their generall conversion For the * Isa 32. ver 13 14 15. time is set in which the Spirit shall be poured on them from on high and in which their so plentifully and so plainely foretold deliverance shall be fully accomplished at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ And therefore beloved Reader seeing thou knowest these things before beware that thou be not still led away with the errour of an unwarrantable and indeed pernicious intepretation by reason whereof the way of truth is evill spoken of but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom be glory both now and for ever Amen Farewell Thine in the service of the Lord ROBERT MATON AN ANSWER TO Mr. PETRIE'S Preface Preface FIrst Some Prophecies speake plainly of Christ and cannot be understood of another Esa 9.6 Unto us a child is borne unto us a sonne is given his name shall be called Wonderfull c. Some are typicall or delivered with covers of things signifying Christ his offices and benefits And of these some are spoken of the type or thing signifying and can be understood onely of the thing signified and some are true both of the type and of Christ either in the same or in a different manner that is some are true of both in a proper sense some are true of both in a tropicall or figurative sense and some are true of the one properly and of the other figuratively All these sorts are manifest in sundry Prophecies here I touch one for all 2. Sam. 7.12 When thy dayes be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers saith the Lord unto David I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowells and I will establish his Kingdome This was true in the person of Solomon and of Christ too properly v. 13. He shall build an house for my name This was true of Solomon in the proper acceptation of the word house and figuratively of Christ who said Matth. 16.18 Upon this rock will I build my Church It followes I will establish the throne of his Kingdome for ever This was not true of Solomon in respect of his person for he died neither of his posteritie from whom Jacob had foretold that the Scepter should depart at the coming of Shiloh Gen. 49.10 but of Christ it is true for his Throne is established for ever and ever Heb. 1.8 v. 14. I will be his Father and he shall be my son This is true of Solomon in respect of adoption and of Christ in respect of eternall generation Fiftly it is said there If he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of man but my mercy shall not depart from him as I tooke it from Saul This is true of Solomon and not of Christ who was free of sinne unlesse we understand his members or their sinnes imputed unto him v. 16. Thy house and thy Kingdome shall be established for ever before thee thy Throne shall be established for ever This cannot be understood of David or Solomons house or Kingdome as experience proves now for the space of 1600. years and more but of Christs house and Kingdome which shall never faile By this one passage it is manifest First how miserable ignorance it is to expone all the Prophecies after one and the same manner or in a proper sense onely Secondly that the Evangelists and Apostles exponing these Prophecies in a spirituall and figurative sense doe not wrest them even albeit these have been fulfilled some way before but according to the intendment of the Spirit they bring them unto Christ who is the end of the Law and scope of the Prophets Answer The Prophecies which we have alledged for the Jewes deliverance and our Saviours reigne on earth are all plaine prophecies and therefore your distinguishing of the prophecies into plaine and typicall prophecies is very unseasonably that I say not craftily applyed against us However in the first place the Reader may observe that we have as much reason to beleeve that the Prophecies which speak plainly of the Jewes cannot be understood of any others as we have to beleeve that the Prophecies which speake plainly of Christ cannot be understood of another and consequently that you doe very erroneously interpret these Prophecies when you understand by them the conversion of the Gentiles And secondly he may observe that having cited 2 Sam. v. 12. When thy dayes be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowles and I will establish his kingdome You say This was true in the person of Solomon and of Christ too properly Which is as much as we say to wit that God shall establish unto Christ a civill and proper Kingdome as he did unto Solomon And indeed it is beyond the force of these words in the 16. verse Thy house and thy Kingdome shall be established for ever before thee thy throne shall be established for ever To prove that Christs reigne and Solomons that the type and thing typified are not both to be understood properly and in the same manner seeing the word for ever is not here to be taken in an unlimited sense for an infinite time but in a limited sense for a long time as we shew in our reply by many instances out of scripture and so doth intimate unto us onely that Christs Kingdome aâ— it is to be the longest that ever was on earth so it is to be the last too it is not to be left to other people as Daniel saith chap. 2. ver 44. but is by Christ himselfe to be delivered up to God even the Father at the last resurrection And that not onely Solomons reigne but his building of an house to the Lord too is to be properly fulfilled in Christ the Prophet Zechariah chapter 6. ver 13. doth plainely reveale Behold saith he 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 even he shall build the Temple of the Lord and he shall beare the glory and shall sit and rule upon his Throne and the counsell of peace shall be between them both In which words the Temple of the Lord doth signifie the Temple at Jerusalem as the verses following doe shew and there is no other signification of this phrase in all the old Testament as we have observed in our reply to your answer where you expound our Saviours building of the Temple of the Lord of the raising of his body from the grave and yet here you make it to foreshew the immoveable perseverance of those that were after his incarnation to be called to the profession of his name by a lively faith So unstedfast are you and unresolved in what sense to take his building of an house unto the Lord. And therefore although such typicall prophesies as are compound oracles were to have a
my Father hath appointed unto me that yee may eate and drinke at my table in my Kingdome and sit on seates judging the 12 tribes of Israel Which words as they doe plainely distinguish the time of Christs temptations from the time of his Kingdome so they doe shew too that the Apostles Kingdome was then onely appointed unto them by our Saviour and not then enjoyed by them And you cannot deny it unlesse you will say that the Disciples did then sit on seates judging the twelve Tribes of Israel or that Christ himselfe did then reigne for it is his owne Kingdome which he here appoints unto them Neither will the texts which you have cited prove that the time of our Saviours and the Saints persecution and affliction doth contemporate with the time of their reigne For that Psal 110.2 Reigne thou in the midst of thy enemies doth shew onely that he shall reigne amongst those who shall declare themselves enemies to him and his both before and when he comes to reigne and not that his enemies shall have any power to molest much lesse to raise persecution against him and his when he doth reigne for the 1 verse doth manifest that these enemies are to be made his footstoole at his very entrance into his Kingdome at his comming from the right hand of God at which time it is that he is to reigne amidst them and not before And that text Rom. 8 37. doth shew onely that through Gods speciall love towards us we are enabled to conquer aâ—l tribulation distresse perill or whatsoever else that can be brought on us for our faith in Christ and consequently that we doe now contend for a Kingdome but not that we doe now reigne for who will say that when two strive for the mastery either of them is conquerour â—ill one be vanquisht or that when two Princes contend for a Kingdome either doth reigne over the other till one be quite subdued unto the other and such certainely is our condition in this life and no other For now yee are full now yee are rich yee have reigned as Kings without us and I would to God yee did reigne that we also might reigne with you saith Saint Paul 1 Cor. 4.8 where he goes on For I thinke that God hath set forth us the Apostles last as it were men appointed to death for we are made a spectacle unto the world and to the Angels and to men c. What! would the Apostle have thus denved that he did reigne onely because many tribulations did attend him if the reigne of the Saints and their sufferings were consistent Doubtlesse he would not and therefore though they depart out of this life as conquerours over all temptations through the grace of God that is in them yet they live not here as Kings but as combatants neither doe they finish their conquest till the appointed time of thâ—ir life be finished And when should they be Kings but when they receive their crownes which is not while they fight nor presently after they have overcome but when they receive their bodies againe to weare them but at the day of Christs next appearing which shall be a Coronation day to all them that love that day as the same Apostle's words doe witnesse 2 Tim. 4.7.8 I have fought saith he a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth is laid up for me a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me onely but to all them that love his appearing And in the 2 chap. of the same Epistle also ver 11.12 he thus plainely distinguisheth the time of the Saints reigning from the time of their suffering It is a faithfull saying for if we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reigne with him Here Mr. Petrie further excepts against two particulars in the parenthesis of my foresaid words The 1 Particular And shall not their bodies as well reigne with Christ as their soules but these we know are and shall be yet captives to the grave Mr. Petrie's Answer When Christ shall come the last enemy shall be destroy'd and the bodies and not the Soules which dye not shall be made alive and both shall be with him for ever Reply You should here have told us whether the bodies of the Saints shall not reigne with Christ as well as their soules in stead whereof you tell us that their soules dye not and that when Christ comes their bodies shall be made alive and both bodies and soules shall be with him for ever I dare say this answer was never learned in any approved schoole and I beleeve indeed that this Querie did put you to a stand For if you should have denyed that the bodies of the Saints must reigne as well as their soules you could shew no reason for it And if you should have granted it you had herein denyed your owne Tenet to wit that the Saints do now reigne because while they are in this life they suffer in their bodies all manner of distresse they are hungry thirsty naked scourged buffeted banished tormented and when their soules depart out of this life their bodies are left behind to moulder into dust So that neither while they are in the body nor when they are out of the body are their bodies in a condition agreeable to a regall estate to the quiet free honourable powerfull and delightsome estate of Kings of such as rule over others Yea it is in regard of their bodily afflictions onely that they are here of all men most miserable and the spirituall conquest of their souls is indeed the principall occasion of mens tyrannizing over their bodies and of their conquering and destroying the life thereof The 2 Particular Are the Saints that shall be found alive at Christs comming exempted from his Kingdome for if he should reigne till then and then give up his Kingdome to his Father they are exempted Mr. Petrie's Answer He is a King till then and governeth all who are and shall be and when he shall come they who shall be found alive shall be caught up to meete him And because the clearing of this point may serve for clearing the whole matter I adde by way of explanation As the sinne of Adam was committed against God the Father his revolting or apostasie was a diminution of the Fathers Kingdome so the bringing of the faithfull into his obedience is the rendring of that Kingdome It is true the offence was against the Sonne and Holy Spirit but the worke of the creation being the worke of the Father in a speciall manner as it is intimated in the Creede the sinne was directly against the first Person When obedience was not given the Father might have executed his justice on the offenders as he did on the Angels Now as when a part of an earthly Kingdome rebelleth against the King directly and
these cited words which is It is not said the Kingdome of heaven to wit of the third heaven or of another world I say of another in substance but the Kingdomes of this world that is which is now and shall till then be divided into many Kingdomes shall wholly become Christs and be made by him one heavenly Kingdome c. For if we remember what is said that here Iohn speakes of the Kingdome of our Lord and of his Christ he speaks not of the Kingdome of the Iewes on earth seeing he makes a distinction of two persons our Lord and his Christ that is the Father and the Sonne and that Kingdome is for ever and ever Reply As little Logicke as the Author hath left he can tell that Assertion is not a logicall but rhetoricall terme And he doth remember also that in the schooles where he was bred they were wont to call the minor propositioâ— the Assumption as he hath done here and can make it evident by this syllogisme If the reigne of Christ as man doth not bâ—ginne till Antichrist is destroyed then the spirituall interpretation of the first resurrection doth make most of the Saints to rise many hundred yeares before their reigne But the reigne of Christ as man doth not beginne till Antichrist is destroyed Therefore c. Now what will you call this minor proposition will you call it an Assertion or an Assumption if an Assertion you call it as no Logician calls it if an Assumption then why may not I call it so too without any offâ—nce to the learned in Logicke Your answer followes in which you say It is not said here our Lord and his Christ shall not reigne till this time But this is all the words import now is no Kingdome but our Lords and his Christs And surely this comment is a great deale more obscure then the text For if you meane onely that at the accomplishment of this prophecy there shall be no Kingdome over which the Lord and his Christ shall not reigne this is no more then what you affirme to be done by our Lord and his Christ already for you say That at this present time Christ reigneth in the midst of these Kingdomes even among them and over them But you must needes acknowledge a difference betwixt his reigning over them now and his reigning over them then or else you make this prophecy to be no prophecy to foreshew nothing at all And wherein can this dâ—fference consist but in his reigning over these Kingdomes hereafter in his humane nature which he doth now over rule only by his divinâ— providence for if by your foresaid words you should mean that at the accompl shment of this prophecy there shall be no Kingdom but a spirituall Kingdome which is all the Kingdomes you will allow Christ this is not onely contrary to the light of the text but of reason it selfe For there can be no spirituall Kingdome on earth unlesse there be withall a temporall a civill Kingdome in which it may be set up And the text speakes not of spirituall Kingdomes but of temporall for it saith The Kingdomes of this world that is the temporall and civill Kingdomes which the Kings of this world doe reigne over These Kingdomes it saith be they the Kingdomes of Christian or of heat hen Princes shall become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ that is shall by the Lord be put under the government of his Christ as he is man And therefore the Kingdomes themselves shall not be then utterly destroyed as you say but be made one Kingdome under Christ as we say And indeede if we doe but call to minde the time when this prophecy is to be fulfilled which is at the sounding of the last trumpet when Christ himselfe shall descend from heaven we cannot imagine that the Kingdomes of this world should then become the Kingdomes of Christ any otherwise then by a subjection unto his manhood then by submitting themselves to the â—ules of that Ecclesiasticall and civill policy which he their King shall then command to be observed by them And now if the reader consider this and remembers also what cleare prophecies there are for the restoring of the Kingdome of the Jewes he will plainely perceive that the time when the Kingdomes of this world shall become the Kingdome of Christ is to be the very same in which he shall restore againe the Kingdome of Israel And your precious subtilty touching a distinction of two persons our Lord and his Christ that is the Father and his Sonne doth make nothing against this synchronisme For they are said to be the Kingdomes of the Lord partly because he shall them make it more manifest then ever he did that they are his to dispose of and partly because no other Lawes but the Lords shall be observed in them And of his Christ because no man but he shall be supreâ—me Head and Governour over them And surely the Kingdomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this world cannot be the Kingdomes of the Father and the Sonne for ever if you take this word in an unlimited sense seeing neither this world in which they are nor the civill societies of men of which they doe consist shall be of an infinite duration And I thinke too that you will not say that by the Kingdomes of this world that Kingdome of eternall glory is meant in which the Sonne also himselfe shall after the judgement of the dead be subject unto the Father unto him that before put all things under him Israel's Redemption And this also is intimated by the binding up of t Rev. 20.1 2 3. c. Satan a thousand yeares with which the reign of the Saints contemporates Mr. Petrie's Answer He said before This chapter is controverted to wit by the Millenaries on the one part and all Christians on the other and now he saith This his conceit is intimated in the binding up of Satan which is as if he had said It is all undoubted what he saith and all is false that all Christians say whereas Christians have given better warrants of their exposition then Millenaries are able to doe Reply I say not that the whole chapter is controverted for doubtlesse no Christian will deny that the latter part thereof doth speake of the judgement of the dead at the last resurrection But I speake of a controverted place in this 20 chapter which is that touching the first resurrection And yet suppose the whole chapter had been controverted I might neverthelesse say that this or that truth is not onely intimated but plainely exprest in it as the first bodily resurrection is plainely exprest in ver 4 5. notwithstanding the disagreement of expositours about it And as the deliverance of the Jewes the restoring of their Kingdome and our Saviours personall reigne on eath are all so plainely exprest in the propheticall scriptures as that nothing can be more plainely spoken although the proper interpretation of them
bones as our Saviour saith Luke 24.39 though neither sinfull nor corruptible what place should such material creatures inhabite but a material place and if they shall inhabite a material place what more glorious City can we fancy to our selves then the foresaid City is whose foundations walls and gates are all precious stones whose street is pure gold like cleere glasse whose gates are kept by Angels and in which the Throne of God and of the Lambe is whence the river of water of life prooceeds on the sides whereof the tree of life growes And what should move us to take this tree and consequently any of the other materials in an allegorical sense here rather then Gen. 2. verse 9 and chap. 3. verse 22. Or how can we think that God would so exactly and fully reveale the materials platforme and contents of this City if there were no such thing what shall we say that God is not where he saith he is or that these things are not such as he saith they are doubtlesse to doe either were an abominable presumption And consequently the proper exposition of such plaine prophecies is the onely intended sense of the Holy Ghost and you doe as ridiculously as dangerously affirme that our Saviour's words Mat. 7. verse 24. and St. Pauls 2 Cor. 5. verse 1. are meant of vertues For according to this exposition our Saviour should have said I will liken him to a wise man that builds his vertues are 4 rocke whereas indeed he compares the lively and active faith of an obedient hearer to a house built on a strong foundation and not to vertues And St. Paul should have said we have vertues of God vertues not made with hands eternall in the Heavens Wheras he speakes of the immortal and glorified bodies which the Saints shall receive of God at their resurrection and not of vertues Yea you might have said as well that the tenâ—a commandement Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors house is thus to be understood Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors vertues And that where we reade of our Saviour Luk. 14. verse 1. That he went into the house of one of the chiefe Pharisees it is to be understood that he went into the vertues of one of the chiefe Pharisees And if this be not to make the word of God a ball of waxe a thing capable of any shape and impression what is Preface Eightly I know some Millenaries will take it hardly that they are called the offspring of Cerinthus seeing they disser from him in sundry particulars and some say it 's no matter who hath said it before whether Cerinthus or Swenkfold if it be true I answer searcely any heretique did ever renew an old heresy in all the particulars and neverthelesse it is truly called the same heresy and we call them so no more then they be such and when any opinion hath no other father nor abettours but heretiques it is odious Answer We were altogether unwothy to beare the name of him in whom we doe beleeve and to participate of the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ if having so sure a foundation of our faith as the plaine word of God is we should be any whie dismaid at the Names of Heretiques and heresy Or aâ— any other opprobrious termes that can be used against us It is enough for the Disciple that he be as his Master and the servant as his Lord if they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub how much more shal they call them of his houshold saith our Saviour Mat. 10. verse 25. Evil language and evil entreating are the Legacy of Christs servants in this life and whosoever shall either for feare or shame refuse to confesse Christ and his words before men of him will Christ be ashamed him wil he deny when he cometh in his own glory in his Fathers and of the holy Angels It is not then the calling of us the offspring of Cerinthus or any other usage as we truâ—â— that shall make us to neglect so great salvation as at the first began to be preacht by the Lord and hath been confirmed unto us by them that heard him But this reproachfull language doth rather cause us to admite at your excessive and inexcusable boldnesse who not withstanding so many cleare prophecies and infalible arguments as we have alledged for the confirmation of this truth can yet give out that it hath no other father nor 〈◊〉 bettours but heretiques Surely we have intimated before and we doe often maintaine in our reply that God hath both by his prophets his Sonne and his Apostles revealed and taught this truth unto us and therfore Cerinthus was no more the Father of this opinion then he was the Authour of the Revelation which some also have affirmed because it doth plainely reveale the thousand yeares reigne of Christ which Cerinthus held Neither were the abettours of this opinion all heretiques For as our Saviour and the Apostles taught it so the primitive Christians beleev'd it and after them some of the Fathers and since many worthy Divines who were I dare say as free from faction and private fancies as any in the ages wherein they lived and doubtlesse as able also to judge of the true meaning of the Scriptures Preface Ninthly By this historical narration Beloved in the Lord you may see that this doctrine is no new light revealed in this last age as you have heard some teach but an old Jewish fancy and Cerinthian fable old errors are like old whores that is the more to be abhorred What I have done here is for your good for 1. you have heard this error preached instead of the Doctrine of Christ albeit it was first preached by the enemies of Christ by some of the Authours of the Apologetical-narration for Independency who had in their Congregation not onely Millenaries but grosse Anabaptists and so their practice manifestly declares what they writ obscurely in that Narration pag. 12. saying we tooke measure of no mans holinesse by his opinion whether adverse unto us c. Their Dinah is liberty of conscience their grand ammunition is Anarchie or no discipline and they call it a bondage to be tied in the faith 2. The booke of M. Maton called Israels Redemption hath been oft put into your hands and upon severall occasions of my declaring the truth in this point you have been intreated to put that booke into my hand wherefore you have need of an Autidote Peruse this plaine refutation of it wherby I hope you shall see that the reward of your serving Christ is not meate that perisheth but everlasting life which the Sonne of man shall give unto you Joh. 6.27 and that the Kingdom of God comes not with observation or worldly respect and attendance but behold the Kingdom of God is within you Luk. 17.20 And as the wicked cannot have hope of long immunity from just punishment of their bodies and soules in Hell so our deliverance
the onely occasion of their sorrow by whose mourning this Prophecie is to be fulfill'd And our Saviour himselfe also hath foretold Matth. 24. at the 30. ver that this mourning is to be fulfill'd at his next appearing his words are Then shall appeare the signe of the Sonne of man in Heaven and then shall all the Tribes of the earth mourne and they shall see the Sonne of man comming in the n Act. 1. v. 11. clouds of Heaven with power and great glory Whom then shall wee believe our Saviour and the Prophet or you For what though the Iewes which shall mourne for him so long after his suffering did not in their owne persons either pierce or see him pierced yet as Levi is said to pay tithes in the loynes of his Father Abraham so these are said to have done what their Fathers did and Mr. Brightman in his exposition of the 7. ver of the first chap. of the Rev. understands that too of the accomplishment of these words of Zech. which he expounds almost in the same termes as I have done pag. 16. 17. of his Rev. of the Apocalyps Israel's Redemption And what comparison is there betwixt the griefe of a few fearfull and scattered Disciples for a day or two and the solemne mourning of all Iudah and Jerusalem and that to every Family apart and their wives apart As therefore this Prophecie doth concerne the Jewes onely and chiefly the Tribes that crucified their Saviour so doubtlesse it shall then receive its accomplishment when God at their generall conversion shall poure upon them the Spirit of grace and supplications Zech. 12. v. 10. that so they may at once obtaine the forgivenesse of their sinnes and thus lament their forefathers malicious and cruell contrivance and their owne hereditary and wilfull approbation of the death of Christ who shall then descend unto them to restore their Kingdome and to reigne over all the earth as it is in the 14. chap. of the same Prophet at the 5. and 9. ver c. Mr. Petrie's Answer It is said ver 11. There shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem and ver 12. and the Land shall mourne every Fâ—mily apart c. whereby is intimated a distinction of the mourning in respect of place and as they did mourne at Jerusalem publikely so we may easily conceive that these who had resorted at these publick Feasts unto Jerusalem did likewise mourne apart after their returning and were not contented with one dayes mourning all facts that are credible are not written And therefore this Prophecie doth concerne the Jewes but not onely seeing even the Gentiles may be said to have pierced his sides by their sinnes meritoriously and to looke on him by faith and mourne for their guiltinesse c. and chiefly the persons that crucified their Saviour So doubtlesse it is great impudence to affirme that the same Prophet chap. 14.5 and 9. ver saith Christ shall descend unto the Jewes to restore their Kingdome for there is not one word of restoring nor of the Jewes Kingdome in these two verses Reply As in the preceding answer you have applied the accomplishment of Zech. words ch 12. ver 10. to the Jewes converted by St. Peters first Sermon so in this you endeavour to parallel their mourning with the great and solemne mourning so largely exprest in the following verses of the same Prophecie For it is said ver the 11. There shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem c. and ver 12. The Land shall mourne everie Familie apart c. whereby is intimated say you a distinction of the mourning in respect of place and as they did mourne at Jerusalem publickly so wee may easily conceive that these who had resorted at these publick Feasts unto Jerusalem did likewise mourne apart after their returning all facts that are very credible are not written And therefore on the contrary you have written here what is not credible For is it credible that the mourning of 3000. is any way comparable to the solemne and universall mourning of all Judah and Jerusalem for Josiah 2 Chron. 35. ver 24 25. to which the mourning in this Prophecie is compared Or is it credible that any of these Jewes who resorted unto Jerusalem out of so many Countries as are rehearst Acts 2. ver 9 10 11. were of the Families of David and Nathan when as the Tribe of Judah wat not then carryed into captivitie by the Romans And if they mourned after their returne into their severall Countries into Mesopotamia Cappadocia Pontus and Asia c. this was out of the Land whereas the mourning the Prophet foreshewes is to be fulfill'd onely in Lerusalem and in the land of Iudea and it is to be observed by men and their wives apart and what circumstance is there in the 2. chap. of the Acts from which you can gather that any of the 3000. you speake of were women yea it is to be observ'd by all the Families of the Jewes that remaine that is that are living at the accomplishment of this Prophecie and therefore the repentance of these 3000. could not possibly be the mourning here spoken of by the Prophet You say next that this Prophecit doth concerne the Jewes and chiefly the persons that crucified their Saviour but not onely seeing even the Gentiles c. And did you not tell us even now that you give no other interpretation of the Prophecies then is chiefly intended How then can you say here that this Prophecie is chiefly meant of the Jewes in a proper sense and yet meant also of the Gentiles in a figurative sense is not this to give another sense besides that which is chiefly intended and doe you thinke that both these senses are intended if so how shall we know certainly which is chiefly intended Surely to affirme that the Holy Ghost doth intend a double sense in these Prophecies is no small errour seeing it makes God to have as it were a heart and a heart to be I say as a double dealer who speakes one thing and meanes another and shall we conceit thus of God God forbid Yea let God be true and every man a lyar as truth then is but one so doubtlesse there can be but one true sense of any place in the Scripture but one sense intended by God and thefore to make the Scripture Janus-like to looke two wayes is from man and not from God and it is the readiest way that I know to foment division amongst men But there is yet the heaviest charge behinde for it is great impudence you say to affirme that Zech. chap. 14. ver 5. and 9. saith Christ shall descend unto the Jewes to restore their Kindome for there is not one word of restoring or of the Jewes Kingdome in these two verses And yet his descending and reigning over all the earth is expresly foretold in these two verses and shall he come to be King over all the earth and yet not
Christians pag. 1. This is one untruth to wit That I have granted that Christ hath executed his Kingly office The next is That I have said that he sits on a Throne in heaven as man which though it be in it selfe a truth for Christ himselfe saith of himselfe and am set downe with my Father in his Throne Rev. 3. ver 21. Yet it is not true that I have said these words for thus I have said that the place where he now sits is the Fathers Throne a Throne in which he hath no proper interest but as God These are your misreports of what I have idsa to which we may adde your affirming that it hath not been proved that the Prophets have spoken of a Kingdome on earth when as the Prophecies which I have alledged for it are so plaine that you left them as one afraid to behold their evidence Now your contradictions follow for having also falsely affirmed that this Proposition Christ sits on a Throne in heaven as man is one thing â—bout which we disagree you thus descant on it If these words as man be understood according to the Logicall acceptation it may be granted Thus farre you affirme that according to the Logicall acceptation Christ sits on a Throne in heaven as man and yet you subjoyne presently for what agreeth unto any man as man belongeth unto all men and indeed iâ— belongeth not unto all men to sit on the throne of Majesty Whereby you deny that according to the Logicall acceptation Christ sits on a throne in heaven as man It followes and neverthelesse Christ sits at the right hand of the Father as God-Man or Mediatour Here likewise you affirme that Christ sits on a Throne in heaven as man though not onely as man but as God too and yet you immediately subjoyne and in this sense we deny this assertion to wit that Christ sits on a Throne in heaven as man as it seemes this Author takes it But surely this Author hath not spoken the words and yet he will not deny that Christ doth fit there as man lest he should deny what Christ himselfe and the Apostles have said neither will he affirme that Christ sits there any otherwise then as God-man or Mediatour although his sitting doth properly belong unto him as man onely But you have said that Christ both sits and sits not there in a logicall acception and that he sits there as God-man and yet not as man Thus contrary are you to your selfe and withall as contrary to the truth in misapplying your distinction For whereas you say It may be granted that Christ sits on a throne in heaven as man if these words be understood according to the logicall acceptation of them it is notoriously false for the words as man in this sense doe imply somewhat essentially belonging unto man which cannot be affirmed of Christs fitting on a Throne in heaven to wit that it doth essentially belong unto his humane nature for then it should inseparately belong unto him and to all other men besides this then you should have deny'd and affirm'd onely that he sits there as such a man as Mediatour Put you out of your great skill in Logique in which you will allow me no insight have first affirmed both members of your distinction and presently deny'd both such a subtile or rather simple discourse have you extracted out of your logicall principle And that the Reader may see how unseasonable and unreasonable you have alledged this Philosophicall rule as well as the Propheticall and Apostolicall writings and revelations he must know that this maxime what agreeth unto any man aâ— man belongeth unto all men is generally true onely of meere man in opposition to other creatures and not of our Saviour who is both God and man and so as well distinguisht by his humane properties from his divine nature and by his essentiall attributes from other creatures as by his mediatory offices from other men Wherefore it followes not that what belongs unto Christ as man belongs unto all men because we usually say that all that belongs to Christ as man which belongs not to him as God which appertaines to his humane and not unto his divine nature Whether it be proper to him as man in opposition to other creatures as to laugh and to be borne of a woman or common also to other creatures as to be hungry and thirsty to eate and drinke to walke to weepe to groane c. Or proper to him as such a man as Mediatour in opposition to other men As to be borne of a Virgine to dye for our sinnes to rise againe for our justification to sit on a Throne in heaven and to reigne visibly on earth over all Nations These and such like we say doe not in propriety of speech belong unto Christ as God but as man because they are the properties of his humane nature As on the contrary it belongs unto him as God and not as man to be equall with the Father to be infinite omnipotent omniscient c. And thus much for your answer in grosse which is indeed a very grosse answer You goe on to catch at particulars which you thus alledge The 1. Particular That the Jewes are yet to receive a Kingdome in which they shall hold them captives whose captives they are Mr. Petrie's Answer Here a little change of a little word makes a great difference for the text saith whose captives they were And now they say they are The Prophet is speaking by name of the Assyrians whose Monarchy is now destroyed and the Interpreters shew the acomplishment of that Prophecy according to the Prophets morning a but that prophecy speakes not of them whose captives the Jewes now are neither know we whose captives they are seeing they live as free Subjects wheresoever they live Reply It is true that the text saith whose captives they were but seeing the deliverance which the Prophecy foreshewes hath not been hitherto accomplished we may truely say whose captives they are and therefore there is no such great difference in this change as you pretend For unlesse you can prove that the whole Nation of the Jewes whose redemption this Prophecy doth conceane as these words for the Lord will have mercy upon Jacob and will yet chuse Israel doe shew Vnlesse I say you can prove that the whole Nation that all the Tribes have been set in their owne I and and aâ— their returne thither have brought strangers with them whom they have possessed there for servants and handmaids and have ruled there over their oppressours over those who formerly ruled over them which I am sure you cannot doe it is not very materiall whether we say whose captives they were or whose captives they are And if there be any difference in the change it is onely because the Prophets expression doth seeme to point to that last generation of the Nations under whom the Jewes shall remaine captives immediately before their deliverance But
indirectly against his Sonne as a friend and heir of his Fathers Crowne the Sonne may undertake to regaine the rebels unto his Father and the Father may be well pleased to commit unto his Sonne that part of the Kingdome for that effect with full power which the Sonne accepts and reigneth and prevailes powerfully so that albeit the arch-traitour gain-stand in malice to the honour of the Ring and his Sonne yet many of the rebels are reconciled with the King who by this meanes regaineth his Kingdome So the Sonne of God hath undertaken for so many as it pleased him and beseecheth men to be reconciled with the King of heaven and earth shewing that he hath appeased the Fathers wrath and hath power to receive into and exclude from the Kingdome of heaven which power he hath received of the Father and he shewes that there is a time determined for receiving men into grace againe So that if that time shall expire there is no more grace to be shewed unto any Satan envieth the glory of God and mans reconciliation and therefore opposeth by deceiving some and vexing others who hearken unto the word of reconciliation neverthelesse Christ prevaileth by his preaching so that a great many repent and crave mercy and others not when the determined time comes these who have been received into mercy are presented unto God the Father and as if they had not rebelled he accepts them into his Kingdome when the Sonne saith Here am I and these whom I have brought into acknowledgement of their offences I have satisfied justice for them Thou O Father hast thine owne Subjects and let them have the Kingdome prepared for them The Father will not say thy reward is not in heaven but on earth therefore let them goe againe to the earth and inherit glory there for a 1000 yeares but receives them into the inheritance reserved for them in the heavens Reply This answer is as much besides the question as the other for the argument is That if Christ doth now reigne and shall reigne onely till his comming then those Saints which shall be found alive at his comming shall be exempted from his Kingdome shall not reigne with him as the Saints departed did reigne with him To which you say no more but this That they shall be caught up to meete him And besides seeing our Saviour is not to give up his Kingdome to his Father till after his next appearing and that the time of his reign is to be but a 1000 yeares it must needs follow according to your opinion that not onely all the Saints before his incarnation but that the Apostles themselves too and all the rest of the Saints that have been converted within the first six hundred yeares and upwards since his incarnation must be excluded from his Kingdome And yet doubtlesse both the Saints before Christs first comming and the Saints under the first ages of the Gospell have all reigned spiritually as well as the Saints since that time They have been conquerours I say over sin and over sufferings for obedience unto Christ in as eminent manner as any Saints since have been if not more eminently as in the 11 chap. to the Heb. the Acts of the Apostles and the Ecclesiasticall histories doe testifie And therefore that reigne of the Saints revealed in the 20 chap. of the Apoc. as a reigne to come and to be but of a 1000 yeares continuance must needs be meant of some other reigne and consequently of a proper and politick reigne on earth at the redemption of their bodies But lest the reader should take notice that you have nothing to say to these arguments you annexe unto your indirect answer a long discourse whereof that of the Apostle Rom. 5.19 As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous is the whole summe And in this discourse which you call a clearing of the whole matter There are these notable passages For first you rell us that Adams revolting was a diminution of the Fathers Kingdome whereas indeed it made way for the salvation of those whom God had predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ of which number not one was diminished by Adams apostasie for as many as God had purposed to save before mans fall so many and no more will he make heires with Christ will he make partakers of the Kingdome prepared for them from the beginning of the world Secondly you tell us That the bringing of the faithfull into the obedience of the Father is the rendring of the Kingdome unto him And so you make Christs reigne and the rendring of his Kingdome to the Father to be all one and to contemporate whereas the giving up of his Kingdome must needes succeede the time of his reigne for to cease from governing a Kingdome must needes presuppose a preceding government of it Yea and you your selfe say afterwards That when the determined time comes these who have beene received into mercy are presented unto God the Father when the Sonne saith Here I am and these whom I have brought into the acknowledgment of their offences I have satisfied justice for them Thou O Father hast thine owne Subjects and let them have the Kingdome prepared for them Wherein you plainely acknowledge that the rendring up of the Kingdome to the Father is to be when the number of the elect is fulfilled when these who have before been received into mercy are all presented unto God the Father with spotlesse and incorruptible bodies and soules Which is a flat contradicting of your former words to wit That the receiving of the faithfull into mercy that the bringing of them into the Fathers obedience at their conversion is the rendring of Christs Kingdome Thirdly you tell us That Adams revolting was a sinne directly against the Father Whereas the workes of power being chiefly attributed unto the Father the workes of wisedome unto the Sonne and of love unto the Holy Ghost The sinnes of infirmity and weakenesse are most direct against the first Person the sinnes of ignorance and unadvisednesse most direct against the second Person and the sinnes of wilfulnesse and malice most direct against the third Person And did Adam fall out of weakenesse when as all Divines agree he had ability to stand or out of ignorance when he knew that he did what he was forbid to doe or rather out of wilfulnesse when notwithstanding his power to have withstood temptation and his knowledge of the unlawfulnesse of the act he yet yeelded to doe what he should nothâ—ve done Fourthly whereas the rebellion of mankinde against God is generall you compare it onely with the rebellion of a part of an earthly Kings Subjects Fifthly from this defective comparison you make Christ to reigne but over a part of his Fathers Kingdome whereas he is to deliver up a whole Kingdom to the Father and not a part of a Kingdome onely and doubtlesse he must reign
shall cast them alive into the lake of fire And therefore your application of the story of Ziseah's drumme to this argument is a very ridiculous answer The third argument But most of all clearely in chap. 11. ver 15 16. c. where at the sound of the seventh trumpet the dayes of the witnesses and the mouthes of the Beast and Nations being out-runne were great voices in heaven saying The Kingdomes of the world are become the Kingdomes of the Lord c. This is the consummation of the mystery of God foretold by the Prophets Mr. Petrie's Answer This indeed is the consummation of all the promises foretold by the Prophets and Apostles and therefore it is not to be understood of any earthly Kingdome seeing thâ—â—full accomplishment of the prophecies is not on earth And so this synchronisme being false and the like synchronismes and all expositions following upon them must faile with it Reply This argument shewes that the Kingdomes of this world are to become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ at the sounding of the seventh trumpet and not before That is at the time of our Saviours descending from heaven at which time the reigne of the beast shal end And consequently it provs first that this reigne of Christ must needes follow the reigne of the beast seeing it beginnes not till his appearing by which the Beast shall be utterly destroyed And secondly it proves that this reigne must needes be on earth seeing the Kingdomes which shall then become his are the Kingdomes of this world And thirdly it proves that the time in which these Kingdomes shall become Christs cannot possibly be the time in which he shall deliver up his Kingdome to the Fathers seeing they shall then cease to be his And so the time of our Saviours reigne over them must needes be the interim the time betwixt the reigne of the Beast and the delivering up of his Kingdome to the Father To these consequences you had nothing to say and therefore you catch at these words which follow the argument to wit This is the consummation of the mystery of God foretold by the Prophets which you thus pervert This indeed is the consummation of all the promises foretold by the Prophets and Apostles and therefore it is not to be understood of any earthly Kingdome But surely as the mystery of God foretold by the Prophets and recorded chap. 10. ver 7. is meant onely of Christs reigne on earth at his next appearing when the Kingdomes of this world are to become his so you can shew us no promise either in the writings of the Prophets or Apostles which after the resurrection of mens bodies is to be enjoyed by them in heaven in your sense that is in a place of glory separate from the earth For as the raised Saints that are to come with Christ shall be on this earth all the time of his reigne so at the delivering up of his Kingdome to the Father the whole number of the elect shall be with him in the new Jerusalem which is the Paradise of God on the new earth whither it shall then descend And so this synchronisme being true all the like synchronismes and all expositions following upon them must be true also The Authors Judgement of the Contents of the Trumpets and Vials which he commends to the serious consideration of every intelligent READER THat the plagues of the vials should be literally and properly interpreted and not figuratively and mystically Revel 16. these reasons doe in my conceit require 1. Because there is no necessity of interpreting them otherwise 2. Because God hath already shewed many such wonders as the vials speake of 3. Because the last plague is properly to be understood and we may not take one plague properly and the rest improperly 4. Because the powring out of all the vialls shall not take up so much time as the mysticall sense of them doth allow to the powring out of one of them For 1. We finde that on the same persons on which the first viall the plague of the noysouâ—e sore is powred on the same the sift viall is powred For ver 10 11. it is said And they gnawed their tongues for paine and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their paines and their sores And at the powring out of the fourth viall also ver 9. it is said And men were scorched with great beat and blasphemed the Name of God wich ba h power over these plagues c. not over this plague whereby it is intimated That the men who were to feele the fourth plague were to feele more of the plagues besides that And it is very likely that the same persons may live to be the objects of all these plagues For 2. The vials are not to be powred out till after the Jewes conversion whose returne to their countrey is apparently exprest at the powring out of the sixt viall they being the Kings of the East that are to passe dry shod over Euphrates as the comparing of the 12 verse with the latter part of the 11 chapter of Isaiah doth prove And whose full deliverance from all their enemies is plainely revealed in the extraordinary destruction of the Armies in Armageddon at the powring out of the last viall the time of our Saviours descending as the â—9 chapter doth evince For what are the Armies of the Beast and of the Kings of the earth against which our Saviour is there said to descend but the Armies of the Beast and of the Kings of the earth which here are said to be gathered into Armageddon And indeed who can thinke that God who shewed such great signes and wonders at the deliverance of his people out of Egypt from the slavery of that one Nation will not shew as great wonders as those yea as great as any the vials or trumpets doe containe at their redemption from their captivity in all countreys And as for the plagues of the Trumpets it is manifest from the Text Rev. 7.8 9. c. That they were not to be powred out till after the sealing of the 144000 of all the Tribes of Israel Which if it be understood of the generall conversion of the Jewes as many learned Expositours understand it it is cleare That the things contained in the Trumpets are not yet begunne and consequently that they are literally to be taken also Now that the 12 Tribes of Israel there are to be properly understood these reasons doe evince 1. Because there is no necessity to interpret them otherwise 2. Because the 12 Tribes of Israel cannot in the same place be taken both properly improperly Properly for them that are to be saved of all the Tribes of Israel and improperly for them that are to be saved of all other Nations 3. Because it is not probable that by one Nation by the 12 Tribes of Israel all Nations and kindreds and people and tongues should be meant Or that Saint John knew