them out And had there been any I presume you would too seeing it is not likely that they would have brought an exposition different from that which was commonly received by others and have given no reason for it or one no better then a why may we not think so 2. If you thinke that these places here quoted be diversly interpreted as your disjunctive conjunction OR intimates and yet say why may not this Kingdom be taken as the thiefe meant or as Christ meant or as Simeon meant any one may perceive that you are altogether unresolved what sense to take it in but had rather take it in any sense then that we take it in And if you thinke that all these places have but one meaning as the last words of this part of your answer imply you should have shewed us what it had been For in our Saviour's and Simeon's words the word Kingdom is not found And the words which you take to be equivalent with it are diversly expounded Paradise in our Saviour's words is interpreted to be Heaven And salvation and Glory in Simeon's song doe signify Salutis et gloriae authorem the authour of glory and the authour of salvation to wit Christ himselfe So that if the Kingdom in the Apostles Querie be expounded either of these two waies it is all one as if they had said Lord wilt thou at this time restore Heaven to Israel or Lord wilt thou at this time restore thy selfe to Israel And as for the Kingdom the theife spake of we thanke you for mentioning of it And doe willingly grant that the Apostles understood it as he did But how was that surely as all other Jewes did of a Kingdom on earth and not in Heaven For his words in the original are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when thou commest in thy kingdome that is in thy Kingly power as it is Mat. 16. verse 27 28. for by those words the theife could not meane his ascension into Heaven as it is comonly expounded seeing he was wholly ignorant of it And therefore it must needs follow that he understood it of an earthly Kingdom which all Jewes expected and as it seemes by the Apostles Querie all beleeving Jewes thought should suddenly appeare after his resurrection But because it was not to be so therefore it was that our Saviour promised the theife the present happinesse of his soule in Heaven where it should remaine in his presence until at his comming in his Kingdom of which he had spoken he should bring it with him to be reunited to his glorified body and so according to his request he should in his whole manhood be made partaker of his Master 's glorious reigne on earth 3 You must give us leave to thinke that no expositour doth deny it until either we can find or you or others shew us such a one But It follows not you say the Apostles thought so therfore it shall be so But this follows therefore we must beleeve the Apostles before Mr. Petrie or any others who thinke it shall not be so Yea and this follows the Apostles thought so and our Saviour who knew their meaning reprehended them not for misunderstanding it therefore it shall be so And whereas you say that the Apostles for a time beleeved not the calling of the Gentiles and referre these words for a time to the time after our Saviours ascension it is not so For doubtlesse from the very time in which our Saviour said unto them Goe teach all Nations Mat. 28.19 they did beleeve it although perhaps they might not thinke that they should have been cald so soone yea if the words of St. James Acts 15. verse 14. should be meant of the song of old Simeon as you doe say page 26. there is no doubt but they knew it from the time they first heard of that prophecy Neither doth the text you quote speake of the Apostles doubting of it but of other beleeving Jews And therefore you have shewed your selfe very bold with the Apostles mistooke the ground of your argument and denyed what afterwards you confesse And lastly when the Authour doth take the Apostles words in that sense which interpreters doe give unto them and shews by reasons first and Scriptures afterwards that the Apostles did not out of any carnal minde or misconceit of our Saviours Kingdom uâ—ter this Querie and when that Mr. Petrie doth neither flatly affirme or deny any sense of the Apostles words nor give a reason worth the naming much lesse reading or answering against any of these reasons albeit but childish as he saith will any reader thinke that Mr. Petrie will prove a better guide to him herein then this Authour doubtlesse no man taking a journey will choose him for a guide that is in doubt which way to goe and no good Christian will be lesse carefull in his way to Heaven To the Law then and to the Testimony to the plaine word of God this is the sure ground of thyfaith and therefore sticke to it for if men speake not according to this it is because there is no truth in them Isa 8.20 Israel's Redemption First because the Authours of this demand were not babes either in yeares or understanding but the Apostles themselves men who had followed f Mat. 4. v. 19. our Saviour from the very time that he manifested himselfe to the world g Mat. 13. v. 36. Mar. 7.17 by preaching and miracles and suffered not so much as a parable to escape their knowledge Men to whom h Act. 1.3 he had shewed himselfe alive after his passion by many infallible proofes being seene of them forty daies and speaking to them of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God And yet that these men should now at their last conference with him be mistaken in a matter of such importance as this is which concerns the purpose of God touching the whole Nation of the Jewes is as I beleeve and as I thinke you will all say a thing altogether unlikely and and so it is too that all the Apostles should be of the same mind unlesse it had been a truth formerly taught and not as it is imagined an error then newly vented by them Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. It is unlikely they could be mistaken and therefore it is likely that they understood of the true Kingdom of Israel as Christ did 2. And neverthelesse seeing after the last conference they were mistaken in a matter of great evidence so many times foretold as the calling of the Gentiles it is not unlikely that before Christ's ascension they might been miscaried with that opinion of the Jewish Monarchy which was not a new opinion invented nor vented by the Apostles Reply 1. The question is not what Kingdom the Apostles meant in their Querie which Divines generally consent to be an earthly Kingdom But whether they did not erre in meaning thus So that this part of your answer having relation onely to what Kingdom they
time have expoâ—â—â—d these texts not of the Jews only but of the Christian Church which is as if you had said that all interpreters doe write for you besides those that write against you And doe you not remember what you said before even of the scriptures themselves that number prevaileth not why then doe you urge us now with the greater number of interpreters I am sure you will not be content that the triall of the truth shall be put to most voices betwixt Protestants and Papists if not why would you have it so here But were the prophets thus interpreted from the beginning of the Christian Church no it could not be for we have learned from the Dialogue betwixt Tripho and Justine Martyr that then no other Christians weree steemed orthodoxe but those of the Millenarian faith therefore it may easily be conceived how the Prophets were expounded in those days and that they then began to interpret the scriptures my stically when errour had taken hold not onely on the most but the most powerfull patrons in the Church also on such who by their place and authority could force the truth either wholly to hide it selfe or to be knowne no otherwise then by the ignominious name of an heresie which was not till some ages after the Apostles dayes as you your self confesse in your Preface But you say that these Interpreters have written according to their consciences And so our Saviour â—â—d the Disciples that they should be put out of the Synagogues yea that they should be kild by such as should thinke that they did God service Joh. 16.2 and St. Paul was mov'd by his conscience to raise a very tyrannous persecution against the Saints as he confesseth Acts 26.9 I verily thought with my selfe saith he that I ought to doe many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth which thing also I did c. and so although he went not against his conscience yet he went against the truth for his conscience was a blind and ignorant conscience as he saith in the 1 Tim. 1.13 but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbeleefe And such consciences no doubt were the consciences of many if not of all of those Interpreters in relation to the truth in controversie who had they first made diligent search after this truth of the Jewes generall conversion and returne and of our Saviours personall reigne on earth they would never I presume have spent their time and paines in such Expositions But these Interpreters are dead for the most part long agoe and there is scarcely one of them now living and we appeale not to the dead but to the living who are or may be acquainted with what is said on both sides and therefore cannot passe sentence against us out of ignorance although they may out of prejudice and so not according to conscience And who ever heard till now that it is a vainâ— bragge to appeale to mens consciences in giving their judgement about a truth certainely he that feares to appeale unto this Judge doth feare the uprightnesse of his owne cause for what saith Saint Paul in the 2 Cor. chap. 4. ver 2. We have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty not walking in craftinesse nor handling the Word of God deceitfully but by manifestation of the truth commending our selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God Israel's Redemption Which Prophecies as they doe containe many evident and unanswerable arguments for a future restauration of Israel I meane a restauration yet to come so they have such correspondence with that of Isaiah in his 59. ch at the 20. ver and with that of Amos in his 9 ch at the 11. ver both which Prophecies are alledged by the Apostles St. James t Act. 15.16 and St. Paul u Rom. 11.27.26 for the conversion of the Jewes after the fulnesse of the Gentiles is come in that is after all those of the Gentiles which are appointed to be cal'd before Christs comming againe be câ—â—verted or rather perhaps when the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in that is when the time shall come in which not a part as now but all the Gentiles that are left shall through the wonderfull deliverance of the Jewes together with them serve the Lord that seeing these are not yet fulfill'd neither can any of the other betwixt which and that of Amos there is not any materiall difference and no other betwixt them and that of Isaiah then there is betwixt a Comment and the Text betwixt a briefe Intimation and large explication of one and the same thing Mr. Petrie's Answer We grant that these Prophesies containe evident arguments for a future restauration of Israel if you will acknowledge that which is before clearely proved by the testimony of the Apostles and by experience that is that they are begun already in part we grant also that they have such correspondencie with these Texts of Esay and Amos and many moe too but we deny 1. Your manner of restauration and we hold that the spirituall restauration is more glorious for the honour of God and weal of Israel 2. We deny that the Apostle James alledgeth the prophecy of Amos for such a conversion of the Jewes for he speakes expresly of visiting the Gâ—â—tiles to â—â—ke out of them a people unto his name Act. 15.14 and of this visiting he expones the words of Amos and the other Prophets he speaks not â—â—â—ly of Amos but saith generally and to this agree the words of the Prophets 3. We deny that the Apostle Paul alledgeth the prophecy of Esay to that pretended purpose for he saith not and then all Israel shall be saved but and so all Israel shall be saved he shewes no order and distance in time but makes a conclusion out of the former words where he saith Blindnesse in part is hapned to Israel untill the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in and then he inferreth And so all Israel shall be saved and therefore the conclusion must be exponed according to the preceding words that is all Israel are the called of Israel and of the Gentiles there is a distinction twixt Israel and all Israel and all Israel is more then Israel seeing it includes likewise the faithfull Gentiles and in this signification the proofe following in the cited testimony must necessarily be understood and not of all calling of the Jewes after the full calling of the Gentiles and far lesse of that calling which he saith shall perhaps be not in part but of all the Gentiles that shall be left Yea these conjectures destroy one another for if the calling of the Jewes shall be after the fulnesse of the calling of the Gentiles then all the Gentiles that are left cannot be called through the wonderfull deliverance of the Jewes And this last conjecture destroyeth a maine tenet of the Millenaries who say that the Jewes shall rule over all Nations and hold them in subjection
my text to be encompast I here give over the pursuit of these meditations and commend to as mâ—ny as wish well to themselves and to Zion these instructions following Mr. Petrie's Answer If you be throughly satisfied why have you so oft used the words of probability conjectures my conceit it may be thus or thus these words smell not of satisfaction nor of that certaine knowledge and stedfastnesse which is required 2 Pet. 3.17 As for that double jury it may evidently appeare that both Prophets and Apostles are contrary to such fancies It may be the Vses of this doctrine are commendable yet if wrong premisses be powerfull to perswade Neverthelesse heare all Reply We bring not onely probable but demonstrative and necessary arguments also to justifie the truth of our tenet And besides all this we alledge for it a large Catalogue of cleare and invincible prophecies from which as we receive full satisfaction our selves so that we might shunne the guilt of keeping backe any part of the counsell of God Acts 20.27 we hold them out to others too that as many as God hath appointed by our Ministery to call to the knowledge of this truth may be partakers of the like satisfaction with us And what though I have in some places used the word probable and once the word conjecture and sometimes said in my conceit shall that therefore of which I so speake be suspected for an untruth I pray tell me why my conceit may not be as agreeable to the truth as any others or why without any disadvantage to the truth I may not use such expressions as the pen-men of holy writ have done How much was Saint Peter beside the truth when in answer to our Saviours demand touching the two creditours Luke 7.42 43. Tell me which of them will love him most he said I suppose he to whom he forgave most Certainely nothing at all for Christ replyed Thou hast rightly judged Or what was Saint Pauls counsell the worse for saying I suppose that this is good for the present distresse 1 Cor. 7.26 Or will you say that it was doubtfull whether Saint Paul had received the Holy Ghost because ver 20. he saith And I thinke also that I have the Spirit of God Or can you imagine that the Apostles tooke not the best course for the pacifying of the difference that was risen in the Church of Antioch betwixt the Gentiles and some beleeving Iewes about circumcision Acts 15. because they wrote in this forme It seemeth good unto us ver 25. and againe ver 28. It seemeth good unto the Holy Ghost and to us If you dare not say or once imagine that these words doe argue unstedfastnesse or uncertaine knowledge in these then how can that be true which you say here that words equivalent with these smell not of satisfaction And if these words argue uncertaine knowledge and unstedfastnesse in us then what do they argue in you who even in the second and third pages have your may be me thinks why may we not thinke thus or thus it is likely it is not unlikely Certainely as to câ—vill at words and phrases shewes the weakenesse of your cause so to blame another for that which you your self may as well be blamed doth shew the malice of your mind Israel's Redemption First to praise God for his abundant mercy who through the fall of the Iewes hath brought salvation unto us Gentiles that together with them we might partake of the roote and fatnesse of their Olive tree Mr. Petrie's Answer Whether is it more to the praise of Gods mercy and bountifulnesse that the godly shall come againe from the heavens to abide so long on the earth or to abide in that glory of heaven for ever and ever certainly the gift of the greater and uninterrupted glory deserveth the greater praise and while they were on earth they professed themselves to be strangers from home and pilgrimes on their journey towards their home Heb. 11.13 and shall they come as pilgrimes againe Reply Doubtlesse God is not to be taught by us what reward is most to the praise of his mercy and bountifulnesse towards the godly But we are to account that reward most to the praise of his bountifulnesse and mercy towards them which we find in his word to be appointed unto them And we doe conceive that the glory of the Saints after their reunion to their bodies will be greater because more perfect though they live on earth then the glory of their soules is now without the fellowship of their glorified bodies And we know not what should interrupt their glory on earth when as Christ himselfe on whom the Angels shall visibly attend shall be on earth with them and God himselfe also may here manifest his glory unto them in what measure hee pleaseth And though Abraham and some other of the Patriarches to whom God had promised the possession of the Land of Canaan did in their corruptible estate here live as strangers and pilgrimes in that land yet they shall not after their resurrection possesse it as strangers and pilgrimes but as heires and coheires with Christ And where as you say That it is a greater gift of God that the godly should abide in that glory of heaven for ever and ever then to come againe from the heavens to abide on earth You seeme to me to imagine that the godly shall never againe come from thence as your denying also pag. 54. that Christ shall bring all the Saints with him doth testifie against you which conceit is contrary to all the scriptures that affirme the resurrection and the Saints appearing with Christ And I pray where doe you finde in scripture that the Saints shall after their resurrection live in a place separate from the earth Certainely they are after the last judgement to be translated into the new Jerusalem and that City is then to descend to the new earth as we read Rev. 21.2 3. And lastly what affinity hath ought that you have said here with the use you answer what shall we not praise God for his mercy in making us partakers of the fatnesse of the Jewes Olive tree while we are here although it were a greater happinesse for us to be ever in heaven after our departure then to come againe to the earth Israel's Redemption Secondly to beware of unbeliefe which was the cause that the Jewes were broken off from their Olive And if God spared not the naturall branches much lesse will he spare us if by faith we continue not in his goodnesse Mr. Petrie's Answer It is greater unbeliefe to despise the revealed truth of God then to despise the fancies of men as this Monarchy is proved to be Reply 'T is true that it is greater unbeliefe to despise the revealed truth of God then to despise the fancies of men And it is as true that it is a sinne but little inferiour to that against the Holy Ghost wilfully to call a revealed truth
on earth is neither Christian nor Jewish seeing Christians beleeve not such a comming nor doe the Jewes beleeve in Christ and therefore it is abhorred of all Christians and Jewes So farre are they bâ—â—h from embracing it Reply Sir looke backe into your Preface and there you tell us that this spirit was abroad in the world in the Apostles days which had indeed been otherwise but a lying spirit and that it continued in the Church neere about 300. yeares after Christ Yea you say plainly by this historical â—aâ—ationâ— beloâ—ed in the Lord you may see that this doctrine is no new light revealed in this last age The more strange it is therefore in the very enterance of the controversie to heare you cry out so boldly against your owne confession What new Spirit is this certainly that cannot be new which was both taught and beleev'd on so long agoe Neither can we easily thinke it to be false seeing it was the faith not onely 〈…〉 of all that were then accounted right beleeving Christians 〈…〉 of the Dialogue between Tripho the Jew and Justine Maâ—tyr the Christian commented on by Mr. Mede doth averre Which being set forth together with his commentaries on â—he Apâ—calyâ—â— you were not doubtlesse ignorant of it And yea you demand againe whether be such persons Jewes or Christians to which you subjoyne They oppose themselves unto all Jewes and Christians as if you would have your reader therefore conceive them to be nor Jewes nor Christians because they oppose both in some few particulars But your argument is too weak for who knows not that Christians are opposed by Christians and Jewes by Jewes and that as a Jew may oppose both Jewes and Christians and yet not cease to be a Jew so likewise a Christian may oppose both Jewes and Christians and yet be still a Christian True then it is that we oppose all that are Jewes by profession in confessing with all other Christians that Christ is come in the flesh and hereby sure we shew ourselves Christians And true likewise it is that we oppose all other Christians in confessing with these Jewes that Christ shall come as a King to reigne on earth and yet we doe not hereby shew our selves Jewes but the truer Christians because according to plaine and expresse Scripture we acknowledge embrace for truth in both what both doe unjustly condemne and reject as a manifest error in each other And should we doe otherwise we should obey men rather then God and whether we should doe well in that judge you Having cast us out of the Church of the Christians and Synagogue of the Jewes I meane having endeavored to bring us into contempt with both in telling them that we oppose them both Your next Querie is Whether doe they understand the differences twixt Jewes and Christians No doubt Sir but all of them have understanding as well as you and that some of them are not inferiour unto you how meane soever you esteeme them but yet there is no need that we rehearse here any more differences then that which you have already heard and doe now labour all you can to make the reader beleeve to be none at all For it was never yet heard you say that the Jewes doe beleeve that Christ Jesus shall come as a King And have you heard so from us we say indeed that the Jewes beleeve that Christ shall come as a King which no writer either Jewish or Christian hath hitherto denied but we say not that they beleeve that Christ Jesus shall come as a King For then they should beleeve Jesus to be the Christ as well as we which as yet they doe not and by this we may see that if you had not quite altered our meaning by adding the word Jesus and so confounded and obscur'd what wee have clearly and distinctly delivered you could have said nothing to what we say For you would have been asham'd I suppose to have uttered your assertion thus It was never yet heard that the Jewes doe beleeve that Christ shall come as a King which yet is all that we affirme But having thus made your selfe worke you goe on and tell us They said Away with him we will not have him to reigne over us True but this shews onely that the Jewes then denied Jesus to be the Christ that the Jewes now continuing in the same blindnes are guilty of the same transgression but it shewes not that either the ancient Jewes did not or that the modern doe not beleeve that Christ shall come as a King You goe on They say that the Messias shall come but they speake not of his comming twice or thrice looke all the Iewish Rabbies and aske them who are alive they will say but once Let them that deny it take this paines but what though they say the Messias is to come but once what will follow from hence surely this will follow that as long as they continue to beleeve so they cannot beleeve that Jesus shall come as a King because they know that he is already come But it wil not follow from hence that they doe not now beleeve that their Messias shall come as a King And thus notwithstanding your Magisteriall Querie your foisted assertion and ought else that you have said it is very evident that the conceit of Christ's comming to reigne is both Christian and Jewish Christian because Christians beleeve it as plainly reveal'd in Gods word although you account it no part of a Christians beliefe and Jewish because the Jewes beleeve that Christ shall so come although they beleeve not that he is already come And therefore it is neither abhorred of all Christians nor of any Jewes so far are they both from rejecting it Yea so well doe they agree in the truth of this particular That Christ shall come as a King although as yet they disagree about his person and consequently in all that the Gospel reveales to be already done by him Israel's Redemption 2. And yet wltih submission to impartial judgements be it spoken I finde not in the Scriptures more voices for the one then for the other and therefore doe verily beleeve that neither Tenet apart but both together doe make up the full and e Rom. 8.23 ch 11. v. 12.15 Eph. 1. v. 14. ch 4. v. 30. Rev. 10. v. 7. compleat mystery of our Redemption which by Gods gracious assistance I shall to his owne glory and our christian comfort clearely prove in the examination of the words now read unto you Mr Petrie's Answer 1. Who are these impartiall judgements on the one side are Christians and on the other are Jewes it may be he submitts unto Turks but the Turks beleeve that Christ is come and will not say that he will come againe These impartiall judgâ—â—ents then must be Heathens 2. If the Millenaries find not more voices for the one then for the other it is no marvâ—l any who hath the jaundies finds every thing
have written according to their consciences and therefore if these be Judges this authour hath lost the cause Reply 1. Had not these prophecies been to the same purpose you might well have thought that I had had as little regard what sense I wrested the Scriptures to as you your selfe have And seeing they are all to the same purpose you had the lesse reason to quarrell at the number of them But it was a great eye-soare unto you to see such and so many witnesses together all maintaining the truth we hold and you oppose And because you could not reply unto them by any credible interpretation in your allegorical way you slide from them with no more nor weightier words then those but number prevaileth not in this case Surely it is a poore case that you who have laboured all this while to perswade the reader that we can bring no plaine proofes for what we say should now be affraid to let him heare what God hath said for us and what you could answer for your selfe But you saw very well that these prophecies were too cleare to be obscured with the vaile of a figureâ—iâ—â— sense and too eminent to â—e put on the roll of conditionall prophecies because many of them doe as well containe spiritual blessings as temporal blessings and there can be no doubt of their doing God's will to whom that Spirit and those graces are promised by which alone men are inabled to doe it And for a caste of what I have said take the prophecy of Jeremiah chap. 32. at the 37. ver Behold I will gather them out of all countries whither I have drivers them in mine anger and in my fury and in great wrath and I will bring them againe unto this place and I will cause them to dwell safely Here is an outward and temporal promise And they shall be my people and I will be their God and I will give them one heart and 〈…〉 that they may feare 〈◊〉 for â—ver for the good of them and their children after them And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turne away from them to doe them good but I will put my feare into their hearts that they shall not depart from me Here is an inward and spiritual promise after which it follows yea I will rejoyce over them to doe them good and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soule For thus saith the Lord like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised c. And the like prophecy is in the 33. chap. of Jer. at the 6. ver c. and in the 36. chap. of Ezek. at the 24. ver c. and in the 39. chap. at the 25. ver c. And in the 36. chap. at the 8. ver this prophecy is made to the Mountaines of Israel O yee mountaines of Israel ye shall shoot forth your branches and yeeld your fruit to my people of Israel for they are at hand to come for behold I am for you and I will turne unto you and ye shall be tilled and sowen and I will multiply men upon you all the house of Israel even all of it and the Cities shall be inhabited and the wastes shall be builded and I will multiply upon you man and beast and they shall increase and bring fruit and I will setle you after your old estates and I will doe better for you then at your beginning and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Yea I will cause men to walke upon you even my people Israel and they shall possesse thee and thou shalt be their inheritance and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of men c. Now as none of the former prophecies will beare the title of conditional prophecies so neither will this for the land it selfe could neither doe any thing for which God should make such a promise unto it nor for which he should refuse to fulfill unto it what he hath promised And I am perswaded that he who will deny that these prophecies are to be understood of the prosperity and happinesse of the Jews onely that will deny I say that they are properly and historically to be taken or that they are as yet to be fulfilled will not sticke to say any thing 2. If they affirme that these prophecies were partly though not onely accomplisht in the time of the plagues that I say their accomplishment did continue as well then as at other times they affirme that which is altogether inconsistent with the uninterrupted prosperity of these prophecies which shew that none of the people of whom they are spoken shall be left in captivity among the Heathen or be a prey any more to the Heathen but that they shall dwell safely in their owne land without feare and without sorrow And that they shall have such increase of cattle come and other fruits of the earth that there shall come no more famine upon them And who seeth not by this that these prophecies cannot possibly belong to the troublesome and distressed state and condition of the Christian Church or to any other people but the Jews who alone live dispersed in captivity But you deny that the plagues spoken of in the Rev. were to be continued plagues you should then have shewed what intervalls of joy the Church hath had from the time that the Dragon began to persecute the woman which brought forth the man child And went to make warre with the remnant of her seed Rev. 12.13.17 For doubtlesse persecution hath bin a constant attendant on the servants of God ever since the first preaching of the Gospel T is true indeed that the Gospel at the first made a great conquest on the Gentiles but how was it done surely not by the contentious hearts bloody hands of the Apostles and their successours but by a constant lifting up of their hearts and hands in prayer and by an undanted offering up of their lives in persecution And it is hard to say when all Christian Churches together have had rest from open persecution But grant that there had bin no such persecution at all in any Christian Kingdome unto this time yet doubtlesse that maxime of St. Paul in the 2 Tim. at the 12. ver Yea and all they that will live godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecution had stood firme and passed still for an undoubted truth For the servants of God might neverthelesse have bin moâ—â—t reviled hated and opprest albeit they had not bin haled to prisons to â—â—nres and death it self and yet let that Hell on earth the devillish Inquisition witnesse whether this also might not have bin effected in a more cruell barbarous manner in a secret then in an open persecution You say next that all interpreters from the beginning of the Christian Church except a few Millenaries till this
Christians pag. 1. This is one untruth to wit That I have granted that Christ hath executed his Kingly office The next is That I have said that he sits on a Throne in heaven as man which though it be in it selfe a truth for Christ himselfe saith of himselfe and am set downe with my Father in his Throne Rev. 3. ver 21. Yet it is not true that I have said these words for thus I have said that the place where he now sits is the Fathers Throne a Throne in which he hath no proper interest but as God These are your misreports of what I have idsa to which we may adde your affirming that it hath not been proved that the Prophets have spoken of a Kingdome on earth when as the Prophecies which I have alledged for it are so plaine that you left them as one afraid to behold their evidence Now your contradictions follow for having also falsely affirmed that this Proposition Christ sits on a Throne in heaven as man is one thing â—bout which we disagree you thus descant on it If these words as man be understood according to the Logicall acceptation it may be granted Thus farre you affirme that according to the Logicall acceptation Christ sits on a Throne in heaven as man and yet you subjoyne presently for what agreeth unto any man as man belongeth unto all men and indeed iâ— belongeth not unto all men to sit on the throne of Majesty Whereby you deny that according to the Logicall acceptation Christ sits on a throne in heaven as man It followes and neverthelesse Christ sits at the right hand of the Father as God-Man or Mediatour Here likewise you affirme that Christ sits on a Throne in heaven as man though not onely as man but as God too and yet you immediately subjoyne and in this sense we deny this assertion to wit that Christ sits on a Throne in heaven as man as it seemes this Author takes it But surely this Author hath not spoken the words and yet he will not deny that Christ doth fit there as man lest he should deny what Christ himselfe and the Apostles have said neither will he affirme that Christ sits there any otherwise then as God-man or Mediatour although his sitting doth properly belong unto him as man onely But you have said that Christ both sits and sits not there in a logicall acception and that he sits there as God-man and yet not as man Thus contrary are you to your selfe and withall as contrary to the truth in misapplying your distinction For whereas you say It may be granted that Christ sits on a throne in heaven as man if these words be understood according to the logicall acceptation of them it is notoriously false for the words as man in this sense doe imply somewhat essentially belonging unto man which cannot be affirmed of Christs fitting on a Throne in heaven to wit that it doth essentially belong unto his humane nature for then it should inseparately belong unto him and to all other men besides this then you should have deny'd and affirm'd onely that he sits there as such a man as Mediatour Put you out of your great skill in Logique in which you will allow me no insight have first affirmed both members of your distinction and presently deny'd both such a subtile or rather simple discourse have you extracted out of your logicall principle And that the Reader may see how unseasonable and unreasonable you have alledged this Philosophicall rule as well as the Propheticall and Apostolicall writings and revelations he must know that this maxime what agreeth unto any man aâ— man belongeth unto all men is generally true onely of meere man in opposition to other creatures and not of our Saviour who is both God and man and so as well distinguisht by his humane properties from his divine nature and by his essentiall attributes from other creatures as by his mediatory offices from other men Wherefore it followes not that what belongs unto Christ as man belongs unto all men because we usually say that all that belongs to Christ as man which belongs not to him as God which appertaines to his humane and not unto his divine nature Whether it be proper to him as man in opposition to other creatures as to laugh and to be borne of a woman or common also to other creatures as to be hungry and thirsty to eate and drinke to walke to weepe to groane c. Or proper to him as such a man as Mediatour in opposition to other men As to be borne of a Virgine to dye for our sinnes to rise againe for our justification to sit on a Throne in heaven and to reigne visibly on earth over all Nations These and such like we say doe not in propriety of speech belong unto Christ as God but as man because they are the properties of his humane nature As on the contrary it belongs unto him as God and not as man to be equall with the Father to be infinite omnipotent omniscient c. And thus much for your answer in grosse which is indeed a very grosse answer You goe on to catch at particulars which you thus alledge The 1. Particular That the Jewes are yet to receive a Kingdome in which they shall hold them captives whose captives they are Mr. Petrie's Answer Here a little change of a little word makes a great difference for the text saith whose captives they were And now they say they are The Prophet is speaking by name of the Assyrians whose Monarchy is now destroyed and the Interpreters shew the acomplishment of that Prophecy according to the Prophets morning a but that prophecy speakes not of them whose captives the Jewes now are neither know we whose captives they are seeing they live as free Subjects wheresoever they live Reply It is true that the text saith whose captives they were but seeing the deliverance which the Prophecy foreshewes hath not been hitherto accomplished we may truely say whose captives they are and therefore there is no such great difference in this change as you pretend For unlesse you can prove that the whole Nation of the Jewes whose redemption this Prophecy doth conceane as these words for the Lord will have mercy upon Jacob and will yet chuse Israel doe shew Vnlesse I say you can prove that the whole Nation that all the Tribes have been set in their owne I and and aâ— their returne thither have brought strangers with them whom they have possessed there for servants and handmaids and have ruled there over their oppressours over those who formerly ruled over them which I am sure you cannot doe it is not very materiall whether we say whose captives they were or whose captives they are And if there be any difference in the change it is onely because the Prophets expression doth seeme to point to that last generation of the Nations under whom the Jewes shall remaine captives immediately before their deliverance But
approved schooles who have all confessed the same truth that I speake for and stucke to that proper interpretation of these scriptures which I follow For not to speake of the primitive Christians or of many of the Fathers after them there have been many approved men for learning in these latter tâ—nes that have been witnesses of this truth amongst whom are Brightman Alstedius Wendelinus and Mede whom you your selfe pag. 14. commend for a renowned Author although you shake off his choisest proofes as easily as Sampson shooke off the Philistins cords and breake through his strongest arguments as forcibly as Sampson did through the gates of Azzah which he carried away in a triumphing manner such wonders doe you worke by your canonicall or rather carelesse arguing And yet for all this you must give me leave to make so bold with you againe as to tell you That as the plainesse of this text in hand and of the fore-cited scriptures doth compell us to acknowledge the proper sense of them so I trust both the love of the truth the feare of God and a desire to keepe a good conscience will ever constraine us to sticke to it For it is manifest by your taunting termes that you could finde neither scripture contradicting nor necessity forbidding the proper sense of our Saviours words for the confirmation whereof this rule is here alledged Israel's Redemption For besides that there is little analogy and resemblance betwixt a perpetuall l Rev. 22.3 praising and worshipping of God and the businesse of a politicke government here spoken of besides this I say we are already informed that though our Saviour be now in heaven yet he sits not there in his owne Throne and consequently is not yet in the Kingdome which the Father hath appointed him Mr. Petrie's Answer What impudence is here Doth not David say Psal 16 11. In thy presence is the fulnesse of joy at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore and Psal 17.15 I shall be satisfied when I wake with thy likenesse and Psal 36.8 They shall be abundantly sitis fied with the fulnesse of thy bouse and thou shalt make them drinke of the river of thy pleasures These and many more are spoken of the joyes in heaven by resemblance with earthly Kigndomes and we have already shewed that he bath been misinformed or misinformeth of another Throne and another Kingdome Reply Here you startle the Reader with a very foule exclamation but an evill tongue as it doth not become you so it will nothing benefit you Yea it deepely staines you innocency before God very much impaires your reputation amongst men especially upright men and sets up your wounded conscience as an irreconcileable Judge against you Looke into the Epistle of Saint James chap. 3. ver 6. and you may see both the abominable off spring and originall of it So is the tongue saith he amongst the members that it defileth the whole body and settethou fire the course of nature and it is set on fire of hell That therefore it may not burne hereafter in those flames from whence it is now too much inflamed thinke seriously on this passage and from henceforth give better language to others though your enemies then you have done to me for telling you the truth Now as for your answer I conâ—sse these texts to be Davids words and that there are some metaphoricall phrases in them But I deny that they have any resemblance with the civill affaires of an earthly Kingdome or that there is any comparison to be made betwixt them and our Saviours saying Luke 22.28 so that the impudence you speake of may well recoile on your selfe For the text Psal 16.11 shews onely that the fulnesse of alljoy and delight is in the enjoyment of the sight of God and to be at the right hand of God doth betoken the highest place of honour and glory in heaven which is proper to our Saviour who is said to sit at the right hand of God in allusion to a custome amongst men who are wont to set those whom they will most honour whom they most delight in at their right hands And that Text Psa 17.8 shews that David after the resurrection when he shall have a glorified body as Christ now hath shall be perfectly happy shall be as he would be For these words to awake after thy likenesse are all one with those of Saint Paul in 1 Cor. 15. 42 43 44. To rise in incorruption in glory in power to rise with a spirituall body For if we have been planted together in the likenesse of Christs death we shall be also in the likenesse of his resurrection saith the same Apostle Rom. 6.5 and because we are laid into our graves as one that lies downe in his bed to sleepe and shall be raised out of them as one that riseth out of his bed from sleepe therefore it is that the Prophet useth awake in stead of arise And the text Psal 36.8 is referred by Musculus to Gods bountifull provision in this life for all men indifferently and by Calvine better as well to the outward and temporall as to the spirituall and eternall benefits of God towards the faithfull his words are Some restraine it to spirituall graces but unto mee it seemeth a more likelyhood that under it are comprehended all Gods benefits that pertaine as well to the use of this present life as to the eternall heavenly blessednesse And so refers it as well to joyes on earth as to joyes in heaven And happily seeing the Prophet makes mention here of the house of God it is best understood of the great comfort which men shall receive through Gods loving kindnesse towards them in the time of our Saviours Kingdome on earth when Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lord shall again be rebuilt and all Nations shall flow unto it as it is Isai 2.2 or as it is Zech. 14.16 shall goe up from yeare to yeare to worshippe the King the Lord of Hosts and to keepe the feast of Tabernacles When I say in the mountaine of the Lords house in the restored Jerusalem the Lord of Hosts shall make unto all people a feast of fat things a feast of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wines on the lees well refined And shall destroy the face of the covering cast over all people and the vaile that is spread over all Nations Isai 25.6 c. And besides every understanding man knowes that to drinke of the river of thy pleasures is a metaphoricall expression seeing pleasures are not the nourishment of the body and so properly and corporally dranke of but belonging to the soule to which they are as comfortable as sweete and wholesome waters to a thirsty body But to drinke wine to eate the Passeover to eate and drinke at our Saviours table to eate bread in the Kingdome of God to sit on seates and judge the twelve Tribes of Israel are all proper expressions and so
quite different from the other And as spirituall pleasures appertaine to the Saints on earth as well as to the Saints in heaven so doe eating and drinking agree as well with glorified as unglorified bodies as well with the state of immortality as with the state of mortality For our Saviour did eate on earth at his Disciples table after his resurrection and he saith that the glorified Saints shall eate and drinke with him at his table after their resurrection And further he saith that after the last Judgement there is in the new Jerusalem the fruit of the tree of life to be eate of and the water of the river of life to be dranke of his words are To him that over cometh will I give to eate of the tree of life in the midst of the Paradise of God Rev. 2.7 and againe Rev. 22.14 15. Blessed are they that doe his Commandements that they may have right to the tree of life And whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely And indeed seeing God creates nothing in vaine it were vaine to thinke that the tree of life should beare twelve manner of fruites monthly unlesse they were to be fed on or that the river of the water of life should runne through the midst of the streete in the holy Jerusalem if it were not as well to be dranke of by the Saints in glory as to nourish the tree of life on the sides of it And therefore unlesse you can bring better proofes to shew that I am misinformed or doe misinforme then these texts of the Psalmist or any you have cited hitherto you your selfe will be found an over-hasty misinformer against the truth Israel's Redemption And as it is evident from his owne words that the Throne of his Kingdome is not now in heaven so it is plaine from Saint Pauls in 1 Cor. 15.12 that it shall not be thereafter the judgement of the dead his words are these As in Adam all dye even so in Christ shall all be made alive But every man in his owne order Christ the first fruites afterwards * They that are Christs at his comming-If there were not to be some distance of time betwixt the resurrection of these and other men it had been as easie for the Apostle to have said they that are dead or all that are in the grave And if there shall be a precedencie of time then no doubt but it shall be such a precedency as may bring some advantage and honour unto the Saints and therefore not onely of a few houres or dayes but of a more notable continuance and length of time of many yeares For if Christ should descend for no other purpose but to call all men to judgement then as there would he need of none so there could not well be any priority of time to distinguish their resurrection because in that act both good and bad must be assembled before him at the same time and the wicked doubtlesse should then be raised as soone to see his comming as the just to meete and accompany him therein they that are Christs at his comming and therefore not the m Zech. 14.5 1 Thes 3.13 chap. 4. ver 14 15 16. 2 Thes 1.10 Col. 3.4 Martyres onely Then commeth the end what presently after his comming no but when he hath delivered up the Kingdome to God even the Father and when shall that be when he shall have put downe all rule and all authority and power For he must reigne till He that is the Father hath put all his enemies under his feete which will be fully accomplished when the last enemy shall be destroyed which is death and when all things shall be thus subdued unto him then shall follow that inutterable glory that height of happinesse where the Sonne also himselfe shall be subject unto him that did before put all things under him that God may be all in all Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. Whether the Apostle might have said so or so Can any man gather necessarily out of these words so great a distance of time betwixt the resurrection of the godly and of the ungodly Here the Apostle nameth the godly and not the ungodly not importing any notable distance of time but because he had said ver 22. In Christ all shall be made alive which words cannot be properly and univocally meaned of the ungodly whose rising shall be for the accomplishment of the second death therefore here ver 23. he justly â—mits the mention of the ungodly and speakes of the godly as also he doth 1 Thes 4.16 17. where we find expressely an order among the godly saying The dead in Christ shall rise first and then we who are alive and remaine shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meete the Lord in the aire The Apostle in both texts speakes of the same comming of Christ as this Author acknowledgeth and applyeth the words to the same purpose pag. 50. As none will say that there shall be any notable priority in time betwixt the one and the other sort meeting Christ so and farre lesse doe these words speaking onely of them that are in Christ import two resurrections different the one from the other the space of a 1000 yeares Yea and the Apostle saying That we shall be caught up and meete the Lord in the aire and so shall be ever with him How can any imagine that we shall come downe againe from the aire to abide so long a space upon the earth and therefore he speakes there of the generall resurrection when they who are in Christ shall be ever with him not in a temporall but everlasting glory And seeing the Apostle speakes both here and there of the same resurrection certainely he speakes not here of a resurrection before the time of the generall judgement 2. pag. 49. After these words of Paul at his comming Mr. Maton inserteth and not the Martyrs onely Why inserteth he these words doth any who denyeth this earthly Monarchy say that the Martyrs and no more shall come with Christ no but some Millenaries say so And here he would marke a word against them Be it so 3. He wresteth the words thus Then commeth the end what presently after his comming no but when he hath delivered up the Kingdome to God even the Father and when shall that be when he shall have put downe all rule and authority and power c. Here instead of explication is a very contradiction of the text by inserting a negative and conveighing it closely with a query The particle Then hath relation to the words preceding and the word Comes is not in the originall as yee may see by the divers characters in the translation and it may as well be rendred Then or at that time is the end when he shall have delivered up c. So that the very time when he shall deliver the Kingdome is when they who are Christs shall arise at his comming And
therefore there shall be no notable distance of time betwixt the resurrection and the generall judgement and consequently these words of Paul doe clearely prove that the reigne of Christ as God-man doth not beginne after his next comming nor can without contradiction unto the Apostle any notable space of time be betwixt his next comming and the last subduing of all things The 25 verse proveth the same for when it is said For he must reigne till he hath put all his enemies under his feete thereby is teached more clearely in the originall language that now he reigneth and continues reigning and consequently he is not to begin his reigne even as it is said Heb. 2.8 Thou hast put all things under his feete and when they who are in Christ shall be made alive death the last enemy shall be destroyed and then is the end of administration Reply 1. The reason which you alledge against the distance of time betwixt the resurrection of the godly and ungodly to wit that the last clause of the 22 verse So in Christ shall all be made alive is not properly and univocally meant of the ungodly whose rising shall be to the accomplishment of their second death this reason is a meere mistake or rather a groundlesse untruth For as in Dan. 12.2 the words Sleepe and Awake are indifferently applyed to the death and resurrection of the just and unjust as in this chap. ver 20. the word Sleepe is indifferently applyed to all that are dead and ver 12 13.15 16 21.29 The dead are opposed to the living in generall to all that live a naturall life on earth and so are meant of all that are departed out of this l fe both elect and not elect In like manner the word Shâ—ll be made alive ver 22 is opposed onely to the first and naturall death of the body to the corruptible state of it in the grave and not to the spirituall death of the soul or to the second and supernaturall death of the body and consequently doth equally comprehend the resurrection of the good and bad as the 21 verse doth further confirme For since by man came death to all both good and bad by man came also the resurrection of the dead of all both good and bad So that the Apostle discoursing here of a proper and bodily resurrection speakes onely of such a death as is common to all which is a bodily death and such a resurrection as is common to all which is a bodily resurrection And having proved the resurrection and shewed also in what order it shall be fulfilled towards the end of the chapter he tells the Saints with what bodies they themselves shall arise to wit with incorruptible with glorified with spirituall bodies And as for the text in 1 Thes 4.16 17. it doth shew onely that the Saints which are living at our Saviours comming shall not be caught up to meete Christ before those that are dead For when the Saints who are dead shall be raised out of their grayes then the Saints that remaine alive shall together with them be caught up into the cloudes to meete the Lord. So that this order as you call it is an order betwixt the Saints remaining alive at our Saviours comming and the Saints deceased before his comming and not an order touching the distinct rising of all those that are dead which is that which Saint Paul affirmes in the 1 Cor. 15.23 c. And whereas you would make it a matter incredible that our Saviour and the Saints shall come downe againe from the aire to abide so long space on earth onely because it is said That they shall meete the Lord in the aire and so shall ever be with the Lord. You doe shew your selfe to be either very forgetfull of what you have read in Gods word or that you tooke but little notice of it when you did read it For doth not Zech. 14.5 tell us That the Lord shall come and all the Saints with him Seeing then the Saints shall meete the Lord in the aire as Saint Paul saith and seeing also when they are met the Lord shall come and all the Saints with him as the Prophet saith whither shall they come but from the aire to the earth Surely whatsoever you or any other through your perswasion may imagine of it Job makes no doubt of it For chap. 19. ver 25 26 27. he saith I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet in my flâ—sh shall I see God whom I shall see for my selfe and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reines be consumed within me And Jeremiah seconds him chap. 23. ver 5. in expresse termes touching our Saviours abode on earth Yea seeing our Saviour at his comming with his heavenly host shall take the Beast and false Prophet alive in battell and make a feast of their Armies for the fowles of heaven as it is revealed in the 19 chap. of the Revel and tread them in the winepresse of his wrath that the bloud shall come even unto the horse-bridles by the space of a 1000 and 600 furlongs as it is foretold Revel 14.19 20. Shall he descend to the earth to doe this thinke ye or shall he not And why also may not the Saints when they have met the Lord as well be ever with him though he first descend with them to reigne on earth as if he should goe immediately backe with them into heaven Nescis haud dubio nescis 2. You might well have spared this passage unlesse you could have shewed that I had markt any thing against the truth But doth the Apostle prove them onely to be in an errour who hold that none besides the Martyrs shall rise reign with Christ at his coming Surely he markes a word against those too who hold that all the dead shall rise at Christ comming for every man saith he in his owne order Christ the first-fruites afterwards they that are Christs at his comming Loe here the order of the Saints that dye before Christs appearing is to be the next that shall rise after Christ himselfe And when then is the order of the rest of the dead but when the time of Christs 1000 yeares reigne on earth is finished when the last enemy is destroyed which is death which shall not be utterly destroyed till the last resurrection till all men be raised from the dead For seeing the Apostle without any relation to the severall estates of the just and unjust after their resurrection speakes here onely of the rising of their bodies which equally and univocally belongs to them all why should we thinke that he would not as well have mentioned the resurrection of the just if they were to rise at the same time with these if the words But every man in his owne order doe not intimate any order doe not intimate a priority of
reigne over the Iewes in their owne land and that Ierusalem shall againe be built Why should we not beleeve that both the building of the Temple of the Lord and his reigning on the Throne of his Father David shall be as properly fulfilled in Christ the antitype as they were in Solomon the type Whereas then you say further That in this sense the Disciples did beleeve the Scriptures after the resurrection of Christ I pray what scriptures this prophecy Surely it is false that they did any where cite this prophecy to prove our Saviours resurrection from the dead And the words of the Evangelist are plaine When therefore he was risen from the dead saith Iohn his Disciples remembred that he had said this unto them to wit that he had said to the Iewes Destroy this Temple c. and they beleeved the Scripture that is the scripture which foreshewes our Saviours resurrection as Psal 16. alledged by Saint Peter Acts 2.25 c. and Psal 2.7 alledged by Saint Paul Acts 13.33 c. And the word which Iesus had said that is and they beleeved also that this saying of his to the Iewes was meant of the resurrection of his body and not as you say they did that it was an interpretation of Zechariah's prophecy which for shewes indeed the building of the Temple of the Lord but not the destroying of it by the Iewes nor the building of it in three dayes no nor the building of it untill the man whose name is the Branch should sit and rule on his Throne Neither did our Saviour say plainely Destroy the Temple of the Lord as the false witnessâ—s acâ—used him nor absolutely destroy the Temple but darkely and inrelation to his owne body destroy this Temple as his words touching the raising of it in three dayes doe intimate and the Evangelist doth afterwards expound it And he said also I will raise it and not I will build it which shewes the making of a Temple where was none before and therefore cannot be applyed to the quickening of our Saviours body a temple then in being and not to be corrupted in death And as for your confused exposition of the prophecy of Zech. 14.4 c. it is not onely contrary to the truth but to reason it selfe For first which is flat against the truth you ascribe the accomplishment of this prophecy to our Saviours ascending to the Saints in heaven and to the time succeeding his ascension whereas it is manifest by the words in the first verse which you have concealed And the Lord my God shall come and aâ—l the Saints with thee that it is to be fulfilled at his descending with the Saints from heaven and in the time succeeding his descension And secondly which is not onely against the truth but against reason also you affirme That by the cleaving of the Mount of Olives towards the East and towards the West is meant the shaking of all the world at the preaching of the Gospell And That by the Iewes flying to the valley of the mountaines is meant their imbracing of the Gospell Which is as if you had said that the Iewes did then imbrace the Gospell when they fled from it or that the Iewes in flying from the Gospell fled to the Gospell For as you interpret the cleaving of the Mount of Olivers from which the Iewes were to fly of the preaching of the Gospell so you interpret the valley of the mountaines to which the Iewes were to flee of the same also And who sees not by this and by your expounding of the 6 and 7 verses Of the perpetual â—ight of the Gospell and the 8 verse Of the continuall flâ—â—wing of the doctrine of the Gospell and all of the Gospell and of nothing but of the Gospell that by such a liberty of interpreting any one may make the plainâ—st scripture that is to say onely as he faith and so to patronize and defend any dangerous opinion against the truth clearely revealed in it The truth therefore of this prophecy is no other then that which the Prophet himselfe hath plainely told us to wit that the Mount of Olives shall be cleft in the midst by an earthquake at the comming of our Saviour with all the Saints and that the Iewes which are gathered together neere unto it shall then flye for feare of this earthquake as they fled for feare from before the earthquake in the dayes of Vzziah King of Judah And the effect of this earthquake is described ver 10. where it is said And all the Land shall be turned as a plaine from Gâ—ha to Rimmâ—n South of Jerusalem and it shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place from Benjamins gate unto the place of tho first gate unto the corner gate and from the tower of Hananiel un to the Kings wiae-presser And man shall dwell in it and there shall be no more utter destruction but Ierusalem shall be safely inhabited And as this part so all the rest of the prophecy is to be understood likewise according to its owne stile and language which is so obvious that it needes no inter preration and the light thereof cannot be more obscured then by such a glosse as you have put upon it And thus it being undeniable that this prophecy of Zech. doth foreshew our Saviours second comming his comming with all the Saints and the things then no be performed by him it necessarily followes That he shall come not onely to conquer death first in part at the resurrection of the Saints that shall rise to meete him and to come with him and then wholly at the resurrection of all others when he shall passe the sentence of salvation on the elect and of damnation on the reprobate but in the interim in the space betwixt this first and second resurrection to be King over all the earth as this Prophet saith ver 9. to take the Kingdomes of this world unto himselfe as Saint Iohn reveals Rev. 11.15 to put downe all rule and all authority as Saint Paul affirmes 1 Cor. 15.24 and to set up that dominion glory and Kingdome at the manifestation whereof all people nations and languages shall serve him as Daniel foreshewes chap. 7. ver 14. which he shall doe by an extraordinary destroying of the most and greatest of his enemies in batte'l and by causing every one that is left of the Nations to goe up from yeare to yeare to Ierusalem to worship the King the Lord of Hafts as Zech. here and many other Prophets besides doe declare Israel's Redemption You see here that our Saviour comes not onely to conquer death which is the last enemy that he shall d stroy and therefore not wholly to be destroyed till the last resurrection but also to take the Kingdomes of this world unto himselfe to put downe as Saint Paul hath said all the authority and power of other Nations that there may be one shepheard and one sheep-fold Dan. 7.27 that the Kingdome and dominion
and greatnesse of the Kingdome under the whole Heaven may be possest by the people of the Saints of the most High That is as the former prophecies doe expound it by the i people of Israel Psal 148.14 And this as I thinke is the time of which he spake these words Verely verely I say unto you k Ioh. 1.51 Heb. 1.6 Hereafer shall ye see heaven open and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the l sonne of man Mr. Petrie's Answer That these words shal be fulfilled or have been fulfilled it is most certaine and it is as certaine that they shall never be fulfilled in the proper acceptation of the words seeing the body of Christ is not so tall as that 〈◊〉 shall reach from heaven to earth for this cause some as Cyril on this place have expâ—ned unto for upon in this sense as if the Heavens were open the Angels shâ—ll come downe and ascend unto my Service So doth Chrysostome apply these words to the Angels ministring unto Christ in time of his passion and resurrection Others thinke it to be an exposi ion of that vision of Iacob Gen. 28. whereby was signified that Christ is the Mediatour making way betwixt heaven and earth Col. 1.10 And these expositions for the matter doe agree with other Scriptures Reply It seemes by your first words that you are doubtfull of the accomplishment of this prophecy for that it shall be fulfilled or hath been fulfilled it is most certaine you say And your next assertion that it shall never he fulfilled in the proper acceptation of the words doth appaâ—ently contradict that which followes for by and by after you tell us that Cyril hath exponed it as if the heavens were open the Angels shall come downe and ascend unto my Service and that Chrysostome doâ—h apply it to the Angel ministring unto Christ in time of his passion and resurrection And is not this a proper exposition of the prophecy then shew us one more proper And doubtlesse it is to be understood as Cyril understands it of the Angels ministring to our Saviour But yet we beleeve not that it was fulfilled when in his agony there appeared an Angel unto him strengthening him Luke 22.43 and much lesse when after his resurrection and Angel appeared at his sepulchre Matth. 28 2. For it is evident that when this prophâ—cy shall be fulfilled they that are in our Saviours presence shall as plainely see heaven open 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the starry firmament part asunder and the Angels ascending from and descending â—o him as they shall see each other as plainely I say as Saint Stephen looking stedfastly into heaven saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the heavens open and the Sonne of man standing on the right hand of God Acts 7.55 56. And as Saint John Baptist saw the heavens opened unto Christ and the Spirit of God descending liâ—e a dove and lighting upon him Matth. 3.16 And Saint Paul assures uâ— Heb. 1.6 That when God againe bringeth in the first begotten into the world he sayth And let all the Angels of God worship him And to what time then can our Saviours Hereafter can this visible attendance of the Angels on him belong but to the time of his next appearing of his comming againe into the world the time and place of which God hath said that all the Angels of God shall doe homage unto him And besides it is more then probable that the Evangelist would as well have recorded the accomplishment as the prediction of this thing if he had knowne of the fulfilling of it But the acute reason of your denying the proper sense of the prophecy is yet behinde and may well remaine to posterity as the wonder of your worke and the monument of your wit For the Angels you say shall not ascend and descend upon the Sonne of man seeing the body of Christ is not so tall as that it shall reach from heaven to earth Doubtlesse a very tall proofe and yet it comes short of the marke you aime at For surely the proper acceptation of the prophecy as it depends not on so it is not proved but infallibly disproved by the proper acceptation of the word upon which preposition having relation onely to the participle descending the full expression had been thus ascending from and descending upon or unto which is meant by upon in this place And which the originall word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth as well signifie as upon and might have been here so exprest as well as it it is Luke 10.6 and chap. 19. ver 5. and in other places had there been any likelihood of a modesâ— Christians misunderstanding of this prophecy by reason of the word upon However the learned had need beware that in translating the scriptures they follow not the common liberty of speech in the smalest word when as the wilfull are so ready to make it an occasion of venting their vaine conceits Israel's Redemption For that this may be fulfilled it is requisite that he be on earth whither these messengers may descend unto him and from whence againe they may ascend which argues too his continuance here for a greater space of time then the judgement of the dead requites Mr. Petrie's Answer A poore proofe for as it is requisite that he be on earth whither that these messengers may descend unto hint so I may say it is requisite that he be in heaven whence they may descend on him and whither they may ascend to him and so taking the words in that sense they may be fulfilled albeit he never were on earth even as they may be fulfilled when he is on earth and not in heaven but according to the first exposition he was on earth when they were fulfilled farre lesse it his â—ominuance on earth necessary for these words Reply A poore proofe you say And surely were it not much more powerfull then the answer it were poore indeed For may you say as well from the order of our Saviours words That it is requisite he be in heaven whence the Angels may descend from him and ascend to him as we may that it is requisite he be on earth whence they may ascend from him and descend to him Certainely nothing can be said more direct against the truth For such a conclusion doth necessarily change and pervert our Saviours words into this contrary forme Hereafter ye shall see heaven open and the Angels ascending to and descending from the Sonne of man Whereas our Saviour said ascending and descending to the Sonne of man which necessarily proves that he is not to be in heaven at the accomplishment thereof seeing he must be the terminus a quo the person from whom and not to whom the Angels shall ascend and the terminus ad quem the person to whom and not from whom they shall descend And therefore taking these words no otherwise then our Saviour spake them they may be fulfilled on earth as we say but
be called in question by most expositourâ— Yea if we should say that no more is plainely delivered in the scriptures but that which is not controverted by any what a small â—â—â—ance of scripture should we acknowledge for plaine scripture And doubtlesse you your selfe will say that most of the texts controverted betwixt Protestants and Papists and betwixt orthodoxe and hereticall Protestants are plaine texts for difference in opinion for the most part proceedes not so much from the obscurity of the text as from the obstinacy of such who either out of prejudice or selfe-conceit or for self-ends wrest it from the scope and purpose of the Holy Ghost to countenance their private and perverse fancies And whereas you say That Christians have given better warrants of their expositions then Millenaries are able to doe The reader may well guesse at the soundnesse of these words by the state of your charity For as without any warrant you exclude all Millenaries from the communion of Christians so the truth is that we justifie our expositions either by other scriptures or by the coherence of the precedent and subsequent verses or by the plainnesse of the texts themselves which are undoubtedly the best warrants whereas you without any necessity enforcing thereto do straine the words of the text from their proper meanâ—ng and so doe impose upon them a sense not minded by the Spirit of God not warranted by other scriptures and whereof they are scarcely yea in many places not at all capable as your answers doe sufficiently testifie against you Israel's Redemption Which vision as it is the next to that of the battell wherein the Beast and false Prophet are taken so doubtlesse it shall not till then receive its accomplishment for seeing Antichrist is but the devills instrument we cannot imagine that his power shall out-last the devills liberty especially if we consider that while Satan is in hold there shall be a generall peace over the world as the u Isai 2.4 Mich. 4.3 Prophets say expressely and as is here implyed in that as soone as he is loosed againe * Rev. 20.7.8 presently he shall gather all the rest of the world to fight against the Saints But their malicious attempt shall finde no better successe then that of the Beast the false Prophet and the Kings of the earth their predecessours had done at the beginning of the 1000 yeers For fire shall come downe from God out of heaven Ver. 9. and devoure them Mr. Petrie's Answer This vision is neâ—â—â— that battell in order of writing but it follows not that it shall not beginne to be accomplished till the former vision be fully accomplished for albeit Antichrist be the devills instrument it may be understood as histories doe verifie that his power may be in the time of Satans imprisonment that is while Satan is not permitted to rage and persecute openly as he did in the dayes of the heathenish Emperours in the meane time Antichrist may sit in the Church of God and deceive the world with lies and fained miracles so that even when peace is in the world from warres there be not peace from the children within as Bernard complaines in his time in Cantic ser 33. and when he hath deceived the greatest part of the world except some few persons in comparison of them who are deceived then Satan may stirre up Antichrist to wage warre against the disclosers of his deceits as he did against the Albigenses and Tolosani about the yeare 1220. and against the Bohemians about the yeare 1420. in the dayes of the Emperours Sigismund Albert and others and so the malicious attempt of Satan may have the same successe with that of the Beast I say not the like but the same both in place time and number Reply That the binding up of Satan and the thousand yeares reigne of the Saints were to contemporate you doe not deny but that the binding up of Satan is to succed the destruction of the beast and false prophet as well in the execution thereof as it doth in the order of its revelation it doth not follow you say and yet you bring no reason against it whereas we have these unanswerable evidences in the Text for it First that upon the binding up of Satan a thousand yeares peace is to follow in the world and secondly that throughout this time Satan is to be withheld from deceiving the Nations neither of which was ever yet accomplished For when was there amongst men such a time of rest from warre as this or any time at all of immunity from Satans temptations Whereas therefore you understand by Satans imprisonment no more then his restraint from raging and persecuting openly it is flat against the Text which saith that when Satan is shut up he shall not deceive the Nations and not that he shall not stirre them up to open persecution which is but a particular effect of his deceiving of them And besides may not a secret persecution be farre worse then an open And is not a power to deceive Christians by lies and fained miracles more obnoxious to the Church of God then both these What comfort then could this prophecy afford the faithfull if notwithstanding Satans imprisonment Antichrist should still prevaile so much amongst men Or what new thing had been here revealed unto Saint John if no more but this had been meant by the binding up of Satan But indeed when Satan shall be cast into the bottomlesse pit and a seale set upon him he shall be debarred not onely from tempting but from walking up and downe amongst men and therefore it is no better then meere non-sence to say that when Satan is bound up and withheld from deceiving man he may yet have an instrument sitting in the Church of God deceiving the world c. For can any man be an instrument to Satan when Satan himselfe shall neither have power to deceive him nor liberty to come neare him Thus then your conceit of Antichrists existence and continuance in the Church after Satans imprisonment and restraint doth plainely crosse not onely the order of this Revelation but the evidence of the Text. And your historicall narration holds no correspondence with this propheticall history of Saint John ISRAELS Redemption CHAP. IV. The chiefe doubts Answered NOw against this which hath been said touching our Saviours Kingdome his owne words iâ— the 18 of Saint John ver 36. may be objected For there he saith plainely My Kingdome is not of this world and in Matth. 25.31 he saith When the Sonne of man shall come in his glory and all the holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the Throne of his glory And before him shall be gathered all Nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepheard divideth the sheepe from the goates With which agreeth that of Saint Peter in his 2 Epist ch 3. ver 7. But the heavens and earth which are now by the same word
are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of â—udgement and perdition of ungodly men And many other places there are of the like nature But to the first I answer that those words of our Saviour doe onely distinguish the time and condition of his Kingdome from the time and condition of the Kingdomes of this world at the setting up of whose Kingdome there shall be such an Nec enim dubium quin maxima rerum naturalium humanarum mutatio regni hujus auspicia sit antecessura Antichristus enim cum totâ suâ Synagogâ abolebitur extinguetur hominum pars maxima gentilibus non nisi paucis relictis qui in posteris suis non extra sed intra regnum hoc mille annis supererunt ut prophetiae suprà memoratae cum aliis in Scripturâ passim occurrentibus abunde testantur sub decursum verò mille annorum mirum in modum aucti a Satana e carcere suo saluto iterum seducti Sanctorum castra oppugnabunt sed incassum Nec dubium est quin rerum quoque naturalium quae regni huius incolis ministrabunt longè alia sit futura facies quam impraesentiarum est siquidem beatissimum tranquillissimum erit regni istius seculum omnis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae in naturâ modò decurrit expers Mar. Frid. Wend. Contemp. Phys Sect. 2. cap. 17. pag. 375 376. alteration over the whole frame of x Psal 46. Isai 2.12.19.21 ch 11.6 c. ch 30.25 26. ch 41.18 19. ch 55.13 Ezek. 38.19 20. Matth 24.29.30 Mar. 13.24 25. Luke 21.25 26. Rev. 6.12 13. c. ch 16.18.19 c. nature and such a change of government on the earth that this time shall then as well be accounted the time of another world as the time before the floud is now taken for the old world by us and was long agoe so stiled by Saint Peter in his 2 Epist chap. 2. ver 5. And therefore notwithstanding this proofe the place of his Kingdome shall be the earth that now is though this be not the time nor any humane policy the patterne of his reigne Mr. Petrie's Answer Our Saviour distinguishes not betwixt the time of his and other Kingdomes for he saith in the same verse My Kingdome is not from hence that is My Kingdome is at hand as he said unto his Disciples Matth. 16.28 Verely I say unto you there be some standing here who shall not tast of death till they have seene the Sonne of man come in his Kingdome that is reigning powerfully by the preaching of the Gospell and Matth. 24.14 This Gospell of the Kingdome shall be preached in all the world for a witnesse unto all Nations and then shall the end come There is his Kingdome before the end of this world and now is the time of his reigne albeit no humane policy be the patterne thereof 2. If he had said to that purpose as the Millenaries say that in time of his Kingdome being so nigh the Kingdome of the Romanes should be no Kingdome they might had more pretext of law for condemning him wherefore he distinguisheth the condition of the Kingdomes and not the time of them so that Caesar might been Emperour and Christ a mighty King both at once Non eripit mortalia qui regna dat coelestia Reply 1. That our Saviours Kingdome is to be a distinct Kingdome both in time and condition from the Kingdomes of this world is a truth apparantly delivered in the scriptures And for ought you have said to the contrary we may still thinke that these words of Christ doe intimate as much For though you first deny that these words doe distinguish betwixt the time of his Kingdome and other Kingdomes yet you presently give this sense to them your selfe when you say My Kingdome is not from hence that is My Kingdome is at hand And therefore it was not then in the world and if not then sure I am it hath not been yet and so it is distinct in time too from other Kingdomes as well as in condition I say it hath not been yet for what Kingdome of Christ hath been set up in the world since he spake these words which was not in the world when he spake these words Certainely his spirituall Kingdome was as much in the world at that time though not spread so much over the world as it hath been since That Kingdome therefore which you say was not then but was at hand is not yet come as the testimonies which you have alledged to prove that it was then at hand doe testifie against you also For that text Matth. 16.28 doth speake of a Kingdome to beginne at Christs appearing and not before it of a Kingdome I say when the Sonne of man shall come as it is in the same verse and when the Sonne of man shall come in the glory of the Father with his Angels as it is in the preceding verse And therefore doubtlesse these words of our Saviour Verely I say unto you there be some standing here which shall not tast of death till they see the Sonne of man comming in his Kingdome doe reveale a strange and extraordinary preservation of some then present till Christs next appearing For what doth the comming of the Sonne of man signifie but Christs descending from heaven and why did he subjoyne these words to his speech touching his comming in the glory of the Father with his Angels but because they are meant of the same comming And besides the Gospell had been before preacht by the Baptist by Christ himselfe and by the Disciples and not some but all the Disciples lived to see it preacht among the Gentiles also and therefore the seeing of this could not be the meaning of our Saviours words Thus then this first text doth shew that the Kingdome of our Saviour is not yet come And the other text Matth. 24.14 doth shew onely That the Gospell of the Kingdome that is which makes report of the Kingdome or by which men are made partakers of the Kingdome of Christ should be preached in all the world before the end should come that is the end and destruction of Jerusalem as the subsequent verses doe declare and not the end of the world as you affirme For would Christ thinke you have advised them to flye out of Judea into the mountaines from his presence at the end of the world Or how should it be worse for women with child and for them that give sucke at his comming then for others And now as for your exposition of these words My Kingdome is not from hence that is My Kingdome is at hand I pray what interpreters doe you follow in it or what colour have you for it What! are from hence and at hand all one or is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an adverbe of time or of place Doubtlesse these words My Kingdome is not from hence are to be understood as if Christ had said My Kingdome is
to be understood of a spirituall wrath doe indeed rather confirme then confute this exposition Seeing it is plaine that the Apostle in ver 28. speakes of such Jewes onely who for the Gentiles sakes that were to be received into their roome were become the enemies of the Gospell of Christ and consequently not of such on whom God had mercy or would have mercy any otherwise then in making of them instruments for the fulfilling of his promise made unto the Fathers touching that elect remnant of their posterity whom he purposed to call by a generall conversion Object 10 Tenthly you say That the estate of the Church is described such that the godly shall be mixed with the ungâ—dly even till Christ come and gather the tares from the wheat to be burned Matth. 13.39 Sol. 10 And surely we say not that Christ shall reigne on earth before he comes to doe this but when he comes to do this And therefore also his Kingdome for so he calls it ver 41. shall not be a Kingdome of such carnall delight as you to vilifie the truth ascribe unto it It being the onely scope of this parable and anonother in the same chapter to set forth the righteousnesse thereof Your last words are All these and such like passages the Millenaries willingly passe over But let the reader judge whether you have not more cause to be ashamed of such arguments then we have to be afraid to answer them Israel's Redemption And in my conceit Saint Peter in the very next verse doth intimate as much for having before used the word Day he warnes them not to be ignorant of this one thing That one day is with the Lord as a thousand yeares and a thousand yeares as one day As if he had told them that the day he spake of was indeed a thousand yeares the Holy Ghost alwayes using it in this sense when it is emphatically applied to our Saviours comming or the Jewes redemption Which as it is already proved shall happen at the same time And though God as he is eternall cannot be measured by time and as he is immutable feeles no alteration in time a thousand yea ten thousand times ten thousand yeares and one day houre or minute of a day being in this respect all one to him yet this shift cannot void the exposition already given seeing the apparent dependance of these words on the former doth clearely prove that Saint Peter intended not to shew what a thousand yeares and one day were to God in regard of his nature which it is like they knew before but only what is usually meant by one day in the word of God And indeed to what purpose had this sudden and serious advertisement been inferred if the Apostle did not hereby discover unto them besides the largest definite and limited acception of the word such a speciall relation of a thousand yeares to one day as cannot belong to any other number when as touching Gods immensity and immutability one day might as well have been compared with ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands or thousands as I said as with one thousand yeares Mr. Petrie's Answer Whatsoever be your conceit you may see that the Apostle hath another purpose there for ver 4. he telleth of scoffers jeering at the promise of Christs comming because all things continue as they were and so all things seeme to have subsisting in themselves he refutes this imagination and showes that the world both was made and continueth by the word of God who is able to destroy as sometimes he did and hath appointed a day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men Here he putteth the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men for that the scoffers say where is the promise of his comming so that at his comming he will judge and punish the ungodly which is contrary to the opinion of the Millenaries Then ver 8. he answereth to that opinion of delay saying One day is with the Lord as a thousand yeares He saith not one day is a thousand yeares as the Millenaries make the commentary shorter then the text but is as a thousand yeares and therefore here is no exposition but comparison as if he had said albeit a thousand yeares seeme a long time to us and so the world seemeth to have continued long yet it is not so with the Lord to whom all time is short or none And then he shewes the end why God delayeth that comming to wit in long-suffering toward men awaâ—ing the repentance of the last of them Whereby you see another meaning and another purpose even contrary to that conceit of the Millenaries The Apostle might have named many millions of yeares as one day in respect of Gods eternity but according to the usuall custome of speech he nameth a round great number for any number Reply You had no other shift to avoid the answering of my former answer but to call it a shift And here you have dealt no better with me then you have often done before to wit left out what was most unpleasing to your selfe and instructive to the read 〈◊〉 and made a flourish against the rest and yet all this will not serve your turne for first it is a manifest slander to say That Christs judging and punishing of the ungodly is contrary to the opinion of the Millenaries For doe not we say that the destruction of the Army in Armageddon is to be at our Saviours descending as it is plainely revealed Rev. 19. and alluded unto chap. 14. ver 19 20. and that there shall be then also a destruction of all obstinate and rebellious sinners as it is foretold in 2 Thes 1.7 8 9 10. and Rev. 16.20 21. and intimated in the parable of the tares and the net cast into the sea Matth. 13. and doe we not say likewise that when the new insurrection of the Nations shall be at the end of the 1000 yeares peacefull râ—igne fire shall come downe from God out of heaven and devoure them Rev. 20 And doe we not hold that all this shall be before the last act of the great day of the Lambes wrath in which the sentence of damnation shall be pronounced against all unbeleeving sinners at the last resurrection All this then being undeniable there can be no truth in your foresaid words And as in ver 5 6. the Apostle shewes the faithfull why the wicked should make a scoffe at the promise of Christs comming and in ver 9. gives them the reason of Gods putting off of his comming so long so in ver 8. hee makes no answer to the opinion of delay but puts them in minde of the meaning of the day of judgement spoken of in ver 7 which two verses doe seeme to be brought in by way of Parenthesis For though a 1000 yeares which seeme a long time to us be but a short time with the Lord as you say yet doubtlesse that which seemes a short time to us
and a figurative sense is the literal or primarily intended sense of these words And contrarily unto this rule the Jewes and others expone the descriptions and prophesies of the glory and power of Christ and his Church after an earthly manner and so straying from the true meaning they transforme his spiritual Kingdom into an earthly and temporary which as it is ungodly so it is repugnant unto Scripture testifying plainly that his Church is all glorious within and not of this world and therfore these comparisons that are taken from earthly Kingdomes must be understood figuratively and in a spiritual sense at least it must be diligently observed what portion of every passage it to be understood properly and what figuratively seeing many times that which is spoken figuratively is exponed by the words preceding or following and all figurative speeches have some tokens of the use unto which they are directed or another text may be found where the same matter is more clearely handled These general rules being premitted it shall be easier to expone all the promises of Christ's Kingdom and especially that text Amos 9.15 They shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them saith the Lord thy God For these words may be cleared by the words Jer. 4.1 If thou wilt put away thy abominations out of my sight then thou shalt not remove Where we have the same promise but expressed with a condition and it is usual in the Scriptures that earthly promises are expressed sometimes with a condition and sometimes without it but alwaies are understood conditionally 2. By the acceptions of the word land which as it is not alwaies exponed of the earth so somtimes it is put for the grave as Iob 10. verse 21. The land of darknesse and shadow of death And for Heaven Psa 27.13 I had fainted unlesse I had beleeved to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living And especially that land was a type of the Kingdom of Christ as it is said in the first rule and of the true inheritance of the Saints and true gift of God Deut. 4.1.38 And so whether the word land be taken properly or typically the promise is manifestly true both before and after the comming of Christ to suffer for they were brought againe into their land and they who were brought were not pulled out of their land and they are planted in their true land whence they shall no more be pulled ouâ—â— and hereby the large note on the margine of Page 9. is frustrated Answer Let this rule then which is a compound of several rules laid downe by others for the right interpreting of the Scriptures decide the matter in controversie betwixt us And doe not say but shew that the proper expositioÌ„ of the prophesies which coÌ„cerne our Saviours and the Saints visible reigne on earth the conversion deliverance and establishment of the Jewes in their owne land the destruction of their opposers and subjection of all other Nations unto them in a word which reveale unto us the chiefest events and alterations that shall come to passe over the whole world til the world it selfe shall passe away doth teach things contrary to the analogy of faith to honesty of manners to other cleare texts things frivolous and not belonging to godlinesse For surely if our proper exposition of these predictions doth teach ought of all this we may well be accounted for publishers of a new Gospel but if it doth teach nought of this you your selfe are worthy to be accounted but a partial preacher of the Gospel a preacher but of a part of the Counsell of God tel us therfore what article of faith or plaine text of Scripture or moral duty is destroy'd or oppugned by the beliefe of our Savâ—ours coming with the Saints to reigne on earth or of the Jewes conversion and returne or of the calling of all Nations to the faith of Christ and the knowledge of God And tel us too whether the knowledge of these things be a frivolous and unnecessary knowledge or a knowledge not belonging unto godlinesse Certainly we cannot conceive how the personal reigne of Christ on earth should any way abridge or weaken his spiritual power or abbreviate his Kingdom or that his Church should be lesse glorious when he comes into the world unto it then it hath been since he departed out of the world or can be as long as he is absent from it And we know that by our proper exposition of these prophecies we doe make a just distribution of the word of God that we give unto the Jew whatsoever belongs unto the Jew and to the Gentile whatsoever belongs unto the Gentile whereas you by your proper interpretation of the prophecies which concerne the Gentiles and your figurative exposition of the prophecies which concerne the Jewes doe keepe your owne things to your selfe and make the mercies prepared for others to be common mercies yea to be as much or more yours then theirs And as you hereby impose a figurative sense upon the spiritual part of the promises made unto the Jewes so you impose a double figurative sense upon the temporal part of the promises made unto them For first you interpret those outward and earthly promises as you call them of spirituall blessinges too and being so interpreted you understand them of the Gentiles as wel or rather then of the Jewes And this you make figurative speeches where you finde none and may indeed as easily make a figurative speech of any speech as thus interpret these prophecies But it is not the figurative and metaphorical oppression of a prophecy that doth make the prophecy to carry a figurative sense for both temporal and spiritual promises may be figuratively and metaphorically exprest but yet they are not to be figuratively understood that is prophecies of temporal things however exprest are not to be understood of spiritual blessings neither are prophecies of spiritual or temporal things whether figuratively or properly exprest to be understood of any besides those of whom they are plainly prophecied In a word prophecies however exprest are to be understood of what they speake where they speake of temporal things they are to be understood onely of temporal things and where they speake of spiritual things they are to be understood onely of spiritual things And of whom they speake where they speak plainly of Christ they are to be understood of Christ onely and where they sptake plainly of the Jewes they are to be understood of the Jewes onely and where they speake plainly of the Gentiles they are to be understood of the Gentiles onely and where they speake generally and indifferently of both they are to be understood of both And in like manner where they speake plainly of Canaan and Jerusalem or Sion they are to be understood of them onely Thus much for your rules which whosoever shall embrace he will doubtlesse be no better friend to the truth we
hold then you your selfe are that which follows is your explication of these words Amos 9. verse 15. They shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them saith the Lord God Which passage you answer First by that text Jer. 4. verse 1. where you say we have the same promise but expressed with a condition How the same promise certainly the promise in Jer. was made to Israel before she went into captivity before that judgement was come upon her for her abominations But the promise in Amos is made to Israel after she should come out of captivity after the wrath of God against her should cease And whereas you say further that it is usuall in the Scriptures that earthly promises are expressed sometime with a condition and sometime without it but are alwaies understood conditionally It is to be noted that here you confesse the promise Amos 9. verse 14 15. to be an earthly or outward promise and conditionally understood which pag. 8. you interpret of spiritual houses and benefites as you doe also that text Isa 65. verse 21. in your preface and others in other places And yet it is not true that all outward and earthly promises are conditional promises for those which are mixed with spiritual promises as in Jer. 32. verse 37. c. and in Ezek. 36. verse 24. c. and in many other prophecies or that doe contemporate with such outward and bodily promises as are mixed with spiritual promises as this of Amos doth those earthly promises I say cannot be conditional promises seeing the spiritual promises with which they contemporate are promises of the condition it self And therfore the prophecy of Amos chap. 9. verse 11. c. is an absolute prophecy a prophecy hereafter to be fullfild when the Spirit of God shal be powred on the Jewes from on high as it is Isa 32. verse 15. c. And not a conditionall prophecy a prophecy formerly canceld for want of obedience Secondly you answer the foresaid text of Amos by shewing a different acception of the word land which you say as it is not alwaies expounded of the earth so sometimes it is put for the grave and for Heaven But the instances by which you would prove this doe faile you very much for besides that mens graves are in the earth it is not the word land of it selfe but this phrase of speech the land of darkenesse that is put for the grave Job 10. verse 21. and the land of the living that is us'd Psal 27. verse 13. which doth not signify Heaven as the Authours of the English annotations on the whole Bible printed 1645. doe observe but the surface of the earth on which the living are at the land of darkenesse doth a place under the superficies of the earth where the bodies of the dead remaine And happily David spake here of the land of Canaan in relation to the time in which Christ himselfe and all the Saints that are to come with him should have their abode in it in which respect as it may properly so it may very fitly too be cald the land of the living of the living that shall die no more But if this phrase did signify Heaven as you say yet it will no more follow from these words that the land of Canaan was a type of Heaven then it will follow from those in the 10. of Job that it was a type of the grave And sure we are that Amos prophecy is to be fullfild in the land whither the text saith that the Israelites shall returne from their captivity and where they shall build themselves houses and plant vineyards from which they shall no more be carried captives as they have formerly been For the meaning of there words that they shall no more be pulled up out of their land is parallel with that Dan. 2. verse 44. that their Kingdom shall not be left to other people And here also it is to be noted that this part of your answer doth crosse the former part For there you say that this prophecy of Amos was a conditional prophecy and so not accomplished for want of obedience in the Jewes and yet here you say that they were brought againe into their land and that they were not pulled out of their land but are planted in their true land whence they shall no more be pulled out so that here you exalt those Jewes up to Heaven which before you did thrust downe to Hell for not fulfilling the condition required of them and therfore you must know your owne minde better in understanding the Scripture and speake more significantly and truly then you doe in this inference before you can frustrate the marginal note in the 9. page of my booke To my booke accused Welcome my booke more welcome unto mee With stripes and wounds then to have scaped free 'T is all I lookt for when I sent thee forth That most would deem thee vile and of no worth For 't is the lot of truth as 't is of those That godly live to have the most her foes And sure where wrested Scripture doth withhold The beames of truth and give us drosse for gold There nought a truth more doubtful can conclude Then doth the favour of the multitude Which hadst thou purchast I should then have fear'd I had obscur'd what now I hope I 've cloar'd And shall by God's assistance still make good Against all bawlings of the carping brood ISRAELS REDEMPTION REDEEMED The first part Jsraels Redemption THat Christ is already a Mat. 1. v. 20.21 Luk 2.11 Ioh. 1.29.30 c. come that as a Prophet he hath b Maâ— 4.17 Luk. 4.15 c. cald us to repentance and aâ— a Priest hath been a c 1 Ioh. 2. Heb. 2.17 Rom. 3.25 propitiation for our sinnes and not for ours onely but also for the sinnes of the whole world having by d Heb. 9.28 ch 10.14 Mar. 8.31 Ioh. 10.15 Rev. 5.9 once offering himself perfected for ever them that are sanctified is the faith of Christians and the infidelity of the Jewes But that he shall come as a King to raigne on earth and restore againe the Monarchy of Israel is the faith of the Jewes and the infidelity of Christians And I thinke it a matter equally difficult to perswade either part to the mutual embracement of each others beliefe Mr Petries answer What new spirit is this Whether be such persons Jewes or Christians they oppose themselves unto all Jewes and Christians 2. Whether doe they understand the difference twixt Jewes and Christians It was never yet heard that the Jewes doe beleeve that Christ Jesus shall come as a King they said Away with him wee will not have him to raigne over us They say that the Messias shall come but they speake not of his comming twice or thrice looke all the Iewish Rabbies and aske them who are alive they will say but once This conceit of Christs comming to raigne