had offered one sacrifice for sinnes for ever sate downe at the right hand of God from benceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstoole that is looking for the time in whith his enemies shall be subdued unto him as then ver of the 110. Psal doth manifest where the words are these The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right hand donec ponam untill I shall make not untill I have made thy enemies thy foot stoole So that he fits not there while it is doing buâ—â—untill it must be done untill the time ordained for the accomplishment of it All then that the Apostle affirmes in this text likewise to be already done is this That Christ is sate downe at the right hand of God as was foretold but as for the other part of this prophecy he saith plainely That Christ now expects onely when it shall be fulfilled and if this be not sufficient to make you confesse that the enemies which David here prophecied of are not yet made subject unto Christ that which follows in the Psalme will put it beyond exception for he nominates what enemies are here meant the time when and the manner how they are to be made Christ's footstoole The enemies he speakes of are men the Kings and Heads of the earth as we finde ver 5 6. The time when is the day of his power The day in which the Jewes shall be as willing to receive him as in the day of his poverty they were to be rid of him as we learne ver 3. Thy people shall be willing in the dry of thy power The manner how is by an eminent destruction brought on these Kings and their forces as the 5 and 6. verses doe informe us also which being compared with the latter part of the 19. chap. of the Revel doe plainely shew that this destruction which David foretels is the very same with that which Saint John therereveales for that is to be effected at our Saviours descending from heaven and so is this for it is to be at his comming againe from the right hand of the Father And therefore here is a good ground too for another Throne and that a Throne on earth And your answer to this text is a meere contradicting of it for where as the Apostle saith That Christ being sate downe at the right hand of God expects till his enemies be made his footstoole You say plainely that his enemies are made subject unto him even his greatest enemies And for want of scripture to justifie this answer you subjoyne as it is granted before and so father it on me But you shew not where it is granted neither can I imagine what you meane by it unlesse you meane that it is granted by my alledging of the same Apostles words Phil. 2. ver 15. to wit That Christ having by his passion spoiled principalities and powers made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in himselfe But surely though it may be true That Christ after the accomplishment of the worke of our Redemption on the crosse triumphed over the evill spirits in his owne person making a shew of them openly that is leading them captives in the time of his triumph as some expositours understand it yet it is not true that these principalities are the enemies recorded in the 110. Psalme whence Saint Paul tooke the foresaid text Neither is it true that the evill Angels were then held in a continued subjection by Christ for the space of a 1000. yeares as they shall be in the time of his reigne on earth when be casts them into the bottomlesse pit when he shuts them up from deceiving the Nations as it is foretold Revel 20.2 3. For as before Christs passion Satan could no more deceive the elect then he can since so hee hath been no more strairened of his liberty in walking up and downe in the earth nor of his power in tempting men unto sinne since Christs triumphing over him in his owne person then he was before if he hath so much for it is of the time under the Gospell that it is said Revel 12.12 Woe to the Inhabitants of the earth and of the sea for the devill is come downe unto you having great wrath because he knoweth that be hath but a short time 'T is of this time hat Saint Peter saith Our Adversary the Devill as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom be may devoure 1. Ep. chap. 5. ver 8. And 't is that we may be able to stand against the wiles of this enemy that Saint Paul adviseth us to put on the whole armour of God Ephes 6.11 c. Yea it is in the Christian Church that some were to give hâ—ed to seducing spirits and doctâ—ines of devils as Saint Pâ—ul writes 1 Tim. 4.1 and that there should be false teaobers who privily should bring in damnabâ—e beâ—esies even denying the Lord that bought them As Saint Peter writes 2. Ep. 2. chap. 1 ver c. And they are the Christians 〈◊〉 the last dayes of whom S. Paul foretells 2 Tim. 3.1 That they shall be lovers of their owne selves covetous boasters prond blasphemers disobedient to Parents unthankefull unboly without naturall affection truce-breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traitouâ—s beady high-minded lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God having a forme of godlinesse but denying the power thereof And if these be the fruites of Satan's subjection and imprisonment what then are the fruites of his power and freedome Doubtlesse Satan cannot be held in subjection to be bound up as he must be in the time of Christs reigne as long as now enemies doe arise against Christ in his poore members seeing it is onely through the liberty and power that this Arch-makebate hath in the world that good men suffer for the truth and evill men oppose it that I say men are kept from a generall peace and unity over the whole earth And therefore in confessing that new enemies still arise against Christ you doe statly gainesay what you before falsly affirmed to wit that the evill Angels Christs greatest enemies are now held in subjection by him that they are now deprived both of their power and liberty to doe hurt to rebell against Christ and to raise persecution against those that are Christs as they shall be I say not in this time of the world but in that in which Christ shall reigne personally on earth Yea if Christs enemies mentioned in the foresaid Psalme be now made his footstoole if they be now wholly subdued unto him for this is the meaning of their being made his footstoole how can new ones still arise The 5. Particular Seeing be sits now on his Fathers Throne therefore neither is this the time nor that the place in which his Throne is to be erected not the place because in one Kingdome there can be but one Throne and not the time for then he should sit on his owne Throne
not be long delayd Walke you therefore in holinesse with sincerity and cheerefulnesse as it becomes the heires of so great salvation and give all diligence to make your calling and election sure for so an entrance shal be ministred unto you aboundantly not into an earthly Monarchy but the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Answer Beloved in the Lord you are told here by Mr. Petry that this historical Narration of the original of the Millenarian Tenet and his refutation of my booke are for your good And had it been so indeed I had not now answered the one or repli'd unto the other yea I had rather laid my hand upon my mouth or empoly'd it about the publique retractation of mine own opinion But I find not in either ought of that sincere and upright dealing as is pretended in these words That which I finde is this that Mr. Petrie is too much of the minde of the Lawyers in the Gospel of whom our Saviour said Luk. 11. verse 52. that they had taken away the key of knowledge that they entred not in themselves and them that were entring in they hindred And that as the Pharisees best project to discountenance our Saviours miracles was to say that he did cast out Devils through Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils and their most prevalent motive to disgrace his doctrine was to say that he was a glutton and a wine-bibber a friend of publicans and sinners So Mr. Petrie's chiefest sleight to disparage the truth we hold is to say that it hath no other Father nor abettours but heretiques that it is preacht by such as have in their Congregation grosse Anabaptists and are friends to whatsoever Novellers And that it teacheth the voluptuous carnall living of the raised Saints and their dying againe after they are raised And doubtlesse beloved if you should be as ready to receive these tares into your hearts as Mr. Petrie is to sow them there your eares would be stuffed with prejudice and your hearts choakt up with indignation against us but as we wish better things unto you so we hope better things of you even such things as accompany salvation We hope I say that you are as wise as the Bereans of whom the Apostle saith that they were noble in that they received the word with all readinesse of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so And if you examine our words by this rule by which the Bereans examined St. Paul's and were so highly commended by him for it we doubt not but you will with one consent affirme That in the point in Question we and not our adversaries doe say as God saith And that we make not the meate that perisheth but everlasting life the reward of the glorified Saints although we truly affirme that these Saints may and shall eate drinke after their resurrection As it is said Mat. 26. verse 29. and Luk. 22. verse 16.18 And that you will affirme too that we truly hold that the Kingdom of God is not yet come although our Saviour Luk. 17. verse 20. answered the Pharisees who demanded when the Kingdom of God should come that the Kingdom of God was within or amongst them For that which our Saviour there cal'd the Kingdom of God is not meant of the Kingdom it selfe of which the Pharisees inquired but of the outward meanes by which that Kingdom is obtain'd As it is Mat. 21. verse 43. and thus also Rom. 14. verse 17. righteousnesse and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost are cald the Kingdom of God because these things doe intitle men to that Kingdom and manifest unto others that they doe belong unto it neither of which the observing or not observing of difference in meats and drinks can doe And in the 1 Cor. 4. verse 20. it is said The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power that is our interest in the Kingdom of God is neither obtained nor attested by our discoursing preaching and professing of the truth onely but by our carefull and conscionable performance of those things which wee are commanded And therefore beloved that you may not mistake the meanes and evidences of God's Kingdom for the Kingdom it selfe but may by the injoyment and effectual use of these be assured in your selves and make knowne unto others that you are heires of that that you have an inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God we beseech the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that the word of Christ may dwell in you richly in all wisdom and that our Lord Jesus Christ himselfe and God even our Father which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace may comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and worke AN answer to M. Petries Rules for interpreting of the Scripture inserted pag. 8. 9. 10. 11. after his answer to the prophecy of Amos ch 9. ver 11. c. which partly because they were devised of purpose to enthrall the readers judgement that hee might not perceive the true meaning of the scriptures as the preface was to perswade him that the scripture is not the ground of the Millenarian Tenet and partly because I would not disjoyne my replies by such a large digression I thought fit beloved to present unto thee in this place His introduction to them is this Mr Petrie And here for understanding this and such cher prophecies I add these undoubted rules Answer Undoubted rules must be grounded on undoubted authority but these for the most have none either from Heaven or of men The first rule The land of Canaan was a type of the Kingdom of Christ and so was Jerusalem and Sion because these were types of this Kingdom so glorious things were spoken of them Psal 46.4.5 and 48.1 2. and 87.1 2 3.5 which texts are more safely understood of Christ's Kingdom then of that earthly Jerusalem and Sion yea very hardly can they be understood of them Answer You have brought no text to shew that the land of Canaan was a type of Christs Kingdom but we bring many to shew that it shall be the proper inheritance of Christ the Saints in the time of his Kingdom And the glorious things which are spoken of Jerusalem or Sion in the 46.48 and 87. Psalmes and in many other places of the scripture are spoken of it because it was to be the City of the great King as is foretold Psal 48. v. 2. that is of Christ in the time of his personall raigne over the whole earth and therefore these words which texts are more safely understood of Christ's Kingdom then of that earthly Ierusalem and Sion yea very hardly can they be understood of them are as falsely as faintly spoken by you for is it not said in the foresaid verse Beautifull for situation the joy of the whole earth is mount Sion and Psal 87. v. 2. The Lord loveth the gates of
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
your fallacious dividing of these words from that which followes you doe wilfully put out your owne eyes that so you may the better beguile others of the truth For first the union foreshewed in these Prophecies is not to begin untill the Nations which shall oppose the Jewes after their returne be miraculously overthrowne at the comming of our Lord Jesus Christ as the foresaid Prophecie of Isaiah chap. 66. at the 15 16 19. ver c. compar'd with the 38. and 39. chapters of Ezek. with the 3. chap. of Joel and with the 19. chap. of the Rev. at the 11 12 13 14 15 c. doth plainly declare And secondly at the accomplishment of the union foreshewed by these Prophecies All Nations must goe up to worship before the Lord at Jerusalem as the latter part of the 66. chapter of Isaiah doth shew to which we may adde the Prophecies in the 8. chap. of Zecha at the 20. ver c. and in the 14. chap. at the 16. ver c. The words are Thus saith the Lord of Hostes it shall come to passe that there shall come people and the Inhabitants of many Cities and the Inhabitants of one Citie shall goe to another saying Let us goe speedily to pray before the Lord of Hostes I will goe also yea many people and strong Nations shall come to seeke the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of Hostes In those dayes it shall come to passe that ten men shall take hold out of all Languages of the Nations even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying We will goe with you for we have heard that God is with you And it shall come to passe that every one that is left of all Nations which came against Jerusalem shall even goe up from yeare to yeare to worship the King the Lord of Hosts and to keep the feast of Tabernacles and it shall be that who so will not come up of all the. Families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King the Lord of Hosts even upon them shall be no raine And thirdly at the accomplishment of this union the Jewes shall not seeke unto the Gentiles but the Gentiles in generall unto the Jewes onely for instruction in the wayes of God as Isaiah saith chap. 2 ver 2. and 3. and Micah chap. 4. ver 1. and 2. It shall come to passe in the last dayes that the mountaine of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountaines and shall be exalted above the billâ— and all Nations shall flow unto it and many people shall goe and say Come yee and let us goe up to the Mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us his waies and wee will walke in his pathes for out of Sion shall goe forth the Law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem And fourthly at the accomplishment of this union and throughout the whole time of its continuance which it exprest Rev. the 20. ver 2 3. there is to be an uninterrupted peace over all the world as the following words of the foregoing prophecy of Isa Micah doe manifest And he shall judge amongst the Nations shall rebuke many people they shal breake their swords into plowshares their speares into pruning books nation shal not lift up sword against Nation neither shall they learne warre any more With which agreeth that of Hosea chap. 2. ver 18. In that day I will make a Covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowles of Heaven and with the creeping things of the ground And I will breake the bow and the sword and the battell out of the earth and will make them to lie downe safely And to this wee adjoyne the prophecy Psal 46.8 9. Come behold the workes of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the earth He maketh warres to cease unto the ends of the earth be breaketh the bow and cutteth the speare in sunder he burneth the chariot in the fire And fiftly at the accomplishment of this union the converted Jew shall not be governed by the ecclesiastical and civill lawes of the Gentiles as it is now but the Gentiles by the ecclesiastical and civill lawes of the Iewes as is before shewed by their going up to Ierusalem to worship and to be instructed in the wayes of the Lord. And as touching their civill grovernment it is further evidenced by the prophecies in which the Gentiles great subjection to the Iewes is revealed Of which sort are the prophecies Isaiah chap. 14.1 2. chap. 49.22 23. chap. 60.9 10 11 12. c. and chap. 61.4 5 6 7. And thus good reader thou hast the true sense and scope of the prophecies with which as Mr Petrie saith I have needlesly filled many pages and doubtlesse it was very needfull for him to say so seeing their perspicuity is so irresistible that he could finde no mysticall paraphrase against it to puzzle thee withall Israel's Redemption But to say that this is now fulfilled in the time of the substituted Gentiles vocation is to overthrow what was before affirmed and to take great paines to beguile our selves and others of the truth it is I say to put out our owne eyes and bid others follow us for St Paul in the 11. of the Rom. tells us plainly that the Jews are broken off from their Olive tree and that we are graffed in for them that they are cast away that they are hardened that God hath concluded them all in unbeliefe and that through their fall salvation is come unto us to provoke them to h Deut. 32.21 jealousie And therefore it cannot possibly be maintained that the Jewes and Gentiles are as yet one i Ioh. 10.16 sheepfold Mr Petrie's Answer The Apostle saith not that all the Jewes are broken off but rather the contradictory ver 1. and 5. neither saith he that God hath shut up all the Jewes in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all the Jewes but as our former translation saith conforme to the originall God hath shut up all in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all whereunto the words of the same Apostle Gal. 3.22 The Scripture hath concluded all under sinne that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them who beleeve Here the Apostle is not speaking of the Jewes onely but generally both of Jewes and Gentiles and so farre must his words be extended thereto seeing he is speaking of them ver 30. and 31. and so the meaning of ver 32. is It was the counsel of God to suffer both Jewes and Gentiles to fall into unbeliefe or disobedience as the word Apeitheia likewise imports and the word sin teaches Gal. 3. that he might save all his elect both of Jewes and Gentiles after one way not by their workes but of his mercy onely And therefore I cannot
CHRISTS Personall Reigne on Earth One Thousand Yeares with his SAINTS The Manner Beginning and Continuation of his Reigne clearly proved by many plain Texts of Scripture and the chiefe Objections against it fully answered Explaining the 20 of the Revelations and all other Scripture-Prophesies that treat of it By Robert Maton Preacher of the Word Containing a full reply to Mr. Alexander Petrie a Scotch Minister who wrote against his Booke called Jsraels Redemption Divided into two Parts The first concernes the Jewes Conversion to the Faith and Restoration into a visible Kingdom in Judea and the second our Saviours visible Reigne over them and all other Nations at his next appearing Joel 3.2 In the Valley of Jehoshaphat c. pointing out the very place Isa 8.20 To the Law and to the Testimony if they speake not according to this word it is because there is no light in them LONDON Printed and are to be sold by John Hancock in Popes-Head-Alley 1652. ISAIAH 49. v. 13. c. SIng O Heaven and be joyfull O earth and breake forth into singing O mountaines for God hath comforted his people and will have mercy upon his afflicted But Sion said The Lord hath forsaken mee and my Lord hath forgotten me Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the Sonne of her wombe yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee Behold I have graven thee upon the palmes of my hands thy walls are continually before me Thy children shall make haste thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall goe forth of thee Lift up thine eyes round about and behold all these gather themselves together and come to thee as I live saith the Lord thou shalt surely cloth thee with them all as with an ornament and bind them on thee sa a Bride doth For thy waste and thy desolate places and the Land of thy destruction shall even now be too narrow by reason of the Inhabitants and they that swallowed thee up shall be farre away The children which thou shalt have after thou hast lost the other shall say againe in thine eares The place is too straight for mee give place to me that I may dwell Then shalt thou say in thine heart Who hath begotten me these seeing I have lost my children and am desolate a captive and removing to and fro and who hath brought up these Behold I was left alone these where had they been c. ROM 11. VER 28. c. As concerning the Gospel they are enemies for your sake but as touching the election they are beloved for the Fathers sake For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance For as ye in times past have not believed God yet have now obtained mercy through their unbeliefe Even so have these also now not believed that through your mercy they also may obtaine mercy For God hath concluded them all in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all TO THE READER Courteous Reader THere are two main obstacles which debarre men from the apprehension of Gods word the one a strange language the other a strange interpretation The first is proper to Papists the other is common to Protestants and Papists and is indeed the more dangerous seeing an unknowne tongue doth onely bide the truth from the unlearned and so may somewhat easily be avoyded but a false interpretation doth equally deprive both the wise and the simple of it and so causeth the blind to leade the blinde For whatsoever text of Scripture is expounded any otherwise then God meant by it it is according to its interpretation the word of man and not of God and consequently in adhering to such interpretations we believe not what God saith but what man doth make him say Now of Scriptures that are misunderstood some are so difficult that it is not possible to give a peremptory interpretation of them of which sort are some passages in Daniel in the Revelation and here and there in other parts of the Scripture and in these we should either confesse our ignorance or deliver our thoughts as evidences only of our desire to attaine to the perfect knowledge of Gods word Others againe are so plaine that every common and ordinary understanding if left to it selfe cannot choose but take them in their true sense and not in that which is thrust upon them by a false glosse And of these some have been a long time controverted and others have as long past unsuspected amongst which are the many Prophecies which God hath reveal'd touching the future restauration of the Jewes and the personall reigne of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth And surely whatsoever was the ground of the misinterpretation of these Prophecies at the first whether an hatred of the Jewes whom alone in their proper sense they doe concerne or some sinister and selfe-respects whatsoever I say was the ground of it at the first the continuance of it hath been occasioned by the inconsiderancie of the ungrounded application of the words Jew and Israelite indifferently to the Jewes and Gentiles and of the words Israel Sion and Jerusalem to the Church of the Gentiles when as there is not one text in all the Scripture wherein a Gentile is cal'd a Jew or an Israelite or wherein the Church of the Gentiles is cal'd Israel Sion or Jerusalem Those texts Rom. 2. ver 28. and 29. and chap. 9. ver 6. and 7. are both by Piscator and Pareus understood of the Jewes only And these words Gal. 6. ver 16. upon the Israel of God are both by the ordinary and interlineary glosses understood likewise of the Jewes onely so that it is as if the Apostle had said And as many as walke according to this rule peace be on those Gentiles and mercy and peace and mercy on those Jewes And surely if that text be not thus distinctly understood of the faithfull Jewes and Gentiles there will either be a tautologie in the words or else the last words must be understood of the Israel in blindnesse to whom the Apostle doth here also wish mercy according to that which he saith of them Rom. 10. ver 1. That his hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel was that they might be saved And that the Tribes of the children of Israel Rev. 7. ver 4. are properly to be understood Ribera and others acknowledge and Pareus though he enclines to an allegorical interpretation of them in his commentaries on the Revelation yet in his explication of the 18. doubt of the 11. chap. to the Rom. he thus resolutely determines against it Quod Oraculum ad literam de conversione Judaeorum planè intelligendum videtur quoniam Israelitae signati in frontibus ibi disertè discernuntur a signatis gentibus populis linguis reliquis ver 9. Which Prophecie saith he doth plainely seeme to be understood of the conversion of the Jewes according to the letter because the sealed Iewes are expressely distinguisht from
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
heart in the spirit And of such inwardly Jewes must the promises be understood at least in part that make mention of Judah And therfore it is a great mistaking of the prophesies if wee shall stil make an opposition twixt Jewes and Gentiles beleeving Gentiles are true Jewes as wee see they are called in the new Testament and unbeleeving Jewes are Gentiles and so are called Isa 1.4 and elsewhere Answer That the faithfull in general are Abraham's seed we deny note neither doe we affirme that any can be partakers of the promise made unto Abraham but the faithfull nor that there is now any difference betwixt the beleeving Jew and Greeke But yet we cannot grant that therfore there shal be no difference betwixt the Nation of the Jewes and all other Nations after Christ's next appearing Nor that the prophesies which concerne the Jewes righteous and flourishing estate at that time are to be understood of the Church of the Gentiles now Nor that by Isaac's and Jacob's children any besides the Jewes are meant And we doe not herein make the unbeleeving Jewes heires of the promises but the beleeving onely seeing as all the beleeving Jewes and Gentiles that are departed or shall depart before Christ's comming shall be brought with him to inherite the promise made unto Abraham so all the Tribes shall be converted against that time and be then acknowledged by all that see them to be the seed which the Lord hath blessed as it is Isa 61. verse 9. And consequently the distinction of the Jewes Rom. 10. verse 28 which shewes the estate of the Jewes in St. Paul's time is nothing to the pupose Neither is it indeed rightly applyed by you to the beleeving Gentiles For it doth no more prove a beleeving Gentile to be a Jew then that which you alledg Isa 1. verse 4. doth prove an unbeleeving Jew to be a Gentile which is onely an exclamation against the Jewes for their great wickednesse The meaning then of the text Rom. 2 verse 28. is onely this that that Jew was not a Jew beloved of God which was one outwardly onely by the circumcision which is in the flesh but that Jew was a Jew beloved of God which was one inwardly by the circumcision of the heart in the spirit Wherfore Piscator observes in this verse an elegant ontanaclasis or using of the same word in a seeming contradictory sense as if the Apostle had said thou art a Jew and not a Jew thou art a Jew before men but not before God as he expresseth himselfe in the close of the next verse The sixth rule All the prophesies cannot be understood of the Church on earth onely neither of the Church in Heaven onely but of both together or partly of the one and partly of the other and partly of both and so prudence must be had in the application of the promises Yea and there is a gradual performance of them and the accomplishment of them is in severall points of time so much as shall give content to God's children yet always leading to a further and further performance As for example God shewed mercy to these Israelites when they were in captivity he brought them home againe they were a poore and afflicted people and were much bettered by their bondage there was a degree of performance There was another degree in Christ's time when he joyned the Gentiles to them and both made one Church But when it is said The remnant shall doe none iniquitie and a deceitfull tongue shall not be found in their mouth Zeph. 3.13 these promises shall have their time when the people shal be more thorowly purged and certainly the full accomplishment shal be at the day of judgement and so long as we are in this life we are under an imperfect and unperformed estate Answer All the prophesies you say cannot be understood of the Church on earth onely neither of the Church in Heaven onely True but yet those prophesies which foreshew the Saints happinesse on earth are to be accomplished on earth onely and those which foreshew their happinesse in Heaven are to be accomplished in Heaven onely And there is no prophesie which speakes of the happinesse which the Saints shall injoy on earth that is to be understood of their happinesse in Heaven too as you chiefely understand the prophesies touching the Jewes future restauration Neither were those prophesies touching the Jewes to have a graduall accomplishment For as it is false that the Israelites the captivity of the ten Tribes did ever yet returne home as the prophesie in your Preface out of Ezek. 16. doth shew so it is false also that the prophesie touching the Jews deliverance Zeph. 3. v. 8. hath bin yet accomplished but it shall be accomplished when at their future return the Nations of the Gentiles shal be assembled against them to their own confusion as it is foreshewed also Rev. 16. in many other prophefies And as the 8. verse doth shew their temporal deliverance from their outward and bodily enemies at that time so the 13. verse shewes their spiritual deliverance from their sinnefull pollutions and ghostly enemies and their outward safety too which shall follow their temporal and spiritual deliverance for they shall feede and lie downe and none shall make them afraid And that all this is to be accomplished at the same time the comparing of the 11. verse with the 8. verse doth confirme for whereas it is said verse 8. Waite upon me until the day that I rise up to the prey c. it is said likewise verse 11. In that Day shalt thou be ashamed for all thy doings wherein thou hast transgressed against me c. In that Day in what day if not in the day before spoken of verse 8 which day indeed is call'd in Scripture the Day of judgement but yet it is not of so short continuance as you take it to be for it containes the 1000 yeares and little season mentioned Rev. 20. all which time is to follow our Sav ours appearing and to foregoe the last act of his reigne the judgement of the dead at the last resurrection And consequently the accomplishment of the contents in the 13. verse cannot be at the Day of judgement in your sense that is at the judgement of the dead at the last resurrection as the close of the same verse and the preceding and subsequent verses doe declare although it shal be at the Day of judgement in the Scripture sense that is in the time of Christ's 1000. yeares reigne on earth The seaventh rule Here that general rule is also remembered when the words of Scripture being properly taken teach any thing contrary to the analogy of faith or honesty of manners or any thing frivolous that belongeth nothing to godlinesse or dissonant from the scope of the text or contrary unto other cleare texts of the same these words must be exponed figuratively and a figurative sense is the literal or primarily intended sense of
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
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
comming of Christ nor immediately at his comming for that battle is in the time of the sixt vial after which follows another vial and time of trouble mentioned in the rest of that chap. of the Revel 2. We may be perswaded that the gathering of the Nations Joel 3.2 is not to be understood of a battle after the comming or at the comming of Christ if we consider the words of the first verse for behold in these dayes and in that time c. He knitteth this chap. with the preceding and shewes the contents of both to be at the same time which is not any particular yeare or age but comprehends the whole deliverance of Israel or people of God which was begun when the captive Jews were brought from Babylon and continues til Christ's second comming as if the Prophet had said When the Lord shall deliver his people it shall not be a short and moment any deliverance but this protection shall continue til he have avenged him of all the enemies of his Church As for the Name of the valley of Jehoshaphat there is no necessity to understand thereby the valley of blessing 2 Chro. 20.26 seeing that valley never hath this name in the Scripture neither is it possible that all the Nations of the world can conveen in that place but the name may rather be taken appellatively for the valley of God's judgement as the Hebrew word imports and the words following allude thereunto whereby the Prophet teacheth us to consider the etymologie of the Name and neverthelesse he would have us to consider the gracious deliverance of Jehoshaphat that he will as certainly deliver his people in all ages as he did Jehoshaphat And this is a more glorious trophee then if any one Nation were kept a thousand yeares in worldly prosperity Reply 1. My words doe shew that this prophecy of Joel cannot be meant of the time of Christ's Judging the dead when they shall be all called out of their graves as it is commonly expounded and that because it speakes of the gathering together of a great Army against the Jews but not after Christ's comming which opinion you falsely attribute to me although against his comming as the parallel prophecy Rev. 16. at the 12 13 14. ver doth shew for that Army is to be gathered into Armageddon in the time of the sixth vial and to be destroy'd at the powring out of the seventh vial by our Saviour and his Heavenly Host as the 15. ver of the same chap. and the latter part of the 19. chap. of the Rev. from ver the 11. c. doe plainly declare 2. That which you here begin with was the ground of the former part of your answer but on what ground I know not for I deny that this prophecy doth speake of a battle after Christ's comming albeit I doe affirme that our Saviour's comming shall be when this great Army is gathered together against the Jews as ready to destroy them And your shewing the coherence of this chapter with the precedent doth make more against you then you are aware of for it is remarkeable that you rightly conclude from hence that the Prophet shewes the contents which I have urged out of both being in the Hebrew all in one chapter to be at the same time And yet you say presently after that this same time is not any particular yeare or age but comprehends all the time from the Jews returne from Babylon to the second comming of Christ which is as if you had said This particular time is not a particular time but many particular times yea thousands of particular times This same time is not the same time but more then the same time yea as much more then the same time as is from the Jews returne from Babylon to this same time For the text in the originall points emphatically to one particular time as the seperate pronounes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subjoyn'd to their substantives with the praefix 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe shew So that it is as if the Prophet had said In those selfe same dayes and in that very time in which I shall bring againe the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem I will also gather all Nations c. And besides how I pray can the signes that are to be shewed more often then any man knows or in any part of so large a time as you speake of all which your exposition grants foreshew the neernesse of the terrible Day of the Lord which yet is the onely end of the wonders that Joel saith shall be shewed in the Heavens and in the earth at that time For our Saviour Mat. 24. Luk 21. speaks of the same darkening of the Sun and Moone that the Prophet doth and if his word may be taken these signes shall as infallibly shew the neere approach of his second comming as the shooting forth of the leaves of the figgtree doth shew that the summer is nigh at hand And thus the emphasis of the Hebrew text and our Saviour's intimation of the true extent of the time betwixt these signes and his appearing the accomplishment of which signes you confesse to be at the time of the deliverance which the Prophet foretels doth both discover how notoriously false your exposition of the same time is And therefore the sense which you by this means would thrust upon the prophet must needs be your owne likewise and not the Prophet's For the Prophet speakes here but of one Army and the parallel prophecy Rev. 16. speakes but of one Army and Ezek. who foreshewes the same battle speakes but of one Army and they all say that the Iews onely are to be opposed by this Army and that a sudden destruction shall come on this Army and consequently the deliverance here spoken of is to be short and sudden and the people to be delivered by it are the Jews And so here is nothing at all touching God's special protection of his Church in all ages or of many deliverances but here is an extraordinary Judgement foreshewing the dreadfull overthrow and downefall of all the enemies of the Jews and the then faithfull Christians And as concerning the place where this Army is to be gathered together this is chiefely to be taken notice of that the prophecy speaking but of one Army it can be meant but of one place and that to be in the land of Judea whither the Nations shall come up against the Jews shortly upon their returne as the valley of Jehoshaphat here doth intimate and Ezek. doth plainly declare Neither is the doubt you bring about the possibility of so many Nations meeting together in one place of any consequence For it is not usuall for a people wholly to leave their owne countrey when they invade their enemies land for that were the ready way to lose their owne land and to starve themselves but to send forth such a strength as they may well raise and maintaine and
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
of the Israelites as he pleased Israel's Redemption And besides how can that belong to the Gentiles which was prophecied onely of the Jewes as is declar'd by the Prophets wife of whoredomes and children of whoredomes which he tooke of purpose to upbraid the Idol-worship and spirituall whoredomes of the Israelites ver 2 and therefore when she conceived and bare him the second sonne Call his name said God Loammi for ye are not my people and I will not be your God the Israelites then they were to whom this Prophet was sent and of whom it was said Ye are not my people Mr. Petrie's Answer It was not prophecied of the Jews onely for it is plaine that Hosea speakes of the Israelites as well vs of the Jews and generally the Apostle speaks Rom. 10.12 there is no difference between the Jew and the Greeke for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him So that albeit the Prophet was sent personally unto the Israelites yet his words were no lesse true and meaned of the Gentiles who then were not the people of God but now through Christ are the people of God for whosoever shall call upon the Name of God shall be saved Reply I have here cal'd the ten Tribes Jews in opposition to the Gentiles and you say that this was not prophecied of the Jews onely for it is plaine that Hosea speaks of the Israelites as well as of the Jews A wild exception for are not these Israelites Jews certainly Israelites and Jewes are the proper names of that Nation And though after the division of the Tribes Israel and Judah were often used to distinguish the two Tribes from the ten and the ten from the two yet the word Jews was never thus us'd For by this Name all the Tribes are cal'd in the History of Hester and in many other places and in that instance that you bring out of the Rom. chap. 10. ver 12. the word Jew is taken indifinitely for any Jew And wherefore it it that you urge these words of the Apostle doe you think that it proves the name Jew to be indifferently taken for a Jew or a Gentile surely these words shew that the beleeving Gentile is as acceptable to the Lord as the beleeving Jew and that there is nothing in the Jew which can move God to bestow grace on him father then on the Gentile as the following words conâ—â—â—me but they shew not that God takes a faithfull Jew for a faithfull Greeke nor a faithfull Greeke for a faithfull Jew And therefore you cannot conclude from hence that albeit the prophet was sent personally unto the Israelites yet his words were no lesse true and meaned of the Gentiles for though through Christ all beleevers are the people of God yet through Christ a beleever of one Nation is not made a beleever of another Nation though every one that confidently cals upon the name of the Lord shall be saved yet every one that cals on the name of the Lord shall not thereby become a Jew And how can you take Israelite for Gentiles who are of different Nations from them and yet will not take Israelites for Jews which is a Name belonging equally to all the Tribes But you herein condemne St Paul who sometimes calls himselfe a Jew and sometimes an Israelite and could he be both if these Names doe not equally belong to the same Nation Israel's Redemption And the place where they were told so was their owne land and therfore in that place it shall againe be said unto them Ye are the sonnes of the living God ver 10. And this Piscator grants to be the meaning of it here in the Prophet but withall he holds that it is applyed in the 9. of the Rom. to the conversion of the Gentiles because the Israelites being thus rejected of God were become like unto the Gentiles who until the preaching of the Gospel were not his people but notwithstanding this reason me thinkes it is very unlikely that the Apostle should borrow a prophecy from the Jews to prove Gods mercy towards the Gentiles which is in sundry places of the Scripture so properly and distinctly foreshewne as you may see by the authorities which are urged to this purpose in the l v. 19.20 10. and m v. 9.10 11.12 15. chap. of the same Epistle Mr Petrie's Answer 1. Where it is said ver 10. in that place ye may reade on the margine in stead of that it was said c. and therefore that word proves nothing 2. It is no lesse true that the Gentiles are the people of God even in the same lands where they did not serve God 3. This is no applying by way of similitude but accommodating as Piscator speaks to another particular that as the Israelites by Idolatrie became like unto the Gentiles so the Gentiles receiving the Gospel are Jews or the people of God And this exposition is not onely likely but very certaine seeing the Apostle expones these prophecies of God's mercy towards the Gentiles as you may see by the authorities which are urged to this purpose in the 10. and 15. chap. of the Epistle to the Rom. and elsewhere Reply 1. Arias Montanus renders the original Et erit in loco quo without any such marginall note at all And the Septuagint reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it shall come to passe that in the place where c. And this expression agrees best with the scope of the Prophecie which foretells their returne againe to their owne Land in which it had been said unto them yee are not my people yea the Apostle too alledgeth these words agreeable to the translation in the text and in the latter part of the sentence relates to them with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illic vocabuntur there they shall be call'd c. And therefore this proves so much that of force you must grant the accomplishment of the Prophecie in its proper sense 2. And what though the Gentiles are the people of God even in the same Lands where they did not serve God shall not therefore the Jewes be call'd againe the people of God in the same Land where once they forsooke God or shall this Prophecie be therefore understood of them to whom the Prophet was not sent to say as he did to the Israelites Ye are not my people 3. I thinke not that the Apostle did apply this Prophecie by way of similitude to the Gentiles and much lesse that he did accommodate it to them as to those of whom it was meant by the Holy Ghost For the Holy Ghost fore-shewes not the calling of the Gentiles under the name of the Israelites but in their own name And surely if it cannot be prov'd that the Apostle expounds these Prophecies of Gods mercy towards the Gentiles till the Authorities alledg'd in the 10. and 15. chap. of this Epistle to the Rom. doe shew it it will never be prov'd for those
Teraphim afterwards shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and n Isa 9. v. 6 7. David their King and shall feare the Lord and his goodnesse in the latter dayes Which Prophecie cannot possibly be as yet fulfill'd for if it be meant onely of the ten Tribes amongst whom Hosea prophecied it is o Hier. Zanch. Pareus Rivetus Lyra Dr. Mayer confest that they did never yet returne and if of the other two it must be meant of their captivitie since our Saviour's comming for till then the Scepter could not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his feet as Jacob foretold Gen. the 49. at the 10. verse and therefore till then they could not be without a Prince or Governours of that Tribe although they were long before tributaries to other Nations And this also is intimated by those words the latter dayes which are no where put for the time before the incarnation of Christ Mr. Petrie's Answer 1. This argumentation faileth in both parts but first marke that all these words cannot be meant properly for the word David cannot be understood of Salomons Father but of Christ the sonne of David or typified by David and therefore that Prophecie could not be fulfilled till the incarnation of Christ and then it might be fulfill'd 2. And consequently these words the latter dayes though they be no where put for the dayes before the incarnation yet they are often put for the dayes of the Gospel seeing in the last dayes God hath spoken unto us by his Sonne Now the first part of the dilemna is false for if that Prophecie be meant of the ten Tribes as they abode many dayes without a King c. so who dare deny that they did returne and seeke the Lord their God and Christ their King when the Gospel was preached to the scattered strangers not onely through Pontus Galatia Cappadocia 1 Pet. 1.1 but likewise to Syria Assyria c. and expressely to the twelve Tribes scattered abroad Jam. 1.1 who can hold the negative that the children of Israel did never returne and seeke Christ and the other part is no lesse faulty for Christ came not till the Scepter was departed from Judah and these words the latter dayes are not to be referred unto the 4. verse as if the Israelites should abide many dayes without a King and sacrifice in the latter dayes and then returne but unto the fift ver in the end whereof they are and sâ— in the latter dayes they shall returne not into their Land this Text saith not so but and seek the Lord their God and Christ their King as they did Act. 2.41 and 4.4 and in sever all ages And so both the parts of this Argument being false the words of Hosea 3. are more against the temporall Monarchy then for it Reply 1. That by David here Christ is meant is not to be doubted but that therefore this Prophecie was fulfill'd at Christs incarnation it is to be proved and so it is too that the Rhetoricall and tropicall sense of some words and phrases in a Prophecie doth fasten a mysticall meaning upon it for the sense of a Prophecie takes not its denomination from the words in which it is spoken but from the things it speakes of if it speakes of materiall things whether in a proper or figurative straine it is a materiall Prophecie if of spirituall things whether in a proper or figurative straine it is a spirituall Prophecie if of both it 's partly materiall and partly spirituall and the title of a Prophecie takes its denomination from the place person or prople of which it is spoken 2. There is a great difference betwixt the last dayes and the latter dayes For the last dayes Heb. 1. ver 2. and the lost times 1 Pet. 1. ver 20. doe comprehend the whole time under the Gospel the time I say from Christs first comming to his second but the latter times 1 Tim. 4. ver 1. doe signifie onely the latter part of the last times And as the last times or dayes have their latter times so againe the latter times have their last dayes as we may see in the 2 Tim. chap. 3. ver 1. and in the 2 Pet. chap. 3. ver 3. and of the end of these last dayes of the latter times are the latter dayes in this Prophecie to be understood as St. Paul's words in the 11. chap. of the Epistle to the Rom. at the 25. and 26. verses doe evidence For I would not Brethren saith he that you should be ignorant of this mystery that blindnesse in part is hapned to Israel untill the fulnesse of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved c. And yet it is enough to confirme the first part of the Dilemma that the latter dayes in this Prophecie cannot be taken for the first dayes of the preaching of the Gospel in which onely the Gospel was preacht unto the Jewes and therefore the Israelites that sought the Lord in those first dayes of the Gospel cannot be the same Israelites which the Prophet saith shall seeke the Lord in the latter dayes of the Gospel that is not long before Christs appearing And besides what effect the word of God tooke amongst the Israelites even in the dayes in which it was preach't unto them we have formerly shewed out of the 13. chap. of the Acts at the 45. and 46. verses and out of theâ— Thess 2. at the 15. and 16. ver to which wee may adde the same Apostles great heavinesse and continuall sorrow for them Rom. 9. ver 2.3 and his words concerning Israel in 31 32 and. 33. ver of the same chapter and his prayer for them and record of them chap. 10. v. 1 2 3. and his words ch 11. v. 8 9 10.12.15.25 and 28. in which places he saith that they stumbled at the stumbling stone that is at Christ preacht unto them that they submitted not themselves unto the righteousnesse of God that they were enemies to the Gospel and that God had given them the spirit of slumber eyes that they should not see and eares that they should not heare and therefore we dare not but to affirme that Israel did not then returne thus the Lord to wit by repentance and embracement of the Gospel For the Prophet speakes not of the returne of some particular Families or of some particular persons of divers Families but of all the children of Israel that were to be so long without a King that is of the whole body of the ten Tribes at least And of the whole Israel of God it is that is of all the Tribes though not of all of every Tribe that the Apostle speaks of in the foresaid Texts of Scripture and how then can it be said of any of the Tribes that they have as yet sought the Lord and if none of the Tribes are converted where is the union you boast of betwixt the Jewes and Gentiles How are
be no more then an Exposition of the former which we have once already shew'd to be false and were it not to expound Notum per ignotius to make the Comment more obscure then the Text to say that by the building of the Tabernacle of David James meant the visiting of the Gentiles before spoken of Thus then whatsoever talke you make of the present conversion and union of the Jewes with the Church of the Gentiles yet when you come to apply the Scriptures you debarre them of all interest in those Prophecies or that part of a Prophecy which concernes them alone so much doe you favour their conversion or esteeme their company But as you hold the words in the 14. vers to have reference to Simeons Prophecy so you must remember that Simeon saith of Christ that he should be a light to lighten the Gentles before he saith of him that he should be the glory of his people Israel and what doth this imply but that a substituted part of the Gentiles were to become the Church of Christ before the Nation of the Jewes should receive the Gospel for being indued with the spirit of Prophecy he could not speake at randome and therefore the very order of these words is observeable with which Saint James his changing of the first words of the Prophecy In that day into After this doth very well agree which might else as well if not better have beene alledg'd according to the Prophets expression had this Prophecy beene no more but a larger explanation and further confirmation of the Gentiles calling And if you looke into the latter part of Amos Prophecy recorded by St. James you may see that at the building againe of Davids Tabernacle there is not onely mention of the residue of men that should then seeke after God but of the Gentiles too upon whom God's Name is call'd before that for why else should they be thus distinguished from other Gentiles that are then to seeke the Lord as well as they And what will follow from hence upon your expounding the building of the Tabernacle of David of the first calling of the Gentiles certainely this will follow that the first calling of the Gentiles was not the first calling of the Gentiles seeing the people upon whom God's name all is call'd is alwayes meant of a people that doth worship the true God And consequently from the words after this I will return wil build again the Tabernacle of David inferr'd upon the foresaid visiting of the Gentiles in the 14. ver and from the words that the residueof men might seeke after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my Name is call'd referr'd to the time when it is againe to be built it must needs follow that here is an expresse mention as well of the Nationall conversion of the Jewes after the visiting of the Gentiles as of the calling of a substituted part of the Gentiles before such a conversion of the Jewes for as the Tabernacle of David cannot possibly signifie the Nations of the Gentiles so the building againe of it cannot be meant of God's receiving those Nations for his people which were never before his people And thus this Prophecy of Amos shewes not the calling of the Jewes onely nor the calling of the Gentiles onely but the order of both for which purpose it was alledged by the Apostle to wit to shew that a substituted part of the Gentiles should be called before the generall conversion of the Jewes and that all Gentiles whatsoever that were then left both of the call'd and uncall'd should make one Church with the Jewes when the Tabernacle of David was againe built that is upon the conversion deliverance and setling of the Jewes in their own land according as the foresaid Prophecies doe declare And whereas you seeme to deny that this Prophecy was taken out of Amos onely because the Apostle speakes not onely of Amos but saith generally to this agree the words of the Prophets you shew great weakenesse in it for besides that it is an usuall manner of speaking to put the plurall number for the singular and the singular for the plurall he might very well say to this agree the words of the Prophets because other Prophets also foretell the same thing although he brought an instance onely out of one of them for I am sure that this prophecy is wholly in Amos with a little difference from this translation according to the originall but none according to the Septuagint as Doctor Mayer affirmeth And why doe you say before Lames alledgeth the prophecy of Amos if you did not thinke it to be the prophecy of Amos and if you knew that but a part of it was his why did you not shew what words were spoken by him and what words by some other Prophets But you could not for to this agree the words of the Prophets is indeede as if he had said to this agree the words of Amos in the booke of the Prophets For the minor or lesser Prophets were all in one volume called the booke of the Prophets and therefore when a testimony is brought out of any of them it is most commonly alledged as from the whole booke and not from that prophecy where they are written in the booke And thus you may read As it is written in the booke of the Prophets Acts 7.42 instead of as it is written by Amos in the booke of the Prophets And Acts 13.40 which is spoken of in the Prophets that is by Habbakkuk in the booke of the Prophets And in all this I hope I have fully answered this great doubt the mentioning whereof doth either shew your little infight in Divinity if you were not able to satisfie your selfe therein or your great delight to wrangle if you knew the answer to it 3. You deny that the Apostle Paul alledgeth the prophecy of Isaiah to shew the generall conversion of the Jewes after the conversion of the substituted Gentiles for he saith not you say and then all Israel shall be saved but and so all Israel shall be saved But though he saith not and then yet Paraeus tels you that this and more then this is understood for he saith there is an Ellipsis of the antecedent a defect or leaving out of something that should have been spoken before So that the full rehearsing of the Apostles minde herein had been thus For I would not brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery that blindenesse is in part happened to Israel Vntill the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in and then when the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in the blindnesse shall cease and so all Israel shall be saved And doubtlesse this is the true meaning of what the Apostle hath more briefely uttered And yet we doe not grant that the Apostle shewes no order and difference in time because he saith not and then but and so For the distance of time betwixt Israel's casting off and
possibly conceive how a man of understanding can bring or receive such a conclusion out of these words as this It cannot possibly be maintained that the Jewes and Gentiles are as yet one sheepfold For besides the fallacy of the consequence the conclusion is contrary to the expresse words of Scripture especially Ephes 2.11 Remember that yee being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who were called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands but now in Christ Jesus yee who somtimes were farre off are made nigh by the blood of Christ for he is our peace who hath made both one having broken downe the mid-wall for to make in himselfe of twaine one new man And who will deny that the beleevers now living among the Gentiles are members of the same body and Church universall whereof Abraham Jacob David Ezekias Paul and others were now then even now Jewes and Gentiles are one fold Reply What the Apostle affirmes wee deny not and therefore wee say not that every family amongst the Jewes and every Jew of every family was cast away was broken off from their Olive But whereas the Apostle saith If the fall of them be the riches of the world ver 15. and As concerning the Gospel they are enemies for your sakes ver 28. and God hath concluded them all in unbeliefe ver 32. These passages wee understand with the Apostle to be meant of all the Tribes though not of all of every Tribe I say with the Apostle for so generall was the unbeliefe of the Jewes even in St. Paul's time that chap. 10.1 2. he saith Brethren my hearts desire and prayer to God for Jsrael is that they may be saved For I beare them record that they have a zeale of God but not according to knowledge And in the 13. and 14. verses of this chap. he hath these words of them For I magnify mine Office if by any meanes I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh and might save some of them Not any one Tribe but here and there some yea but some in all here and there amongst the Tribes And your flying to the former translation of the 32. ver as to a refuge against the evidence of the last translation will not serve your turne seeing the words in the originall are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are more fully and more fitly rendred by them all then by all onely And the them all in the 32. ver must needs have relation to the Jewes onely exprest in the third person by their these and they in the 30. and 31. verses And not to the Gentiles exprest in the second person by ye and your And the reason you bring to prove that the 32. ver must be extended to Jewes and Gentiles both to wit because the Apostle in the 30. and 31. verses is speaking of both is of no force at all seeing he speakes of the Gentiles as beleevers and of the Jewes as unbeleevers And therefore might well say of the Tribes who were then left in unbeliefe For God hath concluded them all in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all But of the Gentiles who had then obtained mercy through the Jewes unbeliefe he could not affirme this Neither will the text which you have alledged out of Gal. 3.22 as parallell to this in the former translation any thing availe you For there is a vast difference betwixt these propositions The Scripture hath concluded all under sin And God hath concluded all in unbeliefe The first is universally and actually true seeing all men are sinners as well beleevers as unbeleevers But the last is not universally and actually true seeing all men are not unbeleevers nor ever were since the first promise of a Saviour Yea the Apostle saith Gal. 3. that the Scripture hath concluded all under sinne for this very cause to wit that the promise by faith of Iesus Christ might be given to them that beleeve That is to them that are not concluded in unbeliefe albeit they are concluded under sin And therfore it must needs be granted that the 32. ver Rom. 11. is applyed by the Apostle to some men onely and not to all to wit to the unbeleeving Jewes in opposition to the beleeving Gentiles And consequently must of necessity too be meant of all the Tribes none excepted because it cannot be meant of all Jewes none excepted And if this be not evidence enough to make you understand the 32. ver of the Jews onely wee have undentable experience to helpe cleare your eye-sight For tell us what are the many numerous multitudes of the unbeleeving Jewes disperst at this day amongst the Nations of the Gentiles are they the Nation of the Jewes or are they not If they are then were all the Tribes concluded in unbeliefe if they are not then tell us what Tribe or Tribes are wanting that fell not or continued not in unbeleife with the rest For surely in the opinion of great Divines the Holy Ghost hath reckoned up by St. John Rev. 7. all the Tribes as remaining and to be converted not long before the destruction of the Beast and false Prophet And therefore it is somewhat hard to conceive how a man of such understanding as you conceite your selfe to have could notwithstanding so much evidence of Scripture and experience condemne this conclusion Therefore it cannot possibly be maintained that the Jewes and Gentiles are as yet one sheepfold And as for the fallacy of consequence let the reader judge whether it be on our part who say that the Jewes and Gentiles shall not be united into one Church until the whole Nation of the Jewes be converted and the foresaid prophecies accomplished or on yours who granting that these prophecies doe foreshew their uniting doe affirme that they are already thus united although not one of these prophecies be fulfilled nor any one Tribe converted But to prove that the Jewes and Gentiles are united into one Church you alledge Ephe. 2. ver 11. c. Remember that yee being in times past Gentiles in the flesh that at that time yee were without Christ but now are made nigh by the blood of Christ who hath made both one and broken downe the midwall of partition betweene us for to make in himselfe one new man And is St. Paul then contrary to himselfe what would he have wisht himselfe accursed from Christ for his brethren his Kinsmen according to the flesh Rom. 9. ver 3. or would he have said that going about to establish their owne righteousnesse they had not submitted themselves to the righteousnesse of God chap. 1. v. 3. or Even so have these also now not beleeved that through your mercy they also may obtaine mercie chap. 11. ver 31. would he have said all this of the Jewes and much more to this purpose if the Jewes and Gentiles had then equally embrac't the Gospel if the Tribes had been alreadie one bodie or then likely to
or any man else can tell they doe not onely equall but exceed the number of these Jewes And lastly in saying that the union of the two people of the Jewes and Gentiles consists in the union of the Church under the Old and New Testament You doe herein grant first that the Church under the New Testament is the Church of the Gentiles and so not of the Jewes and Gentiles both as it should be if it did proportionably consist of the Jewes and Gentiles And secondly you doe herein grant that the Apostles words Ephes 2. ver 11. c. are meant of this union for you cannot conceive that the union betwixt the two people consists in the union of the Church under the Old and New Testament unlesse you doe conceive withall that the places which speake of their union are so to be understood And thirdly you doe herein contradict the preceding prophecies which you grant to foreshew the same uniting of the two people for these Prophecies doe plainely declare the uniting of the whole Nation of the Jewes with all the Nations of the Gentiles on the earth and not the uniting of Gentiles under the Gospel with Jewes under the Law not the uniting I say of one part of Christs mysticall bodie the Church then in heaven with another part thereof newly cal'd to the Faith on earth Israel's Redemption And besides how the bringing of the Jewes out of all Nations upon horses and in Litters and in Charrets and upon mules and upon mens shoulders can beare any other but a literall sense or how the vaile that is spread over all Nations can now be said to be destroy'd when as so many of them runne a whoring after their owne inventions I cannot conceive Yea Even unto this day saith St. Paul of the Jewes in his time when Moses is read the vaile is upon their heart Neverthelesse when it shall returne unto the Lord the vaile shall be taken away 2 Cor. 3. ver 15. and 16. But we see not yet Israel return'd yea we see it fallen into more grosse ignorance and superstition and therefore the vaile is not yet taken away and consequently is not yet destroyed from all Nations Mr. Petrie's Answer Whether he cannot or will not conceive it may be doubted many 1000. have conceived both these he gives no reason of his doubting in the former and the cause of his doubting in the other is naught for albeit the vaile be not taken away from all the Jewes and from all of all the Nations in which sense it shall never be taken away seeing the Church on earth is alwayes a mixt company yet certainly it is taken away from the Jewes and all the Nations to wit so many of them as turne to the Lord which are so many as the Starres in heaven that is innumerable to men For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared unto all men Tit. 2.11 And God who hath commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ so writes a Jew unto the Gentiles 2 Cor. 4.6 Reply The reason of my doubting in the former passage is because neither you nor any other can give a reason sufficient to prove that the bringing of the Jewes for an offering unto the Lord our of all Nations upon horses and in Litters and in Charrets and upon mules and upon swift beasts c. to his mountaine at Jerusalem iâ— not to be taken in a proper sense for the best reason you can shew is as it seemes that many thousands have conceived these words in another sense which is as good a reason to prove that other sense to be the true sense of them as it is to say that Mahomet was no false Prophet because many millions have and doe erroneously conceive him to be a true Prophet And why did you not afford us a sight of that other sense which so many 1000. have taken these words in and of the important reasons that mov'd then so to doe seeing you confesse page 10. that the Scripture is properly to be taken unlesse the proper sense be dissonant from the scope of the text or contrary to the analogie of Faith or honesty of manners neither of which hath been prov'd of the propeâ— sense of these words nor of any of the Prophecies upon which you strive so much to impose a figurative sense And as you haw not brought a reason to remove my doubting in this former passage so you have not prov'd the reason of my doubting in the other to be naught For in saying that albeit the vaile be not taken away from all the Jewes and from all of all the Nations in which sense it shall never be taken away c. yet certainly it is taken away from the Jewes and from all Nations to wit so many of them as â—workâ— to the Lord c. In saying thus you say nothing to the purpose for was it not thus when the Prophet spake these words was not the vaile then taken away from as many of the Jewes and of other Nations as were then turn'd unto the Lord And when St. Paul said Even unto this day when Moses is read the vaile is upon their heart neverthelesse when it shall returne unto the Lord the vaile shall be taken away were there not then more Jewes converted to the Christian Faith then have been ever since and yet the Apostle saith that the vaile was then upon their hearts and speaks of the removing of it from them as of a thing to be done and not then done although those were then converted which God had appointed to be then converted And therefore the Apostles words are to be understood of the removing of the vaile from all the Jewes and not from some onely And the Prophet saith likewise that God will destroy the Covering cast over all people and the vaile that is spread over all Nations which cannot be fulfill'd when onely a part of the vaile is destroy'd as you understand it but shall be when the whole vaile is destroyed And that it shall be wholly destroyed the Prophecie of Isaiah chap. 2. v. 2 3. which shewes that all Nations shall goe up to the mountaine of the Lords house to be taught in his wayes and the same Prophets words ch 11. v. 9. for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea And the Prophecies which shew that all Nations shal goe up to Jerusalem to worship doe with the preceding Prophecie joyntly testifie and therefore this first clause of your parenthesis doth flatly denie what God doth frequently affirme And the Scripture which you have alledg'd is us'd onely as a daring glasse to dazzle the eyes of the heedlesse or unlearned Reader for that of Tit. chap. 2. ver 11. hath relation to the severall ages Sexes and conditions of men as the
murthers drunkennesse revilings covetousnesse and such like For it was in the time of Israel's rest that the faithfull Citie became an harlot and full of murderers that her Princes grew rebellious and companions of theeves that every one of them loved gifts and followed after rewards that they judged not the fatherlesse nor the cause of the widow that they joyned house to house and field to field till there was no place that God looked for Judgement but behold oppression and for righteousnesse but behold a cry that the Harpe and the Viol and the Tabret and Pipe and wine were in their Feasts but they regarded not the worke of the Lord nor the operation of his hands Esa the 1. and 5. chapters And have Christians made any better use of their rest from persecution and destruction surely no. For it was in the very infancie of the Church that Ephesus was threatned for leaving her first love Pergamos for the Doctrine of Balaam and the Doctrine of the Nicholaitans Thyatira for suffering Jezabel to seduce the servants of God to commit fornication and to eate things offered to Idols Sardis for that her workes were not found perfect before God that is to proceed from a sincere heart and an upright affection and Laodicea for her lukewarmenesse in Religion Rev. the 2. and the 3. chapter And seeing it was thus in the first and best age of the Christian Church how bad thinke you hath it been since surely the same Apostle will tell you chap. 9. ver 20 21. And the rest of the men that were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the workes of their hands that they should not worship Devills and Idols of gold and silver and brasse and stone and wood which neither can see nor heare nor walke neither repented they of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their fornication nor of their thefts And 't is this great wickednesse of Christians themselves 't is their envying at their contention with and their defrauding of each other 't is the mischiefe they devise against and the hurt they daily doe one to another that I have spoken of and not of the hurt they receive from others not of suffering by their heathenish neighbours before the whole Empire became Christian or by heathenish Nations since that time and therefore in this part of your answer you have quite mistooke the marke and brought a record of some particular Churches rest from suffering instead of their rest from sinning 2. In the next you give but a false fire for we are discoursing of what doth inevitably follow from these Prophecies according to the allegoricall interpretation of them and therefore if the Rev. or the Prophets doe speake otherwise of the times to which you referre these Prophecies then these Prophecies doe it is an undeniable evidence against you that either the allegoricall sense is not the true sense of them or that these Prophecies are not to be accomplisht in the time to which you apply them as indeed they are not for they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountaine saith the Lord which words doe infallibly shew that the innocencie of the creatures whom this is spoken of shall be such as cannot possibly consist with the many mischievous that I say not unnaturall actions of Christians amongst themselves but may very well be fulfill'd in the generall agreement and gentlenesse of the dumb creatures at the appearing of our Lord Jesus at which time it is that these Prophecies which reveale the Jewes prosperitie in their owne land and those which reveale the joynt-embracement of the truth by all Jewes and Gentiles and these which reveale the reducement of the dumbe and insensible creatures to their originall perfection are all to be accomplished and therefore although it be the propertie of the Church to be militant in this world that is untill the appearing of Christ yet in that new world she shall be triumphant she shall be rid of all her adversaries of all her disturbers as is plentifully declar'd by the Prophets and implied in the first part of the 20. chap. of the Rev. But whereas you have alledg'd these words as a reason to prove that there shall be alwayes hurt done by Christians in this world for these you say are the beasts of whom these Prophecies are to be understood certainly you are much mistaken in this argument for it will not follow that Christians must needs be hurtfull to themselves because it is the property of the Church to be militant in this world that is till our Saviours comming to receive hurt from others And yet though we denie your Argument wee denie not what you would infer from it to wit that Christians are hurtfull to each other yea we say and that without an hyperbole that they are so hurtfull that even for this very cause these Prophecies cannot be understood of them For wee dare not with you first to make them contradict other Scripture by wresting of them to a false sense and then to uphold our errour by a flat denyall of that which God hath spoken in them by affirming I say that these words they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my mountaine are thus to be understood they shall hurt and destroy in all my holy mountaine Yea wee hold it much safer to denie the allegoricall sense of them and so their present accomplishment withall neither of which any other Scripture or any circumstance in these Prophecies doth enforce then to denie what God hath so plainely reveal'd in them 3. And yet you goe on like a Conquerour and beare the Reader in hand that the words in the 9. ver for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord doe puzzle the Author and that therefore hee fancieth a private conceite for expounding these words of which he gives no reason But surely it doth not puzzle the Author so much as to make him contradict any thing that God doth say as you have done to justifie the allegoricall interpretation of these Prophecies and therefore it is evident that your exposition is the private conceit seeing it crosseth the text and not mine which though you accuse you could not shew to be contrary unto the text Yea the reason which I have given for it for you wilfully belie me in saying I have given none is not onely very agreeable unto the proper sense of these Prophecies but to reason it selfe for what could more illustrate the wisedome Justice and mercy of God in the restauration of these creatures then to ordaine that man the creature whose disobedience had been the occasion of subjecting all other inferiour creatures unto vanitie should againe by his obedience springing from the abundant knowledge of his maker become the occasion of delivering them from this bondage of corruption and therefore though it be true that the saving knowledge of the Gospel hath made and doth still make wicked men to leave
their wickednesse yet it is not true that the calling of men out of the state of nature into the state of grace is foretold in these Prophecies and the words of our Saviour I send you as sheepe amongst Wolves Matth. 10. ver 16. are flat against you for they are meant of the most obstinate enemies of the Gospel they are meant I say not of such as should become sheep but of such as should kill the sheep and use their utmost endeavour to keep all others out of the sheepfold as the verses following doe declare and interpreters acknowledge and albeit there hath been now and then one such Wolfe as St. Paul was that of a savage persecutor hath become a pious Saint yet besides all these Wolves that have still kept their owne hue and habit and besides those who being bred up in the Church have still retain'd their innocent garments there have been many who being without the Church have exchang'd their habit for sheeps clothing for no other end but to have the benefit of the Sheeps pasture and the better opportunitie to destroy the sheepe and to destroy the more sheep And besides although the word Wolves doth in the saying of our Saviour signifie men yet it followes not from hence that it is so to be understood in these Prophecies for it must be some circumstance out of the Prophecies themselves that must prove this and not the allegoricall acception of this word in another place And as I say not that the change of beasts affections from bad to better from evill to good is to be the proper effect of any knowledge of God in themselves so I say that God hath here reveal'd that this change shall as well bee the effect of mans pleasing him by obedience as the change of them from better to worse from good to evill was of mans displeasing him by sinne Israel's Redemption As then there can be no sufficient reason alledg'd for the allegoricall interpretation of these Prophecies so if wee believe Gods revelations touching the Jewes returne there can be no reason urg'd to the contrary that will force us to forsake the literall sense of them By which sense I am sure that passage of St. Paul in the 8. chap. of the Rom. at the 21. ver is so well explain'd that the great strife about the signification of the word Creature there may be soone decided and by which too the opinion of those who from that place would make the sensitive creatures copartners with us of that glorie which followes the last resurrection falls to the ground For is not the exchange of a ravenous disposition for a quiet and peaceable and the freedome from the abuse of sinne A delivery of the sensitive creature from the bondage of corruption and the glorious r Dan. 7. ver 21.22 libertie of the Sonnes of God what is it but the flourishing estate of the Jewes before spoken of under Christ their Head who accompanied with all the Saints departed and then living shall come and receive dominion and Å¿ Dan. 7. ver 14.27 chap. 2. ver 44. Rev. 15. v. 4. ch 20. v. 4.6 glory and a Kingdome that all people Nations and Languages may serve him as you shall heare anon Mr Petrie's Answer 1. The truth of God needeth not the boulstering of mans devises 2. The Apostle is speaking there of the finall deliverance of the creature from the bondage of corruption which is not cleared by that cohabitation of beasts unlesse wee will be content with a small portion of deliverance for the generall deliverance of the creature which kind of contentment these Authours will not acknowledge in the accomplishment of the promises no nor in a fuller measure The Authour collecteth nothing particularly from that text Isa 65.25 neither is there any word there of the Jewish Monarchy and seeing it hath the same allegorie with that chap. 11. wee goe forward Reply 1. The truth of God say you needeth not the boulstering of mans devices And mans devices say wee are not a boulstering but a bereaving are not an upholding but a destroying of the truth of God But what is the device which you have found here is it not the comparing of one place of Scripture with another which speakes plainly of the same thing and is not this warranted by the generall approbation of Divines for a very remarkable rule in the right interpreting of the Scriptures you cannot denie it The device then which you speake of is but a device of yours to make the Reader baulk the onely light Gods word holds out unto him for the true discoverie of the Apostles meaning that so he may stick the closer to that sense which mans device hath put upon it 2. The Apostle saith the creature it selfe also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption c. and the Prophet saith the Wolfe shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lie downe with the Kid and the Cow and the Beare shall feed together Whereby he shewes both what these creatures bondage of corruption is and what their deliverance from it whereby he shewes I say that the wild untamed and hurtfull disposition which these creatures are now subject unto is their bondage of corruption and that the re-estating of them into that mild peacefull and harmlesse condition in which they were first created shall be their deliverance from it And when shall this be fulfill'd shall it be after the generall judgement of the dead mention'd Rev. 20. ver 12 c. surely no for then this earth out of which these creatures were made shall passe away and be no more found Revel 20. ver 11. then this earth and the workes the creatures that are therein shall be burnt up 2 Pet. 3. ver 10. And we read not of any Starres in the new heaven or of any beasts on the new earth yea besides men and Angels we reade of no more creatures then of a tree of life and of a river of life in that holy Jerusalem which shall descend from God unto the new earth the earth with which there shall be no Sea created and consequently these creatures deliverance is to be fulfill'd at the restoring of Judes and Jerusalem cal'd here by Isaiah the holy mountaine and chap. 2. the mountaine of the Lords house and the mountaine of the Lord. And thus by conferring these two Prophecies of Isaiah and St. Paul it is manifest what these creatures deliverance from the bondage of corruption is touching which you say onely that the Apostle is speaking of the finall deliverance of the creature from the bondage of corruption which is not cleared by that cohabitation of beasts unlesse wee will be content with a small portion of deliverance for the generall deliverance of the creature So that you grant that the cohabitation of the beasts is their deliverance from the bondage of corruption and consequently that the foresaid Prophecies in which it is reveal'd are properly to
be understood which before you so stoutly denied but you say withall that it is a small portion of the creatures deliverance that it is a deliverance but of a part of the creatures and surely we doe not say that the deliverance of the sensitive creatures is the deliverance of all the creatures but we say that all the insensitive creatures too shall be restor'd to their Primitive perfection and so delivered from the bondage of corruption when these are as other Prophecies doe foreshew of them And seeing you acknowledge the Renovation of the creature to be its deliverance we marvell what you meane in saying that the Apostle is speaking there of the finall deliverance of the creature For if you meane by the finall deliverance a further renovation of it surely we know but of one renovation of the creature that the Scriptures speake of and that is to be a perfect renovation of it but if you meane annihilation and dissolution of it you hold one more deliverance of the creature then any other Divine doth to wit a deliverance by renovation and a deliverance by abolition but wee denie that the Apostle speakes there of the dissolution of the creature and that this is cal'd a deliverance of the creature from the bondage of corruption in any place of the Scripture Yea wee see not how the creatures deliverance from the bondage of corruption should be a delivering of it into a greater corruption nor how the creature should rather earnestly expect such a deliverance from the bondage of corruption by which all the kinds of it shall be destroyed then desire to continue subject to this bondage under which all the kinds are preserved And seeing the creatures bondage of corruption is the vanitie to which it was made subject by reason of mans sinne after its creation and so cannot be meant of that corruptible condition of the creature in which it was created subject to death and dissolution it must needs follow as wee conceive that the creatures dissolution cannot be its deliverance For such as the bondage is such must the deliverance be but the bondage was the alteration which befell it through mans sinne after its creation which was adventitious to it and not its corruptibilitie which was made naturall to it by creation and consequently the deliverance must be a restauration of it the deliverance of the sensitive creatures a restauration from their hurtfull and untamed disposition to a mild and harmelesse and of the insensitive of the Starres and Heavens from a malignant influence to a favourable and from a dimmer to a clearer brightnesse c. And whereas you say that the Author collecteth nothing particularly from that text Isaiah 65. ver 25. Surely he collects as much from that Prophecie as from the other and to this end hath alledged both together because both doe reveale the same thing but if you want a particular observation from this text you may take notice that he saith And dust shall be the Serpents meat whereby he shewes that when the Lyon shall eate straw like the bullock when all other beasts and creeping things of the earth and fowles of the aire shall live by that food which was appointed for them at the creation Gen. 1. ver 30. the Serpent onely shall feed still on the nourishment of his curse Gen. 3. ver 14. as a memoriall of his being the instrument of mans fall and so of subjecting his fellow-creatures into vanity thereby And how could you say that there is not any word of the Jewish Monarchy in this Prophecie whenas these are the verses immediately foregoing And I will rejoyce in Jerusalem and joy in my people and the voyce of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voyce of crying There shall be no more there an infant of dayes nor an old man that hath not filled his dayes for the child shall dye an hundred yeares old but the siner being an hundred yeares old shall be accursed They shall build houses and inhabit them and they shall plant Vineyards and eat the fruite of them they shall not build and another inhabit they shall not plant and another eate for as the dayes of a tree are the dayes of my people and mine elect shall long enjoy the worke of their hands they shall not labour invaine nor bring forth for trouble for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord and their off-spring with them and it shall come to passe that before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will heare The Wolfe and the Lamb shall feed together c. What thinke you of all this doth it not plainly shew the future establishment and prosperity of the Jewes in their owne Land as the latter part of the 11. chap. doth their returne to it and are not the dumb creatures as plainly distinguisht here from the Jewes as in the 11. chap. from the Iewes and Gentiles what then shall we say of you who have so little care of your credit and regard of your Conscience as to denie that here is any word of the Jewish Monarchy surely you have need of such Readers as will swallow all you say with an implicite faith for if they take the course of the noble Bereans and search whether it be as you say or not you will often be found a traitour to the manifest truth of God a crime doubtlesse of no low ranke a sinne of no light dye Israel's Redemption Another Prophecie touching the renewed estate of the creatures is to be seen in the 30. chap. of Isa at the 23. v. Then shall he give the rain of thy seed that thou shalt sow the ground withall and bread of the increase of the earth and it shall be fat and plenteous In that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures The Oxen likewise and the young Asses that eare the ground shall eate cleane provender which hath been winnowed with shovell and with the fanne and there shall be upon every high hill rivers and streames of waters in the day of the slaughter when the towers fall Moreover the light of the Moone shall be as the light of the Sunne and the light of the Sun shall be seven-fold as the light of seven dayes in the Day that the Lord t Mal. 3. ver 17 18. bindeth up the breach of his people and healeth the stroke of their wound But the great increase of the light of the Sunne and Moone here spoken of is in the 60. chap. at the 19. ver plainely gainesayed the words are these The Sunne shall be no more thy light by day neither for brightnesse shall the Moon give light unto thee but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light and thy God thy glory Where if it had been said that the Sun should no more burne them by day nor the Moone by night as it is in the 121. Psal or smite them as it is in the 49. chap.
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
Father because it is appointed unto him by the Father and sometimes Christs Kingdome because as man he is to reigne visibly in it and sometimes the Kingdome of God because Gods power shall be revealed after a wonderfull manner at the setting of it up and because none but Gods Lawes shall be observed in it and sometimes the Kingdome of heaven because the chiefe governours of it shall come from heaven and because it shall be of an heavenly condition in regard of the holinesse and righteousnesse thereof for as our Saviour and the glorified Saints shall then as perfectly doe Gods will on earth as it is now done by them in heaven so shall their righteous judgement occasion a more righteous dealing amongst all others over the whole earth then was ever yet observed in any particular Kingdome Israel's Redemption I know these words are taken by Interpreters for a metaphoricall expression of those joyes which we shall receive in * In heaven where the holy Jerusalem is that great City Rev. 21.10 c. distinguished to Ezâ—k chap. 4. ver 2. c. chap. 45. ver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. which I take to be the modell and platforme of the city that is to be built at the Jewes redemption by these and many more differences First because the builder and maker of the one iâ— God Rev. 21.2 but the other men shall build Ier. 31.38 Ezâ—k 40.8 Secondly the materialls of Ierusalem which is above are all gold and precious stones Rev. 21.18 19 20 21. but the materialls of that other Ierusalem shall not be such Ezek. 40.16 17 21 c. Thirdly in this city there is no Temple for the Lord God Almighty and the Lambe are the Temple of it Rev. 21.22 but that city shall have a Temple Ezek. 40.41 c. Fourthly in this city the river of water of life proceedeth out of the Throne of God and of the Lambe Rev. 21.1 but in that city waters not the river of life though endu'd with healthfull and nourishing qualities because of the place whence they are to proceed Ezek. 47.9.12 shall issue from under the threshold of the Temple for the forefront of the house shall stand towards the East and the waters shall come downe from under the right side of the house at the South-side of the Altar Ezek. 47.1 c. Fifthly in this city the tree of Life only grows on either side of the river and beares twelve manner of fruits monethly Rev. 22.2 but by the river that shall issue out of the Sanctuary of that city shall grow all trees for meate Ezek. 47.12 Sixthly in this city there is no night they need no candle nor light of the Sun for the Lord God giveth them light and the Lambe is the light thereof Rev. 21.23.25 ch 22.5 but in that city there shall be night and the light of the Sun shall then be sevenfold Isa 30.26 ch 60.11 Seventhly this city shall descend to the new earth with which there shall be no sea created Rev. 21.1.2 but the waters which shall come from that city shall go into the sea and being brought forth into the sea the waters shall be healed Ezek. 47.8 and therefore that city is to be built before the annihilation of the first earth with which there is a sea heaven but it is a currant axiom in our Schooles Non esse alitera seu propria scripturae significatione recedendum nisi evidens aliqua necessitas cogat scripturae veritas in ipsa litera periclitari videtur That we must not forsake the literall and proper sense of the scripture unlesse an evident necessity doth require it or the truth thereof would be endangered by it and I am sure here is no such cause for which we should leave the naturall interpretation of the place yea we are by many other passages in the scripture rather compelled to sticke to it Mr. Petrie's Answer It may be doubted whether this Author hath been bred in schooles or what he calleth our schooles seeing he so abuseth thetoricall termes as literall sense for proper sense metaphoricall sense contra-distinguished to figurative sense and keepes no logicall canons in his arguing and I thinke he did never learne such interpretation of scripture in any approved schoole As for this rule he may see partly by that is said and shall see more hereafter that these words cannot be understood of an earthly Kingdome neither doe these fore cited compell us as he boldly saith to sticke unto the earthly sense of this text in hand Reply It may well be doubted whether pride or choler did most oversway your judgement in this answer For though I willingly confesse my selfe to be a man not worthy to be numbred amongst the learned yet unlesse I should make as little conscience of lying for an advantage as you doe you cannot chuse but know what schools I was bred in for the title-page of my Book doth publish it to the world And doubtlesse these schooles have ever yeelded men as eminent for judgement as righteous in their life and as zealous for the truth as those that you have been bred in or any other schooles in Christendome besides But that which you here first indict me for is this That I abuse rhetoricall termes as literall sense for proper sense And I pray what Divine doth not as often or oftner use literall sense for proper sense then for the true sense whether proper or figurative and what is the meaning of literall sense in this approved axiome but a proper sense For doubtlesse there is no necessity that can compell us to leave the true sense of the scripture although it may to leave the proper sense And yet the axiome runnes thus We must not forsake the literall or proper sense c. which being rendred according to your acceptation of the word literall the true or proper sense what sense will there be in the axiome Your next censure is That I have contra-distinguished metaphoricall sense to figurative sense But it had been honest dealing to have shewed the place or else not to have said so for an accusation without proofe doth onely declare the plaintiffe a slanderer Your third complaint is That I keepe no Logicall canons in arguing No Sir it is not for every one to doe this it is for such as you are for such as are scholars such men will observe a canonicall method in arguing and make as excellent use of logicall maximes as you have done pag. 30. of this maxime What agreeth unto any man as man belongeth unto all men The last censure is That I never learned such interpretation of scripture in any approved schoole Surely the interpretation of scripture is to be learned from God and not from man for that interpretation is most true and infallible when the coherence of the text doth point out the sense or when one scripture doth expound another of the same nature And yet I goe not alone but am accompanied with many
approved Authors bred in approved schooles who have all confessed the same truth that I speake for and stucke to that proper interpretation of these scriptures which I follow For not to speake of the primitive Christians or of many of the Fathers after them there have been many approved men for learning in these latter-times that have been witnesses of this truth amongst whom are Brightman Alstedius Wendelinus and Mede whom you your selfe pag. 14. commend for a renowned Author although you shake off his choifest proofes as easily as Sampfon shooke off the Philistins cords and breake through his strongest arguments as forcibly as Sampson did through the gates of Azzah which he carried away in a triumphing manner such wonders doe you worke by your canonicall or rather carelesse arguing And yet for all this you must give me leave to make so bold with you againe as to tell you That as the plainenesse of this text in hand and of the fore-cited scriptures doth compell us to acknowledge the proper sense of them so I trust both the love of the truth the feare of God and a desire to keepe a good conscience will ever constraine us to sticke to it For it is manifest by your taunting termes that you could finde neither scripture contradicting nor necessity forbidding the proper sense of our Saviours words for the confirmation whereof this rule is here alledged Israel's Redemption For besides that there is little analogy and resemblance betwixt a perpetuall l Rev. 22.3 praising and worshipping of God and the businesse of a politicke government here spoken of besides this I say we are already informed that though our Saviour be now in heaven yet he sits not there in his owne Throne and consequently is not yet in the Kingdome which the Father hath appointed him Mr. Petrie's Answer What impudence is here Doth not David say Psal 16 11. In thy presence is the fulnesse of joy at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore and Psal 17.15 I shall be satisfied when I wake with thy likenesse and Psal 36.8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fulnesse of thy house and thou shalt make them drinke of the river of thy pleasures These and many more are spoken of the joyes in heaven by resemblance with earthly Kingdomes and we have already shewed that he hath been misinformed or misinformeth of another Throne and another Kingdoms Reply Here you startle the Reader with a very foule exclamation but an evill tongue as it doth not become you so it will nothing benefit you Yea it deepely staines your innocency before God very much impaires your reputation amongst men especially upright men and sets up your wounded conscience as an irreconcileable Judge against you Looke into the Epistle of Saint James chap. 3. ver 6. and you may see both the abominable off spring and originall of it So is the tongue saith he amongst the members that it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire of hell That therefore it may not burne hereafter in those flames from whence it is now too much inflamed thinke seriously on this passage and from henceforth give better language to others though your enemies then you have doâ—e to me for telling you the truth Now as for your answer I confesse these texts to be Davids words and that there are some metaphoricall phrases in them But I deny that they have any resemblance with the civill affaires of an earthly Kingdome or that there is any comparison to be made betwixt them and our Saviours saying Luke 22.28 so that the impudence you speake of may well recoile on your selfe For the text Psal 16.11 shews onely that the fulnesse of all joy and delight is in the enjoyment of the sight of God and to be at the right hand of God doth betoken the highest place of honour and glory in heaven which is proper to our Saviour who is said to sit at the right hand of God in allusion to a custome amongst men who are wont to set those whom they will mâ—st honour whom they most delight in at their right hands And that Text Psa 17.8 shews that David after the resurrection when he shall have a glorified body as Christ now hath shall be perfectly happy shall be as he would be For these words to awake after thy likenesse are all one with those of Saint Paul in 1 Cor. 15.42 43 44. To rise in incorruption in glory in power to rise with a spirituall body For if we have been planted together in the likenesse of Christs death we shall be also in the likenesse of his resurrection saith the same Apostle Rom. 6.5 and because we are laid into our graves as one that lies downe in his bed to sleepe and shall be raised out of them as one that riseth out of his bed from sleepe therefore it is that the Prophet useth awake in stead of arise And the text Psal 36.8 is referred by Musculus to Gods bountifull provision in this life for all men indifferently and by Calvine better as well to the outward and temporall as to the spirituall and eternall benefits of God towards the faithfull his words are Some restraine it to spirituall graces but unto mee it seemeth a more likelyhood that under it are comprehended all Gods benefits that pertaine as well to the use of this present life as to the eternall heavenly blessednesse And so refers it as well to joyes on earth as to joyes inheaven And happily seeing the Prophet makes mention here of the house of God it is best understood of the great comfort which men shall receive through Gods loving kindness towards them in the time of our Saviours Kingdome on earth when Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lord shall again be rebuilt and all Nations shall flow unto it as it is Isai 2.2 or as it is Zech. 14.16 shall goe up from yeare to yeare to worâ—â—ippe the King the Lord of Hosts and to keepe the feast of Tabernacles When I say in the mountaine of the Lords house in the restored Jerusalem the Lord of Hosts shall make unto all people a feast of fat things a feast of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wines on the lees well refined And shall destroy the face of the covering cast over all people and the vaile that is spread over all Nations Isai 25.6 c. And besides every understanding man knowes that to drinke of the river of thy pleasures is a metaphoricall expression seeing pleasures are not the nourishment of the body and so properly and corporally dranke of but belonging to the soule to which they are as comfortable as sweete and wholesome waters to a thirsty body But to drinke wine to eate the Passeover to eate and drinke at our Saviours table to eate bread in the Kingdome of God to sit on seates and judge the twelve Tribes of Israel are all proper expressions
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
Epistle was in possession of it and the Aposile did then hope for the house not made with hands eternall in the heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 And therefore that world is not a distinct world but even the same in which as Mediatour he shall give up the Kingdome to the Father Reply That the Apostle speakes of a world to come as well in respect of Christ as of himselfe it is evident first from Psal 8.4 c. which shewes that the world which the Apostle calls the world to come is the world in which those workes of God are that he made for man to have dominion over is the world I say in which the beasts of the field the fowles of the aire and the fishes of the sea doe inhabit And secondly it is cleare from the originall word by which it is exprest which is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the superiour world the third heaven as you take it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inferiour world the terrestriall globe the dwelling place of men and all other mortall creatures as we read Matth. 24.14 and Acts 17.6.31 And therefore the Kingdome of heaven in your sense that is Christs possession of heaven and his reigning over the Saints departed cannot possibly be meant by it but the Kingdome of heaven in our sense that is the heavenly Kingdome which Christ shall here visibly reigne over in time to come In the day the great day in which God hath appointed to judge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the world in righteousnesse by him as it is Acts 17.31 that is to execute judgement and justice on the earth as the Prophet Jeremiah expresseth it chap. 23. ver 5. So that the Apostles words are as if he had said For not unto the Angels hath be appointed this inferiour world of which we spake before chap. 1. ver 6. to be subject in time to come but unto Christ as one in a certaine place testified saying What is man that thou art mindfull of him or the sonne of man that thou visitest him Thou madest him a little lower then the Angels thou crownedst him with glory and honour and didst set him over the workes of thy hands c. And thus it is manifest that your referring of the words whereof we speake to ver 3. is but a private fancie crossing the Apostles explication of the world to come by the prophecy of David Psal 8.4 c. And imposing such a signification on the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as is not to be found in all the Scripture And therefore we still conclude that the world which the Apostle speakes of is to be a distinct world in time from this we now live in and both in time and place from that in which our Saviour shall give up his Kingdome to the Father And as for those who by the world to come doe understand the time of the Gospell betwixt Christs first and second comming they doe hereby make the Apostle either to call the time in which he himselfe lived the world to come or to distinguish the time betwixt Christs first and second comming into two worlds at the least Whereas the scripture doth divide the whole time appointed to the heavens and earth that now are but into three worlds or parts of time the first whereof containes the time from the creation to the floud and is the old world of which Saint Peter speakes 2 Epist chap. 2. ver 5. the world long since past The second containes the time from the floud to our Saviours next appearing and is the world that now is The third containes the whole day of judgement the 1000 yeares and little season mentioned Rev. 20. which is to beginne at our Saviours next appearing and to end with the world it selfe at the last resurrection and this is the world to come of which the Apostle here speakes Israel's Redemption or that which is to be given up is already past Mr. Petrie's Answer That which shall be given up is not past as yet neither shall it be given up altogether but in some manner as the Millenaries acknowledge at the end of their 1000 yeares Reply That which shall be given up is not past as yet you say true and that which shall be ginne is not come as yet But surely it is false to say that we acknowledge Christs Kingdome shall not be given up altogether that we acknowledge I say that Christ as man as the Sonne of David shall not then cease to reigne when the generations of men over which he must reigne shall cease And this earth on which he must reigne shall passe away In a word when at the last resurrection he shall take the elect with him into eternall glory and delight and turne the reprobate from him into endlesse horrour and contempt For we know that the Apostle in 1 Cor. 15.24.28 teacheth otherwise saying Then commeth the end when he shall have delivered up the Kingdome to God even the Father c. And when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall the Sonne also himselfe be subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be allin all Israel's Redemption And it is no where said that the new Jerusalem the City of eternall glory shall be subjected to Christ as a creature but that Christ as a creature shall after the judgement of the dead be there subject to the Father Mr. Petrie's Answer He as God-man saith Matth. 28. To me is given all power in heaven and on earth And thus all the consequences for proving the earthly Monarchy of the Jewes are naught Reply That the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the power our Saviour speakes of Matth. 28.18 was given to him as man and not as God for so he had it from all eternity interpreters agree And what though all power in heaven and on earth was then given to Christ as man What doth this make against my words which affirme that Christ as man shall after the judgement of the dead after all things are subdued unto him surrender againe this power as having no further use of it and in the new Jerusalem not reigne as man but be himselfe subject to the Father Or what doth it make against Christs 1000 yeares reigne on earth that he had then all power in heaven and on earth given unto him unlesse it will follow from hence that if he had been to reigne visibly on earth he might and would have done it at that time But certainely this will not follow for though our Saviour had then all power given him yet he was toexercise it to doe all that was to be done by it in that order and manner which God had appointed it to be done and no otherwise And therefore as we acknowledge that God had from all eternity the same power of creation which in the beginning of this world he first of all put into act and exercise so we acknowledge likewise that Christ hath now that power
Saviour shall reigne over the Iewes in their owne land and that Ierusalem shall againe be built Why should we not beleeve that both the building of the Temple of the Lord and his reigning on the Throne of his Father David shall be as properly fulfilled in Christ the antitype as they were in Solomon the type Whereas then you say further That in this sense the Disciples did beleeve the Scriptures after the resurrection of Christ I pray what scriptures this prophecy Surely it is false that they did any where cite this prophecy to prove our Saviours resurrection from the dead And the words of the Evangelist are plaine When therefore he was risen from the dead saith Iohn his Disciples remembred that he bad said this unto them to wit that he had said to the Iewes Destroy this Temple c. and they beleeved the Scripture that is the scripture which foreshewes our Saviours resurrection as Psal 16. alledged by Saint Peter Acts 2.25 c. and Psal 2.7 alledged by Saint Paul Acts 13.33 c. And the word which Iesus had said that is and they beleeved also that this saying of his to the Iewes was meant of the resurrection of his body and not as you say they did that it was an interpretation of Zechariah's prophecy which foreshewes indeed the building of the Temple of the Lord but not the desiroying of it by the Iewes nor the building of it in three dayes no nor the building of it untill the man whose name is the Branch should sit and rule on his Throne Neither did our Saviour say plainely Destroy the Temple of the Lord as the false witnesses accused him nor absolutely destroy the Temple but darkely and in relation to his owne body destroy this Temple as his words touching the raising of it in three dayes doe intimate and the Evangelist doth afterwards expound it And he said also I will raise it and not I will build it which shewes the making of a Temple where was none before and therefore cannot be applyed to the quickening of our Saviours body a temple then in being and not to be corrupted in death And as for your confused exposition of the prophecy of Zech. 14.4 c. it is not onely contrary to the truth but to reason it selfe For first which is flat against the truth you ascribe the accomplishment of this prophecy to our Saviours ascending to the Saints in heaven and to the time succeeding his ascension whereas it is mâ—nifest by the words in the first verse which you have concealed And the Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with thee that it is to be sulfilled at his descending with the Saints from heaven and in the time succeeding his descension And secondly which is not onely against the truth but against reason also you affirme That by the cleaving of the Mount of Olives towards the East and towards the West is meant the shaking of all the world at the preaching of the Gospell And That by the Iewes flying â—o the valley of the mountaines is meant their imbracing of the Gospell Which is as if you had said that the Iewes did then imbrace the Gospell when they fled from it or that the Iewes in flying from the Gospell fled to the Gospell For as you interpret the cleaving of the Mount of Olives from which the Iewes were to fly of the preaching of the Gospell so you interpret the valley of the mountaines to which the Iewes were to flee of the same also And who sees not by this and by your expounding of the 6 and 7 verses Of the perpeâ—â—all light of the Gospell and the 8 verse Of the continuall flowing of the doctrine of the Gospell and all of the Gospell and of nothing but of the Gospell that by such a liberty of interpreting any one may make the plain stâ—scripture that is to say onely as he saith and so to patronize and defend any dangerous opinion against the truth clearely revealed in it The truth therefore of this prophecy is no other then that which the Prophet himselfe hath plainely told us to wit that the Mount of Olives shall be cleft in the midst by an earthquake at the comming of our Saviour with all the Saints and that the Iewes which are gathered together neereunto it shall then flye for feare of this earthquake as they fled for feare from before the earthquake in the dayes of Vzziah King of Judah And the effect of this earthquake is described ver 10. where it is said And all the Land shall be turned as a plaine from Geba to Rimmon South of Jerusalem 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 menshall dwell in it and there shall be no more utter destruction but Ierusalem shall be safely inhabited And as this part so all the rest of the prophecy is to be understood likewise according to its owne stile and language which is so obvious that it needes no interpretation and the light thereof cannot be more obscured then by such a glosse as you have put upon it And thus it being undeniable that this prophecy of Zech. doth foreshew our Saviours second comming his comming with all the Saints and the things then to be performed by him it necessarily followes That he shall come not onely to conquer death first in part at the resurrection of the Saints that shall rise to meete him and to come with him and then wholly at the resurrection of all others when he shall passe the sentence of salvation on the elect and of damnation on the reprobate but in the interim in the space betwixt this first and second resurrection to be King over all the earth as this Prophet saith ver 9. to take the Kingdomes of this world unto himselfe as Saint Iohn reveals Rev. 11.15 to put downe all rule and all authority as Saint Paul affirmes 1 Cor. 15.24 and to set up that dominion glory and Kingdome at the manifestation whereof all people nations and languages shall serve him as Daniel foreshewes chap. 7. ver 14. which he shall doe by an extraordinary destroying of the most and greatest of his enemies in batteâ—l and by causing every one that is left of the Nations to goe up from yeare to yeare to Ierusalem to worship the King the Lord of Hosts as Zech. here and many other Prophets besides doe declare Israel's Redemption You see here that our Saviour comes not onely to conquer death which is the last enemy that he shall destroy and therefore not wholly to be destroyed till the last resurrection but also to take the Kingdomes of this world unto himselfe to put downe as Saint Paul hath said all the authority and power of other Nations that there may be one shepheard and one sheep-fold Dan. 7.27 that the Kingdome and dominion and greatnesse
of the Kingdome under the whole Heaven may be possest by the people of the Saints of the most High That is as the former prophecies doe expound it by the i Psal 148.14 people of Israel And this as I thinke is the time of which he spake these words Verely verely I say unto you k Ioh. 1.51 Hereafer shall ye see heaven open and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Heb. 1.6 sonne of man Mr. Petrie's Answer That these words shal be fulfilled or have been fulfilled it is most certaine and it is as certaine that they shall never be fulfilled in the proper acceptation of the words seeing the body of Christ is not so tall as that 〈◊〉 shall reach from heaven to earth for this cause some as Cyril on this place have exponed unto for upon in this sense as if the Heavens were open the Angels shall come downe and ascend unto my Service So doth Chrysostome apply these words to the Angels ministring unto Christ in time of his passion and resurrection Others thinke it to be an exposition of that vision of Iacob Gen. 28. whereby was signified that Christ is the Mediatour making way betwixt heaven and earth Col. 1.10 And these expositions for the matter doe agree with other Scriptures Reply It seemes by your first words that you are doubtfull of the accomplishment of this prophecy for that it shall be fulfilled or hath been fulfilled it is most certaine you say And your next assertion that it shall never he fulfilled in the proper acceptation of the words doth apparently contradict that which followes for by and by after you tell us that Cyril hath exponedii as if the heavens were open the Angels shall come downe and ascend unto my Service and that Chrysostome doth apply it to the Angel ministring unto Christ in time of his passion and resurrection And is not this a proper exposition of the prophecy then shew us one more proper And doubtlesse it is to be understood as Cyril understand it of the Angels ministring to our Saviour But yet we beleeve not that it was fulfilled when in his agony there appeared an Angel unto him streng hening him Luke 22.43 and much lesse when after his resurrection an Angel appeared at his sepulchre Matth. 28 2. For it is evident that when this prâ—phâ—cy shall be fulfilled they that are in our Saviours presence shall as plainely see heaven open 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the starry firmament part asunder and the Angels ascending from and descending to him 〈◊〉 they shall see each other as plainely I say as Saint Stephen looking stedfastly into heaven saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the heavens open and the Sonne of man standing on the right hand of God Acts 7.55 56. And as Saint John Baptist saw the heavens opened unto Christ and the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him Mattb. 3.16 And Saint Paul assures uâ— Heb. 1.6 That when God againe bringeth in the first begotten into the world he sayth And let all the Angels of God worship him And to what time then can our Saviours Hereafter can this visible attendance of the Angels on him belong but to the time of his next appearing of his comming againe into the world the time and place of which God hath said that all the Angels of God shall doe homage unto him And besides it is more then probable that the Evangelist would as well have recorded the accomplishment as the prediction of this thing if he had knowne of the fulfilling of it But the acute reason of your denying the proper sense of the prophecy is yet behinde and may well remaine to posterity as the wonder of your worke and the monument of your wit For the Angels you fay shall not ascend and descend upon the Sonne of man seeing the body of Christ is not so tall as that it shall reach from beaven to earth Doubtlesse a very tall proofe and yet it comes short of the marke you aâ—me at For surely the proper acceptation of the prophecy as it depends not on so it is not proved but infallibly disproved by the proper acceptation of the word upon which preposition having relation onely to the participle descending the full expression had been thus ascending from and descending upon or unto which is meant by upon in this place And which the originall word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth as well signifie as upon and might have been here so exprest as well as it it is Luke 10.6 and chap. 19. ver 5. and in other places had there been any likelihood of a modest Christians misunderstanding of this prophecy by reason of the word upon However the learned had need bewaâ—e that in translating the scriptures they follow not the common liberty of speech in the smalest word when as the wilfull are so ready to make it an occasion of venting their vaine conceits Israel's Redemption For that this may be fulfilled it is requifite that he be on earth whither these messengers may descend unto him and from whence againe they may ascend which argues too his continuance here for a greater space of time then the judgement of the dead requires Mr. Petrie's Answer A poore proofe for as it is requisite that he be on earth whither that these messengers may descend unto him so I may say it is requisite that he be in heaven whence they may descend on him and whither they may ascend to him and so taking the words in that sense they may be fulfilled albeit he never were on earth even as they may be fulfilled when he is on earth and not in heaven but according to the first exposition he was on earth when they were fulfilled farre lesse is his continuance on earth necessary for these words Reply A poore proofe you say And surely were it not much more powerfull then the answer it were poore indeed For may you say as well from the order of our Saviours words That it is requisite he be in heaven whence the Angels may descend from him and ascend to him as we may that it is requisite he be on earth whence they may ascend from him and descend to him Certainely nothing can be said more direct against the truth For such a conclusion doth necessarily change and pervert out Saviours words into this contrary forme Hereafter ye shall see heaven open and the Angels ascending to and descending from the Sonne of man Whereas our Saviour said ascending and descending to the Sonne of man which necessarily proves that he is not to be in heaven at the accomplishment thereof seeing he must be the terminus a quo the person from whom and not to whom the Angels shall ascend and the terminus ad quem the person to whom and not from whom they shall descend And therefore taking these words no otherwise then our Saviour spake them they may be sulfilled on earth as we say but it is not
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
which we have brought and can bring for it And therefore we both have and can prove by scripture even expresse scripture that the restored Ierusalem shall be the place of Christs Throne although it be beyond our power to make you acknowledge that we can and have proved it it being the peculiar act of the Spirit of God to doe this of that Spirit I say whose apparent testimonies you so presumptuously resist and so lightly esteeme ISRAELS REDEMPTION CHAP. III. That the Kingdome of Israel and the thousand yeares reigne of the Saints shall concurre ANd thus even one prophecy of Zech. doth clearely unfold all that we a verre touching our present subject to wit That our Saviour shall reigne on earth and in Jerusalem For as it tels us That the Lord shall be King over all the earth that in that day there shall be one Lord and his name one So it saith too that at the very instant of our Saviours descending All the Land shall by an earthquake be turned as a plaine from Geba to Rimmon fouth of Jerusalem 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 c. Moreover another notable content of this prophecy is That when our Saviour comes to reigne over all the earth he comes not alone but brings all the Saints with him Mr. Petrie's Answer We see neither that be shall come to reigne after that manner over all the earth neither that he shall bring all his Saints with him and for this last point be alledges no text of scripture but will have it to be taken on his bare word which we refuse to doe We reade that when be shall come to judge be shall bring all the holy Angels with him Matth. 25.31 and all Nations shall be gathered before him and that be shall send his Angels to gather the elect from the foure winds but that they shall come with him into an earthly Monarchy we finde no where And neverthelesse as if it were unquestionable he addeth Reply Unlesse you had made a covenant with your tongue to deny every thing that we prove you could not have said That we alledge no text of scripture which shewes that Christ shall bring all the Saints with him For what is the meaning of these words Zech. 14.5 And the Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with thâ—â— Or what meanes Saint Paul when he saith 1 Cor. 15.23 Afterward they that are Christs at his comming doth he not meane that all the Saints departed shall then rise and can they rise in their bodies at Christs comming and yet not come then from heaven to be reunited to their bodies These texts we have alledged in expresse termes and do you take them for canonicall or apocrypha if for canonicall then surely your foresaid report of us is apocrypha And yet this is not all that we have to say touching this point for as you read Matth. 25.31 That Christ shall bring all the holy Angels with him so you may read too in 1 Thes 3.13 these words At the comming of our Lord Jesus with all the Saints And chap. 4.14 Them also that sleepe in Jesus will God bring with him And Jude ver 14. out of the prophecy of Enoch Behold the Lord commeth with ten thousands of his Saints And therefore that Christ shall bring all the Saints with him is not our bare word but the plaine word of God And so it is too that they shall come to reigne with him on earth as we have already proved and the texts following doe further declare And besides how can you choose but beleeve that Christ shall bring all the Saints with him though there were no expresse scripture for it seeing you beleeve that all the dead shall rise at the same time surely you must either deny this or grant that Israel's Redemption Which words as they doe establish the literall sense of the r Luke 14.14 ch 20.35 36. IOh. 6.39.40.44 54. Phil. 3.11 1 Thess 3.13 ch 4.14 c. Ezek. 37.12.13 first resurrection mentioned in the 20 chap. of Rev. So they make the Kingdome of israel and the 1000 yeares reigne of the Saints there spoken of to synchronize and meete together for why shall the Saints come with him but because they have a share in his Kingdome and are to be his assistants in it as he told the Disciples Luke 22.28 Mr. Petrie's Answer The first resurrection of bodies imports a second resurrection and so either these who rise shall dye againe and rise againe at the second resurrection or they who shall rise at the first shall not dye at all and others shall rise againe at the second resurrection This Authour makes it no where manifest which of these two he holdeth and Mr. Archer boldeth the first opinion but neither of them hath any warrant from Scripture and the testimonies that are cited here on the margine shew that there shall not be such a resurrection of the righteons for it is said Luke 20.35 They who shall be accounted worthy to obtaine that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they dye any more for they are equall unto the Angels being the children of the resurrection If they can dye no more and be equall unto the Angels then they shall not rise at a second resurrection neither shall they live an earthly life which in the best degree is inferiour unto the life of the Angels John 6.39 This is the Fathers will that of all that he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day and ver 44. No man can come unto me except the Father who hath sent me draw him and I will raise him at the last day If the last day be the day of the gener all judgement as certainely it is even sepponing the temporall Monarchy for a 1000 yeares and the elect shall not be raised till the last day as these words imply then there shall not be a first and second resurâ—ection unlesse the second resurrection be after the list day and consequently there not being a resurrection of the children of God till the last day the first resurrection mentioned Rev. 20. cannot be understood of the bodies but rather a rising from siane whereof mention is made Ephes 5.14 and Col. 3.1 He cites Isa Phil. 3.11 It by any meanes I might attaine unto the resurrection of the dead These words name the dead generally an make nothing for a first and second resurrection but ver 20. it is said Our conversation or freedome is in heaven whence also we look for the Saviour who shall change our vile body that it may be like unto his glorious bodâ— If the freedome POLITEVMâ— of the godly the in heaven then they expect not a Mona chy on earth and
the proper interpretation of them be called in question by most expositourâ— Yea if we should say that no more is plainely delivered in the scriptures but that which is not controverted by any what a small pittance of scripture should we acknowledge for plaine scripture And doubtlesse you your selfe will say that most of the texts controverted betwixt Protâ—ftants and Papists and betwixt orthodoxe and hereticall Proâ—estâ—nts are plaine texts for difference in opinion for the most part proceedes not so much from the obscurity of the text as from the obstiâ—acy of such who either out of prejudice or â—elfe-conceit or for self-ends wrest it from the scope and purpose of the Holy Ghost to counter ance their private and perverse sancies And whereas you say That Christians have given better warrants of their expositions then Millenaries are able â—o doe The reader may well guesse at the soundnesse of these words by the state of your charity For as without any warrant you exclude all Millenaries from the communion of Christians so the truth is that we justifie our expositions either by other scriptures or by the coherence of the precedent and subsequâ—nt verses or by the plainnesse of the texts themselves which are undoubtedly the best warrants whereas you without any necessity enforcing thereto do straine the words of the text from their proper meaning and so doe impose upon them a sense not minded by the Spirit of God not warranted by other scriptures and whereof they are scarcely yea in many places not at all capable as your answers doe sufficiently testifie against you Israel's Redemption Which vision as it is the next to that of the battell wherein the Beast and false Prophet are taken so doubtlâ—sse it shall not till then receive its accomplishment for seeing Antichrist is but the devills instrument we cannot imagine that his power shall out-last the devills liâ—erty especially if we consider that while Satan is in hold there shall be a generall peace over the world as the u Isai 2.4 Mich. 4.3 Prophets say expressely and as is here implyed in that as soone as he is loosed againe * Râ—v 20.7.8 presently he shall gather all the rest of the world to fight against the Saints But their malicious attempt shall finde no better successe then that of the Beast the false Prophet and the Kings of the earth their predecessours had done at the beginning of the 1000 yeers Ver. 9. For fire shall come downe from God out of heaven and devoure them Mr. Petrie's Answer This vision is next to that battell in â—â—dâ—r of writing but it follows not that it shall not beginne to be accomplished till the former vision be fully accomplished for albeit Autichrist be the devills instrument it may be understood as histories doe verifie that his power may be in the time of Satans imprisonment that is while Satan is not permitted to rage and persecute openly as he did in the dayes of the heathenish Emperours in the meane time Antichrist may sit in the Church of God and deceive the world with lies and fained miracles so that even when peace is in the world from warres there be not peace from the children within as Bernard complaines in his time in Cantic ser 33. and when he hath deceived the greatest part of the world except some few persons in comparison of them who are deceived then Satan may stirre up Antichrist to wage warre against the disclosers of his deceits as he did against the Albigenses and Tolosani about the yeare 1220. and against the Bohemians about the yeare 1420. in the dayes of the Emperours Sigismund Albert and others and so the malicious attempt of Satan may have the same successe with that of the Beast I say not the like but the same both in place time and number Reply That the binding up of Satan and the thousand yeares reigne of the Saints were to conâ—emporate you doe not deny but that the binding up of Satan is to succeed the destruction of the beast and false prophet as well in the execution thereof as it doth in the order of its revelation it doth not follow you say and yet you bring no reason against it whereas we have these unanswerable evidences in the Text for it First that upon the binding up of Satan a thousand yeares peace is to follow in the world and secondly that throughout this time Satan is to be withheld from deceiving the Nations neither of which was ever yet accomplished For when was there amongst men such a time of rest from warre as this or any time at all of immunity from Satans temptations Whereas therefore you understand by Satans imprisonment no more then his restraint from raging and persecuting openly it is flat against the Text which saith that when Satan is shut up he shall not deceive the Nations and not that he shall not stirre them up to open persecution which is but a partioular effect of his deceiving of them And besides may not a secret persecution be farre worse then an open And is not a power to deceive Christians by lies and fained miracles more obnoxious to the Church of God then both these What comfort then could this prophecy afford the faithfull if notwithstanding Satans imprisonment Antichrist should still prevaile so much amongst men Or what new thing had been here revealed unto Saint John if no more but this had been meant by the binding up of Satan But indeed when Satan shall be cast into the bottomlesse pit and a seale set upon him he shall be debarred not onely from tempting but from walking up and downe amongst men and therefore it is no better then meere non-sence to say that when Satan is bound up and withheld from deceiving men he may yet have an instrument sitting in the Church of God deceiving the world c. For can any man be an instrument to Satan when Satan himselfe shall neither have power to deceive him nor liberty to come neare him Thus then your conceit of Antichrists existence and continuance in the Church after Satans imprisonment and restraint doth plainely crosse not onely the order of this Revelation but the evidence of the Text. And your historicall narration holds no correspondence with this propheticall history of Saint Jobn ISRAELS Redemption CHAP. IV. The chiefe doubts Answered NOw against this which hath been said touching our Saviours Kingdome his owne words in the 18 of Saint John ver 36. may be objected For there he saith plainely My Kingdome is not of this world and in Matth. 25.31 he saith When the Sonne of man shall come in his glory and all the holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the Throne of his glory And before him shall be gathered all Nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepbeard divideth the sheepe from the goates With which agreeth that of Saint Peter in his 2 Epist ch 3. ver 7. But the heavens and earth
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
seemes a short time to us cannot be a long time to the Lord. And therefore albeit the last part of Saint Peters reciprocall proposition may favour your interpretation yet the first part will not suffer it Seeing that which is but one day with us cannot possibly be as a thousand yeares with the Lord although the space of a thousand yeares with us may be but as one day with the Lord. And consequently the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one day in ver 7. must needes be meant of a propheticall day of a day consisting of yeares of so many yeares at least as the Apostle here speakes of and not of a naturall day of a day consisting of houres for how else should one day be with the Lord as a thousand yeares in regard of continuance of time And whereas you say That it is not said one day is a thousand yeares but is as a thousand yeares I pray what difference in sense is there betwixt these propositions certainely the adverbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as doth not alwayes intimate a comparison but hath divers acceptions amongst which Pasor reckons its denoting of the truth and certainty of a thing for one And when it is used comparatively it doth include an exposition also as it were easie to prove by many instances and we need looke no further then the 10 verse of this chapter for an instance But the day of the Lord will come saith the Apostle as a thiefe in the night here the comparing of it to the comming of a thiefe doth shew that as it is unknowne to all so it is unexpected too of the ungodly on whom it shall come as a thiefe in the night that is altogether unlookt for and to whom also it shall be as the comming of a thiefe in the night that is fearefull unavoidable and full â—f horrour and amazement And thus it is evident that our exposition of ver 7. is the onely adequate and full exposition of the Apostles words and that yours is but a defective and partiall exposition of it Israel's Redemption This then being so I see not but that Gods fore-appointment of a thousand yeares continuance to the world for * Sicut esâ—ptenis annis septimus quisque annus remissionis est it á e septem millibus annorum mundi septimus millenarius millenarius remissionis est R. Ketina Vid. Com. Apoc. par 2. pag. 287. each severall day of its first weeke the weeke of its creation might in all likelihood be the ground of this propheticall sense of the word Day wherein it was afterwards delivered by the infallible Pen-men of holy writ Mr. Petrie's Answer The certainty of all the appointments of God we acknowledge and the infallibility of his pen-men but where is it revealed that God hath appointed a thousand years continuance to the world for each severall day of the first weeke On the margine he citeth Rab. Ketina comment Apoca. par 2. p. 287. where are some testimonies in the Rabbines to this purpose Let Jewes follow Jewish fables to us Christians hath God spoken in the last dayes by his Sonne Heb. 1.2 whom he hath bidden us heare Certainely with a limitation to heare none others Reply I do not say it is revealed in Scripture that God hath appointed unto the world a thousand yeares continuance for each severall â—â—y of its first weeke but that Gods fore-appointment of so many thousands of yeares continuance unto the world might happily be the ground of this propheticall sense of the word Day in the scriptures Which space of time it doth comprehend whensoever it is emphatically applyed to the time of our Saviours appearing or the Jewes redemption as Isai 11.11 chap. 27.12 13. and Amos 9.11 and 2 Thes 1.10 and 2 Tim. 4.8 doe testifie And these texts in which it hath the epithet great annext to it Joel 2.31 Mal. 4.5 Jude ver 6. Rev. 6.17 chap. 16.14 And the learned doe so understand the word Day too in Gods threatning to Adam Gen. 2.17 because that threatning must needes be meant of a punishment that should come on Adam for his disobedience and consequently of a bodily death which yet he suffered not till neere nine hundred and thirty yeers after And thus it is manifest that we take this word in no other sense then the Prophets doe to whom God spake by his Spirit in time past or then the Apostles doe to whom God spake by his Sonne first and by his Spirit afterwards or then God did as many learned Divines acknowledge in the foresaid passage to Adam And therefore we borrow it not from the Jewish fables although we will not reject any truth that the Jewes hold for feare of being upbraided with their fables or with the name of Jewes But what so much out of charity with the Jewes now Is not this the Name whose mysticall interpretation hath stood you in such stead in the wresting of the prophecies which concerne them by Name and none else and did you not say pag. 16. that the faithfull are called Jewes not onely typically but likewise for the spesiall comfort of the Jewes How did you dare then so boldly to abuse that Name by which you say the faithfull are so frequently stiled in Scripture And what comfort can it be to the Jewes that you lay claime to this Name in the scriptures where it belongs not to you that you seeme to take delight in it there and yet in your writings and common discourse use it as a by-word and terme of reproach or how can we thinke that you apply the prophecies touching the Jewes to the Christians for any other reason but because you thinke such great and glorious mercies too good for the Jewes how I say can we thinke otherwise when as â—e see they are so odious unto you that in meere scorne and derifion of the truth we hold you call us Jewes by way of opposition to Christians I pray remember what our Saviour is as man is he not a Jew me thinkes then if nought else could yet the reverence you owe to him should have with held you from such an uncivill usage of this Name Israel's Redemption To this also may be added that in Matth. 24.31 which shewes that when the Sonne of man descends He shall send his Aagels with a great sound of a Trumpet and they shaâ—â— gather together his Elect from the foure windes from one end of the heaven to the other at which time two shall be in the field the one shall be taken and the other left two women shall be grinding at the Mill the one shall be taken and the other left and as Saint Marke records Chap. 17.34 two men shall be in one bed the one shall be taken and the other left But if our Saviour at his comming shall presently give sentence on all that are not written in the Booke of life if he shall make no stay on earth before he undertake this businesse
the Prophet here speaks of it is not so for as the words which St. Paul makes use of are rather taken out of the 26. of Leviticus at the 13. ver where they are more fully delivered then out of this Prophecie so they are not alledg'd by the Apostle to make the Corinthians thinke that they were part of the people spoken of in those places where any of the words that the Apostle quotes are us'd which is evidently false but to shew that the Faithfull whether Jewes or Gentiles had all the same spiritual fellowship with God therefore should have the like care not to defile their bodies which are the Temples of God with the unfruitfull works of darknesse of which he gives a particular instance to the Corinthians touching the consorting with unbelievers and Infidels in their Feasts and rites celebrated in honour of their Idols and that these words were onely thus applyed in the Epistle to the Cor. the very next verse in Ezek. doth declare wherein the Israelites are oppos'd to all other Nations so farre were other Nations from being included in the Prophecie as a part of them And therefore this proofe is too weak also to support your conclusion that the Jewes and Gentiles who were strangely divided are now one Church by Faith in Christ yeâ— doubtlesse they were never divided with greater hatred one against the other then they have been since the preaching of the Gospel and our Saviour hath told us that the meanes of salvation was to be taken from the Jewes that a part of the Gentiles even the Gentiles that have been a long time the Church of God might be saved by it before it should be given to them againe and St. Paul in the 1 Thess 2. ver 16. saith also that wrath is come upon them to the uttermost And can yet all the spirituall and temporall Prophecies which concerne them be at the same time the time of their unbeliefe and of Gods wrath against them fulfilled in them these are grosse contradictions and 't is not the conversion of a few Jewes in many ages or of all that have hitherto been cal'd by the Gospel that will solve the doubt for the Prophets speake of a Nationall conversion and deliverance And besides you your selfe doe tell us that through many ages Ephraimites are not knowne in any part of the Earth and how then can they help make one Church with the Gentiles as you say if there are now no such people on the earth can there be a union betwixt something and nothing But this flam was brought in as a reason wherefore the people of Israel and Ephraim should be expounded typically for the Gentiles And if there were no Jewes left yet why should these Prophecies be the rather expounded of the Gentiles for that were it not better to say that they were conditionall Prophecies and should have been rulfill'd if the Jewes had been obedient to Gods word then without any necessitie to make them types of the Gentiles salvation And yet we doe not grant that there are no Ephraimites now although none are cal'd so for none of the Jewes are now cal'd after the names of their particular Tribes at least by the Gentiles and why should that Tribe rather then the rest or why should this prove that Tribe to be consum'd rather then the rest doubtlesse it 's sufficient to prove them remaining if the twelve Tribes are remaining and they were remaining in the Apostles dayes as St. James c. 1. v. 1. St. Paul Act. 26. v. 7. doe witnesse and St. Joh. Rev. 7. reckons them up as remaining neere the time of Anti-christs confusion as then cal'd to the Faith as some Interpreters understand that vision where though Ephraim be not mentioned yet Joseph is which is all one and Mr. Mede saith that he is cal'd by this name as unworthy to be called by his own name in that catalogue of Converts because he had been a ring-leader to Idolatrie and perhaps also now the Tribes should againe become one Kingdome his name was conceal'd for that he had formerly been the occasion of the dividing of the Tribes into two Kingdomes and how could you tell us here that through many ages Ephraimites are not knowne in any part of the earth when as you say but a little before page 18. that all malice betwixt the Tribes and betwixt them and the Gentiles should be at an end under Christ For if this bealreadie fulfill'd as you teach what should consume the Ephraimites after all malice betwixt them and all others was departed and if it be not yet fulfill'd as indeed it is not you must either recall what you before affirme should be done under Christ or else confesse that the Ephraimites must needs remaine to the accomplishment of it Now as for the Prophecie of Hâ—sea it is to be understood of the Jewes as well as this of Ezek. and the word Jezreel which signifies the seed of God will help you nothing For shall we think that God will make his power known after a wonderfull manner in the redeeming of an unbelieving Nation nay but because the Jewes shall then be even the whole Church on earth because I say they shall be believers when almost all others are fallen into unbeliefe therefore great shall be the day of Jezreel of the deliverance of this seed of God Israel's Redemption For though this of Hosea be understood by some Expositours of the vocation of the Gentiles that is of the Christian Church in these our dayes yet doubtlesse they are much mistaken in this exposition for seeing this and the former Prophecie concerne one and the same thing to wit the uniting of all the Tribes under one King therefore they must needs receive their accomplishment at one and the same time and so this must be referr'd to the Jewes as well as the other Mr. Petrie's Answer This is a quarrell against the Apostle and now let all the world judge whether he or the Millenaries being contrary shall be followed especially seeing now we have found that our Saviour exponing the former Prophecie of Ezekiel and the Apostle exponing this like Prophecie of Hosea doe accord harmoniously Reply That we neither quarrell with the Apostle nor with any man else may be seene by our words for of the Apostle we speake not and the worst that we say of others is that they are mistaken and whether this be so worthy to be cal'd a quarrell as your calling it a quarrell against the Apostle is to be cal'd an egregious untruth let all the world judge and let it judge it too whether our Saviours words in the 10. chap. of St. John doe expound the former Prophecie of Ezekiel of which he speakes not a word And though the Apostle alledgeth some of the words of this Prophecie yet it is not to shew that the Prophecie is to be understood of the Gentiles but to shew that God did reject some and choose others