and not to the Angels In the second chapter to the Hebrews ver 5. he says For unto the Angels hath he not put in subjection the WORLD TO COME So we read it but according to the strictest and plainest Translation it should be The habitable Earth to come Now what Earth is this where our Saviour is absolute Soveraign and where the Government is neither Humane nor Angelical but peculiarly Theocratical In the first place this cannot be the present World or the present Earth because the Apostle calls it Future or the Earth to come Nor can it be understood of the days of the Gospel seeing the Apostle acknowledges ver 8. That this subjection whereof he speaks is not yet made And seeing Antichrist will not finally be destroy'd till the appearance of our Saviour 2 Thess. 2. 8. nor Satan bound while Antichrist is in power during the reign of these two who are the Rulers of the darkness of the World our Saviour cannot properly be said to begin his reign here 'T is true He exercises his Providence over his Church and secures it from being destroy'd He can by a power paramount stop the rage either of Satan or Antichrist Hitherto shall you go and no further As sometimes when he was upon Earth he exerted a Divine Power which yet did not destroy his state of Humiliation so he interposes now when he thinks fit but he does not finally take the power out of the hands of his Enemies nor out of the hands of the Kings of the Earth The Kingdom is not deliver'd up to him and all dominion and power That all Tongues and Nations should serve him For S. Paul can mean no less in this place than that Kingdom in Daniel Seeing he calls it putting all things in subjection under his feet and says that it is not yet done Upon this account also as well as others our Saviour might truly say to Pilate Ioh. 18 36. my kingdom is not of this World And to his Disciples The Son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister Matt. 20. 28. When he comes to receive his Kingdom he comes in the clouds of Heaven Dan. 7. 13 14. not in the womb of a Virgin He comes with the equipage of a King and Conquer or with thousands and ten thousands of Angels not in the form of a Servant or of a weak Infant as he did at his first coming I allow the phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The World to come is sometimes us'd in a large sence as comprehending all the days of the Messiah whether at his First or Second Coming for these two Comings are often undistinguish'd in Scripture and respect the Moral World as well as the Natural But the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orbis habitabilis which S. Paul here uses does primarily signifie the Natural World or the Habitable Earth in the proper use of the word amongst the Greeks and frequently in Scripture Luke 4. 5. and 21. 26. Rom. 10. 18. Heb. 1. 6. Apoc. 3. 10. Neither do we here exclude the Moral World or the Inhabitants of the Earth but rather necessarily include them Both the Natural and Moral World to come will be the seat and subject of our Saviour's Kingdom and Empire in a peculiar manner But when you understand nothing by this phrase but the present moral World it neither answers the proper signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the first or second part of the expression And tho such like phrases may be us'd for the Dispensation of the Messiah in opposition to that of the Law yet the height of that distinction or opposition and the fulfilling of the expression depends upon the second coming of our Saviour and upon the Future Earth or habitable World where he shall Reign and which does peculiarly belong to Him and His Saints Neither can this World to come or this Earth to come be understood of the Kingdom of Heaven For the Greek word will not bear that sence nor is it ever us'd in Scripture for Heaven Besides the Kingdom of Heaven when spoken of as future is not properly till the last resurrection and final judgment Whereas This World to come which our Saviour is to govern must be before that time and will then expire For all his Government as to this World expires at the day of Judgment and he will then deliver up the kingdom into the hands of his father that he may be all in all Having reigned first himselfe and put down all rule and all authority and power So that S. Paul in these two places of his Epistles refers plainly to the same time and the same reign of Christ which must be in a future World and before the last day of Iudgment and therefore according to our deductions in the New Heavens and the New Earth CHAP. III. Concerning the Inhabitants of the New Earth That Natural Reason cannot determine this point That according to Scripture The Sons of the first Resurrection or the Heirs of the Millennium are to be the Inhabitants of the New Earth The Testimony of the Philosophers and of the Christian Fathers for the Renovation of the World The first Proposition laid down THUS we have setled the True Notion according to Reason and Scripture of the New Heavens and New Earth But where are the Inhabitants you 'l say You have taken the pains to make us a New World and now that it is made it must stand empty When the first World was destroyed there were Eight Persons preserv'd with a Set of Living Creatures of every Kind as a Seminary or foundation of another World But the Fire it seems is more merciless than the Water for in this destruction of the World it does not appear that there is one living Soul left of any sort upon the face of the Earth No hopes of posterity nor of any continuation of Mankind in the usual way of propagation And Fire is a barren Element that breeds no living Creatures in it nor hath any nourishment proper for their food or sustenance We are perfectly at a loss therefore so far as I see for a new race of Mankind or how to People this new-form'd World The Inhabitants if ever there be any must either come from Heaven or spring from the Earth There are but these two ways But Natural Reason can determine neither of these sees no tract to follow in these unbeaten paths nor can advance one step further Farewel then dear Friend I must take another Guide and leave you here as Moses upon Mount Pisgah only to look into that Land which you cannot enter I acknowledge the good service you have done and what a faithful Companion you have been in a long journey from the beginning of the World to this hour in a tract of time of six thousand years We have travel'd together through the dark
not how 't is usher'd in Whether they suppose a visible resurrection of the Martyrs and a visible Ascension and that to be a Signal to all the World that the Jubilee is beginning or whether 't is gradual and creeps upon us insensibly or the fall of the Beast marks it These things need both explication and proof for to me they seem either arbitrary or unintelligible But to pursue our design and Subject That which gives me the greatest scandal in this doctrine of the vulgar Millennium is their joyning things together that are really inconsistent a natural World of one colour and a moral World of another They will make us happy in spight of Nature as the Stoicks would make a man happy in Phalaris his Bull so must the Saints be in full bliss in the Millennium tho' they be under a fit of the Gout or of the Stone For my part I could never reconcile pain to happiness It seems to me to destroy and drown all pleasure as a loud noise does a still voice It affects the Nerves with violence and over-bears all other motions But if according to this modern supposition they have the same Bodies and breath the same air in the Millennium as we do now there will be both private and Epidemical distempers in the same manner as now Suppose then a Plague comes and sweeps away half an hundred thousand Saints in the Millennium is this no prejudice or dishonour to the State Or a War makes a Nation desolate or in single Persons a lingring disease makes life a burthen or a burning Fever or a violent Colick tortures them to death Where such evils as these reign christen the thing what you will it can be no better than a Mock-Millennium Nor shall I ever be perswaded that such a state as our present life where an akeing Tooth or an akeing Head does so discompose the Soul as to make her unfit for business study devotion or any useful employment And that all the powers of the mind all its vertue and all its wisdom are not able to stop these little motions or to support them with tranquillity I can never perswade my self I say that such a state was designed by God or Nature for a state of happiness Our third argument is this The future Kingdom of Christ will not take place till the Kingdom of Antichrist be wholly destroy'd But that will not be wholly destroy'd till the end of the World and the appearing of our Saviour Therefore the Millennium will not be till then Christ and Antichrist cannot reign upon Earth together their Kingdoms are opposite as Light to darkness Besides the Kingdom of Christ is universal extends to all the Nations and leaves no room for other Kingdoms at that time Thus it is describ'd in Danielâ—s in the place mention'd before Chap. 7. 13 14. I saw in the Night visions and behold one like the Son of man came with the Clouds of Heaven and came to the Ancient of days And there was given him dominion and glory and a Kingdom that all People Nations and Language should serve him And again ver 27. And the Kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and all dominion shall serve and obey him The same characterâ— of universality is given to the Kingdom of Christ by David Isaih and other Prophets But the most direct proof of this is from the Apocalypse where the Beast and false Prophet are thrown into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone Chap. 19. 20 before the Millennium comes on ch 20. This being cast into a Lake of fire burning with brimstone must needs signifie utter destruction Not a diminution of power only but a total perdition and consumption And that this was before the Millennium both the order of the narration shows and its place in the Prophecy And also because notice is taken at the end of the Millennium of the Beast and false Prophet's being in the Lake of fire as of a thing past and formerly transacted For when Satan at length is thrown into the same Lake 't is said He is thrown into the Lake of fire and brimstone where the Beast and false Prophet are Apoc. 20. â—0 They were there before it seems namely at the beginning of the Millennium land now at the conclusion of it the Devil is thrown in to them Besides the Ligation of Satan proves this point effectually For so long as Antichrist reigns Satan cannot be said to be bound but he is bound at the beginning of the Millennium therefore Antichrist's reign was then totally expir'd Lastly the destruction of Babylon and the destruction of Antichrist go together but you see Babylon utterly and finally destroy'd Apoc. 18. and 19. before the Millennium comes on I say utterly and finally destroy'd For she is not only said to be made an utter desolation but to be consum'd by fire and absorpt as a Milstone thrown into the Sea and that he shall be found no more at all Chap. 18. 21. Nothing can express a total and universal destruction more effectually or more emphatically And this is before the Millennium begins as you may see both by the order of the Prophecies and particularly in that upon this destruction the Hallelujah's are sung Chap. 19. and concluded thus ver 6. 7. Hallelujah for the God omnipotent reigneth Let us be glad and rejoyce and give honour to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made her self ready This I suppose every one allows to be the Millennial state which now approaches and is making ready upon the destruction of Babylon Thus much for the first part of our argument That the Kingdom of Christ will not take place till the Kingdom of Antichrist be wholly destroy'd We are now to prove the second part That the Kingdom of Antichrist will not be wholly destroy'd till end of the World and the coming of our Saviour This one would think is sufficiently prov'd from St. Paul's words alone 2 Thess. 2. 8. The Lord shall consume the man of sin who is suppos'd the same with Antichrist with the Spirit of his mouth and shall destroy him with the brightness of his coming He will not then be destroy'd before the coming of our Saviour and that will not be till the end of the World For St. Peter says Act. 3. 21. The Heaven must receive him speaking of Christ until the times of restitution of all things that is the renovation of the World And if we consider that our Saviour's coming will be in flames of fire as the same Apostle St. Paul tells us 2 Thess. 1. 7 8. 't is plain that his coming will not be till the Conflagration in which last flames Antichrist will be universally destroy'd This manner of destruction agrees also with the Apocalypse and with Daniel and the Prophets of the
more critical examination than this Discourse will easily bear There is another remarkable Discourse in Iob that contains many things to our present purpose 't is Chap. 38. where God reproaches Iob with his ignorance of what pass'd at the beginning of the World and the formation of the Earth Vers. 4 5 6. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth Declare if thou hast understanding Who hath laid the measures thereof if thou knowest or who hath stretched the line upon it Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastned or who laid the corner-stone All these questions have far more force and Emphasis more propriety and elegacy if they be understood of the first and Ante-diluvian form of the Earth than if they be understood of the present for in the present form of the Earth there is no Architecture no structure no more than in a ruine or at least none comparatively to what was in the first form of it And that the exterior and superficial part of the Earth is here spoken of appears by the rule and line appli'd to it but what rule or regularity is there in the surface of the present Earth what line was us'd to level its parts But in its original construction when â—it lay smooth and regular in its surface as if it had been drawn by rule and line in every part and when it hung pois'd upon the Deep without pillar or foundation stone then just proportions were taken and every thing plac'd by weight and measure And this I doubt not was that artificial structure here alluded to and when this work was finisht then the morning Stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy Thus far the questions proceed upon the form and construction of the first Earth in the following verses 8 9 10 11. they proceed upon the demolition of that Earth the opening the Abysse and the present state of both Or who shut up the Sea with doors when it brake forth as if it had issu'd out of a womb Who can doubt but this was at the breaking open of the Fountains of the Abysse Gen. 7. 11. when the waters gusht out as out of the great womb of Nature and by reason of that confusion and perturbation of Air and Water that rise upon it a thick mist and darkness was round the Earth and all things as in a second Chaos When I made the cloud the garment thereof and thick darkness a swadling band for it and brake up for it my decreed place and made bars and doors Namely taking the words as thus usually render'd the present Chanel of the Sea was made when the Abysse was broke up and at the same time were made the shory Rocks and Mountains which are the bars and boundaries of the Sea And said hitherto shalt thou come and no further and here shall thy proud waves be stay'd Which last sentence shows that this cannot be understood of the first disposition of the waters as they were before the Flood for their proud waves broke those bounds whatsoever they were when they overflow'd the Earth in the Deluge And that the womb which they broke out of was the great Abyss the Chaldee Paraphrase in this place doth expresly mention and what can be understood by the womb of the Farth but that Subterraneous capacity in which the Abyss lay Then that which followeth is a description or representation of the great Deluge that ensu'd and of that disorder in Nature that was then and how the Waters were setled and Bounded afterwards Not unlike the description in the 104 Psalm vers 6 7 8 9. and thus much for these places in the book of Iob. There remains a remarkable discourse in the Proverbs of Solomon relating to the Mosaical Abysse and not only to that but to the Origin of the Earth in general where Wisdom declares her antiquity and pre-existence to all the works of this Earth Chap. 8. ver 23. 24 25 26 27 28. I was set up from everlasting from the beginning ere the Earth was When there were no Deeps or Abysses I was brought forth when no fountains abounding with water Then in the 27. verse When he prepared the Heavens I was there when he set a Compass upon the face of the Deep or Abysse When he established the Clouds above when he strengthned the fountains of the Abysse Here is mention made of the Abysse and of the Fountains of the Abysse and who can question but that the Fountains of the Abyss here are the same with the Fountains of the Abyss which Moses mentions and were broken open as he tells us at the Deluge Let us observe therefore what form Wisdom gives to this Abyss and consequently to the Mosaical And here seem to be two expressions that determine the form of it vers 28. He strengthned the fountains of the Abysse that is the cover of those Fountains for the Fountains could be strengthned no other way than by making a strong cover or Arch over them And that Arch is exprest more fully and distinctly in the foregoing verse When he prepar'd the Heavens I was there when he set a Compass on the face of the Abysse we render it Compass the word signifies a Circle or Circumference or an Orb or Sphere So there was in the beginning of the World a Sphere Orb or Arch set round the Abyss according to the restimony of Wisdom who was then present And this shews us both the form of the Mosaical Abyss which was included within this Vault and the form of the habitable Earth which was the outward surface of this Vault or the cover of the Abyss that was broke up at the Deluge And thus much I think is sufficient to have noted out of Scripture concerning the Mosaical Abyss to discover the form place and situation of it which I have done the more largely because that being determin'd it will draw in easily all the rest of our Theory concerning the Deluge I will now only add one or two general Observations and so conclude this discourse The first Observation is concerning the Abyss namely That the opening and shutting of the Abysse is the great hinge upon which Nature turns in this Earth This brings another face of things other Scenes and a New World upon the stage And accordingly it is a thing often mention'd and alluded to in Scripture sometimes in a Natural sometimes in a Moral or Theological sence and in both sences our Saviour shuts and opens it as he pleaseth Our Saviour who is both Lord of Nature and of Grace whose Dominion is both in Heaven and in Earth hath a double Key that of the Abyss whereby Death and Hell are in his power and all the revolutions of Nature are under his Conduct and Providence And the Key of David whereby he admits or excludes from the City of God and the Kingdom of Heaven whom he pleaseth Of those places that refer to the shutting and
proceed In what manner the frame of the Earth will be dissolv'd and what will be the dreadful countenance of a Burning World These heads are set down more fully in the Argument of each Chapter and seem to be sufficient for the explication of this whole matter Taking in some additional discourses which in pursuing these heads enter of their own accord and make the work more even and entire In the Second Part we restore the World that we had destroy'd Build New Heavens and a New Earth wherein Righteousness shall dwell Establish that new order of things which is so often celebrated by the Prophets A Kingdom of Peace and of Justice where the Enemy of Mankind shall be bound and the Prince of Peace shall rule A Paradise without a Serpent and a Tree of Knowledge not to wound but to heal the Nations Where will be neither curse nor pain nor death nor disease Where all things are new all things are more perfect both the World it self and its Inhabitants Where the First-born from the Dead have the First-fruits of glory We dote upon this present World and the enjoyments of it and 't is not without pain and fear and reluctancy that we are torn from them as if our hopes lay all within the compass of this life Yet I know not by what good fate my thoughts have been always fixt upon things to come more than upon things present These I know by certain experience to be but trifles and if there be nothing more considerable to come the whole being of Man is no better than a trifle But there is room enough before us in that we call Eternity for great and Noble Scenes and the Mind of Man feels it self lessen'd and straiten'd in this low and narrow state wishes and waits to see something greater And if it could discern another World a coming on this side Eternal Life a beginning Glory the best that Earth can bear It would be a kind of Immortality to enâ—oy that prospect before-hand To see when this Theater is dissolv'd where we shall act next and what parts What Saints and Hero's if I may so say will appear upon that Stage and with what luster and excellency How easie would it be under a view of these futurities to despise the little pomps and honours and the momentany pleasures of a Mortal Life But I proceed to our Subâ—ect CHAP. II. The true state of the Question is Propos'd 'T is the general doctrine of the Ancients that the present World or the present frame of Nature is mutable and perishable To which the Sacred Books agree and Natural Reason can alledge nothing against it WHen we speak of the End or destruction of the World whether by Fire or otherwise â—Tis not to be imagin'd that we understand this of the Great Universe Sun Moon and Stars and the Highest Heavens as if these were to perish or be destroy'd some few years hence whether by Fire or any other way This Question is only to be understood of the Sublunary World of this Earth and its Furniture which had its original about six thousand years ago according to the History of Moses and hath once already been destroy'd when the Exteriour Region of it broke and the Abyss issuing forth as out of a womb overflow'd all the habitable Earth The next Deluge is that of Fire which will have the same bounds and overflow the Surface of the Earth muchâ—what in the same manner But the celestial Regions where the Stars and Angels inhabit are not concern'd in this fate Those are not made of combustible matter nor if they were cou'd our flames reach them Possibly those Bodies may have changes and revolutions peculiar to themselves but in ways unknown to us and after long and unknown periods of time Therefore when we speak of â—he Conflagration of the World These have no concern in the question nor any other part of the Universe than the Earth and its dependances As will evidently appear when we come to explain the Manner and Causes of the Conflagration And as this Conflagration can extend no further than to the Earth and its Elements so neither can it destroy the matter of the Earth but only the form and fashion of it as it is an habitable World Neither Fire nor any other Natural Agent can destroy Matter that is reduce it to nothing It may alter the modes and qualities of it but the substance will always remain And accordingly the Apostle when he speaks of the mutability of this World says only The figure or fashion of this World passes away This structure of the Earth and disposition of the Elements And all the works of the Earth as S. Peter says All its natural productions and all the works of art or humane industry these will perish melted or torn in pieces by the Fire but without an annihilation of the Matter any more than in the former Deluge And this will be further prov'd and illustrated in the beginning of the following Book The question being thus stated we are next to consider the sense of Antiquity upon these two Points First Whether this Sublunary World is mutable and perishable Secondly By the force and action of what causes and in what manner it will perish whether by Fire or otherwise Aristotle is very irregular in his Sentiments about the state of the World He allows it neither beginning not ending rise nor fall but wou'd have it eternal and immuâ—able And this he understand not only of the Great Universe but of this Sublunary World this Earth which we inhabit wherein he will not admit there ever have been or over will be either general Deluges or Conflagrations And as if he was ambitious to be thought singular in his opinion about the Eternity of the World He says All the Ancients before him gave some beginning or origin to the World But were not indeed so unanimous as â—o its 〈◊〉 fate Some believing it immutable or as the Philosophers call it incorruptible Others That it had its fatal times and Periods as lesser Bodies have and a term of age prefixt to it by Providence But before we examine this Point any further it will be necessary to reflect upon that which we noted before an ambiguity in the use of the word World which gives frequent occasion of mistakes in reading the Ancients when that which they speak of the great Universe we apply to the Sublunary World or on the contrary what they speak of this Earth we extend to the whole Universe And if some of them besides Aristotle made the World incorruptible they might mean that of the Great Universe which they thought would never be dissolv'd or perish as to its Mass and bulk But single parts and points of it and our Earth is no more may be variously transform'd and made habitable and unhabitable according to certain periods of time without any prâ—â—udiâ—d to their Philosophy So Plato for instance thinks this
the proud yea and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up saith the Lord of Hosts that it shall leave them neither root nor branch And that nature her self and the Earth shall suffer in that fire the Prophet Zephany tells us c. 3. 8. All the Earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousie Lastly This consumption of the Earth by fire even to the foundations of it is exprest livelily by Moses in his Song Deut. 32. 22. A fire is kindled in my anger and shall burn unto the lowest Hell and shall consume the Earth with her increase and set on fire the foundations of the Mountains If we reflect upon these Witnesses and especially the first and last Moses and S. Peter at what a great distance of time they writ their Prophecies and yet how well they agree we must needs conclude that they were acted by the same Spirit and a Spirit that see thorough all the Ages of the World from the beginning to the end These Sacred Writers were so remote in time from one another that they could not confer together nor conspire either in a false testimony or to make the same prediction But being under one common influence and inspiration which is always consistent with it self they have dictated the same things tho' at two thousand years distance sometimes from one another This besides many other considerations makes their authority incontestable And upon the whole account you see that the doctrine of the future Conflagration of the World having run through all Ages and Nations is by the joynt consent of the Prophets and Apostles adopted into the Christian Faith CHAP. IV. Concerning the time of the Conflagration and the end of the World What the Astronomers say upon this Subject and upon what they ground their Calculations The true notion of the Great Year or of the Platonick Year stated and explained HAVING in this First Section laid a sure foundation as to the Subject of our Discourse the truth and certainty of the Conflagration whereof we are to treat we will now proceed to enquire after the Time Causes and Manner of it We are naturally more inquisitive after the End of the World and the Time of that Fatal Revolution than after the Causes of it For these we know are irresistible whensoever they come and therefore we are only sollicitous that they should not overtake us or our near posterity The Romans thought they had the fates of their Empire in the Books of the Sibyls which were kept by the Magistrates as a Sacred Treasure We have also our Prophetical Books more sacred and more infallible than theirs which contain the fate of all the Kingdoms of the Earth and of that glorious Kingdom that is to succeed And of all futurities there is none can be of such importance to be enquired after as this last scene and close of all humane affairs If I thought it possible to determine the time of the Conflagration from the bare intuition of Natural Causes I would not treat of it in this place but reserve it to the last after we had brought into view all those Causes weigh'd their force and examin'd how and when they would concur to produce this great effect But I am satisfied that the excitation and concourse of those Causes does not depend upon Nature only and tho' the Causes may be sufficient when all united yet the union of them at such a time and in such a manner I look upon as the effect of a particular Providence and therefore no foresight of ours or inspection into Nature can discover to us the time of this conjuncture This method therefore of Prediction from Natural Causes being laid aside as impracticable all other methods may be treated of in this place as being independent upon any thing that is to follow in the Treatise and it will be an ease to the Argument to discharge it of this part and clear the way by degrees to the principal point which is the Causes and Manner of the Conflagration Some have thought it a kind of impiety in a Christian to enquire after the End of the World because of that check which our Saviour gave his Disciples when after his Resurrection enquiring of him about the time of his Kingdom He answer'd It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power And before his death when he was discoursing of the Consummation of all things He told them expresly that tho' there should be such and such previous Signs as he had mention'd yet Of that day and hour knoweth no man No not the Angels that are in Heaven but my Father only Be it so that the Disciples deserv'd a reprimand for desiring to know by a particular revelation from our Saviour the state of future times when many other things were more necessary for their instruction and for their ministery Be it also admitted that the Angels at that distance of time could not see thorow all events to the End of the World it does not at all follow from thence that they do not know it now when in the course of Sixteen Hundred Years many things are come to pass that may be marks and directions to them to make a judgment of what remains and of the last period of all things However there will be no danger in our enquiries about this matter seeing they are not so much to discover the certainty as the uncertainty of that period as to humane knowledge Let us therefore consider what methods have been used by those that have been curious and busie to measure the duration of the World The Stoicks tell us When the Sun and the Stars have drunk up the Sea then the Earth shall be burnt A very fair Prophecy but how long will they be a drinking For unless we can determine that we cannot determine when this combustion will begin Many of the Ancients thought that the Stars were nourish'd by the vapours of the Ocean and of the moist Earth and when that nourishment was spent being of a fiery nature they would prey upon the Body of the Earth it self and consume that after they had consum'd the Water This is old-fashion'd Philosophy and now that the nature of those Bodies is better known will scarce pass for currant 'T is true we must expect some dispositions towards the combustion of the World from a great drought and desiccation of the Earth But this helps us nothing on our way for the question still returns When will this immoderate drought or dryness happen and that 's us ill to resolve as the former Therefore as I said before I have no hopes of deciding the question by Physiology or Natural Causes let us then look up from the Earth to the Heavens To the Astronomers and the Prophets These think they can define the age and duration of the World The one
God will appear A Glory surpassing the Sun in its greatest radiancy which tho' we cannot describe we may suppose it will bear some resemblance or proportion with those representations that are made in Scripture of God upon his Throne This wonder in the Heavens whatsoever its form may be will presently attract the eyes of all the Christian World Nothing can more affect them than an object so unusual and so illustrious and that probably brings along with it their last destiny and will put a period to all humane affairs Some of the Ancients have thought that this coming of our Saviour would be in the dead of the night and his first glorious appearance in the midst of darkness God is often describ'd in Scripture as Light or Fire with darkness round about him He bowed the Heavens and came down and darkness was under his feet He made darkness his secret place His pavilion round about him were dark Waters and thick Clouds of the Skies At the brightness that was before him the thick Clouds passed And when God appear'd upon Mount Sinai the Mountain burnt with fire unto the midst of Heaven with darkness clouds and thick darkness Or as the Apostle expresses it with blackness and darkness and tempest Light is never more glorious than when surrounded with darkness and it may be the Sun at that time will be so obscure as to make little distinction of Day and Night But however this Divine Light over-bears and distinguishes it self from common Light tho' it be at Mid-day 'T was about Noon that the Light shin'd from Heaven and surrounded St. Panl And 't was on the Day-time that St. Stephen saw the Heavens opened saw the glory of God and Iesus standing at the right hand of God This light which flows from a more vital source be it Day or Night will always be predominant That appearance of God upon Mount Sinai which we mention'd if we reflect upon it will help us a little to form an Idea of this last appearance When God had declar'd that he would come down in the sight of the People The Text says There were thunders and lightnings and a thick Cloud upon the Mount and the voice of the Trumpet exceeding loud so that all the people that was in the Camp trembled And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire And the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace and the whole Mount quaked greatly If we look upon this Mount as an Epitome of the Earth this appearance gives us an imperfect resemblance of that which is to come Here are the several parts or main strokes of it first the Heavens and the Earth in smoke and fire then the appearance of a Divine Glory and the sound of a Trumpet in the presence of Angels But as the second coming of our Saviour is a Triumph over his Enemies and an entrance into his Kingdom and is acted upon the Theater of the whole Earth so we are to suppose in proportion all the parts and circumstances of it more great and magnificent When therefore this mighty God returns again to that Earth where he had once been ill treated not Mount Sinai only but all the Mountains of the Earth and all the Inhabitants of the World will tremble at his presence At the first opening of the Heavens the brightness of his Person will scatter the dark Clouds and shoot streams of light throughout all the Air. But that first appearance being far from the Earth will seem to be only a great mass of light without any distinct form till by nearer approaches this bright Body shows it self to be an Army of Angels with this King of kings for their Leader Then you may imagine how guilty Mankind will tremble and be astonish'd and while they are gazing at this heavenly Host the Voice of the Archangel is heard the shrill sound of the Trumpet reaches their ears And this gives the general Alarum to all the World For he cometh for he cometh they cry to judge the Earth The crucified God is return'd in Glory to take Vengeance upon his Enemies Not only upon those that pierc'd his Sacred Body with Nails and with a Spear as Ierusalem but those also that pierce him every day by their prophaneness and hard speeches concerning his Person and his Religion Now they see that God whom they have mock'd or blasphem'd laugh't at his meanness or at his vain threats They see Him and are confounded with shame and fear and in the bitterness of their anguish and despair call for the Mountains to fall upon them Fly into the clefts of the Rocks and into the Caves of the Earth for fear of the Lord and the glory of his Majesâ—y when he ariseth to shake terribly the Earth As it is not possible for us to express or conceive the dread and majesty of this appearance so neither can we on the other hand express the passions and consternation of the People that behold it These things exceed the measures of humane affairs and of humane thoughts we have neither words nor comparisons to make them known by The greatest pomp and magnificence of the Emperors of the East in their Armies in their Triumphs in their Inaugurations is but like the sport and entertainment of Children if compar'd with this Solemnity When God condescends to an external glory with a visible Train and Equipage When from all the Provinces of his vast and boundless Empire he summons his Nobles as I may so say The several orders of Angels and Arch-Angels to attend his Person tho' we cannot tell the form or manner of this Appearance we know there is nothing in our experience or in the whole History of this World that can be a just representation of the least part of it No Armies so numerous as the Host of Heaven and in the midst of those bright Legions in a flaming Chariot will sit the Son of Man when he comes to be glorified in his Saints and triumph over his Enemies And instead of the wild noises of the rabble which makes a great part of our worldly state This blessed company will breath their Halleluiahs into the open Air and repeated acclamations of Salvation to God which sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb. Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. But I leave the rest to our silent devotion and admiration Only give me leave whilst this object is before our eyes to make a short reflection upon the wonderful history of our Saviour and the different states which that Sacred Person within the compass of our knowledge hath undergone We now see him coming in the Clouds in glory and triumph surrounded with innumerable Angels This is the same Person who so many hundred years ago enter'd Ierusalem with another sort of Equipage mounted upon an Ass's Colt while the
Future Renovation And to this day the posterity of the Brackmans in the East Indies retain the same notion That the World will be renewed after the last Fire You may see the citations if you please for all these Nations in the Latin Treatise Ch. 5. Which I thought would be too dry and tedious to be render'd into English To these Testimonies of the Philosophers of all Ages for the Future Renovation of the World we might add the Testimonies of the Christian Fathers Greek and Latin ancient and modern I will only give you a bare List of them and refer you to the Latin Treatise for the words or the places Amongst the Greek Fathers Iustin Martyr Irenaeus Origen The Fathers of the Council of Nice Eusebius Basil The two Cyrils of Ierusalem and Alexandria The two Gregorys Nazianzen and Nyssen S. Chrysostom Zacharias Mitylenensis and of later date Damascen Oecumenius Euthymius and others These have all set their hands and Seals to this Doctrine Of the Latin Fathers Tertullian Lactantius S. Hilary S. Ambrose S. Austin S. Ierome and many later Ecclesiastical Authors These with the Philosophers before mentioned I count good authority Sacred and Prophane which I place here as an out-guard upon Scripture where our principal force lies And these three united and acting in conjunction will be sufficient to secure this first post and to prove our first Proposition which is this That after the Conflagration of this World there will be New Heavens and a New Earth and that Earth will be inhabited CHAP. IV. The proof of a Millennium or of a blessed Age to come from Scripture A view of the Apocalypse and of the Prophecies of Daniel in reference to this Kingdom of Christ and of his Saints WE have given fair presumptions if not proofs in the precedent Chapter That the Sons of the first Resurrection will be the persons that shall inhabit the New Earth or the World to come But to make that proof compleat and unexceptionable I told you it would be necessary to take a larger compass in our discourse and to examine what is meant by That Reign with Christ a thousand years which is promis'd to the Sons of the First Resurrection by St. Iohn in the Apocalypse and in other places of Scripture is usually call'd the Kingdom of Christ and the reign of the Saints And by Ecclesiastical Authors in imitation of S. Iohn it is commonly styled the Millennium We shall indifferently use any of these words or phrases and examine First the truth of the Notion and Opinion whether in Scripture there be such an happy state promised to the Saints under the conduct of Christ. And then we will proceed to examine the nature characters place and time of it And I am in hopes when these things are duly discuss'd and stated you will be satisfied that we have found out the true Inhabitants of the New Heavens and New Earth and the true mystery of that state which is call'd the Millennium or the Reign of Christ and of his Saints We begin with S. Iohn whose words in the twentieth Chapter of the Apocalypse are express both as to the first Resurrection and as to the reign of those Saints that rise with Christ for a thousand years Satan in the mean time being bound or disabled from doing mischief and seducing mankind The words of the Prophet are these And I saw an Angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand And he laid hold on the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years And I saw Thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them and I saw the Souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus and for the word of God and which had not worshipped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their fore-heads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished This is the first Resurrection Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath no power but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years These words do fully express a Resurrection and a reign with Christ a thousand years As for that particular space of time of a thousand years it is not much material to our present purpose but the Resurrection here spoken of and the reign with Christ make the substance of the controversie and in effect prove all that we enquire after at present This Resurrection you see is call'd the First Resurrection by way of distinction from the Second and general Resurrection which is to be plac'd a thousand years after the First And both this First Resurrection and the Reign of Christ seem to be appropriated to the Martyrs in this place For the Prophet says The Souls of those that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus c. They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years From which words if you please we will raise this Doctrine That Those that have suffered for the sake of Christ and a good Conscience shall be raised from the dead a thousand years before the general Resurrection and reign with Christ in an happy state This Proposition seems to be plainly included in the words of S. Iohn and to be the intended sence of this Vision but you must have patience a little as to your enquiry into particulars till in the progress of our discourse we have brought all the parts of this conclusion into a fuller light In the mean time there is but one way that I know of to evade the force of these words and of the conclusion drawn from them and that is by supposing that the First Resurrection here mentioned is not to be understood in a literal sense but is Allegorical and mystical signifying only a Resurrection from sin to a Spiritual Life As we are said to be dead in sin and to be risen with Christ by Faith and Regeneration This is a manner of Speech which S. Paul does sometimes use as Ephes. 2. 6. and 5. 14. and Col. 3. 1. But how can this be applyed to the present case Were the Martyrs dead in sin 'T is they that are here rais'd from the dead Or after they were beheaded for the witness of Jesus naturally dead and laid in their graves were they then regenerate by Faith There is no congruitiy in allegories so applyed Besides Why should they be said to be regenerate a thousand years before the day of Judgment Or to reign with Christ after this Spiritual Resurrection such a limited time a Thousand Years Why not to Eternity For in this allegorical sence of rising and reigning they will reign with him for everlasting Then after a Thousand Years must all the wicked be
21. 2. Lastly to the Church of Laodicea is said To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne And that is the usual phrase to express the dignity of those that reign with Christ in his Millennial Kingdom as you may see Apoc. 20. 4. Mat. 19. 28. Dan. 7. 9 13 14. So all these promises to the Churches aim at one and the same thing and terminate upon the same point 'T is the same reward express'd in different ways and seeing 't is still fixt upon a victory and appropriated to those that overcome it does the more easily carry our thoughts to the Millennium which is the proper reward of Victors that is of Martyrs and Confessors Thus you see how this notion and mystery of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ does both begin and end the Apocalypse and run thorough all its parts As the Soul of that Body of Prophecies A Spirit or ferment that actuates the whole mass And if we could thoroughly understand that illustrious Scene at the opening of this Apocalyptical Theatre in the 4th and 5th Chap. I do not doubt but we should find it a Representation of the Majesty of our Saviour in the Glory of his future Kingdom But I dare not venture upon the explication of it there are so many things of difficult and dubious interpretation coucht under those Schemes Wherefore having made these observations upon the Prophecies of St. Iohn we will now add to them some reflections upon the Prophecies of Daniel That by the agreement and concurrence of these two great Witnesses the Conclusion we pretend to prove may be fully established In the Prophecies of Daniel there are two grand Visions that of the Statue or Image Chap. 2. and that of the four Beats Chap. 7. And both these Visions terminate upon the Millennium or the Kingdom of Christ. In the Vision of the Statue representing to us the four great Monarchies of the World successively whereof by the general consent of Interpreters The Roman is the fourth and last after the dissolution of the last of them a fifth Monarchy the Kingdom of Christ is openly introduc'd in these words And in the days of these kingdoms shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroy'd and the kingdom shall be left to other people but it shall break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms and it shall stand for ever This may be verified in some measure by the first coming of our Saviour in the days of the 4th Kingdom when his Religion from small beginnings in a short time overspread the greatest part of the known World As the stone cut out without hands became a great mountain and filled the whole Earth But the full and final accomplishment of this Prophecy cannot be till the second coming of our Saviour For not till then will he break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms and that in such a manner that they shall become like the chaff of the Summer threshing floor carried away by the wind so as no place shall be found for them This I say will not be done nor an everlasting Kingdom erected in their place over all the Nations of the Earth till his Second Coming and his Millennial Reign But this Reign is declared more expresly in the Vision of the four Beasts Chap. 7. For after the destruction of the fourth Beast the Prophet says I saw in the night Visions and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of days and they brought him near before him And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroy'd Accordingly he says ver 21 22. The last Beast and the little Horn made war against the Saints until the Ancient of days came and judgment was given to the Saints of the most High and the time came that the Saints possessed the kingdom And lastly in pursuit still of the same argument he concludes to the same effect in fuller words ver 26 27. But the Iudgment shall sit and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end And the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him Here is the end of the matter says the Prophet Here is the upshot and result of all Here terminate both the Prophecies of Daniel and St. Iohn and all the affairs of the Terrestrial World Daniel brings in this kingdom of Christ in the conclusion of two or three Visions but St. Iohn hath interwoven it every where with his Prophecies from first to last And you may as well open a Lock without a Key as interpret the Apocalypse without the Millennium But after these two great Witnesses the one for the Old Testament the other for the New we must look into the rest of the Sacred Writers for tho' every single Author there is an Oracle yet the concurrence of Oracles is still a further demonstration and takes away all remains of doubt or incredulity CHAP. V. A View of other places of Scripture concerning the Millennium or future Kingdom of Christ. In what sence all the Prophets have born Testimony concerning it THE Wife of Zebedee came to our Saviour and begg'd of him like a fond Mother that her two Sons might sit one at his right hand th' other at his left when he came into his Kingdom Our Saviour does not deny the supposition or general ground of her request that he was to have a Kingdom but tells her The honours of that Kingdom were not then in his disposal He had not drunk his Cup nor been baptiz'd with his last Baptism which were conditions both to him and others of entring into that Kingdom Yet in another place our Saviour is so well assur'd of his interest and authority there by the good will of his Father that he promises to his Disciples and followers that for the losses they should sustain here upon his account and for the sake of his Gospel they should receive there an hundred fold and sit upon Thrones with him judging the Tribes of Israel The words are these And Iesus said unto them verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the Regeneration or Renovation when the Son of man shall sit in the Throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel These Thrones in all reason must be understood to be the same with those which we mention'd in the foregoing Chapter out of Daniel and the Apocalypse and therefore mark the same time and the same
state And seeing in those places they plainly signified the Millennial state or the Kingdom of Christ and of his Saints they must here signifie the same in this promise of our Saviour to his suffering Followers And as to the word Palingenesia which is here translated Regeneration 't is very well known that both the Greek Philosophers and Greek Fathers use that very word for the Renovation of the World Which is to be as we shall hereafter make appear at or before the Millennial state Our Saviour also in his Divine Sermon upon the Mount makes this one of his Beatitudes Blessed are the Meek for they shall inherit the Earth But how I pray or where or when do the Meek inherit the Earth neither at present I am sure nor in any past Ages 'T is the Great Ones of the World ambitious Princes and Tyrants that slice the Barth amongst them and those that can flatter them best or serve them in their interests or pleasures have the next best shares But a meek modest and humble Spirit is the most unqualified Person that can be for a Court or a Camp to scramble for Preferment or Plundâ—r Both He and his self-denying notions are ridicul'd as things of no use and proceeding from meanness and poorness of Spirit David who was a Person of an admirable devotion but of an unequal Spirit subject to great dejections as well as elevations of mind was so much affected with the prosperity of the wicked in this World that he could scarce forbear charging Providence with injustice You may see several touches of a repining Spirit in his Psalms and in the Seventy-third Psalm compos'd upon that Subject you have both the wound and the cure Now this Beaâ—itâ—de pronounc'd here by our Saviour was spoken before by David psal 37. 11. The same David that was always so sensible of the hard usage of the Just in this life Our Saviour also and his Apostles preach the Doctrine of the Cross every where and foretell the sufferings that shall attend the Righteous in this World Therefore neither David nor our Saviour could understand this inheritance of the Earth otherwise than of some future state or of a state yet to come But as it must be a future state so it must be a Terrestrial state for it could not be call'd the inheritance of the Earth if it was not so And 't is to be a state of peace as well as plenty according to the words of the Psalmist But the meek shall inherit the Earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace It follows therefore from these premisses that both our Saviour and David must understand some future state of the Earth wherein the Meek will enjoy both peace and plenty And this will appear to be the future Kingdom of Christ when upon a fuller description we shall have given you the marks and characters of it In the mean time why should we not suppose this Earth which the Meek are to inherit to be that habitable Earth to come which St. Paul mentions Hebr. 2. 6. and represents as subject to our Saviour in a pecuilar manner at his disposal and under his Government as his Kingdom Why should not that Earth be the subject of this Beatitude The promis'd Land the Lot of the Righâ—eous This I am sure of that both this Text and the former deserve our serious thoughts and tho' they do not expresly and in terms prove the future Kingdom of our Saviour yet upon the fairest interpretations they imply such a state And it will be very uneasie to give a satisfactory account either of the Regeneration or Renovation when our Saviour and his Disciples shall sit upon Thrones Or of that Earth which the Meek shall inherit Or lastly of that Habitable World which is peculiarly subject to the dominion of Jesus Christ without supposing on this side Heaven some other reign of Christ and his Saints than what we see or what they enjoy at present But to proceed in this argument It will be necessary as I told you to set down some notes and characters of this Reign of Christ and of his Saints whereby it may be distinguish'd from the present state and present Kingdoms of the World And these characters are chiefly three Iustice Peace and Divine Presence or Conduct which uses to be called Theocrasie By these characters it is sufficiently distinguish'd from the Kingdoms of this World which are generally unjust in their titles or exercise stain'd with bloud and so far from being under a particular Divine Conduct that humane passions and humane vices are the Springs that commonly give motion to their greatest designs But more particularly and restrainedly the Government of Christ is opposed to the Kingdom and Government of Antichrist whose characters are diametrically opposite to these being Injustice cruelty and humane or diabolical artifices Upon this short view of the Kingdom of Christ let us make enquiry after it amongst the Prophets of the Old Testament And we shall find upon examination that there is scarce any of them greater or lesser but take notice of this mystical kingdom either expresly or under the types of Israel Sion Ierusalem and such like And therefore I am apt to think that when S. Peter in his Sermon to the Iews Act. 3. says All the holy Prophets spoke of The Restitution of all things he does not mean the Renovation of the World separately from the Kingdome of Christ but complexly as it may imply both For there are not many of the old Prophets that have spoken of the Renovation of the Natural World but a great many have spoken of the Renovation of the Moral in the Kingdom of Christ. These are S. Peter's words Act. 3. 19 20 21. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Iesus Christ which before was preached unto ye whom the heavens must receive until the times of RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS The Apostle here mentions three things The Times of refreshing The Second Coming of our Saviour And the Times of Restitution of all things And to the last of these he immediately subjoyns which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world began This Restitution of all things I say must not be understood abstractly from the reign of Christ but as in conjunction with it and in that sence and no other it is the general subject of the Prophets To enter therefore into the Schools of the Prophets and enquire their sence concerning this Mystery let us first address our selves to the Prophet Isaiah and the Royal Prophet David who seem to have had many noble thoughts or inspirations upon this subject Isaiah in the 65th chap. from the 17th ver to the end treats upon this argument and joyns together the Renovation of the Natural and Moral World as S. Peter in the
time of Constantine's Empire But however the Fathers of that Council are themselves our witnesses in this point For in their Ecclesiastical Forms or Constitutions in the chapter about the Providence of God and about the World They speak thus The World was made meaner or less perfect providentially for God foresee that man would sin Wherefore we expect New Heavens and a New Earth according to the Holy Scriptures at the appearance and Kingdom of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ. And then as Daniel says ch 7. 18. The Saints of the most High shall take the Kingdom And the Earth shall be Pure Holy the Land of the Living not of the dead Which David foreseeing by the eye of Faith cryes out Ps. 27. 13. I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the Land of the Living Our Saviour says Happy are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth Matt. 5. 5. and the Prophet Isaiuh says chap. 26. 6. the feet of the meek and lowly shall tread upon it So you see according to the judgment of these Fathers there will be a Kingdom of Christ upon Earth and moreover that it will be in the New Heavens and the New Earth And in both these points they cite the Prophets and our Saviour in confirmation of them Thus we have discharg'd our promise and given you an account of the doctrine of the Millennium or future Kingdom of Christ throughout the Three First Ages of the Church before any considerable corruptions were crept into the Christian Religion And those Authorities of single and successive Fathers we have seal'd up all together with the declaration of the Nicene Fathers in a Body Those that think Tradition a Rule of Faith or a considerable motive to it will find it hard to turn off the force of these Testimonies And those that do not go so far but yet have a reverence for Antiquity and the Primitive Church will not easily produce better Authorities more early more numerous or more uncontradicted for any Article that is not Fundamental Yet these are but Seconds to the Prophets and Apostles who are truly the Principals in this Cause I will leave them altogether to be examin'd and weigh'd by the Impartial Reader And because they seem to me to make a full and undeniable proof I will now at the foot of the account set down our second Proposition which is this That there is a Millennial State or a Future Kingdom of Christ and his Saints Prophesied of and Promised in the Old and New Testament and receiv'd by the Primitive Church as a Christian and Catholick Doctrine HAVING dispatch'd this main point To conclude the Chapter and this Head of our Discourse it will be some satisfaction possibly to see How a Doctrine so generally receiv'd and approv'd came to decay and almost wear out of the Church in following Ages The Christian Millenary Doctrine was not call'd into question so far as appears from History before the middle of the third Century when Dionysius Alexandrinus writ against Nepos an Aegyptian Bishop who had declar'd himself upon that subject But we do not find that this Book had any great effect for the declaration or constitution of the Nicene Fathers was after and in S. Ierome's time who writ towards the end of the fourth Century this Doctrine had so much Credit that He who was its greatest adversary yet durst not condemn it as he says himself Quae licet non sequamur tamen damnare non possumus quià multi Ecclesiasticorum virorum Martyres ista dixerunt Which things or doctrines speaking of the Millennium tho' we do not follow yet we cannot condemn Because many of our Church-men and Martyrs have affirmed these things And when Apollinarius replyed to that Book of Dionysius S. Ierome says that not only those of his own Sect but a great multitude of other Christians did agree with Apollinarius in that particular Ut praesagâ mente jam cernam quantorum in me rabies concitanda sit That I now foresee how many will be enrag'd against me for what I have spoken against the Millenary Doctrine We may therefore conclude that in S. Ierome's time the Millenaries made the greater party in the Church for a little matter would not have frighted him from censuring their opinion S. Ierome was a rough and rugged Saint and an unfair adversary that usually run down with heat and violence what stood in his way As to his unfairness he shews it sufficiently in this very cause for he generally represents the Millenary Doctrine after a Judaical rather than a Christian manner And in reckoning up the chief Patrons of it he always skips Iustin Martyr Who was not a Man so obscure as to be overâ—look'd and he was a Man that had declar'd himself sufficiently upon this point for he says both himself and all the Orthodox of his time were of that judgment and applyes both the Apocalypse of S. Iohn and the 65th chap. of Isaiah for the proof of it As we noted before As S. Ierome was an open enemy to this Doctrine so Eusebius was a back friend to it and represented every thing to its disadvantage so far as was tolerably consistent with the fairness of an Historian He gives a slight character of Papias without any authority for it and brings in one Gaius that makes Cerinthus to be the Author of the Apocalypse and of the Millennium and calls the Visions there monstrous stories He himself is willing to shuffle off that Book from Iohn the Evangelist to another Iohn a Presbyter and to shew his skill in the interpretation of it he makes the New Ierusalem in the 21th chap. to be Constantine's Ierusalem when he turn'd the Heathen Temples there into Christian. A wonderful invention As S. Ierome by his flouts so Eusebius by sinister insinuations endeavour'd to lessen the reputation of this Doctrine and the Art they both us'd was to misrepresentâ—â—â— as Iudaical But we must not cast off every doctrine which the Jews believ'd only for that reason for we have the same Oracles which they had and the same Prophets and they have collected from them same general doctrine that we have namely that There will be an happy and pacifick state of the Church in future times But as to the circumstances of this state we differ very much They suppose the Mosaical Law will be restor'd with all its pomp rites and ceremonies whereas we suppose the Christian Worship or something more perfect will then take place Yet S. Ierome has the confidence even there where he speaks of the many Christian Clergy and Martyrs that held this doctrine has the confidence I say to represent it as if they held that Circumcision Sacrifices and all the Judaical rites should then be restor'd Which seems to me to be a great slander and a great instance how far mens passions will carry them in misrepresenting an opinion which they have a mind to
disagrace But as we have reason to blame the partiality of those that opposed this doctrine so on the other hand we cannot excuse the Patrons of it from all indiscretions I believe they might partly themselves make it obnoxious by mixing some things with it from pretended Traditions or the Books of the Sibylls or other private Authorities that had so sufficient warrant from Scripture and things sometimes that Nature would not easily bear Besides in later ages they seem to have dropt one half of the doctrine namely the Renovation of Nature which Irenaeus Iustin Martyr and the Ancients joyn inseparably with the Millennium And by this omission the doctrine hath been made less intelligible and one part of it inconsistent with another And when their pretensions were to reign upon this present Earth and in this present state of Nature it gave a jealousie to Temporal Princes and gave occasion likewise to many of Eanatical Spirits under the notion of Saints to aspire to dominion after a violent and tumultuary manner This I reckon as one great cause that brought the doctrine into discredit But I hope by reducing of it to the true state we shall cure this and other abuses for the future Lastly It never pleas'd the Church of Rome and so far as the influence and authority of that would go you may be sure it would be deprest and discountenanc'd I never yet met with a Popish Doctor that held the Millennium and Baron us would have it pass for an Heresie and Papias for the Inventor of it whereas if Irenaeus may be credited it was receiv'd from S. Iohn and by him from the mouth of our Saviour And neither S. Ierome nor his friend Pope Damasus durst ever condemnoit for an heresie It was always indeed uneasie and gave offence to the Church of Rome because it does not suit to that Scheme of Christianity which they have drawn They suppose Christ reigns already by his Vicar the Pope and treads upon the Necks of Emperors and Kings And if they could but suppress the Northern Heresie as they call it they do not know what a Millennium would signifie or how the Church could be in an happier condition than she is The Apocalypse of St. Iohn does suppose the true Church under hardship and persecution more or less for the greatest part of the Christian Ages namely for 1260 years while the Witnesses are in Sack cloth But the Church of Rome hath been in prosperity and greatness and the commanding Church in Christendom for so long or longer and hath rul'd the Nations with a Rod of Iron so as that mark of the true Church does not favour her at all And the Millennium being properly a reward and triumph for those that come out of Persecution such as have liv'd always in pomp and prosperity can pretend to no share in it or benefit by it This has made the Church of Rome have always an ill eye upon this Doctrine because it seem'd to have an ill eye upon her And as she grew in splendor and greatness she eclips'd and obscur'd it more and more so that it would have been lost out of the World as an obsolete errour if it had not been reviv'd by some of the Reformation CHAP. VII The true state of the Millennium according to Characters taken from Scripture some mistakes concerning it examin'd WE have made sufficient proof of a Millennial state from Scripture and Antiquity and upon that firm Basis have setled our second Proposition We should now determine the Time and Place of this future Kingdom of Christ Not whether it is to be in Heaven or upon Earth for that we suppose determin'd already but whether it is to be in the present Earth and under the present constitution of Nature or in the New Heavens and New Earth which are promis'd after the Conflagration This is to make our Third Proposition and I should have proceeded immediately to the examination of it but that I imagine it will give us some light in this affair if we enquire further into the true state of the Millennium before we determine its Time and Place We have already noted some moral Characters of the Millennial state And the great Natural Character of it is this in general That it will be Paradisiacal Free from all inconveniences either of external Nature or of our own Bodies For my part I do not understand how there can be any considerable degree of happiness without Indolency nor how there can be Indolency while we have such Bodies as we have now and such an external constitution of Nature And as there must be Indolency where there is happiness so there must not be Indigency or want of any due comforts of life For where there is Indigency there is sollicitude and distraction and uneasiness and fear Passions that do as naturally disquiet the Soul as pain does the Body Therefore Indolency and Plenty seem to be two essential Ingredients of every happy state and these two in conjunction make that state we call Paradisiacal Now the Scripture seems plainly to exempt the Sons of the New Ierusalem or of the Millennium from all pain or want in those words Apoc. 21. 4. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes And there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away And the Lord of that Kingdom He that sate upon the Throne said Behold I make all things new ver 5. This Renovation is a restauration to some former state and I hope not to that state of indigency and misery and diseasedness which we languish under at present But to that pristine Paradisiacal state which was the blessing of the first Heavens and the first Earth As Health and Plenty are the Blessings of Nature so in Civil affairs Peace is the greatest blessing And this is inseparably annext to the Millennium an indelible character of the Kingdom of Christ. And by Peace we understand not onely freedom from Persecution upon religious accounts but that Nation shall not rise up against Nation upon any account whatsoever That bloody Monster War that hath devour'd so many Millions of the Sons of Adam is now at length to be chain'd up and the Furies that run throughout the Earth with their Snakes and Torches shall be thrown into the Abyss to sting and prey upon one another All evil and mischievous passions shall be extinguish'd and that not in men onely but even in Brute creatures according to the Prophets The Lamb and the Lyon shall lie down together and the sucking Child shall play with the Basilisk Happy days when not onely the Temple of Ianus shall be shut up for a thousand years and the Nations shall beat their swords into plow-shares but all enmities and antipathies shall cease all acts of hostility throughout all nature And this Universal Peace is a demonstration also of the former character Universal Plenty for where
terms so express He first says Behold I create new heavens and a new earth wherein you shall rejoyce Then subjoyns immediately Behold I create Ierusalem a rejoycing This rejoycing is still in the same place in the New Heavens and New Earth or in the New Jerusalem And S. Iohn in a like method first sets down the New Earth then the New Jerusalem and expresses the mind of the Prophet Isaiah more distinctly This leads me to a Sixth Argument to confirm our Conclusion The time of the Restitution or Restauration of all things spoken of by S. Peter and the Prophets is the same with the Millennium But that Restauration will not be till the coming of Christ and the end of the World Therefore neither the Millennium That this Restitution of all things will not be till the coming of our Saviour S. Peter declares in his Sermon Act. 3. 21. and that the coming of our Saviour will not be till the end of the World or till the Conflagration both S. Paul and S. Peter signifie to us 1 Thess. 1. 7 8. 2 Pet. 3. 10. Therefore it remains only to prove that this Restitution of all things spoken of here by the Apostle is the same with the Millennium I know that which it does directly and immediately signifie is the Renovation of the World but it must include the Moral World as well as the Natural otherwise it cannot be truly said as S. Peter does there that all the Prophets have spoken of it And what is the Renovation of the Natural and Moral World but the New Jerusalem or the Millennium These Arguments taken together have to me an irresistible evidence for the proof of our Conclusion That the Blessed Millennium cannot obtain in the present Earth or before the Conflagration But when Nature is renew'd and the Saints and Martyrs rais'd from the Dead then they shall reign together with Christ in the New Heavens and New Earth or in the New Jerusalem Satan being bound for a Thousand Years CHAP. IX The chief employment of the Millennium DEVOTION and CONTEMPLATION WE have now done with the substance of our Discourse which is comprehended in these Three Propositions I. After the Conflagration of this World there will be New Heavens and a New Earth and That Earth will be inhabited II. That there is an happy Millennial state Or a future Kingdom of Christ and his Saints prophesied of and promis'd in the Old and New Testament and receiv'd by the Primitive Church as a Christian and Catholick Doctrine III. That this blessed Millennial state according as it is describ'd in Scripture cannot take place in the present Earth nor under the present constitution of Nature and Providence But is to be celebrated in the New Heavens and New Earth after the Conflagration These Three Propositions support this Work and if any of them be broken I confess my design is broken and this Treatise is of no effect But what remains to be spoken to in these last Chapters is more circumstantial or modal and an error or mistake in such things does not wound any vital part of the Argument You must now therefore lay aside your severity and rigorous censures we are very happy if in this Life we can attain to the substance of truth and make rational conjectures concerning modes and circumstances where every one hath right to offer his sence with modesty and submission Revelations made to us from Heaven in this present state are often incompleat and do not tell us all as if it was on purpose to set our thoughts a-work to supply the rest which we may lawfully do provided it be according to the analogy of Scripture and Reason To proceed therefore We suppose as you see the new Heavens and the new Earth to be the seat of the Millennium and that new Creation to be Paradisiacal Its Inhabitants also to be Righteous Persons the Saints of the most High And seeing the ordinary employments of our present Life will then be needless and superseded as Military affairs Sea-affairs most Trades and Manufactures Law Physick and the laborious part of Agriculture it may be wonder'd how this Happy People will bestow their time What entertainment they will find in a state of so much ease and so little action To this one might answer in short by another question How would they have entertain'd themselves in Paradise if Man had continued in Innocency This is a revolution of the same state and therefore they may pass their time as well now as they could have done then But to answer more particularly besides all innocent diversions ingenuous conversations and entertainments of friendship the greatest part of their time will be spent in Devotion and Contemplation O happy employment and next to that of Heaven it self What do the Saints above but sing Praises unto God and contemplate his Perfections And how mean and despicable for the most part are the employments of this present Life if compar'd with those Intellectual Actions If Mankind was divided into ten parts nine of those ten employ their time to get bread to their belly and cloaths to their back And what impertinences are these to a reasonable Soul if she was free from the clog of a Mortal Body or if that could be provided for without trouble or loss of time Corporeal Labour is from need and necessity but intellectual exercises are matter of choice that please and perfect at the same time Devotion warms and opens the Soul and disposes it to receive Divine Influences It sometimes raises the mind into an heavenly ecstasie and fills it with a joy that is not to be exprest When it is pure it leaves a strong impression upon the heart of Love to God and inspires us with a contempt of this World having tasted the pleasures of the World to come In the state which we speak of seeing the Tabernacle of God will be with men we may reasonably suppose that there will be greater effusions and irradiations of the Holy Spirit than we have or can expect in this region of darkness and consequently all the strength and comfort that can arise from private devotion And as to their publick Devotions all beauties of Holiness all perfection of Divine Worship will shine in their Assemblies Whatsoever David says of Sion and Ierusalem are but shadows of this New Ierusalem and of the glory that will be in those Solemnities Imagine what a Congregation will be there of Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Christian Martyrs and Saints of the first rank throughout all Ages And these all known to one another by their Names and History This very meeting together of such Persons must needs create a joy unspeakable But when they unite in their praises to God and to the Lamb with pure hearts full of divine Love when they sing their Hallelujahs to him that sits upon the Throne that hath wash'd them in his blood and redeem'd them out of every Kingdom and Tongue and
People and Nation When with their Palms in their hands they triumph over Sin and Death and Hell and all the Powers of Darkness can there be any thing on this side Heaven and a Quire of Angels more glorious or more joyful But why did I except Angels Why may not they be thought to be present at these Assemblies In a Society of Saints and purified Spirits Why should we think their converse impossible In the Golden Age the Gods were always represented as having freer intercourse with Men and before the Flood we may reasonably believe it so I cannot think Enoch was translated into Heaven without any converse with its Inhabitants before he went thither And seeing the Angels vouchsaf'd often in former Ages to visit the Patriarchs upon Earth we may with reason judge that they will much more converse with the same Patriarchs and holy Prophets now they are risen from the Dead and cleans'd from their sins and seated in the New Ierusalem I cannot but call to mind upon this occasion That representation which S. Paul makes to us of a glorious state and a glorious Assembly too high for this present Earth 'T is Hebr. 12. 22 c. in these words But you are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Ierusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven and to God the Iudge of all and to the Spirits of just men made perfect This I know several apply to the Times and state of the Gospel in opposition to that of the Law and it is introduc'd in that manner But here are several expressions too high for any present state of things They must respect a future state either of Heaven or of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ. And to the later of these the expressions agree and have a peculiar fitness and applicability to it And what follows in the context ver 26 27 28. About shaking the Heavens and the Earth once more Removing the former Scenes and bringing on a New Kingdom that cannot be shaken All this I say answers to the Kingdom of Christ which is to be establish'd in the New Heavens and New Earth But to proceed in their Publick Devotions Suppose this August Assembly inflam'd with all Divine Passions met together to celebrate the Name of God with Angels intermixt to bear a part in this Holy Exercise And let this concourse be not in any Temple made with hands but under the great roof of Heaven the True Temple of the most High so as all the Air may be fill'd with the chearful harmony of their Hymns and Hallelujahs Then in the heighth of their Devotion as they sing Praises to the Lamb and to Him that sits upon the Throne suppose the Heavens to open and the Son of God to appear in his glory with Thousands and Ten Thousands of Angels round about him That their eyes may see him who for their sakes was crucified upon Earth now encircled with Light and Majesty This will raise them into as great transports as humane nature can bear They will wish to be dissolv'd they will strive to fly up to him in the clouds or to breath out their Souls in repeated doxologles of Blessing and honour and glory and power to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever But we cannot live always in the flames of Devotion The weakness of our Nature will not suffer us to continue long under such strong Passions and such intenseness of Mind The question is therefore What will be the ordinary employment of that Life How will they entertain their thoughts or spend their time For we suppose they will not have that multiplicity of frivolous business that we have now About our Bodies about our Children in Trades and Mechanicks in Traffick and Navigation or Wars by Sea or Land These things being swept away wholly or in a great measure what will come in their place how will they find work or entertainment for a long life If we consider who they are that will have a part in this first Resurrection and be Inhabitants of that World that is to come we may easily believe that the most constant employment of their life will be CONTEMPLATION Not that I exclude any innocent diversions as I said before The entertainments of friendship or ingenuous conversation but the great business and design of that life is Contemplation as preparatory to Heaven and eternal Glory Ui paulatim assuescant capere Deum as Irenaeus says That they may by degrees enlarge their capacities fit and accustom themselves to receive God Or as he says in another place That they may become capable of the glory of the Father that is capable of bearing the glory and presence of God capable of the highest enjoyment of him which is usually call'd the Beatifical Vision and is the condition of the Blessed in Heaven It cannot be deny'd that in such a Millennial state where we shall be freed from all the incumbrances of this life and provided of better Bodies and greater light of Mind It cannot be doubted I say but that we shall then be in a disposition to make great proficiency in the knowledge of all things Divine and Intellectual and consequently of making happy preparations for our entring upon a further state of glory For there is nothing certainly does more prepare the mind of man for the highest perfections than Contemplation with that Devotion which naturally flows from it as heat follows light And this Contemplation hath always a greater or less effect upon the mind according to the perfection of its object So as the Contemplation of the Divine Nature is of all others the most perfective in it self and to us according to our capacities and degree of abstraction An Immense Being does strangely fill the Soul and Omnipotency Omnisciency and Infinite Goodness do enlarge and dilate the Spirit while it fixtly looks upon them They raise strong passions of Love and Admiration which melt our Nature and transform it into the mould and image of that which we contemplate What the Scripture says of our Transformation into the Divine likeness what S. Iohn and the Platonists say of our Union with God And whatever is not Cant in the Mystical Theology when they tell us of being Deified all this must spring from these sources of Devotion and Contemplation They will change and raise us from perfection to perfection as from glory to glory into a greater similitude and nearer station to the Divine Nature The Contemplation of God and his Works comprehends all things For the one makes the uncreated World and the other the Created And as the Divine Essence and Attributes are the greatest object that the mind of man can set before it self so next to that are the effects and emanations of the Divinity or the Works of the Divine Goodness Wisdom
Father above Angels and Arch-Angels These great things are imperfectly reveal'd to us in this life which we are to believe so far as they are reveal'd In hopes these mysteries will be made more intelligible in that happy state to come where Prophets Apostles and Angels will meet in conversation together In like manner how little is it we understand concerning the Holy Ghost That he descended like a Dove upon our Saviour Like cloven Tongues of fire upon the Apostles The Place being fill'd with a rushing mighty Wind That he over-shadowed the Blessed Virgin and begot the Holy Infant That He made the Apostles speak all sort of Tongues and Languages ex tempore and pour'd out strange Vertues and Miraculous Gifts upon the Primitive Christians These things we know as bare matter of fact but the method of these operations we do not at all understand Who can tell us now what that is which we call INSPIRATION VVhat change is wrought in the Brain and what in the Soul and how the effect follows VVho will give us the just definition of a Miracle VVhat the proximate Agent is above Man and whether they are all from the same power How the manner and process of those miraculous changes in matter may be conceiv'd These things we see darkly and hope they will be set in a clearer light and the Doctrines of our Religion more fully expounded to us in that Future VVorld For as several things obscurely exprest in the Old Testament are more clearly reveal'd in the New So the same mysteries in a succeeding state may still receive a further explication The History of the Angels Good or bad makes another part of this Providential Systeme Christian Religion gives us some notices of both kinds but very imperfect VVhat interest the Good Angels have in the Government of the VVorld and in ordering the affairs of this Earth and Mankind What subjection they have to our Saviour and what part in his Ministry Whether they are Guardians to particular Persons to Kingdoms to Empires All that we know at present concerning these things is but conectural And as to the bad Angels who will give us an account of their Fall and of their former condition I had rather know the History of Lucifer than of all the Babylonian and Persian Kings Nay than of all the Kings of the Earth What the Birth-right was of that mighty Prince what his Dominions where his Imperial Court and Residence How he was depos'd for what Crime and by what Power How he still wages War against Heaven in his exile What Confederates he hath What is his Power over Mankind and how limited What change or damage he suffer'd by the coming of Christ and how it alter'd the posture of his affairs Where he will be imprison'd in the Millennium and what will be his last fate and final doom whether he may ever hope for a Revolution or Restauration These things lie hid in the secret Records of Providence which then I hope will be open'd to us With the Revolution of Worlds we mention'd before the Revolution of Souls which is another great Circle of Providence to be studied hereafter We know little here either of the pre-existence or post-existence of our Souls VVe know not what they will be till the loud Trump awakes us and calls us again into the Corporeal VVorld VVho knows how many turns he shall take upon this stage of the Earth and how many trials he shall have before his doom will be finally concluded Who knows where or what is the state of Hell where the Souls of the wicked are said to be for ever What is the true state of Heaven What our Celestial Bodies and What that Sovereign Happiness that is call'd the Beatifical Vision Our knowledge and conceptions of these things are at present very general and superficial but in the future Kingdom of Christ which is introductory to Heaven it self these imperfections in a great measure will be done away and such preparations wrought both in the Will and Understanding as may fit us for the Life of Angels and the enjoyment of God in Eternal Glory Thus you see in general what will be the employment of the Saints in the blessed Millennium And tho' they have few of the trifling businesses of this life they will not want the best and noblest of diversions 'T is an happy thing when a Man's pleasure is also his perfection for most Men's pleasures are such as debase their nature We commonly gratifie our lower faculties our Passions and our Appetites and these do not improve but depress the Mind And besides they are so gross that the finest tempers are surfeited in a little time There is no lasting pleasure but Contemplation All others grow flat and insipid upon frequent use and when a Man hath run thorow a Sett of Vanities in the declension of his Age he knows not what to do with himself if he cannot Think He saunters about from one dull business to another to wear out time And hath no reason to value Life but because he 's afraid of Death But Contemplation is a continual spring of fresh pleasures Truth is inexhausted and when you are once in the right way the further you go the greater discoveries you make and with the greater joy We are sometimes highly pleas'd and even transported with little inventions in Mathematicks or Mechanicks or Natural Philosophy All these things will make part of their diversion and entertainment in that state All the doctrine of Sounds and Harmony Of Light Colours and Perspective will be known in perfection But these I call Diversions in comparison of their higher and more serious Speculations which will be the business and happiness of that Life Do but imagine that they will have the Scheme of all humane affairs lying before them from the Chaos to the last period The universal history and order of Times The whole oeconomy of the Christian Religion and of all Religions in the World The Plan of the undertaking of the Messiah with all other parts and ingredients of the Providence of this Earth Do but imagine this I say and you will easily allow that when they contemplate the Beauty Wisdom and Goodness of the whole design it must needs raise great and noble Passions and a far richer joy than either the pleasures or speculations of this Life can excite in us And this being the last Act and close of all humane affairs it ought to be the more exquisite and elaborate that it may crown the work satisfie the Spectators and end in a general applause The whole Theatre resounding with the praises of the great Dramatist and the wonderful Art and Order of the composition CHAP. X. Objections against the Millennium answer'd With some Conjectures concerning the state of things after the Millennium and what will be the final Consummation of this World YOU see how Nature and Providence have conspir'd to make the Millennium as happy
the manners of the people Bohemia Silesia Denmark Norway Sweedland Lapland and Iseland and all the coasts of the Baltick Sea are full of Clifts and Rocks and Crags of Mountains Besides the Riphean Mountains in Muscovy which the Inhabitants there use to call the Stone-girdle and believe that it girds the Earth round about Nor are the other parts of our Continent more free from Mountains than Europe nor other parts of the Earth than our Continent They are in the New World as well as the Old and if they could discover two or three New Worlds or Continents more they would still find them there Neither is there any Original Island upon the Earth but is either all a Rock or hath Rocks and Mountains in it And all the dry Land and every Continent is but a kind of Mountain though that Mountain hath a multitude of lesser ones and Valleys and Plains and Lakes and Marshes and all variety of grounds In America the Andes or a ridge of Mountains so call'd are reported to be higher than any we have reaching above a thousand Leagues in length and twenty in breadth where they are the narrowest In Africk the Mountain Atlas that for its height was said to bear the Heavens on its back runs all along from the Western Sea to the borders of Aegypt parallel with the Mediterranean There also are the Mountains or the Moon and many more whereof we have but an imperfect account as neither indeed of that Country in the remote and inner parts of it Asia is better known and the Mountains thereof better describ'd Taurus which is the principal was adjudg'd by the ancient Geographers the greatest in the World It divides Asia into two parts which have their denomination from it And there is an Anti-Taurus the greater and the less which accordingly divide Armenia into greater and less Then the Cruciform Mountains of Imaus the famous CÃ ucasus the long Chains of Tartary and China and the Rocky and Mountainous Arabia If one could at once have a prospect of all these together one would be easily satisfied that the Globe of the Earth is a more rude and indigested Body than 't is commonly imagin'd If one could see I say all the Kingdoms and Regions of the Earth at one view how they lie in broken heaps The Sea hath overwhelm'd one half of them and what remains are but the taller parts of a ruine Look upon those great ranges of Mountains in Europe or in Asia whereof we have given a short survey in what confusion do they lie They have neither form nor beauty nor shape nor order no more than the Clouds in the Air. Then how barren how desolate how naked are they How they stand neglected by Nature Neither the Rains can soften them nor the Dews from Heaven make them fruitful I have given this short account of the Mountains of the Earth to help to remove that prejudice we are apt to have or that conceit That the present Earth is regularly form'd And to this purpose I do not doubt but that it would be of very good use to have natural Maps of the Earth as we noted before as well as civil and done with the same care and judgment Our common Maps I call Civil which note the distinction of Countries and of Cities and represent the Artificial Earth as inhabited and cultivated But Natural Maps leave out all that and represent the Earth as it would be if there was not an Inhabitant upon it nor evor had been the Skeleton of the Earth as I may so say with the site of all its parts Methinks also every Prince should have such a Draught of his own Country and Dominions to see how the ground lies in the several parts of them which highest which lowest what respect they have to one another and to the Sea how the Rivers flow and why how the Mountains stand how the Heaths and how the Marches are plac'd Such a Map or Survey would be useful both in time of War and Peace and many good observations might be made by it not only as to Natural History and Philosophy but also in order to the perfect improvement of a Country But to return to our Mountains As this View of the multitude and greatness of them may help to rectifie our mistakes about the form of the Earth so before we proceed to examine their causes it will be good to observe farther that these Mountains are plac'd in no order on with another that can either respect use or beauty and if you consider them singly they do not consist of any proportion of parts that is referable to any design or that hath the least footsteps of Art or Counsel There is nothing in Nature more shapeless and ill-figur'd than an old Rock or a Mountain and all that variety that is among them is but the various modes of irregularity so as you cannot make a better character of them in short than to say they are of all forms and figures except regular Then if you would go within these Mountains for they are generally hollow you would find all things there more rude if possible than without And lastly if you look upon an heap of them together or a Mountainous Country they are the greatest examples of confusion that we know in Nature no Tempest or Earthquake puts things into more disorder 'T is true they cannot look so ill now as they did at first a ruine that is fresh looks much worse than afterwards when the Earth grows discolour'd and skin'd over But I fancy if we had seen the Mountains when they were new born and raw when the Earth was fresh-broken and the waters of the Deluge newly retir'd the fractions and confusions of them would have appear'd very gastly and frightful After this general Survey of the Mountains of the Earth and their properties let us now reâ—lect upon the causes of them There is a double pleasure in Philosophy first that of Admiration whilst we contemplate things that are great and wonderful and do not yet understand their Causes for though admiration proceed from ignorance yet there is a certain charm and sweetness in that passion Then the second pleasure is greater and more intellectual which is that of distinct knowledge and comprehension when we come to have the Key that unlocks those secrets and see the methods wherein those things come to pass that we admir'd before The reasons why the World is so or so and from what causes Nature or any part of Nature came into such a state and this we are now to enquire after as to the Mountains of the Earth what their original was how and when the Earth came into this strange frame and structure In the beginning of our World when the Earth rise from a Chaos 't was impossible it should come immediately into this Mountainous form because a mass that is fluid as a Chaos is cannot liâ— in any other figure than what is regular for the
that Vault did break as we have shown at large and by the dissolution and fall of it the Great Deep was thrown out of its bed forc'd upwards into the Air and overflow'd in that impetuous Commotion the highest tops of the Fragments of the ruin'd Earth which now we call its Mountains And as this was the first great and fatal Period of Nature so upon the issue of this and the return of the Waters into their Chanels the second face of Nature appear'd or the present broken form of the Earth as it is Terraqueous Mountainous and Cavernous These things we have explain'd fully in the First Book and have thereby setled two great Points given a rational account of the Universal Deluge and shown the Causes of the irregular form of the present or Post-diluvian Earth This being done we have apply'd our selves in the Second Book to the description of the Primaeval Earth and the examination of its properties and this hath led us by an easie tract to the discovery of Paradise and of the true Notion and Mystery of it which is not so much a spot of ground where a fine Garden stood as a course of Nature or a peculiar state of the Earth Paradisiacal in many parts but especially in one Region of it which place or Region we have also endeavour'd to determine though not so much from the Theory as from the suffrages of Antiquity if you will take their judgment THUS much is finisht and this contains the Natural Theory of the Earth till this present time for since the Deluge all things have continued in the same state or without any remarkable change We are next to enter upon new Matter and new Thoughts and not only so but upon a Series of Things and Times to come which is to make the Second Part of this Theory Dividing the duration of the World into two parts Past and Future we have dispatch'd the first and far greater part and come better half of our way And if we make a stand here and look both ways backwards to the Chaos and the beginning of the World and forwards to the End and Consummation of all Things though the first be a longer prospect yet there are as many general Changes and Revolutions of Nature in the remaining part as have already happen'd and in the Evening of this long Day the Scenes will change faster and be more bright and illustrious From the Creation to this Age the Earth hath undergone but one Catastrophe and Nature hath had two different faces The next Catastrophe is the CONFLAGRATION to which a new face of Nature will accordingly succeed New Heavens and a New Earth Paradise renew'd and so it is call'd the Restitution of things or Regeneration of the World And that Period of Nature and Providence being expir'd then follows the Consummation of all things or the General Apotheosts when Death and Hell shall be swallowed up in victory When the great Circle of Time and Fate is run or according to the language of Scripture When the Heavens and the Earth shall pass away and Time shall be no more MAY we in the mean time by a true Love of God above all things and a contempt of this Vain World which passeth away By a careful use of the Gifts of God and Nature the Light of Reason and Revelation prepare our selves and the state of things for the great Coming of our Saviour To whom be Praise and Honour for evermore FINIS THE THEORY OF THE EARTH Containing an Account OF THE Original of the Earth AND OF ALL THE GENERAL CHANGES Which it hath already undergone OR IS TO UNDERGO Till the CONSUMMATION of all Things THE TWO LAST BOOKS Concerning the BURNING of the WORLD AND Concerning the NEW HEAVENS and NEW EARTH LONDON Printed by R. N. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1697. TO THE QUEEN'S MOST Excellent Majesty MADAM HAVING had the honour to present the first part of this Theory to Your ROYAL UNCLE I presume to offer the Second to Your Majesty This part of the Subject I hope will be no less acceptable for certainly 't is of no less importance They both indeed agree in this That there is a WORLD made and destroy'd in either Treatise But we are more concern'd in what is to come than what is past And as the former Books represented to us the Rise and Fall of the First World so These give an account of the present Frame of Nature labouring under the last Flames and of the Resurrection of it in the New Heavens and New Earth which according to the Divine Promises we are to expect Cities that are burnt are commonly rebuilt more beautiful and regular than they were before And when this World is demolish'd by the last Fire He that undertakes to rear it up again will supply the defects if there were any of the former Fabrick This Theory supposes the present Earth to be little better than an Heap of Ruines where yet there is room enough for Sea and Land for Islands and Continents for several Countries and Dominions But when these are all melted down and refin'd in the general Fire they will be cast into a better mould and the Form and Qualities of the Earth will become Paradisiâ—cal But I fear it may be thought no very proper address to shew Your Majesty a World laid in ashes where You have so great an interest Your Self and Such fair Dominions and then to recompence the loss by giving a Reversion in a Future Earth But if that future Earth be a second Paradise to be enjoyed for a Thousand Years with Peace Innocency and constant health An Inheritance there will be an happy exchange for the best Crown in this World I confess I could never perswade my self that the Kingdom of Christ and of his Saints which the Scripture speaks of so frequently was design'd to be upon this present Earth But however upon all suppositions They that have done some eminent Good in this Life will be sharers in the happiness of that State To humble the Oppressors and rescue the Oppressed is a work of Generosity and Charity that cannot want its reward Yet MADAM They are the greatest Benefactors to Mankind that dispose the World to become Vertuous and by their example Influence and Authority retrieve that TRUTH and JUSTICE that have been lost amongst men for many Ages The School-Divines tell us Those that act or suffer great things for the Publick Good are distinguish'd in Heaven by a Circle of Gold about their Heads One would not willingly vouch for that but one may safely for what the Prophet says which is far greater namely that They shall shine like Stars in the Firmament that turn many to Righteousness Which is not to be understood so much of the Conversion of single Souls as of the turning of Nations and People the turning of the World to Righteousness They that lead on that great and happy Work
II. The Birth of the New Heavens and the New Earth from the second Chaos or the remains of the Old World The form order and qualities of the New Earth according to Reason and Scripture CHAP. III. Concerning the Inhabitants of the New Earth That natural reason cannot determine this point That according to Scripture The Sons of the first Resurrection or the heirs of the Millennium are to be the Inhabitants of the New Earth The Testimony of the Philosophers and of the Christian Fathers for the Renovation of the World The first Proposition laid down CHAP. IV. The Proof of a Millennium or of a blessed Age to come from Scripture A view of the Apocalypse and of the Prophecies of Daniel in reference to this Kingdom of Christ and of his Saints CHAP. V. A view of other places of Scripture concerning the Millennium or future Kingdom of Christ. In what sence all the Prophets have born Testimony concerning it CHAP. VI. The sence and testimony of the Primitive Church concerning the Millennium or future Kingdom of Christ from the times of the Apostles to the Nicene Council The second Proposition laid down When by what means and for what reasons that doctrine was afterwards neglected or discountenanc'd CHAP. VII The true state of the Millennium according to Characters taken from Scripture Some mistakes concerning it rectified CHAP. VIII The Third Proposition laid down concerning the Time and Place of the Millennium Several arguments us'd to prove that it cannot be till after the Conflagration and that the New Heavens and New Earth are the true Seat of the Blessed Millennium CHAP. IX The chief employment of the Millennium DEVOTION and CONTEMPLATION CHAP. X. Objections against the Millenniâ—m answer'd With some conjectures concerning the state of things after the Millennium and what will be the final Consummation of this World The Review of the whole Theory THE THEORY OF THE EARTH BOOK III. Concerning the Conflagration CHAP. I. The Introduction With the Contents and Order of this Work SEEING Providence hath planted in all Men a natural desire and curiosity of knowing things to come and such things especially as concern our particular Happiness or the general Fate of Mankind This Treatise may in both respects hope for a favourable reception amongst inquisitive persons seeing the design of it is to give an account of the greatest revolutions of Nature that are expected in future Ages and in the first place of the Conflagration of the World In which Universal Calamity when all Nature suffers every Man 's particular concern must needs be involv'd We see with what eagerness Men pry into the Stars to see if they can read there the Death of a King or the fall of an Empire 'T is not the fate of any single Prince or Potentate that we Calculate but of all Mankind Nor of this or that particular Kingdom or Empire but of the whole Earth Our enquiries must reach to that great period of Nature when all things are to be dissolv'd both humane affairs and the Stage whereon they are acted When the Heavens and the Earth will pass away and the Elements melt with fervent heat We desire if possible to know what will be the face of that Day that great and terrible Day when the Regions of the Air will be nothing but mingled Flame and Smoak and the habitable Earth turn'd into a Sea of molten Fire But we must not leave the World in this disorder and confusion without examining what will be the Issue and consequences of it Whether this will be the End of all Things and Nature by a sad fate lie eternally dissolv'd and desolate in this manner or whether we may hope for a Restauration New Heavens and a New Earth which the Holy Writings make mention of more pure and perfect than the former As if this was but as a Refiner's fire to purge out the dross and courser parts and then cast the Mass again into a new and better Mould These things with God's assistance shall be mattâ—r of our preâ—ent enquiry These make the genâ—ral â—â—bject of thiâ— Treatise and of the remaining parts of this Theory of â—he Earth Which now you see begins to be a kind of Prophecy or Prognostication of things to come as it hath been hitherto an History of things pass'd of such states and changes as Nature hath already undergone And if that account which we have given of the Origin of the Earth its first and Paradisiacal form and the dissolution of it at the Universal Deluge appear fair and reasonable The second dissolution by Fire and the renovation of it out of a Second Chaos I hope will be deduc'd from as clear grounds and suppositions And Scripture it self will be a more visible Guide to us in these following parts of the Theory than it was in the former In the mean time I take occasion to declare here again as I have done heretofore that neither this nor any other great revolutions of Nature are brought to pass by Causes purely Natural without the conduct of a particular Providence And 't is the Sacred Books of Scripture that are the records of this Providence both as to times past and times to come as to all the signal Changes either of the Natural World or of Mankind and the different Oeconomies of Religion In which respects these Books tho' they did not contain a Moral Law would notwithstanding be as the most mystical so also the most valuable Books in the World This Treatise you see will consist of Two Parts The former whereof is to give an account of the Conflagration and the latter of the New Heavens and New Earth following upon it together with the state of Mankind in those New Habitations As to the Conflagration we first enquire what the Antients thought concerning the present frame of this World whether it was to perish or no whether to be destroyed or to stand eternally in this posture Then in what manner they thought it would be destroy'd by what force or violence whether by Fire or other ways And with these opinions of the Antients we will compare the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles to discover and confirm the truth of them In the second place We will examine what Calculations or Conjectures have been made concerning the time of this great Catastrophe or of the end of this World Whether that period be defineable or no and whether by Natural Arguments or by Prophecies Thirdly We will consider the Signs of the approaching Conflagration Whether such as will be in Nature or in the state of Humane Affairs but especially such as are taken notice of and recorded in Scripture Fourthly Which is the principal point and yet that wherein the Ancients have been most silent What Causes there are in Nature what preparations for this Conflagration Where are the Seeds of this Universal Fire or fewel sufficient for the nourishing of it Lastly In what order and by what degrees the Conflagration will
renew'd like the Eagles which the Chaldee Paraphrast renders In mundo venturo renovabis sicut Aquilae juventutem tuam These things to me seem plainly to be Symbolical representing that World to come which the Paraphrast mentions and the firing of this And this is after the manner of the Eastern Wisdom which always lov'd to go fine cleath'd in figures and fancies And not only the Eastern Barbarians but the Northern and Western also had this doctrine of the Conflagration amongst them The Scythians in their dispute with the Aegyptians about Antiquity argue upon both suppositions of Fire or Water destroying the Last World or beginning This. And in the West the Celts the most Ancient People there had the same Tradition for the Druids who were their Priests and Philosophers deriv'd not from the Greeks but of the old race of Wise Men that had their Learning traditionally and as it were hereditary from the First Ages These as Strabo tells us gave the World a kind of Immortality by repeated renovations and the principle that destroy'd it according to them was always Fire or Water I had forgot to mention in this List the Chaldeans whose opinion we have from Berosus in Seneca They did not only teach the Conflagration but also fixt it to a certain period of time when there should happen a great Conjunction of the Planets in Cancer Lastly We may add to close the account the Modern Indian Philosophers the reliques of the old Bragmans These as Maffeus tells us declare that the World will be renew'd after an Universal Conflagration You see of what extent and universality throughout all Nations this doctrine of the Conflagration hath been Let us now consider what defects or excesses there are in these ancient opinions concerning this fate of the World and how they may be rectified That we may admit them no further into our belief than they are warranted by reason or by the authority of Christian Religion The first fault they seem to have committed about this point is this That they made these revolutions and renovations of Nature indefinite or endless as if there would be such a succession of Deluges and Conflagrations to all eternity This the Stoicks seem plainly to have asserted as appears from Numenius Philo Simplicius and others S. Ierome imputes this Opinion also to Origen but he does not always hit the ture sence of that Father or is not fair and just in the representation of it Whosoever held this Opinion 't is a manifest errour and may be easily rectified by the Christian Revelation which teaches us plainly that there is a final period and consummation of all things that belong to this Sublunary or Terrestrial World When the Kingdom shall be deliver'd up to the Father and Time shall be no more Another Errour they committed in this doctrine is the Identity or sameness if I may so say of the Worlds succeeding one another They are made indeed of the same Lump of Matter but they suppos'd them to return also in the same Form And which is worse that there would be the same face of humane affairs The same Persons and the same actions over again So as the Second World would be but a bare repetition of the former without any variety or diversity Such a revolution is commonly call'd the Platonick Year A period when all things return to the same posture they had some thousands of years before As a Play acted over again upon the same Stage and to the Same Auditory This is a groundless and injudicious supposition For whether we consider the Nature of things The Earth after a dissolution by Fire or by Water could not return into the same form and fashion it had before Or whether we consider Providence it would no ways suit with the Divine Wisdom and Justice to bring upon the stage again those very Scenes and that very course of humane affairs which it had so lately condemn'd and destroy'd We may be assured therefore that upon the dissolution of a World a new order of things both as to Nature and Providence always appears And what that new order will be in both respects after the Conflagration I hope we shall in the following Book give a satisfactory account These are the Opinions true or false of the Ancients and chiefly of the Stoicks concerning the mystery of the Conflagration It will not be improper to enquire in the last place how the Stoicks came by this doctrine whether it was their discovery and invention or from whom they learned it That it was not their own invention we have given sufficient ground to believe by shewing the antiquity of it beyond the times of the Stoicks Besides what a man invents himself he can give the reasons and causes of it as things upon which he founded his invention But the Stoicks do not this but according to the ancient traditional way deliver the conclusion without proof or premisses We nam'd Heraclitus and Empedocles amongst the Greeks to have taught this doctrine before the Stoicks And according to Plutarch Hesiod and Hesiod and Orpheus authors of the highest antiquity sung of this last Fire in their Philosophick Poetry But I suspect the Stoicks had this doctrine from the Phoenicians for if we enquire into the original of that Sect we shall find that their Founder Zeno was a Barbarian or Semi-barbarian deriv'd from the Phoenicians as Laertius and Cicero give an account of him And the Phoenicians had a great share in the Oriental knowledge as we see by Sanchoniathon's remains in Eusebius And by their mystical Books which Suidas mentions from whence Pherecydes Pythagoras his Master had his learning We may therefore reasonably presume that it might be from his Country-men the Phoenicians that Zeno had the doctrine of the Conflagration Not that he brought it first into Greece but strongly reviv'd it and made it almost peculiar to his Sect. So much for the Stoicks in particular and the Greeks in general We have also you see trac'd these Opinions higher to the first Barbarick Philosophers who were the first race of Philosophers after the Flood But Iosephus tells a formal story of Pillars set up by Seth before the Flood implying the foreknowledge of this Fiery destruction of the World even from the beginning of it His words are to this effect give what credit to them you think fit Seth and his fellow students having found out the knowledge of the caelestial Bodies and the order and disposition of the Universe and having also receiv'd from Adam a Prophecy that the World should have a double destruction one by Water another by Fire To preserve and transmit their knowledge in either case to posterity They raised two Pillars one of Brick another of Stone and ingrav'd upon them their Philosophy and inventions And one of these pillars the Author says was standing in Syria even to his time I do not press the belief of this story there being
beloved City That Camp and that City therefore were upon the Earth And fire came down from Heaven and devoured them If it came down from Heaven it came upon the Earth Furthermore those Persons that are rais'd from the Dead are said to be Priests of God and of Christ and to reign with him a thousand years Now these must be the same Persons with the Priests and Kings mention'd in the Fifth Chapter which are there said expresly to reign upon Earth or that they should reign upon Earth It remains therefore only to determine What Earth this is where the Sons of the first Resurrection will live and reign It cannot be the present Earth in the same state and under the same circumstances it is now For what happiness or priviledge would that be to be call'd back into a mortal life under the necessities and inconveniences of sickly Bodies and an incommodious World such as the present state of mortality is and must continue to be till some change be made in Nature We may be sure therefore that a change will be made in Nature before that time and that the state they are rais'd into and the Earth they are to inhabit will be at least Paradisiacal And consequently can be no other than the New Heavens and New Earth which we are to expect after the Conflagration From these Considerations there is a great fairness to conclude both as to the Characters of the Perons and of the place or state that the Sons of the first Resurrection will be Inhabitants of the New Earth and reign there with Christ a thousand years But seeing this is one of the principal and peculiar Conclusions of this Discourse and bears a great part in this last Book of the Theory of the Earth it will deserve a more full explication and a more ample proof to make it out We must therefore take a greater compass in our discourse and give a full account of that State which is usually call'd the Millennium The Reign of the Saints a thousand years or the Kingdom of Christ upon Earth But before we enter upon this new Subject give me leave to close our present Argument about the Renovation of the World with some Testimonies of the Ancient Philosophers to that purpose 'T is plain to me that there were amongst the Ancients several Traditions or traditionary conclusions which they did not raise themselves by reason and observation but receiv'd them from an unknown Antiquity An instance of this is the Conflagration of the World A Doctrine as ancient for any thing I know as the World it self At least as ancient as we have any Records And yet none of those Ancients that tell us of it give any argument to prove it Neither is it any wonder for they did not invent it themselves but receiv'd it from others without proof by the sole authority of Tradition In like manner the Renovation of the World which we are now speaking of is an ancient Doctrine both amongst the Greeks and Eastern Philosophers But they shew us no method how the World may be renew'd nor make any proof of its future Renovation For it was not a discovery which they first made but receiv'd it with an implicite faith from their Masters and Ancestors And these Traditionary Doctrines were all fore-runners of that Light that was to shine more clearly at the opening of the Christian dispensation to give a more full account of the fate and revolutions of the Natural World as well as of the Moral The Iews 't is well known held the Renovation of the World and a Sabbath after six thousand years according to the Prophecy that was currant amongst them whereof we have given a larger account in the precedent Book ch 5. And that future state they call'd Olam Hava or the World to come which is the very same with St. Paul's Habitable Earth to come Heb. 2. 6. Neither can I easily believe that those constitutions of Moses that proceed so much upon a Septenary or the number Seven and have no ground or reason in the nature of the thing for that particular number I cannot easily believe I say that they are either accidental or humoursome without design or signification But that they are typical or representative of some Septenary state that does eminently deserve and bear that Character Moses in the History of the Creation makes six days work and then a Sabbath Then after six years he makes a Sabbath-year and after a Sabbath of years a year of Jubilee Levit. 25. All these lesser revolutions seem to me to point at the grand Revolution the great Sabbath or Iubilee after six Millenaries which as it answers the type in point of time so likewise in the nature and contents of it Being a state of Rest from all labour and trouble and servitude a state of joy and triumph and a state of Renovation when things are to return to their first condition and pristine order So much for the Iews The Heathen Philosophers both Greeks and Barbarians had the same doctrine of the Renovation of the World currant amongst them And that under several names and phrases as of the Great Year the Restauration the Mundane periods and such like They suppos'd stated and fix'd periods of time upon expiration whereof there would always follow some great revolution of the World and the face of Nature would be renew'd Particularly after the Conflagration the Stoicks always suppos'd a new World to succeed or another frame of Nature to be erected in the room of that which was destroy'd And they use the same words and phrases upon this occasion that Scripture useth Chrysippus calls it Apocatastalis as St. Peter does Act. 3. 21. Marcus Antoninus in his Meditations several times calls it Palingenesia as our Saviour does Mat. 19. 28. And Numenius hath two Scripture-words Resurrection and Restitution to express this renovation of the World Then as to the Platonicks that Revolution of all things hath commonly been call'd the Platonick year as if Plato had been the first author of that opinion But that 's a great mistake he receiv'd it from the Barbarick Philosophers and particularly from the Aegyptian Priests amongst whom he liv'd several years to be instructed in their learning But I do not take Plato neither to be the first that brought this doctrine into Greece for besides that the Sibylls whose antiquity we do not well know sung this Song of oâ—d as we see it copyed from them by Virgil in his fourth Eclogue Pythagoras taught it before Plato and Orpheus before them both And that 's as high as the Greek Philosophy reaches The Barbarick Philosophers were more ancient namely the Aegyptians Persians Chaldeans Indian Brackmans and other Eastern Nations Their Monuments indeed are in a great measure lost yet from the remains of them which the Greeks have transcrib'd and so preserv'd in their writings we see plainly they all had this doctrine of the
regenerate and rise into a Spiritual Life 'T is said here The rest of the Dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished That implyes that at the end of these thousand years the rest of the dead did live again which according to the Allegory must be that after a thousand years all the wicked will be regenerate and rais'd into a Spiritual Life These absurdities arise upon an allegorical exposition of this Resurrection if apply'd to single Persons But Dr. Hammond a Learned and worthy Divine but one that loves to contract and cramp the sence of Prophecies making this First Resurrection allegorical applies it not to single Persons but to the state of the Church in general The Christian Church he says shall have a Resurrection for a thousand years that is shall rise out of Persecution be in a prosperous condition and an undisturb'd profession of the true Religion for so long a time But this agrees with the Prophecy as little as the former If it be a state of the Church in general and of the Church then in being why is this Resurrection apply'd to the Martyrs Why are they said to rise seeing the state they liv'd in was a troublesome state of the Church and it would be no happiness to have that reviv'd again Then as to the Time of this Resurrection of the Church where will you fix it The Prophet Daniel places this Reign of Christ at or after the dissolution of the fourth Monarchy and S. Iohn places it a thousand years before the last Day of Judgment How will you adjust the Allegorical Resurrection of the Church to these limits Or if in point of time you was free as to Prophecy yet how would you adjust it to History Where will you take these thousand years of happiness and prosperity to the Church These Authors suppose them past and therefore must begin them either from the first times of the Gospel or from the time of Constantine Under the first Ages of the Gospel were you know the great Persecutions by the Heathen Emperours Could those be call'd the Reign of Christ and of His Saints Was Sathan then bound or was this Epoclâ—a but a thousand years before the Day of Judgment And if you begin this Resurrection of the Church from the days of Constantine when the Empire became Christian how will you reckon a thousand years from that time for the continuance of the Church in peace and purity for the reign of Christ and of his Saints must necessarily imply both those Characters Besides who are the rest of the Dead that liv'd after the expiration of those thousand years if they begun at Constantine And why is not the Second Resurrection and the Day of Judgment yet come Lastly You ought to be tender of interpreting the First Resurrection in an Allegorical sence left you expose the second Resurrection to be made an allegory also To conclude The words of the Text are plain and express for a literal Resurrection as to the First as well as the Second and there is no Allegorical interpretation that I know of that will hold through all the particulars of the Text consistently with it self and with History And when we shall have prov'd this future Kingdom of Christ from other places of the Apocalypse and of Holy Writ you will the more easily admit the literal sence of this place Which you know according to the receiv'd rule of Interpreters is never to be quitted or forsaken without necessity But when I speak of confirming this Doctrine from other passages of Scripture I do not mean as to that definite time of a thousand years for that is no where else mention'd in the Apocalypse or in Scripture that I know of and seems to be mention'd here in this close of all things to mind us of that type that was propos'd in the beginning of all things Of Six days and a Sabbath Whereof each Day Comprehends a thousand years and the Sabbath which is the Millennial state hath its thousand According to the known Prophecy of Elias which as I told you before was not only receiv'd amongst the Iews but also own'd by very many of the Christian Fathers To proceed therefore to other parts of S. Iohn ' s Prophecies that set forth this Kingdom of Christ. The Vision of the Seven Trumpets is one of the most remarkable in the Apocalypse and the Seventh Trumpet which plainly reaches to the end of the World and the Resurrection of the Dead opens the Scene to the Millennium Hear the sound of it The seventh Angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven saying The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and â—ver And the four and twenty Elders which sat before God on their Seats fell upon their faces and worshipped God Saying We give thee thanks O Lord God Almighty which art and wast and art to come because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned And the Nations were angry and thy wrath is come and the time of the Dead that they should be judged and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the Prophets and to the Saints and them that fear thy Name small and great and shouldest destroy them that destroy the Earth c. This is manifestly the Kingdom of Christ and with this is joyn'd the Resurrection of the Dead and the rewarding of the suffering Prophets and Saints as in the 20th Chapter This is that mystery of God that was to be finish'd in the days of the voice of the seventh Angel as is said in the 20th Chap. ver 7. As he hath declared to his servants the Prophets Namely the mystery of this Kingdom which was foretold by the Prophets of the Old Testament and more especially by Daniel as we shall see hereafter The New Ierusalem as it is set down Apoc. 21. 2 3 4 5 6 7. is another instance or image of this Kingdom of Christ. And the Palm-bearing Company Chap. 7. 9 c. are some of the Martyrs that shall enjoy it They are plainly describ'd there as Christian Martyrs ver 14. And their reward or the state of happiness they are to enjoy ver 15 16 17. is the same with that of the Inhabitants of the New Ierusalem Ch. 21. 2 3 4 c. as upon comparing those two places will easily appear Furthermore at the opening of the Seals Chap. 5. which is another principal Vision and reaches to the end of the World there is a prospect given us of this Kingdom of Christ and of that reward of his Saints For when they sing the new Song to the Lamb ver 9 10. they say Thou art worthy to take the Book and to open the Seals thereof For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy bloud And hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reign on the Earth
place forementioned seems to do And accordingly the Prophet having set down several natural characters of that State as indolency and joy longevity ease and plenty from ver 18. to the 24th He there begins the moral characters of divine favour and such a particular protection that they are heard and answer'd before they pray And lastly He represents it as a state of universal peace and innocency ver 23. The Wolf and the Lamb shall feed together c. This last character which comprehends Peace Iustice and Innocency is more fully display'd by the same Prophet in the 11th chap. where he treats also of the Kingdom of Christ. Give me leave to set down his words ver 4 5 6 7 8 9. But with Righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the Earth and he shall smite the Earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins and faithfulness the girdle of his reins The Wolf also shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid and the Calf and the young Lyon and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them And the Cow and the Bear shall feed their young ones shall lye down together and the Lyon shall eat straw like the Ox. And the suckling ohbild shall play on the hole of the Asp and the weaned child shall put his hand on the Cockatrice-den They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea Thus far the Prophet Now if we joyn this to what we noted before from his 65th chap. concerning the same state 't will be impossible to understand it of any order of things that is now or hath been hitherto in the World And consequently it must be the Idea of some state to come and particularly of that which we call the Future Kingdom of Christ. The same pacifick temper Innocency and Justice are celebrated by this Prophet when the Mountain of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains chap. 2. 2 4. And he shall judge amongst the nations and shall rebuke many people and they shall heat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning-hooks Nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more And as to righteousness he says in the 23. chap. Behold a King shall reign in righteousness and Princes shall rule in judgment c. These places I know usually are applyed to the first coming of our Saviour the peaceableness of his doctrine and the propagation of it through all the World I willingly allow this to be a true sence so far as it will go But 't is one thing to be a true sence to such a degree and another thing to be the final sence and accomplishment of a Prophecy The affairs of the first and second coming of our Saviour are often mingled together in the Prophecies of the Old Testament but in that mixture there are some characters whereby you may distinguish what belongs to his first and what to his second coming what to the time when he came to suffer and what to the time when he shall come to reign For instance In these Prophecies recited though there are many things very applicable to his first coming yet that Regality which is often spoken of and that universal Peace and Innocency that will accompany it cannot be verified of his coming in the flesh Seeing it is plain that in his state of humiliation he did not come as a King to rule over the Nations of the Earth And he says himself expresly That his Kingdom is not of this World Iohn 18. 36. And the Prayer of Salome and of the good Thief upon the Cross suppose it not then present but to come Then as to the establishment of Peace in his Kingdom it does not at all appear to me that there is more Peace in the World now than there was before our Saviour came into it or that the Christian parts of the World are more peaceable than the unchristian Therefore these great promises of a Pacifick Kingdom which are exprest in terms as high and emphatical as can be imagin'd must belong to some other days and some other ages than what we have seen hitherto You 'l say it may be 't is not the fault of the Gospel that the World is not peaceable but of those that profess it and do not practise it This is true but it does not answer the Prophecy for that makes no such exception And by such a reserve as this you may elude any Prophecy So the Iews say Their Messiah defers his coming beyond the time appointed by Prophecy because of their sins but we do not allow this for a good reason The Israelites had their promised Canaan tho' they had render'd themselves unworthy of it and by this method of interpreting Prophecies all the happiness and glory promised in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ may come to nothing upon a pretended forfeiture Threatnings indeed may have a tacit condition God may be better than his word and upon repentance divert his judgments but he cannot be worse than his word or fail of performance when without any condition exprest he promises or prophesies good things to come This would destroy all assurance of Hope or Faith Lastly This Prophecy concerning Pacifick times or a Pacifick Kingdom is in the 65th chap. subjoyn'd to the Renovation of the Heavens and the Earth and several marks of a change in the Natural World which things we know did not come to pass at the first coming of our Saviour there was no change of Nature then nor has been ever since And therefore this happy change both in the Natural and Moral World is yet to come But as we said before we do not speak this exclusively of the first coming of our Saviour as to other parts of these Prophecies for no doubt that was one great design of them And in the Prophecies of the Old Testament there are often three gradations or gradual accomplishments The first in some King of Israel or some Person or affair relating to Israel as National only The second in the Messiah at his first coming And the last in the Messiah and his Kingdom at his second coming And that which we affirm and contend for is that the Prophecies foremention'd have not a final and total accomplishment either in the Nation of the Iews or at the first coming of our Saviour And this we bide by The next Prophet that we mention'd as a witness of the future Kingdom of Christ is David Who in his Psalms seems to be pleas'd with this subject above all others And when he is most exalted in his thoughts and Prophetical raptures the Spirit carries him into the Kingdom
of the Messiah to contemplate its glory to sing praises to its King and triumph over his Enemies Psal. 68. Let God arise let his enemies be scattered Let them also that hate him flie before him As Smoke is driven away so drive them away as wax melteth before the fire so let the wicked perish at the presence of God But let the Righteous be glad c. The plain ground he goes upon in this Psalm is the Deliverance out of Aegypt and bringing the Israelites unto the Land of Canaan But when he is once upon the wing he soars to an higher pitch from the type to the Antitype To the days of the Messiah the Ascension of our Saviour and at length to his Kingdom and Dominion over all the Earth The 45th Psalm is an Epithalamium to Christ and the Church or to the Lamb and his Spouse And when that will be and in what state we may learn from S. Iohn Apoc. 19. 7 8. and ch 21. 2 9. Namely after the destruction of Babylon in the New Ierusalem glory The words and matter of the two Prophets answer to one another Here in this Psalm there is a Fight and Victory celebrated as well as a Marriage and so there is in that 19th Chapter of S. Iohn Here the Prophet says Gâ—rd thy sword upon thy thigh O most Mighty with thy glory and thy Majesty And in thy Majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever The Scepter of thy Kingdom is a right Scepter c. There S. Iohn says having describ'd a Conquerour on a white Horse Out of his mouth goeth a sharp Sword that with it he should smite the Nations and he shall rule them with a rod of Iron and he treadeth the Wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a Name written KING of KINGS and LORD of LORDS This is the same glorious Conqueror and Bridegroom in both places and this Victory is not gain'd nor these Nuptials compleated till the second coming of our Saviour In many other Psalms there are reflections upon this happy Kingdom and the triumph of Christ over his Enemies as Psal. 2. Psal. 9. Psal. 21. and 24. and 47. and 85. and 110. and others In these and such like Psalms there are lineaments and colours of a fairer state than any we have yet seen upon Earth Not but that in their first instanâ—es and grounds they may sometimes respect the state of Israel or the Evangelical state but the eye of the Prophet goes further this does not terminate his sight His Divine Enthusiasm reaches into another World A World of Peace and Iustice and Holiness of Joy and Victory and Trumph over all the wicked and consequently such a World as neither we nor our Fathers have yet seen This is an account of Two Prophets David and Isaiah and of what they have more openly declar'd concerning the future Kingdom of Christ. But to verifie S. Peter's words in that foremention'd place Act. 3. 21. viz. That all the Holy Prophets since the World began have spoken of the Restauration of all things at the second coming of Christ. I say to verifie this assertion of S. Peter's we must suppose that where the Prophets speak of the Restauration and future glory of Iudah and Ierusalem they do under those Types represent to us the glory and happiness of the Church in the future Kingdom of Christ. And most of the Prophets in this sence and under these forms have spoken of this Kingdom In foretelling the Restauration of Ierusalem and Sion and happy days peace plenty and prosperity to the People of Israel Most of the Prophets I say from Moses to Malachy have spoken of this Restauration Moses in the 30th of Deut. ver 4 5 9. David in many of those Psalms we have cited Isaiah besides the places foremention'd treats amply of this subject Chap. 51. and in several other places So likewise the Prophet Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Ioel Amos Obadiah Micab Zephany Haggai Zachary Malachy All these have either expresly or under the Types of Ierusalem and Sion foretold happy days and a glorious triumph to the Church of God And seeing in the New Testament and in the Prophecies of St. Iohn the Christian Church is still represented as under persecution and distress till the fall of Antichrist and the Millennial Kingdom 'T is then and not till then that we must expect the full accomplishment of these Prophecies The Restauration that St. Peter says was spoken of by all the Prophets and the mystery which St. Iohn says Apoc. 10. 7. was declared by his Servants the Prophets and would be finish'd under the Seventh Trumpet which ushers in the Kingdom of Christ. It would be too long to examine all these places in the Prophets which you may consult at leisure However it cannot seem strange that Ierusalem should be us'd in a typical or allegorical sence seeing we often find such applications of it in the New Testament as Gal. 4. 26. Heb. 12. 22. Apoc. 3. 12. And 't is very natural that Ierusalem restor'd should signifie the same thing as New Ierusalem and therefore that S. Iohn by his New Ierusalem intended the same thing or the same state that the ancient Prophets did by their Restauration of Ierusalem And if neither can be understood in a literal sence which I believe you will not contend for they must both be interpreted of the future happiness and glory of the Church in the Kingdom of Christ. But to conclude this point wholly as to Scripture If we make reflection upon all the passages alledg'd in this and the foregoing Chapter whether out of the Old or New Testament we must at least acknowledge thus much That there are happy days at one time or other Days of Peace and Righteousness of Joy and Triumph of external Prosperity and internal Sanctity when Vertue and Innocency shall be in the Throne and Vice and vitious Men out of power or credit That there are such happy days Prophesied of in Scripture and promised to the Church of God Whether you call this the Reign of Christ and of his Saints or by any other name it is not material at present to determine let the title be what you will as to the substance it cannot be denied to be a general Doctrine of Prophetical Scripture And we must not imagine that the Prophets writ like the Poets feigned an Idea of a Romantick state that never was nor ever will be only to please their own fancies or the credulous people Neither is it the state of Heaven and eternal life that is here meant or intended For besides that they had little or no light concerning those Notions in the Old Testament The Prophets generally in their description of this happiness either express the Earth or at
least give plain marks of a Terrestrial state Wherefore the only question that remains is this Whether these happy Days are past already or to come Whether this blessed state of the Church is behind us or before us whether our Predecessors have enjoy'd it or our posterity is to expect it For we are very sure that it is not present The World is full of Wars and rumours of Wars of Vice and Knavery of Oppression and Persecution and these are things directly contrary to the genius and characters of the state which we look after And if we look for it in times past we can go no further back than the beginning of Christianity For S. Iohn the last of the Apostles Prophesied of these times as to come and plac'd them at the end of his systeme of Prophecies whereby one might conclude that they are not only within the compass of the Christian ages but far advanc'd into them But however not to insist upon that at present where will you find a thousand years from the birth of Christianity to this present age that deserves the name or answers to the characters of this Pure and Pacifick state of the Church The first ages of Christianity as they were the most pure so likewise were they the least peaceable Continually more or less under the Persecution of the Heathen Emperours and so far from being the Reign and Empire of Christ and his Saints over the Nations that Christians were then every where in subjection or slavery A poor feeble helpless people thrust into Prisons or thrown to the Lyons at the pleasure of their Princes or Rulers 'T is true when the Empire became Christian under Constantine in the fourth Century there was for a time peace and prosperity in the Church and a good degree of Purity and Piety But that peace was soon disturb'd and that piety soon corrupted The growing pride and ambition of the Ecclesiasticks and their easiness to admit or introduce Superstitious Practices destroy'd the purity of the Church And as to the peace of it Their contests about Opinions and Doctrines tore the Christians themselves into pieces and soon after an inundation of Barbarous People fell into Christendom and put it all into flames and confusion After this Eruption of the Northern Nations Mahometanism rose in the East and swarms of Saracens like armies of Locusts invaded conquer'd and planted their Religion in several parts of the Roman Empire and of the Christianiz'd World And can we call such times the Reign of Christ or the imprisonment of Satan In the following ages the Turks over-run the Eastern Empire and the Greek Church and still hold that miserable people in slavery Providence seems to have so order'd affairs that the Christian World should never be without a WOE upon it lest it should fansie it self already in those happy days of Peace and Prosperity which are reserv'd for future times Lastly whosoever is sensible of the corruptions and persecutions of the Church of Rome since she came to her greatness whosoever allows her to be mystical Babylon which must fall before the Kingdom of Christ comes on will think that Kingdom duly plac'd by S. Iohn at the end of his Prophecies concerning the Christian Church and that there still remains according to the words of St. Paul Hebr. 4. 9. a Sabbatism to the people of God CHAP. VI. The sence and testimony of the Primitive Church concerning the Millennium or future Kingdom of Christ from the times of the Apostles to the Nicene Council The second Proposition laid down When by what means and for what reasons that doctrine was afterwards neglected or discountenanc'd YOU have heard the voice of the Prophets and Apostles declaring the future Kingdom of Christ. Next to these the Primitive Fathers are accounted of good authority Let us therefore now enquire into their Sence concerning this Doctrine that we may give satisfaction to all parties And both those that are guided by Scripture alone and those that have a Veneration for Antiquity may find proofs suitable â—o their inclinations and judgment And to make few words of it we will lay down this Conclusion That the Millennial Kingdom of Christ was the general Doctrine of the Primitive Church from the times of the Apostles to the Nicene Council inclusively S. Iohn out-liv'd all the rest of the Apostles and towards the latter end of his life being banish'd into the Isle of Pathmos he writ his Apocalypse wherein he hath given us a more full and distinct account of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ than any of the Prophets or Apostles before him Papias Bishop of Hierapolis and Martyr one of S. Iâ—hn's Auditoâ—s as Irenaeus testifies taught the same Doctrine after S. Iohn He was the familiar friend of Polycarp another of S. Iohn's Disciples and either from him or immediately from S. Iohn's mouth he might receive this Doctrine That he taught it in the Church is agreed on by all hands both by those that are his followers as Irenaeus and those that are not well-wishers to this Doctrine as Eâ—sebius and Ierome There is also another chanel wherein this Doctrine is Traditionally deriv'd from S. Iohn namely by the Clergy of Asia as Irenaeus tells us in the same Chapter For arguing the point he shows that the Blessing promis'd to Iacob from his Father Isaac was not made good to him in this life and therefore he says without doubt those words had a further aim and prospect upon the times of the Kingdom so they us'd to call the Millennial state when the Iust rising from the dead shall reign and when Nature renew'd and set at liberty shall yield plenty and abundance of all things being blest with the dew of Heaven and a great fertility of the Earth According as has been related by those Ecclesiasticks or Clergy who sce. St. John the Disciple of Christ and heard of him WHAT OUR LORD HAD TAUGHT CONCERNING THOSE TIMES This you see goes to the Fountain-head The Christian Clergy receive it from St. Iohn and St. Iohn relates it from the mouth of our Saviour So much for the Original authority of this Doctrine as a Tradition that it was from St. Iohn and by him from Christ. And as to the propagation and prevailing of it in the Primitive Church we can bring a witness beyond all exception Iustin Martyr Contemporary with Irenaeus and his Senior He says that himself and all the Orthodox Christians of his time did acknowledge the Resurrection of the flesh suppose the first Resurrection and a thousand years reign in Ierusalem restor'd or in the New Jerusalem According as the Prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and Others attest with common consent As St. Peter had said before Act. 3. 21. That all the Prophets had spoken of it Then he quotes the 65th Chapter of Isaiah which is a bulwark for this Doctrine that never can be broken And to shew the Iew with whom he had this discourse that it was the sence
about empty and useless in the wild Air. If you will not make it the seat and habitation of the Just in the blessed Millennium what will you make it How will it turn to account What hath Providence design'd it for We must not suppose New Worlds made without counsel or design And as on the one hand you cannot tell what to do with this New Creation if it be not thus employ'd so on the other hand it is every way fitted and suited to be an happy and Paradisiacal habitation and answers all the natural Characters of the Millennial state which is a great presumption that it is design'd for it But to argue this more closely upon Scripture-grounds S. Peter says the Righteous shall inhabit the New Heavens and the New Earth 2. Pet. 3. 13. Nevertheless according to his promise we look for New Heavens and New Earth WHEREIN DWELLETH RIGHTEOUSNESS that is a Righteous People as we have shewn before But who are these Righteous People That 's the great question If you compare S. Peter's New Heavens and New Earth with S. Iohn's Apoc. 21. 1 2. it will go far towards the resolution of this question For S. Iohn seems plainly to make the Inhabitants of the New Ierusalem to be in this New Earth I saw says he New Heavens and a New Earth and the New Ierusalem descending from God out of Heaven therefore descending into this New Earth which he had mention'd immediately before And there the Tabernacle of God was with men ver 3. and there He that sat upon the Throne said Behold I make all things New Referring still to this New Heavens and New Earth as the Theatre where all these things are acted or all these Scenes exhibited from the first Verse to the eighth Now the New Jerusalem state being the same with the Millennial if the one be in the New Heavens and New Earth the other is there also And this interpretation of S. Iohn's word is confirm'd and fully assur'd to us by the Prophet Isaiah who also placeth the joy and rejoycing of the New Ierusalem in the New Heavens and New Earth Chap. 65. 17 18. For behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth and the former shall not be remembred but be you glad and rejoyce for ever in that which I create for behold I create Ierusalem a rejoycing and her people a joy Namely in that New Heavens and New Earth Which answers to S. Iohn's Vision of the New Ierusalem being let down upon the New Earth To these Reasons and deductions from Scripture we might add the testimony of several of the Fathers I mean of those that were Millenaries For we are speaking now to such as believe the Millennium but place it in the present Earth before the Renovation whereas the ancient Millenaries suppos'd the regeneration and renovation of the World before the Kingdom of Christ came As you may see in Irenaeus Iustin Martyr Tertullian Lactantius and the Author ad Orthodoxos And the neglect of this I look upon as one reason as we noted before that brought that doctrine into discredit and decay For when they plac'd the Kingdom of the Saints upon this Earth it becâ—me more capable of being abus'd by fanatical spirits to the disturbance of the World and the invasion of the rights of the Magistrate Civil or Ecclesiastical under that notion of Saints And made them also dream of sensual pleasures such as they see in this life Or at least gave an occasion and opportunity to those that had a mind to make the doctrine odious of charging it with these consequences All these abuses are cut off and these scandals prevented by placing the Millennium aright Namely not in this present Life or on this present Earth but in the New Creation where Peace and Righteousness will dwell And this is our first Argument why we place the Millennium in the New Heavens and New Earth and 't is taken partly you see from the reason of the thing it self the difficulty of assigning any other use of the New Earth and its fitness for this and partly from Scripture-evidence and partly from Antiquity The second argument for our opinion is this The present constitution of Nature will not bear that happiness that is promis'd in the Millennium or is not consistent with it The diseases of our Bodies the disorders of our Passions the incommodiousness of external Nature Indigency servility and the unpeaceableness of the World These are things inconsistent with the happiness that is promis'd in the Kingdom of Christ. But these are constant attendants upon this Life and inseparable from the present state of Nature Suppose the Millennium was to begin Nine or Ten Years hence as some pretend it will How shall this World all on a sudden be metamorphos'd into that happy state No more sorrow nor crying nor pain nor death says S. Iohn All former things are past away But how past away Shall we not have the same Bodies and the same external Nature and the same corruptions of the Air and the same excesses and intemperature of Seasons Will there not be the same baâ—â—enness of the ground the same number of People to be fed and must they not get their living by the sweat of their brows with servile labour and drudgery How then are all former evils past away And as to publick affairs while there are the same necessities of humane Life and a distinction of Nations those Nations sometimes will have contrary interests will clash and interfere one with another whence differences and contests and Wars will arise and the Thousand Years Truce I am afraid will be often broken We might add also that if our Bodies be not chang'd we shall be subject to the same appetites and the same passions and upon those vices will grow as bad fruit upon a bad Tree To conclude so long as our Bodies are the same external Nature the same The necessities of humane Life the same which things are the roots of evil you may call it a Millennium or what you please but there will be still diseases vices wars tears and cries pain and sorrow in this Millenuium and if so 't is a Millennium of your own making for that which the Prophets describe is quite another thing Furthermore if you suppose the Millennium will be upon this Earth and begin it may be ten or twenty years hence How will it be introduc'd how shall we know when we are in it or when we enter upon it If we continue the same and all Nature continue the same we shall not discern when we slip into the Millennium And as to the Moral state of it shall we all on a sudden become Kings and Priests to God wherein will that change consist and how will it be wrought St. Iohn makes the First Resurrection introduce the Millennium and that 's a conspicuous mark and boundary But as to the modern or vulgar Millennium I know
Old Testament As to the Apocalypse Babylon the seat of Antichrist is represented there as destroy'd by Fire Chap. 18. 8 18. Chap. 14. 11. Chap. 19. 3 20. And in Daniel when the Beast is destroy'd Chap. 7. 11. His body was given to the burning flame Then as to the other Prophets they do not you know speak of Antichrist or the Beast in terms but under the Types of Babylon Tyre and such like and these places or Princes are represented by them as to be destroy'd by fire Isa. 13. 19. Ier. 51. 25. Ezek. 28. 18. So much for this third Argument The fourth Argument is this The Future Kingdom of Christ will not be till the day of Judgment and the Resurrection But that will not be till the end of the World Therefore neither the Kingdom of Christ. By the day of Judgment here I do not mean the final and universal Judgment Nor by the Resurrection the final and universal Resurrection for these will not be till after the Millennium But we understand here the first day of Judgment and the first Resurrection which will be at the end of this present World according as S. Iohn does distinguish them in the 20th Chap. of the Apocalypse Now that the Millennium will not be till the day of Judgment in this sence we have both the Testimonies of Daniel and of S. Iohn Daniel in the 7th Chap. supposes the Beast to rule till judgment shall sit and then they shall take away his dominion and it shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High S. Iohn makes an explicite declaration of both these in his 20th Chap. of the Apocalypse which is the great Directory in this point of the Millennium He says there were Thrones set as for a Judicature Then there was a Resurrection from the Dead and those that rise reigned with Christ a Thousand years Here 's a Judicial Session a Resurrection and the reign of Christ joyned together There is also another passage in S. Iohn that joyns the judgment of the Dead with the Kingdom of Christ. 'T is in the 11th Chap. under the seventh Trumpet The words are these ver 15. And the seventh Angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven saying the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever And the four and twenty Elders c. And the nations were angry and thy wrath is come and the time of the Dead that they should be judged and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the Prophets and to the Saints and them that fear thy name Here are two things plainly express'd and link'd together The judging of the Dead and the Kingdom of Christ wherein the Prophets and Saints are rewarded Now as the judging of the Dead is not in this life so neither is the reward of the Prophets and Saints in this life as we are taught sufficiently in the Gospel and by the Apostles Mat. 19. 28. 1 Thess. 1. 7. 2 Tim. 4. 8. 1 Pet. 1. 7. and Ch. 5. 4. Therefore the Reign and Kingdom of Christ which is joyned with these two cannot be in this life or before the end of the world And as a further testimony and confirmation of this we may observe that S. Paul to Timothy hath joyn'd together these three things The appearance of Christ the Reign of Christ and the judging of the Dead I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Iesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom 2 Tim. 4. 1. This might also be prov'd from the order extent and progress of the Prophecies of the Apocalypse whereof some are such as reach to the end of the World and yet must be accomplish'd before the Millennium begin as the Vials Others are so far already advanc'd towards the end of the World as to leave no room for a thousand years reign as the Trumpets But because every one hath his own interpretation of these Prophecies and it would be tedious here to prove any single Hypothesis in contradistinction to all the rest we will therefore leave this remark to have more or less effect according to the minds it falls upon And proceed to our fifth Argument Fifthly The Ierusalem-state is the same with the Millennial state But the New Ierusalem state will not be till the end of the World or till after the Conflagration Therefore neither the Millennium That the Ierusalem-state is the same with the Millennium is agreed upon I think by all Millenaries Ancient and Modern Iustin Martyr Irenaeus and Tertullian speak of it in that sence and so do the later Authors so far as I have observ'd And St. Iohn seems to give them good authority for it In the 20th Chap. of the Apocalypse he says the Camp of the Saints and the Beloved City were besieg'd by Satan and his Gigantick crew at the end of the Millennium That Beloved City is the New Ierusalem and you see it is the same with the Camp of the Saints or at least contemporary with it Besides the Marriage of the Lamb was in or at the appearance of the New Jerusalem for that was the Spouse of the Lamb Apoc. 21. 2. Now this Spouse was ready and this Marriage was said to be come at the destruction of Babylon which was the beginning of the Millennium Chap. 18. 7. Therefore the New Jerusalem run all along with the Millennium and was indeed the same thing under another name Lastly What is this New Jerusalem if it be not the same with the Millennial state It is promis'd as a reward to the sufferers for Christ Apoc. 3. 12. and you see its wonderful priviledges Ch. 21. 3 4. and yet it is not Heaven and eternal Life for it is said to come down from God out of Heaven Ch. 21. 2. and Ch. 3. 12. It can therefore be nothing but the glorious Kingdom of Christ upon Earth where the Saints shall reign with him a Thousand Years Now as to the second part of our Argument that the New Jerusalem will not come down from Heaven till the end of the World of this S. Iohn seems to give us a plain proof or demonstration for he places the New Jerusalem in the New Heavens and New Earth which cannot be till after the Conflagration Let us hear his words Apoc. 21. 1 2. And I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea And I Iohn saw the Holy City New Ierusalem coming down from God out of Heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband When the New Earth was made he sees the New Jerusalem coming down upon it and this Renovation of the Earth not being till the Conflagration The New Jerusalem could not be till then neither The Prophet Isaiah had long before said the same thing though not in