so Learned so Considering and so far from what is call'd Fanaticism as every One knows hath written in his Excellent and Generally Acceptable Practical Discourse of Death p. 129 130. Wherein it is most Considerable that he Writes not as having Espous'd the Opinion of the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ nor was Intentionally Writing upon it But so Discerning and Quick-sighted a Person was struck with its Beams of Light and Truth while he was upon another View And thus he Writes The longest Term of Humane Life after the Sentence of Death passed on Man was a Thousand Years And Comparing this Observation with that Promise of a Thousand Years Reign with Christ which is call'd the First Resurrection and is â—he Portion only of Martyrs and Confessors and pure and sincere Christians Revel 20. I have been apt to Conclude To live a Thousand Years is the Priviledge only of Immortal Creatures That if Adam had continued Innocent he should have liv'd no longer upon Earth but have been Translated to Heaven without Dying For this Thousand Years Reign of the Saints with Christ whatever that Signifies seems to be Intended as a Reparation of Death which They fall under by Adam's Sin But then these Thousand Years do not put an End to the Happiness of those Glorious Saints but they are Immortall Creatures And though this Reign with Christ continues but a Thousand Years Their Happiness shall have no End though the Scene may change and vary for over such the Second Death shall have no power Or else this Thousand Years Reign with Christ must signifie an Eternal and Vnchangeable Kingdom a Thousand Years being a certain Earnest of Immortality But there is an Unanswerable Objection against that Because we read of the Expiring of those Thousand Years and what shall come after them even the Final Judgment of all the World This is a Great
Position is As the First World Destroyed by the Flood of Water that Lay as the forenamed Excellent Theory hath set out within its own Bowels And yet that Destruction was not till 1656 Years after its Creation so long the Word of God Secured it and there was yet a World after it So the Heaven and Earth that now are shall be destroyed by Fire Hid as it were in its Entrails for about such a space of Time from the Apostle's writing Till that Appointe◠Time the same Word of God Interposes and Secures it But saith the Apost that you may Rightly Judge of the Position I would by no means hove you Ignorant of this one Thing this Principal Thing in this Point that I am about to Lead you to Of the New Heavens and the New Earth That as the First Heavens and Earth and the Host of Them Finish'd and God's Resting in them was on the Sabbath and Seventh Day So the Day of Judgment the Great Sabbatism of Resting and Rejoycing in his Works to God to Christ and his Saints shall be a Day but It is with God in his Determination and Counsel concerning it a Day of a 1000 Years and to so Great Day He hath made each 1000 Years of the Worlds Continuance a Day and They are Six as at the Worlds First Creation For in the Evening of the Sixth Millenary That Day shall Begin Think not therefore the Lord is Slack for He hath with Great Wisdom Ballanc'd and Weigh'd out for the First Seventh Day Sabbath a Sahbath of a 1000 Years For the Day of Judgment that will be for Perdition to the Wicked shall be a Day of a 1000 Years Rest to the People of God and to so Great a Day of a 1000 Years He hath with infinite Patience to Bring All his own Elect into it weigh'd out also for each Day Leading to the First Sabbath Six Millenaries or 1000 of Years which he Accounts as Days to Gathe◠in all his Elect as the Apostle Paul Heb. 4. Shews the Long suffering of the Lord to the several Ages of his People to be Salvation to Them till that very Sabbatism comes that Remains to the People of God This is the Great Sense that lies under the very profitable and Exscellent Discourse of the Apostle taken in Common Sense But that There is this Great Sense I Argue not only from the Symbols of the New Heaven and New Earth coming out of the Floo◠and from the New Heaven and the New Earth having Six days and then a Sabbath of a 1000 Years Symboliz'd by the Sabbath and the Six Days of Creation before it to which the whole Scope of the Apostle's Discourse makes it plain that He Refers But I Especialy Argue from These Two Things 1. From the Apostle's Great Preface shewing a Mystical Doctrine as such Prefaces do Rom. 11. 15. 1 Cor. 15. 51. Now that the longest and shortest Time with God the High and Holy one that Inhabits Eternity the Absolute Eternal Being are All Alike is an undoubted Principle of Natural Rational Religion which All are supposed to Know and therefore that Great Truth needs no such Preface as not to be Ignorant of that One Thing there being many other so Great Principles of that Order of Natural Religion that ought not to Lye hid from Any 2. Because this would not all Answer the Apostle's Scope either with Relation unto the Scoff of them that say Where is the Promise of his coming not Satisfie and Comfort the Sincere Christian concerning the delay of that Coming For what Comfort is it to the Sincere Christian to whom Each Minute of delay of the Coming of Christ especially under suffering is as an Age that to an Eternal Being a Day is as a 1000 Y. and a 1000 Years as One Day and how would the Scoffer Triumph in this Each Day with God is a 1000 Years how many 1000 of Years may be then to the Coming of Christ when every Day with God is a 1000 Years So many Days then so many 1000 Years And if He Counts a 1000 Years but as One Day how long may He delay e're the coming of Christ be The Comfort proper to this Case must be such as is proper to the Creatures of Time What is proper to the Alone Paramount Eternal Being Flys too High and Alought over this Case however an Admirable a Truth it is in it self and God most Adorable in it Nor is there therefore Any Cause to vilifie this Kingdom of Christ Because It is but a 1000 Years and that a 1000 Years is with God but as a Day Because even according to the Letter of this Scripture each Day of the 1000 Years is with God as a 1000 Years as well as the 1000 Years but as One Day when therefore we may by this Apostolic Canon if we had Respect to the Letter Count every Day of the 1000 Years Kingdom as a 1000 Years it self how Great then would it be But I have sole Respect to the Mystic meaning That God the Lord of Time knows how much and no more is proper to his Ends hath Resolv'd A Sabbatism of a 1000 Years Beginning with and Ending with a Grand Judgment and its middle Space a Judgment or Government according to and with Relation to those Two Grand Judgments and so most Fitly call'd Judgment or Day of Judgment shall be a perfection of Time and the Fullness of All Times and the duration of the Kingdom of his Son as Son of Man And that Six Days each Day as a Milennium or 1000 Y. of his Patience and Long suffering for the Vessels of Wrath Fitting Themselves to Destruction at that Day and for the Gathering his Elect from the several Ages of the World as well as from the Four Winds shall go before it And it self from its Beginning to its End shall bear this Character Fullness of Times without Nice distinction of one part from Another and so Eternity ensues and this State which shews the Fitness of the Symbols shall have New Heavens and a New Earth according to Creation according to the Great Promise Esay 65. c 66. which also shews the opposite State of the Carcases under a never dying Worm and an Vnquenchable Fire to mean much higher then the Carcasses of the Assirians whatever Type that slaughter might be Lastly That this Prophecy of the Apostle Peter hath also Great Reference to the Antichristian State I observe by Indications however They may seem small yet are most Significant 1. The Vnlearnedness Barbarity and Ignorance most Natural to Antichrist however since the Reformation Necessity hath made his Party more Learned taken notice of in the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verse 16. 2. Their Apostacy as Wandring and falling Stars as the Papacy it lelf is also Symboliz d by a Star falling from Heaven to the Earth Revel 9. v. 1 is Signified by a Dis-firmamented State in the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wander'd from their Firmament and
are Assign'd to the Binding of Satan the Dragon the Old Tempting and Deceiving Serpent the Devil and Satan the Great Accuser and Adversary He was laid hold on by the Angel or Ministers of the Dâ—vine Power and Pleasure having the Key of that dark Vault of Impossibility for Satan to Appear or Act but in the Torment of his own Guilty and Miserable Spirâ—t as the Chain also Signifies so much as in the smallest Instance even as at all Times He is Remanded into it and Held in it but according to the Permission of God He was now laid Hold upon bound and Chain'd and Seal'd up for a Thousand Years Here Satan is Consider'd as in the Essentials of the Prince and whole Host of fallen wicked Spirits full of Power Might and Rage as well as Counsel and Policy the whole Number of these Intelligences Spirits and their Action is as effectually and to all Intents and Purposes Bound for the Thousand Years as it shall be when Satan is Cast into the Lake for Eternity and under the Absoluteness of Kingdome when all Enemies subdued God shall be All in All. 2. The Thousand Years are Assign'd to the Not deceiving the Nations till those Thousand Years are Expired or Finisht Now it is most Evidenâ— These Nations are not the Nations of the Saved Chap 21. 24. and Healed by the Leaves of the Tree of Life Chap. 22. v. 3. For These were Destroyed from Heaven But there were at the same Time other Nations Saved and Healed a Holy and Beloved City There is therefore a certain Assurance the Nations here spoken of are the Wicked Reserved to Future Destruction Now These I say are Really the Dead who as I shall just now speak more were Symbolized by Nations or Gentiles more properly Aliens as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often signifies from the Common-wealth of Israel the New Jerusalem below But for the Thousand Years they are not to be stirr'd by Satan They cannot be Deceiv'd into any Action against the Kingdom of Christ The Glory of Christ's Kingdom is so Full in their Face 3. The Thousand Years are Assigned to the Martyrs and all the Saints of Christ whose Saintship is Symbolized by the Not worshipping the Beast c. That is as Pure to God in all Ages before the Beast and making up One Church of the First Born with Them as the Apostle calls this whole Number of Saints These are Rais'd in Bodies of the First Resurrection and Reign with Christ in his Thousand Years Kingdom a Thousand Years 4. These Thousand Years are Assigned to the Rest of the Dead not Living again till the Thousand Years are Finisht And these Dead signifie to me Those Chap. 19. Slain with the Sword of Christ's Mouth and on whose Flesh the Fowls viz. the Saints of Christ Triumphing in the Vengeance and Washing their Feet in the Blood of the Wicked are Satisfied upon It is Expresly said They Lived Not which is Principally to be understood of the Highest of Life in the Highest Senses of it For as soon as ever The Saints were Rais'd All the Wicked Dead were Rais'd But They Lived not Living not so as to Reign with Christ as the Dead Saints Rais'd Saints of the First Resurrection liv d. But because They are of a Resurrection though a Resurrection of the Vnjust and to Condemnation Therefore They are spoken of next to the Raised Saints But They Lived not till the Thousand Years were Expir'd As soon as ever that is said it is Added immediately This is the First Resurrection the First and Onely Resurrection to Living But These Dead were not of it and so They never can Live in the true Senses of Life though Rais'd For They Liv'd not till the Thousand Years of the First Resurrection were Finisht and so could not so much as Taste of the First Resurrection or Partake of it and then They never can For they are immediately Forepriz'd as soon as ever it had been said They were the Dead who for the Thousand Years Liv'd not It is said Blessed and Holy is He that is Partaker of the First Resurrection over such the Second Death hath no power Over All else it hath The Dead therefore which These are are Cast into the Lake of the Second Death There may be also a Secondary Sense of the Dead not living viz. Not Appearing as Gog and Maâ—og till the Thousand Years are Finisht as hath been shewn But This is 〈◊〉 Principal 5. These Thousand Years are Assign'd to the Partakers of the First Resurrection Holy Saints and in â— State of Paradise-Blessedness making up with the Risen Saints We All as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 15. 25. and 1 Thess 4. 17. viz. who Come to us and make us up to an All to a Complement of Saints who cannot â—e the Dead for They Die not All but are Chang'd and so Participants of the First Resurrection Not the Dead for They are the Living and Remaining These also though they are not Saints of the First Râ—sâ—rrection yet Partakers Though they are not said here to â—ive yet They are Priests of God and of Christ and Reign with Him as Kings of the Earth Nations Saved and Healed a Thousand Years And so the Greatness of the Redemption of Christ Abounds in the Sight of their short Danger and They are Caught up to Christ and to all the Saints above and are ever with the Lord and so the Second Death hath no Power over Them 6. These Thousand Years are Assign'd not in their whole Line but in their end to the Loosing of Satan for that little space to the Insurrection of Gog and Magog against the Holy City and the Casting Satan and the Dead into the Lake Object If it should be said How can One and the Same sort of Persons be Known to be the same when Prophecy hath so varied their Names Calling Them the Nations or Gentiles The Dead Gog and Magog Answ So Great a Prophecy as This of the Revelation that hath pronounc'd a Blessedness upon Them who Read and who Hear it Expects All should be most Accurate and Diligent in Comparing it Self with it Self bringing All Scripture into a Compare with it that so the Two Leaved Gates of its Truth may open to Them and the Secret Treasures even Treasures of Darkness as it seems to our dim Understanding may be Disclos'd to Them And if Any think the Trouble too Great They are shut Out In this Case therefore by Comparing we come to understand that there is not only fair Inducement to think the Dead the Nations Gog and Magog to be the same but Greatest Assurance They must be the same There is fair Inducement in that Gog and Magog being Described as a Great Multitude whose Number is as the Sand of the Sea They must be a Collection of Nations and therefore They are expresly call'd the Nations Chap. 9. v. 8. and a Hammonah of Nations as of Old in the Type Ezek. 39 9. Now we find