Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
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A37813
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Eclectical chiliasm, or, A discourse concerning the state of things from the beginning of the Millennium to the end of the world
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T. F., 17th cent.
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1700
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Wing E157A; ESTC R171901
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22,921
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80
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dead shall be raised is no where expresly declared This only we learn from St. Paul that the Good and the Wicked shall not arise at the same Instant but that the Righteous will have the Precedency 1 Cor. 15. 23. Every Man in his own order Christ the first Fruits afterward they that are Christs at his Coming Agreeable to this is that of the same Apostle 1 Thes 4. 13. The Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout and with the voice of the Arch-angel and with the Trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first Now a Resurrection of the Martyrs prior to the general Resurrection is very consistent with these assertions of the Apostle which do not deny the Resurrection of some particular Persons before the Coming of Christ to judgment but only declare that Such of the Righteous whom Christ at his coming shall find in the state of the dead shall have the Precedency of the wicked and be first restored to life St. Matthew tells us that at our Saviours Resurrection the graves were opened and many Bodies of Saints which slept arose and went into the holy City and appeared unto many ch 27. 52 53. And why may not the Privilege of a more early Resurrection be indulged the Martyrs in recompence of their Sufferings The invincible Courage and Resolution of the Primitive Christians proceeded in a great measure from the hope and expectation of it And perhaps the Revelation of such a distinguishing Favour was designed on purpose for the encouragement and support of their Constancy under those Persecutions wherewith God thought fit to exercise the Faith and Patience of the first Christians That the Martyrs after their Resurrection shall Reign on Earth is an opinion which hath no countenance from Scripture All St. John here saith is that the Beheaded lived again and reigned with Christ a Thousand Years which does not at all favour this Conceit but rather supposes the contrary The Dominion Christ was invested with at his Ascension he is to possess to the end of the World There is no new Kingdom to be erected for him upon Earth nor will he descend from Heaven where he now reigns until the time appointed by God for the judgment of the World Then he will arise from his Imperial Seat at his Fathers right Hand and come down into these lower Regions in order to the holding his general Assizes And this is the Concluding act and will put an end to his glorious Reign Now if the Martyrs shall be admitted to a participation of Christs Kingdom where should they reign but in Heaven where Christs Throne is where he reigns in Person and from whence he administers all the affairs of the World There is nothing of Paradox in this Supposition to them who believe the Principles and Doctrines of Christianity which teach that the bodies of good Men being raised out of the dust and fashioned like unto Christs glorious Body shall be translated from this Earth to the Mansions prepared for them in the Heavens And So far is this Hypothesis of the Millennial Reign from contradicting any text of Scripture that it seems to have a good foundation in it 1 One principal act of Regality is the power of judging Now St. Paul tells us that the Saints shall judg the World 1 Cor. 6. 2. Which to be understood of the last and final judgment the following verse does clearly evince Know ye not that we shall judge Angels That is such of them as for their Rebellion against God were condemn'd to Hell and are reserved in Chains unto the Judgment of the great day Jude ver 6. Which is the only judgment to which they are destined The judgment therefore of the World by the Saints is no other than that at the last day But who are the Saints to whom this autority and power is committed Not the Righteous in general for they as well as the wicked must appear before the judgment seat is Christ to give an account If their actions But perhaps when their Trial is finished and the Sentence of Absolution pronounced they shall be translated into the Air and being placed on Thrones around the Tribunal of Christ shall bear a part as Assessors in the ensuing judgment of Devils and wicked men But our Saviours description of the Process of the last judgment intimates the contrary For the sheep and the goats receive their different Sentences whilest they are standing the one at the Right the other on the left Hand of the Judge Matt 25. 34. Then shall the King say unto them on his right Hand Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World But to them on the left Depart ye Cursed into everlasting Fire ver 41. Whence it appears that the Assumption of the Righteous into the Clouds of Heaven 1 Thes 4. 17. must Succeed the trial of the wicked and consequently they cannot be concerned in judging them The Saints therefore by whom the World of the ungodly shall be judged and in all probability the Martyrs who reigning with Christ in his Kingdom will joyn with him in the exercise of his judiciary autority and give their suffrages to the Sentence which he will pass upon the wicked This Solemnity 't is true is transacted after the Thousand years allotted for the Martyrs Reign are expired which seems to exclude them from bearing any part in this Regal act of judging the World But there is no necessity of concluding their reign with this term which may very well be extended to the end of Christs Mediatorial Kingdom But because the intermediate space from this period to the final judgment is but short Rev 20. 3. therefore the duration of their Reign is expressed by the complete number of a Thousand years the odd years that follow not being brought into the account 2. Besides the glorious Angels we read of Myriads of Saints that accompany Christ in his triumphant progress from Heaven Jude ver 14. 1 Thes 3. 13. To understand this of Angels is without reason to depart from the letter of Scripture against the generally received rule of Interpretation But to apply it to the Souls of just Men is much more absurd For these are disposed in Paradise or Abrahams Bosom till the Resurrection Then being reunited to their Bodies they appear before the judgment Seat of Christ and being finally absolved attend the judge in his return to Heaven And are now first of all admitted into the immediate presence of God where there is fulness of joy and perfection of happiness To send good Men directly to Heaven when they die and to fetch them from thence at the last day to be judged that after judgment they may return to their former happy seats with the greater Solemnity is such an odd preposterous method of proceeding as no considering Man will easily admit much less believe agreeable to the infinite wisdom of Almighty God
Whereas if a first and particular Resurrection be supposed a good account may be given of the forementioned texts For then the Saints that come with Christ will be those holy Persons who for their constancy in Suffering Death for the sake of God were Honoured with the peculiar favour of a more early admission into the Kingdom of Heaven Thus this opinion of the Millennial Reign of the Martyrs is not without some fair appearance of probability and is very agreeable to the Gospel Oeconomy If a figurative Interpretation were to be admitted the Living of the Beheaded and their reigning with Christ a Thousand years would signifie the Rising of the Church from a dead estate and its enjoyment of peace and tranquility to which sence most that I meet with incline But this notion of a Metaphorical Resurrection is encumbred with several difficulties which I cannot overcome For First every one that hath part in this first Resurrection is pronounced Blessed and holy and secure from the Power of the second Death that is the miseries of the other World But shall every member of the Church in the Millennial State be eternally blessed Secondly The state of the Church before the Millennium shall be very quiet and peaceable in reference to oppression and persecution For the Beasts Power of making war with the Saints is contemporary with the mournful Prophecy of the two Witnesses which ends with the sixth Trumpet And the last act of hostility committed by the Beast will be the slaughter of the witnesses who revive and are exalted on high before the seventh Angel sounded Rev. 11. 11 12. And from that time to the final destruction of the Beast under the seventh Vial the Saints will live secure from the violence of Persecution To understand therefore the first Resurrection of the rising of the Church from an oppressed and persecuted state is not agreeable to the condition of the times immediately preceding These and some other reasons prevail with me to reject this opinion and to interpret this vision according to the proper meaning of the words CHAP. III. Of the New Heaven and the New Earth AND I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away and there was no more Sea Rev. 21. 1. The Vision of a New World immediatly following that of the general Judgment seems to signifie the Production of a new and more glorious Earth after the Destruction of the old by Fire for the Seat and Habitation of the Blessed But this is a Mystery past my understanding All that is signified by it is a more flourishing and prosperous State of things In the Prophetick Style great Changes are expressed by a New Heaven and a New Earth which in the Language of the Hebrews signifies a new World and was used by them according to the present Notion of it among us to denote a new Face and Condition of Things This new Creation God foretold by the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 65. 17. Behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into mind What follows in that Chapter does unfold the meaning of this Creation Be you glad and rejoyce in that which I create for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoycing and her People a joy vers 18. And I will rejoyce in Jerusalem and joy in my People and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying vers 19. They shall build Houses and inhabit them and they shall plant Vineyards and eat the fruit of them vers 21. The Wolf and the Lamb shall feed together and the Lion shall eat Straw like the Bullock and Dust shall be the Serpents Meat They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my Holy Mountain saith the Lord vers 25. This Mountain is the Church or Kingdom of Christ Isa 22. And the joyful secure and peaceable condition of it is that New Heaven and Earth which God promises to create This new World this happy State of the Church hath not yet been seen Nevertheless we according to this promise look for New Heavens and a New Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness 2 Peter 3. 13. In the fore-going Verses St. Peter speaks of the melting of the Elements of the burning of the Earth and the Dissolution of all things And then it follows nevertheless we according to his Promise look for New Heavens and a New Earth Whence some have concluded that this New World must succeed the Conflagration which is a great mistake For St. Peter's New Heaven and Earth is no other than that promised Isaiah 65. 17. And the New World in Isaiah doth clearly belong to the Kingdom of Christ which must conclude with the Resurrection and last Judgment 1 Corinth 15. 25 26 28. He must Reign till he hath put all Enemies under his Feet The last Enemy that shall be destroyed is Death And when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be all in all If therefore the New Heaven and New Earth must be before the Conclusion and Surrender of Christ's Kingdom then must it of necessity be before the Conflagration of the World which will not begin 'till the Judgment is concluded And though there are no certain Characters in the Revelation by which the precise time of this Vision may be found out yet from that place in Isaiah it may be concluded to belong to the Kingdom of Christ and particularly to the last Scene of it under the Millennium when the State of Things will be vastly different from what they are or have hitherto been as has been fully proved in the first Chapter And so great will be the prosperity of the Millennial State that there will be no longer need of Ships for War or Foreign Commerce and Traffick which the present condition of things requires which I take to be the meaning of what is added by St. John and there was no more Sea CHAP. IV. Of the new Jerusalem And I John saw the holy City the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband And I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying behold the Tabernacle of God is with Men and He will dwell with them and they shall be His People and God himself shall be with them and be their God Rev 21. 2 3 Concerning the New Jerusalem here are three things to be inquired What is meant 1 By the New Jerusalem 2 By its coming down from Heaven 3. By the walking of the Nations in the light of it ver 21. These I take to be the most material Points the resolution whereof will give us a clear understanding of this Mystery 1. By the New Jerusalem or the Lambs Wife ver 9 10. Is meant the People of the Jews converted to the Faith of Christ Upon the ruin of Babylon