to whom it will belong as being appointed to them by his Father in his own time namely at Christs appearing Here consider that Christ saith he came not to destroy the Law and Paul saith he established the Law and this is necessary to vindicate this Doctrine from scandal and to warn well-meaning persons that they think not upon seeming-fair pretences of good to attempt to do evil God having revealed that he will set up that Kingdom himself and that only in his own appointed time On the other side saith our Saviour He that breaketh the least Commandment and teacheth men so shall be the least that is none in the Kingdom of Heaven As he answered the mother of Zebedees children Mat. 20.23 It shall be given to them for whom it is appointed of my Father appointed as well for the time when as persons to whom These and the like errors being removed from it I think it may have an honourable and comfortable place in matter of true Christian Faith as containing the best times of the most holy Catholick Church upon Earth that we are to believe or hope for and the excellentest Communion of Saints that we are in this world to expect And likewise that we are now specially by our prayers to labour to promote as God of old directed his People when their time of deliverance from Babylon drewon Jer. 39. Then said he they shall call on me and I will answer c. And when Daniel by Books understood the mind of God therein he set himself by fasting and prayer to seek for and help forward if it might be the accomplishment of such revealed Grace So now also that new Babel is abundantly revealed to God's People to be shortly to be thrown down and the New-Jerusalem much more abundantly revealed in Scripture shortly thereupon to be set up The Faith and Prayer of God's People ought in their sphear to seeks to promote it and I observe the Dutch Notes though by men of different Judgments yet in the Preface of the nine last Chapters of Ezekiels Prophecy apply what is there said to some wonderful Glory of a Jerusalem to come of which the former restoring of the Jews from old Babylon was but a Type Besides I observe many Psalms and many passages in many other Psalms more than I reade in Mr. Archers Book to tend so this way that otherwise as such Prophetical-Scriptures besides seem not to have any probable fulfilling but according to Revelation Interpretation as I may call it which I must acknowledge I never did nor ever was like rightly and groundedly to have understood but according to the tenour of that blessed Book And as Israels coming out of Egypt tended to the actual giving of them after forty years space the possession of Canaan of old so God's Peoples coming out of the spiritual Egyptian Antichristian bondage now approaching tends to bring all God's true Israel into the New-Jerusalem that comes down from Heaven Rev. 20. and is it not a main drift of the most if not of all the petitions in the Lord's Prayer to this purpose for when hath Gods Name been so comparably hallowed in Earth as it is in Heaven as then it will be both by Men and Angels in all he is made known by to his People When wil his Kingdom come with such power to any sutableness in Earth as it is and will be in Heaven but when the Kingdoms of this World are the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ Rev. 11.15 And likewise when at the same time Rev. 19. God's People shall so rejoyce when the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth because as it followeth in the next verse his Bride hath made her self ready And consequently when will the Will of God be done in Earth as it is by the blessed Angels in Heaven but when his Subjects are of most obedient hearts and loyal spirits as they will be under such a prevalent reigning of Christ When may daily Bread this day any day be so comfortably and confidently prayed for and expected as when the particular promises of the greatest confluences of Temporal and Spiritual Blessings are to be fulfilled in their proper season to their best purposes c. When may we with such comfort and confidence pray for forgiveness of our Trespasses this day any day as when our hearts shall witness with us we least allow our sins When shall we be so assured of our own pardon as when our spirits are most free and clear in pardoning others in case they offend against us When can we so confidently pray to be delivered from the evil one and evil works with the consequents thereof this day any day as when Satan shall be known to be bound Rev. 20.3 and many great temptations removed and a very great measure of Grace attained and near Communion with Christ enjoyed in this World Yea and will not the following enforcements of Prayer set down by our Saviour be then most clearly applicable when the Kingdom is most manifestly Gods and the Power both to obtain it at his own time and pleasure and so likewise to retain it appears clearly his and consequently all Glory as his due shall be rendred unto him to all eternity Amen Amen And for the Martyrs and Saints to be raised at the entrance of Christ on this his Kingdom to have their part in the New Jerusalem I had the like thoughts before to what I find in other Authors That they should be in a state such as Christ was in after his own Resurrection while he was not ascended to his Father but when I consider the many Prophesies of all those great things in the Old Testament so confirmed in the New and specially applyed in the Revelation to the New Jerusalem not only by allusion but by application of the Spirit of God and Christ himself in a special manner Rev. 10.7 as he declared to his Servants the Prophets And at that time reward is to be given to his Servants the Prophets Rev. 11.18 and to his Saints and to them that fear his Name both great and small as it follows in the same Scripture And it is of main weight in this point that when the Chorus was set about the Throne Rev. 4.1 2 3. c. when Saint John was to receive the Visions of that Book there is a glorious appearance of God described and the Rainbow round about the Throne as doing all to his Church through the Covenant of Grace through the Blood of Christ his only begotten Son and the seven Lamps burning before the Throne deciphering the seven Spirits or the Holy Ghost with his Gifts and Graces as Rev. 1.4 more clearly in Rev. 5. there is a Book in the Hand of him that sat upon the Throne which none was found worthy to open but the Lamb that had been as it were slain having seven Horns and seven Eyes vers 6. which occasioned the four living Wights and twenty four Elders to sing a
Appearance by his Spirit of Grace and Truth In setting down therefore what concerns this third and last Period I shall endeavour to express them either as matter of Faith or as things that are probable or lastly as things onely conjectural as the nature of the things may be and as the clearness or obscurity of the grounds of them may give occasion First I believe there is abundant evidence from Scripture that Christ our Saviour will after the coming of Elias Personally in a glorious manner appear with Clouds as Rev. 1.7 or in the Clouds at or about the great destruction of Antichrist which will be as Lightning shining from one end of the Heavens to the other and such appearing of his to the Jews seems to me probable to be the means of their more general Call and Conversion when that Nation will be born in a day as it were Isa 56.8 and thereupon will be their mournful contrition promised as a Mercy Zach. 12.10 And then will likewise be the Conversion of many Nations of the Gentiles not yet called to bring in their fulness as the Apostle speaketh Rom. 11. And then Satan being bound from seducing the Nations for the thousand years the Glorious Kingdom of Christ upon earth will be set up wherein the New Jerusalem coming down from God in the time of the new Heavens and new Earth wherein Righteousness shall dwell or a King shall Rule in Righteousness as the Prophet speaketh The State of that New Jerusalem whose Maker and Builder is God will be exceeding glorious a kind of Triumphant State for the raised Saints in their Order who probably shall have their chief Mansions there till all the deceased Just shall be raised and to the end of the world the Apostles or other eminent Saints probably shall be Rulers there by Christ's appointment and all other Governours that are converted to the Truth and live their Natural Life shall have their directions in Government from them in the New Jerusalem and all the Teachers in the Church shall probably have much instructions from them as they from Christ in whose Light they shall see Light the Lamb being the Light of the City Rev. 21. and that both Spiritual and Visible whose Tabernacle is then said to be with men when I conceive he will be in some glorious manner manifest unto the raised Saints there whose glory they shall then behold visibly being then made capable to behold it that none else then living can do except so as it was made discernable to them by Clouds at his first appearing Yet they likewise shall all be abundantly filled with his Grace and Wisdom and exceedingly rejoyce in all manner of his goodness then manifest to them according to their then present capacity yet in different degrees and measures and this state will be as intailed to the posterity of the Faithful that they and their Seed shall be blessed they shall live long lives but how long I dare not say but as the dayes of a Tree shall their lives be nor what way of removal or manner of death or translation or change I know not but I believe much Mercy and Grace will be bestowed upon them and their off-spring suitable to such an happy Reign of Christ wherein he shall be acknowledged Sovereign by all the Faithful and all authority mannaged under him and for him Isa 49. When Kings shall eminently be Nursing-Fathers and Queens Nursing-Mothers to his Church and People and the Government upheld in good hands to promote good and restrain evil as it was for the most part contrary before but when Satan being loosed out his Prison for a little space shall seduce the wicked Hypocrites of those times and draw them from all quarters of the Earth against the Camp of the Saints and the Beloved City upon which attempt God will destroy them casting the Devil into the Lake of Fire where the Beast and false Prophet had been long before and put an utter end to the World by the dissolution thereof at the consummation of all things with the last general Resurrection of the wicked and general momentany change of the Saints at the sound of the last Trump and Voice of an Arch-Angel 1 Thess 4.16 both such as were alive on Earth and such as were asleep to meet Christ in the Air from thenceforth ever to be with the Lord whereupon follows the general Judgement Many particulars of these natures it is probable will in God's time be apparent from Scripture which we can now but guess at which God to his Faithful Servants may discover concerning which we shall only say with the Antients Elias cum venerit nodos solvet Now for the main substance of all this Doctrine what is it but the explaining of such Articles of Christian Faith as we all profess to believe concerning these things in the true Scripture sence wherein Christ hath taken special order to have his Faithful People rightly instructed as in many particulars forenamed First When we Profess We believe that Christ shall come from the Right Hand of the Father to Judge quick and dead He will so come at his glorious appearing to destroy Antichrist to begin his Judgement and make his Foes his Footstool Ps 110. until which he was to sit at his Fathers Right Hand in Heaven then the Scripture saith He judges quick and dead as Rev. 11.18 and elsewhere though afterwards likewise in this sence Rev. 10. the Angel Christ Swears Time should be no more which seems to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 28.20 so the end of the dayes Dan. 12. for the same Period vide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that it is the day of Judgement at least begun Mr. Mede largely and excellently shews in his fourth Letter to Mr. Hain and to Dr. Twisse c. both from Scripture and Antiquity and that he will wonderfully Reign with his raised Saints a thousand years Why should it be doubted when his Word speaks so much and evidently for it though the Truth hath by Satans slights been clouded for a time wherein there seems to be as it were an appointing of the great last Assizes and calling together the Assessors thereof the Saints doth not the great Law-giver and Judge inform his Church of these things and he must needs be the best Expositor of his own Will c. Sept. 27. 1664. A Paper sent upon occasion of some discourse concerning the great and glorious Appearance of Christ about the time of finishing his Kingdom of Patience and of setting up his Kingdom of Visible Power on Earth the first being the Kingdom of the Stone cut out of the Mountain Dan. 2. Then the Kingdom of this Stone becomes a Mountain as Mr. Mede fitly distinguisheth their times by Regnum Lapidis Regnum Montis AS for the personal appearance of Christ at the destruction of Antichrist and the general calling of the Jews when that Nation shall be born in a day as Isa 66.8 many
Divine Essence both in the Eternal Decrees and in the execution of all f Psal 33.6 joyntly in their order concurred and so g John 5.17 with John 14.10 11 16. will do from Eternity through all Times unto all Eternity Secondly that all the glory of God the Father was by the Eternal Decree to be manifest h 2 Cor. 4.6 Heb. 1.3 Joh. 1.3 4 5. in Jesus Christ his onely begotten Son the Lamb slain in the Eternal Decree of the Father i Rev. 13.8 1 Pet. 1.19 20. before the foundation of the world was laid And according to the said Eternal Decree the holy Ghost k 1 John 5.7 one God co-essential and co-equal with the Father and the Son l John 15.26 proceeds from the Father and the Son the m 1 Tim. 2.5 Mediator between God and Man as the sole n Gen. 11.2 John 14.16 17 26. efficacious Worker and Accomplisher of all spiritual good in and for Angels and Men o Jam. 1.17 all real good in all Creatures which in their several p Exod. 20.11 Orders and Natures they were capable of receiving Thirdly Accordingly in the Creation God made the q Prov. 3.19 Prov. 8.27 28 29 30. World by his Wisdom the Eternal Word John 1. the Spirit sitting as it were upon the surface of the Waters then covering the Earth powerfully to produce the Creatures then to be made and so both the Heavens with the Angels as Divines conceive and the Earth were made the first day Gen. 1.1 as all that were made in the whole World afterward in the five following days which the word Elohim in the plural number put with the Verb Barah in the singular number denoting the Trinity of Persons in the Unity of Essence seems to declare whose concurrence in the making of man is likewise very remarkably exprest when God said Let Us make Man after Our own Image after Our likeness Gen. 1.26 Fourthly The making of r Ephes 1.11 Angels in Heaven and Man and all Creatures in the World was in the execution of the said incomprehensibly glorious Trin-Une-Deity in their several Orders Natures Stations and Conditions Fifthly As no other but the holy and good Will and Pleasure of the infinitely glorious and incomprehensible GOD was the reason and cause why they were all made absolutely as they were so that they should be for Himself as Å¿ Prov. 16.4 his Word witnesseth as their utmost End and no other inconsistent Reasons or Ends ought to be given or assigned by men Sixthly As the t Gen. 1.31 whole Creation was all good suitable to the Author of it so the preserving ordering over-ruling and disposing of all Creatures according to his good Pleasure by his infinite Wisdom Power Providence and Goodness u Rom. 11.33 is not to be measured or judged by any scantling of any created Capacity who will notwithstanding be w Psal 51.4 justified in his saying and clear when he is judged there being in such his proceedings so many fathomless depths in respect of Creatures which it is not lawful for any men to search into further then Gods Word doth warrant them but in things not revealed or forbidden x Deut. 29.29 they are not to enquire Seventhly Since God according to his said Eternal Decree and good pleasure of his will at the Fall of our first Parents in Paradise revealed and testified his wonderful powerful Grace That the blessed Seed of the Woman should break the Serpents Head there is sufficient ground y Psa 51.5 for ever to humble all mankind and z 1 Cor. 15.10 for ever to exalt Gods free and rich Grace therein and a Matt. 11.28 Tit. 2.11 12. all men are thereby engaged to use all GOD's means to obtain their part therein Eightly According to the Declaration of that wonderful rich and free Grace of God for the Salvation of his People and for carrying on his great Design therein As the Father Son and holy Ghost by an Eternal Decree had purposed so to be wonderfully glorified in the powerful Redemption and Salvation of b Rom. 8.28 30 33. his elect People in such a way of free Grace so in the creation of all things all sorts of Creatures were made c Act. 15.18 in a capacity to carry on that Design and from that very period of their first being holily and most wisely over-ruled and disposed of d Psal 119.91 in reference thereunto and so ever since have been are and shall be most wonderfully holily and powerfully though many times secretly and unsearchably throughout all Ages by the joynt concurrence of all the said three Persons of the most sacred Trinity in their order of working e Eph. 1.11 Heb. 6.17 2 Tim. 2.19 John 13.18 to the infallible perfecting and compleating of the said Design Decree and Purpose Ninthly That the f Isa 42.2 1 Pet. 1.19.20 John 3.16 1 Tim. 2.5 mannagement and administration of the great work of Mediatorship between God and Man ever since the said promised Seed was revealed to our first Parents hath been committed to Jesus Christ the Son of God who in his Word commands all men g Mat. 17.5 Luk. 9.35 to hear him h Psal 2.12 1 Pet. 2.6 by acknowledging receiving and obeying him Tenthly That the mannagement and administration of Mediatorship between God and Man hath ever since been executed by Christ in his three great Offices wherein He and he onely is to appear most powerful wonderful gracious and glorious to his Church upon Earth as her great i Act. 3.22 Prophet k Heb. 5.5 6. Priest and l Psal 2.6 King Eleventhly Christs execution of the said three great Offices is two ways to be considered 1. More generally for his universal Church in respect of the m Gen. 3.15 Psal 110.1 Rev. 11.15 several seasons wherein in order he was to execute them severally most eminently until his work of Mediatorship should perfectly be accomplished and n 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20 21. full reconciliation made between God and all his elect People his o 2 Cor. 12.12 27. mystical Body the true Church being compleat in all the Members of it and perfect Union and Communion attained with himself as their Mystical Head together with the p 1 Joh. 1.3 Father and the holy Spirit as also with the glorious Angels and one with another in most happy enjoyment of all Good to all Eternity 2. It is again considerable particularly and specially in respect of every truly believing Soul in the particular application of the efficacy of those three great Offices to them by his holy Spirit making good means and ordinances efficacious to every faithful Soul so exhibiting himself to them q Act. 3.22 as their great Prophet inwardly powerfully and savingly teaching them all necessary Truth and Doctrine secondly r Heb. 7.15 as their great High Priest in the like way evidencing