David and as heir apparent to sit upon his Throne Luke 1.32.33 And as he is Seed of David in point of Kingly Right so also the Seed of Abraham to whom in a special manner the Promises of Inheritance were made Which induces the III. Argument Abraham and his Seed are to be heirs of the World Rom. 4.13 Whereas it is said These all died in Faith not having received the Promises c. Hebr. 11.13 Acts 7.5 Inever read that Heaven without the Earth is called the World Only they are not to Inherit the world that now is that is reserved unto fire 2 Pet. 3.7 but the world to come Luke 20.35 36. in the renewed State Hebr. 2.5 Wherein they shall reign upon the Earth Rev 5.10 For before the Resurrection and day of Judgment there is no time imaginable wherein they could be heirs of the world for they are with the Lord in Glory till then And After the Resurrection of the Just follows the burning up of this World and the Works thereof 2 Pet. 3.10 So that No other World remains to the blessed Seed for an Inheritance but that of New heavens and earth after the end of all things in this world Rev. 21.1 2 Pet. 3.13 IV. Argument We read Hebr. 2 5 of a World to come wherein Christ is to have all in subjection under him ver 8. Ephes 1.20.21 As to which observe 1. That That World is alotted to the time at and after the Resurrection Luke 20.35 36. in a State of perfect Glory called that World 2. Hebr. 2. Speaks of the Dominion in the World to come as accrewing to Jesus Christ by reason of his humane Nature as recovering what was lost in the first Adam being head over all things to the Church both in heaven above and earth beneath Phil. 2.10 both in this World and that to come Ephes 1.21 22. 3. Hebr. 2. Speaks of Mans possession by Creation Which is the Earth and visible Heaven Onely upon occasion of Mans fall the Lord from Heaven acquaints us with That Glory also Yet notwithstanding the heavenly Glory of Christ he descends to a state lower than the Angels put himself into the Case and Place of Gods Elect took the seed of Abraham on him Hebr. 2.16 and so became heir as before and purchased the possession that had been sold under the Curse Ephes 1.18 Revel 21.3 4. Hebr. 2.8 'T is said We see not yet all things put under him But in Heaven he has all in perfect Subjection from the very first Therefore it must be on Earth V. Argument Acts 3.21 The Restitution of all things Which must respect the Visible things of the Creation Spoken of Rom 8.19 20 21 22. which the Apostle calls the Glory that was to be reavealed in the Saints then alive and therefore not to be till the Resurrection of their bodies according to vers 23. waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our bodies Phil. 3.21 This Restitution will be such as was made under the Law to wit A Fifth part added to the principal Exod. 22.3 4. Levit. 6.4 5. So in this No Sun Moon or Stars in their Courses for there is no night there Rev. 21.23 25. and no Temple ver 22. But an infinite Glory supplies the place of both And here I conceive will be the ultimate fulfilling that saying Cant. 2.17 c. till the shadows flee away c. Whereas now the Lights of this World being finite and remote from us do necessarily cast a Shadow by the Substantial form they shine upon So is it Light on the one side but dark on the other And so in the Absence of the sun the shadows of the Evening draw upon the Earth But when the Light shall be omnipresent there shall be no Shadows any more No night there Revel 21.25 Again though the Thousand years Reign admits of a good Degree of this glory of the Restitution yet the time of the Restitution of all things is expressly reserved to the Revelation of Jesus Christ from heaven Acts 3.21 and then to be fulfilled which if he comes not to restore he comes to Destroy 2 Pet. 3.10 But he will Restore after he hath Destroyed vers 13. Revel 21.1 VI. Argument From John 1. last Verily verily I say unto you hereafter ye shall see heaven open and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man Observe that the word is open and notes a state of Continuance and nor opened as it was opened to Stephen for a moment Acts 7.56 And to Peter in a Trance Chap. 10.11 The words allude to Jacobs Dream Gen. 28. and imports a transcendant union to be between Heaven and Earth through the riches of the Grace of Christ and by the Recourses of Angels By the Manhood of Christ fallen man is dignified to a fellowship and equallity with Angels Luke 20.35 36. and shall be also Restored to his created possession the Earth The Angels of God ascending and descending c. This cannot be before but in the new Heaven and Earth after ther day of Judgment For first Christ appears then the Tribes mourn at the sight of him then the dead are raised then the living Saints are Changed then all of them caught up to the Lord in the air then the Earth to be burnt up c. then begins the Judgment Now in any time before the Judgment what Ascending or Descending of the Angels as in a fixed state for the Dead Saints are raised by a Word quickly John 5 28. and the living Saints changed in the â—â—inkling of an Eye 1 Corâ— 5.52 And in the Judgment it self the Angels seem otherwise disposed as being present Auâ—iâ—oâ—s of Christs owning and disowning persons Mark 8.38 Revel 3.5 and at last bundling the Tures and casting them to the fire Matth. 13.30 40 41 42. And therefore it must be after the Judgment that the Angels will so ascend and descend And this the Lord Jesus proposeth to them as the consummation of the Mystery of Divine Counsel at the end of time and that the Design of God in particular lay upon this to restore the Earth as being indeed great things John 1.50.51 We ought not as not too carnally to think hereof so neither to think the things themselves are carnal Christ himself put a greater Marvel upon the Resurrection of bodies John 5 28 than that of Regeneration by Faith ver 25. And so John 1. the two last verses Again The Gospel that brings life and immortality to Light exhibits the Eternal Glory in the nature of man in Jesus Christ as the Saviour and Object of Worship Whereas the invisible God in the Old Testament was adored but we do not blame Thomat for saying to Christ my Lord and my God Neither think it carnal because the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in him So the Lord glorifying the Earth as the place of his fect Isai 60.13 it appears to me that it will be accommodate and adapt to
humane bodies though glorified more than an immaterial visional glory can be supposed to be VII Argument To prove the Earths duration Eternal as a place of Glory is these Scriptures that appear to assign the Sea's place to be the place of Hell hereafter Revel 21.1 Isai 66.24 compared with Mark 9.43.44 there was no more Sea but there was a new Earth Isai 66. They shall go forth and look upon the Carcases of the men c. for their Worm shall not dye c. Which Christ expounds of Hell fire Mark 9.44 c. Now the Argument is this If they shall go forth to look upon them then they do not come down from Heaven to do it But being upon the Earth going forth so to do is very proper Again Hell is called a Lake Revel 20.10 14 15. Chap. 21.8 So are some Seas now called Luke 5.1 8.22 And though there be many Seas now and many Islands yet great Transformations may pass upon the terrestrial globe by its Conflagration perhaps to the reducing the many Seas into one Tophet and the whole Earth into one intire Continent for the Redeemed to walk there 2 Pet. 3.10 13. So Revel 6 14. When this day of the Lord is presented to us 't is said The heavens departed as a Scroll and every Mountain and Island were moved out of their places Which is called a shaking Hebr. 12.26 27. melting dissolving burning up 2 Pet. 3.10 11. folding up and changing Hebr. 1.12 But none of these express an Annihilation but destroying the form and surface and the works of men on the Earth In order to its passing into a New State when he that sitteth upon the Throne saith behold I make all things new Revel 21.1 5. Object But if the Sea shall be Hell hereafter then there is no Hell now Answer Hell is called a Prison 1 Pet. 3.19 But being they are spirits only that as yet are therein It s a question whether any spacious place be needful thereunto Whether they reside now in the deep or in the air I leave it Only the Damn'd spirits are in Chains of Darkness Jude 6. VIII Argument To prove the Immortality and Eternity of this New State is to consider That nothing but sin brings Destruction And God will free this New State from both the Cause and Effects of Sin and also secure it from both for the future 1. Satan that was the Occasion of the first Sin in the World is before this judged to the Lake Rev. 20.10 14. 2. And there shall be no more Curse Revel 21.3 So that the first Wound by Mans fall is perfectly cured and the Effect thereof is no other than a perfect Restitution 3. Jesus Christ the Lord from Heaven that was to come down thence to help the sinking Earth when it sailed in its head Man in the manifold Wisdom of God did not only make peace for man by the blood of his Cross but also as Angels also had falnâ— from Heaven Reconciled all things in one in himself both things in heaven and things in catth Col. 1.20 Enes 1.10 as hereafter will be manifest Yea the Creature it self to wit the irrational shall be delivered into the glorious liberty of the Children of God Rom. 8.21 So that I say Man and the Creation of God have a Restorer Colos 1.20 but 't is onely thee Elect that shall come to this time the wicked being judged to hell before See the next IX Argument from Ephes 1.14 Vntil the Redemption of the purchased Possession Here it may be Qâ—aeried How Heaven if that were the Possession spoken of can or â—eed be redeemed then It was never under the Curse tho the Earth is and the Creatures subjected in hope to the bondage of Corruption until their deliverance at the manifestation of the Sins of God ver 19 20 21. And therefore the Redemption of the Possession appears to be by way of Deliverance and Restoration as the Resurrection of the Saints Bodies from the dust of Death is called ver 23. the Adoption the Redemption of their Body Christ purchased the Eternal Inheritance and he is the Heir of all things Hebr. 1.2 and the Saints joint heirs with him Rom. 8.17 18 c. And what Inheritance see Rom. 4.13 and page 3. X. Argument That as neither the Soul nor Body of man hath lost any Essential part by the Fall but only depravity and misery in both so no essential powers of Heaven or Earth are lost by the Fall Still the Course of Nature is Lord in the Universe in the Vegetation of Plants Courses of the Luminaries procreation of Animals bounds of the Seas Tides c. Only evil qualities a curse instead of a Blessing And now the promise There shall be no more curse Revel 22.3 will turn the thorn and brier into pleasant plants as the tenour of these Promises in Isai 55.13 Chap. 41.18 19. See page 7. Though they have also a spiritual fulfilling in the New Creature even now yet when the Creation it self as a general good shall be brought forth that will be the absolute and ultimate fulfilling Or else what is the meaning of the Restitution of all things before spoken to p. 3 4. XI Argument To prove the literal and eterral fulfilling the New Heavens and Earth is that utter inconsistency of any other sense to be put upon the words in 2 Pet. 3.13 Rev. 21.1 For 2. Pet. 3.13 Nevertheless we according to his promise look for New Heavens and a New Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness this evidently referrs to that Destruction of this present World by Fire that he was treating of ver 10. But the day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the night in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great neise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up Now if this be a literal visible Destruction and the Apostle comforts himself with a New state upon the loss of the Old as ver 13. Then what more apparent than that the New shall both be after the Old and as visible as the Old had been in the same way and sense And if it be a Visible material New State then it shall not be only fulfilled in a Mystical way in Church and State in this Life Besides after the Old World is destroyed there will be no Church or State in being to receive such a fulfilling And then for Revel 21.1 it also evidently referrs to Revel 20.11 where the visible Earth nd Heaven fled away at Christs Appearing to Judgment and Chap. 11.1 Asserts a new Creation of both in the room thereof And therefore why not taken as visibly as the former OBJECTIONS against the Literal and Eternal fulfilling of the New Heavens and Earth Answered 1st Object 'T is expressly sard of this State Isai 65.17 c. they shall live long and build Houses plant Vineyards c. which plainly belongs to this
Life Luke 20.35 36. Andse Revel 21.24 26. and Chap. 22.2 Expressions that must be fulfilled while the Regenerate converse with the Vnregenerate that is before the day of Judgment Answ 1. It is usual in the Old Testament to set out Spiritual Glories by carnal things and it may be question'd whether such Expressions in Isai 65.17 c. may not be so taken 2. But admit they be taken litterally then indeed it is granted that they do belong to the Life that now is 3. I do assert that the same Scripture prophecys may possibly nay commonly have diverse times and ways of Fulfilling and yet one ultimate fulfilling in a most eminent manner As those before Isa 41.19 Isa 55.13 And I will plant in the wilderness the Cedar c. In stead of the Thorn shall come up the Firr-tree c. Which are blessed Prornises of Gospel Grace now in the midst of Babylons Captivity And so those of the Amity among the wild Beasts Isa 11.6 c. Isa 65.25 which in Gospel times may hold forth blessed Grace given to brutish feirce men that when the Saints find favour in the Eyes of the Lord are made sweetly to live in peace together and yet all short of the litteral and principal fulfilling as the gleanings are of the Harvest when the poor-poor-Earth shall spring up in the Glory of blessing and the Beasts iustead of terror to be not only peaceable but to become Rays of their Creators Glory and Majesty in the Restitution of all things as before So in a word I take the New Heavens and Earth in Isa 65. c. to be in a civil and Ecclesiastical Sense and to be fulfilled in a figurative sense in this â—ife But the New Heavens and Earth in 2. Pet. 3.13 and Rev. 21.1 to be also properly and litterally fulfilled and that after the Old Heavens and Earth is destroyed by Fire as before when there will be no place left for any other fulfilling So Christs last Appearing will Metaphorically be fulfilled before the 7th Seal Rev. 6.14 And to this that Prophecies have diverse and succinct fulfillings let me add that I understand that of the first Resurrection Rev. 20.5.6 which though a reality in it self yet there to be in expression figurative and in allusion to the Resurrecton of the just before that if the unjust Acts 24.15 For the Resurrection to the 1000 years is not the bodily Resurrection because the 1000 years is before Christs coming to raise the Saints But as at the Resurreation of the just at the last day the Saints and none but they shall be raised first So in Revel 20.4 None but the faithful then living shall be spiritually Reviv'd to reign with Christ spiritually a Thousand years and the rest of the Dead lived not again till afterwards v. 5. And this first Resurrection was so discriminating that â—n such the second death had no Power ver 6. And so I take the Reign it self in the 1000 years tho its said Christ reigned with them yet not in person but in spiritual Glory and I conceive in a way of Prediction of that absolute Persection of his Dominion that would soon succeed after the 1000 years upon the Destruction and Judgment of this World And because the Opening this matter of the 1000 Years will be a Portal to all that shall succeed and clear up the Demonstration thereof I shall briefly lay down some Demonstrations that do Evince this for a Truth that the 1000 years Reign of the Saints with Christ will be before and so without his personal presence on the Earth 1. Demonstration The Thousand years is set forth in Scripture and so generally understood to be a time of Peace plenty liberty and rejoycing of the whole Earth But when Christ comes in Person it produces a universal Destruction and Astonishment to the World Revel 6.15 every bondman and every freeman crying to the Rocks c. so Rev. 1.7 Matth. 24.30 2. Demonstration When Christ comes all the dead Saiuts are raised and the living saints changed and all together caught up to meet the Lord in the Air and so to be for ever with the Lord 1 Thess 4.17 18. So that from that time they could no more converse with the unconverted of this World as the Thousand years requires See Luke 20 35 36. 3. ' Demonstration When Christ comes he comes in flaming fire taking Vengeance on them that know not God c. 2 Thess 1.7 8. Jude 14 15. And then also the world and the works that are therein shall be burnt up 2 Pet. 3.10 Now all these persons and things being destroyed at that day if this were at the beginning of the Thousand years where were the reign for a 1000 years after of the Saints over the World in converse with the unregenerate Therefore Christs Coming is after the 1000 years 4. Demonstration Upon Christs coming and raising the Saints c. then follows the Day of Judgment 2 Tim. 4.1 Which is clearly set down in the order of things to follow the thousand years Revel 20.11 to the end See pag. 9 10. So that Christs coming to Judgment cannot be but after the 1000 years 5. Demonstration Ps 110.1 Act. 3.21 Christ is to remain at Gods right hand till his Enemys be made his footstool But after the thousand years Gog and Magog assault the Saints Revel 20.8.9 therefore he came not a thousand years before while that Enemy was unsubdued 6. Demonstration Neither is God his last Enemy but Death is so called 1. Cor. 15 26. Therefore Christs coming is not till he comes to swallow up Death in Victory ver 54. in the Resurrection of the Saints See above 4. Answer to the Objection that Rev. 21.24 26. and Ch. 22.2 relate to a Temporal fulfilling in this World 'T is granted but yet conceived that the ultimate import of the Vision of New Jerusalem is finally reduceable to the Eternal State and that on Earth but as was asserted before Prophecies have diverse fulfillings so to that mistical sense of New Heavens and Earth in the purity c. of Church and State must those Verses in the Objection be reterted as inteâ—â—exed â—n general as to a glorious state of the Saints but properly belonging to the time of the Thousand years For the Saints Interest is called the beloved City then Chap. 20.9 And in this Eternal state called the great Citty Cap. 21.10 c. But still upon Earth to which she came down from Heaven ver 2. and we read not of her ever going up again Thus in these deep Mysteryes it pleases the Revealer of them to lay them down in words and methods hard to be understood 2. Pet. 3.16 And no wonder if the Prophets them selves were to seek what and what manner of times the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify 1. Pet. 1.10 11. 1. Cor. 13.9 II. Object The Eternal Inheritance is said to be in Heaven c. Colos 1.5 Luke 12.33 2. Cor