otherwise understood in this of Christ which is to succeed them all as they have succeeded each other both in time and place as the 35. vers doth fully declare and as the falling of the stone upon the feete of the Image upon the last and divided Kingdoms of the iron Empire doth probably imply For if the Kingdome of God there spoken of were to be understood of a Kingdome which should so be set up in the dayes of these Kings that their reigne should notwithstanding continue together with it as not onely these but all former Kingdomes also have done with the Militant Church with the Kingdome of grace which therefore cannot be the Kingdome there foreshewne then doubtlesse it should have beene represented by some part of the Image it selfe as the contemporating Kingdomes of the divided Empire are by the mixture of iron and clay and not by a thing so different from it and adverse unto it by a stone I say so wonderfull for its beginning operation and increase For it was cut out without hands and when it had smote the Image became a great Mountaine Ver. 34.45 Ver. 35. and filled the whole earth which the Church as yet never did whose fall and growth too as they import a more powerfull speedy and generall conquest over these Kingdomes by this Kingdome then either the gold received from the silver the silver from the brasse or the brasse from the iron so they imply the utter extirpation and totall abolition of the manner of policy and government which these Kingdomes have used of which it is said that they became like the chaffe of the summer threshing-floores and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them vers 35. And with this sense of the interpretation of the vision very well agreeth that in the second Psal at the 8. vers Aske of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession Thou shalt breake them with a rod (a) Rev. 2. v. 27. ch 19. v. 15. of iron thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potters vessell And that in Psal 110. at the 2. vers The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion rule thou in the midst of thine enemies The Lord at thy right hand shall strike thorow Kings in the day of his wrath Hee shall judge among the Heathen he shall fill the places with dead bodies he shall wound the heads over many countries He shall drinke of the brooke in the way therefore shall he lift up the head Yea and that too in the 149. Psal at the second vers Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the children of Zion be joyfull in their (b) 1 Sam. 1 v. 9.10 Psal 47. Psal 98. King Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand to execute vengeance upon the Heathen and punishments upon the people to binde their Kings with chaines and their Nobles with fetters of iron to execute upon them the judgement written This honour have all his Saints And that nought else is meant by the world to come in the second of the Heb. at the 5. vers but the Kingdome of our Saviour it is evident by the authority there alleadged out of the 8. Psal which prophecy is therefore made use of by the Apostle as a plaine proofe that Christs manhood is exalted above the chiefest of the Angels because it shewes that it is to Christ as man and not to any of the Angels that God hath put in subjection the world to come And if there be yet a world which is to be put in subjection to Christ as man then it must needs be a distinct world from (c) 1 Cor. 15 v. 24 28 Rev. 21. v. 3 that in which as man he shall give up the Kingdome to his Father for that which is to be given up is already past And it is no where said that the new Jerusalem the City of eternall glory shall be subjected to Christ as a creature but that Christ as a creature shall after the judgement of the dead be there subject to the Father 2. By expresse prophesie And thus it hath beene proved by consequence that our Saviour shall heareafter reigne on earth You shall now heare it directly and expressely affirmed Behold saith the Angell to the Virgin Mary thou shalt conceive in thy wombe and bring forth a Sonne and shalt call his name Jesus he shall be great and shall be called the Sonne of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto him (d) Matth. 2 v. 6. Acts 2. v. 30 31. the Throne of his Father David Luke the first at the 31. v. Behold saith (e) Ch. 33. v. 15.16 Ieremiah in his 23. c. at the 5. v. 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 * Whatsoever losse the disobedience of the first Adam brought on himselfe and his posterity that no doubt the second Adam hath recovered with advantage for himselfe and his chosen But the first Adam lost not onely his right to Heaven but the happy estate too which an innocent life would for a long time have continued to him and his on earth And therefore that intercourse and familiarity with God that rule and command over men and all other creatures which Adam before the advancement of mankind to its highest happines should have here enjoyed if he had not fell that and farre more then that shall Christ with his chosen inherit at his next appearing And now seeing even reason it selfe doth thus strongly conclude for our Saviours future soveraignty what unreasonablenesse were it in us any longer to misdoubt the literall accomplishment of these and all other sacred revelations which so fully describe and so clearely confirme it in the (f) Is 8. v. 8. Iob 19. v. 25. Heb. 1. v. 2. earth In his dayes Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his Name whereby he shall bee called The Lord our righteousnesse Behold saith Zech. in his 6. chap. at the 12. vers 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 and hee shall beare the glory and shall sit and rule upon his Throne and he shall be a Priest upon his Throne and the counsell of peace shall be betweene them both And in the 34. chap. of Ezek. at the 22. vers I will save my flocke and they shall no more be a prey and I will judge betweene cattell and cattell and I will set up one Shepheard over them and he shall feed them even my servant David he shall feed them and he shall be their Shepheard And I the Lord will be their God and my servant David a Prince
Records as they challenge no lesse then beleefe to what I have written from them that equall these Scriptures with the Canonicall and are indeed altogether incompatible with a Jewish Antichrist so they manifest also to the whole world that I have uttered no yesterdayes doctrine no deformed issue of a private and distempered Spirit hatcht in a corner and nurst in a conventicle studyed in a closet or cloister and preacht onely in a chamber or covent but such things as accompany (r) Heb. 6. v. 9. Salvation Such words as every free Christian every uncaptived conscience will plainely perceive and publikely confesse to be the (s) Act. 26. v. 25. words of sobernesse and Truth Even her words (e) Prov. 1. v. 20. c. whose wont it is to utter t her voyce in the streetes in the chiefe place of concourse in the opening of the gates and in the City saying How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fooles hate knowledge Let old Tobit speake for the rest I beleeve that our Brethren shall lye scattered in the earth from that good land and Jerusalem shall be desolate and the house of God in it shall be burned and shall be desolate for a time And that againe God will have mercy on them and bring them againe into the land where they shall build a Temple but not like to the first untill the time of that age be fulfilled and afterwards they shall turne from all places of their captivity and build up Jerusalem gloriously and the House of God shall be built in it for ever with a glorious building (v) Act. 3. v 19 20 21. as the u Prophets have spoken thereof And all Nations shall turne and feare the Lord God truely and shall bury their (w) Is 2. v. 20. Idols So shall all Nations praise the Lord and his people shall confesse God and the Lord shall exalt his people and all those that love the Lord God in truth and justice shall rejoyce shewing mercy to our brethren Gloria Deo Vita Regi Pax Regno Glory to God on high on earth increase To the Kings age and to the Kingdome peace FINIS GOG AND MAGOG OR THE BATTLE OF THE GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTIE By ROBERT MATON Minister and Mr of Arts and sometimes Commoner of Wadham Colledge in OXFORD Hab. 2. v. 3. The vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it shall speake and not lie though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry LONDON Printed by R. Cotes for Daniel Frere and are to be sold at his shop in little Britaine at the signe of the red Bull. 1642. DEUT. 32. v. 2.36.43 The Lord shall judge his people and repent himselfe for his servants when he seeth that their power is gone and there is none shut up or left Rejoyce O yee Nations with his people for he will avenge the blood of his servants and will render vengeance to his adversaries and will he mercifull to his land and to his people Jerem. 10. v. 11.10 The (b) Isa 2.20 Zeph. 3.11 gods that have not made the heavens and the earth even they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens But the Lord is the true God he is the living God and an everlasting King at his wrath the (c) Isa 2.19 21. Rev. 6.15 16 17. earth shall tremble and the Nations shall not be able to abide his indignation Isaiah 14. v. 24. c. The Lord of Hosts hath sworne saying surely as I thought so shall it come to passe and as I purposed it shall stand That I will breake the Assyrian in my land and upon my mountaines tread him under foot then (d) Isa 10.24 25 26 27. shall his yoke depart from off them and his burden from off their shoulders This is the purpose that is purposed upon the (e) Eze. 38 39. Ioel. ch 3. Micah 4.12 13. Zeph. 3.5 Zek. 12.14 whole earth and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the Nations For the Lord of Hosts hath purposed and who shall disannull it and his hand is stretched out and who shall turne it backe Isaiah 30. v. 27 c. Behold the Name of the Lord commeth from farre burning with his anger and the burden therereof is heavie his lips are full of indignation and his tongue as a devouring fire And his breath as an over-flowing streame shall reach to the middest of the necke to sift the Nations with the sieve of vanitie and there shall be a bridle in the jawes of the people causing them to erre Ye shall have a song as in the night when an holy solemnity is kept and gladnesse of heart as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountaine of the Lord to the mighty one of Israel And the Lord shall cause his glorious voyce to be heard and shall shew the lighting downe of his arme with the indignation of his anger and with the flame of a devouring fire with scattering and tempest and hailestones For through the voyce of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten downe which smote with a rod. And in every place where the grounded staffe shall passe which the Lord shall lay upon him it shall be with tabrets and harpes and in battels of shaking will hee fight with it For Tophet is ordained of old yea for the King it is prepared he hath made it deepe and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a streame of brimstone doth kindle it GOG AND MAGOG OR THE BATTLE OF THE GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTIE EZEK 38.2 Sonne of man set thy face against Gog the land of Magog the chiefe Prince of Meshech and Tuball and prophesie against him c. THat we may the better know what enemies are meant by Gog and Magog in the 20. chap. of the Rev. it will not be amisse first Vers 8. to examine who are meant by Gog and Magog in the 38 and 39. chap. of Ezekiel And this can no way be so well found out as by comparing Ezekiels prophesie with other Prophesies For albeit this of Ezekiel be in forme and manner of expression somewhat different from others and in matter much more copious than others that being delivered here plainly fully and together which is in some but obscurely glanc't at and in others revealed but in part or at most by parcels as we say that is some part in one place and some in another yet that Ezekiel goes not alone in the subject of this Revelation it is evident by the Querie made by God himselfe in the very same Prophesie Thus saith the Lord God Art thou hee of whom I have spoken in (a) Hab. 2.3 old time by my servants the Prophets of Israel which prophesied in those dayes many yeares that I would bring thee against them chapter the
the 1. vers Behold in those dayes and in that time when I shall bring againe the captivitie of Judah and Hierusalem I will also gather all Nations and will bring them downe into the valley of Jehosaphat which in the 14. vers 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 15. vers againe The Sunne and the Moone shall be darkned and the Starres shall withdraw their shining the Lord also shall roare out of Zion and utter his voyce from Hierusalem and the (u) Isa 2.19 c. Eze. 38.19 20. Hag. 2.22 Mat. 24.29 Rev. 16.18 c. 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 I am not ignorant that the darkning 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 do at the accomplishment of this Prophesie Neither have I forgotten that the first of these Prophesies was made use of by Saint Peter to stop the mouthes of such as jeered the Apostles when by the descent of the holy Ghost upon them they began to speake with other tongues Act. 2.4 but that this Prophesie was then fulfilled I deny for when some mocking said These men are full of new wine Cap. cjusd vers 13. c. Saint Peter replyed Ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Hierusalem be this knowne unto you and hearken unto my words for these are not drunken as ye suppose seeing it is but the third houre of the day but this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel And it shall come to passe in the last dayes saith God I will powre out my Spirit upon all flesh as if he had said My brethren these are not the effects of wine but of the Spirit of God which is now powred out on the first fruits of the Jewes as a pledge assurance of that bountifull effusion of it which as Joel hath said shall one day happen to the whole (u) Isay 32. vers 15. Ezek. 39. vers 29. Zech. 12 vers 10. Nation And that this is all S. Peter meant it may thus appeare first because the chief and most remarkeable effect of the Spirit in the Apostles at this time was the gift of tongues of which the Prophet makes no mention and secondly because as the Prophet revealed so hee repeats this powring out of the Spirit as a contemporary event with the wonders which shall be shewne in the heavens and in the earth before the great and terrible day of the Lord come Which day can no way be referr'd to the first comming of Christ when he came to (x) Luk. 9. vers 56. Chap. 19. vers 10. Joh. 12.47 save sinners and not to destroy them when hee would not take upon him to be (y) Luk. 12.14 Joh. 6.15 Judge and Ruler over them for then it must have beene an antecedent of his birth of the time he lived and not a subsequent of his death and departure which hath no analogie with a day Is remaines then that it is an expression of his second coming which is called a great and terrible day in regard of the generall destruction which shall be brought on all Nations that oppose themselves against the Jewes at that time For in mount Zion and in Hierusalem as you have heard shall be deliverance and in the Remnant whom the Lord shall callâ— And to put it out of doubt that Gods bringing downe of the heathen into the valley of Jehospaphat is meant onely of his gathering them together to a battell and consequently of a judgement on the living and not on the dead to put this out of doubt I say the Prophet makes it to be a concomitant of the Jewes (z) Rev. 16. v. 12 13 14. return from their captivitie and in the 9 10 11 and 12. vers provokes the Gentiles to prepare warre to assemble their mighty men and to breake their plough-shares into swords and their pruning-hookes into speares a preparation which as it would be fruitlesse so doubtlesse they shall neither have time power or will to make when they are summoned to receive the dreadfull sentence of Goe yee cursed And for my owne part I am perswaded that this great army here spoken of is the very same that shall be gathered together to the battell of that great day of God Almighty by the three uncleane spirits like frogs which Saint John saw come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false Prophet Rev. the 16. at the 13. vers Of this (a) Psal 2.1 2 3. Ps 46.6 8. Ps 68.30 Isa 2.12 13 c. Ch. 24.21 22. ch 26.20 21. ch 34.1 2 3 4 5 c. ch 49. v. 26. chap. 66. v. 14 15 16. Micah 4.12 13. destruction also speakes Zephaniah in his 3. chap. at the 8. vers Therefore wait upon mee saith the Lord untill the day that I rise up to the prey for my determination is to gather the Nations that I may assemble the Kingdomes to powre upon them mine indignation even all my fierce anger for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousie for then will I turne to the people meaning the Jewes a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one consent And at the 19. vers Behold at that time I will undoe all that afflict thee and I will save her that halteth and gather her that was driven out and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have beene put to shame At that time I will bring you againe even in the time that I gather you for I will make you a name and a prayse among all people of the earth when I turne backe your captivity before your eyes saith the Lord. And yet more fully Zechariah in his 12. chap. at the 3. vers In that day will I make Hierusalem a burdensome stone for all people all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it In that day will I smite every horse with astonishment and his rider with madnesse and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah and will smite every horse of the people with blindnesse In that day will I make the Governours of Judah like a hearth
2. cap. 16. p. 410. reasons which Wendelinus in the 19. chap. and 2. Section of his naturall Contemplations at the 391. pag. 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 happened 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 saved must needes 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 conveigh the Gospell to them And therfore 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 one day (l) Zech. 3. v. 9. or shall a Nation be borne at once for as soone as Zion travailed she brought forth her children Where the wonderfull and unheard of conversion of a whole Nation at once such as never happened to any Nation of the Gentiles together with the expresse mention of Zion and the evidence of the following verses should me thinks be motive enough to make any impartiall Reader understand this Prophecy of the Jewes which yet implyes not so much a returne of the whole Nation to their Country as to their God and therefore could not be fulfilled 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 obtained was amongst them onely but hath since according to our Saviours Prophecy in the 21. chap. of Matth. at the 43. ver beene taken from them and shall againe according to this be suddenly and extraordinarily restored into them as Joel also before intimated by the plentifull distribution of Gods Spirit in the last dayes 2. That the surviving and subjected Gentiles shall gladly embrace the knowledge and seaâ—e of God with the Jewes You have hitherto heard of the deliverance and happinesse of the Jewes only I shall now acquaint you with their partakers which shall be such as are left of the Nations that are then to be destroyed as you may see in the fore-quoted chap. of Isai at the 15. and 19. verses Behold the Lord will come with fire and with his Charets like a whirlewind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire for by (m) Ezek. 39. v. 4 5 6 c. Mal. 4. v. 1. Psal 50 v. 3 2 Thess 1.1.7 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 Tuball and Javan to the Isles afarre off that have not heard my fame neither have seene my glory and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles And they shall bring all your Brethren for an offering (n) Isa 18. v. 7. unto the Lord out of all Nations upon Horses and in Charets and in Litters and upon Mules and upon swift beastes 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 take of them for Priests and for Levites saith the Lord. For as the new Heavens and the new Earth which I will make to wit at the judgement of the dead when this Heaven and Earth shall passe away as it is in the 20. of the Rev. at the 11. ver and in the 21. at the 1. ver as these shall remaine before me saith the Lord so shall your seed and your name remaine to wit after the foresaid returne from their captivity And it shall come to passe that from one New Moone to another and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to (o) Psal 68 u. 29.31 Psal 100. v. 1.2 4. worship before me saith the Lord and they shall goe forth and looke upon the carkeises of the men that have transgressed against me for their worme shall not dye neither shall their fire be quenched and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh And in his 60. chap. at the 9. ver and the 61. at the 4. ver They shall (p) Iâ—a 53. v. 12. build the old wastes they shall raise up the former desolations and they shall repaire the waste Cities the desolations of many generations And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks and the sonnes of the alient shall be your Plough-men and your Vine-dressers But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord Men shall call you the Ministers of your God ye shall eate the riches of the Gentiles and in their glory shall you boast your selves For your shame you shall have double and for confusion they shall rejoyce in their portion therefore in their Land they shall possesse the double everlasting joy shall be unto them Surely the Isles shall waite for me and the Ships of Tarshish first to bring my Sonnes from farre their silver and their gold with them unto the name of the Lord thy God and to the Holy One of Israel because he hath glorifyed thee And the Sonnes of Strangers shall build up thy wals and their Kings shall minister unto thee For in my wrath I smote thee but in my favour have I had mercy on thee Therefore thy gates shall be open continually they shall not be shut day nor night that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles and that their Kings may be brought For the (q) Ier. 12. v. 14 15 16 17. Nation and Kingdome that will not serve thee shall perish yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted The sonnes also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves downe at the soles of thy feete and they shall call thee the City of the Lord the Zion of the Holy One of Israel Whereas thou hast beene forsaken and hated so that no man went thorow thee I will make thee an eternall excellency a joy of many generations Thou shalt also sucke the milke of the Gentiles and shalt sucke
among them I the Lord have spoken it and in his 37. chap. at the 24. vers David my servant shall be King over them and they shall have one Shepheard and they shall also walke in my judgements and observe my statutes and doe them and they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant wherein your Fathers have dwelt and they shall dwell therein even they and their children and their childrens children for ever and my servant David shall be their Prince for ever And in the 9. chap. of Isaiah at the 6. vers Vnto us a child is borne unto us a Sonne is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderfull Counseller the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end Vpon the Thron of David and upon his Kingdome to order it and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever the zeale of the Lord of Hosts will performe this And in the 52. chap. at the 13. vers Behold my servant shall deale prudently he shall be (g) Ps 1â—8 v. 22.23 24 c. exalted and extolled and be very high As many were (h) Luke 2. v. 34.35 astonied at thee his visage to wit at the time of his suffering was so marred more then any man and his forme more then the sonnes of men so to wit at his next appearing shall he sprinkle many Nations the Kings shall shut their mouthes at him for that which had not beene told them shall they see and that which they had not heard shall they consider And in the 4. chap. of Micah at the 6. vers In that day saith the Lord will I assemble her that halteth and I will gather her that is driven out and her that I have afflicted and I will make her that halted a remnant and her that was cast (i) Rom. 11. v. 12.15.32 off a strong Nation and the Lord shall reigne over them in Mount Zion from henceforth even for ever And in the 72. Psal at the 6. vers He shall come downe like raine upon the mowen grasse as showers that water the earth In his dayes shall the righteous flourish and abundance of peace so long as the Moone endureth He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth They that dwell in the Wildernesse shall bow before him and his enemies shall licke the dust The Kings of Tarshish and of the Iles shall bring presents the Kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts Yea all Kings shall fall (k) Isa 45. v. 22.23 Phil. 2. v. 10 downe before him (l) Ps 22. v. 27 28. Rev. 14. v. 6 7. ch 15. v. 4 all Nations shall praise him And in the 102. Psal at the 13. vers Thone shalt arise and have mercie upon Zion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come for thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof So the Heathen shall feare the name of the Lord and all the Kings of the earth thy glory When the Lord shall build up Zion he shall appeare in his glory Now that these prophecies doe concerne the reigne of Christ alone I thinke no man doubts and that they are already fulfilled it cannot bee proved 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 betweene his feete Neither were Judah and Israel then in the land together neither 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 (m) Is 33. v. 20. ch 50. v. 1 2 3 9 10. Jerusalem (n) Ps 122. v. 5. Davids Throne was For his feete shall stand in that day to wit when he comes to receive his appointed Kingdome on the Mount of Olives which is before Ierusalem on the East from which Mount also he ascended and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst therof toward the East toward the West there shal be a very great valley and halfe the Mountaine shall remove toward the North and halfe of it toward the South And ye shal flee to the valley of the Mountains 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 K. of Judah And the Lord my God shall (o) Iude v. 14 15. Rev. 19. v. 11 12 13 14 15 16. come all the Ss. with thee and it shal come to passe in that day that the light shall not be cleare nor dark 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 (p) Ps 46. v. 4. Ezek. 47. v. 1. c. Ioel 3. v. 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 Lord 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 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 and men shall dwell in it and there shall be no more utter destruction but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited Zech. the 14. at the 4. vers You see here that our Saviour comes not onely to conquer death which is the last enemy that he shall destroy 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 rule and all the authority and power of other Nations that there may be one Shepheard and one Sheepfold that the (q) Dan. 7. v. 27. Kingdome and Dominion and greatnesse of the Kingdome under the whole Heaven may be possest by the people of the Saints of the most High That is as the former prophesies doe expound it by the people of (r) Ps 148. v. 14. Israel And this as I thinke is the time of which he spake these words Verily verily I say unto you (s) Iohn 1. v. 15. Hereafter shall yee see Heaven open and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the (t) Heb. 1. v. 6. Sonne of man For that this may be fulfilled it
men 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 appeare 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 meete 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 bee eye-witnesses of Gods wonders in all Countryes at that time For that by Christs judging the (g) Ps 2. v. 8. c. Ps 110. v. 2. c. Ps 149. v. 6. c. Isa 30. v. 25. ch 66. v. 15.16 Ver. 8.9 quick and the dead mentioned in the 2. to Tim. and the 4. chap. cannot be meant the last and compleat but rather a former and inchoate judgement of ungodly men it appeares out of the 20. of the Rev. 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 destoyed 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 And this conjecture Isa in his 27. chap. at the 12. vers doth sufficiently confirme For the great sound of the Trumpet before spoken of in Saint Matth. as a warning for the gathering together of the elect is there said to be a warning also of the Jewes returne the words are these It shall come to passe in that day that the Lord shall beat off from the channell of the river unto the streame of Egypt and yee shall be gathered one by one O yee children of Israel and it shall come to passe in that day that the (h) Isa 18. v. 3. Zech. 9. v. 14. great Trumpet shall be blowne and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria and the out-casts in the land of Egypt and shall worship the Lord in the holy Mount at Jerusalem And thus being thorowly satisfied by this cloud of witnesses the double jury of Prophets and Apostles with which I finde the doctrine of my Text to be encompast I here give over the pursuit of these meditations and commend to as many as wish well to themselves and to Zion these instructions following First to praise God for his abundant mercie who through the fall of the Jewes hath brought salvation unto us Gentiles that together with them we might partake of the roote and fatnesse of their Olive tree Secondly to beware of unbeliefe which was the cause that the Jewes were broken off from their Olive And if God spared not the naturall branches much lesse will he spare us if by faith we continue not in his goodnesse Thirdly not to contemne or revile the Jewes a fault too common in the Christian world and that partly because we are unmindfull as well of the Olive from whence we were taken as of that into which we are graffed whose root bears us not we the root And partly because we misapply the infallible promises of God by which he hath so freely and so feelingly so often and so openly declared that he will againe graffe them in For if we were cut out of the Olive tree which is wild by nature and were graffed contrary to nature into a good Olive tree how much more shall they which be the naturall branches be graffed into their owne Olive tree Rom. the 11. at the 24. vers And lastly earnestly to beseech God that hee would speedily put into execution the means which he hath appointed for their conversion that he would even in these our dayes bring this mystery to light by powring on his people the spirit of grace and supplications whereby they may beleeve and repent Zech. 12. v. 10. For their happinesse will both increase and consummate ours so also the Apostle * If the fall of them c. Observe here what Jewes are said to occasion the riches of the Gentiles Not those that beleeved when the Apostle wrote this although many of them were the first instruments of the Gentiles conversion and much lesse they that have beleeved since that time for these as they come farre sho t of the others both in number and qualifications so they may be said rather to have taken of us then given unto us to have inherited the riches of the Gospel with us but not increased them Not the first beleevers therefore nor such which hitherto have so slowly and thinly followed them but the stiffe-necked and stubborne Jewes who slew Christ who martyr'd and persecuted his Disciples They are here said to be the reconciling of the woâ—â—d and the riches of the Gentiles and that because their fall and casting away mov'd God so soone to visit us with the tydings of Salvation And â—â—â—â—fulnesse the receiving of them it must be that shall perfect us the reâ—â—â—â—â—ng of them I say which were then cast away but how not in â—â—â—ir owne persons for it is impossible that the same men should fall and not fall should be cast away and not cast away but in their posterity and that not in part and by fits but wholly and at once for the Apostle speakes not of particular men and families but of all the Tribes of the whole Nation And indeed what but a generall conversion of the Jewes can bring such felicity to the Gentiles as shall not onely parallell but exceed the blessings which we have already received by their unbeliefe If the fall of them be the riches of the world and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles how much more their fulnesse And againe If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead Rom. 11. vers the 12. and 15. Now to our Lord Jesus Christ who is both the light of the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel who is the faithfull witnesse and the first begotten of the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the earth Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sinnes in his owne bloud and made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen Amen Psal 14. v. 7. Psal 53. v. 6. O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Sion when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people
flaming fine taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ when he shall come to be glorifyed in his Saints and to be admired in all them that beleeve in that Day For seeing the beast to whom these Kings were to give their strength was to (q) Rev. 13 v. 12. exercise all the power of the first beast before him and that it was given to the first beast (r) ch 13. v. 7. to make warre with the Saints and to overcome them it necessarily followes that the warre which these Kings were to make while they should agree to give their Kingdomes unto the beast was likewise to be with the Saints whom they should overcome not with the Lamb who should overcome them Neither wil it suffice against the force of this argument to say that they who fight with the Saints doe fight with the Lamb that they who overcome the Saints by the Sword are yet over come by them through faith for the first beast did as much fight against the Lamb in this sense as these Kings was as much overcome by the Saints in this sense as they who yet is neither said to warre with the Lambe nor to be overcome by the Saints And sure I am it is recorded in the 7. chap. of Dan. that he beheld the presumptuous horne of the fourth beast exhibited to him in a dreame making warre with the Saints not the Lambe and prevailing against them Vntill the ancient of Dayes did sit and the time came that the Saints possessed the Kingdome And whether that horne be all one with the beast and false Prophet in the Rev. and so is to prolong his dominion his persecuting power in wearing out the Saints who were to be (s) Dan. 7. v. 25. given into his hand even untill the time of the (t) Rom. 8. v. 19.21 manifestation and glorious Liberty of the Sonnes of God spoken of by Saint Paul as a thing earnestly expected by the (v) cha 8. v. 19. Creature even the (w) ch 8. v. 22. whole creation let the (x) Dan. 7. v. 11. Apoc. 19. v. 20 21. Analogy of their destruction and the (y) Dan. 7. v. 11.18.22 26 27. Rev. 19. v. 11 12 c. expiration of the fourth beast the Roman Empire at the accomplishment thereof Let these things I say together with the interpretation of the vision made to (z) ch 7. v. 23 24 c. Daniel and the parallell observed by Master (a) Comment Apâ—c par 2. p. 279 280. Meade betwixt the Thrones Judgement and Kingdome of the Saints revealed in both prophecies determine the matter Thirdly the state of the world at our Saviours appearing shall be as it was in the dayes of Noah both for security and profanenesse for When the Sonne of man commeth shall he finde faith on tâ—e Earth saith Christ Luke the 18. at the 8. ver which is a plaine proofe that there shall not be whole Kingdomes and armies of faithfull Christians but onely here and there (b) Luk. 17. v. 34 35 36 one Neither doth this saying contradict the * Ob. If there shall be at Christs comming such scarsenesse of faith it is not lâ—kely that there shall be such a multitude of beleeving Jewes conversion of the Jewes Sol. Pareus giveth this solution that although there shall be in the end of the world a multitude of beleeving Jewes yet their number shall be but small in respect of the unbeleeving Gentiles To this Solution this further may be added that the failing of faith which Christ prophesieth of must be specially he should have said onely understood of the Gentiles where Christ had beene preached and beleeved upon that even there where it was more likely that faith should have beene none shall be found for when the Jewes shall be called faith shall waxe very faint and cold among the Gentiles Willet in his sixfold Comment upon the Epist to the Rom. Chap. 11. Quest 27. p. 511. at that time because the word Earth is figuratively put for the people of the Earth and by The People of the Earth all the Nations besides the (c) Num. 23 v. 9. Jewes are in the Scriptures usually understood So in the 28. of Deut. at the 10. ver we read All the peopâ—e of the earth shall see that thou art called by the Name of the Lord and they shall be afraid of thee in the 1 of the Kings the 8. Chap. at the 43. ver That all the people of the earth may know thy Name to feare thee as doe thy people Israel In the 2 of Chron. the 32. chap. at the 19. ver They spake against the God of Jerusalem as against the Gods of the people of the earth And in the 1 of Kings the 10. Chap. at the 24. ver All the earth sought to Solomon to heare his wisedome which God had put in his heart And they brought every man his present Where the word Earth alone is equivalent with the people of the earth in all the former instances and therefore seeing it doth as well by it selfe as together with its adjunct signifie the Nations of the Gentiles onely why should it not be so taken in our Saviours speech yea it must needes be so taken for as he said when the Son of Man commeth shall he find faith on the earth So he said also that as well of the Jews only as to the Jews only Behold (d) Mat. 23 v. 37 38 39 your house is left unto you desolate verily I say unto you ye shall not see me untill (e) Mar. 14. v. 62. Psal 118 v. 21 22 â— ye â—oâ—â— 3â— 16 the time come when ye shall say Blessed is he that commeth in the Name of the Lord Luke the 13. at the 35. ver And shall we thinke that our Saviour would have given such a testimony of the Jewes unlesse he had knowne that they should be a penitent and converted people a people endued with the (f) Zech. 12 v. 10. Spirit of grace and supplication when they saw him next doubtlesse he would not And therefore this gratulatory acclamation doth no lesse set forth unto us the comfortable estate of the Jewes at Christs appearing then the former saying doth the desperate estate of the Gentiles at that time For Blessed is he that commeth in the Name of the Lord are the very same words which with so much (g) Luk. 19. v. 37.38 alacrity and cheerfulnesse of minde were chanted out before our Saviour by his Disciples and those that met (h) Ioh. 12. v. 12.13 him when he was riding to Jerusalem to shew the City a glimpse of his royalty and can they ever then become the language of those that shall flye from his presence to hide themselves in caves and dens of the earth nay seeing they are to be resumed againe by the same people at the
and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel 7. v. 14. the God of the whole earth shall he be called For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit and a wife of youth when thou wast refused saith thy God For a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy redeemer For this is as the waters of Noah unto mee for as I have sworne that the waters of Noah should no more goe over the earth so have I sworne that I would not bee wroth with thee nor rebuke thee For the mountaines shall depart and the hils shall be removed but my kindnesse shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Jer. 31. v. 15. c. Thus saith the Lord A voyce was heard in Ramah lamentation and bitter weeping Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted because they were not Thus saith the Lord Refraine thy voyce from weeping and thine eyes from teares for thy worke shall be rewarded saith the Lord and they shall come againe from the Land of the enemy And there is hope in the end saith the Lord that thy children shall come againe to their owne border 1 Chron. 16. v. 34.35 O give thankes unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever And say ye Save us O God of our salvation and gather us together and deliver us from the Heathen that we may give thankes to thy holy Name and glory in thy praise ISRAEL'S REDEMPTION OR THE PROPHETICALL HISTORY OF OVR SAVIOURS KINGDOME ON EARTH ACTS 1.6 They asked of him saying Lord Wilt thou at this time restore againe the Kingdome to Israel THat Christ is already (a) Matt. 1.20 21. Luk. 2.11 Joh. 1.29 30 c. come that as a Prophet hee hath (b) Matt. 4.17 Luk. 4.15 c. cald us to repentance and as a priest hath been a (c) Joh. 2.2 Heb. 2.17 Rom. 3.25 propitiation for our sinnes and not for ours onely but also for the sinnes of the whole world having by (d) Heb. 9.28 ch 10.14 Mark 8.31 Luk. 24.46 Joh. 10.15 Rev. 5.9 once offering himselfe perfected for ever them that are sanctified is the faith of Christians the infidelity of the Jews but that he shall come as a King to reigne on earth and restore againe the Monarchie of Israel is the faith of the Jewes and the infidelity of Christians And I thinke it a matter equally difficult to perswade either part to the mutuall imbracement of each others beleefe and yet with submission to impartiall judgements be it spoken I find not in the Scriptures more voyces for the one than for the other and therefore do verily beleeve that neither Tenet apart but both together do make up the full and (e) Rom. 8.23 ch 11.12.15 Eph. 1.14 ch 4. v. 30. Rev. 10.7 compleat mystery of our Redemption Which by Gods gracious assistance I shall to his owne glory and our Christian comfort clearely prove in the examination of the words now read unto you For they asked of him saying Lord wil thou at this time restore againe the Kingdome of Israel The words you see are a querie and such propositions imply three things 1 A person or persons proposing it 2 A matter or subject proposed 3 A person or persons to whom it is proposed The persons here are the Disciples asking the question and our Saviour answering them as the 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 helpe somewhat to justifie the truth of this proposall I shall omitting this division onely glance at them in the ensuing confirmation of the subject God shall set up a Kingdome ever all the earth which comprehends in it these two assertions 1 That the Kingdome of the Jewes shall againe be restored unto them 1 That the restored Jewes shall be the royall Nation of that renued world 2 That our Saviour at his comming shall restore it And first of the first that the Kingdome of the Jewes shall againe be restored unto them For they asked of him saying Lord wilt thou at this time restore againe the Kingdome to Israel So evidently do these words expresse an earthly kingdome I meane onely a Kingdome 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 mee thinkes they should not so rashly have rejected the consequence and that for these reasons First because the authors of this demand were not babes either in yeares or understanding but the Apostles themselves Men who had followed (f) Mat. â—â— 19. our Saviour from the very time that he manifested himselfe to the world by preaching and miracles and suffered not so much as a (g) Mat. 13.36 parable to escape their knowledge Mat. â— 17 men to whom (h) Act. 1.3 hee had shewed himself â—alive after his passion by many infalâ—ible pâ—oofes being â—â—eâ—â— of them forty dayes and speaking to them of the things pertaining unto the Kingdome of God And yet that these men should now at their last conference with him be mistaken in a matter of such importance as this is which concernes the purpose of God touching the whole Nation of the Jewes is as I beleeve and as I thinke you will all say a thing altogether unlikely and so it is too that all the Apostles should be of the same mind unlesse it had beene a truth formerly taught them and not as it is imagined an errour then newly vented by them A second reason which makes mee distast the censure here cast on our Apostles is because our Saviours answer is alleadged as a sufficient ground for it whereas it will appeare even to a weake judgement by that his answer the Apostles opinion is as much established as their curiositie is reprehended for they askt whether hee would at that time restore againe the Kingdome to Israel to which hee answered It is not for you to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his owne power as if hee should have said it is enough for you to know that such a thing shall be done and by whom but as for the time when it shall be done this the Father hath put in his owne power and therefore ought not to be enquired of by you nor to be revealed by me This is the whole meaning of the reply and now give you your verdict whether you find the Apostles hereby condemned for holding of an untruth
that followed him shall (Å¿) Cornel. à Lap. in c. 3. Hof p. 93. col 2. partly through the remeÌ„brance of the miracles Sermons of the two witnesses partly through the endeavors of other preachers be converted then All Israel shall be saved for this conversion they they allow * The reason why they propose this number rather than any other is because in the 12. chap. of Dan. at the 12. vers it is said Blessed is he that waiteth and commeth to the 1335. dayes which summe is made up by adding 45. dayes the dayes as they call them of repentance to such as have worshipped Antichrist unto the 1290. dayes mentioned in the former verse and held by them and that in their prime immediate and naturall signification to be the full time of Antichrists most abominable worship and tyrannicall usurpation M. Foxes Acts and Monum printed 1596. p. 443. in the story of Walter Brute five and forty dayes at the end of which dayes the (t) Fran. Joh de com l. 7. cap. 14. Ministers of Antichrist who before boasted that although their Prince was dead yet they still enjoyed their power peace and security shall suddenly and that in the midst of their jollitie even while they are eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage be destroyed and so the Church shall be at rest unto the end of the world This is the Papists Antichrist and this is their opinion of the Jewes conversion a dreame as full of folly as falshood as if it were probable that the Jewes after such a long time of blindnesse and so neere the time of their conversion should fall into a greater errour than ever they did since the crucifying of Christ or that they should take one of the Tribe of (u) Joh. 7.42 Rev. 19. v. 20 21. Dan for their Messias and beleeve him too rather than Elias whom they yet expect from heaven or that they could be adherents to Antichrist and yet be alive all after his destruction when as the Scripture saith that the beast and false Prophet shall be taken and cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone and that the remnant shall be slaine Rev. 16. v. 14. ch 19. v. 18 19. And besides Antichrists assistants shall be The Kings of the earth and of the whole world and such I thinke the Papists doe not account the Jewes to be Againe as if it were probable that Antichrist should come in the name of Christ saying that he is Christ and so be a false * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocantur non qui se pro Christo vero Messia falso venditant tales enim in Scriptura proprie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 24. vers 24. Mar 13. v. 22. appellantur sed qui doctr Christi cujus se sectaâ—â—res pro fitentur quoquo mede adversan unde Christum in carnem venisse seu Jesum esse Christum negare dicuntur ut 〈◊〉 collatione vers 3 cap. 4. 1 Ep. ver 7. Ep. 2. ver 22. cap. 2. Ep. 1. Johan cum ver 4. Ep. Iudae ver 1. cap. 2. Ep. 2 Pet. ver 5. 8. cap. 3.2 Ep. Pauli ad Tim. luculenter apparet unde etiam magnus eximius ille Antichristus qui toti fere doctrinae Christianae corpori adversatur sub nomine Christi quam maxime Christum oppugnat ejusque proprium honorem officium ad se transfert in Scriptura vecatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Thes 2. ver 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver eod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 16. v. 13. consequenter ipse ille 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est vid. Disput 13. Festi Hommii p. 45.46 Christ not a false (w) 1 Tim. 4.1 2 3. 2 Pet. 2. v. 1 2 3. 2 Thes 2. v. 3 4 7 8. Rev. 13. v. 11.12 13 14 c. chap. 17. v. 1.2 3 4 5 6 7 8 c. Christian such as the Apostles foretold he should be and so also be one person onely who must reigne but three yeares and an halfe and not rather a continued * Interim tamen tenendum numero singulati notari aliquod regnum in quo â—ubinde unus quispiam praesideat cui viam straverunt Antichristi illi sen haereâ—ici qui jam tum tempor ibus Apostolorum extiterunt id quod tum Johannes â—ignificat hoc loco quum ait Multos Antichristos jam tunc exortos Paulas 2 Thes 2. v. 7. ubi dicit Mysterium illud iniquitatis jam tum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in aliquibus operari seseque exerere vid. Observat 16. Ioh. Piscat in cap. 2. Ep. â— Icannis headship and supremacy over a settled apostasie for to let passe judicious Doctor (x) In the fourth book of his Apol. Sect. 4. 5. Hackwels confutation of this fancie it being altogether impossible that the (y) 2 Thes â— v. 7. mystery of iniquity which began to spring up even in Saint Pauls time and by consequence was to ripen by degrees should be the sudden and irresistible worke of one man or age so many hundred yeeres after although indeed it be very likely that the last inheritour of the Antichristian chaire may be the most wily (z) Rev. 16. v. 13 14. and bewitching deceiver of all to let this passe under whom I pray have the servants of God suffered persecution from the time of the Heathen Roman Emperours untill now if not under the great Apocalypticall (a) Rev. 17 v. 6. chap. 18. v. 24. Antichrist by whose devilish power and policy those which should afterwards be slaine were successively to be fulfilled And if martyrdome hath all this while and doth still go forward under him then certainly this (b) 2 Thes 2. v. 4. 1 Tim. 4. v. 1.2.3 Churchchampion this Wolfe in (c) 2 Tim. 3. v. 5. Rev. 13. v. 11 Sheeps clothing hath beene long agoe reveal'd and consequently the Prognostication of a new and upstart Monarch of no more then a bare three yeers and an half continuance will serve onely for a popish Meridian But we are yet to shew the Jewes peaceable and prosperous estate after their returne * I appeale here to the consciences of all men that shall read these or the like prophecies in the word of God whether they can thinke it possible that the time appointed by God for the dispensation of such extraordinary blessings should be the very same in which the world and especially the Christian part of it was to groane under the continued plagues written in the Revelation which yet we must needs grant to be so if we rest on those interpretations by which all such prophecies are only or chiefely applied to the anticipated conversion of us substituted Gentiles Read then what Jeremiah hath written in his 23. chap. at the 3. vers I will gather the
the false Prophet and the Kings of the earth their predecessours had done at the beginning of the thousand yeares (e) Ver. 9. For fire shall come downe from God our of heaven and devoure them Now against this which hath beene said touching our Saviours Kingdome The chiefe doubts resolved his owne words in the 18. of Saint John at the 35. ver may be objected For there he saith plainely My Kingdome is not of this World And in the 25. of Matth. at the 31. ver he saith When the Sonne of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the Throne of his glory And before him shall be gathered all Nations and he shall separate them one from another as a Shepherd divideth the sheepe from the Goates With which agreeth that of Saint Peter in his 2. Ep. 3. Chap. and 7. ver But the Heavens and earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of Judgement and perdition of ungodly men And many other places there are of the like nature But to the first I answer that those words of our Saviour do onely distinguish the time and condition of his Kingdome from the time and condition of the Kingdomes of this world at the setting up of whose Kingdome there shall be such an * Neo enim dubium quin maxima rerum naturalium humanarum mutatio regni hujus auspicia sit antecessura Antichristus enim cum to ta sua Synagoga abolebitur extingue tur hominum pars maxima gentilibus non nisi paucis relictis qui in posteris suis non extra sed intra regnum hoc mille annis supererunt ut prophetiae supra memoratae cum aliis in Scriptura passim occurrentibus abunde testantur sub decursum vero mille annorum mirum in modum aucti a Satana e carcere suo soluto iterum seducti Sanctorum castra oppugnabunt sed incassum Nec dubium est quin rerum quoque naturalium quae regni hujus incolis ministrabunt longe alia sit futura facies quam impraesentiarum est siquidem beatissimum tranquillissimum erit regni istius seculum omnis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae in natura modo decurrit expers Mar. Frid. Wend. Contemp. phys Sect. 2. cap. 17. p. 375 376. alteration over the whole frame of (f) Psa 46 Isa 2. v. 12.19.21 chap. 11. v. 6. c. chap. 30. v. 25 26. chap. 41. v. 18 19. chap. 55. v. 13. Ezek. 38. v. 19 20. Matth. 24. v. 29 30. Mark 13. v. 24 25. Luk 21. v. 25 26. Rev. 6. v. 12 13 c. chap. 16. v. 18 19. c. nature and such a change of government on the Earth that this time shall then as well be accounted the time of an other world as the time before the Flood is now taken for the old world by us and was long agoe so stiled by Saint Peter in his 2. Ep. 2. Chap. at the 5. ver and 3. Chap. at the 6. ver And therefore notwithstanding this proofe the place of his Kingdome shall be the earth that now is though this be not the time nor any humane policy the patterne of his reigne And to all such places that mention onely the dissolution of the elements and the last judgement I answer that these are but a part of those things which shall be done by Christ at his next appearing and that as other Scriptures shew onely that he must reigne on earth and what shall be done at the beginning of his reigne so these shew onely what shall be left undone till the close of his Kingdome when he shall deliver it up to God even the Father And in my conceit Saint Peter in the very next verse doth intimate as much for having before used the word Day he warnes them not to be ignorant of this one thing that One day is with the Lord as a thousand yeares and a thousand yeares as one Day As if he had told them that the Day he spake of was indeed a thousand yeares The Holy Ghost alwayes using it in this sense when it is emphatically applyed to our Saviours comming or the Jewes Redemption which as is already proved shall happen at the same time And though God as he is eternall cannot be measured by time And as he is immutable feeles no alteration in time a thousand yea ten thousand times ten thousand yeares and one day houre or minute of a day being in this respect all one to him yet this shift cannot voyd the exposition already given seeing the apparent dependance of these words on the former doth clearely prove that Saint Peter intended not to shew what a thousand yeares and one day were to God in regard of his nature which it is like they knew before but onely what is usually meant by one day in the Word of God And indeed to what purpose had this sudden and serious advertisement beene inferred if the Apostle did not hereby discover unto them besides the largest definite and limited acception of the word such a speciall relation of a thousand yeares to one day as could not belong to any other number when as touching Gods immensity and immutability one day might as well have beene compared with ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands as I said as with one thousand yeares Thâ—â—◠〈◊〉 being so I see not but that Gods fore-appointment of a thousand yeares continuance to the world for * Sicuâ—e septenis annis septimus quisque Anâ—us â—emissâ—â—is esâ—â—itaâ—e sepâ—eâ— milli bus aâ—â—oâ—um mundâ— septimus miâ—â—enari◠〈◊〉 enari◠〈◊〉 â—issionâ—â— eâ—it R. Ketiâ—â— viâ— Com. Aâ—oâ—a part 2 p. 28â— each severall day of its first weeke the weeke of its creation might in all likelihood be the ground of this propheticall sense of the word wherein it was afterwards delivered by the infallible penmen of holy Writ To this also may be added that in the 24. of Saint Mat. at the 31. ver which shewes that when the Sonne of man descends He shall send his Angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his Elect from the foure winds from one end of the Heaven to the other At which time Two shall he in the field the one shall be taken and the other left Two Women shall be grinding at the Mill the one shall be taken and the other left And as Saint Luke records Two men shall be in one hed ch 17. v. 34 the one shall be taken and the other left But if our Saviour at his comming shall presently give sentence on all that are not written in the booke of life if he shall make no stay on earth before he undertake this businesse then why shall the elect onely be gathered together and the rest left behinde seeing that great Assise is to be held chiefely for the condemnation of ungodly