their generall conversion For the * Isa 32. ver 13 14 15. time is set in which the Spirit shall be poured on them from on high and in which their so plentifully and so plainely foretold deliverance shall be fully accomplished at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ And therefore beloved Reader seeing thou knowest these things before beware that thou be not still led away with the errour of an unwarrantable and indeed pernicious intepretation by reason whereof the way of truth is evill spoken of but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom be glory both now and for ever Amen Farewell Thine in the service of the Lord ROBERT MATON AN ANSWER TO Mr. PETRIE'S Preface Preface FIrst Some Prophecies speake plainly of Christ and cannot be understood of another Esa 9.6 Unto us a child is borne unto us a sonne is given his name shall be called Wonderfull c. Some are typicall or delivered with covers of things signifying Christ his offices and benefits And of these some are spoken of the type or thing signifying and can be understood onely of the thing signified and some are true both of the type and of Christ either in the same or in a different manner that is some are true of both in a proper sense some are true of both in a tropicall or figurative sense and some are true of the one properly and of the other figuratively All these sorts are manifest in sundry Prophecies here I touch one for all 2. Sam. 7.12 When thy dayes be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers saith the Lord unto David I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowells and I will establish his Kingdome This was true in the person of Solomon and of Christ too properly v. 13. He shall build an house for my name This was true of Solomon in the proper acceptation of the word house and figuratively of Christ who said Matth. 16.18 Upon this rock will I build my Church It followes I will establish the throne of his Kingdome for ever This was not true of Solomon in respect of his person for he died neither of his posteritie from whom Jacob had foretold that the Scepter should depart at the coming of Shiloh Gen. 49.10 but of Christ it is true for his Throne is established for ever and ever Heb. 1.8 v. 14. I will be his Father and he shall be my son This is true of Solomon in respect of adoption and of Christ in respect of eternall generation Fiftly it is said there If he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of man but my mercy shall not depart from him as I tooke it from Saul This is true of Solomon and not of Christ who was free of sinne unlesse we understand his members or their sinnes imputed unto him v. 16. Thy house and thy Kingdome shall be established for ever before thee thy Throne shall be established for ever This cannot be understood of David or Solomons house or Kingdome as experience proves now for the space of 1600. years and more but of Christs house and Kingdome which shall never faile By this one passage it is manifest First how miserable ignorance it is to expone all the Prophecies after one and the same manner or in a proper sense onely Secondly that the Evangelists and Apostles exponing these Prophecies in a spirituall and figurative sense doe not wrest them even albeit these have been fulfilled some way before but according to the intendment of the Spirit they bring them unto Christ who is the end of the Law and scope of the Prophets Answer The Prophecies which we have alledged for the Jewes deliverance and our Saviours reigne on earth are all plaine prophecies and therefore your distinguishing of the prophecies into plaine and typicall prophecies is very unseasonably that I say not craftily applyed against us However in the first place the Reader may observe that we have as much reason to beleeve that the Prophecies which speak plainly of the Jewes cannot be understood of any others as we have to beleeve that the Prophecies which speake plainly of Christ cannot be understood of another and consequently that you doe very erroneously interpret these Prophecies when you understand by them the conversion of the Gentiles And secondly he may observe that having cited 2 Sam. v. 12. When thy dayes be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowles and I will establish his kingdome You say This was true in the person of Solomon and of Christ too properly Which is as much as we say to wit that God shall establish unto Christ a civill and proper Kingdome as he did unto Solomon And indeed it is beyond the force of these words in the 16. verse Thy house and thy Kingdome shall be established for ever before thee thy throne shall be established for ever To prove that Christs reigne and Solomons that the type and thing typified are not both to be understood properly and in the same manner seeing the word for ever is not here to be taken in an unlimited sense for an infinite time but in a limited sense for a long time as we shew in our reply by many instances out of scripture and so doth intimate unto us onely that Christs Kingdome aâ— it is to be the longest that ever was on earth so it is to be the last too it is not to be left to other people as Daniel saith chap. 2. ver 44. but is by Christ himselfe to be delivered up to God even the Father at the last resurrection And that not onely Solomons reigne but his building of an house to the Lord too is to be properly fulfilled in Christ the Prophet Zechariah chapter 6. ver 13. doth plainely reveale Behold saith he the man whose name is the Branch and he shall grow up out of his place and he shall build the Temple of the Lord even he shall build the Temple of the Lord and he shall beare the glory and shall sit and rule upon his Throne and the counsell of peace shall be between them both In which words the Temple of the Lord doth signifie the Temple at Jerusalem as the verses following doe shew and there is no other signification of this phrase in all the old Testament as we have observed in our reply to your answer where you expound our Saviours building of the Temple of the Lord of the raising of his body from the grave and yet here you make it to foreshew the immoveable perseverance of those that were after his incarnation to be called to the profession of his name by a lively faith So unstedfast are you and unresolved in what sense to take his building of an house unto the Lord. And therefore although such typicall prophesies as are compound oracles were to have a
the beleeving Iew was he not so before Christs incarnation as well as since was he not Abrahams seed before as well as since was he not heire according to the promise before as well as since What hinders then but that the Iewes may notwithstanding this spirituall union and fellowshâ—p with the beleeving Gentiles be as heretofore so at their generall conversion againe advanced above all other Nations by many not onely outward favours and priviledges but by a greater measure of inward gifts and abilities also Israel's Redemption Neiâ—her was the Temple then destroyed but afterwards and therefore the things here spoken of are all to be accomplished at his second comming and that not in heaven but on earth On earth I say and in e Jerusalem where f Davids Throne was For his feete shall stand in that day Isai 33.20 â—hap 50. ver â— 2 3.9 10. Psal 122 5. to wit when he comes or if God himselfe be here by an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 figuratively described when he brings him to receive his appointed Kingdome on the Mount of Olives which is before Ierusalem on the East from which Mount our Saviour ascended and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the East and toward the West and there shall be a very great valley and halfe the mountaine shall remove toward the North and halfe of it toward the South And ye shall flâ—e to the valley of the mountaines for the valley of the mountaines shall reach unto Azal yea ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the Earthquake in the dayes of Uzziah King of Judah And the Lord my God shall come and all the g Iu de ver 14 15. Rev. 19.11 12 13 14 15 16. Saints with theâ— And it shall come to passe in that day that the light shall not be cleare nor darke but it shall be one day which shall be knowne to the Lord not day nor night but it shall come to passe that at evening time it shall be light And it shall be in that day that h Psal 46.4 Eze. 47.1 c. Ioel. 3.8 living waters shall goe out from Jerusalem halfe of them toward the former sea and halfe of them toward the hinder sea In Summer and in Winter shall it be and the Loâ—d shall be King over all the earth In that day shall there be one Lord and his Name one All the Land shall be turned as a plaine from Ceba to Rimmon South of Ierusalem and it shall be lifted up and inhabited in her pl ce from Benjamins gate unto the place of the first gate unto the corner gate and from the Tower of Hananiel unto the Kings wine-presses And men shall dwell in it and there shall be no more utter destruction but Ierusalem shall be safely inhabited Zech. 14.4 c. Mr. Petrie's Answer Christ said Destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it up againe Then said the Iewes Forty and sixe yeares was this Temple in building and wilt thou reare it up againe in three dayes but he spake of the Temple of his body saith the Evangelist Iohn 2.19 So the true Temple is Christs body which the Iewes destroyed and he raised it up againe and in this sense the Disciples did beleeve the Scriptures after the resurrection of Christ ver 22. And therefore the things spoken in these Scriptures are accomplished at his first comming not onely in heaven last on earth according to the different portions thereof In heaven and on earth I say and in true Ierusalem and on the true Throne of David for his feete stood in that day to wit when he went to receive the fuller accomplishment of his Kingdome on the Mount of Olives which is by Ierusalem on the East from which also he ascended and the Mount or Olives hath been cloven in the midst thereof toward the East and toward the Wâ—st when not onely the members of the Church but all the world was shaken at the powerfull preaching of the Gospell even more gloriously then at the giving of the Law Heb. 12.26 So that nothing could hinder the course thereof And the Iewes have fled to that valley of the mountaines when they did imbrace the Gospell which is low in worldly mens esteeme and of high esteeme before God And the valley of the mountaines hath reached unto Azal For the preaching of the Gospell hath been an excellent stone marke shewing the righ way as it is exponed 1 Sam. 20.19 on the margine of the late translation to the Kingdome of heaven Yea they have fled like as they did flee from before the earth quake in the dayes of Vzziâ—h King of Iudan to wit they have been astonished at the wonderfulnesse of Gods workes And the Lord hath come And so forth as it followes in Zach. 14. where he shewes the perpetuall light of the glorious Gospell ver 6 7. and the continuall flowing of the wholesome waters in the Kingdome of Christ ver 98. and the removing of all impediments for the security of the elects conversion and salvation You see here that our Saviour came not onely to conquer death which is the last enemy that he shall destroy and therefore not to be destroyed till the last resurrection but also to take the Kingdomes of the world unto himselfe and hath made them all acknowledge his authority and hath put downe all contrary power and authority for all Nations have praised Christ and given laud unto him Rom. 14.9 10.11 That there is one shepheard and one sheepfold that the Dominions Kingdomes and greatnesse of the Kingdomes under the whole Heaven have been possessed by the People and Saints of the most High that is as the Gospell hath exponed it by the faithfull Israel Rom. 14.12 bowbeit all hath not been possessed at the same period of time Reply Was ever scripture more apparently wrested more impertinently alledged Behold saith Zechariah the man whose name is the Branch and he shall grow up out of his place and he shall build the Temple of the Lord even he shall build the Temple of the Lord c. chap. 6. ver 12. This is the prophecy and your interpretation this Christ said Destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it up againe c. John 2.19 And interpretation doubtlesse as wide from the sense of the Prophet as the Iewes apprehension was from the meaning of our Saviours words For shew us where the Temple of the Lord is in all the old Testament which was then all the scripture taken in any other sense then for the house of Gods worship at Ierusalem Or the building of the Temple of the Lord in any other sense then for the building of that Temple Yea looke but into the 14 and 15 verses immediately following and it is unquestionable that the same words are there taken for the Temple of the Lord in Ierusalem And besides seeing the Prophets shew so plainely that our Saviour shall
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
from the bondage of corrupion into the glorious liberty of the children of God shall not be long delayd Walke you therefore in holinesse with sincerity and cheerefulnesse as it becomes the heires of so great salvation and give all diligence to make your calling and election sure for so an entrance shal be ministred unto you aboundantly not into an earthly Monarchy but the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Answer Beloved in the Lord you are told here by Mr. Petry that this historical Narration of the original of the Millenarian Tenet and his refutation of my booke are for your good And had it been so indeed I had not now answered the one or repli'd unto the other yea I had rather laid my hand upon my mouth or empoly'd it about the publique retractation of mine own opinion But I find not in either ought of that sincere and upright dealing as is pretended in these words That which I sinde is this that Mr. Petrie is too much of the minde of the Lawyers in the Gospel of whom our Saviour said Luk. 11. verse 52. that they had taken away the key of knowledge that they entred not in themselves and them that were entring in they hindred And that as the Pharisees best project to discountenance our Saviours miracles was to say that he did cast out Devils through Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils and their most prevalent motive to disgrace his doctrine was to say that he was a glutton and a wine-bibber a friend of publicans and sinners So Mr. Petrie's chiefest sleight to disparage the truth we hold is to say that it hath no other Father nor abettours but heretiques that it is preacht by such as have in their Congregation grosse Anabaptists and are friends to whatsoever Novellers And that it teacheth the voluptuous carnall living of the raised Saints and their dying againe after they are raised And doubtlesse beloved if you should be as ready to receive these tares into your hearts as Mr. Petrie is to sow them there your eares would be stussed with prejudice and your hearts choakt up with indignation against us but as we wish better things unto you so we hope better things of you even such things as accompany salvation We hope I say that you are as wise as the Bereans of whom the Apostle saith that they were noble in that they received the word with all readinesse of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so And if you examine our words by this rule by which the Bereans examined St. Paul's and were so highly commended by him for it we doubt not but you will with one consent affirme That in the point in Question we and not our adversaries doe say as God saith And that we make not the meate that perisheth but everlasting life the reward of the glorified Saints although we truly affirme that these Saints may and shall eate drinke after their resurrection As it is said Mat. 26. verse 29. and Luk. 22. verse 16.18 And that you will affirme too that we truly hold that the Kingdom of God is not yet come although our Saviour Luk. 17. verse 20. answered the Pharisees who demanded when the Kingdom of God should come that the Kingdom of God was within or amongst them For that which our Saviour there cal'd the Kingdom of God is not meant of the Kingdom it selfe of which the Pharisees inquired but of the outward meanes by which that Kingdom is obtain'd As it is Mat. 21. verse 43. and thus also Rom. 14. verse 17. righteousnesse and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost are cald the Kingdom of God because these things doe intitle men to that Kingdom and manifest unto others that they doe belong unto it neither of which the observing or not observing of difference in meats and drinks can doe And in the 1 Cor. 4. verse 20. it is said The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power that is our interest in the Kingdom of God is neither obtained nor attested by our disccursing preaching and professing of the truth onely but by our carefull and conscionable performance of those things which wee are commanded And therefore beloved that you may not mistake the meanes and evidences of God's Kingdom for the Kingdom it selfe but may by the injoyment and effectual use of these be assured in your selves and make knowne unto others that you are heires of that that you have an inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God we beseech the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that the word of Christ may dwell in you richly in all wisdom and that our Lord Jesus Christ himselfe and God even our Father which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace may comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and worke AN answer to M. Petries Rules for interpreting of the Scripture inserted pag. 8.9.10.11 after his answer to the prophecy of Amos ch 9. ver 11. Bee which partly because they were devised of purpose to enthrall the readers judgement that hee might not perceive the true meaning of the scriptures as the preface was to perswade him that the scripture is not the ground of the Millenarian Tenet and partly because I would not disjoyne my replies by such a large digression I thought fit beloved to present unto thee in this place His introduction to them is this Mr Petris And here for understanding this and such ober prophecies I add these undoubted rules Answer Undoubted rules must be grouâ—ded on undoubted authority but these for the most have none either from Heaven or of men The first rule The land of Canaan was a type of the Kingdom of Christ and so was Jerusalem and Sion because these were types of this Kingdom so glorious things were spoken of them Psal 46.4.5 and 48.1 2. and 87.1 2 3.5 which texts are more safely understood of Christ 6 Kingdom then of that earthly Jerusalem and Sion yea very hardly can they be understood of them Answer You have brought no text to shew that the land of Canaan was a type of Christs Kingdom but we bring many to shew that it shall be the proper inheritance of Christ the Saints in the time of his Kingdom And the glorious things which are spoken of Jerusalem or Sion in the 46.48 and 87. Psalmes and in many other places of the scripture are spoken of it because it was to be the City of the great King as is foretold Psal 48. v. 2. that is of Christ in the time of his personall raigne over the whole earth and therefore these words which texts are more safely understood of Christ's Kingdom then of that earthly Ierusalem and Sion yea very hardly can they be understood of them are as falsely as faintly spoken by you for is it not said in the foresaid verse Beautifull for situation the joy of the whole earth
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
context declares the matter enquired of is the restauration of the captivated Soveraignty of the Jewes as the text it selfe doth informe us These are the parts yet because it would be impertinent in this businesse to speake any thing of the persons but onely as their joynt authority may help somewhat to justifie the truth of this proposall I shall omitting this division onely glance at them in the ensuing confirmation of the subject Which comprehends in it these two assertions First That the Kingdom of the Jewes shall againe be restored unto them Secondly That our Saviour at his comming shall restore it Mr. Petrie's Answer The Querie comprehends neither of the two because as I said it affirms nothing And the asked matter comprehends them not Not the first because it is of the Kingdom of Israel and not of the Jewes and as all are not Israelites who are of Israel Rom. 9.6 so neither are they all Israelites or the children of God who are of Israel according to the flesh but the children of the promise are counted for the seed therefore the Kingdom of Israel mentioned there may he another then the Kingdom of the Jewes Neither is the other assertion comprehended it the question because it askes not of his second or third comming but of now wilt thou now restore the Kingdom Reply The Querie comprehended both because both are intimated in the Querie and doe necessarily follow from the Querie And you have not shewed us any Querie that affirms nothing nor in what sense this Querie doth affirme nothing In the asked matter there is the Kingdom to be restored and from hence proceeds the first assertion And the person that should restore it and from hence proceeds the second assertion But the first is not here comprehended you say because the Querie is of the Kingdom of Israel and not of the Jewes as if the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of the Jewes were not to be understood of the same people No say you For all are not Israelites who are of Israel Rom. 9.6 a worthy reason for it is as if you should say by the Kingdom of Israel cannot be meant the Kingdom of the Jewes because all that are Israelites by birth are not elect Israelites Israelites according to the flesh and according to faith also For this onely iâ— the meaning of the text cited by you Rom. 9.6 and so proves not that the Kingdom in the text belongs to any other people language or nation but the Jewes of whom alone interpreters doe understand it And therefore you should have spoken out and told us plainly what the other Kingdom you speake of was For we know of no more but two besides this in Question betwixt us And these are commonly cal'd the Kingdom of grace by which is meant the Saints or Church on earth before Christs appearing And the Kingdom of glory by which is meant the Saints or Church in Heaven And that neither of these Kingdoms is meant in the text I prove thus Not the Kingdom of grace for at that time the Jewes themselves alone were this Kingdom and that could not be restored unto them which as yet they had not lost and not the Kingdom of glory for that likewise could not be restor'd which as yet they had not And none can imagine that the Apostles Querie is thus to be paraphrased Lord wilt thou at this tiâ—â— take all the faithfull up with thee into Heaven And therefore seeing it could not be meant of either of these Kingdoms it must be meant of the Kingdom of the Jewes on earth or of none Which is our first assertion And the other is comprehended here too For although the Querie askes not of his second comming but of now yet seeing Christ was to restore it and did it not while he was on earth it necessarily follows that he shall doe it at his descending againe to the earth Which is our second assertion and thus both are found in the text And besides if you take the word 8 as all are not Israel who are of Israel in the Apostles meaning i. e. all are not faithfull Israelites that are descended of Israel then it is an apparent tautology to add so neither are they all Israelites or the children of God that are of Israel according to the flash and if you doe not take the Apostles words in this sense then it is notoriously false to say that all are not Israelites to wit by nation who are of Israel by birth And is it not a pretty inference All Israelites are not Israelites therefore the Kingdom of Israel there may be another then the Kingdom of the Jewes Surely you might as well have said therefore the Pope shall be St. Peters successour For this conclusion hath as much dependence on the anteâ—eden as the other Israel's Redemption CHAP. I. Of the restoring of Jerusalem and the Jewes returne ANd first of the first That the Kingdom of the Jewes shall again be restor'd unto them For they asked of him saying Lord wilt thou at this time restore againâ— the Kingdom in Israel So evidently doe these words expresse an earthly Kingdom I meane onely a Kingdom to be held on earth that no expositor which I have met with doth deny it and therefore seeing they could not but imbrace the sense me thinks they should not so rashly have rejected the consequence And that for these reasons Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. Me thinkes you speake non-sense Manâ— expositours expone these words otherwise seeke and you shall finde Secondly why may wee not thinke that the Apostles meaned as Simeon did Luk. 2.30 31 32. or as the repenting thief did Luke 23.42 or as Christ did verse 43. certainly these did not meane of an earthly Monarchy neither is there my word in this text shewing that they meaned otherwise Thirdly albeit no expositour would deny that the Apostles did understand an earthly Kingdom yet it followse not They thought so therefore it shall be so No more then it follows The Apostles did not for a time beleeve the calling of the Gentiles Act. 11.3 therefore the Gentiles are not called But the consequence hath reasons he saith whereof the first two are topicall and by way of probabilitie pag. 5. When the Authour saith The reasons are probable and I may say childish will any Christian change his faith for them certaine faith should have sure grounds lest the wind of tentation blow it away and therefore I might leave these prohabilities as not worthy of reading or answer neverthelesse consider them Reply 1. Me thinks you might as wel have shewed the non-sense as said it was non-sense But many expositours you say expone these words otherwise This shews not that I have spoken non-sense in saying that I have met with no such But I doubt it shews that you speake an untruth which is worse then non-sense For you might as easily have nam'd some of them as have said it and bid me looke
Redemption The next prophecy shall be that of Joel who mentions the very signes which our Saviour said should be the immediate fore-runners of the Jewes Redemption And it shall come to passe afterwards saith he in his 2. chap. at the 28 ver that I will powre out my spirit upon all flesh and your sinnes and your daughters shall prophecy your old men shall dreame dreames and your young men shall see visions and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those dayes will I powre out my spirit and I will shew wonders in the Heavens and in the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoake the Å¿ Isa 24. v. 23. Mat. 24. v. 29. Rev. 6. v. 12. Sun shall be turned into darkenesse and the Moone into blood before the * Great not onely in regard of the strangenesse and dreadfulnes of events of things then to come to passe but great also in regard of the long continuance and tract of time which God in his revelations hereafter to be fulfild doth by the word Day as well without this epither as with it frequently import great and terrible t Ezek. 39.8 Mal. 4.5 Iude 6. Rev. 16.14 Day of the Lord come And it shall come to passe that whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be delivered for in Mount Zion and in Hierusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord hath said and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call And in the 3. chap. at the 1. ver Behold in those daies and in that time when I shall bring againe the captivity of Judah and Hierusalem I will also gather all Nations and will bring them downe into the valley of Jehosaphat which in the 14. verse is called the valley of decision and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel whom they have scattered among the Nations and parted my Land And at the 15. verse againe The Sun and the Moone shall be darkened and the starres shall withdraw their shining the Lord also shall roare out of Zion and utter his voyce from Jerusalem and the u Isa 2.19 c. Ezek. 38.19.20 Hag 2.22 Mat. 24.29 Rev. 16.18 ch 6.13.14 Heavens and the earth shall shake but the Lord will be the hope of his people and the strength of the children of Israel Mr. Petrie's Answer The Apostle Peter not onely makes use of these words but expones them and shewes the accomplishment of them in some degree as it is said in the sixth rule before for Act. 2.16 he saith This is that which was spoken by the Prophet Ioel And it shall come to passe in the last daies c. And verse 22. Ye men of Israel heare these words Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God among you by miracles wonders and signes which God did by him in the midst of you as ye your selves know Reply The Apostle repeats but expounds not the Prophets words and consequently shewes not the accomplishment of ought that the Prophet affirms shall be done All that he shewes is this That the thing which then happened to the Apostles was the worke of the same spirit which Joel spake of but he saith not that it was the same worke The same spirit indeed was then powred out but it was not the same powring out of the spirit And for want of distinguishing betwixt the effusion of the same spirit and the same effusion of the spirit you affirme that those things which the Prophet saies the spirit shall doe not long before the Lord's second comming were then done at his first comming And the reason you bring from St. Peters words Act. 2. verse 22. to shew that the prophecy of Joel was then fulfild in part is a very strange one For the Prophet shewes what others shall doe through the extraordinary inspiration of the Spirit before the Day of the Lord comes and the words you have alledg'd doe shew what works Christ himselfe did when he was come Israel's Redemption I am not ignorant that the darkening of the Sun and Moone is sometimes taken allegorically and by way of allusion but that therefore it should be so understood here it doth not follow for where it is figuratively applyed it signifies the judgement it selfe which is to befall those people of whom it is spoken but where it is literally used it is put onely for a signe of an eminent destruction which shall suddenly follow it as the great and terrible Day of the Lord shall doe at the accomplishment of this prophecy Mr. Petrie's Answer Where the darkenesse of the Sun and so it may be understood of the Moone is used properly it is not put onely for a signe of an eminent and imminent destruction as it is manifest Luke 23.45 which was a Testimony from Heaven of Christ's innocency for conviction of the murtherers and chap. 21.25 the signes in the Sun and Moone and in the starres and the distresse of Nations upon the earth with perplexity and the roaring of the sea and waves are all to be understood properly as signes before the great and terrible Day of the Lord. So what is promised in the 28. and 29. verses of the second chap. of Joel was truely albeit not altogether fulfilled in the daies of Peter even how-beit the words of the 30. and 31. verses be properly understood and not wholly fulfild til the time immediately preceding the last comming of Christ Reply That the darkning of the Sun or of the Moone properly taken especially if supernaturall as this here is a signe of an eminent and imminent destruction you confesse but that it is onely so you deny And were this true I have not spoken much out of the way But the instance you bring of the darkning of the Sun at the time of our Saviours passion makes nothing for you For whereas you say it was a testimony from Heaven of Christ's innocency for conviction of the murtherers the historie of the Gospel tels you no such thing and interpreters are against you Sicut enim Deus tenebris involvebat terram Aegyptum sic etiam nunc totam Judâ—â—am in signum iraâ—i Dei et futurae poenae saith Pareus on the 27. chap. of Mat. at the 45. verse that is As God did once bring darknesse on the land of Egypt so likewise did he now on the land of Judea as a signe of his wrath and their ensuing punishment So Chrysostome too It was an undoubted signe of Gods anger for that which they did against him And Origen It was a presage of the future darknesse which should over-spread the whole Jewish Nation To which Dr. Mayer consents and with Origen concludes from the time of the darknesse continuance being three houres that the Jewish Nation should be in darknesse till about the Evening of the world Although then Christ's innocency may well be gathered from it yet for ought I can finde you goe alone in alledging it as a reason of the darknesse
you alledge to shew why the faithfull are called Jews is a very strange one For they are so called you say for the speciall comfort of the Jews because they were hated of all Nations everywhere which might have been unto them an occasion of despaire But what likely-hood is there that the Apostles who try'd all wayes and meanes to winne the Gentiles unto and to confirme them in the faith would call them by that Name which you say was so odious unto them and what comfort could it be to the Jews yea what readier way could there be to make them distrust the truth of the Gospel then to conceive that their Name and the prophecies delivered in their Name did belong to others and not to their owne Nation yet that which you add presently after that the Lord saith unto them How many or great so ever your enemies shall be I will judge them was indeed an effectuall remedy to keepe them from despairing of God's mercy and their future deliverance and consequently too from acknowledging the figurative sense of these prophecies or of the words Jews Israel c. And whereas you say further And for the same are the Jews oft named in the promises of the new Testament to shew their particular interest in the Church of Christ c. you herein in contradict what you say before that the Jews and Israel are to be exponed of the elect people of God For if they are thus to be exponed they are not to be taken properly for the Jews as here you affirme and in which exception onely they doe shew the Jews particular interest in the Church of God And if these words are used both properly and improperly in the new Testament I pray tell us how we shall know when and where they are to be taken properly and literally and when and where improperly and figuratively But 't is time to leave this wavering discourse and to survey your answers to the objections you alledge out of my somer words The first objection The Jews did never since the Prophets dayes returne from any captivity with such an high hand and with such a wonderfull victory over their enemies as is here prophecied Mr Petrie's Answer Neither ever shall they returne in such a manner if ye understand a worldly and civil pompe for these promises cannot be understood as I have said of any one exploit nor of any age The promises of God are more glorious and more large Reply But these prophecies as I have prov'd may and must be properly understood and may and must be accomplisht in one age and in lesse then one age too And doubtlesse these Prophets yea is of more weight then your nay Neither will these promises of God be the lesse but the more glorious for being fulfilled in so short a time For is it not more glory for a King to subdue his enemies speedily then to be a long time about it The second objection As for the Church that now is let the lamentable experience of all ages witnesse whether she hath not been more often crown'd with martyrdome then victory Mr Petrie's Answer This is as bad an opposition as the former for Christ in suffering did triumph over his enemies Col. 2.15 and martyrdome is victory Rom. 8.37 In all these things we are more then conquerours Spiritual victory consists with bodily suffering Next albeit the Church were oftner crown'd with martyrdom then victory yet in severall ages she hath been crown'd with glorious victory and her full glorification is a comming and her enemies have been and shall be smitten and brought into subjection and the house of David is exalted in the person of Christ and his members and all the wealth of the Nations hath been employ'd or shall be imploy'd for the use of the faithfull albeit not in any particular yeare or age and the Lord shall descend and the Saints shall be with him Reply To this objection which saith that the Church of the Gentiles hath not been thus victorious and by consequence is not spoken of in these prophecies you answer that Christ in suffering did triumph And martyrdom is victory and next that albeit the Church were oftner crown'd with martyrdom then victory yet she hath been crown'd with glorious victory So that as before by the Jews and Israel you understood the Gentiles to avoyd the force of that reason so here for the like end you would willingly put a figurative sense too upon the victory mentioned in the prophecies but it may not be for these prophecies doe not foreshew the death and affliction of God's people by their enemies as it is in persecution and martyrdom but their great deliverance and their enemies wonderfull destruction Yea such a destruction as never yet happened to the enemies of God's Church either Jewish or Christian And therefore as your spiritual conquering is very impertinently inferr'd so no glorious outward bodily victory that the Church of the Gentiles hath had will match with this that the Prophets speake of nor indeed all that she hath had To my next reasons which shew that these prophecies of Zecha were not fulfilled in the times of the Maccabees as Cornelious a Lapide expounds them you say nothing but huddle them up together with that which you have said touching the Church of the Gentiles For the house of David you say is exalted in the person of Christ and his members and all the wealth of the Nations hath been employed or shall be employed for the use of the faithfull albeit not in any particular yeare or age and the Lord shall descend and all the Saints shall be with him But by the house of David is meant the linage of David that are in captivity as by its being opposed to the tents of Judah it is manifest and as the faithfull Gentiles are not of the linage of David so though Christ be descended of David as touching his humane nature yet he is not in captivity but in Heaven there to abide til the time of this deliverance of his brethren according to the flesh And so your exposition of the house of David wholly failes for though the faithfull in generall are cal'd in Scripture the seed of Abraham yet neither Gentiles nor Jews are in this respect cal'd the house or seede of David And what made you take the wealth of the Nations in a proper sense when as you take all that is spoken of in the prophecies besides this in a figurative sense doubtlesse had it been the wealth of the Jews you would have so expounded it as well as you did their houses Vineyards and gardens in the 9. of Amos at the 14. ver But though you doe not so expound it yet you understand the text of such heathen onely upon whom Gods Name is not cal'd and by your words too you seeme to conceive that you have a better title to their wealth then they themselves which would be a hard matter for you
Earth and together with Ephraim with the ten Tribes from Assyria which as i Joh. 7. ver 35. yet never came back and therefore this is not yet fulfil'd Mr Petrie's Answer 1. There is no mention of returning here but of recovering of the remnant of his people 2. Who be these his people Looke the tenth verse In that day there shall be a roote of Jesse which shall stand for an Ensigne of the people to it shall the Gentiles seeke and his rest shall be glorious And behold how the Apostles expones these words Rom. 15.12 Esaias saith there shall be a root of Jesse and he that shall rise to reigne over the Gentiles in him shall the Gentiles trust Now whereas the Apostle expones his people to be the Gentiles may they not be ashamed who will understand onely the Jewes so that there is meaned the recovery of Gods people or the Gentiles from Assyria Egypt or wheresoever they be Reply 1. There is mention of recovering the remnant of his people from Assyria Egypt Paphros Cush Elam Shinar Hamath and the Islands of the Sea and of smiting the River that men may goe over dry-shod and of a high-way for the remnant of his people that shall be left from Assyria like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the Land of Egypt And how much doth this recovering differ from a returning 2. Who the people be that are meant in this Prophecie the words Israel Judah and Ephraim doe shew and not the tenth verse where the Gentiles are mention'd For why should those things which concerne the Jewes here be understood of the Gentiles which are onely mentioned by the by as it were rather then that which is said of the Gentiles be understood of the Jewes of whom so much is spoken in this Chapter And where have you learned to take Judah and Ephraim or Israel for the Gentiles Surely the Apostle expounds not the Jewes by the Gentiles nor the Gentiles by the Jewes but rehearseth the 10. ver of this chapter to shew that Christ was to bring salvation to the Gentiles as well as unto the Jewes and this Prophecie of the Gentiles being mixt with that which concernes the Redemption of the Jewes is more likely to be meant of the coming in of the fulnesse of the Gentiles at Christs next appearing then of the comming in of the substituted part of the Gentiles in the time of the Jewes blindnesse And therefore seeing God hath made mention of the Gentiles by name in those Prophecies which concerne them and of the Jewes by name in those which concerne them it behoves us to give to the Jew the Prophecies that beare the Image and superscription of the Jewes and to the Gentile those which beare the Image and superscription of the Gentiles and not so needlessely so irrationally and so unjustly to give unto the Gentiles all that belongs unto the Jewes Whereas then the Apostle quotes this Prophecie out of Isaias onely as a testimony to prove that Christ came as well for the good of the Gentiles as the Jewes if you had any regard of what you say you would never have cal'd it an exposition nor have publish't it to the world as a rule to interpret the Prophecies which concerne the Jewes of the Gentiles The objections which you have alledg'd against your selfe out of the foresaid Prophecie are these The first objection It is said He shall assemble the out-casts of Israel and the dispersed of Judah Mr Petrie's Answer The Gospel which is Christs Standard hath been preached unto them Jam. 1.1 and so their assembling is into the bosome of the Church Reply And so you separate these words from the rest of the Prophecie and apply them to the calling of the Jewes at the first preaching of the Gospel of purpose to delude the Reader for the Prophecie speakes of their returne into their owne Countrey and not at all of the preaching of the Gospel unto them in other Countries as any one may perceive And yet although the Gospel was in the first dayes thereof preach't to the Jewes scattered abroad what effect had it amongst them surely St. Paul Act. 13. ver 45 46. and in the 1 Thess 2. ver 14 15 16. doth testifie that such was their malice against the Apostles for preaching of it that they laboured all they could to raise up enemies against them thereby to hinder the growth of the Gospel not onely amongst their owne Nation but amongst the Gentiles also so that even in this sense Israel and Judah the twelve Tribes are not yet assembled And it is observable how palpably you here contradict your former words for here you expound Israel and Judah properly of the Iewes onely as your quoting of the first chap and first ver of the Epistle of St. James doth shew and yet in the second part of your Answer you tell us that both the Prophet and St. Paul doe expound his people to be the Gentiles The second objection It is said the envie of Ephraim shall depart and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off c. Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. The meaning is whereas there had been contentions twixt the Tribes one against another and both against the Gentiles and Gentiles against them both under Christ shall be an end of that malice 2. In the citation of this Prophecie the 14. ver is omitted because they cannot see how it can be verified of the peaceable Kingdome which they imagine but seeing the words preceding and the words following containe one and the same Prophecy and these words in the middle part cannot be exponed of that Monarchy it is evident that no part of this Prophecie can be understood of that Monarchy but the meaning is plaine if they be exponed of the Christian Church thus The Apostles flee that is quickly preach unto other Nations and brought them in a short space unto the obedience of Christ not going in troopes from Province to Province but at the same time they went one by one into severeâ— Nations 3. This ver being omitted the 15. ver is quoted and out of it they doe imagine that a way shall be made for the Jewes through the Sea and all floods shall be dried up before them But if these words shall be exponed properly what kind of Miracle shall that be shall the Jewes who are scattered into all the corners of the Earth have a dry passage through every river and the Egyptian or Red-sea be destroyd Or is it not rather in a spirituall sense that the Lord will remove all impediments which may hinder the course of the Gospel and he hath opened a way into that Kingdome of Heaven from which we were exiled in Adam and spirituall Pharaoh is drowned or destroyed in the Red-sea or bloudy death of Christ and by a mighty wind of preaching the Lord hath made his power knowne every where even as sensibly as when he brought Israel
the spiritual then earthly sense to wit the land that I have given unto Jacob and they shall'd wel therein for ever and my servant shall be their Prince for ever for that land was not given unto Jacob neither doe the Millenaries say that the Jews shall dwel for ever in Jerusalem but for a 1000 yeares and then Christ's Kingdom shall cease But expone that one word land typically for the thing typified thereby and all the other words goe currently even to the end of the chap. as we see the Apostle expones the 27. ver of the Corinthians as a part of these people 2 Cor. 6.16 Now seeing certainly Christ is the King and Shepherd and the people are the Jewes and Gentiles who were strangely divided but now are one Church by faith in Christ therefore the people of Israel and Ephraim who after the division were alwaies idolatrous may well be exponed typically for the Gentiles and so the union is easily understood which otherwise very hardly or scarcely can be conceived seeing now through many ages Ephraimites are not knowne in any part of the earth As for that text of Hosea it is exponed of the Gentiles Rom. 9.25.26 and therefore the Prophet changeth the word Israel into Jezreel that is the seed of God signifying that the time wherein the Lord shall gather his seed or the faithfull in all Nations from the bondage of the Devil shall be very great and wonderful to all the world Reply 1. Surely your further clearing is no other then a further clouding as the very reading of this prophecy and that which our Saviour hath said Joh. 10. ver 14. and 16. is of it selfe sufficient to discover For Ezek. speaks of uniting the Jews together under one King in their owne land and our Saviour speaks of uniting the Jews and Gentiles into one Church after a certaine number of elect Gentiles should be cald Other sheepe saith he I have which are not of this fold that is other elect servants which are not of this Nation them also I must bring and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd Where it is to be noted by the words them also I must bring that he speaks onely of such elect Gentiles as were to be cald before the Jews and Gentiles should make one sheepfold and not after they were one sheepfold For when they are all brought then it is that there shall be one sheepfold and not while they are bringing No the words of our Saviour Mat. 21. at the 43. ver will not admit of such a meaning for The Kingdom of God saith he shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruit thereof Whereby it is evident that the Other sheepe he speaks of in the 10 chap. of St. Iohn should be brought to the faith when the Nation of the Iewes should be deprived of the meanes of salvation and consequently when it could not possibly be one Church And therefore in saying that the Iewes and Gentiles are at this time one sheepfold you contradict our Saviour and affirme that the Iewes are now saved without the ordinary meanes of salvation For this they have not but shall have it when the time comes in which the Jews and Gentiles shall be one sheepfold And then also the Jews shall be one Kingdom agane in their owne land and Christ shall reigne over both Jews and Gentiles together And thus our Saviour's words doe neither expound Ezek. prophecy nor shew that the Jews and Gentiles are now one sheepfold But rather point out the time when Ezek. prophecy shal be fulfilled to wit when the Jews and Gentiles shal be one fold under one Shepheard So much have you mist your aime in alledging these propheticall words of Christ 2. The words David King and Shepheard will no more prove that the temporal prophecies or temporal part of the prophecies in which they are used are to be spiritually and figuratively understood then Gods words to David Thou shalt feed my people Israel 2 Sam. 5. ver 2. will prove that David's Kingdom was not a temporal Kingdom nor he a temporal King Or then David's owne words of his people But these sheep what have they done will prove that the whole Kingdom of the Jews were all faithfull persons 3. Being conscious that all which you have said before to make men take these prophecies in a mysticall sense will nought availe you if the word land in the prophecies should be properly understood of the land of Canaan you now endeavor to perswade them to take this figuratively also and your first reason to induce them to it is like to that by which Jereboam dissuaded the Israelites from going up to Jerusalem because it may be more easily understood you say in the spiritual then an earthly sense But what is that spiritual sense which may so easily be understood and yet was so hard to be described that you could not tell us what it was But sure I am that God hath told us by the Prophet what land he minds to joyne the Tribes together in even in their owne land ver 21. in the land upon the mountaines of Israel ver 22. in the land that he gave unto Jacob his servant ver 25. which circumstances doe infallibly manifest that it can be meant of no other land or place but Judea And therefore the second reason you bring to shew that it is best to take the word land spiritually is both false and impious For that land you say was not given to Jacob. No did not God say to Jacob in a dreame The land whereon thou liest to thee will I give it and to thy seed c. Gen. 28.13 and hath he not said here in this prophecy the land that I gave unto Jacob my servant no marvel th n that you can so lightly reject all the plaine texts of Scripture that speake for us when as you dare thus affreâ—r God himselfe and tell him to his face that he did not doe that which he saith he did doe Neither will the words for ever in the text any whit excuse you seeing the Lord saith plainly that he gave That land to Jacob of which he saith that they and their children and their childrens children should dwell in it for ever And yet the very next words wherein your Fathers have dwelt doe put it out of doubt that it is meant of Judea and consequently the dwelling of their childrens children in it for ever is to be understood of their dwelling in it successively and the word for ever is to be taken finitely for a long time to wit as long as men shall succeed each other on the Earth as it is in many other places of Scripture and 〈◊〉 fiâ—iâ—â—ly for time without end And whereas you say that 〈◊〉 in the 2 Cor. 6.16 expounds the 27. verse of this Prophecie of the Corinthians as a part of the People the Prophet here speaks of it is not so for as the
can that belong to the Gentiles which was prophecied onely of the Jewes as is declar'd by the Prophets wife of whoredomes and children of whoredomes which he tooke of purpose to upbraid the Idol-worship and spirituall whoredomes of the Israelites ver 2 and therefore when she conceived and bare him the second sonne Call his name said God Loammi for ye are not my people and I will not be your God the Israelites then they were to whom this Prophet was sent and of whom it was said Ye are not my people Mr. Petrie's Answer It was not prophecied of the Jews onely for it is plaine that Hosea speakes of the Israelites as well vs of the Jews and generally the Apostle speaks Rom. 10.12 there is no difference between the Jew and the Greeke for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him So that albeit the Prophet was sent personally unto the Israelites yet his words were no lesse true and meaned of the Gentiles who then were not the people of God but now through Christ are the people of God for whosoever shall call upon the Name of God shall be saved Reply I have here cal'd the ten Tribes Jews in opposition to the Gentiles and you say that this was not prophecied of the Jews onely for it is plaine that Hosea speaks of the Israelites as well as of the Jews A wild exception for are not these Israelites Jews certainly Israelites and Jewes are the proper names of that Nation And though after the division of the Tribes Israel and Judah were often used to distinguish the two Tribes from the ten and the ten from the two yet the word Jews was never thus us'd For by this Name all the Tribes are cal'd in the History of Hester and in many other places and in that instance that you bring out of the Rom. chap. 10. ver 12. the word Jew is taken indifinitely for any Jew And wherefore is it that you urge these words of the Apostle doe you think that it proves the name Jew to be indifferently taken for a Jew or a Gentile surely these words shew that the beleeving Gentile is as acceptable to the Lord as the beleeving Jew and that there is nothing in the Jew which can move God to bestow grace on him rather then on the Gentile as the following words confirme but they shew not that God takes a faithfull Jew for a faithfull Greeke nor a faithfull Greeke for a faithfull Jew And therefore you cannot conclude from hence that albeit the prophet was sent personally unto the Israelites yet his words were no lesse true and meaned of the Gentiles for though through Christ all beleevers are the people of God yet through Christ a beleever of one Nation is not made a beleever of another Nation though every one that confidently cals upon the name of the Lord shall be saved yet every one that cals on the name of the Lord shall not thereby become a Jew And how can you take Israelites for Gentiles who are of different Nations from them and yet will not take Israelites for Jews which is a Name belonging equally to all the Tribes But you herein condemne St Paul who sometimes calls himselfe a Jew and sometimes an Israelite and could he be both if these Names doe not equally belong to the same Nation Israel's Redemption And the place where they were told so was their owne land and therfore in that place it shall againe be said unto them Ye are the sonnes of the living God ver 10. And this Piscator grants to be the meaning of it here in the Prophet but withall he holds that it is applyed in the 9. of the Rom. to the conversion of the Gentiles because the Israelites being thus rejected of God were become like unto the Gentiles who until the preaching of the Gospel were not his people but notwithstanding this reason me thinkes it is very unlikely that the Apostle should borrow a prophecy from the Jews to prove Gods mercy towards the Gentiles which is in sundry places of the Scripture so properly and distinctly foreshewne as you may see by the authorities which are urged to this purpose in the l v. 19.20 10. and m v. 9.10 11.12 15. chap. of the same Epistle Mr Petrie's Answer 1. Where it is said ver 10. in that place ye may reade on the margine in stead of that it was said c. and therefore that word proves nothing 2. It is no lesse true that the Gentiles are the people of God even in the same lands where they did not serve God 3. This is no applying by way of similitude but accommodating as Piscator speaks to another particular that as the Israelites by Idolatrie became like unto the Gentiles so the Gentiles receiving the Gospel are Jews or the people of God And this exposition is not onely likely but very certaine seeing the Apostle expones these prophecies of God's mercy towards the Gentiles as you may see by the authorities which are urged to this purpose in the 10. and 15. chap. of the Epistle to the Rom. and elsewhere Reply 1. Arias Montanus renders the original Et erit in loco quo without any such marginall note at all And the Septuagint reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it shall come to passe that in the place where c. And this expression agrees best with the scope of the Prophecie which foretells their returne againe to their owne Land in which it had been said unto them yee are not my people yea the Apostle too alledgeth these words agreeable to the translation in the text and in the latter part of the sentence relates to them with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illic vocabuntur there they shall be call'd c. And therefore this proves so much that of force you must grant the accomplishment of the Prophecie in its proper sense 2. And what though the Gentiles are the people of God even in the same Lands where they did not serve God shall not therefore the Jewes be call'd againe the people of God in the same Land where once they forsooke God or shall this Prophecie be therefore understood of them to whom the Prophet was not sent to say as he did to the Israelites Ye are not my people 3. I thinke not that the Apostle did apply this Prophecie by way of similitude to the Gentiles and much lesse that he did accommodate it to them as to those of whom it was meant by the Holy Ghost For the Holy Ghost fore-shewes not the calling of the Gentiles under the name of the Israelites but in their own name And surely if it cannot be prov'd that the Apostle expounds these Prophecies of Gods mercy towards the Gentiles till the Authorities alledg'd in the 10. and 15. chap. of this Epistle to the Rom. doe shew it it will never be prov'd for those Prophecies speake onely of the Gentiles and how then doe they
Lord their God and n Isa 9. v. 6 7. David their King and shall feare the Lord and his goodnesse in the latter dayes Which Prophecie cannot possibly be as yet fulfill'd for if it be meant onely of the ten Tribes amongst whom Hoseâ— prophecied it is o Hier. Zanch. Pareus Rivetus Lyra Dr. Mayer confest that they did never yet returne and if of the other two it must be meant of their captivitie since our Saviour's comming for till then the Scepter could not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his feet as Jacob foretold Gen. the 49. at the 10. verse and therefore till then they could not be without a Prince or Governours of that Tribe although they were long before tributaries to other Nations And this also is intimated by those words the latter dayes which are no where put for the time before the incarnation of Christ Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. This argumentation faileth in both parts but first marke that all these words cannot be meant properly for the word David cannot be understood of Salomons Father but of Christ the sonne of David or typified by David and therefore that Prophecie could not be fulfilled till the incarnation of Christ and then it might be fulfill'd 2. And consequently these words the latter dayes though they be no where put for the dayes before the incarnation yet they are often put for the dayes of the Gospel seeing in the last dayes God hath spoken unto us by his Sonne Now the first part of the dilemma is false for if that Prophecie be meant of the ten Tribes as they abode many dayes without a King c. so who dare deny that they did returne and seeke the Lord their God and Christ their King when the Gospel was preached to the scattered strangers not onely through Pontus Galatia Cappadocia 1 Pet. 1.1 but likewise to Syria Assyria c. and expressely to the twelve Tribes scattered abroad Jam. 1.1 who can hold the negative that the children of Israel did never returne and seeke Christ and the other part is no lesse faulty for Christ came not till the Scepter was departed from Judah and these words the latter dayes are not to be referred unto the 4. verse as if the Israelites should abide many dayes without a King and sacrifice in the latter dayes and then returne but unto the fift ver in the end whereof they are and so in the latter dayes they shall returne not into their Land this Text saith not so but and seek the Lord their God and Christ their King as they did Act. 2.4.1 and 4.4 and in severall ages And so both the parts of this Argument being false the words of Hosea 3. are more against the temporall Monarchy then for it Reply 1. That by David here Christ is meant is not to be doubted but that therefore this Prophecie was fulfill'd at Christs incarnation it is to be proved and so it is too that the Rhetoricall and tropicall sense of some words and phrases in a Prophecie doth fasten a mysticall meaning upon it for the sense of a Prophecie takes not its denomination from the words in which it is spoken but from the things it speakes of if it speakes of materiall things whether in a proper or figurative straine it is a materiall Prophecie if of spirituall things whether in a proper or figurative straine it is a spirituall Prophecie if of both it 's partly materiall and partly spirituall and the title of a Prophecie takes its denomination from the place person or people of which it is spoken 2. There is a great difference betwixt the last dayes and the latter dayes For the last dayes Heb. 1. ver 2. and the last times 1 Pet. 1. ver 20. doe comprehend the whole time under the Gospel the time I say from Christs first comming to his second but the latter times 1 Tim. 4. ver 1. doe signifie onely the latter part of the last times And as the last times or dayes have their latter times so againe the latter times have their last dayes as we may see in the 2 Tim. chap. 3. ver 1. and in the 2 Pet. chap. 3. ver 3. and of the end of these last dayes of the latter times are the latter dayes in this Prophecie to be understood as St. Paul's words in the 11. chap. of the Epistle to the Rom. at the 25. and 26. verses doe evidence For I would not Brethren saith he that you should be ignorant of this mystery that blindnesse in part is hapned to Israel untill the fulnesse of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved c. And yet it is enough to confirme the first part of the Dilemma that the latter dayes in this Prophecie cannot be taken for the first dayes of the preaching of the Gospel in which onely the Gospel was preacht unto the Jewes and therefore the Israelites that sought the Lord in those first dayes of the Gospel cannot be the same Israelites which the Prophet saith shall seeke the Lord in the latter dayes of the Gospel that is not long before Christs appearing And basides what effect the word of God tooke amongst the Israelites even in the dayes in which it was preach't unto them we have formerly shewed out of the 13. chap. of the Acts at the 45. and 46. verses and out of the 1 Thess 2. at the 15. and 16. ver to which wee may adde the same Apostles great heavinesse and continuall sorrow for them Rom. 9. ver 2.3 and his words concerning Israel in 31 32 and 33. ver of the fame chapter and his prayer for them and record of them chap. 10. v. 1 2 3. and his words ch 11. v. 8 9 10.12.15.25 and 28. in which places he saith that they stumbled at the stumbling stone that is at Christ preacht unto them that they submitted not themselves unto the righteousnesse of God that they were enemies to the Gospel and that God had given them the spirit of slumber eyes that they should not see and eares that they should not heare and therefore we dare not but to affirme that Israel did not then returne thus the Lord to wit by repentance and embracement of the Gospel For the Prophet speakes not of the returne of some particular Families or of some particular persons of divers Families but of all the children of Israel that were to be so long without a King that is of the whole body of the ten Tribes at least And of the whole Israel of God it is that is of all the Tribes though not of all of every Tribe that the Apostle speaks of in the foresaid Texts of Scripture and how then can it be said of any of the Tribes that they have as yet sought the Lord and if none of the Tribes are converted where is the union you boast of betwixt the Jewes and Gentiles How are they one Christian Church when as not one of the Tribes hath
is a restauration after the destruction of Israel and not a Monarchy of the Jewes after the calling of the Gentiles Whereby it is manifest that in this note is a twofold error one inserting the words in the prophecy which are not in it another in misinterpreting the words of the Apostle Reply The Prophet Amos doth neither before nor at the 11. ver speake of the calling of the Gentiles but at the 12. ver where they are exprest And it hath been shewed before that the Apostle cites not the 11. ver for the calling of the Gentiles but for the conversion and deliverance of the Jewes after the calling of the substituted Gentiles For the Apostle having said Simcon hath declared how God at first did visit the Gentiels to take out of them a people for his Name confirmes it by this prophecy of Amos which in the 12. ver shewes that there should be some Nations of the Gentiles upon whom Gods Nune should be cal'd or who should be cal'd by Gods Name whilst David's Tabernacle lay waste whilst the Jewes were to continue in blindnesse And surely seeing there are so many prophecies which shew the generall conversion of the Gentiles at the restoring of the Jewes the Apostle in passing by them and alledging this prophecy to shew that God would at that time take but a part of the Gentiles to be a people for his Name doth to my thinking thereby plainly shew that the Jewes were then to be given up and to be no moâ—e Godâ— people until that day in which he hath appointed to build againe the Tabernacle of David at which time the residue of mâ—n also shall seeke the Lord as well as the Gentiles on whom God's Name is already cal'd You tell us next that the Prophet hath not these words after this but in these dayes But though the Prophet hath not these words yet the prophecy hath as the Apostle cites it who saith to this agree the words of the Prophets iâ— it written After this â— And the prophets words are not in these dayes but in that Day in that Day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that great Day of Christs Kingdom Neither is it likely that the Apostle cited the words after this in reference to what the Prophet had said which was not questioned buâ— rather to what he himselfe had said And if wee should referre these words to the foregoeing destruction of Israel how doth this prove that their restauration shall not follow the calling of the substituted Gentiles whenas it is evident that their threatned dispersion and sifting among all Nations after which they should be againe restored was more to be fulfilled upon them in the time of the substituted Gentiles calling then before and seeing you confesse that the preceding destruction was denounced against the Jewes onely how could you beleeve that by the raising of the Tabernacle of David that is fallen and building of it as in the dayes of old is meant the calling of the Gentiles and not the restoring of the Kingdom and people of David whom the foresaid judgement should ruine And yet you seeme to be so confident of the currantnesse of this exposition that you thus peremptorily conclude It is manifest that in this note is a twofold errour one inserting the words in the prophecy which are not in it another in misinterpreting the Apostle's words Certainely it is very manifest what spirit was predominant in you when you penned these bold and lowd untruths For did I insert the words after this into the prophecy or did the same Spirit who revealed the prophecy by Amos rehearse it thus by the Apostle search and see Nay doe you not say before and howbeit the Apostle cite them so whom then doe you here accuse of error me or him And as for misinterpreting the words of the Apostle it is already shewen that you would faine father your misinterpreting of it on the Apostle To which this may be added That the Prophet doth make a plaine distinction betwixt the people meant by the Tabernacle of David and the people meant by the remnant of Edom and all the heathen which are called by Gods Name For he saith that those meant by the Tabernacle of David shall possesse these What can the same people be the possessours and the possessed surely so it must be according to your interpreting of the building of Davids Tabernacle of the calling of the Gentiles seeing in the 12. ver not onely the remnant of Edom but the heathen that were to be called in the Jewes steed are plainly spoken of Or take it as the Apostle delivers it And then in your sense it will be thus After this I will returne and call againe the Gentiles that the residue of men that is the Gentiles which are not yet to be called may seeke the Lord all the Gentiles upon whom my Name is now to be cal'd Or thus that the residue of men that is all the Gentiles that are now to be cal'd may seek the Lord all the Gentiles upon whom my name is already cal'd And what sense is there in either of these interpretations one of which must needs follow upon your interpreting of the building of David's Tabernacle of the calling of the Gentiles by the Apostles seeing the conversion of the Gentiles upon whom God's Name is cal'd in the prophecy was to precede the conversion of the Gentiles meant by the residue of men And besides The building of the Tabernacle of David as in the dayes of old doth infallibly shew the restoring of a people to that estate condition they were formerly in which cannot be said of the Gentiles who were never before God's people The Marginall note And consequently that the Jewes endeavour to hinder the growth of the Gospel 1. Thess 2.14.15 was a sure proofe of the conversion of the Gentiles their owne rejection who unto the death of Christ were the peculiar people of God not wholly cast off until by their wilful unbeleife they forced the Apostles to turne from them to other Nations Act. 13.44 45 46. to whom God had not formerly revealed himselfe therefore could not at that time be said to returne unto the Gentiles whom he had but then receiv'd no nor to the Jewes whom he had then and not til then quite forsaken So that if we consider the Returning of God here mention'd in the prophecy to be appliable only to the Jews to whom alone God had so long before made himselfe known yet that the Jews were shortly after the calling of the Gentiles quite forsaken we must needs grant that their great happines here foretold hath not been yet injoyed but shall be when the fulnesse of the succedaneous Gentiles is come in And wherefore did the Apostle change the Prophet's in that day will I raise up into After this will I returne and build wherefore I say did he or rather the Holy Ghost in him make choyce of this
particular Jewes be not cast off as some particular Gentiles were not secluded before Christs comming And thus having made a shift to passe through almost halfe this note you leave the Reader in the briars and step over all the rest as too rough for your handling Israel's Redemption And yet there want not some who by the words All Israel in the 11. of the Romans understand onely the Church of the Gentiles to which some of the Jewes should be united but if the obvious and simple meaning of the 28 29 30 31 and 32. verses following will not suffice to discover the weaknesse that I say not wilfulnesse of this interpretation yet surely to any man that is not without reason the reasons which Wendelinus in the 19. chap. and 2. Section of his naturall contemplations at the 391. page brings to the contrary will give abundant satisfaction For first the Apostle doth apparently distinguish the Jewes from the Gentiles by the word Israel when he saith that blindnesse is in part hapned to Israel untill the fulnesse of the Gentiles be come in And therefore I much doubt whether he would in the very next line by the same word indifferently comprehend both Jewes and Gentiles especially seeing the Israel that is to be sav'd must needs have relation to the Israel that was before said to be in blindnesse And then too what is become of the mystery here spoken of if the words And so all Israel shall be saved should not signifie such a conversion of the Jewes as must follow the vocation of the Gentiles for that some particular Jewes were at that time to be gathered to the Church they knew before seeing many such were then amongst them some of which did first conveight the Gospel to them And therefore in my judgement those Divines deale most sincerely with the text who acknowledging the literall sense thereof doe send us to that of Isaiah in his 66. chap. at the 8. ver as to a plaine proofe of this opinion Who saith he hath heard such a thing Who hath seene such things shall the earth be made to bring forth in w Zech. 3. v. 9. one day or shall a Nation be borne at once for as soone as Sion travelled she brought forth her children Where the wonderfull and unheard of conversion of a whole Nation at once such as never hapned to any Nation of the Gentiles together with the expresse mention of Sion and the evidence of the following verses should me thinks be motive enough to make my impartiall Reader understand this Prophecie of the Jewes which yet implies not so much a returne of the whole Nation to their Countrie as to their God and therefore could not be fulfill'd by the returne of a part of them from Babylon at which time too the Kingdome of God that is the true worship of God the meanes by which that Kingdome is obtain'd was amongst them onely but hath since according to our Saviours Prophecie in the 21 chap. of Matth. at the 43. ver been taken from them and shall againe according to this be suddenly and exâ—raordinarily restor'd unto them as Joel also before intimated by the plentifull distribution of Gods Spirit in the last dayes Mr. Petrie's Answer All this Section sights against vaine imaginations for as it is said by all Israel we understand not the Gentiles onely but the seed of the Promise that is the faithfull Jewes and others in all Nations As for that Prophecie Esa 66.8 was it not fulfill'd truly albeit not fully when the believing Church travelled and brought forth so great multitudes in one day as may be called a Nation as 3000. and 5000. converted in a day Act. 2.41 and 4.4 and the peâ—ple with one accord give heed unto these things which Philip spake and they who all had given themselves unto Simon Magus from the least to the greatest believed and were baptized both men and women chap. 8.6 and chap. 19.17.18 this was knowne unto all the Jewes and Greeks dwelling at Ephesus and feare fell on them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified and many believed and ver 20. so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed not onely at Ephesus but almost throughout all Asia ver 10. and 26. besides many other passages and other great and miraculous conversions whereof wee read in Ecclesiasticall Histories So that what was a wonderment unto Esa or the faithfull in his time who hath heard such a thing hath been truly done many a day before these our dayes the evidence whereof me thinks should be motive enough to make any partiall or unpartiall Reader understand that Prophecie generally and so much the rather that by this Author 's owne confession pag. 33. it implyeth not so much the returne of the whole Nation to their Country as to their God it is certaine it was in part fulfill'd at their returne from Babel for then they reared up their walls they planted Vineyards c. but it is a grosse opinion to thinke that all the particulars of these Prophecies should be fulfill'd in a proper acceptation of the words at one and the same juncture of time and it is as vaine to thinke that that Prophecie of Joel concerning the plentifull powring downe of the Spirit could not be fulfilled by the accomplishment of our Saviours Prophecie Matth. 21.43 There is no dependance of this Prophecie on the words of Joel and every one who hath eyes may see that our Saviour speakes not there of the temporall Kingdome of the Jewes but of the Gospel seeing he calleth it the Kingdome of God and he saith It shall be taken from them and another Nation shall bring forth the fruits of it their temporall Kingdome was taken from them already and these last words cannot be understood of any temporall Kingdome neither were these Romans who destroyed Jerusalem more devoute then the stubborne Jewes Reply As the last part of the note so the first part of this Section was too strong for your pallet and therefore it was high time for you to cry out all this Section fights against vaine imaginations of which kind of answers you have a very pregnant fancie But as vaine as they are they have made the greatest Scholars in Christendome to confesse that a generall conversion of the Jewes is here foretold by the Apostle and to deny that no more but a partiall and successive conversion of them with the Gentiles throughout the whole time of the Gentiles calling is here meant as you would have the Apostle understood For I would not Brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery c. saith St. Paul what was it a mystery that some Jewes were then joyn'd with the Gentiles in the Church of Christ or shall we thinke that the Apostle would admonish them not to be ignorant of that which they could not be ignorant of to wit that some Jewes as well as the Gentiles were then to be converted No doubtlesse but
to be mindfull of that which being a mysterie they were ignorant of untill he had now reveal'd it unto them to wit the conversion of All Israel of the whole Nation when the fulnesse of the Gentiles should come in And as I have before shewed that Israel here is properly to be taken so I dare say that you cannot alledge any text of Scripture that will justifie the mysticall acception of it if it be throughly scan'd And whereas you say that the Prophecie Esa 66. ver 8. was fulfill'd truely albeit not fully when the believing Church travelled and brought forth so great multitudes in one day as may be call'd a Nation as 3000. and 5000. Acts 2.41 and 4. ver 4. and chap. 8. ver 6. and chap. 19. ver 10.17 18.20.26 besides other great and miraculous conversions whereof we read in Ecclesiasticall Histories Certainly your application sailes you very much For first the Prophet speaks of the conversion of a whole Nation not of halfe a Nation and much lesse of so small a number as you to maintaine your cause would perswade us to take for a Nation Secondly he speaks but of one Nation to wit the Nation of the Jewes and not of the Jewes and Gentiles both as you in these instances doe interpret him Thirdly he speaks of Sions travelling when she should returne from her unbeliefe as the contemporating Prophecies in the same chapter doe shew and not before she fell into unbeliefe as the conversion of the Jewes which you mention was And fourthly the conversion he foreshewes is to be so sodaine that it is said to be performed at once which connot be affirmed of a conversion of any ordinarie continuance and how then can it be affirmed of a conversion of so many yeares and ages as you understand it of in applying it to the whole time under the Gospel For suppose that a great summe of mony were to be paid to you at once would you give the creditour leave to make this construction of it that it was to be paid by him and his heirs to you and your heires untill it were all paid doubtlesse you would not and yet as if all the time betwixt Christs first and second comming were not time enough to be understood by one day and at once you tell us too It is certaine it was in part fulfill'd at their returning from Babel for then they reared up their walls they planted Vineyards c. Who ever heard of such a large at once of an at once to begin at the deliverance of the Jewes from Babylon and to continue to the next appearing of Christ what could the Prophet have made the speedie execution of that he speaks of a matter of so great admiration if it should have been any long time in fulfilling or shall we say that Adino the Eznite who lift up his Speare against eight hundred whom he slew at one time did it at so many severall times as there were men slaine by him 2 Sam. 23. ver 8. or that when Abraham said Let not the Lord be angry and I will speake yet but this once Gen. 18. ver 32. it is to be understood that he spake more then that once or that when the Lord said unto Joshua Ye shall goe about the City once Josh 6. ver 3. it was to be done many times together for in all these texts there are the same words in the originall as are here in the Prophet were not this most wilfully to contradict the text and yet you can very modestly reverently and righteously affirme that It is certaine this once was in part fulfill'd at the Jewes returning from Babel But where are the reasons that prove this certainty seeing there is neither in this verse nor in the whole chapter any mention of Babylon or of walls and Vineyards and if there had been mention of rearing up their walls and Vineyards how could you understand it properly here who take it figuratively Amos 9. ver 14. so that all this being laid together to wit that this Prophecie doth speake of the conversion of a whole Nation of but one Nation of a Nation formerly given up to unbeliefe and at once againe to return to the truth it should me thinks be motive enough to make any partiall or impartiall Reader to understand the accomplishment of it particularly of the Nationall conversion of the Jewes onely by the plentifull effusion of Gods Spirit upon on them before the great and terrible Day of the Lords appearing as Joel hath prophecied And as for that which followes any one that hath but halfe an eye may perceive how well your eye-sight serv'd you when you conceived that the Prophecie Matth. 21. ver 43. was alledged by me to prove the temporall Kingdome of the Jewes who have alledg'd it onely as a reason to shew that this Prophecie of Isaiah could not be fulfill'd at the returning of the Jewes from Babylon because the meanes of salvation the Kingdome of God as our Saviour cals it was then amongst them only of which they were to be destitute before the accomplishment of this Prophecie which shewes their conversion to it againe And he may perceive too how you take non causa pro causà how injuriously you impute unto me the alledging of the accomplishment of our Saviours Prophecie to shew that Joels Prophecie was not fulfill'd which was indeed before prov'd by such reasons as you could not answer Israel's Redemption CHAP. III. Of the surviving Gentiles subjection unto and communion and fellowship with the Jewes in the knowledge and worship of God YOu have hitherto heard of the deliverance and happinesse of the Jewes onely I shall now acquaint you with their partakers which shall be such as are left of the Nations that are then to be destroy'd as you may see in the 66. chapter of Isaiah at 15. and 19. verses Behold the Lord will come with fire and mith his Chariots like a whirle-winde to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire for by * Ezek. 39. v. 4 5 6. c. Mal 4 ver 1. Psal 50. v 3. 2 Thess 1. v. 7 8 c. fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh and the slaine of the Lord shall be many And I will set a signe among them and I will send those that escape of them unto the Nations to Tarshish Pul and Lud that draw the bow to Tubal and Javan to the Isles a farre off that have not heard my fame neither have seene my glory and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles And they shalt bring all your brethren for an y Isa 18. v. 7. offering unto the Lord out of all Nations upon horses and in Charrers and in Litters and upon Mules and upon swift beasts to my holy Mountaine Jerusalem saith the Lord as the children of Israel bring an offering in a cleane vessell into the house of the Lord. And I will also
you may the better beguile others of the truth For first the union foreshewed in these Prophecies is not to begin untill the Nations which shall oppose the Jewes after their returne be miraculously overthrowne at the comming of our Lord Jesus Christ as the foresaid Prophecie of Isaiah chap. 66. at the 15 16 19. ver c. compar'd with the 38. and 39. chapters of Ezek. with the 3. chap. of Joel and with the 19. chap. of the Rev. at the 11 12 13 14 15 c. doth plainly declare And secondly at the accomplishment of the union foreshewed by these Prophecies All Nations must goe up to worship before the Lord at Jerusalem as the latter part of the 66. chapter of Isaiah doth shew to which we may adde the Prophecies in the 8. chap. of Zecha at the 20. ver c. and in the 14. chap. at the 16. ver c. The words are Thus saith the Lord of Hostes it shall came to passe that there shall come people and the Inhabitants of many Cities and the Inhabitants of one Citie shall goe to another saying Let us goe speedily to pray before the Lord of Hostes I will goe also yea many people and strong Nations shall come to seeke the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of Hostes In those dayes it shall come to passe that ten men shall take hold out of all Languages of the Nations even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying We will goe with you for we have heard that God is with you And it shall come to passe that every one that is left of all Nations which came against Jerusalem shall even goe up from yeare to yeare to worship the King the Lord of Hosts and to keep the feast of Tabernâ—cles and it shall be that who so will not come up of all the Families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King the Lord of Hosts even upon them shall be no raine And thirdly at the accomplishment of this union the Jewes shall not seeke unto the Gentiles but the Gentiles in generall unto the Jewes onely for instruction in the wayes of God as Isaiah saith chap. 2 ver 2. and 3. and Micah chap. 4. ver 1. and 2. It shall come to passe in the last dayes that the mountaine of the Lords house shall established in the top of the mountaines and shall be exalted above the hills and all Nations shall flow unto it and many people shall goe and say Come yee and let us goe up to the Mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us his waies and wee will walke in his pathes for out of Sion shall goe forth the Law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem And fourthly at the accomplishment of this union and throughout the whole time of its continuance which it exprest Rev. the 20. ver 2 3. there is to be an uninterrupted peace over all the world as the following words of the foregoing prophecy of Isa Micah doe manifest And he shall judge amongst the Nations shall rebuke many people they shal breake their swords into plow shares their speares into pruning books nation shal not lift up sword against Nation neither shall they learne warre any more With which agreeth that of Hosea chap. 2. ver 18. In that day I will make a Covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowles of Heaven and with the creeping things of the ground And I will breake the bow and the sword and the battell out of the earth and will make them to lie downe safely And to this wee adjoyne the prophecy Psal 46.8 9. Come behold the workes of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the earth He maketh warres to cease unto the ends of the earth he breaketh the bow and cutteth the speare in sunder he burneth the chariot in the fire And fiftly at the accomplishment of this union the converted Jew shall not be governed by the ecclesiastical and civill lawes of the Gentiles as it is now but the Gentiles by the ecclesiastical and civill lawes of the Iewes as is before shewed by their going up to Ierusalem to worship and to be instructed in the wayes of the Lord. And as touching their civill grovernment it is further evidenced by the prophecies in which the Gentiles great subjection to the Iewes is revealed Of which sort are the prophecies Isaiah chap. 14.1 2. chap. 49.22 23. chap. 60.9 10 11 12. c. and chap. 61.4 5 6 7. And thus good reader thou hast the true sense and scope of the prophecies with which as Mr Petrie saith I have needlesly silled many pages and doubtlesse it was very needfull for him to say so seeing their perspicuity is so irresistible that he could finde no mysticall paraphrase against it to puzzle thee withall Israel's Redemption But to say that this is now fulfilled in the time of the substituted Gentiles vocation is to overthrow what was before affirmed and to take great paines to beguile our selves and others of the truth it is I say to put out our owne eyes and bid others follow us for St Paul in the 11. of the Rom. tells us plainly that the Jewes â—re broken off from their Olive tree and that we are graffed in for them that they are cast away that they are hardened that God hath concluded them all in unbeliefe and that through their fall salvation is come unto us to provoke them to h Deut. 32.21 jealousie And therefore it cannot possibly be maintained that the Jewes and Gentiles are as yet one i Ioh. 10.16 sheepfold Mr Petrie's Answer The Apostle saith not that all the Jewes are broken off but rather the contradictory ver 1. and 5. neither saith he that God hath shut up all the Jewes in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all the Jewes but us our former translation saith conforme to the originall God hath shut up all in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all whereunto the words of the same Apostle Gal. 3.22 The Scripture hath coucluded all under sinne that the promise by saith in Jesus Christ might be given to them who beleeve Here the Apostle is not speaking of the Jewes onely but generally both of Jewes and Gentiles and so farre must his words be extended thereto seeing he is speaking of them ver 30. and 31. and so the meaning of ver 32. is It was the counsel of God to suffer both Jewes and Gentiles to fall into unbeliefe or disobedience as the mond Apeitheia likewise imports and the word sin teaches Gal. 3. that he might save all his elect both of Jewes and Gentiles after one way not by their workes but of his mercy onely And therefore I cannot possibly conceive how a man of understanding can bring or receive such a conclusion out of these words as this It
in saying that the union of the two people of the Jewes and Gentiles consists in the union of the Church under the Old and New Testament You doe herein grant first that the Church under the New Testament is the Church of the Gentiles and so not of the Jewes and Gentiles both as it should be if it did proportionably consist of the Jewes and Gentiles And secondly you doe herein grant that the Apostles words Ephes 2. ver 11. c. are meant of this union for you cannot conceive that the union betwixt the two people consists in the union of the Church under the Old and New Testament unlesse you doe conceive withall that the places which speake of their union are so to be understood And thirdly you doe herein contradict the preceding prophecies which you grant to foreshew the same uniting of the two people for these Prophecies doe plainely declare the uniting of the whole Nation of the Jewes with all the Nations of the Gentiles on the earth and not the uniting of Gentiles under the Gospel with Jewes under the Law not the uniting I say of one part of Christs mysticall bodie the Church then in heaven with another part thereof newly cal'd to the Faith on earth Israel's Redemption And besides how the bringing of the Jewes out of all Nations upon horses and in Litters and in Charrets and upon mules and upon mens shoulders can beare any other but a literall sense or how the vaile that is spread over all Nations can now be said to be destroy'd when as so many of them runne a whoring after their owne inventions I cannot conceive Yea Even unto this day saith St. Paul of the Jewes in his time when Moses is read the vaile is upon their heart Neverthelesse when it shall returne unto the Lord the vaile shall be taken away 2 Cor. 3. ver 15. and 16. But we see not yet Israel return'd yea we see it fallen into more grosse ignorance and superstition and therefore the vaile is not yet taken away and consequently is not yet destroyed from all Nations Mr. Petrie's Answer Whether he cannot or will not conceive it may be doubted many 1000. have conceived both those he gives no reason of his doubting in the former and the cause of his doubting in the other is naught for albeit the vaile be not taken away from all the Jewes and from all of all the Nations in which sense it shall never be taken away seeing the Church on earth is alwayes a mixt company yet certainly it is taken away from the Jewes and all the Nations to wit so many of them as turne to the Lord which are so many as the Starres in heaven that is innumerable to men For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared unto all men Tit. 2.11 And God who hath commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ so writes a Jew unto the Gentiles 2 Cor. 4.6 Reply The reason of my doubting in the former passage is because neither you nor any other can give a reason sufficient to prove that the bringing of the Jewes for an offering unto the Lord out of all Nations upon horses and in Litters and in Charrets and upon mules and upon swift beasts c. to his mountaine at Jerusalem is not to be taken in a proper sense for the best reason you can shew is as it seemes that many thousands have conceived these words in another sense which is as good a reason to prove that other sense to be the true sense of them as it is to say that Mahomet was no false Prophet because many millions have and doe erroneously conceive him to be a true Prophet And why did you not afford us a sight of that other sense which so many 1000. have taken these words in and of the important reasons that mov'd them so to doe seeing you confesse page 10. that the Scripture is properly to be taken unlesse the proper sense be dissonant from the scope of the text or contrary to the analogie of Faith or honesty of manners neither of which hath been prov'd of the proper sense of these words nor of any of the Prophecies upon which you strive so much to impose a figurative sense And as you have not brought a reason to remove my doubting in this former passage so you have not prov'd the reason of my doubting in the other to be naught For in saying that albeit the vaile be not taken away from all the Jewes and from all of all the Nations in which sense it shall never be taken away c. yet certainly it is taken away from the Jewes and from all Nations to wit so many of them as turne to the Lord c. In saying thus you say nothing to the purpose for was it not thus when the Prophet spake these words was not the vaile then taken away from as many of the Jewes and of other Nations as were then turn'd unto the Lord And when St. Paul said Even unto this day when Moses is read the vaile is upon their heart neverthelesse when it shall returne unto the Lord the vaile shall be taken away were there not then more Jewes converted to the Christian Faith then have been ever since and yet the Apostle saith that the vaile was then upon their hearts and speaks of the removing of it from them as of a thing to be done and not then done although those were then converted which God had appointed to be then converted And therefore the Apostles words are to be understood of the removing of the vaile from all the Jewes and not from some onely And the Prophet saith likewise that God will destroy the Covering cast over all people and the vaile that is spread over all Nations which cannot be fulfill'd when onely a part of the vaile is destroy'd as you understand it but shall be when the whole vaile is destroyed And that it shall be wholly destroyed the Prophecie of Isaiah chap. 2. v. 2 3. which shewes that all Nations shall goe up to the mountaine of the Lords house to be taught in his wayes and the same Prophets words ch 11. v. 9. for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea And the Prophecies which shew that all Nations shal goe up to Jerusalem to worship doe with the preceding Prophecie joyntly testifie and therefore this first clause of your parenthesis doth flatly denie what God doth frequently affirme And the Scripture which you have alledg'd is us'd onely as a daring glasse to dazzle the eyes of the heedlesse or unlearned Reader for that of Tit. chap. 2. ver 11. hath relation to the severall ages Sexes and conditions of men as the preceding verses doe shew so that to all men there is no more then to all sorts of men young and
this chap. that shewes the first comming of our Saviour And fourthly you say that in the words following that testimony he speakes of the calling of the Jewes and Gentiles together as was exponed before And wee have before shewed this exposition to be notoriously false and that from the 11. ver to the end of the chap. nought but the wonderfull redemption of the Jewes is foretold As then you have not yet disproved the proper sense of these prophecies so doubtlesse you cannot fit them with an allegoricall paraphrase For first as here are many severall kinds of beasts mention'd so you must finde out as many severall degrees or dispositions of men to expound them by And secondly seeing in an allegoricall sense these prophecies are apply'd to the conversion of men you must tel us why after their conversion some are cal'd Wolves Leopards Lyons Beares and Cockatrices and others Lambs Kids calves and oxen I say after their conversion for these names they are distinguished by when they are said to lie downe together and to feed together and to doe no hurt And thirdly you must give us the meaning of these phrases The sucking childe shall play on the hole of the aspe and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den The Lyon shall eate straw like the Oxe And dust shall be the Serpents meate And fourthly seeing here is mention not onely of irrationall creatures but of rationall also of mankind as well as of beaster you must tel us first what Converts are alluded unto under the names of these severall sorts of beastes and what Converts are meant by the little child the sucking child and the weaned child and secondly why the names of these beastes are not to be taken properly for the beastes themselves whenas the things here rehearst doe so well agree with them and they are plainely distinguished from mankind too And unlesse you can give us reasonable satisfaction in all this you doe but vainely say that these words may be better exponed allegorically then properly Yea the proper sense of these Prophecies is further confirmed by the food which God created for every beast of the earth and every fowle of the aire and every thing that creepeth on the earth to live by to wit the green herb Gen. 1. ver 30. and by restraint of the wilde beasts and fowles both from their ravenous disposition and feeding the whole time of their being in the Arke for seeing Noah was to provide foode for them as well as for himselfe and his Family Gen. 6. ver 21. it must needs be granted that as the Wolfe the Lamb and the Leopard the cow the Lyon and the Beare c. did then lie downe together so they did feed together too and that the Lyon did eate straw or hay like the Oxe this I say must needs be granted unlesse we can imagine that Noah did take in flesh into the Arke for the ravenous creatures to live by at that time Israel's Redemption And besides is there no hurt nor destruction in all the Christian world that we should thus flatter our selves with such vaine fancies or rather when was there none or where is the Nation shall I say or the Citie yea the village amongst us where cruelty is not practised where such mischiefs are not to be found as can scarcely be parallelled in the Common-wealths of the most barbarous heathen And as for those words for the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord which seeme to have been the occasion of the former interpretation in my conceit they imply but this that therefore God will restore to these creatures their primitive obedience and cause them to be no more offensive to his people because he hath determined to make himselfe at that time so well knowne over all the earth that his people shall no more offend him and so the feare of God shall at once be put againe into the hearts of men and the feare of men into the hearts of the creatures for the enmity of the creatures is but the issue of mans sinne and therefore when God shall pardon the house of Jacob and cleanse them from all their iniquities as hath been said the sinnes of men which are the cause and the curse of the creatures which is the effect shall depart together Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. Albeit this Author will not give glory unto God in fulfilling his promises yet wee see that others are not so ingrate as Act. 9.31 Then had the Churches rest throughout all Judea and Galileâ— and Samaria and in other times we finde that the Christians had their halâ—yonian dayes twixt these ten great persecutions and afterwards in the dayes of Christian Emperours and godly Kings 2. Neither doe the Prophets or Revelation speaking of these times say There shall never be hurt nor shall ever any man destroy one another but rather the propertie of the Church in this world is to be militant and neverthelesse Wolves and Lyons forsake their crueltie in the person of many converts and therefore these byberbolicall complaints might well been spared 3. It doth puzzle the Author that Esay saith chap. 11.9 For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord and therefore fancieth a private conceit for exponing these words of which he gives no reason but we have given sufficient reasons for the allegoricall interpretation which is confirmed by these words to wit that the abundance of the knowledge of the Lord is the cause why wicked men leave their wickedneffe and adjoyne themselves unto the meek of the earth as our Saviour saith Matth. 10.16 I will send you as sheep among Wolves Of whom certainly many became sheep of Christs fold which is a more proper effect of knowledge then the changing of beasts affections Reply 1. We thinke that God is best pleased with us and most glorified by us when we confesse the truth albeit against our selves and therefore as wee are not so ingrate to denie that God hath given paâ—ticular Churches rest not onely from foraigne enemies but homebred also not onely from heathenish persecutors but from hereticall too so we are not so ungodly to denie our owne unrighteousnesse and unthankfulnesse towards God notwithstanding such mercy conferred upon us For even when these Churches have had such rest then have they provok't God afresh by more then heathenish impieties and oppressions so that rest from persecution hath been the very seed-time in which the tares of all impietie and injustice of all manner of misgovernment and miâ—beliefe have been sow'd afresh amongst us and the spring-tide in which that oursed and numerous brood of the flesh which St. Paul reckons up Gal. 5. ver 19. c. hath been manifest in us as adultery fornication uncleannesse lasciviousnesse Idolatrie witcheraft hatred variance emulations strise seditions Heresies envyings murthers drunkennesse revilings covetousnesse and such like For it was in the time of Israel's rest that the faithfull Citie
became an harlot and full of murderers that her Princes grew rebellious and companions of theeves that every one of them loved gifts and followed after rewards that they judged not the fatherlesse nor the cause of the widow that they joyned house to house and field to field till there was no place that God looked for Judgement but behold oppression and for righteousnesse but behold a cry that the Harpe and the Viol and the Tabret and Pipe and wine were in their Feasts but they regarded not the worke of the Lord nor the operation of his hands Esa the 1. and 5. chapter 8. And have Christians made any better use of their rest from persecution and destruction surely no. For it was in the very infancie of the Church that Ephesus was threatned for leaving her first love Pergamos for the Doctrine of Balaam and the Doctrine of the Nicholaitans Thyatira for suffering Jezabel to seduce the servants of God to commit fornication and to cate things offered to Idols Sardis for that her workes were not found perfect before God that is to proceed from a sincere heart and an upright affection and Laodicea for her lukewarmenesse in Religion Rev. the 2. and 3. chapter And seeing it was thus in the first and best age of the Christian Church how bad thinke you hath it been since surely the same Apostle will tell you chap. 9. ver 20 21. And the rest of the men that were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the workes of their hands that they should not worship Devills and Idols of gold and silver and brasse and stone and wood which neither can see nor heare nor walke neither repented they of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their fornication nor of their thefts And 't is this great wickednesse of Christians themselves 't is their envying at their contention with and their defrauding of each other 't is the mischiefe they devise against and the hurt they daily doe one to another that I have spoken of and not of the hurt they receive from others not of suffering by their heathenish neighbours before the whole Empire became Christian or by heathenish Nations since that time and therefore in this part of your answer you have quite mistooke the marke and brought a record of some particular Churches rest from suffering instead of their rest from sinning 2. In the next you give but a false fire for we are discoursing of what doth inevitably follow from these Prophecies according to the allegoricall interpretation of them and therefore if the Rev. or the Prophets doe speake otherwise of the times to which you referre these Prophecies then these Prophecies doe it is an undeniable evidence against you that either the allegoricall sense is not the true sense of them or that these Prophecies are not to be accomplisht in the time to which you apply them as indeed they are not for they shall not burt nor destroy in all my holy mountaine saith the Lord which words doe infallibly shew that the innocencie of the creatures whom this is spoken of shall be such as cannot possibly consist with the many mischievous that I say not unnaturall actions of Christians amongst themselves but may very well be fulfill'd in the generall agreement and gentlenesse of the dumb creatures at the appearing of our Lord Jesus at which time it is that these Prophecies which reveale the Jewes proâ—ritie in their owne land and those which reveale the joynt-embracement of the truth by all Jewes and Gentiles and these which reveale the reducement of the dumbe and insensible creatures to their originall perfection are all to be accornplished and therefore although it be the propertie of the Church to be militant in this world that is untill the appearing of Christ yet in that new world she shall be triumphant she shall be rid of all her adversaries of all her disturbers as is plentifully declar'd by the Prophets and implied in the first part of the 20. chap. of the Rev. But whereas you have alledg'd these words as a reason to prove that there shall be alwayes hurt done by Christians in this world for these you say are the beasts of whom these Prophecies are to be understood certainly you are much mistaken in this argument for it will not follow that Christians must needs be hurtfull to themselves because it is the property of the Church to be militant in this world that is till our Saviours comming to receive hurt from others And yet though we denie your Argument wee denie not what you would infer from it to wit that Christians are hurtfull to each other yea we say and that without an hyperbole that they are so hurtfull that even for this very cause these Prophecies cannot not be understood of them For wee dare not with you first to make them contradict other Scripture by wresting of them to a false sense and then to uphold our errour by a flat denyall of that which God hath spoken in them by affirming I say that these words they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my mountaine are thus to be understood they shall hurt and destroy in all my holy mountaine Yea wee hold it much safer to denie the allegoricall sense of them and so their present accomplishment withall neither of which any other Scripture or any circumstance in these Prophecies doth enforce then to denie what God hath so plainely reveal'd in them 3. And yet you goe on like a Conquerour and beare the Reader in hand that the words in the 9. ver for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord doe puzzle the Author and that therefore hee fancieth a private conceite for expounding these words of which he gives no reason But surely it doth not puzzle the Author so much as to make him contradict any thing that God doth say as you have done to justifie the allegoricall interpretation of these Prophecies and therefore it is evident that your exposition is the private conceit seeing it crosseth the text and not mine which though you accuse you could not shew to be contrary unto the text Yea the reason which I have given for it for you wilfully belie me in saying I have given none is not onely very agreeable unto the proper sense of these Prophecies but to reason it selfe for what could more illustrate the wisedome Justice and mercy of God in the restauration of these creatures then to ordaine that man the creature whose disobedience had been the occasion of subjecting all other inferiour creatures unto vanitie should againe by his obedience springing from the abundant knowledge of his maker become the occasion of delivering them from this bondage of corruption and therefore though it be true that the saving knowledge of the Gospel hath made and doth still make wicked men to leave their wickednesse yet it is not true that the calling of men out of the state of nature into the state of
on earth for it is their priviledge at their entrance into their Kingdome and throughout the whole space of their reigne to judge the world that is all Nations of the Gentiles with the Judgement of Government and Reformation with the exercise of a Civill and temporall power over them as in the Prophecies of the Gentiles subjection unto them it may plainely be seene And it is their priviledge at the last resurrection to judge the world and the Devill that is all evill as well Angels as men by a joynt approbation of their finall and perfect condemnation of the full accomplishment I say of their eternall reprobation that is the wicked men that have been their oppressours and judge the Angels that is the evill spirits that have been their tempters and therefore shall not be thrust downe to the barre amongst them but advanced to the bench against them an addition doubtlesse to their former happinesse and no abatement of it Mr Petrie's Answer Some word of Isaiah 35.10 must be taken in another then the proper signification for if the word Sion be not taken for the Christian Church but for that bill within Jerusalem and the word Returne be meaned of bodily returning of the Jewes the words everlasting joy being taken for worldly joy â—ooâ—er â—dicts the â—â—neâ— of the thousand yeares Monarchy which shall end with an insurrection of the Gentiles against the Jewes but if the redeemed of the Lord be expoued sâ—n the faithfull whom Christ our Lord hath redeemed with his bloud and their returning and comming to Sion be their repenting and joyning to the society of the Saints then the everlasting joy is cleare by the words of our Saviour John 16.22 Ye now have sorrow but I will see you againe and your heart shall reioyce and your joy shall no man take from you And as the Judgement is unquestionable so it is justly doubted whether the Apostle meaneth the Jewes 1 Cor. 2.3 seeing our Saviouâ— saith Matth. â—9 28 Ye who have followed me in the regeneration when the Sonne of man shall siâ— on the Throne of his glory shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel where the twelve Tribes are not Judges but judged But certainly be meaneth not of their judging in the temporall Monarchy seeing the Angels shall not be judged before the universall Judgement And the Apostle saith how much more things appertaining unto this life whereby it appeares that in the first part of the verse he understands a Judgement not in this life And in both respects these words of the Apostle are a diminution doubtlesse unto that imagined Monarchy Reply Without doubt if the Reader will take all to be true that you say he shall never finde you in an errour But if you have no better reason to prove that the words Sion and Returne must be taken in another then a proper signification but because you conceit that the worde everlasting joy cannot consist with the insurrection of the Nations at the expiration of the thousand yeares you doe but deceive your selfe with this reason For though the thousand yeares peacefull reigne shall be terminated by the Gentiles insurrection at the loosing againe of Satan yet the joy of the Jewes here reveal'd is not limited by it For we read indeed of the surrounding of the Saints by the Nations Rev. 20. ver 9. but we read not there of any feare in them or hurt done unto them yea wee read onely of the finall overthrow of their enemies And whereas the better to countenance your Argument you call the everlasting joy here a worldly joy I pray what reason moves you to imagine that the joy promised by God to the converted Jewes whom he calls his elect and whom others he saith shall call the holy people and the seed which the Lord hath blessed should rather be a worldly joy then such a joy as our Saviour promised his Disciples John 16. ver 22. Is it because the Jewes are to be Inhabitants on the earth after they receive this everlasting joy and were not the Disciples Inhabitants of a more sinfull world then these Jewes shall be when they were made partakers of the joy which no man could take from them This reason then cannot prove your Epithite to belong rather to the joy of the Jewes then to the joy of the Apostles and yet unlesse this be the reason of your calling it a worldly joy I cannot conceive why you should thinke that after the Jewes are so plentifully inspir'd with the Spirit of God as the Prophets doe foreshew they shall be their joy should not be as spirituall and inseparable as the Apostles was And although it be unquestionable from the passage of St. Paul in the 1 Cor. chap. 6. ver 3. that the Judgement of all evill as well Angels as men is at the last resurrection to be passed on them by the joynt-approbation of the whole number of the elect yet seeing it is not unlikely that by the world ver 2. the Apostle meanes rather the Nations of the Gentiles in the time of Christs reigne on earth then the number of the reprobate at the generall Judgement of the dead it may justly be doubted whether by the word Saints in that place also the Nation of the Jewes be not comprehended with the faithfull which our Saviour shall bring with him as well as in the 20. chap. of the Rev. where it is foreshewed that the Nations of the foure quarters of the earth shall be gathered together against the Saints at the end of the thousand yeares And the words of our Saviour to his Disciples Matth. 19. ver 28. Ye who have followed mee in the regeneration when the Sonne of man shall sit on the Throne of his glory shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel doe help to confirme and not to confute the Government of the Gentiles by the Jewes For as the Apostles shall be made the supreme Governours of their owne Nation under our Saviour so doubtlesse shall other glorified Saints both of the Jewes and Gentiles be chiefe Governours under our Saviour over other Nations according as it is satd Rev. 5. ver 10. and chap. 20. ver 4. and as the parable Luke the 19. of the Noble-mans distributing of ten Cities to one servant and five to another doth imply for who is that Noble-man which is gone into a farre Countrey to receive for himselfe a Kingdome and to returne but our Saviour whom the Heavens must receive untill the times of restitution of all thing c. Act. 3. ver 21. who also spake that Parable because he was nigh unto Jerusalem and because the Jewes erroneously thought that the Kingdome of God should immediately appeare should be set up then at his first comming And as the glorified Saints shall be chiefe Judges under Christ so wee may well thinke that many of the unglorified Saints of the Jewish Nation shall be imployed by them in the
Answer If this be not to deceive with words I know not what it is to deceive One and the same throne is called the throne of God and of the Lambe Revel 22.5 and therefore his Fathers throne is his owne throne as he saith generally John 17.10 All my things are thine and all thine are mine and so both parts of the proofe fall to the ground Is one Kingdome is but one throne and that throne belongeth to the Father and to the Sonne and now befits on his owne throne as it is said expressely unto the Sonne Heb. 1.8 Thy throne is for ever and ever and he prayeth for no other glory but that which he had before the world was John 17.5 Reply It doth ill become a deceive to cry out against deceit Our Saviours words Revel 3.21 are very plaine they are no parable To him that overcometh saith he will I grant to sit with mee in my Throne loe here a Throne in which the Saints shall sit with Christ it follows Even as I also overcame and am set downe with my Father in his Throne Loe here a Throne in which no man can sit but himselfe and therefore here are two distinct Thrones But you object That one and the same throne is called the throne of God and of the Lambe and therefore say you his Fathers throne is his owne throne And therefore say we you are slipt from the matter in question for whereas you should prove that the Throne which Revel 3. Christ calls my throne is not a distinct Throne from that which he calls the Fathers throne you prove onely that the Fathers Throne is Christs owne Throne which no Christian will gainsay For it is his by proper interest as he is God and by purchased interest as I may say as the Lambe of God as a crucified Saviour and yet it is not that Throne which properly belongs unto him as he is man as he is the Sonne of David For this he is to receive on earth where others where they that overcome shall sit with him And in opposition to this Throne on earth it is that he calls the Throne in heaven the Fathers throne Revel 3.21 which Throne Revel 22.3 after the expiration of the time of his reigne on Davids Throne he calls the Throne of God and of the Lambe And so your argument being mistaken the scriptures alledged to confirme it are of no force to beare downe the truth of a double Throne mentioned Rev. 3.21 The 6. Particular He hath a throne which belongeth unto him as man and to the throne of the Father he hath no proper interest but as God Mr. Petrie's Answer Shew then any text that speakes of his two thrones yea if he have or shall have any throne as man and not as God it must be given unto him but it is now given unto him to sit on his Fathers throne and his given throne is the throne of his Father Reply You here fall backe to somewhat that you had left behinde but unlesse you had proposed a wiser challenge it had been more for your credit to have let it alone For is it not strange that one so well read in the scripture as you seeme to be should call on us to shew any text that speakes of Christs two thrones Surely we have shewed you already one unanswerable text Rev. 3.21 and yet you will not beleeve it To shame you then if not to satisfie you we will shew you others For what are the Thrones of which Saint John saith Rev. 20.4 And I saw thrones and they sate upon them and judgement was given unto them Are not these the Thrones in which they that overcome shall sit with our Saviour And are not the Thrones on which the Disciples shall sit judging the twelve Tribes of Israel some of these Thrones deubtlesse they are For as it is said Matth. 19.28 That the Disciples shall sit on thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel which necessarily shews a government over others so it is said Revel â—0 4 That they sat on thrones and judgment was given unto them not on them that is They were made Judges over others not others over them And where should the Saints departed sit on seates exercising judgment over others but on earth and when but in the time of our Saviours Kingdome who shall bring them with him when I say but in the time of his 1000. yeares reigne as it is Luke 22.29.30 and Rev. 20.4 For in heaven they cannot sit judging any because there are none to be judged by them there are none but themselves and at the judgement of the dead they shall not judge any any otherwise then by way of approbation because this is our Saviours priviledge onely as his words John 5.22.27 and the single throne Rev. 20.11 doe declare and indeed it is not likely that the Saints who are saved onely by our Saviours righteousnesse shall pronounce glory to themselves and perdition unto others The time therefore in which our Saviours Throne shall be accompanied with the Thrones of the Saints must needes be the time of his 1000 yeares reigne on earth after which time and the little season of the selfe-ruining insurrection of the Nations that must follow it he is to sit alone on the white Throne spoken of Rev. 20.11 to give sentence on the dead and taking the full number of the elect with him into the new Jerusalem to sit againe in the Throne of God and of the Lambe in the height of glory Rev. 22.3 And thus we have laid before you other texts which shew that our Saviour shall have a Throne on earth and consequently that he hath another Throne besides that where he now siâ—s And that his Throne on earth is a Throne given unto him the words of the Angel Gabriel Luke 1.32 doe witnesse And the Lord shall give unto him the Throne of his Father David And his owne words John 5 27. And hath given him authority to execute judgement also because he is the Sonne of man But you by your wily if not rather weake arguing would perswade us to thinke that Christ cannot have another Throne given him because the Throne where he now sits is a given Throne Which is just as true a reasoning as this King James was first crowned King of Scotland therefore he could not afterward be crowned King of England Israel's Redemption And the reason of it as is intimated in the first words is because the time in which all that shall overcome are to be called is not yet at an end and this also the answer which was made to the soules under the Altar who cried for vengeance against their persecutours doth fully confirme For it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow-servants also and their brothren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled Revel 6.11 and when this iâ— done g Rev. 11.15.17 then shall Christ sit
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
is a double confession of the truth you oppose for first in sâ—ying That these texts prove something against Mr. Archer who thinks that Christ after he hath put the Jewes in possession of their Monarchy shall ascend againe into the heavens you plainely acknowledge that they prove his abode amongst them to governe their restored Kingdome And consequently that you your selfe are in an errour in denying the restauration of their Kingdome as well as Mr. Archer was in denying Christs personall and immediate government of it And secondly in saying That they prove nothing against you who hold that Christ reigneth on the true Throne of David You acknowledge likewise that these prophecies doe prove that our Saviour was to reigne on the true Throne of David and consequently that seeing he hath not yet he shall hereafter reigne over the whole Nation of the Jewes in their owne d land â—â—er 33.15 â—6 17. The Throne of Israel on which David reigned being the true Throne of David and no other But to say that Christ now reigneth on the true Throne of David is to affirme that he is now reigning over the Jewes in the Land of Judea and what can be further from truth then this Israel's Redemption For neither did Christ at his first comming sit on Davids Throne nor any other of Davids linage or of that Tribe or of the other Tribes For the Scepter was then departed from Judah and a Law-giver from between his feete Mr. Petrie's Answer He sits on the right hand of the Throne of Majesty in heaven Heb. 8.1 which was typified by the Throne of David Reply You told us even now That Christ reigneth on the true Throne of David And you tell us here That he sits on the right hand of the Throne of Majâ—sty in heaven which was typified by the Throne of David And doth he reigne then on both these Thrones at once on the true Throne of David the type and on the Throne of God he antitype too But I pray what scripture doth teach you to call the Throne of David a type of the Throne of God Surely if this were so Christ must needes have reigned on the Throne of his Father David before he could have been exalted to the right hand of the Throne of Majesty on high Because the possession of the typicall Throne must needes pr cede the possession of the typified Throne This therefore is an unwarrantable conceit and we know that these prophecies speake onely of his reigning on the Throne of his Father David and not of his reigni g on the Throne of God And if by the Throne of David which is promised to Christ is meant the Throne of God what then is meant by the Throne of the House of Israel which is promised to him Jer. 33.17 Is not this all one with the Throne of David if it be then by the Throne of David cannot be meant the Throne of God unlesse you will say that by the Throne of Israel the Throne of God is meant also And if the Throne of Israel be not meant of the Throne of David then tell us what it is and why you take it to be all one with the Throne of David pag 26. where you alledge this text of Jeremiah to shew that the promises of the Priesthood and of the Kingdome are conjoyned and mixed after the same straine And tell us too what is meant by the Kingdome of David upon which Christs government is said to be as well as upon the Throne of David Isai 9.7 And besides what reason can you alledge wherefore we should not as well take that part of these prophecies in a proper sense which speakes of our Saviours reigning on the Throne of David as that part which speakes of his being borne of the seede of David the one being revealed unto us in as plaine termes as the other Israel's Redemption Neither were Judah and Israel then in the Land together Mr. Petrie's Answer There is neither Jew nor Greeke neither bond nor free neither male nor female but we are all one in Christ Jesus and if ye be Christs then are ye Abrahams seed and heires according to the promise Gal. 3 28. Reply In the 23 chap. of Jer. we reade this prophecy Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch and a King shall reigne and prosper and shall execute judgement and justice on the earth In his dayes Judâ—â—h shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby he shall be saved The Lord our righteousnesse In which words there are these particulars foretold first that Christ should be borne of the seede of David I will raise unto David a righteous Branch Secondly that he should reigne And a King shall reigne and prosper Thirdly how he should reigne to wit civilly as other Kings which is set forth first by the quality of his administration And shall execute judgement and justice Secondly by the place where he should doe it On the earth Thirdly by the people amongst whom the Jewes the Tribes of Judâ—â—h and Israel And fourthly by the time when to wit when the Jewes should be redeemed out of captivity and sâ—tled in their land When Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely Now of all these particulars there is but one already accomplisht which is that touching our Saviours incarnation and the rest remaine to be fulfi led â—t his next appearing Amongst which I have alledged onely the last to prove that our Saviours reigning here foreshewed was not fulfilled at his first appearing to wit because Israel was not then in the land with Iudah To which you give no other answer but this There is neither Jew nor Greeke neither bond nor free nor male nor female but we are all one in Christ Jesus and if we be Christs then are ne Abrahams seed and heires according to the promise And what then doth this make the prophecies oâ— God of none effect may the reader conclude from hence Therefore Iudah and Israel shall not dwell safely in the land together nor Christ be sent to reigne over them on the Throne of David Surely he may as well conclude Therefore amongst Christians there are no men nor women no masters nor servants no Iewes nor Gentiles But the Apostles words will countenance no such contradictory infeâ—ences for his meaning is That grace doth conjoyne and assimulate those whom naturall and civill respect doe difference and div de For they that have put on Christ are not distinguisht in him he saith as they are in the world by nation fexe and condition but they are all one They are one in denomination and title being all Christians they are one in ranke and society being all of one mysticall body they are one people being all Abrahams seed and they have one inheritance being fellow-heires according to the promise And what though the beleeving Gentile be one in Christ with
delivered then all this is in the texts which we have brought and can bring for it And therefore we both have and can prove by scripture even expresse scripture that the restored Ierusalem shall be the place of Christs Throne although it be beyond our power to make you acknowledge that we can and have proved it it being the pâ—culiar act of the Spirit of God to doe this of that Spirit I say whose apparent testimonies you so presumptuously resist and so lightly esteeme ISRAELS REDEMPTION CHAP. III. That the Kingdome of Israel and the thousand yeares reigne of the Saints shall concurre ANd thus even one prophecy of Zech. doth clearely unfold all that we averre touching our present subject to wit That our Saviour shall reigne on earth and in Jerusalem For as it tels us That the Lord shall be King over all the earth that in that day there shall be one Lord and his name one So it saith too that at the very instant of our Saviours descending All the Land shall by an earthquake be turned as a plaine from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem and it shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place from Benjamins gate unto the place of the first gate unto the corner gate and from the tower of Hananiel unto the Kings wine-presses c. Moreover another notable content of this prophecy is That when our Saviour comes to reigne over all the earth he comes not alone but brings all the Saints with him Mr. Petrie's Answer We see neither that be shall come to reigne after that manner over all the earth neither that he shall bring all his Saints with him and for this last point be alledges no text of scripture but will have it to be taken on his bare word which we refuse to doe We reade that when be shall come to judge he shall bring all the holy Angels with him Matth. 25.31 and all Nations shall be gathered before him and that be shall send his Angels to gather the elect from the foure winds but that they shall come with him into an earthly Monarchy we finde no where And neverthelesse as if it were unquestionable he addeth Reply Unlesse you had made a covenant with your tongue to deny every thing that we prove you could not have said That we alledge no text of scripture which shewes that Christ shall bring all the Saints with him For what is the meaning of these words Zech. 14.5 And the Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with thee Or what meanes Saint Paul when he saith 1 Cor. 15.23 Afterward they that are Christs at his comming doth he not meane that all the Saints departed shall then rise and can they rise in their bodies at Christs comming and yet not come then from heaven to be reunited to their bodies These tâ—xts we have alledged in exprâ—sse termes and do you take them for canonicall or apocrypha if for canonicall then surely your foresaid report of us is apocrypha And yet this is not all that we have to say touching this point for as you read Matth. 25.31 That Christ shall bring all the holy Angels with him so you may read too in 1 Thes 3.13 these words At the comming of our Lord Jesus with all the Saints And chap. 4.14 Them also that sleepe in Jesus will God bring with him And Jude ver 14. out of the prophecy of Enoch Behold the Lord commeth with ten thousands of his Saints And therefore that Christ shall bring all the Saints with him is not our bare word but the plaine word of God And so it is too that they shall come to reigne with him on earth as we have already proved and the texts following doe further declare And besides how can you choose but beleeve that Christ shall bring all the Saints with him though there were no expresse scripture for it seeing you beleâ—ve that all the dead shall rise at the same time surely you must either deny this or grant that Israel's Redemption Which words as they doe establish the literall sense of the r Luke 14.14 ch 20.35 36. Ioh. 6.39.40.44 54. Phil. 3.11 1 Thess 3.13 ch 4.14 c. Ezek. 37.12.13 fiâ—st resurrection mentioned in the 20 chap. of Rev. So they make the Kingdome of Israel and the 1000 yeares reigne of the Sainâ—s there spoken of to synchronize and meete together for why shall the Saints come with him but because they have a share in his Kingdome and are to be his assistants in it as he told the Disciples Luke 22.28 Mr. Petrie's Answer The first resurrection of bodies imports a second resurrection and so either these who rise shall dye againe and rise againe at the second resurrection or they who shall rise at the first shall not dye at all and others shall rise againe at the second resurrection This Authour makes it no where manifest which of these two be holdeth and Mr. Archer holdeth the first opinion but neither of them hath any warrant from Scripture and the testimonies that are cited here on the margine shew that there shall not be such a resurrection of the righteous for it is said Luke 20.35 They who shall be accounted worthy to obtaine that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they dye any more for they are equall unto the Angels being the children of the resurrection If they can dye no more and be equall unto the Angels then they shall not rise at a second resurrection neither shall they live an earthly life which in the best degree is inferiour unto the life of the Angels John 6.39 This is the Fathers will that of all that he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day and ver 44. No man can come unto me except the Father who hath sent me draw him and I will raise him at the last day If the last day be the day of the generall judgement as certainely it is even supponing the temporall Monarchy for a 1000 yeares and the elect shâ—ll not be raised till the last day as these words imply then there shall not be a first and second resurrection unlesse the second resurrection be after the last day and consequently there not being a resurrection of the children of God till the last day the first resurrection mentioned Rev. 20. cannot be understood of the bodies but rather arising from sinne whereof mention is made Ephes 5.14 and Col. 3.1 He cites also Phil. 3.11 If by any meanes I might attaine unto the resurrection of the dead These words name the dead generally and make nothing for a first and second resurrection but ver 20. it is said Our conversation or freedome is in heaven whence also we look for the Saviour who shall change our vile body that it may be like unto his glorious body If the freedome POLITEVMA of the godly be in heaven then they expect not a
can have any truth in it And lastly as for the contents of your parenthesis certainely we doe not imagine that the raised Saints the Saints which the Lord shall bring with him whom alone Rev. 20.4 doth concerne shall not live throughout the whole space of a 1000 yeares reigne for we know that they can dye no more after their resurrection But we beleeve that the converted Jewes and all the Gentiles that are lest to wit after the extraordinary destruction which for their generall opposing the Jewes shall light on them at our Saviours appearing we beleeve I say that these and their posterity shall live in the like mortall condition as we doe now though they shall live much longer then we doe now Israel's Redemption And lastly The reigne of Christ doth not beginne till Antichrist is destroyed so that a metaphoricall interpretation of the first resurrection would make good this conclusion That most of the Saints shall rise many hundred yeares before their reigne there being no lesse distance of time betwixt the houre of their calling and Antichrists confusion Mr. Petrie's Answer I have before made it cleare that Christs Kingdome is already begun for he reigneth in the midst of his enemies not onely by his power over-ruling disappointing and turning all their plots upon their owne pates but also in comforting the hearts of the godly so that they are a terrour to the whole earth even to their enemies who are many times more afraide at the prayers of the godly then at the cannons of other enemies and subdue the spirits of the world and binde Kings in chaines stronger then iron And therefore that assertion falleth The reigne of Christ beginneth not till Antichrist be destroyed and that absurdity following that assertion is falsely imputed to that interpretation Reply You have before alledged Psal 110. to shew that Christ doth now reigne in the midst of his enemies and we have shewed that that prophecy is not to be fulfilled untill he comes from the right hand of his Father and therefore you have onely said and not proved that Christs Kingdome is already begun And That he doth now by his divine power over-rule and dispose of the actions of men and by his Spirit comfort the hearts of the godly is nothing to the question in hand For thus he governed the whole world and his Church in the world as much before his incarnation as he hath done since But the prophecies which foreshew our Saviours Kingdome on earth doe clearely manifest that he is to reigne over the world in the same manner as temporall Kings doe over their Subjects to wit visibly and civilly that in the time of his Kingdome I say the acts of his government are to be the immediate acts of his manhood onely although they proceede originally from his Godhead And surely this Kingdome is not yet begun nor shall beginne till Antichrist be destroyed and consequently the foresaid absurdity touching the great distance betwixt the rising and reigning of the Saints doth inevitably follow upon the spirituall interpretation of the first resurrection And whereas you say That the enemies of the godly are many times more afraide of their prayers then at the cannons of other enemies you herein contradict experience it selfe for what doe the Mahometans or any Pagan Nations regard the prayers of Christians whose very faith they account foolishnesse or what doe persecuting Christians themselves regard the prayers of the persecuted whom they thinke to be worthily punished by them doubtlesse they are no more afraide of them then Saint Paul was when through a mistaken zeale he was so exceedingly madde against them that he punished them in every Synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme de persecuted them to strange cities And therefore though the prayers of the righteous may prevaile very much with God for their owne and their enemies good or for the disappointing of their enemies devicâ—s and attempts yet certainely their enemies can neither see nor regard this unlesse God open their eyes as he did Saint Pauls to behold the perversnesse of their own wayes and the innocency and uprightnesse of them whom they so much despise Israel's Redemption The assumption is grounded on Rev. 11.15 which shewes that till the time of the seventh Trumpet with the beginning whereof the last viall doth concurre The Kingdomes of * The Kingdomes of this world It is not said The Kingdome of heaven to wit of the third heaven the incorruptible habitation of Saints and Angels or of another world I say of another in substance But the Kingdomes of this world that is this world which is now shall till then be divided into many Kingdomes shall wholly become Christâ— and be made by him one heavenly Kingdome a Kingdome in which men shall live after an heavenly estate and condition a Kingdome in which Gods Will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven For seeing that cannot possibly become any mans possession which doth utterly cease to be what other construction can be given of these words but this That the government of all the Kingdomes of the world is hereafter to be taken into Christs owne hands as he is man And indeede how else should they then become his after such a manner as they are not now his if not by a subiection to his manhood for as he is God they were alwayes his and all will grant that this Scripture doth plainely foreshew a deposing of all the Kings of the earth at the accomplishment thereof A deposing of them I say in such a way that their Kingdomes may become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ which cannot be by abolishing and dissolving the earth on which they must reigne but may and shall be by subduing and conquering them and the Kingdomes over which they must reigne this world doe not become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Châ—ist Mr. Petrie's Answer The assumption he would say assertion but it is marked before the Author is no Logician is grounded on Rev. 11.15 the words are The Kingdomes of this world are become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ Here it is not said Our Lord and his Christ shall not reigne till this time but this is all that the words import Nâ—w is no Kingdome but our Lords and his Christs And if it be objected It is no where said so of Christs reigne till this time of the seventh trumpet and therefore it cannot be true that our Lord and his Christ doe reigne till then I answer ye have heard before that in the midst of these Kingdomes doth Christ reigne even among them and over them But all their Kingdomes shall be utterly destroyed and his Kingdome shall be for ever and ever saith John and therefore not for a thousand yeares onely Now if we lay together what is said of the Jewes reigne bare and this answer we shall likewise see the vanity of that observation on the margine upon
these cited words which is It is not said the Kingdome of heaven to wit of the third heaven or of another world I say of another in substance but the Kingdomes of this world that is which is now and shall till then be divided into many Kingdomes shall wholly become Christs and be made by him one heavenly Kingdome c. For if we remember what is said that here Iohn speakes of the Kingdome of our Lord and of his Christ he speaks not of the Kingdome of the Iewes on earth seeing he makes a distinction of two persons our Lord and his Christ that is the Father and the Sonne and that Kingdome is for ever and ever Reply As little Logicke as the Author hath left he can tell that Assertion is not a logicall but rhetoricall terme And he doth remember also that in the schooles where he was bred they were wont to call the minor propositioâ— the Assumption as he hath done here and can make it evident by this syllogisme If the reigne of Christ as man doth not bâ—ginne till Antichrist is destroyed then the spirituall interpretation of the first resurrection doth make most of the Saints to rise many hundred yeares before their reigne But the reigne of Christ as man doth not beginne till Antichrist is destroyed Therefore c. Now what will you call this minor proposition will you call it an Assertion or an Assumption if an Assertion you call it as no Logician calls it if an Assumption then why may not I call it so too without any offâ—nce to the learned in Logicke Your answer followes in which you say It is not said here our Lord and his Christ shall not reigne till this time But this is all the words import now is no Kingdome but our Lords and his Christs And surely this comment is a great deale more obscure then the text For if you meane onely that at the accomplishment of this prophecy there shall be no Kingdome over which the Lord and his Christ shall not reigne this is no more then what you affirme to be done by our Lord and his Christ already for you say That at this present time Christ reigneth in the midst of these Kingdomes even among them and over them But you must needes acknowledge a difference betwixt his reigning over them now and his reigning over them then or else you make this prophecy to be no prophecy to foreshew nothing at all And wherein can this dâ—fference consist but in his reigning over these Kingdomes hereafter in his humane nature which he doth now over rule only by his divinâ— providence for if by your foresaid words you should mean that at the accompl shment of this prophecy there shall be no Kingdom but a spirituall Kingdome which is all the Kingdomes you will allow Christ this is not onely contrary to the light of the text but of reason it selfe For there can be no spirituall Kingdome on earth unlesse there be withall a temporall a civill Kingdome in which it may be set up And the text speakes not of spirituall Kingdomes but of temporall for it saith The Kingdomes of this world that is the temporall and civill Kingdomes which the Kings of this world doe reigne over These Kingdomes it saith be they the Kingdomes of Christian or of heat hen Princes shall become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ that is shall by the Lord be put under the government of his Christ as he is man And therefore the Kingdomes themselves shall not be then utterly destroyed as you say but be made one Kingdome under Christ as we say And indeede if we doe but call to minde the time when this prophecy is to be fulfilled which is at the sounding of the last trumpet when Christ himselfe shall descend from heaven we cannot imagine that the Kingdomes of this world should then become the Kingdomes of Christ any otherwise then by a subjection unto his manhood then by submitting themselves to the â—ules of that Ecclesiasticall and civill policy which he their King shall then command to be observed by them And now if the reader consider this and remembers also what cleare prophecies there are for the restoring of the Kingdome of the Jewes he will plainely perceive that the time when the Kingdomes of this world shall become the Kingdome of Christ is to be the very same in which he shall restore againe the Kingdome of Israel And your precious subtilty touching a distinction of two persons our Lord and his Christ that is the Father and his Sonne doth make nothing against this synchronisme For they are said to be the Kingdomes of the Lord partly because he shall them make it more manifest then ever he did that they are his to dispose of and partly because no other Lawes but the Lords shall be observed in them And of his Christ because no man but he shall be supreâ—me Head and Governour over them And surely the Kingdomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this world cannot be the Kingdomes of the Father and the Sonne for ever if you take this word in an unlimited sense seeing neither this world in which they are nor the civill societies of men of which they doe consist shall be of an infinite duration And I thinke too that you will not say that by the Kingdomes of this world that Kingdome of eternall glory is meant in which the Sonne also himselfe shall after the judgement of the dead be subject unto the Father unto him that before put all things under him Israel's Redemption And this also is intimated by the binding up of t Rev. 20.1 2 3. c. Satan a thousand yeares with which the reign of the Saints contemporates Mr. Petrie's Answer He said before This chapter is controverted to wit by the Millenaries on the one part and all Christians on the other and now he saith This his conceit is intimated in the binding up of Satan which is as if he had said It is all undoubted what he saith and all is false that all Christians say whereas Christians have given better warrants of their exposition then Millenaries are able to doe Reply I say not that the whole chapter is controverted for doubtlesse no Christian will deny that the latter part thereof doth speake of the judgement of the dead at the last resurrection But I speake of a controverted place in this 20 chapter which is that touching the first resurrection And yet suppose the whole chapter had been controverted I might neverthelesse say that this or that truth is not onely intimated but plainely exprest in it as the first bodily resurrection is plainely exprest in ver 4 5. notwithstanding the disagreement of expositours about it And as the deliverance of the Jewes the restoring of their Kingdome and our Saviours personall reigne on eath are all so plainely exprest in the propheticall scriptures as that nothing can be more plainely spoken although the proper interpretation of them
they shall neither stay with him there nor ascend with him to heaven from thence but come with him as Zechariah affirmes chap. 14. ver 5. And the Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with thee And as the Apostle in 1 Thes 3. saith At the comming of the Lord Jesus with all the Saints and chap. 4. Even so them also which sleepe in Jesus will God bring with him Bring with him when but when they with the living in Christ have met him in their bodies And whither but to the earth whence they were caught up to meet him and where he hath appointed them to reigne with him Object 8 Eightly you say And that the Saints being raised shall not abide on earth to reigne with the Jewes in earthly pleasures it is manifest because the Apostle teacheth us 1 Cor. 15.42 they shall rise in incorruption ver 43. in glory and in power ver 44. in spirituall bodies And when Christ shall appeare we shall appeare with him in glory Col. 3.4 But it is certaine that incorruptible glorious powerfull and spirituall bodies cannot live a nainrall life Sol. 8 And it is as certaine that you are slipt from the question for we make not our Saviours Kingdome to be a Mahometicall Paradise to consist of chambering and wantonnesse of riotous and voluptuous living this agrees not with the holy and righteous government of Christ and the Saints and much lesse doe we thinke that the glorified Saints shall be defiled with such doings or that they shall live againe such a life as they did before their death this is your slanderous imputation And therefore if you will conclude any thing against us you must prove that the glorified Saints shall not live on earth any more nor eate and drinke any more which things we affirme And not that they shall dye no more or marry no more or sinne no more all which we deny as well as you Object 9 Ninthly you say Neither can the faith of Christians that Christ is come already stand with that imagination of Jews and Chiliasts Sol. 9 This is all one as if you had said that the faith of Christs first comming cannot stand with the faith of his second comming But you bring two proofes to confirme your words Mr. Petrie's 1 proofe of the 9 Object Seeing Jacob said The Scepter shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be This place cannot be understood of the departing of the Scepter for a time as it was in the captivity of Babylon which because it was but a short time and the Scepter was restored againe it was not thought to be the accomplishment of the prophecy but now seeing the Scepter is departed and the Nations have been gathered unto Christ who should doubt of the accomplishment thereof and so that Scepter cannot be restored unto the Jewes Answer What not restored doth Jacobs prophecy then foreshew that the Scepter should no more be restored to the Jewes after Christs comming or doth it foreshew onely that it should not depart till Christs comming certainely it foreshewes this last thing onely And therefore the accomplishment of Jacobs prophecy hath no affinity with your argument And in saying that the Scepter was departed from Judah in the captivity of Babylon you plainely contradict Jacobs prophecy which saith that it should not depart from Judah till Shiloh came And as this prophecy shewes that it was not to depart till then so others do shew that it was to returne againe as that of Hos 4.5 which shewes that the Israelites should abide many dayes but not alwayes without a King and without a Prince and without a sacrifice c. And all the prophecies which foreshew the Jewes deliverance the uniting of the Tribes under one King and our Saviours reigning over them doe witnesse the restoring of the Scepter And Saint Pauls application of that prophecy Rom. 11.26 doth shew when the Scepter is to be restored to wit When the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in For then he saith All Israel shall be saved as it is written There shall come out of Sion a Deliverer and shall turne away ungodlinesse from Jacob. And so he plainely declares that the accomplishment of this prophecy shall be at Christs last comming at his comming I say after the the gathering of the substituted Gentiles who were in the Jewes stead to become Gods people in the vacancy of the Scepter and at the gathering of all other Gentiles who are to become Gods people with the Jewes at the restoring of the Scepter And agreeable to this are Saint Peters words to the Jewes Acts 4.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and Saviour for to give repentance unto Israel and forgivenesse of sinnes And his words to them in his 1 Epist chap. 1. ver 13. Wherefore gird up the loines of your mind be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ Mr. Petrie's 2 proofe of the 9 Object The Apostle saith 1 Thes 2.16 Wrath is come upon the Jewes to the uttermost This is not understood of spirituall wrath seeing as yet the Lord hath mercy upon them as the Apostle witnesseth Rom. 11.5.28 and therefore it must be understood of temporall wrath and consequently a temporall Kingdome shall not be restored unto them Answer Did you confider what you said when you thus expounded the Apostles words Certainely the Apostle speakes of a wrath which was come upon the unbeleeving Jewes who persecuted their beleeving brethren not of a wrath which was come upon the beleeving Jews that were persecuted whom the losse of their countrey and the departing of the Scepter did concerne as well as it did the other Iewes And therefore doubtlesse the wrath is to be understood of a wrath peculiar unto the unbeleeving Iewes of whom alone the Apostle speakes and consequently of a spirituall wrath especially and of a temporall wrath no otherwise then as it is an inseparable effect and concomitant of the spirituall wrath which is come upon them And though this expression of the Apostle doth imply that a great wrath and a wrath of long continuance was come upon them yet it doth not shew that the wrath which was befallen them should be an endlesse wrath And therefore whatsoever the kinde of it be it will no more follow from this passage of the Apostle that the temporall Kingdome of the Iewes shall not be restored unto them then it will that their spirituall blindnesse shall never be removed from them Of the departure whereof the Apostle Rom. 11. speakes so much and so manifestly shewing that as there was a diminishing and casting away of them so there should be also a fulnesse of them a receiving of them againe And the 5 and 28 verses of this chapter which you alledge to shew that the foresaid words in 1 Thes 2. are not
elect onely be gathered together and the rest left behinde seeing that great Assist it to be hâ—ld chiefly for the condemnation of ungodly men Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. Here is nothing to prove the Monarchy of the Jewes 2. The two Evangelists speake there of the gathering of the Elect and taking them up as also 1 Cor. 15.23 yet they speake not exclusively as if the ungâ—dly shall not be judged nor raised but they speake of separation and â—hereby of taking the elect into the â—are and heavens whereas the wicked shall not be taken up but left on the earth and be condemned and sent to hell Matth. 13.40 41. and it followeth ver 43. Then shâ—ll the righteous shine forth c. The particle then shewes that the wâ—ckâ—â— shâ—ll bâ—â—ast into the furnâ—â—e of fire as soone if not sooner as the righteous shall shine in the Kingdome of the Father 3. If the righteous shall be taken up and the ungodly left on the earth that is the one taken away from the earth and the wicked left on the earth then the godly shall not have earthly doâ—inion 4. If Christ at his comming shall hold that great assise chieâ—ly for condemnation of the wicked how then shall the godly be quickned and the wicked be left in their graves after them for the space of a 1000 yeares These things cannot agree Reply 1. Here is nothing you say to prove the Monarchy of the Jewes But here is something we say for the confirmation of our Savâ—ours reigne on earth which is all one 2. The Evangelists speake here onely of the gathering of the elect to meete Christ at his comming and not at all of the raising and judging of the ungodly because that is not to be done at the beginning but at the end of his reigne And then it is that the whole number of the elect and of the reprobate shall be separated one company on his right hand and the other on his left and not one part caught up to the aire and the other left on the earth And we confesse that the casting of the wicked into hell mentioned in that parable Matth. 13.42 shall be at the entrance of the time in which the righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdome of their Father But we deny that this casting of the wicked into hell is meant of their casting in after their resurrection when they shall all at once receive the sentence of dâ—mnation from Christ himselfe For first it is not said here that they shall be gathered together before Christ as it is said Matth. 25.32 c. But that the Angels shall gather them out of Christs Kingdome and cast them into a furnace of fire that is shall destroy them in every place over the world where they then are and cast their soules into hell as is intimated by the binding of the tares in bundles to burne them That is as they finde them here and there in the field And secondly it is said that they shall be gathered out of Christs Kingdome and cast into bell that is shall be taken away from the place where and from among the men over whom Christ shall then reigne And therefore this gathering of the wicked iâ— to be at the beginning of Christs Kingdome and before their last judgement and not at the end of Christs Kingdome when they shall be fetcht out of hell againe to receive their last judgement And that the foresaid judgement is meant of a temporall destruction on all obstinate sinners that are living at Christs comming and not of the eternall destruction of their bodies and soules together at the last resurrection it is evident also from Rev. 20.9 where it is revealed that all the ungodly that are to oppose the Saints at the end of the thousand yeares reigne shall be devoured by fire from heaven before the last resurrection so that there shall be none of them living on the earth when they are to be gathered before Christ at the last judgement and consequently that gathering of them cannot be the same with this gathering of them when they shall be on the earth Matth. 13. And so by the Kingdome of their Father mentioned ver 43. must needes be meant the Kingdome of Christ spoken of ver 41. which in called the Kingdome of their Father because Christ with whom these Saints shall reigne shall receive it of God who is both his and their Father 3. The righteous shall be caught up to meete Christ and to come along with him to the earth And not to stay with him in the aire or to be carried up to heaven from thence as hath been shewed already more then once And therefore this is but a trifling argument 4. This argument is a supposition of that which we deny For it is our argument against you That seeing the elect onely shall be raised and gathered together at Christs comming and the ungodly which are left in their graves and that the mischievous ungodly which are living shall be left also to perish extraordinarily as it is Matth. 13.41 42. and the rest to be eye-witnesses of Gods wonders at that time and to become converts by it as it is Isai 66.19 20. Joel 2.32 Zech. 14.16 Rev. 11.13 and in other places Therefore the last judgement the great Assise which is to be held chiefly for the condemnation of ungodly men cannot be at or presently after Christs comming but shall be at the end of his reigne And so this part of your answer is a meere perverting of my words which agree so well in themselves and with the word of God that you had nought to say against that which they prove and therefore you fallaciously make them to grant what they doe indeed disprove Israel's Redemption Who doubtlesse are not to be left that the evill Angels may fetch them for they shall be partakers with them of that judgement and therefore will be as unwilling to appâ—are before that barre as they Neither is it likely that they shall be left because the good Angels cannot at once assemble them to the place of judgement and the elect to meet the Lord in the aire if these things were to be done at the same particular time And therefore as I suppose they shall be left either to perish in that generall destruction which shall come upon all Nations that fight against the Jewes whom our Saviour shall then redeeme or to be eye-witnesses of Gods wonders in all countries at that time Mr. Petrie's Answer What can either good or evill Angels doe without the Lords Authority and what can they not doe when he willeth but certainely the wicked shall both be witnesses of Gods wonders and likewise perish in that generall destruction that cause of their condemnation is touched before Reply We know that neither the good nor bad Angels can doe any thing without the Lords Authority but what is this to the force of my words which consists in this that
seeing the good Angels which can at once assemble the unjust to the place of judgement and the elect to meet the Lord in the aire shall yet gather the elect onely and leave the rest behinde therefore these things are not to be done at the same time And consequently that the judgement of the dead is not to be at the time of Christs ascending For then doubtlesse the wicked should as well be gathered to the place of their last judgement as the elect shal to meet the Lord in the aire And it is flat against the expresse word of God Isai 66.19 20. Joel 2.32 Zech. 14.16 Rev. 11.13 to say that all the wicked that shall be eye-witnesses of Gods wonders at the time of our Saviours descension shall perish in the destruction that shall then come on the earth Israel's Redemption For that by Christs judging the quicke and the dead mentioned in 2 Tim. 4. cannot be meant one kind of judgement Psal 2.8 c. Ps 110.2 c. Ps 149.6 c. Isai 30.25 Cha. 66 1â— 16. c. to wit the sentence of damnation that by his judging the quicke I say cannot at all be meant the last and compleat but rather a former and inchoate judgement of ungodly men it appeares out of Rev. 20. where it is shewne that the Saints enemies shall be all slaine before the last resurrection And we cannot say that these which are to be left shall be a part of that Army there spoken of because that Gog and Magog is to be destroyed at the end of our Saviours reigne that is immediately before the last resurrection whereas these shall be alive at the time of that generall distresse which shall light on the world at his entrance into that appointed Kingdome as the gathering together of the elect who are to reigne with him doth declare Mr. Petrie's Answer Here at before are strange imaginations 1. That text 2 Tim. 4.1 cannot be meant of the last but a former judegment Who ever said before that Christ shall yet appears twice to judge the quicke and the dead For suppone that onely the godly shall be raised at Christs comming yet they will not say that he shall judge them seeing they say that they shall not stand at the barre 2. The judging of the quicke and the dead shall be before the time of the last resurrection as that forme of arguing imports whereby it followes that Christ shall judge the quicke and the dead in a former and inchoate judgement Who shall remaine then to be judged in the compleate judgement at the last resurrection 3. I will say no mere of that fancy concerning these that shall be left and the destruction at the entrance of that Kingdome but marke that God and Magog is to be destroyed at the end of our Saviours reigne that is immediately before the last resurrection or which is one after the reigne of the Jewes But that Army of Gog and Magog is the same with the Army mentioned in Revel 16.14 as Napeir proveth Prop. 32. And Mr. Maton proveth in his treatise of Gog and Magog pag. 94 95 And I have shewed before that the sixt viâ—â—ll mentioned in Revel 16.12 13 14. is the same with the sixt trumpet yea and Clavis Apocalyp in par 1. synchro 7. makes it to concurre with the destruction of the Beast and Babylon which shall be before the Monarchy of the Jewes as the Millenaries hold and therefore in this point Mr. Maton is contrary to himselfe and to Clavis Apocal. as well as unto Christians who deny that Monarchy of the Jewes Whereby it is manifest that what he speakes here without reason must be wrong and amended by these reasons which he hath lo. cit And consequently that great battell shall be fought not after but before the Jewes shall reigne if ever they shall reigne in that manner Reply The truth is strange to none but to such as make themselves strange to it He seemeth to be a sitter forth of strange gods said the Athenians of Saint Pauls preaching unto them Jesus and the resurrection Acts 17.18 When as indeed their Gods were the strange Gods and not his God they in an errour and not he And yet how strange soever our former imaginations doe seeme to you we have shewed that they are not so strange as true And that these words doe bring such strange things to your cares was not the fault of the Authour but the errour of the Printer and the over-hastinesse of the Stationer who sent his bookes abroad before he had received a copie of all the faults whereof the words here omitted were the greatest and are to be corrected as they are now set downe to wit thus For that by Christs judging the quicke and the dead mentioned 2 Tim. 4.1 cannot be meant one kinde of judgement to wit the sentence of damnation that by his judging the quicke I say cannot at all be meant the last and compleat but rather of former and inchoate judgement of ungodly men it appeares out of Rev. 20. where it is shewne that the Saints enemies shall be all slaine before the last resurrection This is the true forme of my words and in this forme they doe wholly disanull the two first parts of your answer for the destroying of the Army in Armageddon at Christs comming Rev. 19. and of the Nations that shall againe be gathered against him and his at the end of his reigne Rev. 20. are temporall judgements on the ungodly and before their last judgement the judgement after their resurrection And therefore Christ shall not appeare twice to judge the quicke and the dead but shall twice judge these ungodâ—y after his appearing That is once by a former and inchoate judgement in their temporall destruction in their first death And againe by a finall and compleate judgement in their eternall destruction in their second death And as for the third part of your answer it is but a slanderous information against me For I say not that the Gog and Magog mentioned in Rev. 20. is the same with the Army mentioned Rev. 16.14 but that Ezekiels Gog and Magog is the same with that Army as the reaâ—ons which I alledge pag. 94 95. doe shew And I say that the Gog and Magog in Rev. 20. is a different Gog and Magog from Ezekiels as these words pag. 128 doe witnesse And this Gog and Magog in Rev. 20. is to be the multiplyed posterity of those that are left of the Nations at the beginning of the thousand yeares when the Army of the Beast and false Prophet and of the Kings of the earth and of the whole world who as the parallell shewes are the Gog and Magog foretold by Ezekiel shall be destroyed in Armageddon And againe pag. 129. I say That the Nations which shall oppose the Jewes at their expected returne are to be the Gog and Magog foretold by Ezekiel and that the posterity of those which shall be left alive
should not know the Prophet though they heard and followed him so it hath been your utmost endeavour all along to corrupt and dazle the readers judgement that he might not know the truth of the Prophecie that is set before his eyes and publisht in his eares Now the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who commanded the light to shine out of darkenesse shine in our hearts that as of sincerity as of God we may give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ That Isay without handling of the word of God deceitfully we may by manifestation of the truth commend our selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever Amen Glorificetur Deus praedicetur veritas exerceatur pietas restituatur integritas Let God be glorified truth taught piety practised righteousnesse restored Redeat Pax regnet Rex regat Lex Let peace returne the King reigne the Law rule To my Booke excus'd THy wounds are heal'd and now thou must along To tell thy torturers they did thee wrong That thou wast no deceiver although They Did straine their wits to hide thy truth away Lest passing * John 11.48 unexcus'd the simplest might Have taken too much heed of the upright Report thou mak'st and claspt thee with such love As no * Acts 5.34 c. Gamaliel should e're remove Tell this to them and after greet thy friends Who prize the truth more then their private ends Courteous Reader THere was of late in this Kingdome one Mr. Mede a grave and learned Divine of the University of Cambridge who in his Treatises on the Revelation which he publisht to the world some yeares before his death doth plainely professe that he held not onely the Jewes generall conversion but their returne to their countrey too and the thousand yeares reigne of Christ and the Saints on earth Of which reigne as he hath a particular Tract so in the fourth synchronisme of the second part of his Clavis Apocalyptica he shewes by infallible arguments that it is to succeed the utter destruction of the Beast and false Prophet and to contemporate with the 1000 yeares binding up of Satan That it is I say to be in the time betwixt the destruction of the two Armies revealed in Rev. 19.20 which he there clearâ—ly proves to be two distinct Armies Against this Authour while he lived no man moved his pen although there was both time and opportunity to have done it but since his decease which is an usuall course with the enemies of the truth as there have been many who have voted against him without answering any of his workes so there have been some who have undertaken to examine here and there a piece of his labours amongst whom Mr. Petrie is one who in pag. 14.60.61 of his answer to Israels Redemption doth assay the confutation of two of Mr. Medes synchronismes The first is the seventh synchronisme of the first part of Clavis Apocalyptica which he thus encounters Mr. Petrie And here by the way observe that the renowned Authour of Clavis Apocalyptica is mistaken in his seventh synchronisme wherein he saith that the powring forth of the seven vials is contemporary with the end of the Beast and Babylon Answer He saith indeed that they contemporate with the ending that is with the declining estate with the totall destruction of the Beast and Babylon which the vials shall by their severall plagues gradually bring to passe but not that they doe all contemporate with the very end with the last moment of the Beast and Babylon which is proper onely to the powring out of the last viall For then shall great Babylon come in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fiercenesse of his wrath as it is revealed Rev. 16.19 And then shall the Army in Armageddon be destroyed and the Beast and false Prophet taken in battell and cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone as it is declared Rev. 19.20 Mr. Petrie For albeit it be said chap. 15.2 That they who had gotten the victory over the Beast sang the song of Moses it followes not that the Beast was then destroyed Answer Surely it followes as well that the Beast shall be destroyed when the song of Moses is sung by the conquerours of the Beast as it doth that Pharaoh and his Host were destroyed when it was sung by Moses and the Israelites For seeing it is againe to be sung upon the like occasion and noâ— before the destruction of the Beast must as necessarily precede the second singing of it as the destruction of the Egyptians did the first And this the fourth verse doth confirme which shewes that by reason of Gods judgments which shall be made manifest unto the world at the singing of this song All Nations together shall come and worship before the Lord as the Prophets have said and as Saint Paul doth intimate by the comming in of the fulnesse of the Gentiles Rom. 11.25 which thing cannot come to passe while Satan the deceiver of the Nations is at liberty and the Beast and false prophet his instruments are subsisting Mr. Petrie Neither albeit the first and fift and last vials be powred on the Beast followeth it that they were not powred till the last time of the destruction of the Beast seeing the Saints in heaven and on earth too may rejoyce for their particular victory over the Beast as yet reigning and the vials may be powred on the Beast at severall times even some of them on the Beast in the height of her pride to the end that men may have warnings of the judgements of God on the Beast in her greatest pompe Answer This also followes as the 1 verse of the 15 chapter doth witnesse where the seven vials are called the seven last plagues and why are they called so but because they were not to be powred out till the last time the time of the destruction of the Beast Impossible then it is that these last plagues these plagues which were to befall the Beast in her last time onely should befall her in her height of her pride in her greatest pompe that is long before her last time For this is all one as if you had said that the Beast then began to be destroyed when she was most insensible of her destruction when she had least cause to feare it And therefore though the Saints in heaven and on earth too may rejoyce for their particular victory over the Beast as yet reigning yet doubtlesse they shall not sing Moses song of thanksgiving for the utter overthrow of the Beast before the Beast be utterly overthrowne And though the vials were to be powred out at severall times yet as in their orderly powrings out they were suddenly to succeed each other so likewise they were all