Saints of the First Resurrection as a peculiar Recompense for the many Terrors and Debasements Death Brings with it The Saints therefore Living and Remaining who Dye not nor shall suffer the Dishonour Pain the Terror of dying are upon the Ballance of Things for the Glory of God and Christ in this Oeconomy not till the 1000 Years are ended and They Caught up invested with this Glory and are therefore said till then only to be Partakers of the First Resurrection They have therefore Bodies Chaâ—g'd into the most excellent Paradisiac State as Adam had before sin and probably as much excelling as the First Adam is excell'd by the Second And though they for many great Resons Beget an Off-spring to the Mediator and Eat and Drink as Adam should have done and All this in the Holiest Purest manner such excellent Bodies can be Exalted into and though They do not Immediately put on Incoeruption and Iwmortality till they are Caught up Yet They in event can no more dye nor fall away then the Saints above All which Answers many Objections concerning them And It Redounds Infinitely to the Glory of the Redeemer and of the Second Aâ—am above the First that in a possibility of dying as to the Nature of Things They who might as Adam dye and Fall Yet secur'd by the Mediaâ—or They shall not dye nor Fall but They shall be Caught up and put on Incorruption and Immoâ—tality And when Death and Sin are thus every way subdued in the Saints of the First Resurrection vindicated out of their Hands and in the Saints chang'd preserv'd from their Sting even under a possibility Then are They both Swallowed up in Victory by Christ Appearing thus every way a perfect Redeemer on which Account as one Reason All is thus ordered Then â—s Death and Sin and Hell with all its Dead and Sathan the Prince of All Thrown into the Lake and the Triumphal Song sung the Effect of which endures throughout All Eternity 3. The Saints of Christ principally the Martyrs and Sufferers and the Contemn'd Abused Persecuted and Beheaded for the Word of God and the Testimony which They Held with All who have Resisted the Impurity and Corruptions of the World shall Appear in Glory sown in Weakness but Rais'd in Power Sown in Dishonour Rais'd in Glory Bearing the Image of the Heavenly Adam the Quickning Spirit the Lord not only in Heaven but from Heaven as in a Kingdom lower then the highest Heaven Sitting on Thrones and Judgment is Given to Them for the 1000 Years 4. For this Glory of Christ the Redeemer and of his Redemption and of his Saints There is a Glory of the Renewed Restored Creation in the visible Heavens and all their Influences Purified and Purg d and so made new and the Earth Renewed in the same manner that the Saints of the First Resurrection may Appear as a Firmament and shine as the Stars Dan. 12. even as the Sun Matth. 13. 43. upon the New Earth and have a prospect of Beauty and Purity And the Saints on Earth * Call'd Nations of the Saved All as Kings of the Earth Revel 21 24 25. may Walk in this Light of the New Jerusalem above and Bring their Glory to it in looking upon their Communion with it as their Highest Glory and so the whole Creation may be deliver'd from the Bondage of Corruption into the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God for which it now Groans in its present Slavery and with earnestness Waits Even as in all Mankind There is an Appetite Implanted by Creation to See and Enjoy a due Time in the Glory of Gods Creation freâ— from the Curse and Adorn'd with the Blessings of it This we see how strongly it now works in the Holiest Men and Women however in Regard This is not the Place nor State nor Time it be mix d with much Corruption and as the Apostle calls it Lust in a World to which God s Heart cannot be and therefore He often chastises with Great Severity the over eager desires in any of his Sts. of Any Thing here But then there shall be such a State that the Lord Himself shall Rejoyce in his Works with all his Saints Triumphing in the Works of his Hands when there shalâ— be an Apocatastasis a Restitution of All Things without which the Second Adam would not be as perfect a Restorer as the First Adam was a Desolator But I Assert and shall after prove the Flying away of this New Heaven and Earth and that therefore this Oâ—conomy lasts but a 1000 Years as the Sabbatism of the Glâ—â—y of Creation 5. There must be a State Bearing some Proportâ—on to all the promises made to Abraham and his Seed of a City and a Country and of Nations and a Postâ—rity as the Stars of Heaven as the Dust of the Earth Gen. 13. 16. and as the Sand on the Sea shorâ— Innumerable that He may be a Father of many Nations and Heir of the World of all which Canaan and Jerulalem Gen. 2â— 17. and the People of Israel were but Types For this was a Heavenly Countrey and City as the Apostle tells us Heb. 11 and a Posterity of True and Sincere Believers How can this then be better explain'd then by the New Jerusalem coming down from Heaven and the Saints of the First Resurrection a Posterity as the Stars for whom he Knows how to make Room who hath done it for those vast Globes of Light and then by the New Earth and the Saints Living and Remaining on the New Earth who shall be as the Dust and as the Sand And He will make Room for Them who hath stretched out this Earth for them that walk upon it and wherein besides the much less Cumber of Paradisiac Bodies and the Abundant Sufficiency of the Paradisiac Earth and Purity of the Air and the Leaves of the Tree of Life for the Healing the Nations There is Provision for all Enjoyments of the Saints in those Bodies Besides all this There shall be no Sea to to take up Room Revel 21. 1. as there was not in the First Paradisiac Earth as hath been made out by that Truly Excellent Theorist Dr. Burnet Master of the Charter-House Giving Great Light to that Apocalyptical Text and Receiving Great Proof from it And herein for his sake who God over All Blessed for ever came of Them and for the Believed Father's sakes and according to all the Images and Language of Poophecy The Spiritual Natural Israel shall have a Preeminence and for which They shall certainly be call'd though it will Remain a Mystery until the set Time of the Gentiles Fullness be come But in the mean Time for their sakes the Nâ—w Heaven and New Earth is call'd New Jerusalem and so many Apocalyptical Figures are derived from Them leading to that New Jerusalem 6. There shall be a plain sensible and visible State of the Wicked in Dishonour and Contempt in the View of All For all the
Original where also it varies the Number from Heavens In the Preface Heavens viz. Our Father which art in the Heavens Plurally to As in Heaven in the Single Number and on Earth with a Singular Favour to a Parallel New Heaven and New Earth And it leads us to pray for the Doing the Will of God in such a Parallel Heaven and Earth that as in Paralellism the Will of God may be done as in the One so in the Other Besides according to Common Interpretation of this Petition A Prayer according to the will of Ood so exactly as our Lord weighed it out and that hath been so long prayed by all his Servants in Faith cannot but be Heard The Spirit helping their Infirmities when they know not what in this Prayer to pray for as they ought with unutterable Groans and God knows the Mind of his Spirit though they do not so clearly understand this Prayer So then It must be Heard But it cannot be Heard if there be not such a State on Earth in which the Will of God may be done as in Heaven For the Earth and the Earth as in parallel to Heaven so particularly named is the Place or Basis on which the Saints that do it shall Rest So that the doing the Will of God in any other State or Place will not be a Fulfilling this Petition Nor will the doing it in Sincerity according to the Measure of the Saints now on Earth answer the Petition For our Lord in this Prayer which is in such Number Weight and Measure would not have layd a Paralled wherein there is no Equality nor Proportion as Things are now viz. Between doing the Will of God on Earth and in Heaven For every part of this Prayer shall ere he hath perfected his Intercession upon it be Fulfilled in the Highest Sense of each part This we know is not yet in any particularly in this Petition therefore a State shall be on purpose for it This also must needs Lock in with the foregoing Petitions when ever there is a Doing the Will of God so on Earth his Name must be Sanctified as in Heaven and upon Earth else his Will cannot be so Done because Sanctifying his Name is so Eminently his Will that his Will cannot be Done as in Heaven and on Earth except his Name be Sanstissed as in Heaven and on Earth Thus is it also with his Kingdom coming That must needs Come as in Heaven and upon Earth when-ever his Will is so Done And it cannot Come till it is so Done and his Name so Sanctified For what is his Kingdom but the Supream Honour of our Kings Name and Obedience to his Will so Universally as in Heaven And whither should this Kingdom Come but out of Heaven where-now it is into a Lower Heaven and Earth where indeed it is in regard of Supream Power always But it must Come in a Sense it hath not yet Come And if these Three Petitions were Heard As in Heaven and upon Earth The Earth must either be a New Earth in preparation for such a Fulfilling or the Fulfilling would immediately Turn it into a New Earth For such a Change on the Spirits and Actions of Men and such a Blessing from Heaven as would immediately follow would make it indeed a New Earth If therefore our Esteem of this Prayer were not too much spent in an Ignorant Formality and Superstition on Bare Words it would soon give us an Unanswerable Argument of such a Kingdom on Earth and a Kingdom must haâ—e a Duration and what Duration but a Kingdtm of that Thousand Years Prophecy having once named gives a Preference to I say nothing of the Petition taking in Heoven viz the Lower Heaven which Scripture make the Habitation of fallen Spirits that They being Remov'd these Three Petitions may be Fulfilled there also Nor of the following Petitions most Adjustable hereunto which I have in a Full Discourse on this Prayer made Ready if God please to give Opportunity for Publication as also to shew the True Laws of our Duty in using of this Prayer wherein Men are so prone to Run into the very Battology Heathenism or Vanity of Repetition as an Antidote againk which it was given by Christ and this came in by the Gentilism that Antichrist hath brought into the Outer Court Taking away that Daily Sacrifice the Remains of which are yet among Protestants Argum. 3. With Great Assurance and without any Reluctancy of of Thoughts I further Argue That the Apostle Peter in an especial manner Commission'd for it by the Divine Spirit hath given the first Light to the Knowledge of the Day of Judgment as a Kingdom of a Thousand Years Epist 2. Chap. 3. 8. The whole Chapter is indeed a Great Prophecy of that Kingdom and the State of it and it carries many severe Remarks on the Antichristian Apostacy as those Scoffers who setting up that Kingdom in Counterfeit Burlesque and Abuse the True Kingdom and have and still Jeer it out of the Faith of Christians The Apostle in Spirit foreseeing this Recalls the Sincere Disciples of Christ to the Words of the Prophets first who are so Abundant concerning this Kingdom but speak very darkly of the Day of Judgment or not at all but through that Kingdom and then to the Commandment or as the Learned Observe it to signifie the Doctrine of Us the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour Now these Words are undoubtedly a Preface to what follows after in the Chapter and therefore to the Doctrine of the Day of Judgment of the Thoufand Years of the New Heavens and New Earth and the holy Inferences from it with a very Dreadful Thunder and â—ightning upon the Apostacy intermixt and all in close Connexion He promises upon these Scoffers that They sâ—all be in the very Last of Time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That their Lusts of the present World the Grandieur and Sensualities of it will oblige them to say Where is the promise of his Coming There is no Kingdom of Christ but what we have set up Events of many Ages Demonstrate there is no other These are yet neither Atheists nor Anti Scripturists but such Mockers as Esay speaks of Chapter 28. 22 c. Who will not believe a Consumption on the present Earth to rise in a greater Harvest They allow the Great Change of the World by the Flood the Change by New Heavens and New Earth which the Apostle Verse 13. Inetrprets as one Principal Branch of the Promise They Laugh at and the Gangrene Eats beyond professed Anti-Christianism as if that First Resurrection were past already in that 1000 Y. Staâ—â— of the Church since Constantine and no other to be expected but the â—inal Judgment and Eternity To this the Apostle Answers by laying down this Great Thâ—â—â—s which saith the Apostle Lies hid from Them Resolving Obstinately against all Light All Things shall continue as they were that is They will be Ignorant of any other World The Thesis or
Mystery which we must not hope perfectly to Understand till we see the Blessed Accomplishment of it I could not but Transcribe a Paragraph worthy of Letters of Gold Not because suitable to my Sense of small Account but because so Agreeable with Sense of Scripture if I can be sure I see or know any Thing And yet how little taken notice of To conclude the Argument The Thousand Years are made by God the Emblem and Hierogliphick of the Perfection of Time and do litterally express that very Time God hath Ordain'd to be the Fulness of Time and the Perfection of it And so I come to the Third Thing propos'd to consider any other Hipothesis or Model of Things in Bar of this propos'd And I find these Two 1. That All this Kingdom of Christ with its New Heaven and Earth are suppos'd rather to Fit the Kingdom of Eternity Against this I Argue 1. The New Heaven and the New Earth the Scripture speaks of Revel 21. v. 1. are certainly the very same that Fly away from the pure Crystal Throne of Eternity and from his Face that Sate upon it Ready to Deliver up the Kingdom to God All in All. This is certain because the New Heaven and New Earth are Concurrent with the New Jerusalem as is most Clear by the Conjunct Vision John had of Them Revel 21. 12. I saw a New Heaven And v. 1. And I John saw the holy City When he Saw the New Heaven c. and the New Jerusalem The first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away So then the Heaven and Earth that were with the New Jerusalem were not the first Heaven and Earth but the Heaven and Earth that were at the same time with the Holy City And they fled away as is most Evident by the close Connexion and Order between the Compassing the Holy and Beloved City which cannot be suppos'd to be any other then the New Jerusalem call'd by the Name of the Holy City as c. 20. 9. so c. 21. 2. and the Beloved City because the Bride For after that Assault that was after the 1000 Y. Satan was cast into the Lake that had the Power of Death And then immediately the White Throne was seen and Heaven and Earth fled away which must be the Heaven and Earth Cotemporary with the New Jerusalem and so with the 1000 Years and seeing as was said just now They must be new Heaven and New Earth Therefore the New Heaven and New Earth continue not to Eternity For I cannot see where there can be any Doubt in the Connexion or Order the Divine Prophecy hath so taken care Sathans casting into the Lake must needs be after the 1000 Years therefore after the New Heaven and Earth the Heaven and Earth that Fled must be Those that were at the Judging and casting the Dead into the Lake Can we suppose then that this White Throne the Judging the Dead and casting the Dead into the Lake was before the 1000 Years and so the Heaven and Earth flying also and then indeed They must be the First Heaven and First Earth and not the New Ones But All that cannot be because whatever was not Written in the Book of Life was then cast into the Lake And it is certain Sathan was not Written in the Book of Lâ—fe therefore he Could not be out of the Lake at the Time of Death and the Dead being cast into the Lake But he was not cast into the Lake till the 1000 Years were past So that this whole Transaction upon Death and the Flying of Heaven and Earth were all after the 1000 Years and therefore the New Heaven and New Earth which Run along with the 1000 Years were the Heavens and Earth that Fled away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was the Thing to be shown and is shown For if such a Connexion as this will not prove nothing can be prov'd by Consequence from Scripture 2. Those Three Expressions of the Apostle The Kingdom shall be deliver'd up by the Son The Son shall be subject God shall be All in All so strongly sway with me that no distinction of Acquisition and Fruition can weigh against them but that such a State as of the New Heaven and New Earth and a Kingdom of Christ proportionate to it cannot be the State of the Kingdom of Eternity Especially when I Joyn to it those Words of our Lords Mediatory Prayer John 17. That They may be one in us and that They may see my Glory and that Glory was the Glory Christ had with the Father before the Foundation of the World So that the Glory of the Humane Nature of Christ and of the Elect Angels and Saints being first confess'd All the State of Glory is Brought to the nearest that can be to that State of Glory before the World began and so not of New Heaven and a New Earth and what is Agreeable to the Creation 3. A Delivery up of the Glory of the Judiciary Kingdom or of that proper to the Day of Judgment to the Father and the Son 's being subject that is laying down that Lustre of Appearance proper to that Administration cannot be denied And that and no other which is always Attributed to the Son of Man and to the Man Christ Jesus and the delivering up that Kingdom and no other is what I plead for and no otherwise then so far as is necessary for the making Good of what the Apostle hath said That the Kingdom is to be deliver'd up that the Son is to be subject and God to be All in All From which as having some Higher Deeper and more Substantial Sense then the distinction of Acquisition and Fruition can Comprehend I cannot depart 4 The Superlative unexpressible Excellency of the Divine Glory from Eternity hath so Great a Command upon my Understanding together with that Expression of the Apostles of God's being All in All that altho the Humane Nature of Christ as united to the Divine though the Humane Nature of Christ and his Saints the Union of Saints to God by Christ be Free and wholly Grace and were not indeed from Eternity yet Joyning the so often mention'd Assertion of the Apostle Paul with our Lords of the Glory before the World began Assures me that the State of Angels and Saints is Brought to the highest Nearness Created Nature is capable of to that Glory before the Foundation of the World even as the Humane Nature of Christ is so Advanc'd and that that Objectition viz. that the Humane Nature of Christ had not an Existence in that Glory before the World Argues to me the more strongly that All this is so For it speaks that Humane Nature it self therefore drawn more out of all Created Glory into the Glory of the Eternal Word and that the Divine Nature of the Eternal Word is our Object and not the Humane Nature of Christ all the objective Glory of Christ in his Humane Nature and of Angels and Saints being
to the Flood on the Old World and the Fire and Brimstone on Sodom the very same day that Noah enter'd into the Ark and Lot went out of Sodom Luke 17. 27 28. The Conflagration must be a Conflagration before the Judgment or Instantaneous with the Beginning of that Day and so I suppose is the Judgment of all Divines 7. The Wicked Alive shall be speedily by this Fire brought into the same Condition with the Dead Wicked Raised to share in the Common Perdition For the Heavens and Earth that now are are Kept in Treasure for the Day of Judgment and the Perdition of Vngodly Men. 2 Pet. 3. v. 11. 8. Seeing the Apostle Expresly teaches v. 13. That we Look for New Heavens and New Earth wherein Righteousness shall dwell It is most according to Scripture that the New Heavens and New Earth should come as a Vessel out of the Refiner's Fire and Righteousness dwell therein So that the New Heaven and the New Earth immediately Come out of this Fire All this I look upon as so Agreeable to Scripture and the most undoubted Sense of it that whoever keeps Inviolate this Form of Sound Words cannot fall into any Great Error I then making a Solemn Profession that I am Fully perswaded of all these Things even to a Plerophory of Assurance and supposing All Sober Christians herein to Joyn with me I pass forward with Greater Assurance 9. The particular Precise State of the Kingdom of Christ as in this Judiciary State shall be deliver'd up at some Time to God and to the Father and so the Kingdom and State of Eternity succeed I do also suppose is the Universal Faith of Sober Christians Although the New Heavens and New Earth may be suppos'd to continue for ever as They are by Mr. Baxter and as I Remember by that so excellent Interpreter Calvin on the aforenam'd Text and very probably by many other Great Theologers and Scripture-Interpreters Now from all these Principles lay'd together several Points are Allowed upon the Consideration of the General Doctrine of the Day of Judgment that are ready to be charg'd as Unreasonablenesses or Antiscripturisms on the Doctrine of tho Thousand Years Kingdom which compar'd with what is taught universally of Christ coming to Judgment will be as a Load taken off from it 1. Seeing the Day of Judgment is a middle State of the Kingdom of Christ between the present State and the State of Eternity It is hence undeniable There is a middle Kingdom or middle State of the Kingdom of Christ. 2. When a Dispensation or Oeconomy for the Divine Glory as for Judgment Requires it It is no dishonour to Christ to come from the Right Hand of God where He is Exalted above All Heavens into the Lower State of the World much less Degradation from present Glory for Saints to Come with Him 3. Nor does Christ suffer any diminution of Glory when He Goes back to Heaven the Business of such Oeconomy as of Judgment being dispatch'd 4. There is sufficient Security in the midst of the Conflagration for the Bodies of Saints whether Risen or Chang'd though we cannot define how 5. Nor shall the Bodies of the wicked however punish'd be consum'd in these Flames 6. There is no Absurdity on Scripture Account to suppose a manifold Change of Body according to the Variation of States 7. There will be Found Room for the Bodies of all both Risen and Changed Saints as also of all the wicked according to the General Doctrine of the Day of Judgment 8. A New Heaven and a New Earth and by Consequence a Restitution of All Things are in the very Letter to be Expected according to Scripture Now whatever may according to Scripture and without any Contradiction to the Great Principles Notions and Sense of it be suppos'd for a Lesser or so much as Any Time may be suppos'd for a longer Time even for so long as Scripture gives us any Reason to extend it unto seeing There is no Scripture Inconsistency in the Fundamental Possibility And now there being such a Foundation lay'd in that which is Agreed among all Christians if there shall be Any Inducement from Scripture to do it we may Build upon this Foundation 1. That seeing Christ shall Appear from Heaven with his Saints in a Kingdom of Triumph and Glory over his Enemies and that there is no Signification of the Time of duration Contradictory to that of a 1000 Years and at least one Great Signification It is a 1000 Years Why may we not Conclude the Kingdom is a Kingdom of a 1000 Years 2. Seeing there shall be a New Heaven and a New Earth that shall come forth as a Vessel for the Finer out of the Conflagration and that there is Great Reason to think That They shall be both inhabited Why may not the Saints of the Resurrection Equal to the Angels Inhabit the New Heavens and the Saints Chanâ—'d who are so peculiarly called twice the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Living the Remaining as a most peculiar Generation of Saints that Christ so Holds in his Hand as that They can no more Fall as may be Surmized then the Saints Above who are as Angels confirm'd Inhabit the New Earth as Adam should have done a 1000 Years Especially seeing It is supposeable It shall be Inhabited and we Know not Any who shall Inhabit it God knoweth only who shall Inhabit it Except these Living Remaining Saints 3. Seeing it is Agreed The Administration of the Kingdom as at the Day of Judgment shall not Last to Eternity and that Christ and All his Saints Ascend up to God and that Kingdom of Judgment Ends Why may not this be the Sense of those so Weighty Words of the Apostle concerning the Son's delivering up the Kingdom of his being Subject and of God being All in All or what else is so likely as this of the Son 's Resigning up that Illustrious Appearing visible Glory that He shall be invested with during that Judicatory Kingdom seeing it is a Kingdom of Triumph and Victory that is so Deliver'd up And why should it not be the Kingdom of a 1000 Years Seeing the naming a Kingdom though of a 1000 Years yet because It is but of a 1000 Years Implys It shall end And as the Apostle makes plain in that it is a Reign till All his Enemies are put under his Feet It is a Kingdom of Victory and Triumph Beginning and Ending in putting down Enemies as Judgment must needs do and then Given up to God And thus there is an easie Slide from the Acknowledged and most General Doctrine of the Day of Judgment into what the Scripture says of a Kingdom or Reign of Christ for a 1000 Years For it is expresly said There were Thrones as of a Kingdom and Judgment was Given to Them that sat upon the Thrones the very word proper to thâ—t Day and â—hey that Sate upon the Thrones must needs be Christ and his Saints For They Lived and Reigned
Christians exhorted to Take heed of falling from their own Firmament or Firmation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verse 17. That They may shine as that Firmament Dan 12. 3. 4. Their Wresting of Scriptures to their own Perdition Universally more Particularly the Prophecies for their own Papal Kingdom and against the Kingdom of Christ And that Discourse of the Apostle Paul 2 Thes 2. They Writhe wholly from Themselves which would They have Observed it and ask'd as Judas their Type Is it I It would have Answered Them as Christ did Him Thou sayest This is a Great Brand by which the Son of Perdition with all his Adherents may be known whose Character is as the Judasses of the Christian Church Son of Perdition and Two Times Going into Perdition Compare John 17. 12. 2 Thess 2 13. Revel 17. v. 8. v. 11. These Remarks upon the Apostle Peter's Prophecy as I style it I have been larger upon to shew I am Conscious of no Recoyl of Mind concerning it and though some Things may seem wiredrawn yet the Manner and Symmetry of Prophecy the Great Rule of its Interpretation will Justifie me Argum. 4. I do indeed so Rely upon the Prophecy Revel 20. Concerning the Thousand Years that if I had only that Scripture I should think it sufficient although it be but One and although it be Propheick Because I find the Letter so Express as that the Thousand Years are no less than Six several Times Named And I Observe the Apostle's Discourse upon Melchisedech so Weighty so Large with so severe a Reproof of the Unteachableness of Christians concerning it Heb. c 5. â—0 c. 6 1. with Reâ—erence to it throughout c 7. All of it to be Suspended upon One single Oracle and that Prophetick also Psal 110. 4. The Lord hath Sworn and will not Repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedech Referring to a small Historick Memoir Genes 14 18. 19 20. and that on purpose Contriv'd to be Dark and under a Veiâ— Yet the Apostle severely Reproves a Dulness of Hearing of it Whereas the Christians then might have said We Desire only plainer more undoubted Truths more genearlly Treated Principles and fundamental Points But the Apostle Silently Threatens the Danger of Ayostacy on not Going on to Perfection by grounding his so Earnest Exhortation to Go on upon that Danger of Apostacy without so Doing And indeed there is Great Reason to think a Prediction of the Great Antichristian Apostacy in the Bulk not to be Repented of not to be Renewed to Repentance according to Râ—vel 16. is lodg d in it and that That very Apostacy came in upon the Ignorance of and not Acquiescency in Christ's Melchisedechian Priesthood after the Power of an endless Life but setting up that Kingdom and Priesthood in Counterfeit For what is the Melchisedechian Priesthood of Christ but a Priesthood on a Throne Zech. 6. 13 And what is the Papacy but a Counterfeit of that a Priest on a Throne the False Propbecy Included also as the True is in the Priesthood of Christ And why was this Golden Calf Idolatry brought in by that false Aaron as his Vicar but to supply the Absence of Christ Gone up to the Mount and not knowing That it is Witnessed of him He liveth and is as Active for his Church and Saints Above as Below while on Earth so far as is necessary till he brings forth all his Saints Appearing also in the Glory of his Melchisedechiaâ— Priesthood as Kings and Priests also But to Return to the Prophecy Revel 20. I observe as I have already observed There is not only the Shell or Words but the Deep Reason of Things as All Prophecy and most particularly all the Lines of the Revelation before it Run into It and Center in it and All Require such a Kingdom of such a State of New Heavens and New Earth and of a Duration of Time that may speak Perfection to Accomplish Them And that Duration this Prophecy Declares to be a Thousand Years and then All to be Drawn up into Eternity and no otherwise to End Argum. 5. The Observation upon the Thousand Years I made heretofore in my Patriarchal Line p. 58. does much sway my Judgment still concerning the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ viz. By the Recollection of each Patriarch's Life whol and together is most Pompously set out That none of these Holy Men Attain'd a Full Thousand Years of Life though some Life 's swell'd so much above Nine hundred as if they would mount to a Thousand yet it was said to Them Hitherto shall you come and no further for a Thousand in Sacred Record is a Number of Perfection that is not Allowed to any Years of Life in Adam's Apostate State but Reserv'd for the Restitution of the Second Adam and p. 165. As if the Thousand Years were a Tree of Life Guarded with Cherubims that none might Take of it Enoch had a particular Exemption of not Dying yet no One might be in a Visible State on Earth One Thousand Years wherein I am Confirm'd by Reading what Dr. Sherlock so Reverend so Learned so Considering and so far from what is call'd Fanaticism as every One knows hath written in his Excellent and Generally Acceptable Practical Discourse of Death p. 129 130. Wherein it is most Considerable that he Writes not as having Espous'd the Opinion of the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ nor was Intentionally Writing upon it But so Discerning and Quick-sighted a Person was struck with its Beams of Light and Truth while he was upon another View And thus he Writes The longest Term of Humane Life after the Sentence of Death passed on Man was a Thousand Years And Comparing this Observation with that Promise of a Thousand Years Reign with Christ which is call'd the First Resurrection and is â—he Portion only of Martyrs and Confessors and pure and sincere Christians Revel 20. I have been apt to Conclude To live a Thousand Years is the Priviledge only of Immortal Creatures That if Adam had continued Innocent he should have liv'd no longer upon Earth but have been Translated to Heaven without Dying For this Thousand Years Reign of the Saints with Christ whatever that Signifies seems to be Intended as a Reparation of Death which They fall under by Adam's Sin But then these Thousand Years do not put an End to the Happiness of those Glorious Saints but they are Immortall Creatures And though this Reign with Christ continues but a Thousand Years Their Happiness shall have no End though the Scene may change and vary for over such the Second Death shall have no power Or else this Thousand Years Reign with Christ must signifie an Eternal and Vnchangeable Kingdom a Thousand Years being a certain Earnest of Immortality But there is an Unanswerable Objection against that Because we read of the Expiring of those Thousand Years and what shall come after them even the Final Judgment of all the World This is a Great
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