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
and his Kingdom are Joyn'd 2 Tim. 4. 1. He shall Judge the Quick and the Dead at his Kingdom and at his Appearance Q. Give a proof of the Kingdom at his Resurrection A. The Apostle plainly declares it For he says Every one shall Rise in his own Order Christ the First Fruits and They which are Christs at his Coming And without Any other Mention of his Kingdom He says He must Reign till he hath put All his Enemies under his Feet Now when did this Reigning Begin but at his Coming Or where did the Apostle Give any Intimation of his Reigning but at his Coming according to all the Fore-mentioned Scriptures And when He Comes and Descends and no Longer Sits at the Right Hand of God Then God first makes his Enemies his Footstool not when he Sits but when He Comes and then He Begins to Reign and He Reigns Till all his Enemies are his Footstool And when He Descends and Comes and Reigns The Dead in Christ Rise and then He Brings Them with Him His Kingdom and the Resurrection of his Saints Begin together Q. What Place then hath the Day of Judgment A. The Day of Judgment is the same with the Kingdom of Christ and with the Resurrection All Begin Continue and End Together with this Difference The Judiciary Sentence is at the Beginning Rev. 19 last and at the End c. 20. 13. 14. 15. and between a Righteous and Holy Government which Government the Scripture often calls Judgment Psal 72. 4. And All Men whether They Rise to Life or to Condemnation are before and as it were about the Tribunal or Judgment Seat which is also the Throne of Christ and Receiving according to what They have done in the Body whether it be Good or Evil during the whole space of the Resurrection Kingdom and Judgment of Christ 2 Cor. 5. 10. Q. How long then does the Kingdom of Christ the Appearance in the Resurrection and the Day of Judgment last A. The Grand and the most Definitive Time in which Christ shall Reign with his Saints is while Sathan is bound and That is a Thousand Years And the Apostle Peter having named the Day of Judgment Immediately as it were Adjures Christians not to be Ignorant that One day as if He should say That One Day of Judgment is with the Lord as a Thousand Years and the several viz. Six Thousand Years before it but as each one day so making that Day of Judgment a Sabbatical Day or Sabbatism Rev. 20. v. 2. to 8. 2 Pet. 3. 8. Q. But seeing as hath been said The Living Remaining Saints have a State in this Kingdam of Christ in the New Earth even as the Saints dead in Christ have in the New Heavens How can so long a space as of the Thousand Years consist with the Apostles Doctrine 1 Cor. 15. 52. that speaks as of a close Connexion betwixt the Dead being Rais'd and the Wee of the Saints being Chang'd For saith He Behold I shew you a Mystery We shall not All dye but we shall All be chang'd in a moment in the Twinckling of an Eye at the last Trumpet For the Trumpet shall sound and the Dead shall be Rais'd Incorruptible and we shall be chang'd All as it were in one moment A. The Apostle shews the suddenness and Immediate effect of the Power of Christ in both Raising the Dead and Changing the Living but the so close Connexion betwixt the Raising and the Changing does not thence Follow For within the Time of John's Seventh and last Trumpet when the Kingdom of Christ Begins its Succession and which contains all from that Kingdom of Christ so beginning and its being Deliver'd up The Dead shall be Rais'd and the Living chang'd but at several distances of Time Forthe Apostle says the Dead in the Third person shall be â—aâ—â—'d To shew the Wee of Saints of the first person are of a different State and order of Time in being Chang'd from the Dead in Christ that shall be Rais'd Q. But it does not seem that this change of persons can bear the weight of so Great a point of doctrine A. I allow it if there were not that Great Consenting Scripture 1 Thess 4. 17. where the Apostle puts the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or afterwards betwixt the Saints dead in Christ at the Coming of Christ Rising first and the Living Chang'd or which is the same Caught up that He had put betwixt the Resurrection of Christ and his Saints Rising at his Coming which hath made as great a distance as 1700 Years already For saith the Apostle the Lord Himself shall descend with a shout with the Voice of the Arch Angel with the Trumpet of God and the Dead in Christ shall Rise First Then we which are Alive and Remain shall be caught up viz. without Dying Now the word which is here Translated Then was 1 Cor. 15. 27. Translated Afterward and may therefore very well allow the distance of above a 1000 Years in one as in the other which distance the Translators knowing betwixt Christ's Resurrection and of his Saints at his Coming Translated Afterwards a word of distance in our English But not understanding so well that distance betwixt the Raising and Changing the Saints they render the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thess 4. 17. Then which signifies often with us the same moment but this varies not the Truth of Things and of Scripture Q. How is the State of the Kingdom of Christ bounded at the Period or End of it A. By the Saints Living and Remaining being Caught up to Christ in the Air by the Subduing the last Enemy Death and by the Delivering up the Kingdom to God All in All So that the Coming of Christ and his Appearance in and at his Kingdom the Dead in Christ Rising His Saints the Wee left Living and the Judiciary sentence on his Enemies to be his Footstool at the beginning and these Great Pillars at the end bound at each Point this Greatest Oeconomy of the Fulness of Times and not only distinguish but exalt it far above all other Time And herewith Admirably Agrees the whole State of Things in the last Trumpet of the Prophecy of the Revelation wherein we have several Expressions of the Kingdom of Christ or his Taking to Him his Great Power and Reigning The Heavens open to Him with his many Crowns and the Title or Name on his Vesture and on his Thigh King of Kings Lord of Lords His Reigning and his Throne in the New Jerusalem The Time of the Dead being Judg'd and Rewards Given to All that Fear'd his Name Great and Small and the destroying them that destroy'd the Earth A voice Commands to write the Blessedness of All the Dead in the Lord and their Sabbatism Yea from henceforth or Immediately Christ with a Crown and on a White Cloud Giving down it Dew as the Dew of Herbs that the Earth may disclose its dead c. and Reaps his
Kingdom of Christ preparing to Cleanse his Sanctuary for his Kingdom 1772 So we must be in the 2218 Even Morn Q. Why then did not the Papacy wholly Fall at the Reformation A. That there might be as punctual a performance of the Full Time of the Three Times and a Half to the Papacy as could consist with the Kingdom of Christ to which some Appearance was at that Time due Q. Can the Reformation then be perfect A. No For the Thunders that open'd to it were Seal'd and There are They of the Synagogue of Sathan that stay the Glory of it till the Philadelphian State come And then even They shall worship at Philadelphia's Feet Rev. 3. 9. c. 10. 4. Q. When shall that be A. At the very same Time when the Popacy falls For They of the Synagogue stand by that Title and then Bow For Christ makes them by Grace so to Worship that is to Bow Q. How can such a Computation consist with No One Knowing of that Day and Hour not the Angels nor the Son but the Father only Mark 13. 32. A. God is said therefore as on purpose to Give the Revelation to Jesus Christ to shew to his Servants what before was only in the Father's Cognizance And then Blessed is He that Reads or Expounds and They who Hear or understand what is so Reveal'd by God to Christ. Revel 1. 1. 3. Q. But Christ further says Watch for you Know not the Day nor the Hour when your Lord cometh Mark 13. 35. A. That Watch is a Spiritual Watch without which tho' a Man Knew the day or Hour never so precisely Yet He would not Know the day and Hour of his Lords coming but It would be to Him as of a Theif in the Night and as a man dics in that Watch or the neglect of it So Christ comes upon Him tho' many Hundred Years after Death if It were not such a Watch the Apostle had discharg'd the Thessalonians of it by Adjuring them not to expect the day of Christ till after the Apostasie and in Them all Christians after till that Apostasie expire 2 Thess 2. 1. Q. Are the Thousand Years of Christ's Kingdom Litterally or Mystically to be understood A. They are both ways to be understood Litterally Adding so many Years to the Time Allotted to the Visible Creation till All be Deliver'd up to God Himself Mystically as a Thousand Years are a Cube of Time signifying the perfection of Time which none of the Patriarchs after Adams Fall could Attain how near soever They came to it Gen. 5. Q. Is it no Impeachment to the Kingdom of Christ never ending that Sathan is loos'd at the end of the 1000 Years and Deceives the Nations to a new Attempt A. No For It only gives Just occasion to Christ to magnifie his Power Judiciary Authority Justice and the Final Putting down All Rule and Power and Subduing the Last Enemies the Devil the Dead and Death and Hell And having Quickly drawn up all the Living Saints to his Own Throne first according to 1 Cor. 15. 24. 51. 1 Thess 4. 17. Rev. c. 3. 21. Rev. 20. and so Giving up the Kingdom every way perfectly prepar'd to God All in All the Glory of having Faithfully managed and happily Atcheiv'd All Things is for ever due to Him John 17. 24. Q. Are the Worship and Ordinances of the New Testament any way Prefigurative of this Kingdom of Christ A. Very Fully For the Gospel is the Gospel and word of this Kingdom The Prayer we stile The Lords Prayer is the Prayer of this Kingdom Taught to all his Disciples The Lords Day is the Type and Pledge of that Sabbatism Baptism is the Figure of being Sav'd 1 Pet. 3. 21. from that Deluge of Fire The Lords Supper is the shewing forth his Death till He Come 1 Cor. 11. 26. Then that Passover is fullfill'd and that Fruit of the Vine drunk New Luc. 22. 16. 18. Nor can any of the Old Testament Types Prophecies and Promises be Fully Drawn out but in that Kingdom and Appearance So that in Summ it is the Everlasting Gospel God hath always been Gospelizing throughout the Old and New Testament Rev. 10. 7. Q. But if These Truths are of this Great Weight Can the Churches of the Saints be so unacquainted with Them A. Even as the Jewish Saints and the very Apostles were Ignorant of the Sacrifice Resurrection Ascention and Intercession of Christ so Fundamental Points till the Powring down the Spirit for Preaching the Gospel then Even so and much more may the Saints of Gospel Times even now till the Second Powring down the Spirit for the Preaching the Everlasting Gospel be and have been Ignorant of the Full Dimensions of the Redemption of Christ Fulfill'd in his Kingdom of the Glory of that Oeconomy to the Highest Glory of God the Father in his Creation and Love of Man of the Resurrection as such a visible Appearance of the Just and Vnjust for a Thousand Years the Dead in Christ Rising first Of the Mystery of the Saints Remaining and Living on Earth making up the Full Number of all Saints and not Dying but being Chang'd of the necessity according to this Oeconomy of the Infinitely Holy and Wise Being of such a Preparation for the Saints as Priests of God and Christ a Thousand Years to be Vnited to God All in All And notwithstanding this Ignorance They may be True Churches of Saints but the nearer the Time Approaches the Slowness of Heart to Know and Believe these Things will Argue a greater Lukewarmness for the Kingdom Glory and Coming of Christ and It hath been all along a dark Shade of the Apostasie upon the Churches Q. What Spirit are we then to be of with Relation to the coming of Christ in this his Kingdom A. Of the Vehement and even Passionate Spirit of the Bride which says Come Make hast my beloved to the Mountain of Spices Anointed for thy Kingdom with that Precious Oyntment that Antichrist now Counterfeits to his Death as the Great Prince Messiah the Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec and thy Saints as Kings and Priests with Thee in that Great Day of thy Nuptials in thy Kingdom Rev. 22. 17. Cantic 8. 14. Exod. 30. 33. Psal 110. 4. Rev. 20. 2. Q. You seem to have forgotten this Marriage so great an Emblem of the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ in Scripture A. I Reserv'd it as the Best Wine for the Last For it is indeed most often so made use of in Holy Writing by Solomon in that most Prophetick Nuptial Song of his of the Kingdom by Esay c. 62. 5. by Christ often and He makes his Coming to be on purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the sake of the Wedding and not as we Translate from it Luc. 12. 36. By the Apostle Paul Calling it as the Kingdom is Call'd Mystery Ephes 5. 25. 32. By the Apostle John in the Prophecy of the Kingdom just Appearing Rev. 19. 7. c. 21. 2. c. 22. 17. And it Carries Great Argument and Instruciton Q. What is the Argument A. That the Kingdom which is this Wedding every where in Scripture is not yet For the Bridegroom is now Taken from us as Christ Foretold He would be Luc 5. 35. Nor can it be at the Kingdom Deliver'd up For the Second Adam of which the First Adam's and Eves Marriage was the Type who is the Bridegroom is then the Bridegroom no longer But He Unites Himself with the Bride to the Father All in All John 17. 21. c. Q. What is the Instruction A. In Three Things 1. That even the Wise Virgins not Bearing this New Wine in their Old Bottles slumber even as the Foolish though with Oyl in their Vessels Grace in their Hearts which the Foolish not Having were shut out Mat. 25. 1. c. And 2. That we ought to be in Fasting and Sackcloth as the Children of the Bride-Chamber all these Days of the Bridegrooms being Taken from us Luc 5. 35. 3. That we should Hearing with an Ear to Hear and Thirsting most Affectionately to the Bridegrooms Saying Behold I come Quickly Resound Even so come Lord Jesus That He may say to us in Grace Come Then Also and with me Drink the Water of Life Freely And that we may do Thus The Grace of the Lord Jesus be with us All. Amen Rev. 22. 17. to the End FINIS