not a part of a Kingdome onely and doubtlesse he must reign over al that he delivers up Yea although you here make Christ to reign only over a part of his Fathers Kingdome and say also That the arch-traytour gain-stands in malice to the honour of the King and his Sonne that Satan still opposeth by deceiving some and vexing others yet you say pag. 7. That Christ is great over all the world seeing all the Gentiles doe prayse him and all people laud him And pag. 52. That be hath made all Kingdomes of the world acknowledge his authority and hath put downe all contrary power and authority c. And pag. 58. That now is no Kingdome but our Lords and his Christs And pag. 40. That his enemies are made subject to him even his greatest enemies So contrary are you to the truth and to your selfe Sixthly and lastly you tell us That at the delivering up of our Saviours Kingdome the Father will not say Thy reward is not in he even therefore let them goe againe into the earth and inherit glory for a 1000 yeares And doubtlesse he will not For when our Saviour shall give up his Kingdome to the Father his owne Kingdome on earth shall be fulfilled And we say that his Kingdome is to beginne at his appearing when none but the Saints then departed shall rise and not at the last judgement when all others shall rise as you to delude the reader doe purposely misunderstand us And so your pretended explication of the whole matter is indeede no other but an intended implication of a plaine truth Israel's Redemption Of this Kingdome also speakes Saint Peter in Acts 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sinnes may be blotted out when the o 1 Pet. 1.13 times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and be shall send Jesus Christ which was before preacht unto you p Luke 19 11 12. c. whom the heavens must receive untill the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy q Rev. 10.7 prophets since the world began where if by the times of refreshing and times of restitution of all things nothing else can be meant but the Jewes inhabiting againe of their owne land and the bringing of all other Nations into subjection to them with which a blessed and wonderfull change of the creatures shall concurre then it is evident that when Christ comes at this time he shall accomplish this thing to Israel and consequently receive his appointed Kingdome but that these words can have no other meaning a small acquaintance with the Prophets will informe you who as they speake of nothing more so they have nothing which can be applyed to our Saviours second comming as a comfortable effect so generally foreshewne but this Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. I am sure no man can imagine that these words in themselves import that our Saviour shall reigne among the Jewes as an earthly Monarch which is the point pag. 45. And therefore this if by the time c. is as if one would say If I be a King I am a King 2. That the Prophets have another meaning may be seen by all interpreters and partly by that is said here 3. It is wonder if any Jew will say that the Prophets speake of nothing more for if his meaning be They speake not more of any other thing it is quâ—stionable seeing there is much spoken of Gods precepts But if he doe meane as it seemes that they speake not of any other thing that can be applyed unto our Saviours comming I will cite one Prophet for all Dâ—n 2.1 2. Where is mention of the great Prince of great trouble even to the time of deliverance and then awaking of some not for a space of time but to everlasting life and of others at the same time unto shame and everlasting contempt And is not this a more comfortable effect foreshewne generally unto every one that shall be written in the booke Now the cause why the Prophets write so much of Jerusalem and that Kingdom to be restored was That the godly hearing of the destruction of that Kingdome did greatly feare that that Common-wealth should never be restored wherein Christ our Saviour was to be borne and performe the worke of redemption we may justly thinke that their feare was not so much the want of bodily liberty as the not comming of our Saviour and therfore the Prophets insist much upon that point for the comfort of the godly that howsoever that Kingdome shall be ruined yet it shall be restored and all Nations shall by the preaching of Jewes come into the obedience of Christ and so receive lawes from the Jewes as being captives unto them whose captives they might be for a time But to imagine that the faithfull did expect and the Prophets did speake of no other thing but this earthly Monarchy is too grosse and directly contradicting the Apostles bearing another testimony of them Heb. 11.16 They desire a better countrey that is heaven And 1 Pet. 1.9 10. Receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your soules Of which salvation the Prophets have enquired and searched diligently who prophecied of the grace the should came unto you c. Reply 1. If these words in themselves import not that our Saviour shall reigne among the Jewes as a Monarch on earth yet compared with the prophecies to which they doe direct us for an explanation of the times of refreshing and times of restitution of all things they doe certainely import as much And this forme If by the times of refreshing and times of restitution c. the Jewes restoring to and prosperity in their land must needes be meant then it is evident that when he comes at these times he shall accomplish this unto Israel is not to prove idem per idem the same thing by the same thing as you untruely affirme But this forme If by the times of refreshing c. the Jewes restoring to and prosperity in their land be meant then by the times of refreshing c. the Iewes restoring to and prosperity in their land is meant And your silence touching the meaning of the times of refreshing and the times of restitution of all things doth manifest that you did thus traduce the forme of this argument onely because you could not gainsay the evidence fit 2. You say pag. 23. T at a linterpreters except a few Millenaries have expounded the prophecies touching the Jewes future prosperity in their owne land of the Jewes onely And you say here That all without exception have said that the Prophets have another meaning But surely we have shewed that such interpreters cannot prove what they say Yea seeing it is evident by Saint Peters words here That our Saviour shall not come againe till the times of refreshing c. and that it is as evident by the writings of the Prophets to which the
restauration of the captivated Soveraignty of the Jewes as the text it selfe doth informe us These are the parts yet because it would be impertinent in this businesse to speake any thing of the persons but onely as their joynt authority may help somewhat to justifie the truth of this proposall I shall omitting this division onely glance at them in the ensuing confirmation of the subject Which comprehends in it these two assertions First That the Kingdom of the Jewes shall againe be restored unto them Secondly That our Saviour at his comming shall restore it Mr. Petrie's Answer The Querie comprehends neither of the two because as I said it affirms nothing And the asked matter comprehends them not Not the first because it is of the Kingdom of Israel and not of the Jewes and as all are not Israelites who are of Israel Rom. 9.6 so neither are they all Israelites or the children of God who are of Israel according to the flesh but the children of the promise are counted for the seed therefore the Kingdom of Israel mentioned there may he another then the Kingdom of the Jewes Neither is the other assertion comprehended in the question because it askes not of his second or third comming but of now wilt thou now restore the Kingdom Reply The Querie comprehended both because both are intimated in the Querie and doe necessarily follow from the Querie And you have not shewed us any Querie that affirms nothing nor in what sense this Querie doth affirme nothing In the asked matter there is the Kingdom to be restored and from hence proceeds the first assertion And the person that should restore it and from hence proceeds the second assertion But the first is not here comprehended you say because the Querie is of the Kingdom of Israel and not of the Jewes as if the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of the Jewes were not to be understood of the same people No say you For all are not Israelites who are of Israel Rom. 9.6 a worthy reason for it is as if you should say by the Kingdom of Israel cannot be meant the Kingdom of the Jewes because all that are Israelites by birth are not elect Israelites Israelites according to the flesh and according to faith also For this onely is the meaning of the text cited by you Rom. 9.6 and so proves not that the Kingdom in the text belongs to any other people language or nation but the Jewes of whom alone interpreters doe understand it And therefore you should have spoken out and told us plainly what the other Kingdom you speake of was For we know of no more but two besides this in Question betwixt us And these are commonly cal'd the Kingdom of grace by which is meant the Saints or Church on earth before Christs appearing And the Kingdom of glory by which is meant the Saints or Church in Heaven And that neither of these Kingdoms is meant in the text I prove thus Not the Kingdom of grace for at that time the Jewes themselves alone were this Kingdom and that could not be restored unto them which as yet they had not lost and not the Kingdom of glory for that likewise could not be restor'd which as yet they had not And none can imagine that the Apostles Querie is thus to be paraphrased Lord wilt thou at this time take all the faithfull up with thee into Heaven And therefore seeing it could not be meant of either of these Kingdoms it must be meant of the Kingdom of the Jewes on earth or of none Which is our first assertion And the other is comprehended here too For although the Querie askes not of his second comming but of now yet seeing Christ was to restore it and did it not while he was on earth it necessarily follows that he shall doe it at his descending againe to the earth Which is our second assertion and thus both are found in the text And besides if you take the word â— as all are not Israel who are of Israel in the Apostles meaning i. e. all not are not faithfull Israelites that are descended of Israel then it is an apparent tautology to add so neither are they all Israelites or the children of God that are of Israel according to the flesh and if you doe not take the Apostles words in this sense then it is notoriously false to say that all are not Israelites to wit by nation who are of Israel by birth And is it not a pretty inference All Israelites are not Israelites therefore the Kingdom of Israel there may be another then the Kingdom of the Jewes Surely you might as well have said therefore the Pope shall be St. Peters successour For this conclusion hath as much dependence on the anteceden as the other Israel's Redemption CHAP. I. Of the restoring of Jerusalem and the Jewes returne ANd first of the first That the Kingdom of the Jewes shall again be restor'd unto them For they asked of him saying Lord wilt thou at this time restore againe the Kingdom to Israel So evidently doe these words expresse an earthly Kingdom I meane onely a Kingdom to be held on earth that no expositor which I have met with doth deny it and therefore seeing they could not but imbrace the sense me thinks they should not so rashly have rejected the consequence And that for these reasons Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. Me thinkes you speake non-sense Many expositours expone these words otherwise seeke and you shall finde Secondly why may wee not thinke that the Apostles meaned as Simeon did Luk. 2.30 31 32. or as the repenting thief did Luke 23.42 or as Christ did verse 43. certainly these did not meane of an earthly Monarchy neither is there any word in this text shewing that they meaned otherwise Thirdly albeit no expositour would deny that the Apostles did understand an earthly Kingdom yet it followse not They thought so therefore it shall be so No more then it follows The Apostles did not for a time beleeve the calling of the Gentiles Act. 11.3 therefore the Gentiles are not called But the consequence hath reasons he saith whereof the first two are topicall and by way of probabilitie pag. 5. When the Authour saith The reasons are probable and I may say childish will any Christian change his faith for them certaine faith should have sure grounds lest the wind of tentation blow it away and therefore I might leave these probabilities as not worthy of reading or answer neverthelesse consider them Reply 1. Me thinks you might as wel have shewed the non-sense as said it was non-sense But many expositours you say expone these words otherwise This shews not that I have spoken non-sense in saying that I have met with no such But I doubt it shews that you speake an untruth which is worse then non-sense For you might as easisy have nam'd some of them as have said it and bid me looke them out And had there been any I
presume you would too seeing it is not likely that they would have brought an exposition different from that which was commonly received by others and have given no reason for it or one no better then a why may we not think so 2. If you thinke that these places here quoted be diversly interpreted as your disjunctive conjunction OR intimates and yet say why may not this Kingdom be taken as the thiefe meant or as Christ meant or as Simeon meant any one may perceive that you are altogether unresolved what sense to take it in but had rather take it in any sense then that we take it in And if you thinke that all these places have but one meaning as the last words of this part of your answer imply you should have shewed us what it had been For in our Saviour's and Simeon's words the word Kingdom is not found And the words which you take to be equivalent with it are diversly expounded Paradise in our Saviour's words is interpreted to be Heaven And salvation and Glory in Simeon's song doe signify Salutis et gloriae authorem the authour of glory and the authour of salvation to wit Christ himselfe So that if the Kingdom in the Apostles Querie be expounded either of these two waies it is all one as if they had said Lord wilt thou at this time restore Heaven to Israel or Lord wilt thou at this time restore thy selfe to Israel And as for the Kingdom the theife spake of we thanke you for mentioning of it And doe willingly grant that the Apostles understood it as he did But how was that surely as all other Jewes did of a Kingdom on earth and not in Heaven For his words in the original are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when thou commest in thy kingdome that is in thy Kingly power as it is Mat. 16. verse 27 28. for by those words the theife could not meane his ascension into Heaven as it is comonly expounded seeing he was wholly ignorant of it And therefore it must needs follow that he understood it of an earthly Kingdom which all Jewes expected and as it seemes by the Apostles Querie all beleeving Jewes thought should suddenly appeare after his resurrection But because it was not to be so therefore it was that our Saviour promised the theife the present happinesse of his soule in Heaven where it should remaine in his presence until at his comming in his Kingdom of which he had spoken he should bring it with him to be reunited to his glorified body and so according to his request he should in his whole manhood be made partaker of his Master 's glorious reigne on earth 3 You must give us leave to thinke that no expositour doth deny it until either we can find or you or others shew us such a one But it follows not you say the Apostles thought so therfore it shall be so But this follows therefore we must beleeve the Apostles before Mr. Petrie or any others who thinke it shall not be so Yea and this follows the Apostles thought so and our Saviour who knew their meaning reprehended them not for misunderstanding it therefore it shall be so And whereas you say that the Apostles for a time beleeved not the calling of the Gentiles and referre these words for a time to the time after our Saviours ascension it is not so For doubtlesse from the very time in which our Saviour said unto them Goe teach all Nations Mat. 28.19 they did beleeve it although perhaps they might not thinke that they should have been cald so soone yea if the words of St. James Acts 15. verse 14. should be meant of the song of old Simeon as you doe say page 26. there is no doubt but they knew it from the time they first heard of that prophecy Neither doth the text you quote speake of the Apostles doubting of it but of other beleeving Jews And therefore you have shewed your selfe very bold with the Apostles mistooke the ground of your argument and denyed what afterwards you confesse And lastly when the Authour doth take the Apostles words in that sense which interpreters doe give unto them and shews by reasons first and Scriptures afterwards that the Apostles did not out of any carnal minde or misconceit of our Saviours Kingdom utter this Querie and when that Mr. Petrie doth neither flatly affirme or deny any sense of the Apostles words nor give a reason worth the naming much lesse reading or answering against any of these reasons albeit but childish as he saith will any reader thinke that Mr. Petrie will prove a better guide to him herein then this Authour doubtlesse no man taking a journey will choose him for a guide that is in doubt which way to goe and no good Christian will be lesse carefull in his way to Heaven To the Law then and to the Testimony to the plaine word of God this is the sure ground of thy faith and therefore sticke to it for if men speake not according to this it is because there is no truth in them Isa 8.20 Israel's Redemption First because the Authours of this demand were not babes either in yeares or understanding but the Apostles themselves men who had followed f Mat. 4. v. 19. our Saviour from the very time that he manifested himselfe to the world by preaching and miracles and suffered not so much as a parable to escape their knowledge Men to whom h Act. 1.3 be had sbewed himselfe alive after his passion by many infallible proofes being seene of them forty daies and speaking to them of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God And yet that these men should now at their last conference with him be mistaken in a matter of such importance as this is which concerns the purpose of God touching the whole Nation of the Jewes is as I beleeve and as I thinke you will all say a thing altogether unlikely and and so it is too that all the Apostles should be of the same mind unlesse it had been a truth formerly taught and not as it is imagined an error then newly vented by them g Mat. 13. v. 36. Mar. 7.17 Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. It is unlikely they could be mistaken and therefore it is likely that they understood of the true Kingdom of Israel as Christ did 2. And neverthelesse seeing after the last conference they were mistaken in a matter of great evidence so many times foretold as the calling of the Gentiles it is not unlikely that before Christ's ascension they might been miscaried with that opinion of the Jewish Monarchy which was not a new opinion invented nor vented by the Apostles Reply 1. The question is not what Kingdom the Apostles meant in their Querie which Divines generally consent to be an earthly Kingdom But whether they did not erre in meaning thus So that this part of your answer having relation onely to what Kingdom they meant is nothing to the purpose and
wee have answered you in that already more then wee need have done unlesse you had named plainly what other Kingdom they spake of and stood to that onely 2. What you give with one hand you plucke backe with the other In the former part of this answer you say that it was likely the Apostles understood of the true Kingdom of Israel as Christ did and yet here you tell us that it was not unlikely that before Christ's ascension they might be miscaried with that opinion of the Jewish Monarchy What and yet when they askt the Question understand it too of the true Kingdom of Israel which you by opposing this part of your answer to the former doe take to be a different Kingdom from this surely it is a plaine contradiction for they could not understand it both waies at the same time And therefore impossible it was that they could and could not meane an earthly Kingdom when they askt the Question But Rome Tibur amas ventosus Tibure Romam you say and unsay because you know not what to say And as for the instance you bring to confirme this part of your answer to wit the Apostles not beleeving for a time the calling of the Gentiles it hath been already shewed to be false And if by the words as Christ did in the former part of this answer you meane his reply to the theife which you have quoted before it hath been shewed already too that it could not be meant of this Kingdom but if by these words you meane otherwise you should have told us what it was Israel's Redemption A second reason which makes me distast the censure here cast on our Apostles is because our Saviour's answer is alledged as a sufficient ground for it whereas it will appeare even to a weake judgement that by his answer the Apostles opinion is as much established as their curiosity is reprehended for they askt whether he would at that time restore againe the Kingdom to Israel To which he answered It is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in his owne power As if he should have said it is enough for you to know that such a thing shal be done and by whom but as for the time when it shall be done this the Father hath put in his owne power and therefore ought not to be enquired of by you nor to be reveal'd by me This is the whole meaning of the reply and now give you your verdict whether you finde the Apostles hereby condemned for holding of an untruth or rather for an over curious affection to acquaint themselves with the very day in which they should behold the glorious accomplishment of so great a blessing Mr. Petrie's Answer This cause is a mistaking as if the Question were granted for albeit they did meane so yet Christ's words have nothing of that point bâ—â— onely taxeth the disciples of their curiosity and therefore the paraphreâ— following in this reason is vaine Reply This cause is no mistaking for the Question must needs be granted and that even because Christ's words have nothing expressely of that point unlesse you will be so irreverent as to think that Christ who reprehended them onely for a curious desire to know when this thing should be would not much rather have reprehended them for misunderstanding of the thing it selfe if it should not have been Yea doubtlesse if it should not have been he could not have said It is not for you to know the times and the seasons Seeing that which shall never be can have no time noâ— season And thus while you grant that Christ did reprehend their curiosity in seeking to know the time when Israel should be restor'd and yet deny that he did therein grant Israel should be restor'd you make him say that there should be a time for thaâ— which should never be and so in effect put thely upon him So much have you over-shot you over-shot your selfe in denying that the subject in the Question is granted because our Saviour doth expresly say nothing of it And besides if the Question be an untruth and so nothing meant by it then what doth our Saviour's answer meane doth that meane nothing likewise you will not say it for you tell us that it taxed their curiosity and therefore surely it meant something for an answer that meanes nothing doth taxe nothing And therfore also the Apostles meant something that was true for that knowledge is not curious which thinks it knows something when it knows nothing or which knows the truth but that which would know more then it ought to know touching some truths And thus it appears that the paraphrase in this reason which you have cunningly conceal'd from the readers sight is not vaine but valid Israel's Redemption Another reason which makes for our Apostles is the answer our Saviour gave the sonnes of Zebedee when they besought him that one might sit on his right hand Mat. 20.21 22. ch 10.37 and the other on his left in his Kingdom or as Saint Marke paraphraseth it in his glory ye know not said he what ye aske this reproofe you will grant goes neerer to the quicke then that before used to the Apostles and yet if you marke what follows you shal find that the matter of their petition is allow'd of and onely the motives thereof condemned to wit their ambition in seeking the highest roome and their unadvisednesse in supposing that Christ could then give that to any which none could have but they for whom it was from all eternity prepared of his Father And therfore seeing this is all Mat. 20.23 that these two were rebuk't for by such a sharpe reply how can wee mistrust that more then this should be included in a milder answer Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. These two spake of Christ's Kingdom in his glory and therefore we may justly thinke that they meaned of his greatest glory or of his Kingdom of Heaven and not of an earthly Kingdom 2. If Christ in his answer had spoken of an earthly Kingdom how was it not in his power to choose his Princes in that Kingdom and seeing they were only taxed for their ambition and unadvisednesse concerning the glorioas Kingdom of Christ and the Apostles were taxed for their curiosity concerning the particular time of that Kingdom how shall we mistrust that they understood any other Kinngdom Reply 1. Not this reason nor any other was brought to shew what Kingdom the Apostles meant which interpreters grant to be an earthly Kingdom but to shew they did not thinke amisse in looking for such a Kingdom which is that that interpreters doe accuse them of and that because our Saviour gave them such an answer from which answer my foregoing reason doth shew that no such harsh conclusion doth arise seeing the Apostles are not excepted against by our Saviour for not rightly understanding that about which they askt but onely for seeking to know more
in it then is fitting they should know And this reason is alledg'd for the same purpose For whereas our Saviour gave a sharper answer here to the sonnes of Zebedee then he did to the Apostles and yet granted withall that the thing they spake for should be given to some it is altogether unlikely that where he used a milder reproofe he did therby deny that the thing which was askt should at any time be done especially seeing in both answers it was for the motives of their asking onely and not for the matter that they were reprehended And therefore you having not answered ought to the force of this reason but onely caught at that which was not intended I might well passe by all that you have thus impertinently spoken but yet I will say somewhat to it though not much First then I grant that these sonnes of Zebedee spake of Christ's glorious Kingdom and that the Apostles understood the same Kivgdom but I conclude not from hence as you doe that this Kingdom shall not be on earth which expositours say as well these as the Apostles did meane and that because Christ shall come in glory and reigne in glory as you may see Mat 16. verse 27 28. 2 Thess 1. verse 7 8 9 10. Heb. 1. verse 6. Jude 14 15. ver Rev. 11. verse 15. chap. 15. verse 4. Psal 72. Psal 102. verse 13. c. Isa 2. verse 2 3 4. Zech. 14. verse 4 5. c. But I thus conclude from hence against your answer to my former reason that seeing the Apostles meant the same Kingdom that these two did therefore they meant a Kingdom which should be and not a Kingdom which should not be 2. But if Christ in his answer had spoken of an earthly Kingdom how say you was it not in his power to choose his princes in that Kingdom And how doth it appeare that he spake rather of an earthly Kingdom then of one in Heaven if we say he had this power for why he should have this power on earth rather then in Heaven you cannot conceive And seeing you would have the reader take this for a currant argument from you to shew that Christ in his answer to these Zebedites did not speake of an earthly Kingdom to wit because he seemed to deny that he had power to choose his princes therein will you your selfe take it for a currant argument from us to shew that Christ did speake of an earthly Kingdom if he had power to choose his princes therein if you will not then you would have the reader to esteem better of your argument then you your selfe doe And if you will you must needs grant that you have herein argued against your selfe For whereas our Saviour said it is not mine to give he meant not that he had nothing to doe in the giving of it But this he meant that it was not his to give indifferently to any that should aske it as the words which you have omitted in this reason doe shew for he could give it to none but those to whom the Father had eternally appointed it to be given and to them he could and should give it For the Father giveth it by the sonne in the temporal accomplishment of it and the Sonne giveth it from the Father according to the eternall appointment of it as the text it selfe in the original clearly shews For it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not mine to give but to them for whom it is prepared of my Father Israel's Redemption Thus farre wee have argued topically by way of probability But that which seemes to me clearly to quit our Apostles from error though not from oblivion from error I say in the subject though not in cercumstance in the thing demanaded though not in the season of it's performance is because I finde my text to be a lesson read to them by our Saviour before his passion For speaking of the destruction of the Jewes They shall fall said he by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all Nations and Hierusalem shall be trodden downe of the Gentiles untill the times of the Gentiles be fullfild Luke 21. at the 24. verse and at the 28. 1 Isa 32.15 Act. 3.21 verse having before shewne what signes should immediately foregoe his appearing he left them this Cordiall when these things begin to come to passe then looke up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh Behold here Beloved the casting away of God's people for a time which wee see at this day verified and their receiving againe for-ever which shall as certainly come to passe plainly foretold The Redemption I say not onely of their soules from the bondage of sinne to the favor of God by the profession of the Gospel but consequently of their bodies too from their generall captivity to the repossessing of their countrey by a miraculous deliverance For if no more should be meant by the word Redemption but the meere conversion of the Jews in those places where now they live it cannot be conceived why this action should be accompanied with such wonderfull tokens and perplexity of all other nations as is here mentioned unlesse we shall admit no space of time betwixt this conversion and that instant in which our Saviour shall give sentence on the dead which I suppose few or none will yeeld to And if you seriously consider the evidence of the prophets I am confident you will confesse That a most righteous and flourishing estate of the Jewes in their owne land must of necessity distinguish the time of their calling and the worlds dissolution at the last judgement Mr. Petrie's Answer Who being right in his wit will learne of one word Redemption that the Jewes shall have an earthly Kingdom over all nations Our Saviour is not speaking there of an earthly Kingdom nor of the conversion of the Jewes but as he speaks and expones himselfe verse 31. Know ye that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand and this is a matter of greater encouragement then any earthly Kingdom can be unto spirituall minded persons and therefore when they wrestle against the understanding of the Jewes conversion in these words they fight against their owne fancies Now if they cannot finde clearer texts in the new Testament for this earthly Monarchy every understang Christian will reject the misapplying of the prophets seeing every ground of faith is revealed more clearly in the new Testament then in the Old Neverthelesse let us heare the particular proofes Reply Who that enjoyes the benefit of understanding will not find how grosly you abuse the Author and dissemble with the Reader when purposely overpassing the main ground here alledged for the earthly kingdom of the Jews you make as though there were no other light for it but in this one word Redemption which hath in it self none but a borrowed light to wit as it hath reference to the words in the 21. verse
understood 3. The 25. ver may be more easily understood in the spiritual then earthly sense to wit the land that I have given unto Jacob and they shall dwel therein for ever and my servant shall be their Prince for ever for that land was not given unto Jacob neither doe the Millenaries say that the Jews shall dwel for ever in Jerusalem but for a 1000 yeares and then Christ's Kingdom shall cease But expone that one word land typically for the thing typified thereby and all the other words goe currently even to the end of the chap. as we see the Apostle expones the 27. ver of the Corinthians as a part of these people 2. Cor. 6.16 Now seeing certainly Christ is the King and Shepherd and the people are the Jewes and Gentiles who were strangely divided but now are one Church by faith in Christ therefore the people of Israel and Ephraim who after the division were alwaies idolatrous may well be exponed typically for the Gentiles and so the union is easily understood which otherwise very hardly or scarcely can be conceived seeing now through many ages Ephraimites are not knowne in any part of the earth As for that text of Hosea it is exponed of the Gentiles Rom. 9.25.26 and therefore the Prophet changeth the word Israel into Jezreel that is the seed of God signifying that the time wherein the Lord shall gather his seed or the faithfull in all Nations from the bondage of the Devil shall be very great and wonderful to all the world Reply 1. Surely your further clearing is no other then a further clouding as the very reading of this prophecy and that which our Saviour hath said Joh. 10. ver 14 and 16. is of it selfe sufficient to discover For Ezek. speaks of uniting the Jews together under one King in their owne land and our Saviour speaks of uniting the Jews and Gentiles into one Church after a certaine number of elect Gentiles should be cald Other sheepe saith he I have which are not of this fold that is other elect servants which are not of this Nation them also I must bring and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd Where it is to be noted by the words them also I must bring that he speaks onely of such elect Gentiles as were to be cald before the Jews and Gentiles should make one sheepfold and not after they were one sheepfold For when they are all brought then it is that there shall be one sheepfold and not while they are bringing No the words of our Saviour Mat. 21. at the 43. ver will not admit of such a meaning for The Kingdom of God saith he shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruit thereof Whereby it is evident that the Other sheepe he speaks of in the 10 chap. of St. Iohn should be brought to the faith when the Nation of the Iewes should be deprived of the meanes of salvation and consequently when it could not possibly be one Church And therefore in saying that the Iewes and Gentiles are at this time one sheepfold you contradict our Saviour and affirme that the Iewes are now saved without the ordinary meanes of salvation For this they have not but shall have it when the time comes in which the Jews and Gentiles shall be one sheepfold And then also the Jews shall be one Kingdom agane in their owne land and Christ shall reigne over both Jews and Gentiles together And thus our Saviour's words doe neither expound Ezek. prophecy nor shew that the Jews and Gentiles are now one sheepfold But rather point out the time when Ezek. prophecy shal be fulfilled to wit when the Jews and Gentiles shal be one fold under one Shepheard So much have you mist your aime in alledging these propheticall words of Christ 2. The words David King and Shepheard will no more prove that the temporal prophecies or temporal part of the prophecies in which they are used are to be spiritually and figuratively understood then Gods words to David Thou shalt feed my people Israel 2 Sam. 5. ver 2. will prove that David's Kingdom was not a temporal Kingdom nor he a temporal King Or then David's owne words of his people But these sheep what have they done will prove that the whole Kingdom of the Jews were all faithfull persons 3. Being conscious that all which you have said before to make men take these prophecies in a mysticall sense will nought availe you if the word land in the prophecies should be properly understood of the land of Canaan you now endeavour to perswade them to take this figuratively also and your first reason to induce them to it is like to that by which Jereboam dissuaded the Israelites from going up to Jerusalem because it may be more easily understood you say in the spiritual then an earthly sense But what is that spiritual sense which may so easily be understood and yet was so hard to be described that you could not tell us what it was But sure I am that God hath told us by the Prophet what land he minds to joyne the Tribes together in even in their owne land ver 21. in the land upon the mountaines of Israel ver 22. in the land that he gave unto Jacob his servant ver 25. which circumstances doe infallibly manifest that it can be meant of no otherland or place but Judea And therefore the second reason you bring to shew that it is best to take the word land spiritually is both false and impious For that land you say was not given to Jacob. No did not God say to Jacob in a dreame The land whereon thou liest to thee will I give it and to thy seed c. Gen. 28.13 and hath he not said here in this prophecy the land that I gave unto Jacob my servant no marvel thâ—n that you can so lightly reject all the plaine texts of Scripture that speake for us when as you dare thus affront God himselfe and tell him to his face that he did not doe that which he saith he did doe Neither will the words for ever in the text any whit excuse you seeing the Lord saith plainly that he gave That land to Jacob of which he saith that they and their children and their childrens children should dwell in it for ever And yet the very next words wherein your Fathers have dwelt doe put it out of doubt that it is meant of Judea and consequently the dwelling of their childrens children in it for ever is to be understood of their dwelling in it successively and the word for ever is to be taken finitely for a long time to wit as long as men shall succeed each other on the Earth as it is in many other places of Scripture and not infinitely for time without end And whereas you say that St. Paul in the 2 Cor. 6.16 expounds the 27. verse of this Prophecie of the Corinthians as a part of the People
the world * These first words may not unfitly be referr'd also to the time of the Saints reigne on earth for it is their priviledge at their entrance into their Kingdome and throughout the whole space of their reigne to judge the world that is all Nations of the Gentiles with the Judgement of Government and Reformation with the exercise of a Civill and temporall power over them as in the Prophecies of the Gentiles subjection unto them it may plainely be seene And it is their priviledge at the last resurrection to judge the world and the Devill that is all evill as well Angels as men by a joynt approbation of their finall and perfect condemnation of the full accomplishment I say of their eternall reprobation that is the wicked men that have been their oppressours and judge the Angels that is the evill spirits that have been their tempters and therefore shall not be thrust downe to the barre amongst them but advanced to the bench against them an addition doubtlesse to their former happinesse and no abatement of it Mr Petrie's Answer Some word of Isaiah 35.10 must be taken in another then the proper signification for if the word Sion be not taken for the Christian Church but for that hill within Jerusalem and the word Returne be meaned of bodily returning of the Jewes the words everlasting joy being taken for worldly joy contradicts the tenet of the thousand yeares Monarchy which shall end with an insurrection of the Gentiles against the Jewes but if the redeemed of the Lord be exponed for the faithfull whom Christ our Lord hath redeemed with his bloud and their returning and comming to Sion be their repenting and joyning to the society of the Saints then the everlasting joy is cleare by the words of our Saviour John 16.22 Ye now have sorrow but I will see you againe and your heart shall rejoyce and your joy shall no man take from you And as the Judgement is unquestionable so it is justly doubted whether the Apostle meaneth the Jewes 1 Cor. 2.3 seeing our Saviour saith Matth. 19.28 Ye who have followed me in the regeneration when the Sonne of man shall sit on the Throne of his glory shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel where the twelve Tribes are not Judges but judged But certainly he meaneth not of their judging in the temporall Monarchy seeing the Angels shall not be judged before the universall Judgement And the Apostle saith how much more things appertaining unto this life whereby it appeares that in the first part of the verse he understands a Judgement not in this life And in both respects these words of the Apostle are a diminution doubtlesse unto that imagined Monarchy Reply Without doubt if the Reader will take all to be true that you say he shall never finde you in an errour But if you have no better reason to prove that the words Sion and Returne must be taken in another then a proper signification but because you conceit that the words everlasting joy cannot consist with the insurrection of the Nations at the expiration of the thousand yeares you doe but deceive your selfe with this reason For though the thousand yeares peacefull reigne shall be terminated by the Gentiles insurrection at the loosing againe of Satan yet the joy of the Jewes here reveal'd is not limited by it For we read indeed of the surrounding of the Saints by the Nations Rev. 20. ver 9. but we read not there of any feare in them or hurt done unto them yea wee read onely of the finall overthrow of their enemies And whereas the better to countenance your Argument you call the everlasting joy here a worldly joy I pray what reason moves you to imagine that the joy promised by God to the converted Jewes whom he calls his elect and whom others he saith shall call the holy people and the seed which the Lord hath blessed should rather be a worldly joy then such a joy as our Saviour promised his Disciples John 16. ver 22. Is it because the Jewes are to be Inhabitants on the earth after they receive this everlasting joy and were not the Disciples Inhabitants of a more sinfull world then these Jewes shall be when they were made partakers of the joy which no man could take from them This reason then cannot prove your Epithite to belong rather to the joy of the Jewes then to the joy of the Apostles and yet unlesse this be the reason of your calling it a worldly joy I cannot conceive why you should thinke that after the Jewes are so plentifully inspir'd with the Spirit of God as the Prophets doe foreshew they shall be their joy should not be as spirituall and inseparable as the Apostles was And although it be unquestionable from the passage of St. Paul in the 1 Cor. chap. 6. ver 3. that the Judgement of all evill as well Angels as men is at the last resurrection to be passed on them by the joynt-approbation of the whole number of the elect yet seeing it is not unlikely that by the world ver 2. the Apostle meanes rather the Nations of the Gentiles in the time of Christs reigne on earth then the number of the reprobate at the generall Judgement of the dead it may justly be doubted whether by the word Saints in that place also the Nation of the Jewes be not comprehended with the faithfull which our Saviour shall bring with him as well as in the 20. chap. of the Rev. where it is foreshewed that the Nations of the foure quarters of the earth shall be gathered together against the Saints at the end of the thousand yeares And the words of our Saviour to his Disciples Matth. 19. ver 28. Ye who have followed mee in the regeneration when the Sonne of man shall sit on the Throne of his glory shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel doe help to confirme and not to confute the Government of the Gentiles by the Jewes For as the Apostles shall be made the supreme Governours of their owne Nation under our Saviour so doubtlesse shall other glorified Saints both of the Jewes and Gentiles be chiefe Governours under our Saviour over other Nations according as it is satd Rev. 5. ver 10. and chap. 20. ver 4. and as the parable Luke the 19. of the Noble-mans distributing of ten Cities to one servant and five to another doth imply for who is that Noble-man which is gone into a farre Countrey to receive for himselfe a Kingdome and to returne but our Saviour whom the Heavens must receive untill the times of restitution of all thing c. Act. 3. ver 21. who also spake that Parable because he was nigh unto Jerusalem and because the Jewes erroneously thought that the Kingdome of God should immediately appeare should be set up then at his first comming And as the glorified Saints shall be chiefe Judges under Christ so wee may well thinke
g Rev. 11.15.17 then shall Christ sit in his own Throne and they that overcome shall sit with him For he that overe meth and keepeth my words unto the end to him saith he will I give power over Nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of a Potter shall they be broken to shivers even as I rrceived of my Father Rev. 2.26 Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. The force of this reason is Christ shall not be a King till all his Subjects be called and overcome but his Subjects are not all yet called which forme is alike with this Ferdinand shall not be Emperour till all his Subjects be boâ—ne and he victorious whereas some of his Subjects are comming daily into the world and it may be more of them are daily departing This is a rediculous reason and so is the other 2. Neither doth the prayer of the Saints make mention of his earthly Kingdome but of subduing or rivenging their enemies which shall be without an earthly Monarchy to wit by punishing them in hell 3 That text Rev. 11.15 speakes not of a proper Kingdome of Christ and farre lesse of an earthly Kingdome but of the Kingdome of our Lord and his Christ if it had been said of our Lord and Christ or of our Lord Christ it might be thought to be the proper Kingdome of Christ which he as man governes or shall governe but when it is said of our Lord and of his Christ we see a distinction of persons and unity of power And therefore it is cleare that the text Rev. 2.26 it impertinently cited for proofe of that thing which is not and is imagined to be on earth whereas that power is in beaven Reply 1. Doubtlesse you take this for a very witty comparison but the truth is it is a very ignorant one For the force of this reason is not as you make it say that Christ shall not be a King till all his Subjects be called and overcome But it is this That Christ shall not receive his Kingdome till all those Subjects those glorified Saints which shall come with him in his Kingdome are called and have overcome So that the forme is like this Ferdinand shall not be Emperour till all those Subjects those Nobles that shall waite on him at his coronation be borne and able to attend him And Ferdinand being a mortall King is to be accompanied by mortall attendants but our Saviour being an immortall King is to be accompanied with immortall attendants with all those beleevers which have already or shall hereafter overcome the temptations and afflictions of this world before his appearing and his Kingdome which Saints being but a part though the choisest part of our Saviours Subjects are indeed ridiculously compared by you to all Ferdinands Subjects borne and unborne 2. Though the prayer of the Saints Rev. 6.10 doth not mention our Saviours Kingdome on earth yet seeing the revenge they call for is deferred till the number of those that shall be slaine for the word of God be fulfilled we know that it is not to be executed till our Saviours comming And in what manner it is then to be done by hâ—m the 14. chap. of the Rev. from the 14. ver to the end doth declare And the 19. chap. also at 17. ver c. Where the fowles of heaven are summon'd to the Supper of the great God to eate the flesh of Kings and the flesh of Captaines and the flâ—sh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh of all both bond and free both small and great And surely this judgement on the Saints enemies is to be a temporall judgement on earth at our Saviours comming with the Saints to receive his Kingdome as the 11. and 14. verses of this Prophecy doe shew and not an eternall judgement on their bodies and soules in hell which is not to seize on them till the giving up of Christs Kingdome at the Judgment of the dead till above a 1000 yeares after this overthrow in which the fowles are to feast on their carkasses as in the 20 chap. of the Rev. at the 11 verse c. it is revealed 3. That text Rev. 11.15 speakes not you say of a proper Kingdome of Christ but of the Kingdome of our Lord and his Christ And by this reckoning our Saviour hath no proper Kingdome at all and consequently is not properly a King for what Kingdome belongs to Christ which may not as well be called the Kingdom of our Lord as the Kingdom of his Christ But certainly the Kingdom which this text saith shall become the Kingdomes of Christ are the Kingdomes of this world and therefore Kingdomes on earth and proper Kingdomes both which you deny And they are to become Christs Kingdomes at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet and not before that is at the time of his appearing againe and therefore they are to be his to governe as he is man and so by your owne confession to be properly his Although then we grant that these words the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ doe intimate a distinction of persons and unity of power which is more then Pareus grants who enclines to a distinction of natures and unity of persons yet it will not follow from hence that the Kingdomes of this world which our Saviour at his comming shall receive into his owne possession as he is man shall not be his proper Kingdomes For they are said to become the Kingdomes of our Lord not because they are not now his buâ— fist because at the accomplished donation and actuâ—ll subjection of them unto Christ God shall more marvelloufly declâ—re his supreame power over them then ever he did And secondly because they shall then â—e his after a more speciall manner then they are now his because I say he shall the be worshipped and obeyed in them all according to the righteous rule of his owne Lawes And yet they are said to become the Kingdomes of Christ onely in regâ—â—d of the administration of the immâ—diate government of them For Christ alone shall then be visible King over them as now others are and therefore shall be as properly a King on earth as any of them who now beare rule in these Kingdomes And this the next words of the text doe confirme which say not and they but and he that is Christ alone shall reigne for ever and ever And therefore that text Rev. 2.26 is verâ— pertinently cited for proofe of that thing which shall be on earth and is not now in heaven For our Saviour though then in heaven did not say that he had given the Saints in heaven or Saints on earth power over the Nations on earth but that he would give them power over them And surely we cannot thinke that the Martyrs Rev. 6.10 would call on God to hasten the time for the avenging of their blâ—ud on them that dwell on the earth if
by force of armes Reply 1. You were here a little too hasty in your answer for surely I doe not say That this image doth signifie a temporall Monarchy of the Jewes but I say That our Saviour prefigured by the stone that brake the image in peeces and became a great mountaine filling the whole earth shall set up in the place of the foure Monarchies represented by the gold the silver the brasse and the iron and of the Kingdomes represented by the mixture of iron and clay into which the last and iron Monarchy was to be divided a Kingdome over all the world wich is the point in hand And whereas to prove that the Kingdome of Christ here foretold was not to succeed these Kingdomes you alledge ver 44. in which it is said In the dayes of these Kings shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdome which shall never be destroyed and the Kingdome shall not be left to other people but iâ— shall breake in peeces and consume all thesâ— Kingdomes the iron the bâ—asse the clay the silver and the gold and it shall stand for ever Certainely you could not have urged a plainer text to prove the contrary For first seeing the Prophet saith that the Kingdome here spoken of is to be set up in the dayes of these Kings that is after the iron Romane Empire should be divided as the preceding verses declare the setting of it up cannot possibly be meant of a Kingdome to be set up at our Saviours first comming and consequently not of the preaching of the Gospell by the Apostles For this was done while the Empire was entire and in its height it being in the reigne of Augustus Caesar that Christ was borne and oâ— Tiberius that he was crucified And therefore the Kingdome that was to be set up after this Empire should be divided into severall Kingdoms and yet not presently after but in the dayes of these Kingdomes that is after they should be of some remarkeable continuance must needs be understood of our Saviours visible reigne on earth to whose Kingdome these Kingdomes shall give place as the former Kingdomes did successively to each other And secondly seeing the Prophet saith That the Kingdome shall not be left to other people It necessarily followes that when the God of heaven shall set up this Kingdome some one people shall have the sway over all other people from whom the dominion shall not be taken away as it was from the successively prevailing Nations of the foure severall Empires And what people should this be in whose hands the rule shall continue so firme and stedfast but the Jewes the people of whom Christ the person prefigured by the stone cut out without hands that should smite the image was to be borne And to whom at the expiration of the time allotted to the four Kingdomes revealed in another vision chap. 7. The Kingdome and dominion and the greatnesse of the Kingdome under the whole heaven shall be given ver 27 And thirdly seeing the Prophet saith That this Kingdome shall breake in peeces and consume all other Kingdome to wiâ— the iron the brasse the clay the silver and the gold it is manifest that it is by it self alone to succeed and follow after all these for how shall all these be broken in peeces by it if this be not to succeed them in the place where it breakes them in peeces And how shall all these be so consumed by it that no place shall be found for them if either of them shall continue with it And sourthly seeing it is unquestionable that the Kingdomes which the image represented and which this Kingdome should breake in peeces were all temporall and visible Kingdomes It must needes be granted that this Kingdome by which these temporall Kingdomes were to be destroyed and succeeded in their place for the stone having smote the image filled the whole earth must it selfe be a visible and for the place and manner of government a temporall Kingdome also Because no temporall and politicall Kingdom can be overthrown and succeeded in its place but by another of the like nature over-mastering it You goe on and say It shall breake in peeces the silver and gold then it shall be before the brasse and iron And of what King say you can that be understood but of Christ who saith Isai 10.12 I will punish the stout heart of the King of Assyria and chap. 37. ver 29. Because of thy rage against me I will put my hooke in thy nose c. Here are a few words but full of very grosse and contradictory untruths For first having immediately before recited out of the Prophet It shall breake in peeces the iron the brasse the clay the silver and the gold You presently affirme It shall breake the silver and the gold then it shall be before the brasse and the iron And shall we beleeve you when you speake against the Prophet or when you speake with the Prophet When you say of your selfe It shall breake in peeces and succeed but two of the four Empires or when you say as the Prophet doth that it shall succeed and breake in peeces the whole image all four Empires and the Kingdomes of the last divided Empire Secondly in saying that the stone the type of our Saviours manhood was to be before the brasse and the iron you make Christ to be borne before the Grecian Empire was in being whereas it is evident by the history of the Gospell that he was borne in the dayes of the Romane Empire to which the Jewes were then tributaries Thirdly by the instances which you bring out of Isai 10.12 and chap. 37. ver 29. c. to confirme your argument You first make the stone to be Christ in his God-head to whom you attribute this threatning and not in his manhood of which alone it is to be understood For the stone cut out without hands is Christ borne of a Virgin and the mountaine out of which he was cut is the Jewish Nation the Inhabitants of Mount Sion the place which God had chosen to put his Name there And secondly you hereby make the accomplishment of the vision which shewed things then to come to be before the revelation of it For the threatning against Senacherib was sulfilled before Judah's captivity and this vision was in the time of their captivity under Nebuchadnezzar who was the head of gold in the image And thirdly you make the destruction of the Assyrian Empire to be by an extraordinary meanes by an Angel sent from God whereas it was by an ordinary meanes by the army of Cyrus Prince of the Medes and Persians And what could you have said more contrary to the dreame and the interpretation there of then all this 2. You have nothing to say against the evidence of ver 35 which shewes that the Kingdome of Christ was to succeed the four Empires in time and place as they had succeeded each other to wit by force of
be poured on them from on high and in which their so plentifully and so plainely foretold deliverance shall be fully accomplished at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ And therefore beloved Reader seeing thou knowest these things before beware that thou be not still led away with the errour of an unwarrantable and indeed pernicious interpretation by reason whereof the way of truth is evill spoken of but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom be glory both now and for ever Amen Farewell Thine in the service of the Lord ROBERT MATON AN ANSWER TO Mr. PETRIE'S Preface Preface FIrst Some Prophecies speake plainly of Christ and cannot be understood of another Esa 9.6 Unto us a child is borne unto us a sonne is given his name shall be called Wonderfull c. Some are typicall or delivered with covers of things signifying Christ his offices and benefits And of these some are spoken of the type or thing signifying and can be understood onely of the thing signified and some are true both of the type and of Christ either in the same or in a different manner that is some are true of both in a proper sense some are true of both in a tropicall or figurative sense and some are true of the one properly and of the other figuratively All these sorts are manifest in sundry Prophecies here I touch one for all 2. Sam. 7.12 When thy dayes be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers saith the Lord unto David I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowells and I will establish his Kingdome This was true in the person of Solomon and of Christ too properly v. 13. He shall build an house for my name This was true of Solomon in the proper acceptation of the word house and figuratively of Christ who said Matth. 16.18 Upon this rock will I build my Church It followes I will establish the throne of his Kingdome for ever This was not true of Solomon in respect of his person for he died neither of his posteritie from whom Jacob had foretold that the Scepter should depart at the coming of Shiloh Gen. 49.10 but of Christ it is true for his Throne is established for ever and ever Heb. 1.8 v. 14. I will be his Father and he shall be my son This is true of Solomon in respect of adoption and of Christ in respect of eternall generation Fiftly it is said there If he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of man but my mercy shall not depart from him as I tooke it from Saul This is true of Solomon and not of Christ who was free of sinne unlesse we understand his members or their sinnes imputed unto him v. 16. Thy house and thy Kingdome shall be established for ever before thee thy Throne shall be established for ever This cannot be understood of David or Solomons house or Kingdome as experience proves now for the space of 1600. years and more but of Christs house and Kingdome which shall never faile By this one passage it is manifest First how miserable ignorance it is to expone all the Prophecies after one and the same manner or in a proper sense onely Secondly that the Evangelists and Apostles exponing these Prophecies in a spirituall and figurative sense doe not wrest them even albeit these have been fulfilled some way before but according to the intendment of the Spirit they bring them unto Christ who is the end of the Law and scope of the Prophets Answer The Prophecies which we have alledged for the Jewes deliverance and our Saviours reigne on earth are all plaine prophecies and therefore your distinguishing of the prophecies into plaine and typicall prophecies is very unseasonably that I say not craftily applyed against us However in the first place the Reader may observe that we have as much reason to beleeve that the Prophecies which speak plainly of the Jewes cannot be understood of any others as we have to beleeve that the Prophecies which speake plainly of Christ cannot be understood of another and consequently that you doe very erroneously interpret these Prophecies when you understand by them the conversion of the Gentiles And secondly he may observe that having cited 2 Sam. v. 12. When thy dayes be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowles and I will establish his kingdome You say This was true in the person of Solomon and of Christ too properly Which is as much as we say to wit that God shall establish unto Christ a civill and proper Kingdome as he did unto Solomon And indeed it is beyond the force of these words in the 16. verse Thy house and thy Kingdome shall be established for ever before thee thy throne shall be established for ever To prove that Christs reigne and Solomons that the type and thing typified are not both to be understood properly and in the same manner seeing the word for ever is not here to be taken in an unlimited sense for an infinite time but in a limited sense for a long time as we shew in our reply by many instances out of scripture and so doth intimate unto us onely that Christs Kingdome as it is to be the longest that ever was on earth so it is to be the last too it is not to be left to other people as Daniel saith chap. 2. ver 44. but is by Christ himselfe to be delivered up to God even the Father at the last resurrection And that not onely Solomons reigne but his building of an house to the Lord too is to be properly fulfilled in Christ the Prophet Zechariah chapter 6. ver 13. doth plainely reveale Behold saith he the man whose name is the â—â—ach and he shall grow up out of his place and he shall build the Temple of the Lord even he shall build the Temple of the Lord and he shall beare the glory and shall sit and rule upon his Throne and the counsell of peace shall be between them both In which words the Temple of the Lord doth signifie the Temple at Jerusalem as the verses following doe shew and there is no other signification of this phrase in all the old Testament as we have observed in our reply to your answer where you expound our Saviours building of the Temple of the Lord of the raising of his body from the grave and yet here you make it to foreshew the immoveable perseverance of those that were after his incarnation to be called to the profession of his name by a lively faith So unstedfast are you and unresolved in what sense to take his building of an house unto the Lord. And therefore although such typicall prophesies as are compound oracles were to have a double accomplishment yet it is questionable whether they were to have a different meaning And sure we are that this
which you have alledged for an instance doth carry but one and the same sense in the type and antitype And consequently it is not miserable ignorance in us to expound the prophesies of Christs Kingdome or the Jewes deliverance in a proper sense onely but rather manifest insolence in you to say so and to affirme withall that the Evangelists and Apostles expound them in a spirituall and figurative sense when you can bring no plaine text to demonstrate what you say Preface Secondly So the promises of deliverance from Babell had their owne accomplishment in the dayes of Ezra and Nehemiah but that was not all the meaning of these prophecies which were in another manner and more fully performed by Christ for this cause it is said Col. 1.12 Giving thankes unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light who hath delivered us from the power of darkenesse and hath translated us into the Kingdome of his deare Sonne in whom we have redemption through his bloud And Revel 5.9 Thou hast redeemed us unto God by thy bloud out of every kindred and people and nation There is our Redeemer more glorious then Ezra or any other there is our inheritance and Kingdome better then Jerusalem and there is a redemption from all nations Now when these prophecies are fuâ—â—led once in respect of the type and againe in a more transcendent manner by Christ if we deny what God hath done we are false and ungrate and if we expect them to be fulfilled yet againe in the type it were a worse returning then that of the Galatians chap. 4.9 that was unto the types of his Priestly and this unto the types of his Kingly office and Christ is become of none effect unto such Answer As we doe not doubt but that the prophecies of the Jewes deliverance from Babylon had their accomplishment in the dayes of Ezra and Nehemiah So we cannot grant that the prophecies which we have alledged for the Jewes future deliverance from their captivity doe at all concerne their deliverance from Babylon Nor that those which concerne their Babylonish deliverance were types of the Gentiles conversion And you have neither quoted any one of the prophecies which speake of their deliverance from Babylon nor shewed out of the Evangelists or Apostles any one text where the application of these prophecies to the conversion of the Gentiles is intimated And therefore though it be true that the Father hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light and delivered us from the power of darknesse and translated us into the Kingdome of his deare Sonne in whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgivenesse of sins and that Christ hath redeemed us unto God by his blood out of every kindred and people nation yet it is not true that this was prefigured by the Jewes deliverance from Babylon but by the sacrifices and legall Ceremonies which did foreshew both the death and the efficacie of Christs death in whom alone we have redemption from the power of sinne and the grave Neither is it true that the Kingdome of Christ of which we are now onely made meet to be partakers is yet in being or that it shall be till Christs appearing with the Saints in light as we shew in our Reply and therefore you must make better proofe of these Premises to wit that such prophecies as are properly fulfill'd in the type may be figuratively fulfill'd in the antitype and that the Prophecies which we have quoted for the Jewes future deliverance doe foreshew their deliverance from Babylon And that those which foreshew that deliverance were typicall Prophecies You must make better proofe I say of all this before you can conclude That we deny what God hath done or that we expect that is to come which is already past Yea it is very absurd to thinke that the Prophecies which concerne the Jewes deliverance from Babylon were typicall prophecies First because they are plaine Prophecies which you confesse cannot be understood of any other but of them of whom they speak And secondly because the type would not be of equal latitude with the thing typified the redemption of the Jewes with the redemption of themselves and all other Nations And besides it is manifest that the Prophecies which we have alledg'd out of Zechary touching the Jewes future deliverance and which agree so well with the rest in other Prophets were reveal'd after the accomplishment of the Jewes returne from Babylon and therefore cannot possibly be understood of that but of a deliverance not yet accomplished and consequently too cannot be typicall prophecies because they have not been fulfill'd in the type Preface Thirdly the elect Jewes did not rest upon the Mosaicall Types but all the Prophets gave witnesse unto Christ that through his Name whosoever beleeves in him shall receive remission of sinnes Act. 10.43 they beleeved that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ they should be saved even as we Act. 15.11 in this faith they died Heb. 11.13 I say this Faith because as Faith is one in respect of the object Eph. 4.5 So the Apostle declares our Faith by the example of the ancients Neither did they rest on the promises as on earthly but they desired a better Countrey that is an heavenly Heb. 11.16 and when they were tortured they would not accept deliverance from their torments that they might obtaine a better resurrection v. 35. was that an earthly hope no they believed the redemption of their soules by the Messias Psal 34.22 that he was to be wounded for their transgressions and bruised for their iniquities and the chastisement of their peace was to be upon Him and that they were to be healed by his stripes Esa 53.5 and Simeon waiting for the consolation of Israel when he saw him blessed God and said Lord now let thy servant depart in peace for my eyes have seen thy salvation Luk. 2.29 He craves not longer life to reign with Christ on Earth but was content to depart having seen the salvation of God the light of the Gentiles and glory of Israel Answer The elect Jewes you say did not rest upon the Mosaicall types neither doubtlesse did all the non elect Jewes rest upon them but having the knowledge of the true meanes of their salvation did many of them seemingly though not savingly embrace it And what though the elect Jewes did believe the remission of their sins and the redemption of their soules by Christ and that he was to be wounded for their transgressions and bruised for their iniquities c. and dyed in this Faith and could not be forc't to forsake it by any torments Did they therefore believe no more then this Did they therefore not believe that Christ should reigne with them as well as suffer for them nor that they should reign with him as well as suffer with him what shall we think that
damned error and we read of few or none in this opinion til in this last age it comes apâ—â—e with the Auabaptists and some English Novatours few write against it because the arguments are so silly and rediculous that every understanding person reading them findes not onely the weaknesse of the grounds but even out of them doe gather pregnant arguments in the conmary Albeit these Authours doe agree in the time and place of this imagined Monarchy yet they write one against another in many circumstances thereof as is marked hereafter Answer It is as possible that you may misreport Eâ—esebius touching Papias as touching the occasion of St. John's writing of his Gospel and as you doe Hierome and Augustine who you say write of the millenarian Tenet as a damned error whenas * Sicut mundus sex dichus fuit crcatus septimus fuit sabbatismus itá mundum sex millia annorum duraturum posteà secuturum fabbatismum in mille annis postremis ad hoc seilicet sabbathum celebrandum resurgentibus sanctis Quae opinio esset uteunque tolerabilis si aliquae delicios spirituales in illo sabbanâ—smo affuturae sanctis per Dom nipraesentiam crederentur Nam etiam nos hoc opinâ—ti suimus diquandò Sed cùm cos qui tunc resurrâ—â—erunt dicam â—mmoderatissimis carnalibus epulis vacoturas in quibus cibus sit tantus et potus ut non solum nullam modestiam tencant sed modum quoque ipsius incredulitatis excedant nullo modo ista possunt nifi a carnalibus credi Aug. lib cit Augustine lib. 20. de civ Dei cap. 7. saith That it is a tolerable opinion if it were beleeved that the glorified Saints should receive spirituall delights by Christs presence which is that we hold and he saith too that he had been of this minde himselfe but left it as it seemes for no other cause but because many carnal minded thought that the raised Saints should eate and drinke beyond moderation And * Post captivitatem quae sub Vespasiano et Tito et posleà accidit sub Hadrimo usque ad consummationem seculi Ruinae Hierusaâ— lem permansurae sunt quanquam sibi Judaei auream asque gemmatons Hier usalem restituendanâ— putent rursusque victimas ct sacriâ—icia et conjugia sanctarum er regnum in terris Domini Salvatoris quae licét non sequamur damnare tamen non possumus quià multi virorum Ecclesiastiâ— corum eì Martyrum sta dixerunt Hier. loc cit Hierome on Jer. 19. verse 10 having set downe the opinion though wrongfully as Mr. Mede affirmes Comment Apocal. pag. 285 saith of it which things though we imbrace not yet we cannot condemne because many faithfull persons and Martyrs of the Church have said them However it was as easie for Eusebius or any other to condemne Papias for a man of small judgment as it is for you to say that our arguments are so silly and ridiculous that every understanding person reading them findes not onely the weaknesse of the grounds but even out of them doth gather pregnant arguments in the contrary t was as easie I say for Eusebius to write the foresaid words as it is for you to write these albeit the Reader may plainly see that you doe but slander our arguments herein For besides the plaine texts and prophecies in the new Testament there are far more prophecies in the old to shew our Saviours corporal reigne on earth then there are to shew his birth and death and as clearly delivered to the understanding But be it as Eusebius saith that Papias was a man of smal judgment yet that he shewed it not in being of this opinion not onely the Scriptures but the judgment of Irenaeus and other Ecclesiasticall persons who followed him in it doe attest of whom we cannot intertaine such an unjust beliefe as to thinke that they would prize the antiquity and authority of Papias word above the authority and antiquity of the word of God it selfe But that this truth might be universally abhorred and rejected as an error after the 320. yeare of our Lord we easily beleeve For it is unquestionable that many a truth and error did change titles each with other as popish ignorance superstition and idolatry grew in request and needs then must this truth which ascribes the accomplishment of the predictions of Christs Kingly Office to their right owner soone vanish out of mens minds and leese its lustre and repute whenas that Man of sin was shortly to appeare who to exalt his power above all that is called God should as blasphemously as deceitfully apply these prophecies to himselfe And lastly that we agree not in all circumstances about this opinion doth no more derogate from the truth and worth of it then the differences that are amongst other Christians doe derogate from the truth and necessity of any subject wherein they doe disagree Preface Seaventhly They speak not now of feasts and sacrifices as Cerinthus did but if they will maintaine this opinion I see not how they can eject them seeing the Prophets speake as expressely of them as of Christs Kingdom Jer. 33.17 Thus saith the Lord David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel neither shall the Priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings and to kindle meate offerings and doe sacrifice continually See ver 21.22 Zech. 14.16.21 But that these and such other texts should be expounded spiritually it is plaine by Mal. 1.11 where incense and offerings are not restrained unto the Jewes at Jerusalem but made common unto the Gentiles every where and more plainely in the New Testament If the Millenaries will expone with us these texts of spirituall Sacrifices they cannot shew any probable reason why the prophesies concerning Christs Kingdome should not likewise be exponed spiritually And Hierome in Isa 63. lib. 18. saith If we grant these words to be exponed carnally let them beare the like promises made unto Sodom as unto Jerusalem Ezek. 16.53 When I shall bring againe their captivity the captivity of Sodom and her daughters and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters them will I bring againe the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them when thy sister Sodom and her daughters shall returne then thou and thy daughters shall returne Wherfore saith Ierome these houses mentioned Isa 65.21 must be understood of vertues or the diverse mansions beside the Father and of such houses our Saviour speaks Mat. 7. verse 24. I will liken him to a wise man who builds his house on a rock And the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5.1 wee have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens Because we cannot conceive of Heaven in such a manner as it is it pleaseth God to insinuate it into our affections by similitudes of things pleasant unto us and to teach us faith by sensible things and therefore we should not rest on these
these words And contrarily unto this rule the Jewes and others expone the descriptions and prophesies of the glory and power of Christ and his Church after an earthly manner and so straying from the true meaning they transforme his spiritual Kingdom into an earthly and temporary which as it is ungodly so it is repugnant unto Scripture testifying plainly that his Church is all glorious within and not of this world and therfore these comparisons that are taken from earthly Kingdomes must be understood figuratively and in a spiritual sense at least it must be diligently observed what portion of every passage is to be understood properly and what figuratively seeing many times that which is spoken figuratively is exponed by the words preceding or following and all figurative speeches have some tokens of the use unto which they are directed or another text may be found where the fame matter is more clearely handled These general rules being premitted it shall be easier to expone all the promises of Christ's Kingdom and especially that text Amos 9.15 They shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them faith the Lord thy God For these words may be cleared by the words Jer. 4.1 If thou wilt put away thy abominations out of my fight then thou shalt not remove Where we have the same promise but expressed with a condition and it is usual in the Scriptures that earthly promises are expressed sometimes with a condition and sometimes without it but alwaies are understood conditionally 2. By the acceptions of the word land which as it is not alwaies exponed of the earth so sometimes it is put for the grave as Iob 10. verse 21. The land of darknesse and shadow of death And for Heaven Psa 27.13 I had fainted unlesse I had beleeved to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living And especially that land was a type of the Kingdom of Christ as it is said in the first rule and of the true inheritance of the Saints and true gift of God Deut. 4.1.38 And so whether the word land be taken properly or typically the promise is manifestly true both before and after the comming of Christ to suffer for they were brought againe into their land and they who were brought were not pulled out of their land and they are planted in their true land whence they shall no more be pulled out and hereby the large note on the margine of Page 9. is frustrate◠Answer Let this rule then which is a compound of several rules laid downe by others for the right interpreting of the Scriptures decide the matter in controversie betwixt us And doe not say but shew that the proper expositiō of the prophesies which cōcerne our Saviouts and the Saints visible reigne on earth the conversion deliverance and establishment of the Jewes in their owne land the destruction of their opposers and subjection of all other Nations unto them in a word which reveale unto us the chiefest events and alterations that shall come to passe over the whole world til the world it selfe shall passe away doth teach things contrary to the analogy of faith to honesty of manners to other cleare texts things frivolous and not belonging to godlinesse For surely if our proper exposition of these predictions doth teach ought of all this we may well be accounted for publishers of a new Gospel but if it doth teach nought of this you your selfe are worthy to be accounted but a partial preacher of the Gospel a preacher but of a part of the Counsell of God tel us therfore what article of faith or plaine text of Scripture or moral duty is destroy'd or oppugned by the beliefe of our Saviours coming with the Saints to reigne on earth or of the Jewes conversion and returne or of the calling of all Nations to the faith of Christ and the knowledge of God And tel us too whether the knowledge of these things be a frivolous and unnecessary knowledge or a knowledge not belonging unto godlinesse Certainly we cannot conceive how the personal reigne of Christ on earth should any way abridge 〈◊〉 weaken his spiritual power or abbreviate his Kingdom or that his Church should be lesse glorious when he comes into the world unto it then it hath been since he departed out of the world or can be as long as he is absent from it And we know that by our proper exposition of these prophecies we doe make a just distribution of the word of God that we give unto the Jew whatsoever belongs unto the Jew and to the Gentile whatsoever belongs unto the Gentile whereas you by your proper interpretation of the prophecies which concerne the Gentiles and your figurative exposition of the prophecies which concerne the Jewes doe keepe your owne things to your selfe and make the mercies prepared for others to be common mercies yea to be as much or more yours then theirs And as you hereby impose a figurative sense upon the spiritual part of the promises made unto the Jewes so you impose a double figurative sense upon the temporal part of the promises made unto them For first you interpret those outward and earthly promises as you call them of spiritual blessinges too and being so interpreted you understand them of the Gentiles as wel or rather then of the Jewes And thus you make figurative speeches where you finde none and may indeed as easily make a figurative speech of any speech as thus interpret these prophecies But it is not the figurative and metaphorical expression of a prophecy that doth make the prophecy to carry a figurative sense for both temporal and spiritual promises may be figuratively and metaphorically exprest but yet they are not to be figuratively understood that is prophecies of temporal things however exprest are not to be understood of spiritual blessings neither are prophecies of spiritual or temporal things whether figuratively or properly exprest to be understood of any besides those of whom they are plainly prophecied In a word prophecies however exprest are to be understood of what they speake where they speake of temporal things they are to be understood onely of temporal things and where they speake of spiritual things they are to be understood onely of spiritual things And of whom they speake where they speak plainly of Christ they are to be understood of Christ onely and where they sptake plainly of the Jewes they are to be understood of the Jewes onely and where they speake plainly of the Gentiles they are to be understood of the Gentiles onely and where they speake generally and indifferently of both they are to be understood of both And in like manner where they speake plainly of Canaan and Jerusalem or Sion they are to be understood of them onely Thus much for your rules which whosoever shall embrace he will doubtlesse be no better friend to the truth we hold then you your selfe are that which follows is your explication
drinke bitter not that every thing is such but their senses are distempered another who hath not distempered senses finds in the same thing a diversity of colour and relish 3. Why doubt they here whether there be more voices for the one then for the other seeing afterwards it is said p. 50. as all the Prophets speake of nothing more so they have nothing which can be applied to our Saviours second comming as a comfortable effect so generally foreshewne but this Reply 1. If the heathers be a more in partial judgement then Jewes or Christians are the greater is our shame the more their commendation But as I have not hitherto so I trust I never shall shew such irreverence and uncharitablnesse towards the Church of God as to think much lesse to say that there are no impartial men in it And therefore I need not goe out of the Church to seeke for such to submit to But although there are many impartial judgements amongst Christians yet it behoves the reader to take notice here that you confesse you are none of the society and therefore to be the more suspitious of the sincerity of your dealing a taste where of we had in your former answer And it is observeable too that you make a difference betwixt Turks and heathens as if Turks were not heathens 2. That all rigid Antimillenaries find not many voices for that we plead for nor indeed any at all we need not marvell for you have told us they have no impartial judgments And therefore I might returne your comparisons on your selves but I leave them to the judicious reader to bestow them where he sees most cause 3. Surely these words I finde not more voices for the one then for the other have no doubtfull sound Neither have they relation onely to a part but to the whole word of God Not to one Testament onely but to both And therefore the Prophets being not the adequate subject of this search you have vainly transferr'd hither what elswhere I have spoken as from the Prophets onely Yea and very impertinently too for the prophecies spoken of there doe concerne the restoring of the Jewes onely but the voices spoken of here are such as do concerne the comming of Christ onely And that first in the forme of a servant to teach and suffer on earth and next in Kingly glory to reigne and rule on earth And grant there should be more Scriptures to shew one of these commings then the other yet seeing there is plaine Scripture for them both we have good reason to beleeve both Israel's Redemption F or they asked of him saying Lord wilt thou at this time restore againe the Kingdom to Israel Mr. Petrie's Answer Any who is not distempered in his braines may see the ground of this Monarchy very unsure to wit a meere Querie Acts 1.6 The disciples asked him Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom of Israel a querie neither affirmeth nor denieth and neverthelesse how great a Kingdom is built on it If they can finde a surer ground why will they not choose it for their text better they have not and therefore they must be doing with this Reply No good Christian will be either asham'd or affraid to suffer for the truth's sake And therefore we had much rather be defam'd revil'd and if God hath so appointed it worse handled by you or any others then reclamante conscientiâ against our owne knowledge yeeld to be deluded by you this answer being in very deed conpounded of nought but falsehood and deceit For first the ground of this Monarchy is not unfure although a Querie it being grounded not on what the Apostles knew not and would have knowne to wit the time when the Kingdom should be restor'd but on what they knew and doubted not of to wit that the Kingdom should be restor'd Which had they not knowne or at least not thought they could not have asked when it should be restor'd And had they but thought it they would for their better assurance first have ask whether before they would have aske when it should be restored Neither can we grant this to be a * Queries as Rhetoricians do distinguish them are either simple or figurative and effected Simple Queries are such as are proposed for instruction and know ledge-sake and are either meerly simple when there is no more in them but what is doubted of as what is truth Iohn 18 verse 38. or not meerly simple when there is no more in them then what is doubte of as where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eate the passcover Mat. 26. verse 17. in which querie the doubt is not touching the subject it selfe whether the passeover should be prepar'd but touching a circumstance belonging to the subject touching the place where it should be prepar'd and such a querie is this of the Apostles the subject the restoring of the Kingdom is not doubted of nor the person that should restore it but the circumstance of time onely when it shold be restored And these queries though they do not expresly formally affirme or deny yet they do implicitly vertually affirme or deny meere querie untill you have defin'd what a meere querie is for you seeme to me by this proposition A Querie neither affirmeth nor denieth to take all queries to be alike if you doe not you say it onely fallaciously to make the unlearned reader thinke so that by this meanes he might the more readily beleeve all you say against us and if you doe you are very much mistaken as all your rhetoricians will shew you who reckon up many sorts of Queries among which there is one so opposite to your words that it more certainly and vehemently affirmes or denies then a bare affirmation or negation can doe and such a one is that in St. Mat. chap. 7. verse 16. Doe men gather grapes of thornes or figs of thistles which is a farre more forcible deniall then St. Lukes Of thornes men doe not gather figs nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes chap. 6. verse 44. so on the contrary Is there no balme in Gilead is there no Physitian there Jer. 8 verse 22. doth more movingly affirme then the bare affirmation doth And of this sort of interrogatory asseverations and negations the Scriptures have very many especially God's answer to Job and the prophecy of Micah And therefore untill you can bring better proofe to shew this ground unsure we need not seeke for another text to build so great a Monarchy on although we bring many other to strenghthen beautify and finish the building Israel's Redemption The words you see are a Querie And such propositions imply three things First a person or persons proposing it Secondly a matter or subject proposed Thirdly a person or persons to whom it is proposed The persons here are the disciples asking the question and our Saviour answering them as the context declares the matter enquired of is the
which are these They shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all Nations and Jerusalem shall be troden down of the Gentiles untill the time of the Gentiles be fulfill'd Untill then but no longer And because he would not tell them the precise time of the continuance of these times of the Gentiles and yet would have them know too when they were neer their expiration in the verses following he acquaints them with the signes immediately foregoing his own appearing their Redemption and the setting up of the kingdom of God And do the same signes betoken all this and yet can you say that our Saviour speaks not here of an earthly kingdom nor of the Jews conversion Doubtlesse in that they foreshew the Jews Redemption they betoken not onely their conversion but their deliverance out of captivity too and consequently their earthly kingdom even that kingdom of which the Apostle enquired And in that they foreshew our Saviour's appearing they shew him to be the Author of this deliverance according as the Apostles spake of him Lord wilt thou c. And in that they foreshew the Kingdom of God to be nigh at hand they shew this kingdom to be no other but the kingdom of Israel so call'd partly because the power of God shall mightily and wonderfully appear to the whole world at the erecting of it the fearfulnesse whereof the very signes foreshewing onely its neer approach may serve to evidence for great and unusuall signes shew great and unusuall alterations And partly because God shall be more generally more constantly and more purely worshipt in the time of this kingdom then ever he was since the creation of the world And therefore there is no cause why any spirituall minded man should be discouraged at the thought of such an earthly kingdom Neither therefore have we wrestled against our own fancies in concluding not onely the conversion but the restauration of the Jews also from the world Redemption seeing it is apparent to all that will not turn away their eyes that they may not see it that as this prophesie was spoken onely to Jews so both the misery at first and the mercy at last was spoken onely of the Jews We have no need then to find clearer texts in the New Testament for this earthly Monarchy for fear that any understanding Christian will reject what the Prophets have deliver'd so agreeable thereunto But both we and they have good reason to suspect that you care not what you say nor how you tamper with the Word of God if thereby you can procure belief And to this end you cry out against the clearnesse of the text when as it hath no darknesse but what you put upon it and speak any thing of your self as an undoubted axiome For you tell us that every ground of faith is revealed more clearly in the New Testament then the old which is indeed notoriously false for where is the Crcation describ'd the moral Law deliver'd and our Saviour promised to be born in Bethleem of a Virgin of the seed of David c. And admit it were true of all such things as our Saviour was to fulfill at his first coming yet it could not be true of all such things as are reserved to be done by him at his second coming Amongst which the restoring of the Jews and his reigning on earth have place Israel's Redemption And with what testimonies can we better begin then with such as are of neerest affinity with our Saviours prophecy They shall smite saith Micah in his 5. Ch. and 1. ver the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek And at the third ver Therefore will be give them up untill the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth then the a Cap. ejusd v. 7 8. Isa 1.9 and 10.22 Matth 24.22 Rom 11.3.28 remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel What I pray is meant here by smiting the Judge of Israel but the * To this interpretation of the prophecy suiting so well wâ—â—h our Saviour's â—ifferings the very next verse which fore she ws the place where Christ the Ruâ—er of Israel should be born doth to my thinking directly lead us crucifying of Christ whom when they had blind folded him they strcke en the face and asked him saying Prophesie who is it that smote thee Luk. 22. at the 64. ver And what by Vntill the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth but the whole time of the surrogated Gentiles vocation For blindnesse is in part happened to Israel untill the * Whether by fulnesse we understand the whole number of those Gentiles which were successively to be called before the Nationall conversion of the Iews or else the full universall and contemporaring conversion of all unbeleeving Gentiles whatsoever at and through that extraordinary restauration of the Iâ—wâ— whâ—se Tribes â—re vvholly comprehended by this word in the 12. v. of the same Châ— Whether I say the first or last of these interpretation doth palle for currant vvith us and one of them must needs passe yet it comes all to one reckoning it doth no hing preâ—udice the cause for which our Apostle's saying is here alledged which is to shew that the giving up of the Iews must last untill the time which is appointed for the calling of the substituted Gentiles be fully ended for if blindnesse be happened to Israel untill the coming in of the fulnesse of the Gentiles in the last sense that is of all of them indifferently shall come to passe hen it must of necessitie continue untill the coming in of the Gentiles in the first senâ—e â—â—h t is of the substituted part of them be quite and clean finished seeing the totall conversion cannot take place before the partiall gives way unâ—â— it fulnesse of the Gentiles â—e come in Rom. 11. v. 25. From whence it necessarily follows that this prophecy and our Saviours must be understood of one and the same time For the dispersion foretold by Christ was to happen after his passion and so was this as their smiting the Judge of Israel declares which is alledged as the main cause of it Again the captivity which our Saviour spake of is to last untill the * Though by the word times the dominion and power of the Gentiles over the Iews and their pâ—ssâ—ssion of the Holy Land be in this place especially aymed â—t yet because the time of the Iews subiection to and captivity amongst thâ— Gentiles in generall is to be of equall latitude and extent with the time of the substituted Gentilâ—s calling this thing also is necessâ—â—ily though not immediately and primarily hereby imply'd times or calling of the Gentiles be fulfillâ—d and so is this for when She which travaileth hath brought forth then saith the text the remnant of his brethren shall â—eâ—uen unto the children of Israel which is a plain interpretation of that which our Saviour doth
that is fallen and close up the breaches thereof and I will raise up his ruines as in the dayes of old that they may possesse the remnant of Edom and of all the heathen that are called by my Name saith the Lord that doth this I will bring againe the captivity of my people Israel and they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards and drinke the wine thereof they shall also make gardens and eate the fruit of them and I will plant them upon their land and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them saith the Lord God Now although this prophecy tooke no effect on the ten Tribes at their transplantation began by p 1 Chro. 5.6 2 King 15.29 ch 16. 9. Tiglah Pileser King of Assyria and ended by q 2. King 17.5.6.24 ch 18.58 Shalmaneser his successour who also brought up strange Nations and placed them in their stead which people were from Samaria the ancient metropolis of that Province called r Ioh. 4.9 Samaritans yet who is able to maintaine that it was fulfilled on the other two for not the house of Joseph nor the house of Judah onely but the house of Jacob wholly is here spoken of And why else is the Tabernacle of David afterwards exprest as a prime agent in the restauration if it were not before included as a succeeding patient in the dispersion of Israel who then I say is able to maintaine that this prophecy was fulfill'd on Judah and Benjamin untill their overthrow by the Roman Emperour Vespasian ever since which time they also remaine forsaken scattered and despised captives yea who dares affirme it when God hath said that at their returne from this universal captivity he will so plant them in their land that they shall no * The usual answer of a conditionall promise will take no hold on this or the like places of Scripture For as God hath here past his word that he will no more pull them up out of their land so in the 32. chap. of Ier. at the 39 ver and 50. chap. at the 20. ver in the 36. of Ezâ—k at the 27. ver in the 37. chap. at the 23. ver in the 39. chap. at the 7. ver and in the 3. chap. of Zeph. at the 13. ver all which prophecies doe iâ— the times of their sulfilling concurre with this he hath likewise promised To give them one way and one heart that they may feare him for ever Never to turne away from them to doe them good but to put his feare into their hearts that they shall not depart from him That the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the finnes of Iudah and they shall not be found That he will put his spirit within them and cause then to walke in his statutes and to keepe his judgements and doe them That they shall defile themselves no more with their idoles nor with their detestable things nor with any 〈◊〉 their transgressions That he will make his holy Name known in the midst of his people Israel and will not let them pollute his holy Name any more And that the remnant of Israâ—â— shall not doe iniquity nor speakelies neither shall a deceitfull tongue be found in their mouth And therefore God having thus equally ingaged himselfe as well to keepe the Iewes from sin as to free them from bondage it is as impossible that the accomplishmeâ—â— of this propheey should be frustrated and the fruition of these blessings forfeited for waâ—â— of obedience as that God should either forget or not regard or be unable to fulfill his word and consequently the appointed time for the finishing of such prophecies is yet 〈◊〉 be expected more be pulled up out of it which yet should not be true if it had been spoken of any deliverance before our Saviours comming to suffer Mr. Petrie's Answer It is a like ground for such a Kingdom 1. How can it be denied that the house of Judah was destroyd when their Kings and people wen caried out of the land 2. How can the Tabernacle of David be calleâ— a prime agent in the restauration it is said I will raise up the Tabernacle of David and not the Tabernacle of David shall raise up it is 〈◊〉 patient and not an agent And none denieth that it is included in the dispersion of Israel and therefore that part of the prophecy was fulfilled even before the overthrow by the Roman Emperour and so before the overthrow was restored againe and afterwards also were they scattered But that promise of restauration is not of the house of Judah but 〈◊〉 the people of Israel verse 14. and who these be wee have a sufficient interpreter Act. 15.16 where the Apostle Iames expones these word of the enlarging Christ's Kingdom by the calling of the Gentiles which was begun at that time by the preaching of the Apostle and Râ—â— Stephanus in his notes on this text of Amos saith Almost all the Hebrews doe consent That this is meant of the time of Messias and especially of the calling of the Gentiles and by bodily houses and benefits the Prophet understands spirituall and these who are begotten unto this lively hope are kept most safely through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 so that the gates of Hell shall not prevaile against them Mat. 16.18 Whereas it is asked who dares affirme it Zacharias hath not spared to affirme it Luke 1.68 saying Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people and hath raised up an horne of salvation in the house of David his servant as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets c. Dare any Millenarian contradict this testimony Reply 1 This prophecy of Amos speakes of a deliverance of the Jews out of a captivity after which they should no more be pulled up out of their land And therefore cannot be meant of the returne of Judah and Benjamin from Babylon since which they have fallen into a greater captivity then that was but of their returne from the captivity they are now in This you saw to be the necessary consequence of the proper sense of the prophecy and therefore you wrest that part of it which concernes the deliverance of the Jewes to another meaning But first you cavill and aske how it can be denied that the house of Judah was destroied when their Kings and people were carried out of their land Surely that they were in a sad condition it cannot be denied but that they were destroyed it may for how else could they have return'd yet this thing too Haman sought to bring to passe on the Jewes in his time and you know how well he and his adherents sped in the device But what of all this who denies that they were carried captives into Babylon I say onely that this prophecy was not fulfill'd in Judah's captivity there but in
ver 14 15. chap. 23. ver 7 8. corners of the Earth and together with Ephraim with the ten Tribes from Assyria which as i Joh. 7. ver 35. yet never came back and therefore this is not yet fulfil'd Mr Petrie's Answer 1. There is no mention of returning here but of recovering of the remnant of his people 2. Who be these his people Looke the tenth verse In that day there shall be a roote of Jesse which shall stand for an Ensigne of the people to it shall the Gentiles seeke and his rest shall be glorious And behold how the Apostles expones these words Rom. 15.12 Esaias saith there shall be a root of Jesse and he that shall rise to reigne over the Gentiles in him shall the Gentiles trust Now whereas the Apostle expones his people to be the Gentiles may they not be ashamed who will underst and onely the Jewes so that there is meaned the recovery of Gods people or the Gentiles from Assyria Egypt or wheresoever they be Reply 1. There is mention of recovering the remnant of his people from Assyria Egypt Paphros Cush Elam Shinar Hamath and the Islands of the Sea and of smiting the River that men may goe over dry-shod and of a high-way for the remnant of his people that shall be left from Assyria like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the Land of Egypt And how much doth this recovering differ from a returning 2. Who the people be that are meant in this Prophecie the words Israel Judah and Ephraim doe shew and not the tenth verse where the Gentiles are mention'd For why should those things which concerne the Jewes here be understood of the Gentiles which are onely mentioned by the by as it were rather then that which is said of the Gentiles be understood of the Jewes of whom so much is spoken in this Chapter And where have you learned to take Judah and Ephraim or Israel for the Gentiles Surely the Apostle expounds not the Jewes by the Gentiles nor the Gentiles by the Jewes but rehearseth the 10. ver of this chapter to shew that Christ was to bring salvation to the Gentiles as well as unto the Jewes and this Prophecie of the Gentiles being mixt with that which concernes the Redemption of the Jewes is more likely to be meant of the coming in of the fulnesse of the Gentiles at Christs next appearing then of the comming in of the substituted part of the Gentiles in the time of the Jewes blindnesse And therefore seeing God hath made mention of the Gentiles by name in those Prophecies which concerne them and of the Jewes by name in those which concerne them it behoves us to give to the Jew the Prophecies that beare the Image and superscription of the Jewes and to the Gentile those which beare the Image and superscription of the Gentiles and not so needlessely so irrationally and so unjustly to give unto the Gentiles all that belongs unto the Jewes Whereas then the Apostle quotes this Prophecie out of Isaias onely as a testimony to prove that Christ came as well for the good of the Gentiles as the Jewes if you had any regard of what you say you would never have cal'd it an exposition nor have publish't it to the world as a rule to interpret the Prophecies which concerne the Jewes of the Gentiles The objections which you have alledg'd against your selfe out of the foresaid Prophecie are these The first objection It is said He shall assemble the out-casts of Israel and the dispersed of Judah Mr Petrie's Answer The Gospel which is Christs Standard hath been preached unto them Jam. 1.1 and so their assembling is into the bosome of the Church Reply And so you separate these words from the rest of the Prophecie and apply them to the calling of the Jewes at the first preaching of the Gospel of purpose to delude the Reader for the Prophecie speakes of their returne into their owne Countrey and not at all of the preaching of the Gospel unto them in other Countries as any one may perceive And yet although the Gospel was in the first dayes thereof preach't to the Jewes scattered abroad what effect had it amongst them surely St. Paul Act. 13. ver 45 46. and in the 1 Thess 2. ver 14 15 16. doth testifie that such was their malice against the Apostles for preaching of it that they laboured all they could to raise up enemies against them thereby to hinder the growth of the Gospel not onely amongst their owne Nation but amongst the Gentiles also so that even in this sense Israel and Judah the twelve Tribes are not yet assembled And it is observable how palpably you here contradict your former words for here you expound Israel and Judah properly of the Iewes onely as your quoting of the first chap. and first ver of the Epistle of St. James doth shew and yet in the second part of your Answer you tell us that both the Prophet and St. Paul doe expound his people to be the Gentiles The second objection It is said the envie of Ephraim shall depart and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off c. Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. The meaning is whereas there had been contentions twixt the Tribes one against another and both against the Gentiles and Gentiles against them both under Christ shall be an end of that malice 2. In the citation of this Prophecie the 14. ver is omitted because they cannot see how it can be verified of the peaceable Kingdome which they imagine but seeing the words preceding and the words following containe one and the same Prophecy and these words in the middle part cannot be exponed of that Monarchy it is evident that no part of this Prophecie can be understood of that Monarchy but the meaning is plaine if they be exponed of the Christian Church thus The Apostles flee that is quickly preach unto other Nations and brought them in a short space unto the obedience of Christ not going in troopes from Province to Province but at the same time they went one by one into severall Nations 3. This ver being omitted the 15. ver is quoted and out of it they doe imagine that a way shall be made for the Jewes through the Sea and all floods shall be dried up before them But if these words shall be exponed properly what kind of Miracle shall that be shall the Jewes who are scattered into all the corners of the Earth have a dry passage through every river and the Egyptian or Red-sea be destroy'd Or is it not rather in a spirituall sense that the Lord will remove all impediments which may hinder the course of the Gospel and he hath opened a way into that Kingdome of Heaven from which we were exiled in Adam and spirituall Pharaoh is drowned or destroyed in the Red-sea or bloudy death of Christ and by a mighty wind of preaching the Lord hath made his power
the Millenaries who say that the Jewes shall rule over all Nations and hold them in subjection till the end of the 1000. yeares and then these prophane Nations shall rise againe in armes against the Jewes Now seeing betwixt these above named Prophecies of Jer. 23. and 31. c. and these two of Esay and Amos there is not any materiall difference and no other difference then betwixt a briefe intimation and large explication of the same thing and seeing these Prophecies of Esay and Amos are to be understood of the Christian Church and estate thereof from the beginning till the end as the Apostles James and Paul expone them this conclusion followes These above named Prophecies give no ground for the earthly Monarchy of the Jewes And so much the rather may every one embrace this conclusion that we find the greatest part of these Prophecies so exponed in other passages of the New Testament as that of Jer. 31.1 in 2 Cor. 6.18 and Jer. 31.31 till 35. in Heb. 8.8 and ch 10.16 17. and Jer. 32. containes the same words which ch 31. so doth that of ch 33.8 and to the same purpose is that of ch 50.20 and that of Ezek. 34. concerning the gathering and feeding the sheepe exponed by our Saviour Joh. 10.11.16 and that of ch 39. is correspondent with the Prophecie of Joel whereof we spake before and that of Zach. 10. is one with Jer. 23.6.8 and other that are handled before It is to be marked that in the testimony Jer. 33. is omitted ver 12 13. where is Prophecied that in all the cities of the land shall be an habitation of Shepheards causing their flocks to lie downe there even in the cities of the mountaines the cities of the valleys the cities of Benjamin the cities of Judah What is this the glory of Christ's Kingdome that sheepe shall lie in his cities Or doth not rather the Lord understand the spirituall sheep of Christ whom he will have gathered by his spirituall Pastors every where as he exponeth it Ezek. 34.31 Ye flocks of my pasture are men and I am your God saith the Lord. Likewise this Author slippeth over ver 18. and 22. where perpetuity of Sacrifices and Levites it promised as plainly as the Throne of David Shall in the last dayes the meat-offerings and burnt offerings and the house of Levi be restored I thinke they will not say it lest they contradict the Gospel which hath abolished that order And neverthelesse the Lord saith so in Jeremie Hath the Lord said it and will be not performe it Yea he hath performed it as the Apostle witnesseth 1 Pet. 2.5 Ye also as lively stones are built up a spirituall house an holy Priesthood to offer up spirituall sacrifices to God by Jesus Christ And as the promises of the Priesthood are fulfilled spiritually and not in a proper sense so we must thinke of the promises concerning the Kingdome seeing they both are conjoyned and mixed after the same strain as we have them there ver 17 18. and ver 21.22 Thus saith the Lord David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel neither shall the Priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt-offerings and to kindle meate-offerings and to doe sacrifices continually c. But all this evidence cannot satisfie selfe-conceits therefore it is added Reply You grant first that the foresaid Prophecies doe containe evident arguments for a future restauration of Israel whereby if you meane no more then a future restauration in relation to the time in which it was foretold you grant onely what you could not possibly deny seeing Prophecies speak not of things already done but to be done and if you meane a future restauration in relation to the time that now is you contradict your self in saying presently after that it is already begun in part seeing that which is as yet to begin cannot be already begun and that which is already begun cannot be as yet to begin and if you meane by a future restauration such a restauration as was to begin at the first preaching of the Gospel and to continue to the comming of Christ besides that it is somewhat at harsh expression it is not true that you have before clearely proved thiâ— by the testimonies of the Apostles and by experience for you have noâ— brought any at all much lesse any cleare testimonies out of the Apostlesâ— to prove that this restauration which the Prophets speake of is to be wrought successively and by degrees in many ages or that it is meant only of a spirituall restauration or that by the Israelites any of the Gentiles are to be understood neither can experience shew you any one Tribe converted to the Christian faith but that all the Tribes are of a different Religion from us You grant also that these Prophecies doe agree in their contents with the Prophecies of Amos and Isaiah alledg'd by the Apostles but you deny 1. Our manner of restauration for you hold you say that the spirituall restauration is more glorious for the honour of God and weale of Israel And did you consider what you said in all this doe we speake of a corporall restauration onely and not of a spirituall too certainly that we hold not only a bodily restauration of the Jewes from their captivity is very well knowne unto you by our words you here answer and your very next words doe confirme it where you deny that the Apostle James alledgeth the Prophecie of Amos for the generall conversion of the Jewes and what is it to contend for their conversion but to hold their spirituall restauration so that although you hold onely a spirituall restauration to be meant in the Prophecies we hold both to be meant in them And is it most for their weale thinke you to be restored from the bondage of their bodies and soules both or from the bondage of their soules onely and is the accomplishment of one or of both these most glorious for the honour of God But it had been a signe of farre more discretion and of some Christian modesty in you if you had onely forborne to teach God so often what course he should take to make himselfe appeare the more glorious for doubtlesse it is most for Gods glory to accomplish what he hath promised to doe and we cannot imagine but that he hath promised to doe what should make most for his glory 2. You deny that the Apostle James alledgeth the Prophecy of Amos for such a conversion of the Jewes for he speakes expresly you say of visiting the Gentiles c. The Apostle James by your owne confession alledgeth two Prophecies one as you say after page 27. of old Simeon Acts 15. at the 14. vers and the other of Amos ver 16.17 where there is expresse mention of building the Tabernacle of David as in the former there is of visiting the Gentiles and yet you would have this last Prophecy to
not at the first ver but this verse was quoted in the margent of your Bible in the 2 Cor. chap. 6. at the 18. ver and that was enough to make you say that the whole chap. of Jeremiah is meant of the Gentiles and yet the words in Jer. 31. at the 1. verse are not the same with those in the 2 Cor. chap. 6. verse 18. and what if they were what though that which is common to the faithfull in generall as that God should be their Father and their God and they his people Sonnes and daughters and the like be applied as well to the Gentiles as to the Jews it will not follow from hence that where God saith he will be a God to the Jews and they shall be his people he meanes in that place the Gentiles and not the Jews or the Jews and Gentiles both And much lesse will it follow that any thing which is prophecied as proper to the Jews in particular or as opposed to other Nations should yet be understood of other Nations For doubtlesse if such prophecies belong not to the Iews onely no promises can be so properly distinctly and plainly made to any Nation which can assure that Nation that they belong to it and to no other You say next that the prophecy Ier. 31. at the 31. verse is exponed in Heb. 8. ver 8. c. There indeed it is wholly repeated but expounded it is not unlesse the same prophecy doth expound it selfe which is to make it both the text and the comment such poore shifts are you put to whilst you had rather say any thing to winne the unstable or to hide the truth from the unlearned then acknowledge it for a truth And to whom did the Apostle alledge this prophecy but to the Jews of whom it was spoken by the Prophet and why did he alledge it to them but to shew that Christ Jesus was the Mediator of the new Covenant which God had promised to make with them and that the ordinances of the old Covenant were by his death become voyd and unprofitable that hereby he might at once establish the faith of the beleeving Jews and if it had been possible have moved the whole Nation at that time to embrace the Covenant of the Gospel of which this prophecy doth plainly witnesse they shall be one day partakers even the whole house of Israel and Judah together And as this prophecy cannot expound it selfe and is indeed so plaine that it needs no exposition so it doth no more expound the other prophecies which you say are the same with it as it is repeated by the Apostle then it doth as it is delivered by the Prophet And they being all to be accomplisht to the Jews at the same time at the restoring of their Kingdom this prophecy is as much expounded by the others as the others are by this if not more For whereas this containes spirituall benefits onely those Jer. 32. at the 37. ver c. chap. 33. at the 6. ver c. and chap. 50. at the 19. ver c. doe containe spirituall and temporal benefits both for they foreshew the Jews withall their returne unto and prosperity in their owne country and so declare both where and when the new Covenant shall be made with them It follows and that of Ezek. 34. at the 12 c. is exponed by our Saviour Iohn 10. ver 11.16 These words of our Saviour you have before alledged as an exposition of the prophecy Ezek. chap. 37. at the 19. ver c. because our Saviour prophecieth of uniting two sorts of people the Jews and Gentiles into one Church after the calling of the substituted Gentiles and the Prophet of uniting the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel which were one people into one Kingdom againe in their owne land And you will have our Saviour's words to expound this prophecy too because our Saviour and the Prophet doe use the same Metaphor to wit the word sheepe to expresse men by But the sheepe the Prophet speakes of are the scattered Jews and none else and the sheepe our Saviour spake of were the Jewes impli'd in the words of this fold and the substituted Gentiles exprest in the words other sheepe and all Nations together intimated in the words one fold for after the calling of the other sheepe the substituted Gentiles there shall be one fold and one shepheard that is one Church and Kingdome over all the world under one King to wit Christ Jesus and therefore when you can prove this prophecie in Ezekiel to be meant of Jewes and Christians and all other Nations you may have some colour to say that our Saviour's words Joh. the 10. doe expound it And that of chap. 39. is correspondent you say with the prophecies of Jeel c. And therefore it is not yet accomplished for I have shewed before that the prophecies cited out of Iâ—el are not to be fulfilled til the great and terrible Day of our Saviours comming to wit that in the 2 chap. at the neere approach of that Day And that in the 3. chap. partly immediately before and partly at the very time of Christ's descending and this prophecy of Ezek. doth so plainly declare the returne of the whole Nation of the Iewes to their owne land none excepted that you could neither prove it to be already fulfilled nor deny that it shall be fulfilled because God who hath promised so to powre out his Spirit upon them that he may no more hide his face from them hath therein promised both their conversion from sin and continuance in obedience And that of Zech. 10. at the 6. v. c. is one you say with Jer. 23. at the 6.8 v. you should have said at the 3. 4. v. But doth it prove that they are therefore fulfill'd already because they have one meaning because they were to be fulfill'd to the same people at the same time then you may say too that the Prophecies which concerne our Saviour's comming or the day of Judgement are already accomplished because they foreshew the same thing And thus it appeares by the three Prophecies which you have barely referr'd to three passages in the New-Testament whereof the first is mistaken the second the selfe-same Prophecie that is referred and the third neither spoken of in the Text to which it is referr'd nor of any affinity with it in the contents thereof by this I say it appeares that being unable to give a considerable answer to any of these Prophecies you had no other way to hold up your credit amongst your friends but by a subtle pretending that the greatest part of these Prophecies are exponed to their hands in the writings of the Apostles but whatsoever the rest may doe I presume the learned of your opinion will be ashamed of the few and meane instances which you have brought to make good your assertion for doubtlesse by such references with which you have answered these Prophecies you may shun
the force of any Argument and expound any text of Scripture as you list Now in the last place you taxe me for omitting the 12. and 13. ver in the testimony of Jer. chap. 33. and for overslipping likewise the 18. and 22. ver But not one of these verses was in that part of the chapter which I have cited and therefore they were neither overslipt nor purposely omitted as you have purposely omitted in the 12. verse these words againe in this place which is desolate without man and without beast and in the 13. verse these and in the places about Jerusalem shall the flocks passe againe under the hands of him that telleth them that so you might make way for your mysticall interpretation in the entrance whereof you doe so sawcily flour at the glory of Christs Kingdome saying what is this the glory of Christs Kingdome that sheep shall lie in his Cities certainly the chiefest glory of Christs Kingdome is that mercy and truth shall meet together and peace and righteousnesse kisse each other but yet the promised fertility and pleasantnesse of the Land of Canaan and the encrease and prosperity of man and beast upon it shall help set forth the glory thereof also seeing the glory of a Kingdome on earth doth as well consist in the abundance of outward and temporall blessings whereby the evills that would come through want and povert are prevented as in the abundance of inward and spirituall blessings whâ—reby the evills that would follow upon riches and plenty are avoided yea it is more glory for the servant of God to keep himselfe holy and righteous in the midst of prosperity and delight then when there is a scarcity of the creatures which conduce to the pleasure and welfare of his body And whereas you say further that the Lord understands here the spirituall sheep of Christ c. as he expoundeth it Ezek. 34. v. 31. Ye flock of my pasture are men I am your God You doe herein apparently bely God for although God doth in that chapter of Ezek. call the Jewes his sheep and his flock yet it doth not therefore follow that by flocks in this chap. of Jer. he understands men also yea the words which you have omitted doe cleerly shew that this word is here to be taken properly for why doth God say in the 12. verse Againe in this place which is desolate without man and without beast and in all the Cities thereof shall be an habitation of shepheards causing their flocks to lie downe but to shew that there should be againe an increase of men and of beasts in that land and what doth God meane when he saith in the 13. ver that in the Land of Benjamin and in the places about Jerusalem and in the Cities of Judah shall the flocks passe againe under the hands of him that telleth them Doth he meane that Ministers should tell their Congregations as Shepherds tell their flocks or rather that there should be againe both flocks and men to looke to them and to tell them as formerly they had done and so the concealing of these words doth plainly witnesse against you that you made the foresaid impious flourish against your owne Conscience And as you could not be ignorant that by flocks here cattell are meant and not men so you had no ground in the Text wherefore you should conceit that sheep shall lie in the Cities as the inserting of the words there even c. into the Text doth declare for the Lord saith In this place and in all the Cities thereof shall be an habitation of Shepherds causing their flocks to lie downe Whereby it is manifest that Shepherds shall dwell in the Cities but not that their flocks shall have their folds there but by the Cities where their feeding shall be and in that there shall then be Shepherds as well is the cities as in other places it shewes what a great increase of cattle shall then be and besides who knowes not that cattell may be driven into Cities to be sold there or for some other occasion and so may passe under the hands of him that telleth them in the cities themselves But suppose that these words in Jer. were mystically to be understood what would you gaine by it when 〈◊〉 is expressely said that for the Shepherds of these flocks shall be an habitation in this place that is in the Land of Judea and afterwards more particularly in the Cities of the Mountaines in the Cities of the Vale and in the Cities of the South and in the Land of Benjamin and in the places about Jerusalem and in the Cities of Judah doth not this prove that these faithfull Congregations if the Prophecie were to be mystically taken must needs be Inhabitants of Judea and not of other Countries And yet you can shew no reason wherefore we should take spirituall promises in these Prophecies for spirituall blessings and not temporall promises for temporall blessings and must we thinke neverthelesse that when God saith I will strengthen the house of Judah and will save the house of Joseph and I will bring them againe to place them and they shall bee as though I had not cast them off And I will cause you to dwell in the Cities and the wastes shall be builded and the desolate land shall be tilled whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by and they shall say This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden and the waste and desolate and ruined Cities are become fenced and inhabited And I will cause the showre to come downe in his season then shall be showres of blessing and the tree of the field shall yield her fruit and the Earth shall yield her increase and they shall be safe in their land and shall know that I am the Lord when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them out of the hands of those that served themselves of them and they shall no more be a prey to the Heathen neither shâ—â— the beasts of the Land devoure them but they shall dwell safely and 〈◊〉 shall make them afraid Must we thinke I say that in these and such like promises God hath the same meaning as he hath where he saith I will cleanse them from their iniquitie whereby they have sinnes against me and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me and whereby they have transgressed against me And is those dayes and in that time the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sinnes of Judah and they shall not be found for I will pardon them whom I reserve I will sprinkle cleane water upon you and ye shall be cleane from all your filthinesse and from all your Idols will I cleanse you and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walke in my Statutes and you shall keepe my judgements and doe them Hath God in those
be againe restored as is implyed in our Saviour's prophecy Luk. 1. ver 24. and exprest Jer. 31. ver 38. and Isa chap. 60. and 62. and in many other places This is your first parallell for which you had no ground in the text The rest are these Christ is called the salvation of the Lord and Simeon saith My eyes have seene thy salvation The Messiah is called a light unto the Gentiles and Simeon saith a light to lighten the Gentiles Christ is called the glory of Sion and Jerusalem and Simeon saith the glory of thy people Iseael And will it follow from this that Isaiah's prophecies were at that time fulfilled surely no more then it will that they were fulfilled when Isaiah spake the same words but this will follow that these texts of Isaiah and Simeon's prophecy are one in their contents and that thefore Simeon's words doe no more shew that Isaiah's prophecies were fulfilled at Christ's first comming then Isaiah's doe that Simeon's prophecy was then fulfilled Which doe Indeed shew that Christ is to be the glory of his people Israel at his next appealing and not before For seeing to be the glory of his people implies a greater happines to belong to the Iews of whom the Redeemer came then to the Gentiles to whom he is said to be a light is it likely that this should be fulfilled when now and then a Jew should seeke God amongst the Gentiles or rather when the Gentiles in generall should seeke God amidst the whole Nation of the Jewes or rather I say when as Isaiah speakes the Tribes of Iacob shall be raysed up and the preserved of Israel restored when they shall come from the North and from the West and from the land of Sinim When the waste and desolate places and the land of their destruction shall be even now too narrow by reason of the inhabitants and they that swallowed them up shall be far away When the Lord shall feed them that oppresse them with their owne flesh and they shall be drunken with their owne blood as with sweet wine and all flesh shall know that the Lord is their Saviour and their Redeemer the mighty one of Jacob. When the glory of the Lord is risen upon Sion and the Gentiles shall come to their light and Kings to the brightnes of her rising When the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto her and the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto her When the multitude of Camels shall cover her the Dromedaries of Midian and Ephah and all they from Sheba shall come and shall bring gold and incense and shew forth the praise of the Lord. When all the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto her and the Rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto her when they shall come up with acxceptance on God's altar and God shall glorify the house of his glory When the glory of Lebanon shall come unto her the firre tree the pine tree and the boxe tree together to beautify the place of God's Sanctuary and when God shall make the place of his feet glorious When the Natiâ—n and Kingdom that will not serve Sion shall perish yea shall be utterly wasted When violence shall no more be heard in her land wasting nor distruction within her borders but she shall call her walls salvation and her gates praise When the Gentiles shall see her righteousnes and all Kings her glory when she shall be called Heph-Zibah ' and her land Beulah In a word when the Jewes shall be cal'd The holy people The redeemed of the Lord and Sion shall be called Sought out a City not forsaken When the time comes wherein all this and much more which is revealed in the chapters of Isaiah cited by you shall come to passâ—â— them and not til then shall our Saviour declare himselfe to be the glory of his people Israel as Simeon hath foretold And so by the testimony of these prophecies that part of Simeon's prophecy which concernes the glory of the Jewes is to be referred wholly to our Saviour's second comming when as well the residue of men the Gentiles that are yet uncal'd as the Gentiles on whom God's Name is already cal'd shall all goe up to worship the Lord at Ierusalem shall all seeke salvation amongst the Iewes and not the Iewes amongst the Gentiles And therefore when the Iewes and Gentiles shall be so united as these and many other prophecies doe foreshew there is to be no disagreement at all betwixt the Iewes or betwixt them and any other nation in the practise of religious duties Which thing too this marginall note doth so clearely prove out of the prophecy of Amos alledged by Sâ— Iames that you could make no better reply to it then to call it a long tailed note and a frivolous discourse And whereas you say that there was an unanimous consent in the true worship of God betwixt the Jewes and other Nations when they did conveen in the generall Synode Act. 15. Surely there was not one whole City and much lesse was there any one Nation of the Gentiles at that time converted And if a few Turks should become Christians you might as well infer from this that there were an unanimous consent in the worship of God betwixt Christians and the Turkish Nations as you can conclude from that meeting or from all that were then converted that the Jewes and any much lesse all other Nations were united in the true worship of God And indeed the uniting of the Jewes and Gentiles into one Church so often and so plainly foretold by the Prophers and confirmed by our Saviour Ioh. 10. ver 16. is not of some Jewes and Gentiles onely as it was in the first dayes of the Gospel nor of some Nations of the Gentiles and a few Jewes as it hath been since the conversion of the substituted Nations of the Gentiles nor of all the Jewes and some Gentiles as it was under the Law nor of all the Jewes and a part of the Gentile Nations but of all the Tribes of the Jewes and all the Nations of the Gentiles The marginall Note But it matters not much which of the two is here spoken of for seeing the Prophet doth plainly shew a future restoring of the Jewes and yet the intent of the Apostle was onely to prove that God had then cal'd the Gentiles it cannot otherwise be but that the words after this in the prophecy being applyed to the foresaid visiting of the Gentiles by the preaching of the Gospel must needs conclude that the extraordinary restauration of the Jewes foreshewne by the Prophet was to follow the calling of the Gentiles then begun by the Apostles Mr. Petrie's Answer The Prophet Amos in that chap. before ver 11. speakes not of the ealling of the Gentiles and the Apostle cites the same words of ver 11. for the calling of the Gentiles neither hath the Prophet these words after this but in these dayes and howbeit the Apostle cite
although not so forsaken not so cast off as never againe to be received to mercy although some particular Jewes be not cast off as some particular Gentiles were not secluded before Christs comming And thus having maâ—e a shift to passe through almost halfe this note you leave the Reader in the briars and step over all the rest as too rough for your handling Israel's Redemption And yet there want not some who by the words All Israel in the 11. of the Romans understand onely the Church of the Gentiles to which some of the Jewes should be united but if the obvious and simple meaning of the 28 29 30 31 and 32. verses following will not suffice to discover the weaknesse that I say not wilfulnesse of this interpretation yet surely to any man that is not without reason the reasons which Wendelinus in the 19. chap. and 2. Section of his naturall contemplations at the 391. page brings to the contrary will give abundant satisfaction For first the Apostle doth apparently distinguish the Jewes from the Gentiles by the word Israel when he saith that blindnesse is in part hapned to Israel untill the fulnesse of the Gentiles be come in And therefore I much doubt whether he would in the very next line by the same word indifferently comprehend both Jewes and Gentiles especially seeing the Israel that is to be sav'd must needs have relation to the Israel that was before said to be in blindnesse And then too what is become of the mystery here spoken of if the words And so all Israel shall be saved should not signifie such a conversion of the Jewes as must follow the vocation of the Gentiles for that some particular Jewes were at that time to be gathered to the Church they knew before seeing many such were then amongst them some of which did first conveigh the Gospel to them And therefore in my judgement those Divines deale most sincerely with the text who acknowledging the literall sense thereof doe send us to that of Isaiah in his 66. chap. at the 8. ver as to a plaine proofe of this opinion Who saith he hath heard such a thing Who hath seene such things shall the earth be made to bring forth in w Zech. 3. v. 9. one day or shall a Nation be borne at once for as soone as Sion travelled she brought forth her children Where the wonderfull and unheard of conversion of a whole Nation at once such as never hapned to any Nation of the Gentiles together with the expresse mention of Sion and the evidence of the following verses should me thinks be motive enough to make any impartiall Reader understand this Prophecie of the Jewes which yet implies not so much a returne of the whole Nation to their Countrie as to their God and therefore could not be fulfill'd by the returne of a part of them from Babylon at which time too the Kingdome of God that is the true worship of God the meanes by which that Kingdome is obtain'd was amongst them onely but hath since according to our Saviours Prophecie in the 21 chap. of Matth. at the 43. ver been taken from them and shall againe according to this be suddenly and extraordinarily restor'd unto them as Joel also before intimated by the plentifull distribution of Gods Spiritin the last dayes Mr. Petrie's Answer All this Section fights against vaine imaginations for as it is said by all Israel we understand not the Gentiles onely but the seed of the Promise that is the faithfull Jewes and others in all Nations As for that Prophecie Esa 66.8 was it not fulfill'd truly albeit not fully when the believing Church travelled and brought forth so great multitudes in one day as may be called a Nation as 3000. and 5000. converted in a day Act. 2.41 and 4.4 and the people with one accord gave heed unto these things which Philip spake and they who all had given themselves unto Simon Magus from the least to the greatest belleved and were baptized both men and women chap. 8.6 and chap. 19.17.18 this was knowne unto all the Jewes and Greeks dwelling at Ephesus and feare fell on them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified and many believed and ver 20. so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed not onely at Ephesus but almost throughout all Asia ver 10. and 26. besides many other passages and other great and miraculous conversions whereof wee reall in Ecclesiastic all Histories So that what was a wonderment unto Esa 〈◊〉 the faithfull in his time who hath heard such a thing hath been truly done many a day before these our dayes the evidence whereof 〈◊〉 thinks should be motive enough to make any partiall or unpartiall Reâ—der understand that Prophecie generally and so much the rather that by this Author 's owne confession pag. 33. it implyeth not so much the returne of the whole Nation to their Country as to their God it is certaine it was in part fulfill'd at their returne from Babel for then they reared up their walls they planted Vineyards c. but it is a grosse opinion to thinke that all the particulars of these Prophecies should be fâ—dfill'd in a proper acceptation of the words at one and the same junction of time and it is as vaine to thinke that that Prophecie of Joel aâ—cerning the plentifull powring downe of the Spirit could not be fulfilled by the accomplishment of our Saviours Prophecie Matth. 21.43 There is no dependance of this Prophecie on the words of Joel and every one who hath eyes may see that our Saviour speakes not there of the tempor all Kingdome of the Jewes but of the Gospel seeing he calleth it the Kingdome of God and he saith It shall be taken from them and another Nation shall bring forth the fruits of it their temporall Kingdome 〈◊〉 taken from them already and these last words cannot be understood of any temporall Kingdome neither were these Romans who destroyed â—erusalem more devoute then the stubborne Jewes Reply As the last part of the note so the first part of this Section was too strong for your pallet and therefore it was high time for you to cry out all this Section fights against vaine imaginations of which kind of answers you have a very pregnant fancie But as vaine as they are they have made the greatest Scholars in Christendome to confesse that a generall conversion of the Jewes is here foretold by the Apostle and to deny that no more but a partiall and successive conversion of them with the Gentiles throughout the whole time of the Gentiles calling is here meant as you would have the Apostle understood For I would not Brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery c. saith St. Paul what was it a mystery that some Jewes were then joyn'd with the Gentiles in the Church of Christ or shall we thinke that the Apostle would admonish them not to be ignorant of that which they could
that many of the unglorified Saints of the Jewish Nation shall be imployed by them in the administration of their Government seeing Isaiah chap. 14. ver 2. saith plainly that they shall take them captives whose captives they were and shall rule over their oppressours And suppose that none of the unglorified Jewes should be imployed in this government yet when our Saviour himselfe shall be King over all the earth and all the Saints that come with him Princes under him when the Nation of the Jewes shall be his naturall Subjects and all other Nations tributaries and servants unto them when they shall be comprehended by the name of Saints with those undefiled ones that Christ shall bring with him when all this shall be what Nation shall the Gentiles be said to be governed by but by that which they live in subjection unto and of whom their King came and amongst whom he shall reigne And thus much touching your first pretence that the Gentiles shall not be judged by the Jewes because the Jewes are to be judged by the Apostles Which is all one as if you should say that a Nation that lives under any government it selfe cannot governe other Nations that are in subjection unto it Your next pretence is that our Saviours words are not meant of the Apostles judging in a temporall Monarchy seeing the Angels shall not be judged before the universall Judgement But where doe you finde that our Saviours promise to the Apostles is not to be fulfill'd before the judging of the Angels And what shall we understand by the twelve Tribes of Israel according to your opinion shall wee take them for the rest of the glorified Saints no no they cannot for they shall be all Judges at the universall Judgement as well as the Apostles Shall we take them then for the reprobate of the Jewish Nation Surely wee finde no such signification of these words in all the Scripture neither doe wee find it taught by any that the reprobate of one Nation shall be judged by some of the Saints onely and the reprobate of another Nation by others of the Saints but that all the Saints shall joyntly judge all the reprobate both Angels and men onely by assenting to the Judgement that our Saviour himselfe shall give against them and this may be gathered from the Apostle who saith not thus Know yee not that the Apostles or Prophets but know yee not that we shall judge the Angels he speakes of all and not of some Saints only seeing then the twelve Tribes of Israel as you apply this saying to the universall Judgement can neither be taken for the rest of the glorified Saints nor for the reprobate Jewes it must needs follow that you are out in your application and consequently the twelve Tribes of Israel must be taken for the Nation of the Jewes over which the Apostles shall sit as Judges in the time of our Saviours reigne on earth And how else should this promise of our Saviour implie a priviledge to the Apostles above the rest of the glorified Saints for their following him in the time of his temptation if it did not constitute them alone to be supreme Judges under him over that Nation which shall be nearest and dearest unto him in his Kingdome for seeing all other Saints shall joyne with them in judging of the reprobate Angels much more shall they in judging the reprobate Jewes which cannot be so much honour unto the Disciples as the judging of the reprobate Angels and so the great priviledge which our Saviour promised the Disciples shall according to your opinion be farre inferiour to that which St. Paul affirmes to be common to all the Saints And whereas you say that the Apostle saith how much more things appertaining unto this life whereby it appeares that in the first part of the verse he understands a judgement not in this life Wee grant your conclusion for we know that the Angels were not to be judged by the faithfull Corinthians and the rest of the Saints before their departure out of this life or before the redemption of their bodies at our Saviours appearing but that they shall be judged by them after their reigning with Christ after their judging of the world a thousand yeares And so the glory of the Kingdome of Israel is not yet diminished by any of your feeble fancies and indigested imaginations Israel's Redemption And this is as much as I need say though not above halfe that the Prophets say concerning the Kingdome in the text I will therefore shut up all with that solemne protestation of God in the 31. chap. of Jer. at the 35. ver Thus saith the Lord which giveth the Sunne for a light by day and the ordinances of the Moone and of the Starres for a light by night which divideth the Sea when the waves thereof roare the Lord of Hosts is his name If those Ordinances u Jer. 33. ver 20.25 depart from before me saith the Lord then shall the seed of Israel also cease from being a Nation before mee for ever Thus saith the Lord If heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done saith the Lord. And with that humble complaint of Israel whom God in the 7. of Micah at the 8. ver makeâ— to prophecie thus of her selfe Rejoyce not against me O mine â—â—â—my when I fall I shall rise when I sit in darknesse the Lord will be a light unto mee I will beare the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him untill he plead my cause and execute Judgement for me He will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold 〈◊〉 righteousnesse Mr Petrie's Answer We acknowledge both in their owne sense and truth but nothing 〈◊〉 in them nor collected out of them for proofe of this purpose Reply If you will acknowledge them both in their owne sense you must acknowledge them to be for our purpose for you must acknowledge that the Nation of the Jewes which now fits in darknesse which now beares the indignation of the Lord because she hath sinned against him shall againe be brought forth to the light by him as Micah saith here And the foresaid protestation of God by Jer. chap. 31. touching the preserving of the Jewish Nation will force you to acknowledge your errour page 20. where you say that now through many ages Ephraimites are not knowne in any part of the earth Israel's Redemption And so I passe from the thing to be restor'd which is the Kingdome of Israel to the Person by whom it is to be restor'd which is Christ the Lord at his next appearing For they asked of him saying Lord wilt thou at this time restore againe the Kingdome to Israel Mr. Petrie's Answer If the temporall Kingdome of the Jewes could be demonstrated out of the Scriptures the question a nent the King might
more easily be resolved and neverthelesse these few millenaries cannot agree concerning the person of their King for Mr. Maton thinkes that Christ shall continue visible King of this Kingdome and Mr. Archer thinkes that Christ shall restore the Kingdome unto the Jewes and returne into the Heavens till the thousand yeares be expired and in the meane time the Jewes shall be Kings Till these two questions be decided we might supersede and neverthelesse let us heare what they can say for a temporary Kingdome of Christ whether over Jewes and Gentiles Reply The temporary Kingdome of the Jewes hath been already demonstrated by such evident Scriptures and unanswerable Arguments from them as you durst not to examine and it is now praised be God for his good leave and assistance delivered also from that darknesse which your deluding allegories and farre fetcht interpretations doe draw over it and thereby set free from that disgrace and contempt which you strive so much to bring it into amongst the Gentiles And our next taske is to discover the like fraudulent dealing in your Answers to those texts and reasons by which wee have prov'd that our Saviour who shall restore this Kingdome shall also reigne over it on earth And first that the Reader may not take distaste at us before he heare us you tell him here that these few Millenuries agree not concerning the person of their King for Mr. Maton thinks that Christ shall continue visible King of this Kingdome and Mr. Archer thinkes that Christ shall restore the Kingdome unto the Jewes and returne unto the Heavens Herein indeed wee agree not and as I heartily wish that all Christians did so rightly understand the word of God that there might be no difference at all amongst them so seeing offences must needs come and that there must be heresies and divisions amongst us that they which are approved may be made manifest 1 Cor. 11. ver 18 19. I had rather differ from any man in opinion then for any by respect to depart from one jot or title of the truth which is either plainely reveal'd in the Scripture or may be gathered from it by infallible consequence And sure I am that as wee find often mention of our Saviours comming againe so Job tells us chap. 19. ver 25. that his Redeemer shall stand at the latter day upon the earth to wit at the day of his next appearing and the Saints resurrection as these words immediately following doe declare And though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God c. And St. Luke ch 1. v. 3.1 records that the Lord shall give unto him the Throne of his Father David and Jer. chap. 23. ver 5. that he shall reigne and prosper and shall execute Judgement and Justice in the earth and so say Isaiah and Zechary yea and we conceive it to be for this reason especially that Judea is cal'd the Land of Immanuel Isaiah 8. ver 8. and we reade not of his departure from the earth againe untill the earth it selfe shall passe away at the last resurrection Yea unlesse our Saviour should as well reigne over the Jewes as restore their Kingdome to them wee cannot conceive why he should descend before the universall Judgement seeing he can as well restore the Kingdome of the Jewes in Heaven where he is as if he should descend unto the earth to doe it But yet your collection from this difference to wit that till these two Questions be decided you may superside is a very dangerous Doctrine For though superside be a very fine word yet as you use is it hath a very foule consequence for you would have the Reader conceive that there is no truth in the subject wee treat of because there is some difference betwixt us in the stating of it whereaâ— indeed all truth is made the more firme and manifest by difference else what shall wee say of our Religion there being scarce any one head or Article in Divinity about which there hath not been or is not now some difference or other amongst Christians if then wee must superside from if wee must let passe if wee must have nothing to doe with those things in which there is not a full agreement amongst us we must omit the use of the Lords Supper because Papists differ from Lutherans and Calvinists from both about the presence of Christ in the Sacrament Wee must not beleeve our election or Justification because Divines doe differ about the materiall and formall canses of the one and the moving and meriting causes of the other and because there is a difference betwixt you and us about the manner and place of our Saviours Kingdome we must not believe that he hath any Kingdome yea we must quite cast off the worship of God because we cannot agree about the forme of it some being for a set forme and others against it some againe for premeditated and others for extemporary prayers And thus to make one truth odious you stick not to make a shipwrack of the faith even at once to destroy our whole Christian practise and beliefe so contrary is your advice to that of the Apostle in the 1 Thess chap. 5. ver 21. Prove all things hold fast that which is good Now for conclusion of this first part I will adde Mr. Brightmans words touching the 7. and 8. ver of the 66. chap. of Isaiah and the 3. ver of the 110. Psal Many such places of Scripture saith he might be brought to this purpose he meaneth to shew the generall conversion of the Jewes and perhaps it would be profitable to bring them at least for this end that our Writers might have occasion thereby given them to consider more diligently of these places from the right interpretation whereof I feare mee that we wander when as we make them to speake of things that be past whereas they doe fore-tell of things yet to come In his Revel of the Apoc. chap. 19. on the 8 and 9. verses pag. 791. and his words on the 11. ver of the 6. chap. of the Cant. Time saith he will teach many things to be in the Prophets which we commonly interpret â—â— though they were past whose event is yet to come and especially as it seemeth to mee in the calling of the Jewes which verily little considered of ours hath darkned I will not say perverted the proper and naturall meaning of the Prophets in many places 1 COR. 4. v. 8. c. NOw yee are full now ye are rich ye have reigned as Kings without us and I would to God yee did reigne that we also might reigne with you For I thinke that God hath set forth us the Apostles last is it were men appointed to death for we are made a spectacle unto the world and to Angels and to men We are fooles for Christs sake but yee are wise in Christ we are weake but yee are strong ye are honourable but wee are despised
Even unto this present houre we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certaine dwelling place And labour working with our owne hands being reviled wee blesse being persecuted we suffer it Being defamed we intreate we are made as the filth of the world and are the off-scouring of all things unto this day I write not these things to shame you but as my beloved sonnes I warne you 2 TIM 2. v. 12. If we suffer we shall also reigne with him REV. 5. v. 10. And hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reigne on earth DANIEL 12. V. 6 7. How long shall it be to the end of these wonders And Theard c. Therefore so is the end of the wonders when all these things shall be fulfilled that is to say when the resurrection shall be the glory of the Saints shall shine the glory of the teachers shall be chiefest and all other things brought to perfection whereby Christs Kingdome shall have the preheminence over all which things if any man judge to be meant of the internall Kingdome already obtained he destroyeth the Prophecy which is specially conversant in foretelling things which shall be accomplished being proper to certaine places and times and not alike common to all whereof what observation or prediction or admiration can there be as is of these things which in the former verse are called wonders Mr. Thomas Brightman in his Exposition of the last and most difficult part of Dan. Prâ—phecie pag. 954. on the 7. ver of the 12. chap. ISRAELS REDEMPTION REDEEMED The SECOND PART Israels Redemption CHAP. I. That Christ shall reigne personally on Earth prov'd necessary consequence THat our Mediatour hath undergone the Offices of a Priest and Prophet the Gospel is our witnesse but considering that the Jewes are yet to receive a Kingdome a Kingdome in which they shall hold them captives Isai 14. ver 1 2 3. whose captives they are and in which peace and rightcousnesse shall flourish on the earth considering this I say we may justly doubt whether our Saviour hath as yet executed the office of a King and so much the rather because he tooke our nâ—ture upon him as well to performe his Kingly office therein amongst us as either his Priestly or Propheticall the glory of this being indeed the reward of that contempt and torment which he suffered in the others and though it cannot be denyed That be hath already a Col. 2. v. 15. spoyled Principalities and powers that is the evill spirits and hath made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in his Crosse nor that he is b Ephes 4.8 aseended up on high and hath led captivity captive and given gifts unto men Nor that he is become the c Col. 2.10 Head of all Principality and power that is of the Saints and holy Angels and is d Heb. 1. v. 3. chap. 8. v. 1. chap. 10. v. 12. chap. 12. v. 2. set downe at the right hand of the Throne of God so that he is e Phil. 3. v. 21. able even to subdue all things unto himselfe Yet that he doth not now reigne in that Kingdome which he shall govern as man and consequently in that of which the Prophets speake his owne words in the third of the Revelation at the one and twentieth verse doe clearely prove To him that overcometh saith he will I grant to sit with mee in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set downe with my Father in his Throne f Heb. 2. v. 8. chap. 10. v. 2 13. From whence it followes that the Throne which here he calls his owne and which he hath not yet received must needs belong unto him as man because the place where he now sits is the Fathers Throne a Throne in which he hath no proper interest but as God Againe it followes that seeing he is now in his Fathers Throne therefore neither is this the time nor that the place in which his Throne is to be erected Not the place for in one Kingdome there can be but one Throne and not the time for then he should fit in his owne Throne which now he doth not doe Mr. Petrie's Answer He grants that Christ is now a King and that he hath executed the Kingly office But he denâ—eth that he hath reighed in an earthly Kingdome as man in all which we agree but we disagree in two particulars First That the Prophets have spokâ—n of such a King dome this remaineth as yet to be proved Secondly That he fits on a Throne in heaven as man If these words at man be understood according to the Logicall acceptation it may be granted for what agreeth unto any man as man belongeth unto all men and indeed it belongeth not unto all men to sit on the Throne of Majesty And neverthelesse Christ sits at the right hand of the Father as God-Man or Mediatour and in this sense we deny this assertion as it seemes this Author takes it Reply What a miscellany of untruth and contradiction is here we need not then enquire what spirit had the guidance of your pen. It is evident enough that it was he who once undertooke to be alying spirit in the mouth of Ahabs Prophets For that Christ is a King it is unquestionable Where is he that is borne King of the Jewes said the wise men Matth. 2. ver 2. And Saint Matthew and Saint Luke have given us his regall genealogy have registred his princely parentage At his birth then he was a King authoritative as Divines speake The Authority of a King did then of right belong unto him but he was not then nor hath been since a King executive by putting his royall Authority in execution Neither have I said it but the contrary for my words are but considering this we may justly doubt whether he hath as yet executed the office of a King yea that our Saviour as man as the Sonne of David hath not yet executed the office of a King is the very hinge of the difference we are now entring upon for you hold that our Saviours reigning as the Sonne of David is to be fulfilled while he is in heaven where and when he was not to reftore the Kingdome to Israâ—â— and we hold that his reigning as man as the Sonne of David is to be fulfilled on earth at his next appearing when and where he is to restore the Kingdome to Israel In this then is our disagreement and not our agreement as you report And seeing you affirme that he hath executed his Kingly office for you say though falsely in all which we agree How can you conceive that he doth now reigne when as that which is already done cannot possibly be as yet in doing or to doing It seemes by this therefore that you neither rightly understand what we nor what your owne side doe hold of our Saviours Kingdome and yet as I take it you are
the Nations under whom the Jewes shall remaine captives immediately before their deliverance But because you could not shew the accomplishment of this Prophecy touching the Jewes you tell us that Interpreters doe shew the accomplishment of the Prophecy touching the Assyrian at the end of this chapter and that that Prophecy speakes not of them whose captives the Jewes now are No Doe none of the Jewes then continue captives in Assyria surely the reports and writings of Travellers and Traffickers in those parts doe testifie the contrary And what though the Emperiall power hath been translated from one Nation to another since the Jewes were carried captives by the Assyrian yet may we truely affirme that the Jewes remaining in that Countrey are now captives to the Assyrian because by the Assyrian in the Prophecy is meant the Inhabitant of Assyria whither the Jewes were first carried captives of whom the Lord hath said I will breake the Assyrian in my Land and upon my mountaines tread him under foot then shall his yoake depart from off them that is from off the Jewes and his burden from off their shoulders And have Interpreters shewed the accomplishment of this according to the Prophets meaning Me thinkes then you should not have hid it from us for the story is worth the hearing which can shew when the Jewes were in their owne Land wholly set free from the bondage which the Assyrian first brought them into and the Assyrian himselfe made subject to them And what though no Jewes were now captives in Assyria what were this to the aforesaid Prophecy touching the Jewes redemption which speakes indefinitely of their deliverance from their oppressours and of their taking them captives whose captives they were and not particularly of the Assyrian or of any other Nation It followes neither know we whose captives they are seeing they live as free Subjects wheresoever they are But doe you know that God calls them captives and their dwelling in strange Countreys a captivity this then would have made you account them captives too if you had had but a graine of that divine reverence towards Gods word of which you would make others beleeve that you have no small measure And what was it that made the Jewes captives at first was it not the losse of their Countrey and their living under the dominion of another people and doth not this still continue upon them wherein then are they now lesse captives then they were heretofore what priviledges have they now which they enjoyed not under Nehuchadnezzar Cyrus Darius Artaxerxes Ahasuerus and others It seemes then that you take them not for captives unlesse they should be put under great slavery under an Egyptian bondage This indeed were to make their captivity more grievous and burdensome unto them but captives they are without this and God onely knows how soone also the civill power under which they live may be turned against them The 2. Particular He tooke our nature on him as well to performe his Kingly office therein amongst us as his Priestly or Propheticall the glory of this being c. Mr. Petrie's answer It is manifest that he reigneth in us seeing the faithfull can say with the Apostle Gal. 2.20 The life which I now live I live by faith in the Sonne of God and Christ lives in mee but that the glory of an earthly Kingdome is the reward of his contempt and torment we cannot thinke seeing such a glory is not answerable to his sufferings who being equall with God made himselfe of no reputation and humbled himselfe even to the death of the Crosse Wherefore his reward is not deferred so long but now God hath exalted him highly and given him a came which is above every name Phil. 2. And he for the joy that was set before him endured the Crosse and is set downe at the right hand of the Throne of God Heb. 12.2 which is a greater honour then of an earthly threne Reply It is manifest that the faithfull before Christs incarnation could say also as well as we The life which we now live we live by faith in the Sonne of God and Christ lives in us For they were haptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea and did eate the same spirituall meate and drinke the same spirituall drinke which we doe for they dranke of the spirituall rocke that followed them and that rocke was Christ 1 Cor. chap. 10. ver 2 3 4. So that if you will call the adoption sanctification regeneration and justification of the Saints a reigning which the Apostle calls a living Christ doth no otherwise reigne over them now then he did from the beginning of the world to wit by his holy Spirit But the reigne in question is his reigning visibly in his humane nature on earth In which sense it is and for which end it was that he was borne a King an heire apparant to the Throne of David For unlesse he had been to reigne as man on earth and as the Sonne of David over Israel there had been no more necessity of his being borne of that Tribe and Family of the Jewes which had sole interest and title to the Crowne of Israel to qualifie him for the execution of his Kingly office in your spirituall sense for the distributing of his Spirit unto and the guiding of the Church therewith then there was of his being born of the Tribe of Levi to fit him for the execution of his Priestly office in laying down his life for our sins and making intercession for us now unto the Father And as Herods destroying of the Infants of purpose to destroy our Saviour that he might thereby translate the Kingdome of Israel from the House of David and fasten it to himselfe and his Posterity had been a plot as sottish as it was savage if he had not understood that the Scepter did belong onely to our Saviour So doubtlesse if he had not therein truely conceived what King Christ should be the Evangeâ—ists would as well have recorded that Herods misapprehension of our Saviours Kingdome was the occasion of his bloudy fact as he hath related his malicious attempt to defeate our Saviour of his right And although we doe not say that this Kingdome of our Saviour on earth is all the reward of that contempt and torment which he hath endured for us yet we say that it is all the reward which he is to have here on earth And we say also that this reward is very agreeable though not equall to his sufferings that I say God hath very righteously appointed that our Saviour should by the Posterity of the same persons be there worshipped and obeyed where by their Predecessours he had been so scornefully despightfully handled and that at the end of this reigne he should there judge those persons also who had formerly adjudged him to death And the scriptures which you have brought doe not gainesay this for that Heb. 12.2 doth shew onely what
reward he hath already in beaven and so doth the 9 ver of the 2 chap. to the Phil. but the 10. and 11. verses doe rather shew what reverence he shall have in the Day of his reigne on earth then what he hath already The 3. Particular His owne words doe clearely prove it Rev. 3. ver 21. Mr. Petrie's answer Can any man see in these words any thing for an earthly Kingdome for albeit the Throne of the Father and the Throne of our Saviour were diverse yet may they not be both in heaven Reply Can any man choose but see in these words two distince Thrones will any man besides you say that they maybe both in heaven What Can our Saviour have an idle Throne in heaven Throne in which he doth not now sit For he now sits in his Fathers Throne and when then shall he sit in that other Throne which you say may be in heaven besides his Fathers Throne Certainely you cannot tell us To put you out of doubt then that the Throne which our Saviour here calls my Throne is a distinct Throne from the Fathers and yet not in heaven you must remember first that this Throne is our Saviours Throne of judgment which he shall receive when he comes to judge the quicke and the dead and therefore is to be on earth and not in heaven And secondly That it is the Throne in which the Saints that overcome shall sitwith him therfore also not the Throne where he now sits because no man can sit in that but himselfe And therefore also the Throne as well of his Monarâ—hicall government as of his judging the dead at his delivering up of the Kingdome to the Father because it is in the time of his reigâ—â— onely that the twelve Apostles shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel as hath been shewed before The 4. Particular That which he calleth his owne Throne be bath not yet received Heb. 2.8 and Ch. 10.12 13. Mr. Petrie's answer The words Heb. 2.8 are Thou hast put all things under his feet For in that he hath puâ— all things in subjection under him be left nothing that is not put under him but we see not yet all things put under him Here is a twofold Vniversality all things are put under him and nothing is not put under him What more would you have The 〈◊〉 words say all things are not put under him If the last words saysâ— they must be contrary to the former words but the words are we see not all things put under him neither is the word Receive there which is the point in hand Now these two are farre different we see not all things put under him and he hath not received all things to be under him So this Text in stead of proefe convinâ—eth the foolish Tenâ—â— It may be this is more cleare in c. 10.12 13. where it is said He set downe on the right hand of God There the height of glory expecting from benceforth till his enemies be made his foote stoole What is here for an earthly Throne or another Throne his enemies are made subject unto him even bis greatest enemies as it is granted before but 〈◊〉 long as this world continues new enemies shall be arising and can be not subdue them as he hath done others unlesse he erect and sit on 〈◊〉 earthly Throne Reply You have here strived all you could to obscure two texts which I have quoted in the margine of my booke out of the 2 and 10 chap. of the Epist to the Heb. that Heb. 2. ver 8. is this Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feete For in that he put all in subjection under him he left nothing faith the Apostle that 〈◊〉 not put under him But now we see not yet all things put under him Out of which words you frame your objection thus Here is a two-fold Vniuersality all things are put under him and nothing is not put under him What more would yee have The last words say All things are not put under him This is your formall argument and your wise answer is this If the last words say so they must be contrary to the former words but the words are we see not all things put under him No the words are But now we see not yet all things put under him And if they were as you here alledge them why did you object before that the last words say All things are not put under him seeing you deny that they say so in your answer Is not this first to speak otherwise then the text speakes and then to reprehend your self for mis-alledging of it yet this I hope is neither false Logique nor false Divinity in you And what I pray is the meaning of these words But now we see not yet all things put under him if this be not the meaning of them that all things are not put under him And yet by your leave they are not contrary to the former words for the Apostles former words have relation to the Propheticall expression of the Psalmist who speakes of that which was to come as if it had been then done Who foreshews onely what great power was designed unto our Swiour by the Father and not when the manifestation and exercise thereof should be So that the whole meaning of Saint Pauls words is this For in that God hath fore-appointed to put all in subjection under Christ he hath left nothing he hath exempted no creature that is not to be put under him But now we see not yet this fulfilled we see not yet all things actually put under him But we see already Jesus for the sufferings of death erowned with glory and honour And thus the Apostle shews what of that Prophecy of David was then fulfilled in Christ after his ascenfion to wit this that he was then crowned with glory and honour And what was not then fulfilled to wit this the actuall subjection of all creatures unto him which is not to be fulfilled till the manifestation of the world to come to which time it is that the Apostle referres the accomplishment and exercise of Christs dominion over the creatures which the Psalmist reveales as the comparing of the 5. verse of this chapter with that which follows dothevidently declare For having said in the 5. ver For unto the Angels hath be not put in subjection the world to come whereof he speakes he presently assumes But one in a certaine place testifiâ—d saying What is man that thou art mindfull of him or the Sonne of man that thou visitest-him c. And thus this text shews not our Tenet to be foolish but you to be as fallacions in seeking to obscure it as your owne mouth doth pronounce you prophane in calling that truth foolishnesse which Christ the Prophets and Apostles have so plainely and plentifully set forth In the other Text Heb. 10. ver 12 13. it is said But this man after he
they could now do it themselves if they could now rule the Nations with a rod of iron break them to shivers as a Potters vessell Yea why have the Saints on earth been so long time persecuted afflicted tormented and still are if the Saints in heaven have power to deliver them and tread down their enemies And why are there still so many large heathen Kingdâ—mes not yet subdued to the faith or government of the faithfull if the Saints in heaven can rule them as they please Certainely if you can make this good that our Saviour hath already given to the Saints in heaven that power over the Nations which he here speakes of to wit a conquering and commanding power a power to rule them wiâ—h arod of iron you will helpe the Papists to a better ground for their supplication unto Saints then was ever yet thought of by themselves For doubtlesse if the Saints in heaven have now command over this inferiour world they must needes be acquainted with all passages of importance in it as Kings and their Agents are with the affaires of State in the Kingdomes over which they rule and so may well be sought to if not for spirituall yet for outward and temporall advice succour and defence Israel's Redemption The like encouragement he gave also to his Disciples before his passion Ye are they said he which have continued with me in my temptations therefore I appoint unto you a Kingdome as my Father hath appointed unto me that ye may h Matth. 26.29 Mark 14.25 Luk. 14.15 cha 22 16.18 cha 24.42.43 Acts 10.41 eate and drinke at my table in my i Dan. 2.44 cha 7.14.27 Kingdome and sit on k Dan. 7.22 Revel 20.4 Matth. 19.29 seates judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Luke 22.28 Mr. Petries Answer It might be more for his purpose to have concealed this text which makes the 12 Tribes of Israel the persons iudged all the texts quoted on the margin speake of the Kingdome of God except that of Luke 24.42.43 where is mention of no Kingdome but of eating and drinking after Christs resurrection and if that be the Kingdome whereof our Saviour speakes ch 22.29 that Kingdome is come already Reply It might have been more for my purpose you say to have concealed this text Anâ— whâ— because you have nothing to sav to it that it makes â—he twelve tribes of Israel the persons iudged What doe you thinke then that in ouâ— Saviours Kingdome in the restored Kingdome of Israel there shall be no government or that it is a tâ—ken of the unrighteousnesse of a Kingdome to have governours in it Certainely unrightâ—â—uâ— Judges are a â—eady meanes to make a Kingdome unrighteous to make charity waxe cold and envy and comention grow hot But upright Judges are as effectuall a meanes to preserve rightâ—ousnesse in a Kingdome to cherish and streng then love and unitâ— and to chase away aâ—lâ—â—tâ—ed and dissention and how righteous then shall that Kingdome be where our Saviour himselse shall be King and the Diâ—ciples and other Saints gove nours under him And surely seeing the twelve Tribes of Isrrel cannot be taken for the reprobate nor for the Saints already departed and to depart or to overcome before our Saviours appâ—aring for those must be Judges as well as the Disciples as our Saviour himselfe doth testifie Rev. 3.21 To him that over cometh will I grant to sat with me in my Throne that is to have power over Nations as it is Râ—v 2.26 27. and to reigne on earth as it is Rev. 5.10 Seeing Isa the twelve Tribes of Israel can be taken for neither of these they must needes be taken for the Kingdome of Israel which is againe to be restored on earth where onely the glorified Saints can sit as Judges over others For in the new Jerusalem they are all to be partakers of the same glory though not of the same measure of glory they are all to have equall interest in the tree of life and river of life and therefore there shall neither be need of judging nor any temporall possessions and affaires to be judged of For the heavens and the earth that now are and all the creatures on the earth being to last no longer then the first death shall last shall be then all dissolved And those new ones mentioned Rev. 21.1 that new heaven I say from which and that new earth to which the new Jerusalem shall descend created in their place You tell us next that all the texts quoted on the margine speake of the Kingdome of God except that of Luke 24 42 43. where is mention of no Kingdome but of eating and drinking after Christs resurrection c. But doe not the other texts speake also of something to be done in the Kingdome of God as well as of the Kingdome of God Surely our Saviour saith Matth. 26.29 I say unto you that I will not drinke henceforth of the fruite of the Vine untill that day when I shall drinke it new with you in my Fathers Kingdome as it is Marke 14.25 in the Kingdome of God and Luke 22.15 he saith I have earnestly desired to eate this Passeover with you before I suffer for I say unto you Henceforth I will not eate of it any more untill it be fulfill'd in the Kingdome of God And he tooke the cup and gave thankes and said Take this and divide it among you for I say unto you I will not drinke of the fruite of the Vine untill the Kingdome of God be come Loe here is mention of eating and drinking too and that of our Saviours eating the Passeover and drinking wine againe with his Disciples but not untill the Kingdome of God be come And therefore unlesse you will deny that the Kingdome of God shall come you cannot deny that our Saviour and his Disciples shall again eate and drinke together nor consequently that the Kingdome of God is meant of our Saviours Kingdom on earth Of that Kingdome of which he said to his Disciples Luke 22.28 Yee are they which have continued with me in my temptations therefore I appoint unto you a Kingdome as my Father hath appointed unto me that ye may eate and drinke at my table in my Kingdome c. For where is a Lambe for the Passeover where growes the Vine but on earth and when could the Disciples eate the Passeover and drinke wine againe with our Saviour at his table but after the resurrection of their bodies And that text Luke 24.42.43 was quoted onely to shew that glorified bodies can eate and consequently that the denyall of this can be of no force against the proper sense of our Saviours words whose single affirmation of his eating and drinking with his Disciples after his next appearing ought to be of more account with us and to gaine more beliefe from us then all other mens negation of it And this selfe same Kingdome of our Saviour on earth is sometimes called the Kingdome of the
part of an earthly Kingdome rebelleth against the King directly and indirectly against his Sonne as a friend and heir of his Fathers Crowne the Sonne may undertake to regaine the rebels unto his Father and the Father may be well pleased to commit unto his Sonne that part of the Kingdome for that effect with full power which the Sonne accepts and reigneth and prevailes powerfully so that albeit the arch-traitour gain-stand in malice to the honour of the King and his Sonne yet many of the rebels are reconciled with the King who by this meanes regaineth his Kingdome So the Sonne of God hath undertaken for so many as it pleased him and beseecheth men to be reconciled with the King of heaven and earth shewing that he hath appeased the Fathers wrath and bath power to receive into and exclude from the Kingdome of heaven which power he hath received of the Father and he shewes that there is a time determined for receiving men into grace againe So that if that time shall expire there is no more grace to be shewed unto any Satan envieth the glory of God and mans reconciliation and therefore opposeth by deceiving some and vexing others who hearken unto the word of reconciliation neverthelesse Christ prevaileth by his preaching so that a great many repent and crave mercy and others not when the determined time comes these who have been received into mercy are presented unto God the Father and as if they had not rebelled he accepts them into his Kingdome when the Sonne saith Here am I and these whom I have brought into acknowledgement of their offences I have satisfied justice for them Thou O Father hast thine owne Subjects and let them have the Kingdome prepared for them The Father will not say thy reward is not in heaven but on earth therefore let them goe againe to the earth and inherit glory there for a 1000 years but receives them into the inheritance reserved for them in the heavens Reply This answer is as much besides the question as the other for the argument is That if Christ doth now reigne and shall reigne onely till his comming then those Saints which shall be found alive at his comming shall be exempted from his Kingdome shall not reigne with him as the Saints departed did reigne with him To which you say no more but this That they shall be caught up to meete him And besides seeing our Saviour is not to give up his Kingdome to his Father till after his next appearing and that the time of his reign is to be but a 1000 yeares it must needs follow according to your opinion that not onely all the Saints before his incarnation but that the Apostles themselves too and all the rest of the Saints that have been converted within the first six hundred yeares and upwards since his incarnation must be excluded from his Kingdome And yet doubtlesse both the Saints before Christs first comming and the Saints under the first ages of the Gospell have all reigned spiritually as well as the Saints since that time They have been conquerours I say over sin and over sufferings for obedience unto Christ in as eminent manner as any Saints since have been if not more eminently as in the 11 chap. to the Heb. the Acts of the Apostles and the Ecclesiasticall histories doe testifie And therefore that reigne of the Saints revealed in the 20 chap. of the Apoc. as a reigne to come and to be but of a 1000 yeares continuance must needs be meant of some other reigne and consequently of a proper and politick reigne on earth at the redemption of their bodies But lest the reader should take notice that you have nothing to say to these arguments you annexe unto your indirect answer a long discourse whereof that of the Apostle Rom. 5.19 As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous is the whole summe And in this discourse whâ—ch you call a clearing of the whole matter There are these notable passages For first you tell us that Adams revolting was a dimiâ—ution of the Fathers Kingdome whereas indeed it made way for the salvation of those whom God had predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ of which number not one was diminished by Adams apostasie for as many as God had purposed to save before mans fall somany and no more will he make heires with Christ will he make partakers of the Kingdome prepared for them from the beginning of the world Secondly you tell us That the bringing of the faithfull into the obedience of the Father is the rendring of the Kingdome unto him And so you make Christs reigne and the rendring of his Kingdome to the Father to be all one and to contemporate whereas the giving up of his Kingdome must needes succeede the time of his reigne for to cease from governing a Kingdome must needes presuppose a preceding government of it Yea and you your selfe say afterwards That when the determined time comes these who have beene received into mercy are presented unto God the Father when the Sonne saith Here I am and these whom I have brought into the acknowledgment of their offences I have satisfied justice for them Thou O Father hast thine owne Subjects and let them have the Kingdome prepared for them Wherein you plainely acknowledge that the rendring up of the Kingdome to the Father is to be when the number of the elect is fulfilled when these who have before been received into mercy are all presented unto God the Father with spotlesse and incorruptible bodies and soules Which is a flat contradicting of your former words to wit That the receiving of the faithfull into mercy that the bringing of them into the Fathers obedience at their conversion is the rendring of Christs Kingdome Thirdly you tell us That Adams revolting was a sinne directly against the Father Whereas the workes of power being chiefly attributed unto the Father the workes of wisedome unto the Sonne and of love unto the Holy Ghost The sinnes of infirmity and weakenesse are most direct against the first Person the sinnes of ignorance and unadvisednesse most direct against the second Person and the sinnes of wilfulnesse and malice most direct against the third Person And did Adam fall out of weakenesse when as all Divines agree he had ability to stand or out of ignorance when he knew that he did what he was forbid to doe or rather out of wilfulnesse when notwithstanding his power to have withstood temptation and his knowledge of the unlawfulnesse of the act he yet yeelded to doe what he should not have done Fourthly whereas the rebellion of mankinde against God is generall you compare it onely with the rebellion of a part of an earthly Kings Subjects Fifthly from this defective comparison you make Christ to reigne but over a part of his Fathers Kingdome whereas he is to deliver up a whole Kingdom to the Father and
Apostle directs us for an interpretation of these times that nothing appliable to our Saviours second comming as a comfortable effect is foreshewed by them all besides the pious and prosperous establishment of the Jewes in their owne land It necessarily followes first That this is meant by the times of refreshing c. And secondly That the prophecies touching this subject are properly and historically to be understood I say historically for what is a prophecy but an history of things to come as a Chronicle is an history of things past 3. Doubtlesse these words are plaine enough to a man of farre meaner capacity then you are And as I have said it once so I dare say it againe That as the Prophets speake not more of any one thing then they doe of the redemption and restauration of the Jewes so nought which can be applied to our Saviours second comming as a comfortable effect is foreshewed by them all but this Which last words you purposely misapprehend that you might have somewhat to say For whereas I have said onely That there is no comfortable effect belonging to Christs second comming which all the Prophets have foreshewed but this You make me say that none of the Prophets have spoken of any other thing that can be applied to our Saviours comming but this And then you bring an instance out of Dan. 12.1 2. Where you say is mention of the great Prince of great trouble even to the time of deliverance and then awaking of some not for a space of time but to everlasting life and of others at the same time unto shame and everlasting contempt But surely as the matter of the first Parenthesis is not affirmed by us so the contents of the last are but a false glosse For though the Prophet saith That many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt yet he saith not that all these shall life at the same particular time And the first verse which shewes that the great Prince shall stand for the children of Daniels people and that they shall at that time be delivered every one that shall be found written in the booke that is That God hath appionted to be delivered doth plainly intimate that the Jewes shall be then greatly hated and oppressed by other Nations as the two last verses of the preceding chapter compared with Rev. 16.12 13 14 16. and with the 7 chap. of this prophecy and other prophecies doe plentifully declare and consequently it doth foretell that which we affirme to be meant by the timer of refreshing to wit the deliverance of the Jewes of Daniels people both from their spirituall and bodily bondage For why else is the deliverance of the Jewes onely spoken of who have so long been and still are captives both to unbeliefe and to other Nations strangers to Christ and to their owne countrey And whereas you tell us That the restoring of the Kingdome of Israel was so often revealed by the Prophets rather to keepe the Jewes from the distrust of our Saviours comming then to comfort them against the losse of their bodily liberty and native inheritance Doubtlesse it was rather for this then for the other seeing they did reveale also many particular prophecies touching our Saviours incarnation which revelations did more directly confirme their beliefe of Christs comming then those touching the deliverance of their posterity and the restoring of their Kingdome to them could And seeing you confesse here That the prophecies touching the restoring of Jerusalem and that Kingdome did concerne the Common-wealth of Israel which was afterwards destroyed You doe herein apparently admit of that proper sense of the prophecies which you have before so much opposed For the destruction of a temporall Kingdome cannot be repaired but by the regaining of that freedome and command which it formerly enjoyed And yet you presently recall this for having said That howsoever that Kingdome shall be ruined yet it shall be restored you adde immediately And all Nations shall by the preaching of the Jewes come into the obedience of Christ and so receive lawes from the Jewes as being captives unto them whose captives they might be for a time So that you speake forward and backward all in a breath and are as one in the midst of a bog who knowes not where to fixe his foote For first you grant that the Kingdome of whose restauration the Prophets write so much was the temporall Kingdome of the Jewes and by and by you make the restoring of this temporall Kingdome to be the converting of the Gentiler by the preaching of the Gospell which is a very ridiculous impossibility And as this your inconstancy so your expression is observable for first though you understand that which you speak of to be already past yet you deliver it in the future tence and as hereafter to be fulfilled And secondly you say That the Nations shall by the preaching of the Jewes become captives unto them But surely the state of grace is very unfitly termed a captivity seeing it brings with it the greatest freedome the freedom of the conscience For where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.17 And if the calling of men to the faith of Christ should make them captives I pray what will become of the spirituall reigne of the Saints which is all the reigning that you allow them under Christ And besides the Prophets words That the Jewes shall possesse the Gentiles in the land of the Lord for servants and for handmaides that they shall take them captives whose captives they were and shall rule over their oppressours doe plainely shew that the Gentiles shall be captives to the Jewes in the like manner as the Jewes were to the Gentiles to wit by a bodily subjection and captivity which cannot be while the Jewes themselves remaine captives under the Gentiles And therefore we doe truely imagine that the faithfull did expect and the Prophets in their revelations touching Jerusalem and that Kingdome to be restored did speake of a Monarchy on earth Neither doth this imagination contradict any testimony of the Apostles touching the expectation of the faithfull before Christs incarnation For who will say that this antecedent of S. Paul Heb. 11.14 15 16. The Patriarches Abraham Isaac and Iacob did in their corruptible condition when they lived as strangers and pilgrimes on the earth desire a better countrey that is an heavenly for so the Apostle interprets himself and not as you doe will beare this consequence Therefore when they shall rise in incorruption they shall not reigne on earth a 1000 yeares Or that this proposition of Saint Peter 1 Epist chap. 1. ver 9. c. The beleeving Jewes did by faith in Christ receive the salvation of their soules of which salvation when it should be purchased by the sufferings of Christ and when conferred upon the whole Nation of
2 Tim. 4. may not be forgotten I charge thee saith he before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quicke and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdome For why should Christs appearing and his Kingdome be joyned together yea why should his Kingdome be added as the end of his appearing unlesse both were to contemporate unlesse his Kingdome were to begin at his appearing not before it Mr. Petrie's Answer The mentioning these two together and in that order doth no more import such a beginning then the end of glory is the beginning of vertue because the Apostle saith in the same order he hath called us unto glory and vertue 2 Pet. 1.3 howbeit glory be named before vertue glory is after vertue Reply Although the end doth alwayes precede the means to the end in the intention and in this text of Saint Peter in the expression also yet as we say not that Christs appearing is the like medium to his Kingdome as vertue is to honour so we deny that the order of Saint Pauls words in 2 Tim. 4.1 is like to this of Saint Peters and that our Saviours appearing is the end for which he is to reigne For that our Saviour is to reigne that he may appeare there is no scripture to testifie but that he is to appeare that he may reigne not onely this text of Saint Paul but many prophecies doe witnesse as that of Zech. 14.4 c. which shews that he shall reigne on earth after his comming with the Saints And that Rev. 11.15 which shews that at the time of his descending the Kingdoms of this world are to become his and that Rev. 19 which shewes in what manner the Kingdomes of this world are to become his to wit by destroying the Kings and mighty men on the earth in battell and giving their flesh to the fowles of heaven And that Rev. 20.2 3. which shewes that after these Kings are thus destroyed and their Kingdomes obtained Christ shall shut up Satan in the bottomlesse pit the space of a 1000 yeares And lastly that propheticall parable Luke 19 11. c. which was purposely spoken against the false opinion of the Iewes who even generally thought that Christs Kingdome should immediately appeare For it declares plainely that the Nobleman went into a farre countrey not to reigne but to receive a Kingdome and to returne and that when he was returned and had received his Kingdome he gave to one servant authority over ten cities and to another over five c. And 〈◊〉 those that would not that he should reigne over them and is not this all one as if he had said that he was not to reigne then whilest he was among them as they expected nor in the time of his absence from them in heaven but when he should returne to them againe from heaven And besides that our Saviours Kingd me is to beginne at his appearing and not before and so according to the order of the Apostles words it is evident in that it is said Who shall judge the quicke and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdome Where by the judging of the quicke and the dead which necessarily followes his appearing is shewed to be his imployment in his Kingdome The judging I say of his enemies that would not that he should reigne over them by a temporall but terrible destruction at the beginning of his Kingdome as the foresaid parable and the prophecies of Zech. 14. and Iohn 19. and others doe declare And the judging of his Subjects by a civill judgement in the time of his reigne as the same parable likewise and the Thrones of judgement promised to his Disciples and to them that overcome and all the Prophecies of his and the Saints reigne on earth doe manifest And the judging againe of his rebellious subjects by a temporall but totall destruction when his 1000 yeares peacefull reigne is expired as the Prophecy Rev. 20.7 8 9. doth shew And lastly his judging of all both good and bad at the delivering up of his Kingdome to God even the Father at the last resurrection of the dead when he shall pronounce the definitive sentence of a perfect and compleate salvation to the one part to the elect and of a perfect and compleat condemnation to the other part to the reprobate According as it is largely exprest Matth. 25.32 c. and as it is implyed Rev. 20.15 in these words And whosoever was not found written in the booke of life was cast into the lake of fire Israel's Redemption And to my seeming that propheticall image in the 2 of Dan. ver 13. which represented both the orderly succession and diverse condition of all the then following Kingdoms of this world unto the Kingdome of Christ shadowed there unto us by the stone that was cut out without hands doth give good light to this of Saint Paul For in what manner those Kingdomes have succeeded each other in the like manner is the Kingdome of Christ to succeede them as appears by the same phrase of speech which is attributed as well to the setting up of this Kingdome as to any of them to wit That it shall breake in peeces and consume all those Kingdomes Ver. 34 35 44 45. And therefore seeing these words are meant of a conquest and succession by force of Armes in all the former Kingdomes how can they be otherwise understood in this of Christ which is to succeed them all as they have succeeded each other both in time and place as ver 35. doth fully declare Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. In the seeming of many millions that image doth not signifie a temporall Monarchy of the Jewes which is the point in hand and the seeming of so many contrary to the seeming of one might satisfie for all that long discourse following neverthelesse I adde albeit these foure Kingdomes did succeed one another yet the Kingdome of Christ did not succeed or was the last of them or after them in time for it is written ver 41. In the dayes of these Kings not after them shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdome which shall never be destroyed and it shall breake in peeces the iron the brasse the clay silver and gold It shall breake the silver and the gold then it shall be before the brasse and the iron And of what King can that be understood but of Christ who saith Isai 10.12 I will punish the stout heart of the King of Assyria and chap. 37.29 Because of thy rage against me I will put my hooke in thy nose c. 2. Whereas it is alledged that the 35. ver doth fully declare that succession in time and place certainely the 35. ver is not contrary to the 44. ver which shewes plainely that this Kingdome shall be in the dayes of these Kings and breake them in peeces and therefore these words shall breake them in peeces signifie a conquest by power but neither by succession in time nor
armes but this that ver 35. is not contrary to ver 44. And doubtlesse it is not nor ver 44. to such a setting up of our Saviours Kingdome as we hold For whereas you say That this Kingdome shall be set up in the dayes of these Kings and not after them It is as if you had told us That a King cannot overcome and succeed other Kings in their Kingdomes while they reigne but after their reigne When as indeed they cannot lose their Kingdomes but while they have them but in the dayes of their reigne and not after them And so you have not yet shewed us any reason why this phrase It shall breake in peeces and consume these Kingdomes should not as well be taken properly when it is attributed to the setting up of our Saviours Kingdome as when it is attributed to the setting up of the other Kingdomes And therefore we have still good reason to beleeve that the forcible and destroying fall of the stone upon the image doth betoken no lesse then a conquest and succession by force of armes Israel's Redemption And as the falling of the stone upon the feete of the image upon the last and divided Kingdomes of the iron Empire doth probably imply Mr. Petrie's Answer The dreame implyeth nothing contrary to the exposition and therefore leave probabilities that are contrary to certainties Reply Doubt lesse the dreame implyeth nothing contrary to the exposition but both dreame and exposition doe point out our Saours personall reigne on earth For the confirmation and manifestation of which truth we bring not probabilities onely but certainties too yea such certainties as all your wit and wilinesse are not able to answer or obscure and therefore me thinks you have no cause to be offended with such variety of testimonies And had I said also that this which I called onely a probability had been more then a probability I had not overlasht For seeing God by this image foreshewed Nebuchadnezzar what Kingdoms should succeed his unto the second comming of Christ all which time the Jewes should remaine captives and tributaries And that the falling of the stone on the feete of the image did intimate both the second appearing of Christ for the first was when he was borne of a Virgine when he was cut out without hands and the expiration of the time allotted to the Kingdomes represented by the image It necessarily followes that when the stone should fall on the image when the Kingdome of God should be set up as it is expounded the Kingdoms prefigured by the image should be no longer should all be subdued and that the mountaine filling the whole earth the visible and Monarchicall Kingdome of Christ on earth should succeed alone Israel's Redemption For if the Kingdome of God there spoken of were to be understood of a Kingdome which should so be set up in the dayes of these Kings that their reigne should notwithstanding continue together with it as not onely these but all former Kingdomes also have done with the Church militant with the Kingdome of grace which therefore cannot be the Kingdome there foreshewne then doubtlesse it should have been represented by some part of the image it selfe as the contemporating Kingdomes of the divided Empire are by the mixture of iron and clay and not by a thing so different from it and adverse unto it by a stone I say so wonderfull for its beginning operation and encrease For it was cut out without hands and when it had smote the image became a great mountaine and filled the whole earth Which the Churches as yet never did whose fall and growth too as they import a more powerfull speedy and generall conquest over these Kingdomes by this Kingdome then either the gold received from the silver the silver from the brasse or the brasse from the iron so they imply the utter extirpation and totall abolition of that manner of policy and government which these Kingdomes have usâ—d of which it is said That they became like the chaffe of the Summer threshing-flores and the winde carried them away that no place was found for them ver 35. And with this sense of the interpretation of the vision very well a greeth that in the second Psalme ver 8. Aâ—ke of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession Thou shalt break them with a rod r Rev. 2.27 ch 19.15 of iron thou shalt dash them in peeces like a potters vessel And that in Psal 110.2 The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion rule thou in the midst of thine enemies The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath He shall judge among the heathen he shall fill the placer with dead bodies he shall wound the heads over many Countries He shall drinke of the brooke in the way therefore shall he lift up the head Yea and that too in Psal 149.2 Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the children of Zion be joyfull in their King Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people To binde their 1 Sam. 1.9.10 Psal 47. Psal 99. Kings in chaines and their Nobles in fetters of iron to exâ—eute upon them the judgement written This bonour have all his Saints Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. Then teach God hâ—w he should eveale his will 2. It is revealed in expcesse words ver 44.3 There was reason to expresse it by a different thing because the foure were of one quality and this was of another quality My Kingdome saith he is not of this world John 18.36 It is more wonderfull more powerfull and more generall then any of them and all the Kings who will not serve this King shall perish he shall breake them with a rod of iron Psal 2.8 he shall strike them through in his wrath Psal 110 5. and binde them with chaines and their Nobles with fetters of iron Psal 149.8 Reply 1. We leave this presumption to your selfe who have so boldly told God what is most for his glory pag. 15 16. and what is most to the praise of his mercy and bountifulnesse pag. 68. 2. It is revealed in expresse words ver 44. That God shall set up a Kingdome in the dayes of these Kings But not that these Kings and the Kingdomes which God shall set up are to continue together Yea the Kingdome of God could not breake in peeces these Kingdomes could not succeed them by conquest unlesse they should be in the possession of their severall Kings when the Kingdome of God is thus to be set up And seeing these Kingdomes are to be broken in peeces are to be consumed by the Kingdome which God shall set up how can you once imagine that their conversion and not their confusion that their instruction and not destruction that
their mending and not their ending I meane onely in respect of their former distinct titles and governments should hereby be meant Certainely you cannot finde in all the scripture nor in any humane writer such a signification of these words And as for the Christian beleefe it doth not alter the form of civill government in any Nation But be it Democraticall Aristocraticall or Monarchicall it agrees alike with all of them Yea it consisted in the primitive times with the profession of Pagans and doth now consist in the Eâ—sterne Churches in the religion of the Mahometans so farre is it in its purity and integrity from teaching us to disturbe the peace of any Kingdome to seeke I say the suppression and removeall of the government or religion thereof by outward violence by the helpe of the sword And therefore it cannot be said of the preaching of the Christian faith that it breakes in peeces and consumes the Kingdâ—mes in which it is profest 3. There was reason you say to expresse the Kingdome of God ver 44. by a thing different from the image because the foure Kingdomes were of one quality and this of another But doubtlesse as the four were no more of one quality then gold silver brasse and iron are all of one quality so though they were all of different qualities from this yet this could not be the reason wherefore the Kingdome of God ver 44. was represented by no part of the image but by a thing different from it For if notwithstanding their different qualities they had been to continue together as you say they might notwithstanding this difference of qualities have been represented together also as well as the contemporating Kingdomes of the divided Empire are by the mixture of iron and clay but the reason was because the setting up of this Kingdome should be the beginning of a new world of a world in which all the Kingdomes on earth should make but one Kingdome under Christ when once the time comprehended by the image should be at an end as it is said ver 35. Then was the iron the clay the brasse the silver and the gold broken in peeces together and became like the chaffe of the Summers threshing-flores and the winde carried them away that no place was found for them And the stone that smote the image became a great mountaine and filled the whole earth And againe ver 44. But it shall breake in peeces and consume all these Kingdomes and it not it with any other but it alone shall stand for ever And that text John 18.36 My Kingdome is not of this world doth helpe also to confirme this for it either points out unto us the time of our Saviours reigne or the authority by which he is to reigne And so is as if he had either said thus My Kingdome is not to be now in the time of this world in the time before my next appearing but hereafter in the time of that world to come spoken of Psal 8. that is at the time of my appearing againe when all creatures shall be actually put in subjection unto me Or thus My Kingdome that is the authority by which I must reigne is not from hence is not to be given unto me of the world that is of men but I am to have it from God I am to fetch it from him and to come againe as it is in the parable Luke 19.11 c. and in this sense the expression agrees very well with that Querie Matth. 21.25 The baptisme of John whence was it from heaven or of men And besides all this the Kingdome of grace of which you understand the Kingdome which the God of heaven should set up ver 44. was set up at the first promise of Christ as you confesse pag. 9. and so was in the world even from the beginning whereas that Kingdome ver 44. was then to come when this vision was revealed to Nebuchadnezzar And if you say that the Kingdome ver 44. did represent the Kingdome of grace as it was to be set up amongst the Gentiles at the preaching of the Gospell to them after our Saviours ascension Surely it was set up thus also before the division of the Romane Empire and therefore it cannot in this sense be the Kingdome meant in ver 44. which was to be set up after the division of the Empire and when some of the Kingdomes into which it was divided should be Christian or rather Protestant Kingdomes as these words ver 43. doe intimate And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men but they shall not cleave one to another even as iron is not mixed with clay And in the dayes of these Kings to wit of these amongst whom some that are Christian or Protestant Princes shall mingle themselves with the seed of men shall joyne themselves in marriage with unbeleeving or misbeleeving Princes shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdome which shall never be destroyed And at the setting up of this Kingdome it is that the contents of Psal 2.8 and of Psal 110.2 c. and of Psal 149.2 c. which agree so well with the breaking of the image in peeces shall be accomplished And if their very expression doth not sufficiently declare that they are properly to be understood yet certainely all the prophecies which foreshew the Gentiles subjection to the Jewes doe render it unquestionable Israel's Redemption And that nought else is meant by the world to come in Heb 2.5 but this Kingdome of our Saviour it is evident by the authority there alledged out of Psal 8. which prophecy is therefore made use of by the Apostle as a plaine proofe that Christs manhood is exalted above the chiefest of the Angels because it shewes that it is to Christ as man and not to any of the Angels that God hath put in subjection the world to come Mr. Petrie's Answer None denyeth it Reply If none denieth that the Kingdome of our Saviour is to be in the time of the world to come why doe you so much condemne us for beleeving this truth and why also doe you affirme flat against this truth that it is now in this present world Israel's Redemption And if there be yet a world which is to be put in subjection to Christ as man then it must needes be a distinct world from that in t 1 Cor. 15.24.28 Rev. 21.3 which as man he shall give up the Kingdome to his Father Mr. Petrie's Answer The Kingdome or the World whereof the Apostle speakes there was then to come not in respect of Christ but of the Apostle for he meaneth the Kingdome of heaven as appeares by these words whereof we speake which have relation to the words preceding ver 3. If we neglect so great salvation where he opponeth the Evangelicall promises unto the typicall promises these was an earthly Canaan and this is heaven Christ at the time of writing this
one in Christ with the beleeving Iew was he not so before Christs incarnation as well as since was he not Abrahams seed before as well as since was he not heire according to the promise before as well as since What hinders then but that the Iewes may notwithstanding this spirituall union and fellowship with the beleeving Gentiles be as heretofore so at their generall conversion againe advanced above all other Nations by many not onely outward favours and priviledges but by a greater measure of inward gifts and abilities also Israel's Redemption Neither was the Temple then destroyed but afterwards and therefore the things here spoken of are all to be accomplished at his second comming and that not in heaven but on earth On earth I say and in e Isai 33.20 chap. 50. ver 1 2 3.9 10. Jerusalem where f Psal 122 5. Davids Throne was For his feete shall stand in that day towit when he comes or if God himselfe be here by an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 figuratively described when he brings him to receive his appointed Kingdome on the Mount of Olives which is before Ierusalem on the East from which Mount our Saviour ascended and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the East and toward the West and there shall be a very great valley and halfe the mountaine shall remove toward the North and halfe of it toward the South And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountaines for the valley of the mountaines shall reach unto Azal yea ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the Earthquake in the dayes of Uzziah King of Judah And the Lord my God shall come and all the g Iu dc ver 14 15. Rev. 19.11 12 13 14 15 16. Saints with theâ— And it shall come to passe in that day that the light shall not be cleare nor darke but it shall be one day which shall be knowne to the Lord not day nor night but it shall come to passe that at evening time it shall be light And it shall be in that day that h Psal 46.4 Eze. 47.1 c. Incl 3.8 living waters shall goe out from Jerusalem halfe of them toward the former sea and halfe of them toward the hinder sea In Summer and in Winter shall it be and the Lord shall be King over all the earth In that day shall there be one Lord and his Name one All the Land shall be turned as a plaine from Gebâ— to Rimmon South of Ierusalem and it shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place from Benjamins gate unto the place of the first gate unto the corner gate and from the Tower of Hananiel unto the Kings wine-presses And men shall dwell in it and there shall be no more utter destruction but Ierusalem shall be safely inhabited Zech. 14.4 c. Mr. Petrie's Answer Christ said Destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it up againe Tâ—en said the Iewes Forty and sixe yeares was this Temple in building and wilt thou reare it up againe in three dayes but he spake of the Temple of his body saith the Evangelist Iohn 2.19 So the true Temple is Christs body which the Iewes destroyed and be raised it up againe and in this sense the Disciples did beleeve the Scriptures after the resurrection of Christ ver 22. And therefore the things spoken in these Scriptures are accomplished at his first comming not onely in heaven but on earth according to the different portions thereof In heaven and on earth I say and in true Ierusalem and on the true Throne of David for his feete stood in that day to wit when he went to receive the fuller accomplishment of his Kingdome on the Mount of Olives which is by Ierusalem on the East from which also he ascended and the Mount of Oliver hath been eloven in the midst thereof toward the East and toward the Wâ—st when not onely the members of the Church but all the world was shaken at the powerfull preaching of the Gospell even more gloriously then at the giving of the Law Heb. 12.26 So that nothing could hinder the course thereof And the Iewes have fled to that valley of the mountaines when they did imbrace the Gospell which is low in worldly mens esteeme and of high esteeme before God Aâ—d the valley of the mountaines hath reached unto Azal For the preaching of the Gospell hath been an excellent stone marke shewing the righ way as it is exponed 1 Sam. 20.19 on the mâ—rgine of the late translation to the Kingdome of heaven Yea they have fled like as they did flee from before the earth quake in the dayes of Vzziâ—h King of Iâ—dah to wit they have been astonishâ—d at the wonderfulnesse of Gods workes And the Lord hath come And so forth as it followes in Zach. 14. where he showes the perpetuall light of the glorious Gospell ver 6 7. and the continuall flowing of the wholesome waters in the Kingdome of Christ ver 9 8. and the removing of all impediments for the security of the elects conversion and salvation You see here that our Saviour câ—me not onely to conquer death which is the last enemy that he shall destroy and therefore not to be dâ—stroyed till the last resurrection but also to take the Kingdomes of the world unto himselfe and hath made them all acknowledge his authority and hath put downe all contrary power and authority for all Nations have praised Christ and given laud unto him Rom. 14.9 10.11 That there is one shepheard and one sheepfold that the Dominions Kingdomes and greatnesse of the Kingdomes under the whole Heaven have been possessed by the People and Saints of the most High that is as the Gospell hath expaned it by the faithfull Israel Rom. 14.12 bowbeit all hath not been possessed at the same period of time Reply Was everscripture more apparently wrested more impertinently alledged Behold saith Zechariah theman whose name is the Branch and he shall grow up out of his place and he shall build the Temple of the Lord even he shall build the Temple of the Lord c. chap. 6. ver 12. This is the prâ—pâ—ecy and your interpretation this Christ said Destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it up againe c. John 2.19 An intergreâ—ation doubtlesse as wide from the sense of the Prophet as the Iewes apprehension was from the meaning of our Saviours words For shew us where the Temple of the Lord is in all the old Testament which was then all the scripture taken in any other sense then for the house of Gods worship at Ierusalem Or the building of the Temple of the Lord in any other sense then for the building of that Temple Yea looke but into the 14 and 15 verses immediately following and it is unquestionable that the same words are there taken for the Temple of the Lord in Ierusalem And besides seeing the Prophets shew so plainely that our
possible that they can be fulfilled both in heaven and earth as you say Israel's Redemption And although it be said that Christ shall reigne over the house of Jacob for ever and that of his Kingdome there shall be no end Yet it is not meant that he shall alwayes reigne as man or that the earthly Jerusalem the place of his Throne as man shall alwayes stand But this onely is meant that the Kingdome of the Saints which Christ as he is man shall governe a m Isai 65.22 long time on earth shall after the judgement of the dead at which time this heaven and earth shall passeaway be delivered up to God even the Father in the new Jerusalem where it shall ever remaine and where God shall be all in all yet so that Christ too as man shall still retaine the dignity and preheminence of a King a Priest a Prophet though he shall have no need to make use of either office And thus a late and learned n Mr. Downe on the 17. ch of St. Ioh. pag. 157. of his Treatises published 1633. Divine of ours doth reconcile the former words of Saint Luke in chap. 1. ver 33. with that of Saint Paul in 1 Cor. 15.24.28 We are to know saith he that the Kingdome of Christ containeth in it two things The mediatory function of his Kingly office and his Kingly glory That he shall lay a side for then to wit after the judgement of the dead there will be no further necessity nor use thereof But this be shall hold for ever as being by the acts of his mediation justly acquired and according to covenant bestowed upon him by his Father And furthermore it may be observed that the words o Psal 72.17 Psal 89.28 29.36.37 Psal 145.13 Isa 32.14.15 ch 60 15. Ezek. 37.25 For ever Evermore and Everlasting are in the Scriptures often joyned with and put for these and the like sayings Through all or many generations through all ages or as long as the Sun and Moone endure And therefore can conclude no more but this That Christs reigne as man shall continue as long as there shall be men to succeed each other on the earth or as long as this heaven and earth shall last that is untill the time which God hath fore-ordained for the judgement of the dead When the heavens that are now p Rev. 20.11 Ch. 21.1 shall passe away with a noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heate the earth also and the workes that are therein shall be burnt up 2 Pet. 3.10 And to this purpose when the Prophet Daniel had said His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not passe away he addes presently by way of exposition And his Kingdome that which shall not be destroyed And in another place more plainely The q Ch. 2.44 Kingdome shall not be left to other people So that when the Prophets say that Christ shall reigne for ever and that his Kingdome shall stand for ever or be an everlasting Kingdome it is all one as if they had told us onely That neither Christ nor his Kingdome shall have any successours that no sonne of man shall succeed him in his Throne that no humane Kingdome shall beset up in the place of his Kingdome as his shall be in the place of the foure Monarchies but that in spight of all opposition both of men and devils hiâ— dominion shall endure untill the upshot and period of all temporall and humane government that is untill the last resurrection when with a venite benedicti he shall give up the number of the elect full and whole as we say unto God himselfe Mr. Petrie's Answer They will change the signification of the words when they please and so farre as it makes for their purpose and no more but when they shall prove by scripture that the earthly Jerusalem shall be the place of Christs Throne we may agree upon the exposition of the words for ever and shall be no end and till that be shewne I omit further enquiry of them but as yet we have seene neither necessary consequence nor evident expression for it Followes another point that the restauration of Jerusalem and resurrection shall concurre Reply Here is the accusation but where is the evidence to confirme it doubtlesse you sought narrowly but could finde none And therefore the reader may first take notice how for want of proofe against us you confute your selfe For they will change the signification of the words you say when they please c. And a little after till that be shewne I omit further enquiry of the words How further enquiry did you then enquire of them if you did where are your reasons to shew that we have changed the fignification of the words if you did not enquire or enquired in vaine how can you tell that we have changed their fignification would you say that we have when you could not tell yea you would doe worse then this for you say we have done it although you know we have not done it For we have quoted on the margine no lesse then seven texts to shew that the words for ever and everlasting c. are in the scripture taken as well in a limited as in an unlimitedsense they are these Psal 72.17 Psal 89.28 29. and againe ver 36 37. Psal 145.13 Isai 32.14.15 and 60.50 Ezek. 37.25 in all which places the foresaid words are taken onely for a long time And shall the reader beleeve that you who doe so frequently catch at the marginall quotations in other places did not see these here doubtlesse you saw them and saw so much in them that you could say nothing to them And besides doe you not your selfe allow of the same fignification of these words when as you tell us That Christ as Mediatour shall cease to reigne shall deliver up the administration of the Kingdome to his Father saying Thou O Father hast thine owne Subjects and let them have the Kingdome prepared for them pag. 46 For that which is delivered up is already past And whereas you say Thâ—t we may agree on the exposition of the words for ever c. when it can be proved by scripture that the earthly Jerusalem shall be the place of Christs Throne Hath not this been done more then once then shew us what scripture speakes more plainely of any thing then Jer. 31.38 39 40. and Zech. 14.10 11. doe of the building and inhabiting againe of Jerusalem Or then the foresaid prophecy of the Angel Gabriel Luke 1.31 32. c. and of Isai 9.6 7. and of Jer. 23.5 6 doe of our Saviours reigning on earth and upon the Throne of his Father David Or then many other doe some particularly of his reigning over the Jewes and some of his reigning over the Gentiles and some of his reigning over both Surely you can shew no text in which any truth is more clearely delivered then all this is in the texâ—s
our Saviours appearing neither hath nor can have any truth in it And lastly as for the contents of your parenthesis certainely we doe not imagine that the raised Saints the Saints which the Lord shall bring with him whom alone Rev. 20.4 doth concerne shall not live throughout the whole space of a 1000 yeares reigne for we know that they can dye no more after their resurrection But we beleeve that the converted Jewes and all the Gentiles that are left to wit after the extraordinary destruction which for their generall opposing the Jewes shall light on them at our Saviours appearing we beleeve I say that these and their posterity shall live in the like mortall condition as we doe now though they shall live much longer then we doe now Israel's Redemption And lastly The reigne of Christ doth not beginne till Antichrist is destroyed so that a metaphoricall interpretation of the first resurrection would make good this conclusion That most of the Saints shall rise many hundred yeares before their reigne there being no lesse distance of time betwixt the houre of their calling and Antichrists confusion Mr. Petrie's Answer I have before made it cleare that Christs Kingdome is already begun for he reigneth in the midst of his enemies not onely by his power over-ruling disappointing and turning all their plots upon their owne pates but also in comforting the hearts of the godly so that they are a terrour to the whole earth even to their enemies who are many times more afraide at the prayers of the godly then at the cannons of other enemies and subdue the spirits of the world and binde Kings in chaines stronger then iron And therefore that assertion falleth The reigne of Christ beginneth not till Antichrist be destroyed and that absurdity following that assertion is falsely imputed to that interpretation Reply You have before alledged Psal 110. to shew that Christ doth now reigne in the midst of his enemies and we have shewed that that prophecy is not to be fulfilled untill he comes from the right hand of his Father and therefore you have onely said and not proved that Christs Kingdome is already begun And That he doth now by his divine power over-rule and dispose of the actions of men and by his Spirit comfort the hearts of the godly is nothing to the question in hand For thus he governed the whole world and his Church in the world as much before his incarnation as he hath done since But the prophecies which foreshew our Saviours Kingdome on earth doe clearely manifest that he is to reigne over the world in the same manner as temporall Kings doe over their Subjects to wit visibly and civilly that in the time of his Kingdome I say the acts of his government are to be the immediate acts of his manhood onely although they proceede originally from his Godhead And surely this Kingdome is not yet begun nor shall beginne till Antichrist be destroyed and consequently the foresaid absurdity touching the great distance betwixt the rising and reigning of the Saints doth inevitably follow upon the spirituall interpretation of the first resurrection And whereas you say That the enemies of the godly are many times more afraide of their prayers then at the cannons of other enemies you herein contradict experience it selfe for what doe the Mahometans or any Pagan Nations regard the prayers of Christians whose very faith they account foolishnesse or what doe persecuting Christians themselves regard the prayers of the persecuted whom they thinke to be worthily punished by them doubtlesse they are no more afraide of them then Saint Paul was when through a mistaken zeale he was so exceedingly madde against them that he punished them in every Synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme persecuted them to strange cities And therefore though the prayers of the righteous may prevaile very much with God for their owne and their enemies good or for the disappointing of their enemies devices and attempts yet certainely their enemies can neither see nor regard this unlesse God open their eyes as he did Saint Pauls to behold the perversnesse of their own wayes and the innocency and uprightnesse of them whom they so much despise Israel's Redemption The assumption is grounded on Rev. 11.15 which shewes that till the time of the seventh Trumpet with the beginning whereof the last viall doth concurre The Kingdomes of * The Kingdomes of this world It is not said The Kingdome of heaven to wit of the third heaven the incorruptible habitation of Saints and Angels or of another world I say of another in substance But the Kingdomes of this world that is this world which is now shall till then be divided into many Kingdomes shall wholly become Christs and be made by him one heavenly Kingdome a Kingdome in which men shall live after an heavenly estate and condition a Kingdome in which Gods Will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven For seeing that cannot possibly become any mans possession which doth utterly cease to be what other construction can be given of these words but this that the government of all the Kingdomes of the world is hereafter to be taken into Christs owne hands as he is man And indeede how else should they then become his after such a manner as they are not now his if not by a subiection to his manbood for as he is God they were alwayes his and all will grant that this Scripture doth plaincly foreshew a deposing of all the Kings of the earth at the accomplishment thereof A deposing of them I say in such a way that their Kingdomes may become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ which cannot be by abolishing and dissolving the earth on which they must reigne but may and shall be by subduing and conquering them and the Kingdomes over which they must reigne this world doe not become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ Mr. Petrie's Answer The assumption he would say assertion but it is marked before the Author is no Logician is grounded on Rev. 11.15 the words are The Kingdomes of this world are become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ Here it is not said Our Lord and his Christ shall not reigne till this time but this is all that the wâ—rds import Now is no Kingdome but our Lords and bis Christs And if it be objected It is no where said so of Christs reigne till this time of the seventh trumpet and therefore it cannot be true that our Lord and his Christ doe reigne till then I answer ye have heard before that in the midst of these Kingdomes doth Christ reâ—gne even among them and over them But all their Kingdomes shall be utterly destroyed and his Kingdome shall be for ever and ever saith John and therefore not for a thousand yeares onely Now if we lay together what is said of the Iewes reigne here and this answer we shall likewise see the vanity
of that observation on the margine upon these cited words which is It is not said the Kingdome of heaven to wit of the third heaven or of another world I say of another in substance but the Kingdomes of this world that is which is now and shall till then be divided into many Kingdomes shall wholly become Christs and be made by him one heavenly Kingdome c. For if we remember what is said that here Iohn speakes of the Kingdome of our Lord and of his Christ he speaks not of the Kingdome of the Iewes on earth seeing he makes a distinction of two persons our Lord and his Christ that is the Father and the Sonne and that Kingdome is for ever and ever Reply As little Logicke as the Authour hath left he can tell that Assertion is not a logicall but thetoricall terme And he doth remember also that in the schooles where he was bred they were wont to call the minor proposition the Assumption as he hath done here and can make it evident by this syllogisme If the reigne of Christ as man doth not beginne till Antichrist is destroyed then the spirituall interpretation of the first resurrection doth make most of the Saints to rise many hundred yeares before their reigne But the reigne of Christ as man doth not beginne till Antichrist is destroyed Therefore c. Now what will you call this minor proposition will you call it an Assertion or an Assumption if an Assertion you call it as no Logician calls it if an Assumption then why may not I call it so too without any offence to the learned in Logicke Your answer followes in which you say It is not said here our Lord and his Christ shall not reigne till this time But this is all the words import now is no Kingdome but our Lords and his Christs And surely this comment is a great deale more obscure then the text For if you meane onely that at the accomplishment of this prophecy there shall be no Kingdome over which the Lord and his Christ shall not reigne this is no more then what you affirme to be done by our Lord and his Christ already for you say That at this present time Christ reigneth in the midst of these Kingdomes even among them and over them But you must needes acknowledge a difference betwixt his reigning over them now and his reigning over them then or else you make this prophecy to be no prophecy to foreshew nothing at all And wherein can this difference consist but in his reigning over these Kingdomes hereafter in his humane nature which he doth now over rule only by â—is divine providence for if by your foresaid words you should mean that at the accomplishment of this prophecy there shall be no Kingdom but a spirituall Kingdome which is all the Kingdomes you will allow Christ this is not onely contrary to the light of the text but of reason it selfe For there can be no spirituall Kingdome on earth unlesse there be withall a temporall a civill Kingdome in which it may be setup And the text speakes not of spirituall Kingdomes but of temporall for it saith The Kingdomes of this world that is the temporall and civill Kingdomes which the Kings of this world doe reigne over These Kingdomes it saith be they the Kingdomes of Christian or of heathen Princes shall become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ that is shall by the Lord be put under the government of his Christ as he is man And therefore the Kingdomes themselves shall not be then utterly destroyed as you say but be made one Kingdome under Christ as we say And indeede if we doe but call to minde the time when this prophecy is to be fulfilled which is at the sounding of the last trumpet when Christ himselfe shall descend from heaven we cannot imagine that the Kingdomes of this world should then become the Kingdomes of Christ any otherwise then by a subjection unto his manhood then by submitting themselves to the rules of that Ecclesiasticall and civill policy which he their King sâ—â—ll then command to be observed by them And now if the reader consider this and remembers also what cleare prophecies there are for the restoring of the Kingdome of the Jewes he will plainely perceive that the time when the Kingdomes of this world shall become the Kingdome of Christ is to be the very same in which he shall restore againe the Kingdome of Israel And your precious subtilty touching a distinction of two persons our Lord and his Christ that is the Father and his Sonne doth make nothing against this synchronisme For they are said to be the Kingdomes of the Lord partly because he shall then make it more manifest then ever he did that they are his to dispose of and partly because no other Lawes but the Lords shall be observed in them And of his Christ because no man but he shall be supreame Head and Governour over them And surely the Kingdomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this world cannot be the Kingdomes of the Father and the Sonne for ever if you take this word in an unlimited sense seeing neither this world in which they are not the civill societies of men of which they doe consist shall be of an infinite duration And I thinke too that you will not say that by the Kingdomes of this world that Kingdome of eternall glory is meant in which the Sonne also himselfe shall after the judgement of the dead be subject unto the Father unto him that before put all things under him Israel's Redemption And this also is intimated by the binding up of t Rev. 20.1 2 3. c. Satan a thousand yeares with which the reign of the Saints contemporates Mr. Petrie's Answer He said before This chapter is controverted to wit by the Millenaries on the one part and all Christians on the other and now he saith This his concâ—it is intimated in the binding up of Satan which is as if he had said It is all undoubted what he saith and all is false that all Christians say whereas Christians have given better warrants of their exposition then Millenaries are able to doe Reply I say not that the whole chapter is controverted for doubtlesse no Christian will deny that the latter part thereof doth speake of the judgement of the dead at the last resurrection But I speake of a controverted place in this 20 chapter which is that touching the first resurrection And yet suppose the whole chapter had been controverted I might neverthelesse say that this or that truth is not onely intimated but plainely exprest in it as the first bodily resurrection is plainely exprest in ver 4 5. notwithstanding the disagreement of expositours about it And as the deliverance of the Jewes the restoring of their Kingdome and our Saviours personall reigne on eath are all so plainely exprest in the propheticall scriptures as that nothing can be more plainely spoken although
which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fore against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men And many other places there are of the like nature But to the first I answer that those words of our Saviour doe onely distinguish the time and condition of his Kingdome from the time and condition of the Kingdomes of this world at the setting up of whose Kingdome there shall be such an * Nec enim dubium quin maxima rerum naturalium humanarum mutatio regni hujus auspicia sit antecessura Antichristus enim cum totâ fuâ Synagogâ abolâ—bitur extinguetur hominum pars maxima gentilibus non nisi paucis relictis qui in posteris suis non extra sed intra regnum hoc mille annis supererunt ut prophetiae suprà memoratae cum aliis in Scripturâ passim occurrentibus abunde testantur sub decursum verò mille annorum mirum in modum aucti a Satana e carcere suo saluto iterum seducti Sanctorum castra oppugnabunt sed incassum Nec dubium est quin rerum quoque naturalium quae regni huius incolis ministrabunt longè alia sit futura facies quam impraesentiarum est siquiâ—â—m beatissimum tran quillissimum erit regni istius seculum omnis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae in naturâ modò decurrit expers Mar. Frid. Wend. Contemp. Phys Sect. 2. cap. â—7 pag. 7â— 376. alteration over the whole frame of x Psal 46. Isai 2.12.19.21 ch 11.6 c. ch 30.25 26. ch 41.18 19. ch 55.13 Ezek. 38.19 20. Matth. 24.29.30 Mar. 13.24 25. Luke 21.25 26. Rev. 6.12 13. c. ch 16.18.19 c. nature and such a change of government on the earth that this time shall then as well be accounted the time of another world as the time before the floud is now taken for the oâ—â— world by us and was long agoe so stiled by Saint Peter in his 2 Epist chap. 2. ver 5. And therefore notwithstanding this proofe the place oâ— his Kingdome shall be the earth that now is though this be not the time nor any humane policy the patterne of his reigne Mr. Petrie's Answer Our Saviour distinguishes not betwixt the time of his and other Kingdomes for he saith in the same verse My Kingdome is not from hence that is My Kingdome is at hand as he said unto his Disciples Marth 16.28 Verely I say unto you there be some standing here who shall not tast of death till they have seene the Sonne of man come in his Kingdome that is reigning powerfully by the preaching of the Gospell and Matth. 24.14 This Gospell of the Kingdome shall be preached in all the world for a witnesse unto all Nations and then shall the end come There is his Kingdome before the end of this world and now is the time of his reigne albeit no humane policy be the patterne thereof 2. If he had said to that purpose as the Millenaries say that in time of his Kingdome being sonigh the Kingdome of the Romanes should be no Kingdome they might had more pretext of law for condemning him wherefore be distinguisheth the condition of the Kingdomes and not the time of them so that Caesar might been Emperour and Christ a mighty King both at once Non eripit mortalia quiregna dat coelestia Reply 1. That our Saviours Kingdome is to be a distinct Kingdome both in time and condition from the Kingdomes of this world is a truth apparantly delivered in the scriptures And for ought you have said to the contrary we may still thinke that these words of Christ doe in timate as much For though you first deny that these words doe distinguish betwixt the time of his Kingdome and other Kingdomes yet you presently give this sense to them your selfe when you say My Kingdome is not from hence that is My Kingdome is at hand And therefore it was not then in the world and if not then sure I am it hath not been yet and so it is distinct in time too from other Kingdomes as well as in condition I say it hath not been yet for what Kingdome of Christ hath been set up in the world since he spake these words which was not in the world when he spake these words Certainely his spirituall Kingdome was as much in the world at that time though not spread so much over the world as it hath been since That Kingdome therefore which you say was not then but was at hand is not yet come as the testimonies which you have alledged to prove that it was then at hand doe testifie a. gainst you also For that text Matth. 16.28 doth speake of a Kingdome to beginne at Christs appearing and not before it of a Kingdome I say when the Sonne of man shall come as it is in the same verse and when the Sonne of man shall come in the glory of the Father with his Angels as it is in the preceding verse And therefore doubtlesse these words of our Saviour Verely I say unto you there be some standing here which shall not tast of death till they see the Sonne of man comming in his Kingdome doe reveale a strange and extraordinary preservation of some then present till Christs next appearing For what doth the comming of the Sonne of man signifie but Christs descending from heaven and why did he subjoyne these words to his speech touching his comming in the glory of the Father with his Angels but because they are meant of the same comming And besides the Gospell had been before preacht by the Baptist by Christ himselfe and by the Disciples and not some but all the Disciples lived to see it preacht among the Gentiles also and therefore the seeing of this could not be the meaning of our Saviours words Thus then this first text doth shew that the Kingdome of our Saviour is not yet come And the other text Matth. 24.14 doth shew onely That the Gospell of the Kingdome that is which makes report of the Kingdome or by which men are made partakers of the Kingdome of Christ should be preached in all the world before the end should come that is the end and destruction of Jerusalem as the subsequent verses doe declare and not the end of the world as you affirme For would Christ thinke you have advised them to flye out of Judea into the mountaines from his presence at the end of the world Or how should it be worse for women with child and for them that give sucke at his comming then for others And now as for your exposition of these words My Kingdome is not from hence that is My Kingdome is at hand I pray what interpreters doe you follow in it or what colour have you for it What! are from hence and at hand all one or is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an adverbe of time or of place Doubtlesse these words My Kingdome is not from hence are to be
earth he shall cast them alive into the lake of fire And therefore your application of the story of Ziscah's drumme to this argument is a very ridiculous answer The third argument But most of all clearely in chap. 11. ver 15 36. c. where at the sound of the seventh trumpet the dayes of the witnesses and the mouthes of the Beast and Nations being out-runne were great voices in heaven saying The Kingdomes of this world are become the Kingdomes of the Lord c. This is the consummation of the mystery of God foretold by the Prophets Mr. Petrie's Answer This indeed is the consummation of all the promises foretold by the Prophets and Apostles and therefore it is not to be understood of any earthly Kingdome seeing thâ— full accomplishment of the prophecies is not on earth And so this synchronisme being false all the like synchronismes and all expositions following upon them must faile with it Reply This argument shewes that the Kingdomes of this world are to become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ at the sounding of the seventh trumpet and not before That is at the time of our Saviours descending from heaven at which time the reigne of the beast shal end And consequently it provs first that this reigne of Christ must needes follow the reigne of the beast seeing it beginnes not till his appearing by which the Beast shall be utterly destroyed And secondly it proves that this reigne must needes be on earth seeing the Kingdomes which shall then become his are the Kingdomes of this world And thirdly it proves that the time in which these Kingdomes shall become Christs cannot possibly be the time in which he shall deliver up his Kingdome to the Father seeing they shall then cease to be his And so the time of our Saviours reigne over them must needes be the interim the time betwixt the reigne of the Beast and the delivering up of his Kingdome to the Father To these consequences you had nothing to say and therefore you catch at these words which follow the argument to wit This is the consummation of the mystery of God foretold by the Prophets which you thus pervert This indeed is the consummation of all the promises foretold by the Prophets and Apostles and therefore it is not to be understood of any earthly Kingdome But surely as the mystery of God foretold by the Prophets and recorded chap. 10. ver 7. is meant onely of Christs reigne on earth at his next appearing when the Kingdomes of this world are to become his so you can shew us no promise either in the writings of the Prophets or Apostles which after the resurrection of mens bodies is to be enjoyed by them in heaven in your sense that is in a place of glory separate from the earth For as the raised Saints that are to come with Christ shall be on this earth all the time of his reigne so at the delivering up of his Kingdome to the Father the whole number of the elect shall be with him in the new Jerusalem which is the Paradise of God on the new earth whither it shall then descend And so this synchronisme being true all the like synchronismes and all expositions following upon them must be true also The Authors Judgement of the Contents of the Trumpets and Vials which he commends to the serious consideration of every intelligent READER THat the plagues of the vials should be literally and properly interpreted Revel 16. and not figuratively and mystically these reasons doe in my conceit require 1. Because there is no necessity of interpreting them otherwise 2. Because God hath already shewed many such wonders as the vials speake of 3. Because the last plague is properly to be understood and we may not take one plague properly and the rest improperly 4. Because the powring out of all the vialls shall not take up so much time as the mysticall sense of them doth allow to the powring out of one of them For 1. We finde that on the same persons on which the first viall the plague of the noysome sore is powred on the same the fift viall is powred For ver 10 11. it is said And they gnawed their tongues for paine and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their paines and their sores And at the powring out of the fourth viall also ver 9. it is said And men were scorched with great beat and blasphemed the Name of God which hath power over these plagues c. not over this plague whereby it is intimated That the men who were to feele the fourth plague were to feele more of the plagues besides that And it is very likely that the same persons may live to be the objects of all these plagues For 2. The vials are not to be powred out till after the Jewes conversion whose returne to their countrey is apparently exprest at the powring out of the sixt viall they being the Kings of the East that are to passe dry-shod over Euphrates as the comparing of the 12 verse with the latter part of the 11 chapter of Isaiah doth prove And whose full deliverance from all their enemies is plainely revealed in the extraordinary destruction of the Armies in Armageddon at the powring out of the last viall the time of our Saviours descending as the â—9 chapter doth evince For what are the Armies of the Beast and of the Kings of the earth against which our Saviour is there said to descend but the Armies of the Beast and of the Kings of the earth which here are said to be gathered into Armageddon And indeed who can thinke that God who shewed such great signes and wonders at the deliverance of his people out of Egypt from the slavery of that one Nation will not shew as great wonders as those yea as great as any the vials or trumpets doe containe at their redemption from their captivity in all countreys And as for the plagues of the Trumpets Rev. 7.8 9. c. it is manifest from the Text That they were not to be powred out till after the sealing of the 144000 of all the Tribes of Israel Which if it be understood of the generall conversion of the Jewes as many learned Expositours understand it it is cleare That the things contained in the Trumpets are not yet begunne and consequently that they are literally to be taken also Now that the 12 Tribes of Israel there are to be properly understood these reasons doe evince 1. Because there is no necessity to interpret them otherwise 2. Because the 12 Tribes of Israel cannot in the same place be taken both properly improperly Properly for them that are to be saved of all the Tribes of Israel and improperly for them that are to be saved of all other Nations 3. Because it is not probable that by one Nation by the 12 Tribes of Israel all Nations and kindreds and people and tongues should be meant Or that Saint John knew not