Position is As the First World Destroyed by the Flood of Water that Lay as the forenamed Excellent Theory hath set out within its own Bowels And yet that Destruction was not till 1656 Years after its Creation so long the Word of God Secured it and there was yet a World after it So the Heaven and Earth that now are shall be destroyed by Fire Hid as it were in its Entrails for about such a space of Time from the Apostle's writing Till that Appointe◠Time the same Word of God Interposes and Secures it But saith the Apost that you may Rightly Judge of the Position I would by no means hove you Ignorant of this one Thing this Principal Thing in this Point that I am about to Lead you to Of the New Heavens and the New Earth That as the First Heavens and Earth and the Host of Them Finish'd and God's Resting in them was on the Sabbath and Seventh Day So the Day of Judgment the Great Sabbatism of Resting and Rejoycing in his Works to God to Christ and his Saints shall be a Day but It is with God in his Determination and Counsel concerning it a Day of a 1000 Years and to so Great Day He hath made each 1000 Years of the Worlds Continuance a Day and They are Six as at the Worlds First Creation For in the Evening of the Sixth Millenary That Day shall Begin Think not therefore the Lord is Slack for He hath with Great Wisdom Ballanc'd and Weigh'd out for the First Seventh Day Sabbath a Sahbath of a 1000 Years For the Day of Judgment that will be for Perdition to the Wicked shall be a Day of a 1000 Years Rest to the People of God and to so Great a Day of a 1000 Years He hath with infinite Patience to Bring All his own Elect into it weigh'd out also for each Day Leading to the First Sabbath Six Millenaries or 1000 of Years which he Accounts as Days to Gathe◠in all his Elect as the Apostle Paul Heb. 4. Shews the Long suffering of the Lord to the several Ages of his People to be Salvation to Them till that very Sabbatism comes that Remains to the People of God This is the Great Sense that lies under the very profitable and Exscellent Discourse of the Apostle taken in Common Sense But that There is this Great Sense I Argue not only from the Symbols of the New Heaven and New Earth coming out of the Floo◠and from the New Heaven and the New Earth having Six days and then a Sabbath of a 1000 Years Symboliz'd by the Sabbath and the Six Days of Creation before it to which the whole Scope of the Apostle's Discourse makes it plain that He Refers But I Especialy Argue from These Two Things 1. From the Apostle's Great Preface shewing a Mystical Doctrine as such Prefaces do Rom. 11. 15. 1 Cor. 15. 51. Now that the longest and shortest Time with God the High and Holy one that Inhabits Eternity the Absolute Eternal Being are All Alike is an undoubted Principle of Natural Rational Religion which All are supposed to Know and therefore that Great Truth needs no such Preface as not to be Ignorant of that One Thing there being many other so Great Principles of that Order of Natural Religion that ought not to Lye hid from Any 2. Because this would not all Answer the Apostle's Scope either with Relation unto the Scoff of them that say Where is the Promise of his coming not Satisfie and Comfort the Sincere Christian concerning the delay of that Coming For what Comfort is it to the Sincere Christian to whom Each Minute of delay of the Coming of Christ especially under suffering is as an Age that to an Eternal Being a Day is as a 1000 Y. and a 1000 Years as One Day and how would the Scoffer Triumph in this Each Day with God is a 1000 Years how many 1000 of Years may be then to the Coming of Christ when every Day with God is a 1000 Years So many Days then so many 1000 Years And if He Counts a 1000 Years but as One Day how long may He delay e're the coming of Christ be The Comfort proper to this Case must be such as is proper to the Creatures of Time What is proper to the Alone Paramount Eternal Being Flys too High and Alought over this Case however an Admirable a Truth it is in it self and God most Adorable in it Nor is there therefore Any Cause to vilifie this Kingdom of Christ Because It is but a 1000 Years and that a 1000 Years is with God but as a Day Because even according to the Letter of this Scripture each Day of the 1000 Years is with God as a 1000 Years as well as the 1000 Years but as One Day when therefore we may by this Apostolic Canon if we had Respect to the Letter Count every Day of the 1000 Years Kingdom as a 1000 Years it self how Great then would it be But I have sole Respect to the Mystic meaning That God the Lord of Time knows how much and no more is proper to his Ends hath Resolv'd A Sabbatism of a 1000 Years Beginning with and Ending with a Grand Judgment and its middle Space a Judgment or Government according to and with Relation to those Two Grand Judgments and so most Fitly call'd Judgment or Day of Judgment shall be a perfection of Time and the Fullness of All Times and the duration of the Kingdom of his Son as Son of Man And that Six Days each Day as a Milennium or 1000 Y. of his Patience and Long suffering for the Vessels of Wrath Fitting Themselves to Destruction at that Day and for the Gathering his Elect from the several Ages of the World as well as from the Four Winds shall go before it And it self from its Beginning to its End shall bear this Character Fullness of Times without Nice distinction of one part from Another and so Eternity ensues and this State which shews the Fitness of the Symbols shall have New Heavens and a New Earth according to Creation according to the Great Promise Esay 65. c 66. which also shews the opposite State of the Carcases under a never dying Worm and an Vnquenchable Fire to mean much higher then the Carcasses of the Assirians whatever Type that slaughter might be Lastly That this Prophecy of the Apostle Peter hath also Great Reference to the Antichristian State I observe by Indications however They may seem small yet are most Significant 1. The Vnlearnedness Barbarity and Ignorance most Natural to Antichrist however since the Reformation Necessity hath made his Party more Learned taken notice of in the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verse 16. 2. Their Apostacy as Wandring and falling Stars as the Papacy it lelf is also Symboliz d by a Star falling from Heaven to the Earth Revel 9. v. 1 is Signified by a Dis-firmamented State in the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wander'd from their Firmament and
THE UNIVERSAL Christian Doctrine OF THE Day of Iudgment Applied to the Doctrine of the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ Herein Guided by Mr. BAXTER's Reply To Vindicate It from all Objections Shewing as is the One so is the Other VIZ. His Judging the Quick and the Dead and His Appearing and His Kingdom Which seeing it must have some Duration the Scripture 1000 Years is on Great Proof Preferr'd By THOMAS BEVERLEY An humble Minister of that Kingdom II. PET. III. 7 8. The Day of Judgment and of the Perdition of ungodly men But Beloved be not ignorant of this One Thing That one Day is with the Lord as a Tbousand Years c. LONDON Printed in the Year 1691. The Preface TO THE READER BEcause Many will Deign to Read a Preface that will not a Book I shall take Freedom to give a Prospect of the Whole in a Preface And first I am very Sensible my Lot of Discourse is fallen on such Ground that each Point must be Disputed for not Adorn'd nor Simply Taught but Argued and Won as it were by Inches And which much Increases the Difficulty The Land of Promise as the Map of it lies in Scripture is not in any Entire Table but in several smaller Lines variously Planted which must be Transplanted and laid Together And Who is Sufficient for such a Thing as a Teacher And as for Hearers They are not only Vnteachable or Dull of Hearing but are Prejudic'd and Cry out against this Heritage of the Lord as a Speckled Bird Some call such a Discourse Whimsie Vnintelligible Non-sense Foolishness To other Graver Christians and even Teachers It is a Scandal an Offence full of Causes of Objection And even to many more Favourable unintelligible Mystery Plain Things say they are more Profitable But none of these Things move Me that I should not Take heed to Fulfil this Ministery I have Received of the Lord. I intend this Small Tract not so much as a Rejoynder to Mr. Baxter's Reply upon my Answer For who am I that I should maintain a Controversie with so Honoured Able and Faithful a Minister of Jesus Christ I only with Thankfulness take Advice from Him what Points to Clear what to Guard what Advantage to take for Defence And had I not found some Arugments which I have not propos'd or not fully urg'd before and so fit a Medium or Instrument of Conveyance of this Doctrine as the Parallel between it and the Vniversally receiv'd Article of Faith Christ's coming to Judge the Quick and the Dead at his Kingdom which must needs be a middle Kingdom I had been silent Nor shall I think of opening my Mouth any further in this Point till I find something Objected which what I have now said if Duly Consider'd will not Answer which I am much in hope cannot be For to be Conscious to have said what can be spoken by One even as an Oath ought to conclude One and on Ones own part to be an End of All Strife Of small Questions and Exceptions I know there is no End And I must confess with Thanksgiving to God and with Subordinate Thankfulness to Mr. Baxter On His so often Naming a Middle Kingdom by way of Objection it was as it were by a Divine Prompting said to me This Notion of a Middle Kingdom which the Day of Judgment must needs be and which I have long since understood the same with the Kingdom is the Key of this Great Mystery and so I have Found it and am so Fully satisfied in it Even above all I have written before that I am at perfect Peace and will Contend no more I can look on any further Objection but as the Talk of Loosers For I am sure such an Appearance of the Kingdom of Christ as the Day of Judgment is or such a Return with the Kingdom Receiv'd as Luke 19. 15. or a Coming not into as is to Loss Translated Chap. 23. 43. but according to all Scripture Language in his Kingdom must needs be in the Middle between the Kingdom of Christ hitherto and to Eternity And it must have a Space of duration defined for It is not Eternal All Acknowledge I therefore preferr only the Scriptures naming a 1000 Years with such Apparences of that Time and according to the so Known Axiom of the Jews the People of God before the New Testament The Day of Judgment shall be a 1000 Years It is evident also from the Article Founded on 2 Tim. 4 1. Christ Judges the Quick or Living even as the Dead at his Appearing and Kingdom There must be Saints Rais'd and Saints The Living The Remaining of which I Treat according to Scripture Guidance as by 1 Thess 4. 17. The New Heaven and the New Earth must needs be at the same Time New by such a Lustre of Christ's Appearance the Sun of Rigâ—teousness Even as the Heavens and Earth are as it were New to us every Summer by the Suns Return And it is no more then Goâ— intended in his First Creation such a Glory of it And I cannot but Give Esay 45. 18. in somewhat a differing Translation but such as I suppose the Original will well Bear to this purpose upon naming the Salvation of Israel as an Everlasting Salvation World without end It follows Thus saith the Lord that Created the Heavens that Formed the Earth He hath Established it He Created it not saith the Translation in vain say I out of the Hebrew for a Tohu such an Inanity of Glory as It is now He Formed it to be Inhabited saith the Translation say I according to the Hebrew for the Sabbath even this Great Sabbatism wherein Jehovah shall be one his Name one none else no Idols Name any more for ever And then shall He Appear that Infinite Foreknower declaring the End from the Beginning that He may be known to be God And by All These Things I hope Mr. Baxter will be satisfied concerning the Specificness of this Kingdom Beginning with a Judgment and ending with a Judgment and its entire middle Space an Appearance according to that Judgment viz. of the Saints in the Glory of the Restitution of All Things by the Second Adam the Redeemer the Restorer of all the Ruins of the First Adam and an Appearance of the Wicked in Shame and Contempt and both these for the 1000 Y. Receiving what they have done in Body before the Tribunal of Christ Now All will Acknowledge as this Kingdom hath not been yet So it shall not be for ever but be deliver'd up Here therefore is a perfect Specification except Specification be an unknown School-Term I Know in some Things I differ from that Sweet as well as most Judicious and Pious Writer Mr. Increase Mather as Appears by his Accurate discourse De Signo Filii Hominis or of the Sign of the Son of Man I should be most Glad by Friendliest Conference or entercourse of Letters to conciliate as concerning a Scripture-Line of Time to this State
concerning Christ having his Palace of Glory not on this New Earth but in the New Heaven concerning the Wicked Dead Rais'd In which Points I perceive my Self to differ from Him but as I Hope on Great Scripture Grounds Now to Conclude All This Kingdom is the Great Practical Doctrine which when It shall be Vniversally Preach'd by the Everlasting Gospel shall Bring in all the World Jews and Gentiles to Christ And besides the Blessed Effusions of the Spirit that shall go along with it How must it needs in Reason prevail For what would the Great Value and purchase of but a 100 Years in the Vigors and All Affluences of Life be and in such a Heaven and Earth as are now and if Men were so enclin d in all wise and vertuous Converses Of what Inestimable Value then to every serious Considerer even now the offer of so much a Higher and Longer 1000 Y. of Life as is propos'd on so Great Scripture Grounds How may it satisfie that Appetite Implanted by Creation into our Natures which is that very Olam or World set by God in the Heart of Man Ecclâ—s 3 11. the Desire to see the Glory of God in his Visibly Glorious Creation for a perfect Duration of Time But how much stronger will the Impression be upon an Enlightned Convinced Awaken'd World under that Everlasting Gospel Preach'd when that shall be Fully declar'd and â—â—liev'd that Few will now Believe though it be never so plainly Told Them In the mean Time seeing we All profess to Believe Fully the Apostle Peter s Doctrine of Looking for New Heavens and a New Earth according to his Promise wherein Righteousness shall dwell Let us Resolve what Manner of Persons we ought to be in all that Holiness and Godliness of Conversation and let us Grow in Grace and the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ beyond the Beginnings of his Doctrine Going on to Perfection and so unravel the Apostasie where it Began in not so doing and above all Let us Give All Dilligence that we may be Found of him in Peace without Sâ—ot and Blameless and by Him be so Presented before the Presence of his Glory And let us consider the Day is near Approaching Concerning the Truth of which I make Appeal to Him to show by his Arm made bare in unquestionable Evidence of Fact and Event every Thing in its proper Time And I am now waiting at this Time when the Kings are preparing to Go out to War for a Dawn of thâ— Morning Star on the Suffering Witnesses of the yet Afflicted Thyatyra the French and Vaudois and that the Rod of Iron should begin to Break tâ—at Potters Vessel whom patience hath yet spar d from being a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for what ends will be seen who with a more then Herodian Insolence and Cruelty hath nâ—â— only let Rest on Him as Herod but even Hunted for such Attributions as to a God and not to a Man and so Inhumanely Vex'd so many of the Church of Christ to please a Sacrilegiously Flattering Jesuitic Order Now to the only wise God be Glory for ever Amen A REPRESENTATION OF THE Thousand Years Kingdom OF CHRIST Endeavouring to Reconcile it to the General Confessions of the Faith of Christians and particularly to the Judgment of the Eminent Servants and Ministers of Jesus Christ with a Vindication from Further Objections I Can Sincerely Appeal to the Searcher of Hearts I am in all the Substantial and Essential Points of Christianity of the Judgment of all the Wisest Soundest and most Universally Approved Ministers of the Gospel and Christians in the Faith at once Deliver'd to the Saints and have no By nor Secret Opinions in Reserve either concerning the Person of the Great Media or God and Man or concerning his Kinâ—dom as if it had not been from the Beginning or were not to be for ever in such Explications of it as the Churches of Christ most Agree in according to Scripture I make the same Appeal concâ—rning my Belief of the Eternal Happiness of the â—aints with and by Christ in the Distinctness of Humane nature Spirits in Bodies of Glory united by Him to the Father and yet each one in his own proper Personality and so made Truly Equalâ— to the Holy and Elect Angels and of the punishment of the wicked in their Spirits and Bodies together with the Devil and his Angels even throughout a Strict and proper Eternity a Parte Post as They speak or for ever Except therefore my Doctrine and Affirmation of the Kingdom of the Thousand Years can be shown in a perfect Amity and Conciliation with this Gospel and Form of Sound Words I Acknowledge It ought to be Rejected I therefore Attempt in very Brief to shew it to be in such a State of Agreement and to vindicate it from Exceptions to it I observe therefore one Great Complex of Articles of Faith wherein All Christians are as much as in any Point of Christianity at One and They may be thus Given 1. That there shall be a Day or Time before the State and Kingdom of Eternity wherein Jesus Christ shall Come from the Right Hand of the Father to Judge the World and this as Man Acts 17. 31. 2. That Jesus Christ shall Come in the Glory and Power of the Father to this Judgment and that It shall be a most Illustrious Appearance of his Kingdom that was not before nor shall be after For He comes in his Kingdom and the King shall say c. Matth. 25. and He Sits on the Throne of his Glory v. 3â— v. 34. 3. That at the same Time There shall be a Glorious Resurrection and Appearance of his Saints with Him as Sharers in the Glories and Triumphs of that Day 4. That the Saints that shall at that Time be living and Remâ—ining upon Earth shall not Dye but at the very same Time be Chang'd so as that They also may have their part in the same Glory and Resurrection 5. That there shall be a Resurrection of the Vnjust and of Those that have done Evil to the Condemnation to the Dishonour and Contempt and to the Punishment that shall at that Day be Executed upon Them 6. That the Heavens and Earth that now are are Reserv'd for Fire at that Day and that Christ as the Apostle Paul speaks 2 Thess 1. 7 8. shall be Reveal d in Flames of Fire taking Vengeance and that as the Apostle Peter says The Day of the Lord Cometh as a Theif in the Night in which the Heavens shall pass away with a Great Noise and the Elements melt with Fervent Heat and the Earth and the Works that are therein shall be Burnt up 2 Pet. 3. 10. and again v. 12. Looking for and Hasting unto the Day of God wherein the Heavens being on Fire shall be dissolv'd and the Elements shall melt with Fervent Heat Now seeing the very Revelation of Christ is in Flames of Fire as Lightning and that our Lord compares his Coming
seen in Speculo Divinitatis in that Infinite Mirrour of the Divine Nature And herein I Relye on the very Words of Scripture that cannot be over-rul'd And seeing God hath been pleas'd to make the Humane Nature of Christ and the Union of his Saints to himself Unchangeable as himself So far am I from supposing a Fall from that State the Exaltation of them to Closest Approximation to that Glory to Eternity that was from Eternity is the Cessation of Oeconomy and the perfect Eternal State wherein the Saints are Equal to Angels and need them not for their Enjoyment but as All meet in God On the contrary though Devils and Lost Spirits have all the Sense and Action Agreeable to their Lost State Yet it is not such kind of Hostile Action as now They are Exercis'd in but are in as perfect a State of Suffering as and above All we can conceive and so for ever and in the most Unchangeable Misery And whereas a Political Conception of the Eternal King his Laws and Subjects seems to Require Another State or order then this I Assert Yet as from Eternity Supreme Dominion was Essential to God even as Mercy Goodness Truth before any Subjects capable to Exercise them upon So to Eternity without any such Administration as according to Political Laws we Apprehend and have known here But who can sail in this Infinite Ocean now without the having All Thought and Understanding Lost in that Infinity But this is certain God is a King Eternal as well as Immortal Invisible and the Only Wise God To Him therefore be Glory be for ever And in All this I most humbly Acknowledge Jesus Christ God and Man the Mediator even the Mediator of this union to Eternity But the very Nature of a Mediator is not that he should be Our utmost Objective Rest but that as All Scripture speaks He should Bring us to God even God All in All by several Degrees the Highest of which is his own Kingdom and at last to the most Immediate union in and by Himself which is the Kingdom of Eternity And thus I have endeavour'd to make plain that the Kingdom of Christ as in the Judgment Given to Him as the Son of Man enstated in a World to come of New Heavens and a New Earth does not Last for ever but is as in our Law a Lease for a Year to put into Possession that the Eternal Inheritance may vest in us I come in the Last place to Clear my Hypothesis in these Great Points from the Supposition that there may be other Worlds besides the World present that is now near 6000 Years old and that World to come of the Kingdom of Christ whereof I Speak and then the whole deliver'd up to God All in All either as Angels and Saints in Glorious Bodies in union to Him or as Lost â—pirits and Spirits in Bodies so Subdued quite below under his Kingdom in the Lake as to be Eternally separated from him Now I Briefly Argue against any other Worlds Reason 1. Because the Scripture in All it says Stints our Thoughts and Imaginations in this variety of Worlds Rising and Repullulating as it were out of the First World that we Read of the Creation of Gen. 1. An Extent of Thought beyond this Brings us under a Vertigo a Giddiness of Apprehension that we know not where we are and Inclines to Scepticism a doubt of All Things and if we do not stop to Atheistick Suâ—pitions Running out of the Assurance of the Truth of All Religion and of Christianity Reas 2. Because Scripture Represents the Angels and Saints of both the Saved and of the Lost as so many and those in such a variety Angels never sinning but Elect and Confirm'd in Original Holiness Angels Falling and never Recover'd Mâ—n Created in Original Purity Falling and a number very vast in it self Recover'd some dying but vindicated from Death by the Resurrection Others in the Kingdom of Christ that though they might fall and die viz. the living remaining are yet secur'd by the Mediator and the Lost of Mankind Fallen from their First Estate and not Recover'd notwithstanding the Grace of the Mediator Scripture Every-where also Magnifies the Riches and Fullness the Variety of the Creation as declaring to the utmost the Glory of God that He thinks fit to Reveal in such away especially as it shall be in Christ's World to Come Now the Infinite Riches of the Divine Being shewing it self in so Great an Explication of its own so Variegated Wisdom Ephes 3. 9. c. to Principalities and Powers in Heavenly Places in and by the Church when it is carried through all Oeconomies especially that in the Fullness of Times wherein Angels Themselves shall be Recapitulated Ephes 1. 10. into the Eternal Kingdom is All Scripture Reveals and it carries our Thoughts not a Moment beyond but winds up all herein foâ— that Search beyond it looks like the vain Puff and Swolness of a fleshly Mind as not being wise to Sobriety but above what is written And yet I know the Infinite Being and Wisdom and Power of God before some Holy and Good and so Zealous of the Glory of God may cause them to say Who knows what God will do Reas 3. Because it is not only unconceivable but directly against the Analogy of Scripture and Faith That there should be any Glory of Creatures Intellectual or Animal or according to the Mechanism and Frame of Heaven and Earth but what is All in Jesus Christ the eternal Word in our Nature Now how is it Conceivable either in Scripture or Reason He should be Related to Another or any more Worlds as to this wherein he was made Man the Son of Abraham the Son of David Can there be any more Sons of Abraham or of David Can the Eternal Word Assume any more or other Created Nature into Himself He must then see a World or Worlds wherein He hath no Interest as in that Personality wherein we Believe Him according to Scripture This would be a Diminution to his Glory Therefore this is to me a most Conclusive Argument against any Worlds before or after this Reas 4. I add the Manifestations of the Grace of God in Christ even the Riches of Glory on the Vessels of Mercy prepared to Glory and Honour and of his Wrath and Power on the Vessels of Wrath and unto Dishonour are to the Heighth as the Apostle shews Rom. 9 22. Any more then would speak the Imperfection of what hath been is and is to be which no way agrees with Scripture manifesting all to the utmost From whence I conclude such a Supposal of more Worlds cannot Rationally Barr the Hipothesis of such a Kingdom as God All in All. And thus I have endeavoured so to state that Kingdom of the 1000 Y. wherein not only his Enemies are in Fieri or about as they speak to be subdued but it shall be brought to that Consummation and Perfection which the Apostle speaks of and