Christ's Kingdom coming on Earth How desireable are all Advancements of it in the world And how delightful ought to be such Tokens of its approaching as our Saviour speaks of When these things begin to come to pass look up and lift up your heads for your Redemption draweth near and when you see these things come to pass the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand Luk. 21. ver 28. 31. Wherefore my preceding Exposition giving an Account of a preludious commencing of that Kingdom in this Nation being at hand to end our present Troubles and Distractions in a state of Christian Peace and Liberty by dissolution of all opposite power thereto it must surely be a welcome discovery to all who are so much Friends to the Truth as to desire that it may prove true for they I hope will see sufficient reason to perswade them of the Truth of it Whereas I said that the Author of the Scruplers Case considered does detract from the Spirituality of Christ's Kingdom as well as from the Authority of the devils Kingdom I shall now give some brief Account of it though it not much concerns the purpose of my Post-script His supposing Adam and his Posterity to have been settled under a Theocracy and that Man was so governed before the Flood may be allowed meaning thereby that he was not governed then by any human Government set up by politick Laws but by the Law of Nature or Law of God written in Mans Heart by which Law the Paternal or Patriarchical Authority was exercised But he is much out in further supposing that the putting the Government into the hands of one of our own nature by the aforesaid promise on Adams Fall was a Condescention to our lapsed state which could not bear the awful Soveraignty of a Theocracy annexed to our innocent state as if Christ's Kingdom was inferiour to the Theocracy annext to that state whenas indeed it 's much superiour to the same For Adam in innocency was but in a natural carnal state he was a natural Adam or living Soul of the Earth earthly but the second Adam the Lord from Heaven being a quickning Spirit came to bring that spiritual Theocracy or dispensation of divine Life which is the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth whereby Christ does rule in believers and is by them to rule the world and which was not known to the world till revealed by the Prince of Life who brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel It was before the hidden wisdom of God ordained before the World unto our Glory ehe Mysteries hid from Ages and Generations but now made manifest to the Saints Col. 1.26 hid from the Prophets that prophesied of it and the Angels that desired to look into it 1 Pet. Chap. 1. Whereas therefore this Author makes not onely Christs Kingdom to be instituted by the aforesaid promise on Adams Fall but also him thereby to be vested in his Authority and to have exercised the same in human Governments reformed by righteous Laws c. both before and since his assuming our Nature and also does ascribe so much Vertue to Faith in Him before his coming as that it was sufficient to free Men from that Corruption of Nature wherein the spiritual dominion of the Devil did consist and to reunite them by a holy Nature to the Father of Spirits p. 22. He seems to have little Knowledge of that spiritual dispensation which the coming of Christ did introduce and thereby commence the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth For Believers in Christ before his coming dyed in Faith not having received the Promises but having seen them afar off and were perswaded of them and embraced them c. So that tho' they might joy in the perswasion of so happy a State to come yet they did it without knowing what it would be as Men joy in belief of a happy State in the other Life without knowing what it will be and therefore surely could not find such happy effects from Belief of it till revealed by his coming For whenas we beholding as in a glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory c. So that the Righteousness of God revealed in us from Faith to Faith in Him is wrought in us by contemplating the manifestation of God in Him How could this be till he was made known to the world or became God manifested in the Flesh There was therefore before no such Vertue of Faith in Him for renewing our Nature and freeing Men from the Corruption of it as this Author imagines nor any Reformation by righteous Laws but what is competent to politick worldly Governments where the Spirit of the world will prevail in the modalizing them and so make the Reformation by such Laws amount to no more than his Government who when he finds it for the Interest of his Kingdom can transform himself into an Angel of Light and his Ministers into Ministers of Righteousness And there were some Heathen Emperours who must be granted to be worldly Powers under the Prince of this world that yet will put in for Rulers by whom Christ did exercise his Authority of the Theocracy according to this Authors Account thereof But no Reformation by righteous Laws can amount to the Theocracy of Christ's Kingdom without the concurrence of that Spiritual Power which is the Life of all such Laws and wherein the dominion of Christ's Kingdom or the Kingdom of Heaven which he brought on Earth does consist we being thereby enabled to act according to the Judgments of Truth contrary to the Spirit of the World and so to overcome the World and advance the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth And yet this Author seems scarce to have higher conceptions of the State of that Kingdom in its perfection than what he imagines of it before and since Christ's coming For he calls the Millennium Those happy times when by means of Christ's visible Ministers the World shall be restored to so peaceable a condition as will be proper for putting down all other Rule and Authority but his own and subjecting all things immediately to himself p. 23. but no mention of that spiritual dominion wherewith he shall then reign So that by those happy times he seems onely to understand a Christian Common-wealth wherein the former worldly state of Government shall be put down and the Saints shall rule onely by Christ's Laws but he seems not aware of that dispensation which onely can enable to fulfil his Laws and which is signified by The Tabernacle of God being with men and his dwelling with them and the New Jerusalem not needing the Sun or Moon to shine into it having the Glory of God and the Lamb to be the light thereof and the Throne of God and the Lamb in it and by their eating of the Tree of Life and drinking of the Waters of Life freely c. And it 's Christ's reducing the World to an immediate
needs strike the evil World with some â—…ead of that Divine Power so wonderfully manifested in its â—…dgments But the Contemplation thereof was such reviving â—…d animating of the Witnesses which might be with a due â—…passion of the evils inslicted by those Judgments and an â—…ancing of their Repute and Interest as to complete the setâ—…g them on their feet from their slain condition Which begat in their Adversaries such fear of them fulfillâ—…g what is said of the Witnesses raised again on their feet That â—…t fear fell on them that saw them as brought the Penal Laws 〈◊〉 them to suppress and hath since begotten many politick Arts 〈◊〉 keep them under and hinder their ascending in a Cloud to 〈◊〉 Heaven of Power whether the great Voice ver 12. does 〈◊〉 them Notwithstanding which they have continued still eâ—…ging in the World and will do so till that Voice be fulâ—…ed And as our late Revolution hath gained them that Liâ—…ty which is like to be so holding as to prove an open Door â—…em which no man can shut so it seems designed also for the â—…illing that Voice and thereby accomplishing the Fall of the â—…th Part of the City though the same be hitherto much obâ—…cted by continuance still of the former Enmity against them and Jealousies of them notwithstanding the great detriment the Publick receives thereby Though this Vision thus concerns our Nation as it chiefly respects one of the ten Kingdoms the Empire was divided into as before noted yet it hath also a concurrent fulfilling in other Countries where the afore mentioned design against the Reformed Religion on the Restauration c. hath been pursued to the utmost whereby as the slaying of the Witnesles hath been fulfilled with them so there hath and will be a fulfilling of their Resurrection by the aforesaid Judgment that now sits at the end of time and times c. To take away the dominion of the Beast and to consume it unto the end This Account of the slaying and rising of the Witnesses as respecting one of the ten Kingdoms c. is further confirmed from the Persecution here which succeeded the Restauration it s better agreeing with the slaying of the Witnesses than those Persecutions which then and since have faln out elsewhere coming short of their barbarous Inhumanity though so severe and heavy as to prove ruinous to many and so better answering to the slaying the Witnesses which is different from the former Antichristian Persecutions both as being peculiar to the Witnesses the Worshippers in the Inner-Court or Temple and Altar whereas the former extends also to the Outer-Court trodden down and as being not so much designed to destroy as to silence and subdue importing a political and a spiritual Death viz. as to their exercising their Function of Prophesying from whence they are raised by the Spirit of LIFE entring into them c. Also the Persecution here is more likely than any elsewhere to be the slaying the Witnesses because the Sufferers under it were such as espoused the Cause they were engaged in upon their own Judgment and Choice and much contrary to their worldly Interest both in respect of their excluding themselves thereby from Preferments and also exposing themselves to manifold evils from Punishment of Laws and Enmity of their prevailing Adversaries Whereas the Persecution in France and elsewhere being against a Religion so long established by Law that the Professors of it received it by Education it was therefore like a National Religion which involves all Professors true or false and so had multitudes in its Communion not so much from Principles of Conscience as the Influence of Education whereby the Truth was not so rooted in their hearts as to enable them to abide those Tryals that came upon them But this Account of the slaying and rising of the Witnesses tho' enforced with so strong Reasons will not be easily digested by those who so highly esteem the Reformation as to make the breaking then with Rome to be a dismembring us from the Ten-horned-beast or a separating this Kingdom from continuing one of the Horns thereof Which cannot be if the slaying the Witnesses was fulfilled according to my Account thereof For they being slain by the Beast that ascends out of the Bottomless-pit that is the Ten-horned-beast which cap. 13. is said to arise out of the Sea and cap. 17. to ascend out of the Bottomless-pit this Kingdom must continue a Member of that Beast or one of the Horns thereof at the time of the slaying them Which that it did so seems so clear from other Reasons also as to make it hardly conceivable to be otherwaies For the Reformation made no Alteration in the Civil Government and therefore could not make any as to this Kingdoms continuing a Part or Member of the Ten-horned-beast which is a representation of the Politick or Civil State of the Empire Nor did it make any in the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction so called the same Hierarchy continuing here with rejection of the foreign Jurisdiction usurpt by the Pope And though the Reformation made in Religion was much Praise-worthy as a good beginning yet it fell much short of obeying that Voice Come out of her my People c. Rev. 18. And yet instead of making further progress it proved retrograde and backsliding became so prevalent as to beget dismal apprehensions of our relapsing to what we had reformed from and thereby involved us in the calamities of the Civil War Yet so far were we from being warned thereby that the Restauration proved a reviving of the same designs which before had produced such sad effects and which now became more eagerly driven on both out of enmity to that Party which were God's Scourge for the former pursuing the same and also to prevent the like sufferings from them again by a total suppressing them It appears therefore that the Antichristian Spirit of the World hath been the prevailing or predominant Spirit in the Nation since the Reformation and how can it then not continue us of the same Antichristian-body the Ten-horned-beast as formerly whatever Variance we have had since with Rome And being refin'd in Profession by the Reformation whilst the same Antichristian Spirit and worldly Power continues to bear sway does rather make us more complete Members of that Beast than make us cease from continuing Members thereof the Mystery of Iniquity consisting in warring against Christ under a Christian Profession or having Horns like a Lamb yet speaking as a Dragon And such Reformation in such enlightened times is indeed serviceable for the prolonging of worldly Power in opposition to the coming of Christs Kingdom whilst Satan being transformed into an Angel of Light and his Ministers into Ministers of Righteousness become thereby enabled the longer to vye with the true Children of Light Also the 1260 days of the Witnesses Prophesying and the Womans abode in the Wilderness ending as before shewed but in the year 1660 and by some not so
accomplish'd by great Changes and Revolutions in human governments p. 22. should so severely censure the transactions of those Civil Wars and not look upon them to be alike Works of Providence for promoting the ruine of Antichrist whenas they gave so great a check to the Antichristian designs then driven on and such advance to the interest of Christ's Kingdom as that when by the turn of affairs those designs were more eagerly than ever pursued and that with greater advantage than ever both from abroad and at home to make the same successful yet all hath proved like the Rain descending and the Floods coming and the Winds blowing and beating on a House sounded on a Rick his Kingdom having so emerged above all opposition as to be now near a triumphant state in this Nation But it appearing by the Dr's Preface that the Liberty of Thoughts he hath taken proceeds from the Authority of Bishop Overals Convocation book which freed him from the apprehensions of Singularity and Novelty which he was cramp't with he could hardly take greater freedom than the Authority of that Book gave especially in Affairs wherein he is also crampt with a great prejudice which occasioned his so crippling the Truth he asserts in not giving it its due scope or extent and thereby giving such advantage against himself as before noted But whereas on Profanation of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes it 's said Dan. 11.32 The People that know their God shall be strong and do Exploits meaning the Resistance made by the Maccabees may not those Exploits which are there spoken of with approbation be lyable to be censured as the Dr. does the Actions of the late Times by the same measure wherewith he judgeth them For the one was a resisting Authority as much as the other yea and more as being begun by private Subjects whereas the other was a Conflict of Authority with it self or of one part of the Legislative power with the other and that upon urgent occasion given though it be called by the Dr. A bare-fac'd Rebellion p. 46 And may not those called chosen and faithful wherewith the Lamb overcomes the Kings of the Earth that war with him Rev. 14. and those Armies on White Horses in Heaven following him that is faithful and true and in righteousâ—ess doth judge and make War cap. 19.11 I say may or shall â—ot these Powers of Christ to settle him in his Kingdom on Earth be lyable by the same measure to the like Censures with those of the Dr. For they will not have the Authority of worldly powers to bear them out for those they are to war against as withstanding the settling of Christ in his Kingdom â—nd therefore must act upon his Authority to whose service through faith and knowledge of Him they have devoted themselves And so not being authorized by the visible worldly powers will be lyable to be censured as the Dr. does those of the late Times by the blind world that judgeth onely according to outer Appearance It 's evident therefore that through Knowledge of God and Faith in Him there may be such a disobedience and resistance of worldly Rulers by their Subjects as is righteous in his sight and acceptable service to Him however condemned of Men. So that as the whole project of Antichrist is under the guise of a Christian Profession to subvert Christianity so the Doctrine of Non-resistance as it hath been managed by many is a playing the like game that is under the Colour of teaching the pure Christian Doctrine of Passive Obedience to deter Men from being concerned in the great works of Providence against the powers of the World for the advanceing of Christ's Kingdom therein and so as much as may be to obstruct the coming thereof Since therefore the despotick dominion of worldly Rulers is but the Empire of the devil which be gave rise to by tempting Man to fall and which Christ came to destroy by destroying the works of the devil those bands of corruption which linkt sinful Man to the Thraldom of his power it appears how incapable Men are of and unmeet for Liberty whilst they continue the Servants of sin and that there 's no true Freedom but that wherewith Christ does make them free no Laws though they be so much consided in being any security for Mens Rights and Liberties whilst the dominion of sin in them does make them the Vassals of Satan taken captive by him at his will And therefore those forms of Government which make a Nation reputed a Free People do little avail thereto further than they preserve them from being so deeply immersed in corruptions as other Nations and so make them retain some vigour and strength to maintain their Rights and Liberties Hence it hath been a policy of despotick Rulers to corrupt their People by licentious Liberty whereby to make them more firmly their slaves they being thereby disperited to struggle for Freedom and are made in love with Thraldom As the Cappadocians being a more vicious Nation than any other did refuse the liberty of being made a Free People when offered it by the Romans no liberty being regarded by such People but that of serving their Lusts that reign in them whereby that Government is most pleasing to them that does most indulge them in the being Servants of Sin and free from Righteousness the bands of which they would break and cast away the cords thereof from them And when Men by Apostacy from God become so degenerated into Enmity against Him that is against Truth and Righteousness they are fit Sbujects for the domination of such Powers as will have as little regard to the same in ruling over them but deal with them according the bruitish state they are sunk into The proper end indeed of all worldly powers is become the Ministers of God for good by being a terrour to evil and not to good works and in some measure they usually prove so human policy or worldly wisdom moving them to restrain great Excesses in wickednesses But when such heroical Princes are advanced to rule as most pursue the due ends of Government yet all that they can effect is but like palliating Cures The in-side is first to be cleansed that the out-side may be clean also whilst the Corruptions of sinful Flesh remain unpurg'd they will have their course of evil Operations Till men have found the strait paths of Life they will be straggling in the broad ways of destruction and whilst they are thus held with the cords of their sins there 's no freeing them from the Thraldom of Satan There 's no recovering them from that bondage of Corruption but by that redemption which saves them from their sins and makes them free by the Truth and so delivers them from the power of darkness and translates them into the Kingdom of our Lord. The power of the devil must be destroyed by destroying his works that gave rise to it This therefore being the end of