Water of Life and over Them the second death can have no power Q. But it seems They only who have been Martyrs and especially They who would not Receive the mark and Name of that Antichristian Idolatrous Power which the Revelation calls the Beast are They who thus Rise and enjoy that State a Thousand Years Rev. 20. 4. A. They are indeed the principal there nam'd to Answer the Table or Representation of Things in that Prophecy of the Revelation But it is subjoyn'd immediately v. 6. Blessed and Holy is He that hath part in the first Resurrection though they are not the principals Beheaded for Christ And the Apostle Paul assures us All who have died in Christ will God bring with Him That none should Mourn without hope for Dead Friends as if They should loose that Glory For none of the Saints can be perfected the one without the other The Living Saints cannot prevent the Dead and the Wee of the Living Saints are Joyn'd in that Glory with the Dead Rais'd 1 Thess 4. 15. and Heb. 11. last Call'd we All as making up the whole Q. What then shall be the State of the Saints Living and Remaining at the Coming of the Lord A. They also are as was said Partakers of the First Resurrection so that the Second Death shall have no Power over Them For the Blessed and the Holy is only He who is so Partaker And it is expresly said These shall not dye but be Changed and caught up to meet the Lord in the Clouds and be for ever with the Lord So they cannot fall into the Lake of the Second Death The Leaves of the Tree of Life are therefore for the Healing these saved of the Nations And the River of Life from the Throne runs down to them and the Trees of Life are for their Food and Medicine and the Healing Waters from the Sanctuary so that whatever doth Live shall Live Rev. 22. 2. Ezek. 47. 11. They shall be as Adam had he continued in Paradise served with the whole Variety of the Creation for Use and Delight without Lust or Sensuality without Labour Sorrow Curse or Death till They are so changed and they shall propagate a Holy Seed Psal 110. 3. in such abundance as to recompence with a much more to the Glory of the Second Adam Rom. 5. 12. to the end for the few that are saved within the World of the First Adam Q. What Entercourse shall there be betwixt the Saints of the New Heaven above and the Saints of the New Earth beneath A. Such as betwixt the Lights of Heaven and the Firmament and our Selves now on Earth For the Nations of the Saved shall walk in the Light of the New Jerusalem above shining as the Sun and Stars down to them And as All Glory on Earth is refer'd to the Light of the Sun and the Heaven over us So the Saints the Kings on Earth shall bring their Glory to the New Jerusalem above especially They shall give their Glory and walk in the Light and Enjoyment of God and of Christ And Angels and Saints above Angels Equalls shall Ascend and Descend on that Jacobs Ladder whose Foot being on Earth its Top reached to Heaven and God and the Lamb are on the Top of it and by Ezekiel's steps enlarging and winding still upward shall All below Ascend upward Gen. 28. 12 13. Ezeck 41. 7. Q. Give yet a fuller Account of the State of the wicked in this Kingdom of Christ A. The Scripture is not so full nor so clear in setting out the State of the Wicked under this Kingdom yet so that It is most certain that They who have lived before it are rais'd to Illustrate the Glory of it and to bear the Shame and Dishonour of their wickedness under the Just and Righteous Condemnation of Christ call'd a being slain with the Sword of his Mouth Shame and Contempt shall be pour'd upon Them as a Just Recompence of all the Scorn They have cast upon Christ his ways and Servants and They shall be seen in a State of Punishment Destruction and Death under a sharp sense of it in Themselves and so that They shall be seen as Carcasses whose Worm dyes not and their Fire is not quenched so that They are an Abhoring of all Flesh And this is a Just and Righteous Recompence of all the Cruelties They have exercised upon the Servants of God and their Disobedience to God and to Christ and their so obstinate prefering the present World before and above the World to Come Lastly in what ever State Any of them can be suppos'd to be They are certainly so under Christ and his Saints That They are made his Foot-stool Dan. 12. 2. John 5. 29. Esay 66. ult 2 Thes 1. 9. Psal 110. 1. Q. When does the Kingdom of Christ begin A. It begins at the Coming and Appearance of Christ and at the Resurrection of his Saints at that his Coming and Appearance a Resurrection to Life Honour and Immortality and to a visible Glorious Appearance with Christ and Reigning with Him Q. Is there not a Resurrection of the Wicked at the same Tme And if so How then does their Resurrection stand in Relation to the Happy Resurrection A. There is their Resurrection as was last declared but because It is a Resurrection to Punishment and Dishonour It is called Death and They are called the dead though iâ— a visible Appearance The Scripture therefore but seldom names the Resurrection of the wicked as a Resurrection and when it speaks of the Resurrection at any Time absolutely It means the Happy and blessed Resurrection as Luc. 20. 35 36. 1 Cor. 15. throughout Rev. 20. 4. 6. And therefore there can be no other Respect had to them in the Kingdom of Christ and the Resurrection proper to it but as They add to the Triumph of the Kingdom and are in a State of Deprivation of its Glory Q. What proof can you give of the Kingdom of Christ at his Coming and Appearance A. The whole Stream of the New Testament Joyns his Coming and his Appearance and his Kingdom One with Another The Son of Man coming in his Kingdom Mat. 16. last When the Son of Man shall come in his Glory and All the Holy Angels with him Then shall He sit on the Throne of his Glory Mat. 25. 31. Remember me when Thou Comest in not into thy Kingdom Luk. 23. 42. Because They thought the Kingdom of God should immediately Appear He spake a Parable unto Them of a Nobleman going into a Far Country to Receive a Kingdom and to Return and Having Receiv'd a Kingdom He Return'd in it Luke 19. 13 15. When we made known unto You the Power and Coming of Christ and were Eye Witnesses of his Majesty to wit in the Transfiguration that Great Fore-Appearance of his Kingdom Behold He who is the Prince of the Kings of the Earth cometh in the Clouds and Every Eye shall see Him Revel 1.5.7 And his Appearance
Briars and Thorns and is very nigh now to a Curse whose End is to be Burn'd Rev. 18. But of Reformed Churches and Christians we Hope Better Things and Things that have Hold of that Great Salvation of the Kingdom though we thus speak The Lord therefore shall give you a Sign a Mahar-Schalal-Hash-Baz a Sign of his making Isay c. 6. c. 9. 9. haste to the Prey For as soon as the Child now Born shall by a seven years Age know to chuse the Good and Refuse the Evil That Great City shall be Forsaken of its Ten Kings who have so long given their Kingdom to the Beast and so its Tenth shall Fall and the Witnesses shall Rise And this as it were New Song shall be Sung and the Everlasting Gospel Rev. 14. 1. Preached and we shall be as New Bottles fill'd with the New Wine of the Kingdom And these Truths shall be no longer call'd Novelties Whimsies and Intoxications nor men say any longer We like the Old Wine Better For Christians shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pursuers of Truth in Love Ephes 4. 13. c. as of perfect Age Growing up to the Fullness of Christ and Strong Meat shall belong to them as Having Senses exercis'd to discern Good and Evil. For then the Apostacy shall go off and the mighty Gifts that were but Tasted at first as to length of Time shall Reeurn with Miraculous Powers of the World to come Because it shall then be drawn near and it shall never End Now the mistake is Great that These miraculous Powers ceas'd because the Canon of Scripture was sufficiently Seal'd The Mystery of Iniquity growing up to the Apostacy caus'd the Cessation when That Ends These shall Return Let us therefore in our Earnestest Going on to Perfection wait upon Christ till be Rises upon this Glorious mount of Prey in the Succession of his Kingdom when the Light of one Day then shall be as the Light of seven now Even the Sun shall be asham'd and the Moon Confounded when He Comes to Reign before his Ancients Gloriously And now His going forth is Prepared as the Morning we shall know if we Follow on to know the Lord. But if Any will be Ignorant It must be so If Any one Aggrieved Scripture is open Let him Implead what 's Written I stand on the Justification by Divine Help THE CATECHISM OF THE KINGDOM OF OUR Lord Jesus Christ Question WHere is the Doctrine of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ to be found Ans It is especially to be found in the opening of Prophetical Scripture being the Mystery spoken of by all the Prophets Revel 10. 7. Acts 3. 21. Quest What is the Rule of the True Explication of Prophecy Ans That of the Apostle He that Prophesies let Him Prophecy according to the Analogy or proportion of Faith Rom. 12. 6. Quest What is the Analogy or proportion of Faith Ans It is the Form of sound words according to the whole Scripture which is a Table so exactly square nothing can without plain Injury be Added to it or Taken from it Quest Is the Kingdom of Christ to be thus explain'd Ans I Trust we shall Find it so by Searching All Scripture with Noble Minds whether those Things are so or not and thereby giving heed to that most Sure word of Prophecy that we shall do well to take heed to as to a Light that shineth to us in a dark place So we shall Find it no Cunningly devised Fable Acts 17. 11. 2 Pet. 1. 16. 19. Quest What then is to be understood by the Kingdom of Jesus Christ A. The Kingdom of Jesus Christ is the Glorious and Visible Appearance of Christ Himself with all Saints who have died in Him and whom He will bring with Him who shall dwell with Him in the New Heaven he hath promis'd in the Region of the Air above And for the Full Glory of this Kingdom There shall be a Generation of Saints in the New Earth below who are the Living the Remaining Both sorts Rescued from the common Fire for the Perdition of ungodly Men. 1 Thess 4. 13. to the end 2 Pet. 2. 9. c. 3. 7. 13. Q. Is it not enough that there be a Day of Judgment and a State of Glory and Happiness to Christ and his Saints in the Highest Heaven and of punishment to the wicked in the Lowest Hell A. God hath in his word declar'd to us That is not enough but There shall be upon Greatest Reasons given us therein a New Heaven and a New Earth and a State of Saints in both and of the Enemies of Christ being made his Footstool that there may be a most visible Appearance of the Glory of the one and of the Contemptible dishonourable and condemned State of the other 2 Thess 1. 5. to v. 11. with Dan. 12. 1. 2 Rev. 19. 14. 15. to the end c. 20. 4. 6. Q. What shall be the Highest Spirit and Constitution of this State A. It is an Oeconomy or dispensation wherein there is a most exalted State of Holiness and Purity in the enjoyment of God and of Jesus in his Redemption Rev. 5. 9. and c. 4. 5. of the Communion of his Spirit Free from Sensuality and Impurity and in perfect Happiness and Security from all Toil Grief Pain Death and Curse so that all the Saints are Priests of God and of Christ and Reign with Him Rev. 20. 6. c. 21. c. 22. v. 1. to v. 7. Q. What do you mean by an Oeconomy or Dispensation A. It is the free dispose of Things after the Counsel of Gods own Will for the Manifestation of his Wisdom to Angels and Men in this or that way as the Master of the Great Family of All Things Ephes 3. 9. 10. Q. But hath not this doctrine been generally charg'd with Carnality and sensual Inclination A. This hath been the Art of Sathan and of Antichrist to Bring out of Repute so Great a Doctrine of Christ that It is peculiarly call'd the Everlasting Gospel that the Antichristian Kingdom of this World as a Dead Child might be put in its place Q. What then is the State of the Saints dead in Christ whom He Brings with Him and who shall be in the New Heaven A. They who are Accounted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection from the Dead neither Marry nor are Given Luke 20. 35. 36. Rom. 8. 23. 1 Cor. 5. 3. in Marriage Neither can They Dye any more being the Children of God and of the Resurrection and The Adoption But They Sit on Thrones and Judge Angels and the World with Christ and Reign with Him a Thousand Years not upon but over the Earth They see the Face of God and of the Lamb and Rev. c. 20. c. 21. c. 22. his Throne is in the midst of Them as His Servants They serve Him and his Name is in their Foreheads He is their Light and their Temple They Eat of the Tree of Life and Drink of the
Wheat with his own Hand and gathers by his Angels the clusters of the Wicked to cast Them into the Wine-press of the Wrath of God which He coming in his Kingdom Treads and Slays or Condemns with the word of his Mouth All the wicked Small and Great Chains and Seals up Sathan into the Bottomless-pit the making all his Enemies his Footstool while at the same Time there are the Nations of Them that are saved viz. of the Living Remaining And this Kingdom lasts till the Living Remaining are caught up to sit with Christ on his Throne as he sate Down on His Fathers Throne and the Devil the Dead Death and Hell are Cast into the Lake of the Second Death which is the Subduing the Last Enemy Death at which Heaven and Earth flie away from that white Throne of Pure and Liquid Eternity and the Kingdom Delivered up to God All in All Esay 26. 19. Mat. 13. 30. Rev. 11. 15. c. c. 14. 13. to the End c. 19. c. 20. all along All which are Admirable Correspondencies with all the Former Scriptures and their High Importance already given And Thus the Kingdom of Christ is from the First Resurrection the First because at the Beginning of the Kingdom of Christ and the Second Death the Second because at the End of the Kingdom of Christ For the First Resurrection hath properly no Second but is All One Resurrection from the First Rising of the Dead in Christ to the Living Remaining Saints caught into the Partakership of it And the Second Death hath no First but is All one Death from the Having no Part in the First Resurrection in the Holy City and no Right to the Tree of Life to the Casting into the Lake of the Second Death So the First Resurrection and Second Death are only Oppos'd As First and Second Q. Is there Any other Scripture Representation of this State of the Kingdom of Christ that may Evidence it to be such a peculiar Dispensation that hath never yet been and that shall be yet before the Giving up the Kingdom to God All in All A. There is that Great One The Time of the Restitution of All Things viz. Of the whole Creation Deliver'd from the Bondage of Corruption into the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God Rom. 8. 21. which is at the same Time with the Re-Livening which we Translate Acts 3. 19. Times of Refreshing the Dead in Christ or as the Apostle John Rev. 20. 4. calls it the Souls Living And This must be what never hath yet been For it must be when Jesus before Preached and whom the Heavens must Receive till He be Sent Come which we All Acknowledge hath not been yet and yet must be before the Kingdom Deliver'd up For then the Restitution shall be Deliver'd up also There is also the New Jerusalem which according to the Compare of Ezekiel in the Israelitish Description of Things proper to the Old Testament and Johns proper to the New Testament Assure There must be such a State of Things as never hath yet been And in Regard of a Higher State where the Throne of God and the Lamb are and Those who Immediately as being in their presence Eat of the Tree of Life and drink of the Water of Life and in Regard of the Nations Saved and Healed must be a State above and below and so before the Kingdom Deliver'd up to God and the Father when he is All in All. Q. This being a very Great Point and so Differently Expounding those Fundamental Points of the Resurrection and of the Day of Judgment as in the Kingdom of Christ There need besides the given Proofs of Scripture which are generally Explained so as to Reach no further then the Common Exposition of these Doctrines Great Accounts of Scripture Reason drawn from the most Intimate Sence of it to Establish such an Exposition A. There are Exceeding High Accounts from Scripture-Reason of the Manifold Wisdom Holiness and Justice of God in this Grand Oeconomy or Dispensation Q. Give Account of the First and Fundamental and most Immediate Reason of such a Dispensation A. That there might be a State of Visible Appearance of the Glory of Christ and of his Saints and of the Contempt Dishonour and Retributions of Justice on Wicked Men For that These Things should Appear be set in open View in a Full and Clear Light is every where made Known in Stripture First as a Recompence to the Deep Humiliation of Jesus Christ Himself and to his Saints who have been all along but especially since the Delay of his Kingdom at his Resurrection in a Low Scorn'd and Persecuted State Tortur'd by Cruelties and Forc'd out of the World by Violent Deaths who have therefore from the Truth of God been Arm'd and Encourag'd in their Obedience and against these Sufferings by the Assurance of a Visible Appearance in Glory and Reign with Christ and of the Visible Shame and Confusion of their Enemies and of all Wicked and Unholy Men who have so obstainately preferr'd the Present before a Future State Esay 65. 13 14 and to the End Mic. 7. 17. and Dan. 12. 1 2. Phil. 2. 9 10 11. Heb. 11. 35. with many more Scriptures Q. But can there be no Appearance of this Glory and of that Contempt but in such a state of the Kingdom of Christ A. No Not in this World because however some Appearances may be of these Things on each side in some Instances Yet in General All is so in Confusion and Disorder here and this is the very Cross-Handed State of Evil to the Servants of God and of the Prosperity of Wicked Men that no Man Knows Love or Hatred by All that is before him Not in the State of Spirits in Heaven above or in Prison below For All Scripture Reason makes it most Evident There can be no Appearance without a Resurrection Not in the State of Eternity For then God All in All as the Highest Glory Swallows up the Less when God is All in All The Son is subject There must be therefore a Distance of the Rain-bow the Emblem of Christs Kingdom from the Sun that its Beauties may be seen so the Glory of Christ in his Humane Nature and of his Saints in visible Glory must be seen at a Distance from God All in All Not in the Day of Judgment or the Resurrection as a short Transitory Space For that could be no Kingdom nor any Appearance worthy so Great a Cause that had only a moment But it must be a settled Oeconomy or State of Duration the Fullness of Times as it own proper Times and not short Time on-only When the Great Potentate gives a Show it shall be of a thousand years Duration Eccles 9. 1. 1 Cor. 15. 28. Ephes 1. 10. 1 Tim. 6. 15. Rev. 20. 6. Q. How may This be also Set in Agreement with the State of the Wicked A. Very exactly For here They very generally appear in Prosperity And the State of
the Second Death is a State Given as Removed from all Appearance Psal 73. all along Rev. 20. last So that there must be such a peculiar State of Appearance under Wrath according to all Scripture Q. Is not This a Curiosity only of Speculation or of what Practical Force is it A. Surely of very Great seeing nothing is so suited to moving to Repentance and to perswade us to Holiness as this Terror of the Lord that is so suited to men Knowing and understanding Themselves as here in Bodies And which is so written in Nature that Any Instances of it in this World either of Gods Crowning Holy Persons and their Actions with Honour or his Judgments on wicked Men made Examples here do above All other Things exceedingly Affect us 2 Cor. 5. 10. 11. Psal 64. 7. 8. 9. And the Contrary is by Solomon Accounted the Great Cause of Impenitency Eccles 8. 11. Q. How comes it then to pass the Resurrection hath been no more thus Explain'd and press'd A. Because the darkness of the Apostasie and Love of this present World as if the Glory of it were Given to Antichrist as the Vicar of Christ is that Word which the Apostle says hath Eaten as it were a Gangrene as if the Resurrection were now already or as if there were no Resurrection in such a State of Glory and of Visible Appearance in contempt but a sudden Translation into Eternity with God or in the Lake 1 Cor. 15. 12. 2 Tim. 2. 17. 18. Q. Give Account of a Second Scripture Ground of this Visible Glory and Kingdom of Christ and of the Subjection of his Enemies A. Without such a State of the Kingdom of Christ in the Creation restor'd or in a Restitution of All Things the Redemption of Christ were not Perfect and Compleat For whatever the First Adam desolated the Second Adam was to Restore and to Bring again into order There must be therefore a Deliverance of the Creature from the Bondage of Corruption and from all their mutual Enmities So that the Wolf and the Lamb may dwell together c. And on this very Account There must be a Generation of Saints below as Adam and his Seed should have been in Paradise and the Saints dead in Christ in a Restored State in the Heaven above which Evil Spirits now Inhabit and from thence They behold the Glory and Happiness of the Humane nature in the Remaining Saints here below and the whole Creation of God as Renewed and Restored by the Mediator and by Him set out in Glory according to Psal 8. which is by Heb. 2. 5. c. Applyed to the World to come whereof we speak and to Jesus Christ Adoninu or Lord in our Nature or the Second Adam Q. But is there any proof that this State of Restitution pertains not only to the Glory but to the essential perfection of the Redemption A. I Account the Apostle hath given us the proof of this in the Resurrection the greatest Instance of the Restitution So that by a Parallel with that the whole Restitution will be prov'd also to pertain to the essential Perfection of this Redemption Q. What is that proof A. It is 1 Cor. 15. 12. and so forward Q. How do you draw out the proof of what you are upon according to that Scripture A. In these Four Things 1. That whatever Adam lost and whatever was a Part of the Death Threatned upon Adam's Fall must be Restor'd by the Second Adam the Mediator For so saith the Apostle v. 21. 22. and he Brings it in by way of Argument For since by Man came Death by Man came also the Resurrection of the Dead And as in Adam All Dye so in Christ shall All be made Alive By Agreement of Reason since by Man came the Curse on the Creation of God by Man came also the Restitution and if there be Argument in one It must be also in the other 2. A Future State of Happy Spirits might be supposed without a Resurrection as well as a State of Spirits in misery without a Resurrection Now the Apostle supposes a State of Spirits in Misery though there be no Resurrection of the Dead For Those words v. 17. You are yet in your Sins suppose a State of Future Misery of Spirits without a Resurrection Therefore There might be a State of Christ in the Glory of Spirits and so of his Saints though no Resurrection But this according to the Apostle's Argument will not suffice the very essential perfection of the Redemption without a Resurrection Proportionably the Curse upon the Creation being a part of Adam's Death as appears Gen. 3. 18. 19. That must be taken off as necessary to the essential Perfection of the Redemption And a Happy State of Eternity in a dissolved Creation can no more suffice then a Happy State of Spirits without a Resurrection 3. The Vnjust Arise and are yet in Their Sins for They Rise to Condemnation So that a Resurrection without a State of this Restitution wherein that Resurrection shall be Happy is a Death and not a Resurrection in general Scripture Account Therefore Resurrection is to Glory all along this Chapter 4. To the Compleating of this parallel betwixt the First Adam's death and the Second Adams Life There must be a Wee of Saints who shall not dye but be Changed making up the All the Full number of Saints viz. Those who are Dead in Christ and Those who are Changed For in the State of Restitution There can be no Death to the Seed of the Second Adam And if It be in this World It must be a World in a State of Restitution And because such a State on Earth had been if Adam had not sinn'd It must be now by the Second Adam Q. Is there yet any Further Account of the Kingdom of Christ from Scripture Reason A. There is yet the Highest Scripture Reason for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ that is that His Saints may be Fitted to be deliver'd up with the Kingdom to God and to the Father that He may be All in All which is the ultimate End and Last Result of All Things The Apostle therefore discourses of the Kingdom of Christ as in an Immediate Conjunction with and Subordination to that Eternal Kingdom of the Father God All in All. 1 Cor. 15. 28. Q. Why do you call this the Highest Scripture Account of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ A. Because That which is the Highest and last means to the Highest and Last End which Highest and Last end gives value and Reason to All means Receives the Highest Reason and the most Absolute necessity for it self from that Last End now It is most evident and certain from the Apostles discourse The Kingdom of Christ is the Highest and Last means to the Last and Highest End It is the Highest because It Alone is thought worthy to Touch and Attain that End And It is the Last because no other comes between it and that End For when in
this Kingdom Christ hath Fully declar'd God's Name to the Saints and put down all Rule Authority and Power in order to God's being All in All Then in the Highest and last Act of Subduing or Casting Death and Hell into the Lake and also in the Highest Act of declaring the Name of God It delivers up it self and is subject that God may be All in All. John 17. 26. 1 Cor. 15. 28. 54. c. Revel 20. last Q. If the Kingdom deliver'd up to God and the Father be the Last End It must be an End before all Oeconomy or Dispensation of means For the End must be before all means How do you state this A. It must needs be so even before Creation it self and therefore we Read so often of the Purpose of God before or from the Foundation of the World Ephes 1. c. 3. And It Contain these Two Things as not of Free Dispensation but of Absolute necessity 1. That the Eternal Rest of All Created Beings can be only in Vnion to the Father the Word the Spirit who are One and who Inhabit Eternity Creatures therefore below being capable of this Vnion as All which have not Understanding are Annihilated And Creatures of Understanding Angels and Men can be no other then miserable in the loss of this Vnion Hell therefore the lowest Lake lies in departing from God Mat. 25. 45. 46. 2. The Eternal Vnion if there be such an Vnion which is of Free Grace only can be only by God to God and so must be by the Eternal word through the Eternal Spirit to the Father Now among All the Varieties of Dispensations wherein These Grand Ends which upon the supposition of Creatures Eternally Happy are Absolutely necessary are brought to pass by Infinite Wisedom and Power The Kingdom of Christ is Supreme in the order of means or Dispensations as is evident in that It is the Last and so Supreme Q. If the Kingdom of Christ be the Supreme Dispensation and means It must then be in the Eye of God before any other Means or Dispensation And if Creation be but Dispensation in order to the Supreme End of God being All in All the Kingdom of Christ must be in the Eye of God before Creation it self either of Angels or Men A. And so the Scripture always Represents it The Lamb had the Book of Life for his Kingdom before the Foundation of the World and His Purpose in Christ is an Eternal Purpose And Angels and Men even All Things were Created by Him and for Him and by Him They Consist Ephes 3. 11. Col. 1. 15. to 21. Q. But are not These Things to be understood of Christ as He is the Eternal Word and not as in our Nature A. They are All proper to the Eternal Word not by way of Free Dispensation but Absolutely and Eternally and to the Eternal word in our Nature by way of Free Divine Dispensation in order to the union of all Created Beings of Understanding to God All in All. Q. Wherein then stands this Dispensation A. In that the Eternal word far above Angels Principalities Powers Became lower then the Angels by Becoming Man and so Comprehended the whole Created Intellectual Nature that he might be the Head of the whole in their Vnion to God And that in Him They might All be Reconciled to God with the whole Inferior Creation which Having serv'd the Glory of the Creator by Jesus Christ They Fly back into their Former State of Nothing in themselves but indeed are Return'd into the Divine Immensity and Angels and Men be Vnited to God for ever Ephes 1. 10. Col. 1. 20. Q. What need could the Angels who never sinned have of a Mediator by whom They should be Vnited to God or what Sign is there in Scripture of any such thing A. In that even Purest Created Nature is not Clean in his sight that is Compar'd with the Infinite Holiness of God and that there is Folly in it The Angels that Stand Stand by their Election and Cover their Faces before God and Christ in an Humble Thankful and Reverential Acknowledgment hereof Learn by the Church the Great Mysteries of the Gospel Adore and Worship the First Begotten Coming into his Great World to Come and Converse in Innumerable Companies with his Saints above and below in his Kingdom even as they Serve as Ministring Spirits now for the Heirs of that Kingdom Job 4. 18. c. 15. 15. 1 Tim. 5. 21. Isa 6 2. Ephes 3. 10. 1 Pet. 1. 12. Q. How did Christ Appear in this Dispensation for Man before his Fall A. If God Charges even the Holy Angels with Folly so that the Heavens were not Clean in his Sight How much less Men whose Houses are of Clay and whose Foundation is in the Dust There must be therefore a prospect in the Divine Eye of their State in a Mediator and as in Glorious Bodies Job 4. 19. Phil. 3. 21. Q. What Types or Fore-Appearances were there hereof A. Adam Himself as Comprehending Humane Nature in his State of Holiness and Blessedness even before his Fall was but a Type of Him that was to Come and who did indeed so Comprehend all his Seed The First Sabbath was but a Type of the Great Sabbatism of the Second Adam that Remains to the People of God in the World to Come For This Sabbatism then Remain'd Although the Works were Finish'd from the Foundation of the World and That Paradise was but a Type of the Paradice of God Rom. 5. 14. Heb. 4. 3 4. Rev. 2. 7. Q. But how does the State of the Kingdom of Christ Agree with the Redemption of Fallen Man by Christ A. Admirably it Agrees and in a much Fuller and Clearer View For His Saints as in Highest Representation of his Redemption are every single Person in Robes wash'd white in his Blood They are Priests of God and of Christ as to their Justified State And as to their Sanctification the Throne of God and of the Lamb are in the midst of Them They see his Face as his Servants they serve Him His Name is in their Fore-heads They are as the Pillars of his Temple and Go out no more from Him And there can in no wise Enter into that State Any Thing that defileth so that every one must be Holy As to their Happiness and Glory They Reign with Christ for ever Thus in the particulars Consider them together as in the General Assembly and Church of the First born written in Heaven And so They are the New Jerusalem the Bride or Lambs wife to whom It is Given in Regard of Justification to be Cloathed with Linnen White and Clean which is the Righteousness of the Saints As to Holiness It is Clear as a most Precious Jasper and Wall'd High and Guarded by Watch of Angels from all Defilement As to Happiness and Eternal security The Lord God and the Lamb are the Light thereof and the Glory of God Enlightens it that it can see in no