Christians exhorted to Take heed of falling from their own Firmament or Firmation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verse 17. That They may shine as that Firmament Dan 12. 3. 4. Their Wresting of Scriptures to their own Perdition Universally more Particularly the Prophecies for their own Papal Kingdom and against the Kingdom of Christ And that Discourse of the Apostle Paul 2 Thes 2. They Writhe wholly from Themselves which would They have Observed it and ask'd as Judas their Type Is it I It would have Answered Them as Christ did Him Thou sayest This is a Great Brand by which the Son of Perdition with all his Adherents may be known whose Character is as the Judasses of the Christian Church Son of Perdition and Two Times Going into Perdition Compare John 17. 12. 2 Thess 2 13. Revel 17. v. 8. v. 11. These Remarks upon the Apostle Peter's Prophecy as I style it I have been larger upon to shew I am Conscious of no Recoyl of Mind concerning it and though some Things may seem wiredrawn yet the Manner and Symmetry of Prophecy the Great Rule of its Interpretation will Justifie me Argum. 4. I do indeed so Rely upon the Prophecy Revel 20. Concerning the Thousand Years that if I had only that Scripture I should think it sufficient although it be but One and although it be Propheick Because I find the Letter so Express as that the Thousand Years are no less than Six several Times Named And I Observe the Apostle's Discourse upon Melchisedech so Weighty so Large with so severe a Reproof of the Unteachableness of Christians concerning it Heb. c 5. â—0 c. 6 1. with Reâ—erence to it throughout c 7. All of it to be Suspended upon One single Oracle and that Prophetick also Psal 110. 4. The Lord hath Sworn and will not Repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedech Referring to a small Historick Memoir Genes 14 18. 19 20. and that on purpose Contriv'd to be Dark and under a Veiâ— Yet the Apostle severely Reproves a Dulness of Hearing of it Whereas the Christians then might have said We Desire only plainer more undoubted Truths more genearlly Treated Principles and fundamental Points But the Apostle Silently Threatens the Danger of Ayostacy on not Going on to Perfection by grounding his so Earnest Exhortation to Go on upon that Danger of Apostacy without so Doing And indeed there is Great Reason to think a Prediction of the Great Antichristian Apostacy in the Bulk not to be Repented of not to be Renewed to Repentance according to Râ—vel 16. is lodg d in it and that That very Apostacy came in upon the Ignorance of and not Acquiescency in Christ's Melchisedechian Priesthood after the Power of an endless Life but setting up that Kingdom and Priesthood in Counterfeit For what is the Melchisedechian Priesthood of Christ but a Priesthood on a Throne Zech. 6. 13 And what is the Papacy but a Counterfeit of that a Priest on a Throne the False Propbecy Included also as the True is in the Priesthood of Christ And why was this Golden Calf Idolatry brought in by that false Aaron as his Vicar but to supply the Absence of Christ Gone up to the Mount and not knowing That it is Witnessed of him He liveth and is as Active for his Church and Saints Above as Below while on Earth so far as is necessary till he brings forth all his Saints Appearing also in the Glory of his Melchisedechiaâ— Priesthood as Kings and Priests also But to Return to the Prophecy Revel 20. I observe as I have already observed There is not only the Shell or Words but the Deep Reason of Things as All Prophecy and most particularly all the Lines of the Revelation before it Run into It and Center in it and All Require such a Kingdom of such a State of New Heavens and New Earth and of a Duration of Time that may speak Perfection to Accomplish Them And that Duration this Prophecy Declares to be a Thousand Years and then All to be Drawn up into Eternity and no otherwise to End Argum. 5. The Observation upon the Thousand Years I made heretofore in my Patriarchal Line p. 58. does much sway my Judgment still concerning the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ viz. By the Recollection of each Patriarch's Life whol and together is most Pompously set out That none of these Holy Men Attain'd a Full Thousand Years of Life though some Life 's swell'd so much above Nine hundred as if they would mount to a Thousand yet it was said to Them Hitherto shall you come and no further for a Thousand in Sacred Record is a Number of Perfection that is not Allowed to any Years of Life in Adam's Apostate State but Reserv'd for the Restitution of the Second Adam and p. 165. As if the Thousand Years were a Tree of Life Guarded with Cherubims that none might Take of it Enoch had a particular Exemption of not Dying yet no One might be in a Visible State on Earth One Thousand Years wherein I am Confirm'd by Reading what Dr. Sherlock so Reverend so Learned so Considering and so far from what is call'd Fanaticism as every One knows hath written in his Excellent and Generally Acceptable Practical Discourse of Death p. 129 130. Wherein it is most Considerable that he Writes not as having Espous'd the Opinion of the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ nor was Intentionally Writing upon it But so Discerning and Quick-sighted a Person was struck with its Beams of Light and Truth while he was upon another View And thus he Writes The longest Term of Humane Life after the Sentence of Death passed on Man was a Thousand Years And Comparing this Observation with that Promise of a Thousand Years Reign with Christ which is call'd the First Resurrection and is â—he Portion only of Martyrs and Confessors and pure and sincere Christians Revel 20. I have been apt to Conclude To live a Thousand Years is the Priviledge only of Immortal Creatures That if Adam had continued Innocent he should have liv'd no longer upon Earth but have been Translated to Heaven without Dying For this Thousand Years Reign of the Saints with Christ whatever that Signifies seems to be Intended as a Reparation of Death which They fall under by Adam's Sin But then these Thousand Years do not put an End to the Happiness of those Glorious Saints but they are Immortall Creatures And though this Reign with Christ continues but a Thousand Years Their Happiness shall have no End though the Scene may change and vary for over such the Second Death shall have no power Or else this Thousand Years Reign with Christ must signifie an Eternal and Vnchangeable Kingdom a Thousand Years being a certain Earnest of Immortality But there is an Unanswerable Objection against that Because we read of the Expiring of those Thousand Years and what shall come after them even the Final Judgment of all the World This is a Great
concerning Christ having his Palace of Glory not on this New Earth but in the New Heaven concerning the Wicked Dead Rais'd In which Points I perceive my Self to differ from Him but as I Hope on Great Scripture Grounds Now to Conclude All This Kingdom is the Great Practical Doctrine which when It shall be Vniversally Preach'd by the Everlasting Gospel shall Bring in all the World Jews and Gentiles to Christ And besides the Blessed Effusions of the Spirit that shall go along with it How must it needs in Reason prevail For what would the Great Value and purchase of but a 100 Years in the Vigors and All Affluences of Life be and in such a Heaven and Earth as are now and if Men were so enclin d in all wise and vertuous Converses Of what Inestimable Value then to every serious Considerer even now the offer of so much a Higher and Longer 1000 Y. of Life as is propos'd on so Great Scripture Grounds How may it satisfie that Appetite Implanted by Creation into our Natures which is that very Olam or World set by God in the Heart of Man Ecclâ—s 3 11. the Desire to see the Glory of God in his Visibly Glorious Creation for a perfect Duration of Time But how much stronger will the Impression be upon an Enlightned Convinced Awaken'd World under that Everlasting Gospel Preach'd when that shall be Fully declar'd and â—â—liev'd that Few will now Believe though it be never so plainly Told Them In the mean Time seeing we All profess to Believe Fully the Apostle Peter s Doctrine of Looking for New Heavens and a New Earth according to his Promise wherein Righteousness shall dwell Let us Resolve what Manner of Persons we ought to be in all that Holiness and Godliness of Conversation and let us Grow in Grace and the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ beyond the Beginnings of his Doctrine Going on to Perfection and so unravel the Apostasie where it Began in not so doing and above all Let us Give All Dilligence that we may be Found of him in Peace without Sâ—ot and Blameless and by Him be so Presented before the Presence of his Glory And let us consider the Day is near Approaching Concerning the Truth of which I make Appeal to Him to show by his Arm made bare in unquestionable Evidence of Fact and Event every Thing in its proper Time And I am now waiting at this Time when the Kings are preparing to Go out to War for a Dawn of thâ— Morning Star on the Suffering Witnesses of the yet Afflicted Thyatyra the French and Vaudois and that the Rod of Iron should begin to Break tâ—at Potters Vessel whom patience hath yet spar d from being a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for what ends will be seen who with a more then Herodian Insolence and Cruelty hath nâ—â— only let Rest on Him as Herod but even Hunted for such Attributions as to a God and not to a Man and so Inhumanely Vex'd so many of the Church of Christ to please a Sacrilegiously Flattering Jesuitic Order Now to the only wise God be Glory for ever Amen A REPRESENTATION OF THE Thousand Years Kingdom OF CHRIST Endeavouring to Reconcile it to the General Confessions of the Faith of Christians and particularly to the Judgment of the Eminent Servants and Ministers of Jesus Christ with a Vindication from Further Objections I Can Sincerely Appeal to the Searcher of Hearts I am in all the Substantial and Essential Points of Christianity of the Judgment of all the Wisest Soundest and most Universally Approved Ministers of the Gospel and Christians in the Faith at once Deliver'd to the Saints and have no By nor Secret Opinions in Reserve either concerning the Person of the Great Media or God and Man or concerning his Kinâ—dom as if it had not been from the Beginning or were not to be for ever in such Explications of it as the Churches of Christ most Agree in according to Scripture I make the same Appeal concâ—rning my Belief of the Eternal Happiness of the â—aints with and by Christ in the Distinctness of Humane nature Spirits in Bodies of Glory united by Him to the Father and yet each one in his own proper Personality and so made Truly Equalâ— to the Holy and Elect Angels and of the punishment of the wicked in their Spirits and Bodies together with the Devil and his Angels even throughout a Strict and proper Eternity a Parte Post as They speak or for ever Except therefore my Doctrine and Affirmation of the Kingdom of the Thousand Years can be shown in a perfect Amity and Conciliation with this Gospel and Form of Sound Words I Acknowledge It ought to be Rejected I therefore Attempt in very Brief to shew it to be in such a State of Agreement and to vindicate it from Exceptions to it I observe therefore one Great Complex of Articles of Faith wherein All Christians are as much as in any Point of Christianity at One and They may be thus Given 1. That there shall be a Day or Time before the State and Kingdom of Eternity wherein Jesus Christ shall Come from the Right Hand of the Father to Judge the World and this as Man Acts 17. 31. 2. That Jesus Christ shall Come in the Glory and Power of the Father to this Judgment and that It shall be a most Illustrious Appearance of his Kingdom that was not before nor shall be after For He comes in his Kingdom and the King shall say c. Matth. 25. and He Sits on the Throne of his Glory v. 3â— v. 34. 3. That at the same Time There shall be a Glorious Resurrection and Appearance of his Saints with Him as Sharers in the Glories and Triumphs of that Day 4. That the Saints that shall at that Time be living and Remâ—ining upon Earth shall not Dye but at the very same Time be Chang'd so as that They also may have their part in the same Glory and Resurrection 5. That there shall be a Resurrection of the Vnjust and of Those that have done Evil to the Condemnation to the Dishonour and Contempt and to the Punishment that shall at that Day be Executed upon Them 6. That the Heavens and Earth that now are are Reserv'd for Fire at that Day and that Christ as the Apostle Paul speaks 2 Thess 1. 7 8. shall be Reveal d in Flames of Fire taking Vengeance and that as the Apostle Peter says The Day of the Lord Cometh as a Theif in the Night in which the Heavens shall pass away with a Great Noise and the Elements melt with Fervent Heat and the Earth and the Works that are therein shall be Burnt up 2 Pet. 3. 10. and again v. 12. Looking for and Hasting unto the Day of God wherein the Heavens being on Fire shall be dissolv'd and the Elements shall melt with Fervent Heat Now seeing the very Revelation of Christ is in Flames of Fire as Lightning and that our Lord compares his Coming
Original where also it varies the Number from Heavens In the Preface Heavens viz. Our Father which art in the Heavens Plurally to As in Heaven in the Single Number and on Earth with a Singular Favour to a Parallel New Heaven and New Earth And it leads us to pray for the Doing the Will of God in such a Parallel Heaven and Earth that as in Paralellism the Will of God may be done as in the One so in the Other Besides according to Common Interpretation of this Petition A Prayer according to the will of Ood so exactly as our Lord weighed it out and that hath been so long prayed by all his Servants in Faith cannot but be Heard The Spirit helping their Infirmities when they know not what in this Prayer to pray for as they ought with unutterable Groans and God knows the Mind of his Spirit though they do not so clearly understand this Prayer So then It must be Heard But it cannot be Heard if there be not such a State on Earth in which the Will of God may be done as in Heaven For the Earth and the Earth as in parallel to Heaven so particularly named is the Place or Basis on which the Saints that do it shall Rest So that the doing the Will of God in any other State or Place will not be a Fulfilling this Petition Nor will the doing it in Sincerity according to the Measure of the Saints now on Earth answer the Petition For our Lord in this Prayer which is in such Number Weight and Measure would not have layd a Paralled wherein there is no Equality nor Proportion as Things are now viz. Between doing the Will of God on Earth and in Heaven For every part of this Prayer shall ere he hath perfected his Intercession upon it be Fulfilled in the Highest Sense of each part This we know is not yet in any particularly in this Petition therefore a State shall be on purpose for it This also must needs Lock in with the foregoing Petitions when ever there is a Doing the Will of God so on Earth his Name must be Sanctified as in Heaven and upon Earth else his Will cannot be so Done because Sanctifying his Name is so Eminently his Will that his Will cannot be Done as in Heaven and on Earth except his Name be Sanstissed as in Heaven and on Earth Thus is it also with his Kingdom coming That must needs Come as in Heaven and upon Earth when-ever his Will is so Done And it cannot Come till it is so Done and his Name so Sanctified For what is his Kingdom but the Supream Honour of our Kings Name and Obedience to his Will so Universally as in Heaven And whither should this Kingdom Come but out of Heaven where-now it is into a Lower Heaven and Earth where indeed it is in regard of Supream Power always But it must Come in a Sense it hath not yet Come And if these Three Petitions were Heard As in Heaven and upon Earth The Earth must either be a New Earth in preparation for such a Fulfilling or the Fulfilling would immediately Turn it into a New Earth For such a Change on the Spirits and Actions of Men and such a Blessing from Heaven as would immediately follow would make it indeed a New Earth If therefore our Esteem of this Prayer were not too much spent in an Ignorant Formality and Superstition on Bare Words it would soon give us an Unanswerable Argument of such a Kingdom on Earth and a Kingdom must haâ—e a Duration and what Duration but a Kingdtm of that Thousand Years Prophecy having once named gives a Preference to I say nothing of the Petition taking in Heoven viz the Lower Heaven which Scripture make the Habitation of fallen Spirits that They being Remov'd these Three Petitions may be Fulfilled there also Nor of the following Petitions most Adjustable hereunto which I have in a Full Discourse on this Prayer made Ready if God please to give Opportunity for Publication as also to shew the True Laws of our Duty in using of this Prayer wherein Men are so prone to Run into the very Battology Heathenism or Vanity of Repetition as an Antidote againk which it was given by Christ and this came in by the Gentilism that Antichrist hath brought into the Outer Court Taking away that Daily Sacrifice the Remains of which are yet among Protestants Argum. 3. With Great Assurance and without any Reluctancy of of Thoughts I further Argue That the Apostle Peter in an especial manner Commission'd for it by the Divine Spirit hath given the first Light to the Knowledge of the Day of Judgment as a Kingdom of a Thousand Years Epist 2. Chap. 3. 8. The whole Chapter is indeed a Great Prophecy of that Kingdom and the State of it and it carries many severe Remarks on the Antichristian Apostacy as those Scoffers who setting up that Kingdom in Counterfeit Burlesque and Abuse the True Kingdom and have and still Jeer it out of the Faith of Christians The Apostle in Spirit foreseeing this Recalls the Sincere Disciples of Christ to the Words of the Prophets first who are so Abundant concerning this Kingdom but speak very darkly of the Day of Judgment or not at all but through that Kingdom and then to the Commandment or as the Learned Observe it to signifie the Doctrine of Us the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour Now these Words are undoubtedly a Preface to what follows after in the Chapter and therefore to the Doctrine of the Day of Judgment of the Thoufand Years of the New Heavens and New Earth and the holy Inferences from it with a very Dreadful Thunder and â—ightning upon the Apostacy intermixt and all in close Connexion He promises upon these Scoffers that They sâ—all be in the very Last of Time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That their Lusts of the present World the Grandieur and Sensualities of it will oblige them to say Where is the promise of his Coming There is no Kingdom of Christ but what we have set up Events of many Ages Demonstrate there is no other These are yet neither Atheists nor Anti Scripturists but such Mockers as Esay speaks of Chapter 28. 22 c. Who will not believe a Consumption on the present Earth to rise in a greater Harvest They allow the Great Change of the World by the Flood the Change by New Heavens and New Earth which the Apostle Verse 13. Inetrprets as one Principal Branch of the Promise They Laugh at and the Gangrene Eats beyond professed Anti-Christianism as if that First Resurrection were past already in that 1000 Y. Staâ—â— of the Church since Constantine and no other to be expected but the â—inal Judgment and Eternity To this the Apostle Answers by laying down this Great Thâ—â—â—s which saith the Apostle Lies hid from Them Resolving Obstinately against all Light All Things shall continue as they were that is They will be Ignorant of any other World The Thesis or
Position is As the First World Destroyed by the Flood of Water that Lay as the forenamed Excellent Theory hath set out within its own Bowels And yet that Destruction was not till 1656 Years after its Creation so long the Word of God Secured it and there was yet a World after it So the Heaven and Earth that now are shall be destroyed by Fire Hid as it were in its Entrails for about such a space of Time from the Apostle's writing Till that Appointe◠Time the same Word of God Interposes and Secures it But saith the Apost that you may Rightly Judge of the Position I would by no means hove you Ignorant of this one Thing this Principal Thing in this Point that I am about to Lead you to Of the New Heavens and the New Earth That as the First Heavens and Earth and the Host of Them Finish'd and God's Resting in them was on the Sabbath and Seventh Day So the Day of Judgment the Great Sabbatism of Resting and Rejoycing in his Works to God to Christ and his Saints shall be a Day but It is with God in his Determination and Counsel concerning it a Day of a 1000 Years and to so Great Day He hath made each 1000 Years of the Worlds Continuance a Day and They are Six as at the Worlds First Creation For in the Evening of the Sixth Millenary That Day shall Begin Think not therefore the Lord is Slack for He hath with Great Wisdom Ballanc'd and Weigh'd out for the First Seventh Day Sabbath a Sahbath of a 1000 Years For the Day of Judgment that will be for Perdition to the Wicked shall be a Day of a 1000 Years Rest to the People of God and to so Great a Day of a 1000 Years He hath with infinite Patience to Bring All his own Elect into it weigh'd out also for each Day Leading to the First Sabbath Six Millenaries or 1000 of Years which he Accounts as Days to Gathe◠in all his Elect as the Apostle Paul Heb. 4. Shews the Long suffering of the Lord to the several Ages of his People to be Salvation to Them till that very Sabbatism comes that Remains to the People of God This is the Great Sense that lies under the very profitable and Exscellent Discourse of the Apostle taken in Common Sense But that There is this Great Sense I Argue not only from the Symbols of the New Heaven and New Earth coming out of the Floo◠and from the New Heaven and the New Earth having Six days and then a Sabbath of a 1000 Years Symboliz'd by the Sabbath and the Six Days of Creation before it to which the whole Scope of the Apostle's Discourse makes it plain that He Refers But I Especialy Argue from These Two Things 1. From the Apostle's Great Preface shewing a Mystical Doctrine as such Prefaces do Rom. 11. 15. 1 Cor. 15. 51. Now that the longest and shortest Time with God the High and Holy one that Inhabits Eternity the Absolute Eternal Being are All Alike is an undoubted Principle of Natural Rational Religion which All are supposed to Know and therefore that Great Truth needs no such Preface as not to be Ignorant of that One Thing there being many other so Great Principles of that Order of Natural Religion that ought not to Lye hid from Any 2. Because this would not all Answer the Apostle's Scope either with Relation unto the Scoff of them that say Where is the Promise of his coming not Satisfie and Comfort the Sincere Christian concerning the delay of that Coming For what Comfort is it to the Sincere Christian to whom Each Minute of delay of the Coming of Christ especially under suffering is as an Age that to an Eternal Being a Day is as a 1000 Y. and a 1000 Years as One Day and how would the Scoffer Triumph in this Each Day with God is a 1000 Years how many 1000 of Years may be then to the Coming of Christ when every Day with God is a 1000 Years So many Days then so many 1000 Years And if He Counts a 1000 Years but as One Day how long may He delay e're the coming of Christ be The Comfort proper to this Case must be such as is proper to the Creatures of Time What is proper to the Alone Paramount Eternal Being Flys too High and Alought over this Case however an Admirable a Truth it is in it self and God most Adorable in it Nor is there therefore Any Cause to vilifie this Kingdom of Christ Because It is but a 1000 Years and that a 1000 Years is with God but as a Day Because even according to the Letter of this Scripture each Day of the 1000 Years is with God as a 1000 Years as well as the 1000 Years but as One Day when therefore we may by this Apostolic Canon if we had Respect to the Letter Count every Day of the 1000 Years Kingdom as a 1000 Years it self how Great then would it be But I have sole Respect to the Mystic meaning That God the Lord of Time knows how much and no more is proper to his Ends hath Resolv'd A Sabbatism of a 1000 Years Beginning with and Ending with a Grand Judgment and its middle Space a Judgment or Government according to and with Relation to those Two Grand Judgments and so most Fitly call'd Judgment or Day of Judgment shall be a perfection of Time and the Fullness of All Times and the duration of the Kingdom of his Son as Son of Man And that Six Days each Day as a Milennium or 1000 Y. of his Patience and Long suffering for the Vessels of Wrath Fitting Themselves to Destruction at that Day and for the Gathering his Elect from the several Ages of the World as well as from the Four Winds shall go before it And it self from its Beginning to its End shall bear this Character Fullness of Times without Nice distinction of one part from Another and so Eternity ensues and this State which shews the Fitness of the Symbols shall have New Heavens and a New Earth according to Creation according to the Great Promise Esay 65. c 66. which also shews the opposite State of the Carcases under a never dying Worm and an Vnquenchable Fire to mean much higher then the Carcasses of the Assirians whatever Type that slaughter might be Lastly That this Prophecy of the Apostle Peter hath also Great Reference to the Antichristian State I observe by Indications however They may seem small yet are most Significant 1. The Vnlearnedness Barbarity and Ignorance most Natural to Antichrist however since the Reformation Necessity hath made his Party more Learned taken notice of in the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verse 16. 2. Their Apostacy as Wandring and falling Stars as the Papacy it lelf is also Symboliz d by a Star falling from Heaven to the Earth Revel 9. v. 1 is Signified by a Dis-firmamented State in the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wander'd from their Firmament and
are Assign'd to the Binding of Satan the Dragon the Old Tempting and Deceiving Serpent the Devil and Satan the Great Accuser and Adversary He was laid hold on by the Angel or Ministers of the Dâ—vine Power and Pleasure having the Key of that dark Vault of Impossibility for Satan to Appear or Act but in the Torment of his own Guilty and Miserable Spirâ—t as the Chain also Signifies so much as in the smallest Instance even as at all Times He is Remanded into it and Held in it but according to the Permission of God He was now laid Hold upon bound and Chain'd and Seal'd up for a Thousand Years Here Satan is Consider'd as in the Essentials of the Prince and whole Host of fallen wicked Spirits full of Power Might and Rage as well as Counsel and Policy the whole Number of these Intelligences Spirits and their Action is as effectually and to all Intents and Purposes Bound for the Thousand Years as it shall be when Satan is Cast into the Lake for Eternity and under the Absoluteness of Kingdome when all Enemies subdued God shall be All in All. 2. The Thousand Years are Assign'd to the Not deceiving the Nations till those Thousand Years are Expired or Finisht Now it is most Evidenâ— These Nations are not the Nations of the Saved Chap 21. 24. and Healed by the Leaves of the Tree of Life Chap. 22. v. 3. For These were Destroyed from Heaven But there were at the same Time other Nations Saved and Healed a Holy and Beloved City There is therefore a certain Assurance the Nations here spoken of are the Wicked Reserved to Future Destruction Now These I say are Really the Dead who as I shall just now speak more were Symbolized by Nations or Gentiles more properly Aliens as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often signifies from the Common-wealth of Israel the New Jerusalem below But for the Thousand Years they are not to be stirr'd by Satan They cannot be Deceiv'd into any Action against the Kingdom of Christ The Glory of Christ's Kingdom is so Full in their Face 3. The Thousand Years are Assigned to the Martyrs and all the Saints of Christ whose Saintship is Symbolized by the Not worshipping the Beast c. That is as Pure to God in all Ages before the Beast and making up One Church of the First Born with Them as the Apostle calls this whole Number of Saints These are Rais'd in Bodies of the First Resurrection and Reign with Christ in his Thousand Years Kingdom a Thousand Years 4. These Thousand Years are Assigned to the Rest of the Dead not Living again till the Thousand Years are Finisht And these Dead signifie to me Those Chap. 19. Slain with the Sword of Christ's Mouth and on whose Flesh the Fowls viz. the Saints of Christ Triumphing in the Vengeance and Washing their Feet in the Blood of the Wicked are Satisfied upon It is Expresly said They Lived Not which is Principally to be understood of the Highest of Life in the Highest Senses of it For as soon as ever The Saints were Rais'd All the Wicked Dead were Rais'd But They Lived not Living not so as to Reign with Christ as the Dead Saints Rais'd Saints of the First Resurrection liv d. But because They are of a Resurrection though a Resurrection of the Vnjust and to Condemnation Therefore They are spoken of next to the Raised Saints But They Lived not till the Thousand Years were Expir'd As soon as ever that is said it is Added immediately This is the First Resurrection the First and Onely Resurrection to Living But These Dead were not of it and so They never can Live in the true Senses of Life though Rais'd For They Liv'd not till the Thousand Years of the First Resurrection were Finisht and so could not so much as Taste of the First Resurrection or Partake of it and then They never can For they are immediately Forepriz'd as soon as ever it had been said They were the Dead who for the Thousand Years Liv'd not It is said Blessed and Holy is He that is Partaker of the First Resurrection over such the Second Death hath no power Over All else it hath The Dead therefore which These are are Cast into the Lake of the Second Death There may be also a Secondary Sense of the Dead not living viz. Not Appearing as Gog and Maâ—og till the Thousand Years are Finisht as hath been shewn But This is 〈◊〉 Principal 5. These Thousand Years are Assign'd to the Partakers of the First Resurrection Holy Saints and in â— State of Paradise-Blessedness making up with the Risen Saints We All as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 15. 25. and 1 Thess 4. 17. viz. who Come to us and make us up to an All to a Complement of Saints who cannot â—e the Dead for They Die not All but are Chang'd and so Participants of the First Resurrection Not the Dead for They are the Living and Remaining These also though they are not Saints of the First Râ—sâ—rrection yet Partakers Though they are not said here to â—ive yet They are Priests of God and of Christ and Reign with Him as Kings of the Earth Nations Saved and Healed a Thousand Years And so the Greatness of the Redemption of Christ Abounds in the Sight of their short Danger and They are Caught up to Christ and to all the Saints above and are ever with the Lord and so the Second Death hath no Power over Them 6. These Thousand Years are Assign'd not in their whole Line but in their end to the Loosing of Satan for that little space to the Insurrection of Gog and Magog against the Holy City and the Casting Satan and the Dead into the Lake Object If it should be said How can One and the Same sort of Persons be Known to be the same when Prophecy hath so varied their Names Calling Them the Nations or Gentiles The Dead Gog and Magog Answ So Great a Prophecy as This of the Revelation that hath pronounc'd a Blessedness upon Them who Read and who Hear it Expects All should be most Accurate and Diligent in Comparing it Self with it Self bringing All Scripture into a Compare with it that so the Two Leaved Gates of its Truth may open to Them and the Secret Treasures even Treasures of Darkness as it seems to our dim Understanding may be Disclos'd to Them And if Any think the Trouble too Great They are shut Out In this Case therefore by Comparing we come to understand that there is not only fair Inducement to think the Dead the Nations Gog and Magog to be the same but Greatest Assurance They must be the same There is fair Inducement in that Gog and Magog being Described as a Great Multitude whose Number is as the Sand of the Sea They must be a Collection of Nations and therefore They are expresly call'd the Nations Chap. 9. v. 8. and a Hammonah of Nations as of Old in the Type Ezek. 39 9. Now we find
in Glory from the Jerusalem State above during the 1000 Years could by the decree of God Assigning only a 1000 Years for it be no longer and that his Saints not yet vested in Immortality and Incorruption would be liable to Sathan's Assaults and to Temptation and to Fall from their Glory He would therefore Spew out for ever Any Church-State but what should be Fix d in Immortality and Incorruption and so Immediately be deliver'd up through Himself to God and the Father This Spewing or Vomiting out of Christ's Mouth signifies then the utter Impossibility for ever of any Lapsible Church State or what is not so Eternally secur'd Seeing it is most Impossible Christ should Return to his Vomit any more 3. The Church of Laodiceas so high Account of it self as being Rich and Increas'd with Goods c. but in Christ's Account being Poor Miseâ—â—ble Blind and Naked and Counsell'd therefore by Him to Buy of Him Gold tryed in the Fire white Rayment and Eye-Salve as Applied to the Living Remaining Saints is no otherwise to be understood then that All that Excellent State of the Jerusalem below was through the Beams of a free Communication from the Jerulalem above with which It was in Union but that being no longer possible because the Thousand Years were finisht there could be no Satisfaction in any longer Continuance below however They might be Tempted to mistake concerning it For the State of the Church so Deserted was poor miserable blind naked and the Good State could no way be Recover'd but by the Pure Gold the White Rayment and Eye-Salve of Immortality Incorruâ—tion and Immediate Sight of Christ Face to Face in his Kingdom above 4. By the Rebuke and Chastisement on Laodicea as It may be Apply'd to the Living Remaining Saints is Figur'd in tâ—â—t Compassâ—ng the Camp or the Munition of the Saints Christ's main Intention and Design which was Love the end of it being to stir up that Zeal and change of Mind or Resipiscency producing an Earnestness to be Caught up to Christ in his Kingdom above according to the Necessity that must needs Aâ—pear from so Bold an Attempt of Satan as soon as ever the Glories of Jerusalem above were stay'd which was the Security of that below And seeing there was but a Thousand Years Determined to that Universal Glory of the Kingdom of Christ and there could be no longer such a Communication and yet that there was not that Ardor in these Saints to be Translated to the Highâ—st State Christ stops also those Influences that Fetter d Satan and the Gog and Magog which They immediately Feel as a Loosening of Themselves and so They Come up and Cover the New Earth and Compass the City So that the Remove of the Saints is as by a violent Motion as it were Spewing out and by a Severe Admonition upon the Saints that Their Zeal for that Remove up might Flame out and so Christ in a Zeal of Fire from Heaven Devouring their Enemies might Rescue Them This Translation is therefore call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thess 4. 17. Implying a Violence in the whole Transaction as of a mighty Rescue from a destroying Beast of Prey 5. Christ Standing so Graciously at the Door and Knocking even at every Door and Assuring his Free Communion in Supping with his Saints and They with Him shews in the Application to the Living Remaining Saints that Never-failing Love of Christ as the Redeemer and Second Adam that when those Brighter Rays were Retracted and with held yet would not Fail to Visit Them by no less Effectual though not by so Resplendent Rays and when He did not Visit Them as a New Jerusalem below any longer to Continue He yet lookt with a particular Care and Love to every Single Saint to Loose not so much as One not One of those Saved and continually Healed with the Leaves of the Tree of Life and the Water of â—ife being possible to be Lost Forasmuch as not One was a Son of Death for that were to be a Son of Perdition and of the Second Death and so not to be of the Saved of the Nations nor of the First Resurrection over whom the Second Death can have no power 6. These Living Remaining Saints are therefore every One Over-commers and so every One Caught up to Sit with Christ on his Throne as Christ Sate down on the Father's Throne They Sit with Him in those Great Acts of Judgment and when Satan is Cast into the Lake And when Death Hell and the Dead are Cast into the Lake the Great and Final Acts of Judgment They put on Immortality and Incorruption They with all Saints meet Christ in that High Act of Resignation of the Kingdom and having been Kings and Priests before during all the Thousand Years are in one Moment Perfected into an Equality to the Saints of the First Resurrection and So to Angels to whom Those are Equal at that Resurrection that Possibility of Dying and Falling of which for the Glory of the Redeemer and his Grace and Mighty Power over Satan and the Dead there was but a Shew and no more even all Mortality is swallow'd up of Life and so They are Ever with the Lord who is Ever with the Father All in All. And thus I have according to the utmost Grace and Assistance God hath herein been pleas'd to give me Set out the Kingdom of the Thousand Years which is indeed the First Resurrection and there is no Second All Second to it is Second Death as I have and do Affirm Constantly All Saints are either Principals or Partakers Here are the Two in Capital Letters written Rev. 20. 5. 14. This is the FIRST RESVRRECTION This is the SECOND DEATH So that however it be not Intentional not Understood by Them that say it To say the Thousand Years are past already Is to say The Resurrection is past already as I have already Observ'd And if They are past already how comes it to pass the Season since their Ending hath been not a Little Season as the Prophecy so Positively Asserts it to be For Beginning the Thousand Years at Constantine and Ending Them at 1300 when the Turkish Euphrates Began to Swell over in the World there must have pass'd about 400 Years since which Compar'd with a Thousand Years besides what still may be Expected it is no Small Season Nor does Prophecy barely say The season of Satan's Loosing is Small or Little But it Describes All Things in the most Rapid Motion to a Final End Which will by no means Agree with so long a Time as hath already Actually pass'd But thus it Fares with All who will Deny Great Scripture Evidence They are forc'd to swallow Camels of Difficulty for the Gnats they so strain at But God forbid I should seem to Charge All that do it with Hipocrisie except that secret Hipocrisie Remaining and Lurking in the Heart of the Holiest here Nor do or can I in the least suspect the