The Christian Doctrine of the Day of Judgment

The Preface TO THE READER.

BEcause Many will Deign to Read a Preface, that will not a Book; I shall take Freedom to give a Prospect of the Whole in a Preface: And first, I am very Sensible my Lot of Discourse, is fallen on such Ground, that each Point must be Disputed for; not Adorn'd, nor Simply Taught; but Argued, and Won, as it were by Inches; And which much Increases the Difficulty, The Land of Promise, as the Map of it lies in Scripture, is not in any Entire Table, but in several smaller Lines variously Planted, which must be Transplanted and laid Together.

And Who is Sufficient for such a Thing, as a Teacher? And as for Hearers, They are not only Unteachable, or Dull of Hearing, but are Prejudic'd, and Cry out against this Heritage of the Lord, as a Speckled Bird: Some call such a Discourse Whimsie, Unintelligible Non-sense, Foolishness; To other Graver Christians, and even Teachers: It is a Scandal, an Offence, full of Causes of Objection; And even to many more Favourable, unintelligible Mystery; Plain Things, say they, are more Profitable: But none of these Things move Me, that I should not Take heed to Fulfil this Ministry, I have Received of the Lord.

I intend this Small Tract, not so much as a Rejoinder to Mr. Baxter 's Reply upon my Answer; For, who am I, that I should maintain a Controversy with so Honoured, Able, and Faithful a Minister of Jesus Christ? I only with Thankfulness take Advice from Him, what Points to Clear, what to Guard, what Advantage to take for Defense; And had I not found some Arugments, which I have not proposed, or not fully urged before; and so fit a Medium or Instrument of Conveyance of this Doctrine, as the Parallel between it, and the Universally received Article of Faith; Christ's coming to Judge the Quick and the Dead at his Kingdom; (which must needs be a middle Kingdom,) I had been silent; Nor shall I think of opening my Mouth any further in this Point, till I find something Objected; which, what I have now said, if Duly Consider'd, will not Answer, which, I am much in hope cannot be; For to be Conscious to have said, what can be spoken by One, even as an Oath, ought to conclude One, and on Ones own part to be an End of All Strife; Of small Questions and Exceptions, I know there is no End: And I must confess with Thanksgiving to God, and with Subordinate Thankfulness to Mr. Baxter; On His so often Naming a Middle Kingdom by way of Objection, it was as it were by a Divine Prompting said to me; This Notion of a Middle Kingdom, which the Day of Judgment must needs be, and which I have long since understood the same with the Kingdom, is the Key of this Great Mystery; and so I have Found it, and am so Fully satisfied in it; Even above, all I have written before; that I am at perfect Peace, and will Contend no more; I can look on any further Objection, but as the Talk of Loosers: For I am sure, such an Appearance of the Kingdom of Christ, as the Day of Judgment is, or such a Return with the Kingdom Received, as Luke 19. 15. or a Coming not [into] as is to Loss, Translated, Chap. 23. 43. but according to all Scripture Language [in his Kingdom] must needs be in the Middle between the Kingdom of Christ hitherto, and to Eternity; And it must have a Space of duration defined, for It is not Eternal, All Acknowledge; I therefore prefer only the Scriptures naming a 1000 Years, with such Apparences of that Time, and according to the so Known Axiom of the Jews, the People of God before the New Testament; The Day of Judgment shall be a 1000 Years.

It is evident also from the Article Founded on 2 Tim. 4 1. Christ Judges the Quick, or Living, even as the Dead at his Appearing and Kingdom, There must be Saints Rais'd, and Saints, The Living, The Remaining, of which I Treat according to Scripture Guidance, as by 1 Thess. 4. 17.

The New Heaven, and the New Earth, must needs be at the same Time New, by such a Luster of Christ's Appearance, the Sun of Rig • teousness; Even as the Heavens and Earth are, as it were, New to us every Summer by the Suns Return; And it is no more, then Go • intended in his First Creation, such a Glory of it: And I cannot but Give, Isaiah. 45. 18. in somewhat a differing Translation, but such as I suppose the Original will well Bear, to this purpose; upon naming the Salvation of Israel as an Everlasting Salvation, World without end; It follows, Thus saith the Lord, that Created the Heavens, that Formed the Earth; He hath Established it, He Created it, not (saith the Translation [in vain] say I out of the Hebrew, for a [Tohu] such an Inanity of Glory, as It is now; He Formed it, [to be Inhabited] saith the Translation; say I, according to the Hebrew, [for the Sabbath] even this Great Sabbatism, wherein Jehovah shall be one, his Name one, none else, no Idols Name anymore forever. And then shall He Appear that Infinite Foreknower, declaring the End from the Beginning, that He may be known to be God.

And by All These Things, I hope Mr. Baxter will be satisfied concerning the Specificness of this Kingdom, Beginning with a Judgment, and ending with a Judgment, and its entire middle Space, an Appearance according to that Judgment, viz. of the Saints in the Glory of the Restitution of All Things by the Second Adam, the Redeemer, the Restorer of all the Ruins of the First Adam; and an Appearance of the Wicked in Shame and Contempt; and both these for the 1000 Y. Receiving what they have done, in Body before the Tribunal of Christ; Now All will Acknowledge as this Kingdom hath not been yet; So it shall not be forever, but be delivered up; Here therefore is a perfect Specification, except Specification be an unknown School-Term.

I Know in some Things, I differ from that Sweet, as well as most Judicious, and Pious Writer Mr. Increase Mather, as Appears by his Accurate discourse; De Signo Filii Hominis, or of the Sign of the Son of Man. I should be most Glad by Friendliest Conference, or intercourse of Letters to conciliate; as concerning a Scripture-Line of Time to this State, concerning Christ having his Palace of Glory, not on this New Earth, but in the New Heaven, concerning the Wicked Dead Rais'd; In which Points I perceive my Self to differ from Him, but as I Hope on Great Scripture Grounds.

Now to Conclude All; This Kingdom is the Great Practical Doctrine, which, when It shall be Universally Preach'd by the Everlasting Gospel, shall Bring in all the World, Jews, and Gentiles to Christ; And besides the Blessed Effusions of the Spirit, that shall go along with it, How must it needs in Reason prevail! For what would the Great Value and purchase of, but a 100 Years in the Vigors, and All Affluences of Life be, and in such a Heaven and Earth, as are now, and if Men were so enclin▪d, in all wise, and virtuous Converses?

Of what Inestimable Value then to every serious Considerer, even now, the offer of so much a Higher, and Longer 1000 Y. of Life, as is proposed on so Great Scripture Grounds? How may it satisfy that Appetite, Implanted by Creation into our Natures, which is that very Olam, or World set by God in the Heart of Man. Eccl • s. 3 11. the Desire to see the Glory of God in his Visibly Glorious Creation, for a perfect Duration of Time?

But how much stronger will the Impression be upon an Enlightned, Convinced, Awaken'd World under that Everlasting Gospel Preach'd? when that shall be Fully declared, and •• liev'd, that Few will now Believe, though it be never so plainly Told Them; In the mean Time, seeing we All profess to Believe Fully the Apostle Peter▪s Doctrine of Looking for New Heavens, and a New Earth according to his Promise, wherein Righteousness shall dwell. Let us Resolve what Manner of Persons we ought to be in all that Holiness, and Godliness of Conversation; and let us Grow in Grace, and the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ beyond the Beginnings of his Doctrine, Going on to Perfection, and so unravel the Apostasy, where it Began in not so doing; and above all, Let us Give All Dilligence, that we may be Found of him in Peace without S • ot, and Blameless, and by Him be so Presented before the Presence of his Glory.

And let us consider, the Day is near Approaching; Concerning the Truth of which, I make Appeal to Him, to show by his Arm made bare in unquestionable Evidence of Fact, and Event, every Thing in its proper Time; And I am now waiting at this Time, when the Kings are preparing to Go out to War for a Dawn of th • Morning Star on the Suffering Witnesses of the yet Afflicted Thyatira, the French and Vaudois; and that the Rod of Iron should begin to Break t • at Potters Vessel, whom patience hath yet spar▪d from being a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , (for what ends will be seen,) who with a more then Herodian Insolence, and Cruelty, hath n •• only let Rest on Him, as Herod, but even Hunted for such Attributions, as to a God, and not to a Man, and so Inhumanely Vex'd so many of the Church of Christ, to please a Sacrilegiously Flattering Jesuitic Order. Now to the only wise God be Glory forever, Amen.

A REPRESENTATION OF THE Thousand Years Kingdom OF CHRIST, Endeavouring to Reconcile it to the General Confessions of the Faith of Christians; and particularly to the Judgment of the Eminent Servants, and Ministers of Jesus Christ, with a Vindication from Further Objections.

I Can Sincerely Appeal to the Searcher of Hearts, I am in all the Substantial, and Essential Points of Christianity of the Judgment of all the Wisest, Soundest, and most Universally Approved Ministers of the Gospel, and Christians, in the Faith at once Deliver'd to the Saints, and have no By, nor Secret Opinions in Reserve, either concerning the Person of the Great Media or, God and Man, or concerning his Kin • dom, as if it had not been from the Beginning, or were not to be forever in such Explications of it, as the Churches of Christ most Agree in according to Scripture.

I make the same Appeal conc • rning my Belief of the Eternal Happiness of the • aints, with, and by Christ in the Distinctness of Human nature, Spirits in Bodies of Glory, united by Him to the Father, and yet each one in his own proper Personality, and so made Truly Equal • to the Holy and Elect Angels; and of the punishment of the wicked in their Spirits, and Bodies together with the Devil and his Angels, even throughout a Strict and proper Eternity a Parte Post, as They speak, or forever.

Except therefore my Doctrine, and Affirmation of the Kingdom of the Thousand Years, can be shown▪ in a perfect Amity and Conciliation with this Gospel, and Form of Sound Words; I Acknowledge It ought to be Rejected; I therefore Attempt in very Brief, to show it to be in such a State of Agreement, and to vindicate it from Exceptions to it.

I observe therefore one Great Complex of Articles of Faith, wherein All Christians are, as much, as in any Point of Christianity at One; and They may be thus Given:

1. That there shall be a Day or Time before the State and Kingdom of Eternity; wherein Jesus Christ shall Come from the Right Hand of the Father to Judge the World, and this, as Man, Acts 17. 31.

2. That Jesus Christ shall Come in the Glory, and Power of the Father to this Judgment, and that It shall be a most Illustrious Appearance of his Kingdom, that was not before, nor shall be after. For He comes in his Kingdom; and the King shall say, &c. Matth. 25. and He Sits on the Throne of his Glory. v. 3 • . v. 34.

3. That at the same Time, There shall be a Glorious Resurrection, and Appearance of his Saints with Him; as Sharers in the Glories, and Triumphs of that Day.

4. That the Saints, that shall at that Time be living, and Rem • ining upon Earth; shall not Dye, but at the very same Time be Changed so, as that They also may have their part in the same Glory, and Resurrection.

5. That there shall be a Resurrection of the Unjust, and of Those that have done Evil to the Condemnation to the Dishonor and Contempt, and to the Punishment that shall at that Day be Executed upon Them.

6. That the Heavens and Earth that now are, are Reserv'd for Fire at that Day, and that Christ, as the Apostle Paul speaks, 2 Thess. 1. 7, 8. shall be Reveal▪d in Flames of Fire, taking Vengeance; and that as the Apostle Peter says; The Day of the Lord Cometh as a Thief in the Night, in which, the Heavens shall pass away with a Great Noise, and the Elements melt with Fervent Heat, and the Earth, and the Works that are therein, shall be Burnt up, 2 Pet. 3. 10. and again, v. 12. Looking for, and Hasting unto the Day of God, wherein the Heavens being on Fire, shall be dissolved, and the Elements shall melt with Fervent Heat.

Now seeing the very Revelation of Christ, is in Flames of Fire, as Lightning; and that our Lord compares his Coming to the Flood on the Old World, and the Fire, and Brimstone on Sodom, the very same day that Noah entered into the Ark, and Lot went out of Sodom. Luke 17. 27, 28. The Conflagration must be a Conflagration before the Judgment, or Instantaneous with the Beginning of that Day, and so I suppose is the Judgment of all Divines.

7. The Wicked Alive shall be speedily by this Fire, brought into the same Condition with the Dead Wicked, Raised to share in the Common Perdition: For the Heavens and Earth that now are, are Kept in Treasure for the Day of Judgment, and the Perdition of Ungodly Men. 2 Pet. 3. v. 11.

8. Seeing the Apostle Expresly teaches, v. 13. That we Look for New Heavens and New Earth, wherein Righteousness shall dwell; It is most according to Scripture, that the New Heavens and New Earth, should come as a Vessel out of the Refiner's Fire, and Righteousness dwell therein. So that the New Heaven and the New Earth, immediately Come out of this Fire.

All this I look upon as so Agreeable to Scripture, and the most undoubted Sense of it, that whoever keeps Inviolate this Form of Sound Words, cannot fall into any Great Error, I then making a Solemn Profession, that I am Fully persuaded of all these Things, even to a Plerophory of Assurance, and supposing All Sober Christians herein to Join with me, I pass forward with Greater Assurance.

9. The particular Precise State of the Kingdom of Christ, as in this Judiciary State, shall be delivered up at some Time to God and to the Father, and so the Kingdom and State of Eternity succeed, I do also suppose, is the Universal Faith of Sober Christians; Although the New Heavens and New Earth may be supposed to continue forever, as They are by Mr. Baxter; and, as I Remember, by that so excellent Interpreter Calvin on the aforenam'd Text, and very probably by many other Great Theologers, and Scripture-Interpreters.

Now from all these Principles laid together, several Points are Allowed upon the Consideration of the General Doctrine of the Day of Judgment, that are ready to be charged as Unreasonablenesses, or Antiscripturisms on the Doctrine of though Thousand Years Kingdom; which compared with what is taught universally of Christ coming to Judgment, will be as a Load taken off from it.

1. Seeing the Day of Judgment is a middle State of the Kingdom of Christ between the present State, and the State of Eternity; It is hence undeniable, There is a middle Kingdom, or middle State of the Kingdom of Christ.

2. When a Dispensation, or Economy for the Divine Glory, as for Judgment Requires it, It is no dishonor to Christ to come from the Right Hand of God, where He is Exalted above All Heavens into the Lower State of the World, much less Degradation from present Glory for Saints to Come with Him.

3. Nor does Christ suffer any diminution of Glory, when He Goes back to Heaven, the Business of such Economy, as of Judgment, being dispatched.

4. There is sufficient Security in the midst of the Conflagration for the Bodies of Saints, whether Risen or Changed, though we cannot define how.

5. Nor shall the Bodies of the wicked, however punished, be consumed in these Flames.

6. There is no Absurdity on Scripture Account to suppose a manifold Change of Body according to the Variation of States.

7. There will be Found Room for the Bodies of all, both Risen and Changed Saints; as also of all the wicked according to the General Doctrine of the Day of Judgment.

8. A New Heaven and a New Earth, and by Consequence a Restitution of All Things, are in the very Letter to be Expected according to Scripture.

Now whatever may according to Scripture, and without any Contradiction to the Great Principles Notions, and Sense of it, be supposed for a Lesser, or so much, as Any Time, may be supposed for a longer Time, even for so long, as Scripture gives us any Reason to extend it unto, seeing There is no Scripture Inconsistency in the Fundamental Possibility.

And now there being such a Foundation laid in that, which is Agreed among all Christians, if there shall be Any Inducement from Scripture to do it, we may Build upon this Foundation.

1. That seeing Christ shall Appear from Heaven, with his Saints in a Kingdom of Triumph, and Glory over his Enemies, and that there is no Signification of the Time of duration, Contradictory to that of a 1000 Years; and at least one Great Signification, It is a 1000 Years, Why may we not Conclude, the Kingdom is a Kingdom of a 1000 Years?

2. Seeing there shall be a New Heaven, and a New Earth, that shall come forth as a Vessel for the Finer out of the Conflagration, and that there is Great Reason to think; That They shall be both inhabited: Why may not the Saints of the Resurrection, Equal to the Angels, Inhabit the New Heavens, and the Saints Chan • 'd, who are so peculiarly called twice the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; The Living▪ the Remaining, (as a most peculiar Generation of Saints that Christ so Holds in his Hand, as, that They can no more Fall, as may be Surmized, then the Saints Above, who are as Angels confirmed;) Inhabit the New Earth, as Adam should have done, a 1000 Years? Especially, seeing It is supposable It shall be Inhabited, and we Know not Any, who shall Inhabit it, God knoweth only who shall Inhabit it, Except these Living Remaining Saints.

3. Seeing it is Agreed, The Administration of the Kingdom, as at the Day of Judgment shall not Last to Eternity; and that Christ, and All his Saints Ascend up to God, and that Kingdom of Judgment Ends; Why may not this be the Sense of those so Weighty Words of the Apostle, concerning the Son's delivering up the Kingdom, of his being Subject, and of God, being All in All? or what else is so likely as this of the Son 's Resigning up that Illustrious Appearing visible Glory, that He shall be invested with, during that Judicatory Kingdom, seeing it is a Kingdom of Triumph and Victory, that is so Deliver'd up? And why should it not be the Kingdom of a 1000 Years? Seeing the naming a Kingdom, though of a 1000 Years, yet because It is but of a 1000 Years, Implys It shall end; And as the Apostle makes plain, in that it is a Reign, till All his Enemies are put under his Feet; It is a Kingdom of Victory and Triumph, Beginning and Ending in putting down Enemies, as Judgment must needs do, and then Given up to God. And thus there is an easy Slide from the Acknowledged, and most General Doctrine of the Day of Judgment, into what the Scripture says of a Kingdom, or Reign of Christ for a 1000 Years; For it is expressly said, There were Thrones, as of a Kingdom, and Judgment was Given to Them that sat upon the Thrones, the very word proper to th • t Day; and • hey that Sate upon the Thrones, must needs be Christ and his Saints; For They Lived and Reigned with Christ a 1000 Years, Rev. 20. 4. And then, It is anew said; Blessed, and Holy is He that hath part, though not the Principal, viz. either as Saints Rising, though not Martyrs, or as Living Remaining Saints; on such the Second Death hath no Power. And then, as at the End of the Judgment according to the General Doctrine, Christ Resigns up that Judiciary Kingdom, and Returns to God. And as the Apostle says, having Subdued All Enemies, He Gives up the Kingdom; even so the 1000 Years Kingdom must be Given up, because it is a Kingdom only of a 1000 Years.

And thus the Kingdom of Christ Begins with a Judgment, viz. of determining, who are Those his Saints, who shall Appear in the Glory and Blessedness of it, even of that First Resurrection, as Saints Rais'd, or as Saints Living and Remaining, but Changed; and who, as Enemies, shall lie at the Footstool of Christ's Feet, Slain with the Sword of his Mouth, and as the Dead, and yet in Visible Bodies under Contempt and Dishonor, and as the Trophies of the victorious Wrath of Christ; And this Kingdom Ends with a Judgment, even the Giving up all this Saints in perfect Immortality and Incorruptibility to his Father to Enjoy him forever, and with that perfect Subduing All the Wicked Angels and Men, which the Apostle call • a Catargesis, or destroying, and the Apocalyptic Apostle a Casting into the Lake; And because This is Final, and Consummate; therefore. He Represents the whole Judiciary Proceeding, and sets out the Dead, as Gather'd from all the Receptacles of Death from whence They Came, and were Judge'd at the Beginning of the 1000 Years, which Judgment is Affirm'd and Ratified, and Fill'd up at the End of the 1000 Years, and the Execution also; There being this only Difference between the Beginning and End of the 1000 Years in Relation to Them, that They are at the Beginning, and during the whole Space of the 1000 Years, made the Footstool of the Feet of Christ, and afterwards under the Final destruction of being Cast into the Lake. This therefore takes away the Objection of the New Earth, having such an abundance of Wicked in it; For They Lye as Captives, and Slaves of Justice, that can neither Annoy, nor defile that State; So that there is a Glory of the Kingdom of Christ in, and with his Saints above and below, during the whole Time of the 1000 Years, and a Government every way Agreeable, and no difference between the General Doctrine of Christians concerning the Day of Judgment, and what I Affirm, except the duration of the 1000 Years; For who can but say? That Day shall be a Day of Glory to Christ and his Saints, both Rais'd and Changed, as in visible Bodies of Glory; of Horror, Dishonor, and Punishment to the Wicked in visible Bodies of Contempt and Shame? That they can neither Trouble, nor Pollute that Day, nor State, anymore then They do the Kingdom of Eternity, though They are never so many in their own place, or Hell; That these visible Heavens and Earth shall be so changed by the Glorious Coming of the Judge, and his Saints, That They shall be New Heavens, and a New Earth; That there must be Room for all Good and Bad, in whatever shall be supposed to be the Pretorium, the Hall of Justice at that Time; That Christ and his Saints come from the highest Heaven for that purpose; That Wicked Men come from Earth and Hell. And that Christ and his Saints Return, this Glorious Administration being at an End, to that Highest Heaven, to God and the Father, with this Judiciary Kingdom Given up to Him, and Satan and All the Wicked Cast to the Lake; So that I say again, here is no difference, but only of the 1000 Years Continuance; And to the Proof of that, I now proceed.

And I will do it in greatest Brevity in this Method.

• 1. I will propose the Scripture-Model of this State, which itself will show the Rationality of itself, and as in a State of duration.
• 2. I will super-add to the Arguments I have given, new Ones, That there is such a State to be, and of a 1000 Years duration, and no more; and Answer the most Formidable Objections more Fully.
• 3. I will Argue against any Hypothesis, or Scripture Model, that can be given in Bar, of what I now give.

I Begin with the First, the Rationality of the Scripture-Model.

1. There shall be an Exaltation of the Human Nature of our Lord Jesus, in visible Glory, in opposition to that unrevealed State, wherein the Heavens Now contain Him, and also in opposition to, and Recompense of the Depressions, and Humiliation, it was under in his first Coming, Philip. 2. 9. &c. that every Knee may bow to Him, and every Tongue confess that He is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father; Every Eye shall see Him, every Mouth of his Servants shall praise Him, and none of his Enemies be able to gain say: The Lowest Creation, Things in Earth, and under the Earth, sha • l, as They can, Bless Him; This Appearing is the Sign of the Son of Man, that shall be seen in the Clouds. That All this shall be at the Day of Judgment, no Christian will deny; I lengthen it out the 1000 Years.

2. There must be an Appearance of the Glory of the Redemption of Christ in its full Luster; To this End, the Saints of the first Resurrection must be seen in Robes, washed white in his Blood, as Kings and Priests to God and the Father, and Reigning over, rather then upon the Earth, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , over, not upon many Things will I make thee Ruler, Revel. 5. 10. with Matth. 25. 21. They have Palms of Victory in their Hands; The Bride the Lambs Wife is Adorn'd, and it is Granted to Her to be Arrayed in Linnen, White and Clean, which is the Righteousness of the Saints. The Armies of Heaven that is, These Saints follow, Cloth'd also in Fine Linnen, White and Clean; They have the Name of the Lamb in their Foreheads, even as of God, Revel. c. 19. c 20. The Saints Living; and Remaining, who partake of the First Resurrestion, are Priests also, not only of God, but of Christ, and Reign with Him a 1000 Years. And from this Glory of Redemption, It is impossible for the Saints, either of the First Resurrection, or the Living Remaining, partaking of the First Resurrection to fall, as it is for the Redeemer himself to fail; as I always assert, particularly in my last Answer; For the Second Death else might, but never can, never shall have Power over Them.

And for the Appearance of this Glory of Redemption, the Saints of the First Resurrection shall have Bodies of that Spirituality, Incorruptibleness, and Immortality, as to be equal to the Angels, so that in the Nature of the Thing, as it shall then be Founded by God, They cannot die anymore, being the Children of God, and of the Resurrection: And this is given first to the Saints of the First Resurrection, as a peculiar Recompense for the many Terrors, and Debasements, Death Brings with it. The Saints therefore Living, and Remaining, who Dye not, nor shall suffer the Dishonor, Pain, the Terror of dying, are upon the Ballance of Things, for the Glory of God, and Christ, in this Economy, not till the 1000 Years are ended, and They Caught up, invested with this Glory; and are therefore said, till then, only to be Partakers of the First Resurrection: They have therefore Bodies Cha • g'd into the most excellent Paradisiac State, as Adam had before sin, and probably, as much excelling, as the First Adam is excel'd by the Second. And though they for many great Resons, Beget an Off-spring to the Mediator, and Eat, and Drink, as Adam should have done, and All this in the Holiest, Purest manner, such excellent Bodies can be Exalted into; and though They do not Immediately put on Incoeruption and Iwmortality, till they are Caught up; Yet They in event, can no more die, nor fall away, then the Saints above, All which Answers many Objections concerning them. And It Redounds Infinitely to the Glory of the Redeemer, and of the Second A • am above the First, that in a possibility of dying, as to the Nature of Things; They who might, as Adam, die, and Fall; Yet secured by the Media • or, They shall not die, nor Fall, but They shall be Caught up, and put on Incorruption and Immo • tality: And when Death and Sin are thus every way subdued in the Saints of the First Resurrection, vindicated out of their Hands, and in the Saints changed, preserved from their Sting, even under a possibility; Then are They both Swallowed up in Victory by Christ, Appearing thus every way a perfect Redeemer, on which Account, as one Reason, All is thus ordered; Then • s Death and Sin, and Hell, with all its Dead; and Satan, the Prince of All, Thrown into the Lake, and the Triumphal Song sung; the Effect of which, endures throughout All Eternity.

3. The Saints of Christ, principally the Martyrs and Sufferers, and the Contemn'd, Abused, Persecuted, and Beheaded for the Word of God, and the Testimony which They Held, with All who have Resisted the Impurity and Corruptions of the World, shall Appear in Glory, sown in Weakness, but Rais'd in Power, Sown in Dishonor, Rais'd in Glory, Bearing the Image of the Heavenly Adam, the Quickening Spirit, the Lord, not only in Heaven, but from Heaven, as in a Kingdom lower then the highest Heaven, Sitting on Thrones, and Judgment is Given to Them for the 1000 Years:

4. For this Glory of Christ the Redeemer, and of his Redemption, and of his Saints; There is a Glory of the Renewed Restored Creation in the visible Heavens, and all their Influences Purified and Purg▪d, and so made new; and the Earth Renewed in the same manner, that the Saints of the First Resurrection may Appear as a Firmament, and shine as the Stars, Dan. 12. even as the Sun, Matth. 13. 43. upon the New Earth, and have a prospect of Beauty, and Purity. And the Saints on Earth, All, as Kings of the Earth, Revel. 21▪ 24, 25. may Walk in this Light of the New Jerusalem above, and Bring their Glory to it, in looking upon their Communion with it, as their Highest Glory; and so the whole Creation may be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption, into the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God, for which it now Groans in its present Slavery, and with earnestness Waits; Even as in all Mankind, There is an Appetite Implanted by Creation to See, and Enjoy a due Time in the Glory of God's Creation, free • from the Curse, and Adorn'd with the Blessings of it; This we see how strongly it now works in the Holiest Men and Women; however in Regard, This is not the Place, nor State, nor Time, it be mix▪d with much Corruption, and as the Apostle calls it, Lust in a World, to which God▪s Heart cannot be; and therefore He often chastises with Great Severity the over eager desires in any of his Sts. of Any Thing here; But then there shall be such a State, that the Lord Himself shall Rejoice in his Works with all his Saints Triumphing in the Works of his Hands, when there shall • be an Apocatastasis, a Restitution of All Things, without which, the Second Adam would not be as perfect a Restorer, as the First Adam was a Desolator; But I Assert, and shall after prove the Flying away of this New Heaven and Earth, and that therefore this O • conomy lasts but a 1000 Years, as the Sabbatism of the Gl •• y of Creation.

5. There must be a State, Bearing some Proport • on to all the promises made to Abraham and his Seed; of a City, and a Country, and of Nations, and a Post • rity, as the Stars of Heaven, as the Dust of the Earth and as the Sand on the Sea shor • Innumerable, that He may be a Father of many Nations, and Heir of the World; of all which, Canaan and Jerulalem, and the People of Israel were but Types; For this was a Heavenly Country, and City, as the Apostle tells us, Heb. 11▪ and a Posterity of True, and Sincere Believers; How can this then be better explained, then by the New Jerusalem coming down from Heaven, and the Saints of the First Resurrection, a Posterity, as the Stars, for whom he Knows how to make Room, who hath done it for those vast Globes of Light; and then by the New Earth, and the Saints Living, and Remaining on the New Earth, who shall be as the Dust, and as the Sand: And He will make Room for Them, who hath stretched out this Earth for them that walk upon it; and wherein besides the much less Cumber of Paradisiac Bodies, and the Abundant Sufficiency of the Paradisiac Earth, and Purity of the Air, and the Leaves of the Tree of Life, for the Healing the Nations; There is Provision for all Enjoyments of the Saints in those Bodies; Besides all this, There shall be no Sea to to take up Room, Revel. 21. 1. as there was not in the First Paradisiac Earth, as hath been made out by that Truly Excellent Theorist, Dr. Burnet, Master of the Charter-House; Giving Great Light to that Apocalyptical Text, and Receiving Great Proof from it.

And herein for his sake, who God over All, Blessed forever, came of Them; and for the Believed Father's sakes, and according to all the Images, and Language of Poophecy: The Spiritual Natural Israel shall have a Preeminence, and for which They shall certainly be called, though it will Remain a Mystery, until the set Time of the Gentiles Fullness be come; But in the mean Time for their sakes, the N • w Heaven and New Earth is called New Jerusalem, and so many Apocalyptical Figures are derived from Them, leading to that New Jerusalem.

6. There shall be a plain, sensible, and visible State of the Wicked in Dishonor, and Contempt, in the View of All; For all the False Glory, Riches, and Pleasure, They have here Abused, They shall Receive double, and that in Bodies of Disgrace; The General Doctrine of the Day of Judgment concerning the Wicked cannot but Acknowledge this to be according to Scripture; For It is most certain, such shall be their Appearance, signified by their being Goats on the Left Hand, Matt. 25. 33. in the Grand Assembly of the Great Day; • ven in Bodies of visible Shame and Horror; None will deny this in, and for that Day, and for so long, how long soever that Day lasts; For what is no Incompossibility for any Time of that Day, is possible for all that Day or Time; And at the End of that Day or Time, They are Cast into the Lake, where, as to the Pain of Sense▪ as well as to the Pain of • oss, I Agree with all Theology, or Sacred Doctrine; All that I Add, is in the Words of Prophecy; These Visibly Dead in • awe, or Condemn'd by their very Appearance, Lived not until the 1000 Years were Finish'd, Revel. 20. 5▪ that is, not at all in the Great Senses of Life; For it is Immediately said, The Second Death shall have no Power over the Partakers of the First Resurrection, Implying, All the Dead, not Partakers Fall under the Second Death; But seeing They were not yet Cast into the Lake, though for the 1000 Y. They lie unactive: They at the end of Them had that Kind of Revival to Join in that short Attempt ef Compassing the Beloved City, whether by way of Temptation to Defection, as on Adam in his Paradise, or of such violence, as Satan used upon Job, or both, (but neither with possibility of Success, to the Glory of the Redeemer) They Join'd as Devils of an Inferior order with Satan Prince of Devils, under his Superior Influence of Wickedness, called Allusively Deception: But in the very Attempt, Satan first, and his Angels of the Higher Diabolic order, and then the Dead are Cast with Death and Hell into the Lake, to the Devil and his Angels, Matt. 25. 41. whereby there is an utter Suppression of all possible Action against the Divine Kingdom forever; but no Cessation of that Action or Receptiveness necessary to the Suffering All, that is to be understood by the Vengeance of Eternal Fire, as Scripture declares, which I never so much as called into Question, much less once denied.

Now because it is so ordered by God, that here would be the last Attempt, it is called a Gathering to Battle, as it were to try their utmost at this last decisive Point, according to no unusual Symbol in this Prophecy.

7. This State shall be to the Saints above and below, a Preparation to an Eternal Union to God and to the Father, by Jesus Christ, in such an inseparable State of Oneness, as leaves no possible Thought of such Falling away, as of the Angels from their First Estate; or of Adam from Paradise; as I always have and do Declare; And this is the Glorioas Consummation of the Kingdom of Christ, and not a dishonorable Spewing out of Christ's Mouth, as shall be presently more fully Declared▪ This Preparation is conveyed to us in such Expressions, as are most Evidently made Essential to the State of the New Jerusalem, and so (as shall be seen) to the Thousand Years. They are also most proper to such a Preparation, viz. The Lord God and the Lamb are the Temple of that City, They gives it Light. The Throne of God and of the Lamb art in it; They See His Face; His Servants serve him; his Name is in their Foreheads; They eat of the Tree of Life, and drink of the Fountain of the Water of Life, as the Highest Initiation, Pledge and Assurance of the Simp • e, Absolute Eternal Life, to which Fountain the Lamb leads them. Rev. 20. 6. c. 21. 6. 22. 24. c. 22. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. c. 7. 17.

Now if it shall be proved, the New Heaven and the New Earth of this State shall Fly away, and yet that the State itself cannot End, but Issues into that Absolute Eternal Life, wherein God is All in All; then it will be made plain, this State however High above Expression, compared with that now, yet if compared to that Eternal State of God All in All, it is • ut Initiation and Preparation, though of the Highest Degree, of Spirits in Bodies for an Union to God in this Eternal State.

And our Lord Concurs in his Mediatory Prayer, John 17. 21. 23. That there shall be a State of his Saints so Visibly Glorious, as to strike the Wicked, called the World, with Conviction; That such a State (as it is Initially so, while They behold it) cannot but Issue in Everlasting Union with God by Christ, and in the Love and Glory, Jesus Christ, as the Eternal Word Mission'd by the Father into our Nature, had with the Father before the World Began; And therefore in regard of Personal Union of the Man Christ Jesus, with the Eternal Word, he is said to have it even before the Existence of the Human Nature; of which Mission there shall also be Fullest Cenviction.

And what State can be so proper for this, as the Glorious Kingdom of Christ? wherein the Wicked thus behold with Horrour and Torment, what shall be forever, while they cast into the Lake shall be forever shut out of it.

I come now to the Second Thing proposed, viz. To superadd some Arguments to those already given in my Answer.

Argum. 1. The Stream of Prophecy in all its Expressions runs so vehemently towards such a State; that, however hard shifts are made to Evaporate them into Allegory, yet Prophecy itself will not be satisfied without such a New Heaven and New Earth; wherein shall be Universal Holiness and Knowledge of God in Visible Glory, in Universal Peace, sufficiency of All Things, Freedom from Evil, no more Curse in Life, and no Death, and all in a State of Duration. Nor will Atheists and Anti-Scripturists, cxacting the Fulfilling of Prophecy, be Convicted, till those Expressions are so Fulfilled before their Eyes, as indeed they shall be; For it becomes not the Oracles of Supreme Truth to (as I may say) Excuse the unfulfilledness of Themselves in their Highest Expressions, by the use of Allegory, or Metaphor, or Rhetoric; All shall therefore have a Just Complement; And seeing many Refer to some Earth, and to some State of Time; In some State of Time, and in some Earth, They must therefo • e be Fulfilled, and that is in that State of the Thuusand Yoars Kingdom of Christ.

2. I Argue from the Prayer of Christ, still'd the Lord's Prayer, which I esteem particularly prepared for the State of the Kingdom, as in a New Heaven, and a New Earth; Although all Things of the present State are also, I own, Admirably Comprehended and Fitted to present Use of Prayer.

Now the Third Petiteon of that Prayer Teacheth us to pray, Thy Will be done, not only upon Earth, as in Heaven; but [As in Heaven and on Earth] as it is Emphatical in the Original; where also it varies the Number from Heavens; In the Preface Heavens; viz. Our Father which art in the Heavens, Plurally; to [As in Heaven] in the Single Number, and on Earth, with a Singular Favor to a Parallel New Heaven, and New Earth: And it leads us to pray for the Doing the Will of God in such a Parallel Heaven, and Earth; that as in Paralellism, the Will of God may be done, as in the One, so in the Other.

Besides, according to Common Interpretation of this Petition, A Prayer according to the will of Ood, so exactly as our Lord weighed it out, and that hath been so long prayed by all his Servants in Faith cannot but be Heard; The Spirit helping their Infirmities, (when they know not what in this Prayer, to pray for as they ought) with unutterable Groans, and God knows the Mind of his Spirit, though they do not so clearly understand this Prayer; So then, It must be Heard: But it cannot be Heard, if there be not such a State on Earth, in which the Will of God may be done, as in Heaven. For the Earth and the Earth as in parallel to Heaven, so particularly named, is the Place or Basis, on which the Saints that do it, shall Rest; So that the doing the Will of God in any other State or Place, will not be a Fulfilling this Petition.

Nor will the doing it in Sincerity, according to the Measure of the Saints now on Earth, answer the Petition. For our Lord in this Prayer, which is in such Number, Weight and Measure, would not have laid a Paralled, wherein there is no Equality nor Proportion, as Things are now, viz. Between doing the Will of God on Earth and in Heaven; For every part of this Prayer, shall, ere he hath perfected his Intercession upon it, be Fulfilled in the Highest Sense of each part; This we know is not yet in any, particularly in this Petition; therefore a State shall be on purpose for it.

This also must needs Lock in with the foregoing Petitions; when ever there is a Doing the Will of God so on Earth, his Name must be Sanctified as in Heaven and upon Earth, else his Will cannot be so Done; because Sanctifying his Name is so Eminently his Will, that his Will cannot be Done as in Heaven and on Earth, except his Name be Sanstissed as in Heaven and on Earth.

Thus is it also with his Kingdom coming; That must needs Come as in Heaven and upon Earth, whenever his Will is so Done; And it cannot Come till it is so Done, and his Name so Sanctified; For what is his Kingdom but the Supreme Honor of our Kings Name, and Obedience to his Will, so Universally as in Heaven? And whither should this Kingdom Come but out of Heaven, where-now it is, into a Lower Heaven and Earth? where indeed it is in regard of Supreme Power always; But it must Come in a Sense, it hath not yet Come. And if these Three Petitions were Heard, As in Heaven, and upon Earth; The Earth must either be a New Earth in preparation for such a Fulfilling, or the Fulfilling would immediately Turn it into a New Earth: For such a Change on the Spirits and Actions of Men, and such a Blessing from Heaven, as would immediately follow, would make it indeed a New Earth.

If therefore our Esteem of this Prayer were not too much spent in an Ignorant Formality and Superstition on Bare Words, it would soon give us an Unanswerable Argument of such a Kingdom on Earth; and a Kingdom must ha • e a Duration, and what Duration but a Kingdtm of that Thousand Years, Prophecy having once named, gives a Preference to? I say nothing of the Petition, taking in Heoven, viz the Lower Heaven, which Scripture make the Habitation of fallen Spirits, that They being Remov'd, these Three Petitions may be Fulfilled there also; Nor of the following Petitions most Adjustable hereunto, which I have in a Full Discourse on this Prayer made Ready, if God please to give Opportunity for Publication; as also to show the True Laws of our Duty in using of this Prayer, wherein Men are so prone to Run into the very Battology, Heathenism, or Vanity of Repetition, as an Antidote againk which, it was given by Christ, and this came in by the Gentilism that Antichrist hath brought into the Outer Court; Taking away that Daily Sacrifice, the Remains of which are yet among Protestants.

Argum. 3. With Great Assurance, and without any Reluctancy of of Thoughts, I further Argue, That the Apostle Peter in an especial manner Commission'd for it, by the Divine Spirit, hath given the first Light to the Knowledge of the Day of Judgment, as a Kingdom of a Thousand Years, Epist. 2. Chap. 3. 8. The whole Chapter is indeed a Great Prophecy of that Kingdom, and the State of it; and it carries many severe Remarks on the Antichristian Apostasy; as those Scoffers, who setting up that Kingdom in Counterfeit, Burlesque, and Abuse the True Kingdom, and have and still Jeer it out of the Faith of Christians; The Apostle in Spirit foreseeing this, Recalls the Sincere Disciples of Christ to the Words of the Prophets first, who are so Abundant concerning this Kingdom, but speak very darkly of the Day of Judgment, or not at all, but through that Kingdom; and then to the Commandment, or (as the Learned Observe it to signify) the Doctrine of Us the Apostles, of the Lord and Savior.

Now these Words are undoubtedly a Preface to what follows after in the Chapter, and therefore to the Doctrine of the Day of Judgment, of the Thoufand Years, of the New Heavens and New Earth, and the holy Inferences from it, with a very Dreadful Thunder and • ightning upon the Apostasy intermixt, and all in close Connection.

He promises upon these Scoffers, that They s • all be in the very Last of Time, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , That their Lusts of the present World, the Grandieur and Sensualities of it will oblige them to say, Where is the promise of his Coming? There is no Kingdom of Christ, but what we have set up; Events of many Ages Demonstrate▪ there is no other; These are yet neither Atheists nor Anti Scripturists, but such Mockers as Isaiah speaks of, Chapter 28. 22, &c. Who will not believe a Consumption on the present Earth, to rise in a greater Harvest. They allow the Great Change of the World by the Flood; the Change by New Heavens, and New Earth, which the Apostle, Verse 13. Inetrprets, as one Principal Branch of the Promise They Laugh at, and the Gangrene Eats beyond professed Anti-Christianism, as if that First Resurrection were past already in that 1000 Y. Sta •• of the Church since Constantine, and no other to be expected, but the • inal Judgment and Eternity.

To this the Apostle Answers by laying down this Great Th ••• s, which saith the Apostle, Lies hid from Them, Resolving Obstinately against all Light, All Things shall continue as they were; that is, They will be Ignorant of any other World.

The Thesis or Position is, As the First World Destroyed by the Flood of Water, that Lay; as the forenamed Excellent Theory hath set out, within its own Bowels; And yet that Destruction was not till 1656 Years after its Creation; so long the Word of God Secured it, and there was yet a World after it; So the Heaven, and Earth that now are, shall be destroyed by Fire, Hid as it were in its Entrails, for about such a space of Time from the Apostle's writing; Till that Appointe • Time, the same Word of God Interposes, and Secures it.

But saith the Apost. that you may Rightly Judge of the Position, I would by no means hove you Ignorant of this one Thing, this Principal Thing in this Point, that I am about to Lead you to, Of the New Heavens, and the New Earth; That as the First Heavens and Earth, and the Host of Them Finish'd, and God's Resting in them, was on the Sabbath, and Seventh Day; So the Day of Judgment, the Great Sabbatism of Resting and Rejoicing in his Works, to God, to Christ, and his Saints shall be a Day, but It is with God, in his Determination, and Counsel concerning it a Day of a 1000 Years; and to so Great Day, He hath made each 1000 Years of the Worlds Continuance a Day, and They are Six, as at the Worlds First Creation; For in the Evening of the Sixth Millenary, That Day shall Begin. Think not therefore the Lord is Slack, for He hath with Great Wisdom Ballanc'd, and Weigh'd out for the First Seventh Day Sabbath, a Sahbath of a 1000 Years; For the Day of Judgment, that will be for Perdition to the Wicked, shall be a Day of a 1000 Years Rest to the People of God; and to so Great a Day of a 1000 Years, He hath with infinite Patience to Bring All his own Elect into it, weighed out also for each Day Leading to the First Sabbath Six Millenaries, or 1000 of Years, which he Accounts, as Days to Gathe • in all his Elect, as the Apostle Paul, Heb. 4. Shows the Long suffering of the Lord to the several Ages of his People, to be Salvation to Them, till that very Sabbatism comes, that Remains to the People of God.

This is the Great Sense that lies under the very profitable, and Exscellent Discourse of the Apostle, taken in Common Sense; But that There is this Great Sense, I Argue not only from the Symbols of the New Heaven, and New Earth, coming out of the Floo • , and from the New Heaven, and the New Earth, having Six days, and then a Sabbath of a 1000 Years, Symboliz'd by the Sabbath, and the Six Days of Creation before it; to which the whole Scope of the Apostle's Discourse makes it plain, that He Refers: But I Especialy Argue from These Two Things.

1. From the Apostle's Great Preface, showing a Mystical Doctrine, as such Prefaces do; Rom. 11. 15. 1 Cor. 15. 51. Now that the longest, and shortest Time with God, the High, and Holy one, that Inhabits Eternity, the Absolute Eternal Being, are All Alike, is an undoubted Principle of Natural, Rational Religion; which All are supposed to Know; and therefore that Great Truth needs no such Preface, as not to be Ignorant of that One Thing, there being many other so Great Principles of that Order of Natural Religion, that ought not to Lye hid from Any.

2. Because this would not all Answer the Apostle's Scope, either with Relation unto the Scoff of them, that say, Where is the Promise of his coming, not Satisfie, and Comfort the Sincere Christian concerning the delay of that Coming; For what Comfort is it to the Sincere Christian to whom Each Minute of delay of the Coming of Christ, especially under suffering, is as an Age, that to an Eternal Being, a Day is as a 1000 Y. and a 1000 Years as One Day? and how would the Scoffer Triumph in this? Each Day with God is a 1000 Years, how many 1000 of Years may be then to the Coming of Christ, when every Day with God is a 1000 Years? So many Days then, so many 1000 Years; And if He Counts a 1000 Years but as One Day, how long may He delay, e're the coming of Christ be? The Comfort proper to this Case must be such, as is proper to the Creatures of Time: What is proper to the Alone Paramount Eternal Being, Flys too High, and Alought over this Case, however an Admirable a Truth it is in itself, and God most Adorable in it.

Nor is there therefore Any Cause to vilify this Kingdom of Christ; Because It is but a 1000 Years, and that a 1000 Years is with God but as a Day; Because even according to the Letter of this Scripture, each Day of the 1000 Years is with God as a 1000 Years, as well as the 1000 Years, but as One Day; when therefore we may by this Apostolic Canon, if we had Respect to the Letter, Count every Day of the 1000 Years Kingdom, as a 1000 Years itself; how Great then would it be! But I have sole Respect to the Mystic meaning; That God, the Lord of Time knows, how much, and no more, is proper to his Ends, hath Resolv'd; A Sabbatism of a 1000 Years, Beginning with, and Ending with a Grand Judgment, and its middle Space a Judgment, or Government according to, and with Relation to those Two Grand Judgments, and so most Fitly called Judgment, or Day of Judgment, shall be a perfection of Time, and the Fullness of All Times, and the duration of the Kingdom of his Son, as Son of Man; And that Six Days, each Day as a Milennium, or 1000 Y. of his Patience, and Long suffering for the Vessels of Wrath, Fitting Themselves to Destruction at that Day; and for the Gathering his Elect from the several Ages of the World, as well as from the Four Winds, shall go before it: And itself from its Beginning to its End, shall bear this Character; Fullness of Times; without Nice distinction of one part from Another, and so Eternity ensues; and this State, (which shows the Fitness of the Symbols) shall have New Heavens, and a New Earth according to Creation, according to the Great Promise, Isaiah. 65. c 66. which also shows the opposite State of the Carcases under a never dying Worm, and an Unquenchable Fire, to mean much higher then the Carcasses of the Assyrians, whatever Type that slaughter might be.

Lastly, That this Prophecy of the Apostle Peter, hath also Great Reference to the Antichristian State, I observe by Indications, however They may seem small, yet are most Significant.

1. The Unlearnedness, Barbarity, and Ignorance, most Natural to Antichrist, (however since the Reformation, Necessity hath made his Party more Learned) taken notice of in the Word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , verse 16.

2. Their Apostasy, as Wandering and falling Stars, (as the Papacy it lelf is also Symboliz▪d by a Star falling from Heaven to the Earth, Revel. 9. v. 1) is Signified by a Dis-firmamented State, in the Word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , wander'd from their Firmament; and Christians exhorted to Take heed of falling from their own Firmament, or Firmation, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Verse 17. That They may shine as that Firmament, Dan 12. 3.

4. Their Wresting of Scriptures to their own Perdition Universally, more Particularly the Prophecies for their own Papal Kingdom, and against the Kingdom of Christ; And that Discourse of the Apostle Paul, 2 Thes. 2. They Writhe wholly from Themselves, which, would They have Observed it, and asked, as Judas their Type, Is it I? It would have Answered Them as Christ did Him, Thou sayest.

This is a Great Brand by which the Son of Perdition with all his Adherents may be known, whose Character is as the Judasses of the Christian Church, Son of Perdition, and Two Times Going into Perdition; Compare John 17. 12. 2 Thess. 2 13. Revel. 17. v. 8. v. 11.

These Remarks upon the Apostle Peter 's Prophecy, as I style it, I have been larger upon, to show I am Conscious of no Recoyl of Mind concerning it, and though some Things may seem wiredrawn; yet the Manner and Symmetry of Prophecy, the Great Rule of its Interpretation, will Justify me.

Argum. 4. I do indeed so Rely upon the Prophecy, Revel. 20. Concerning the Thousand Years, that if I had only that Scripture, I should think it sufficient, although it be but One; and, although it be Propheick: Because I find the Letter so Express, as that the Thousand Years are no less than Six several Times Named; And I Observe the Apostle's Discourse upon Melchizedek so Weighty, so Large, with so severe a Reproof of the Unteachableness of Christians concerning it, Heb. c 5. • 0. &c. 6▪ 1. with Re • erence to it throughout, c 7. All of it; to be Suspended upon One single Oracle, and that Prophetick also, Psal. 110. 4. The Lord hath Sworn, and will not Repent, Thou art a Priest forever after the Order of Melchizedek, Referring to a small Historick Memoir, Genes. 14▪ 18. 19, 20. and that on purpose Contriv'd to be Dark and under a Vei • Yet the Apostle severely Reproves a Dullness of Hearing of it; Whereas the Christians then might have said, We Desire only plainer, more undoubted Truths, more genearlly Treated; Principles and fundamental Points; But the Apostle Silently Threatens the Danger of Ayostacy on not Going on to Perfection, by grounding his so Earnest Exhortation, to Go on, upon that Danger of Apostasy, without so Doing. And indeed there is Great Reason to think, a Prediction of the Great Antichristian Apostasy (in the Bulk not to be Repented of, not to be Renewed to Repentance, according to R • vel. 16.) is lodge▪d in it; and that That very Apostasy came in upon the Ignorance of, and not Acquiescency in Christ's Melchisedechian Priesthood, after the Power of an endless Life; but setting up that Kingdom and Priesthood in Counterfeit. For what is the Melchisedechian Priesthood of Christ, but a Priesthood on a Throne, Zech. 6. 13? And what is the Papacy but a Counterfeit of that, a Priest on a Throne? (the False Propbecy Included also, as the True is in the Priesthood of Christ.) And why was this Golden Calf Idolatry brought in by that false Aaron, as his Vicar? but to supply the Absence of Christ, Gone up to the Mount; and not knowing, That it is Witnessed of him, He liveth, and is as Active for his Church and Saints Above, as Below, while on Earth; so far as is necessary, till he brings forth all his Saints Appearing also in the Glory of his Melchisedechia • Priesthood, as Kings and Priests also.

But to Return to the Prophecy, Revel. 20. I observe, as I have already observed, There is not only the Shell or Words, but the Deep Reason of Things; as All Prophecy, and most particularly all the Lines of the Revelation before it, Run into It, and Center in it; and All Require such a Kingdom, of such a State; of New Heavens, and New Earth; and of a Duration of Time, that may speak Perfection, to Accomplish Them. And that Duration this Prophecy Declares to be a Thousand Years, and then All to be Drawn up into Eternity, and no otherwise to End.

Argum. 5. The Observation upon the Thousand Years I made heretofore in my Patriarchal Line, p. 58. does much sway my Judgment still concerning the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ, viz.

wherein I am Confirm'd by Reading, what Dr. Sherlock, so Reverend, so Learned, so Considering, and so far from what is called Fanaticism, as every One knows, hath written, in his Excellent and Generally Acceptable Practical Discourse of Death, p. 129, 130. Wherein it is most Considerable, that he Writes not, as having Espous'd the Opinion of the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ, nor was Intentionally Writing upon it, But so Discerning and Quick-sighted a Person was struck with its Beams of Light and Truth, while he was upon another View; And thus he Writes:

I could not but Transcribe a Paragraph worthy of Letters of Gold; Not because suitable to my Sense, of small Account; but because so Agreeable with Sense of Scripture, if I can be sure I see, or know any Thing; And yet how little taken notice of? To conclude the Argument, The Thousand Years are made by God the Emblem and Hierogliphick of the Perfection of Time, and do literally express that very Time, God hath Ordain'd to be the Fulness of Time, and the Perfection of it.

And so I come to the Third Thing proposed, to consider any other Hipothesis or Model of Things in Bar of this proposed; And I find these Two.

1. That All this Kingdom of Christ, with its New Heaven and Earth, are supposed rather to Fit the Kingdom of Eternity; Against this I Argue.

1. The New Heaven, and the New Earth, the Scripture speaks of, Revel. 21. v. 1. are certainly the very same that Fly away from the pure Crystal Throne of Eternity, and from his Face that Sate upon it, Ready to Deliver up the Kingdom to God All in All. This is certain, because the New Heaven, and New Earth, are Concurrent with the New Jerusalem, as is most Clear, by the Conjunct Vision John had of Them, Revel. 21. 12. I saw a New Heaven; And v. 1. And I John saw the holy City. When he Saw the New Heaven, &c. and the New Jerusalem; The first Heaven, and the first Earth were passed away. So then the Heaven and Earth, that were with the New Jerusalem, were not the first Heaven and Earth, but the Heaven and Earth that were at the same time with the Holy City; And they fled away, as is most Evident by the close Connection and Order between the Compassing the Holy and Beloved City, which cannot be supposed to be any other, then the New Jerusalem, called by the Name of the Holy City, as c. 20. 9. so c. 21. 2. and the Beloved City, because the Bride. For after that Assault that was after the 1000 Y. Satan was cast into the Lake, that had the Power of Death; And then immediately the White Throne was seen, and Heaven and Earth fled away, which must be the Heaven and Earth Cotemporary with the New Jerusalem, and so with the 1000 Years; and seeing, as was said just now, They must be new Heaven, and New Earth; Therefore the New Heaven, and New Earth continue not to Eternity.

For I cannot see where there can be any Doubt in the Connection, or Order, the Divine Prophecy hath so taken care; Satan's casting into the Lake must needs be after the 1000 Years, therefore after the New Heaven and Earth; the Heaven and Earth that Fled, must be Those that were at the Judging, and casting the Dead into the Lake; Can we suppose then, that this White Throne, the Judging the Dead, and casting the Dead into the Lake, was before the 1000 Years, and so the Heaven and Earth flying also; and then indeed They must be the First Heaven, and First Earth, and not the New Ones: But All that cannot be, because whatever was not Written in the Book of Life, was then cast into the Lake; And it is certain, Satan was not Written in the Book of L • fe; therefore he Could not be out of the Lake at the Time of Death, and the Dead being cast into the Lake; But he was not cast into the Lake, till the 1000 Years were past; So that this whole Transaction upon Death, and the Flying of Heaven and Earth were all after the 1000 Years, and therefore the New Heaven and New Earth, which Run along with the 1000 Years, were the Heavens and Earth that Fled away, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which was the Thing to be shown, and is shown: For if such a Connection, as this will not prove, nothing can be proved by Consequence from Scripture.

2. Those Three Expressions of the Apostle, The Kingdom shall be delivered up by the Son, The Son shall be subject, God shall be All in All; so strongly sway with me, that no distinction of Acquisition and Fruition can weigh against them; but that such a State, as of the New Heaven, and New Earth, and a Kingdom of Christ proportionate to it, cannot be the State of the Kingdom of Eternity; Especially when I Join to it, those Words of our Lord's Mediatory Prayer, John 17. That They may be one in us, and that They may see my Glory; and that Glory was the Glory Christ had with the Father before the Foundation of the World; So that the Glory of the Human Nature of Christ, and of the Elect Angels, and Saints being first confessed; All the State of Glory is Brought to the nearest, that can be, to that State of Glory, before the World began, and so not of New Heaven, and a New Earth, and what is Agreeable to the Creation.

3. A Delivery up of the Glory of the Judiciary Kingdom, or of that proper to the Day of Judgment, to the Father, and the Son's being subject, that is, laying down that Luster of Appearance, proper to that Administration, cannot be denied; And that, and no other, which is always Attributed to the Son of Man, and to the Man Christ Jesus, and the delivering up that Kingdom, and no other, is what I plead for; and no otherwise, then so far, as is necessary for the making Good of what the Apostle hath said; That the Kingdom is to be delivered up, that the Son is to be subject, and God; to be All in All: From which, as having some Higher, Deeper, and more Substantial Sense, then the distinction of Acquisition, and Fruition, can Comprehend, I cannot depart.

4 The Superlative inexpressible Excellency of the Divine Glory from Eternity, hath so Great a Command upon my Understanding, together with that Expression of the Apostles of God's being All in All, that altho the Human Nature of Christ, as united to the Divine; though the Human Nature of Christ and his Saints; the Union of Saints to God by Christ, be Free, and wholly Grace; and were not indeed from Eternity; yet Joyning the so often mentioned Assertion of the Apostle Paul, with our Lord's of the Glory, before the World began, Assures me; that the State of Angels and Saints, is Brought to the highest Nearness Created, Nature is capable of, to that Glory, before the Foundation of the World, even as the Human Nature of Christ is so Advanc'd; and that that Objectition, viz. that the Human Nature of Christ had not an Existence in that Glory, before the World, Argues to me the more strongly, that All this is so; For it speaks that Human Nature itself, therefore drawn more out of all Created Glory, into the Glory of the Eternal Word, and that the Divine Nature of the Eternal Word is our Object, and not the Human Nature of Christ; all the objective Glory of Christ in his Human Nature, and of Angels and Saints being seen in Speculo Divinitatis, in that Infinite Mirrour of the Divine Nature; And herein I Relye on the very Words of Scripture, that cannot be over-ruled: And seeing God hath been pleased to make the Human Nature of Christ, and the Union of his Saints to himself Unchangeable, as himself; (So far am I from supposing a Fall from that State) the Exaltation of them to Closest Approximation to that Glory to Eternity, that was from Eternity, is the Cessation of Economy, and the perfect Eternal State; wherein the Saints are Equal to Angels, and need them not for their Enjoyment, but as All meet in God: On the contrary, though Devils, and Lost Spirits have all the Sense, and Action Agreeable to their Lost State, Yet it is not such kind of Hostile Action, as now They are Exercis'd in, but are in as perfect a State of Suffering, as, and above All we can conceive, and so forever, and in the most Unchangeable Misery.

And whereas a Political Conception of the Eternal King, his Laws and Subjects, seems to Require Another State, or order then this, I Assert: Yet as from Eternity, Supreme Dominion was Essential to God, even as Mercy, Goodness, Truth, before any Subjects, capable to Exercise them upon; So to Eternity, without any such Administration, as according to Political Laws we Apprehend, and have known here. But who can sail in this Infinite Ocean now, without the having All Thought and Understanding, Lost in that Infinity! But this is certain, God is a King Eternal, as well as Immortal, Invisible, and the Only Wise God, To Him therefore be Glory be forever: And in All this I most humbly Acknowledge Jesus Christ, God and Man, the Mediator, even the Mediator of this union to Eternity; But the very Nature of a Mediator is not, that he should be Our utmost Objective Rest, but that, as All Scripture speaks, He should Bring us to God, even God All in All by several Degrees, the Highest of which is his own Kingdom, and at last to the most Immediate union in and by Himself, which is the Kingdom of Eternity.

And thus I have endeavor'd to make plain, that the Kingdom of Christ, as in the Judgment Given to Him, as the Son of Man, enstated in a World to come of New Heavens and a New Earth does not Last forever; but is, as in our Law, a Lease for a Year, to put into Possession, that the Eternal Inheritance may vest in us: I come in the Last place to Clear my Hypothesis in these Great Points from the Supposition, that there may be other Worlds besides the World present, that is now near 6000 Years old, and that World to come of the Kingdom of Christ, whereof I Speak, and then the whole delivered up to God All in All; either as Angels and Saints in Glorious Bodies in union to Him; or as Lost • pirits, and Spirits in Bodies, so Subdued quite below under his Kingdom in the Lake, as to be Eternally separated from him.

Now I Briefly Argue against any other Worlds.

Reason 1. Because the Scripture in All, it says, Stints our Thoughts, and Imaginations in this variety of Worlds, Rising and Repullulating, as it were out of the First World, that we Read of the Creation of Gen. 1. An Extent of Thought beyond this, Brings us under a Vertigo, a Giddiness of Apprehension, that we know not where we are, and Inclines to Scepticism, a doubt of All Things; and if we do not stop to Atheistic Su • pitions, Running out of the Assurance of the Truth of All Religion; and of Christianity.

Reas. 2. Because Scripture Represents the Angels, and Saints of both the Saved, and of the Lost, as so many, and those in such a variety. Angels never sinning, but Elect, and Confirm'd in Original Holiness; Angels Falling, and never Recover'd; M • n Created in Original Purity, Falling; and a number very vast in itself Recover'd; some dying, but vindicated from Death by the Resurrection; Others in the Kingdom of Christ, that though they might fall and die, viz. the living remaining, are yet secured by the Mediator; and the Lost of Mankind, Fallen from their First Estate, and not Recover'd, notwithstanding the Grace of the Mediator, Scripture Every-where also Magnifies the Riches and Fullness, the Variety of the Creation, as declaring to the utmost the Glory of God, that He thinks fit to Reveal in such away, especially as it shall be in Christ's World to Come. Now the Infinite Riches of the Divine Being, showing itself in so Great an Explication of its own so Variegated Wisdom, Ephes. 3. 9. &c. to Principalities, and Powers in Heavenly Places, in and by the Church, when it is carried through all Oeconomies, especially that in the Fullness of Times, (wherein Angels Themselves shall be Recapitulated, Ephes. 1. 10.) into the Eternal Kingdom, is All, Scripture Reveals; and it carries our Thoughts not a Moment beyond, but winds up all herein; fo • that Search beyond it, looks like the vain Puff and Swolness of a fleshly Mind, as not being wise to Sobriety, but above what is written. And yet I know the Infinite Being, and Wisdom, and Power of God, before some Holy, and Good, and so Zealous of the Glory of God, may cause them to say, Who knows what God will do?

Reas. 3. Because it is not only inconceivable, but directly against the Analogy of Scripture and Faith, That there should be any Glory of Creatures Intellectual, or Animal, or according to the Mechanism and Frame of Heaven and Earth, but what is All in Jesus Christ the eternal Word in our Nature. Now how is it Conceivable either in Scripture or Reason, He should be Related to Another, or anymore Worlds, as to this? wherein he was made Man, the Son of Abraham, the Son of David. Can there be anymore Sons of Abraham, or of David? Can the Eternal Word Assume anymore or other Created Nature into Himself? He must then see a World, or Worlds, wherein He hath no Interest, as in that Personality, wherein we Believe Him according to Scripture; This would be a Diminution to his Glory; Therefore this is to me a most Conclusive Argument against any Worlds before or after this.

Reas. 4. I add, the Manifestations of the Grace of God in Christ, even the Riches of Glory on the Vessels of Mercy prepared to Glory and Honor, and of his Wrath and Power, on the Vessels of Wrath, and unto Dishonor, are to the Heighth, as the Apostle shows, Rom. 9 22. Any more then would speak the Imperfection of what hath been, is, and is to be; which no way agrees with Scripture, manifesting all to the utmost. From whence I conclude, such a Supposal of more Worlds cannot Rationally Barr the Hipothesis of such a Kingdom, as God All in All.

And thus I have endeavored so to state that Kingdom of the 1000 Y. wherein not only his Enemies are in Fieri, or about, as they speak, to be subdued, but it shall be brought to that Consummation and Perfection, which the Apostle speaks of, and which is the very Character of the Kingdom of Christ, Heb 2. 1. That all Things should be so put under Him, there should be nothing left, that is not put under Him. But now we see not All Things so put under Him; by which we know, the Time of his Kingdom is not yet.

There may yet be remaining many Spinose and Snarl'd Questions, the Answering of which would still beget more, and make Controversies as endless as the Genealogies the Apostle speaks of; I therefore designedly forbear Them. I know the Like may be drawn over the most Fundamental Principles of Theology by a disposed Questionist, as is very plain by the Parallel I have given betwixt that so Acknowledged One of the Day of Judgment, and the Thousand Years Kingdom, liable to the very same Captious Enquiries.

I will therefore wave any further Regard to those Perplexing Questions, with Transcribing some few Observations out of that most Satisfying Discourse of the Universally Honorable Mr Boyl, in his Appendix to the so Graceful Pourtracture of the Christian Vertuoso, of which he is Himself the Life; It is his Reflections upon the Distinction of Above, and not against Reason, viz. pag. 6. parag. 7.

So also are there in the Articles of Faith, much more in these of the Kingdom of Christ, and yet none are therefore to be Rejected. That also is Greatly Considerable to the Present Purpose, pa. 6. parag. 8. These, and many more most excellent Observations, in that short, but Massy Treatise, if well Consider'd, would Reconcile our Thoughts to the Glorious Kingdom of Christ; however hitherto Dark in the Main; and many Things relating to the Modus or Circumstance, more Dark; But I make no doubt, those Reaching, Commanding Telescopes will be brought forth fo • Use ere-long, by the Everlasting Gospel preached; when what was Mystery before, will be no longer so; Even as what was so in the Old Testament, became no longer so, by the New Revealing it; as the same Honorable Writer Remarks. In the mean time, how Noble would it be in a Royal Society of Christian Vertuoso's to call for, Encourage, and Receive all Proposes concerning Prophecy, its Line of Time, and the Fulfilling of it! That would bring so Adorable a part of Theology into Experimentality, to the Great Honor of the Age. But if neither Divines, nor Vertuoso's will do it, God will suddenly Grant a New Charter for a Royal Society of Vertuoso's for his Kingdom.

I willingly also forbear the saying anymore concerning the Calling of the Jews; the very Occasion given to deny it, being in the Sense of most Christians, a kind of Invidious Thing: I only say, the Jews according to all Prophecy, being kept in public View, as a Desolated and Obstinate Unbelieving People, make it very Believable; They are pteserved to such a Gracious purpose; Wherein it is most True, Insinite Power and Wisdom hath Engag'd it Self, in Answer to the hardest Objections, according to Ezekiel 's Resolve of that Question; Can these Dead Bones live? O Lord God, thou knowest, Ezek. 37. 3. And the Apostle 's Theorem, concerning the Case; God is able to graft Them in, Rom. 11. 23.

I am also willing to Accept that Reserve for taking in Papal Rome within the Apocalyptic Prophecy; That as Pagan Rome was most certainly in its Time, so Papal Rome may be Babylon also: Only I cannot but Observe, that the Cassandrianism and Grotianism, of Suppositing Pagan Rome to all the Prophecy of the Revelation, wherein the Learned, and according to his own Sentiments, most Pious Dr. Hammond, Join'd through the Antiperistatick Paroxism, He carried to the Times He Lived in; (and against which Mr. Baxter hath Written in General.) This sure is much more Obnoxious then the Agreeing with Conformists, concerning any Apocalyptic Notions; For it Argues much more a Divine Impression, when Any are carried against, then down a Stream; especially in Favor of a Prophecy, that will as certainly Take down the Grandieur, and Antiquate the Antiquity of most of the Constitution, They Favor, within a short time, as even the Papal itself; Let it be spoken without the Disfavour of many Honorable and Undefiled Names of Sardis: The most Sagacious of the Jesuits so much understood an Antichristian Rome, Revel. 17. That to avoid the Blow, They, as Balaam and Chaiaphas have Prophesied of an Anti-Christ that shall yet come to Destroy Rome, and its Pseudo-Catholic State. And they are thus far in the Right of it: That as the Papal State is the Antichrist to the True Christ; So the True Christ's Coming will be Antichrist indeed to that Antichrist; an 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a Christ directly opposite to Him, and that will come into his Room, and so even perfectly bring Him to nothing with the Brightness of his own Appearance.

Passing then from all these Things, I come to what Remains of Greater Moment, and that is, Concerning the Churches in General; more Particular of Philadelphia, and Laodicea, and most especially of Laodicea; upon which I must acknowledge the most Difficult and Hardliest to be Reconcil'd Hinge of my Hipothesis Turns.

1. I first therefore consider, what concerns the Seven Churches in General, and that is, with Relation to the Angels of the Churches; Concerning which, Mr. Baxter in his Reply; thus Writes, p. 14.

Now in this I would earnestly Beg the same Candor of Interpretation, in all I have Written, that in this matter I would Use; that is, To seek out the best and fairest Sense that I could possibly find, wherein I had any Reason of Check at what is Written; should I be so unjust, as to understand by Mr. Baxter 's being a Papist presently, on such Terms, any Thing else, but that as to that Point of Acnowledging the Pope as Head of Unity, as they speak, He would be a Papist; and only upon the Supposition of Divine Institution, and that the Essence of Popery consisted in that; whereas to be a Papist is generally understood to be an Embracer of all the Idolatry and Superstitions, &c. the Pope hath established by the Authority, which is supposed to be in Him, to establish what he pleases, as He is such a Head. Should I Turn this every way to Aggravate it, and Raise Tragical Suspitions and Discourses upon it? Far be it from me; I take his Meaning simply, as He intended it: It is but the same Measure, I desire.

But I come to the main Point, and thereunto I make Answer in these following Particulars.

1. By the Churches, I do not understand so the Symbolized Universal Church, as that the particular Churches named, should be Excluded; but each Church with its Pastors Included: So that supposing a Proesto's to be understood by the Angel; It would Arise to no more, then that all these Seven Successions through the Universal Church were Represented in each Succession by these single Churches, and their Angels.

2. I am very far from Thinking, that either Pope or Bishop, or so much as a Proesto's is understood by Angel; but that Angel throughout this Prophecy Generally, (I do not say in every Particular) Signifies a Collective Ministry of sit Instruments to every Purpose; and so Angels of the Churches Intends the Holy Pastors or Ministers of each Successional State of the Church, who were Instructed in the Main Concernments of the Kingdom of Christ in each Age, and Remonstrated them to the Churches. And therefore I observe a Care, as I Apprehend, of the Divine Spirit Foreprizing any such Interpretation of the Angels, a • if They were single Persons; For saith Christ, Chapter 1. verse. 20. The Seven Stars are the Angels of the Seven Churches; Seven is applied to the Stars, and to the Churches, but not to the Angels, as it were Declining the Application of the Number to the Angels, the nearest and most immediate Symbol, of whatever was intended, that there might be no Collection; They were single Persons.

2. I observe such a Sympathy between the Angels of the Churches, and the Churches, that in one Great Instance the Spirit turns off from the Angel to speak to the Body of the Church: To You I say, and to the Rest of Thyatira, Chap 2. v. 24, •• . And that is a Key to the Intention in every Epistle to the Churches; Besides the Book, of what John saw, to be Written by Him, Chap. 1. v. • 0. is directed to each Church by Christ's especial Command; and to the Angels, only as Speakers or Prolocutors, as to our Speakers in Parliament; and it is still said, He that hath an Ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches; And the Promises are made to each single Person of each Church; so that what is said to any One, is said to All; wherefore as to me it is most plain, All Ecclesiastic Power, any further than it holds out the Word of Christ, which every single Christian is to know for himself, and so to submit unto, is no other than some Vein, at least of the Feet of Clay; much more when it Takes upon it to be Sirly, or Lordly over Consciences; and most of All, when to Enforce itself; It pleads, by Law Established. So far am I in my own Judgment from being Guilty in this matter of an Over-zeal supported only by Ignorance, or not according to Knowledge, that I was always aware, and Guarded against this Consequence.

2. I come in the Second place to Apply my Thoughts to Philadelphia, and Laodicea, as Churches of Another World, which that They should be, none of the Asian Churches, or Christians for 1500 Years ever Believ'd.

Answer 1. This I look upon, as not Known to us, what was Believ'd in the Time nearest to the Giving that Prophecy. Since then, Gradually a Horror of Darkness came upon the Churches, especially, as to the Apocalyptical Prophecy, and most especially, as to the Retir'd parts of it; And Ah las, how much doth it still Remain? This I look upon then, as so Little of an Argument against their being so, that I pass from it.

Answ. 2. Each Epistle is writ, not so to the Churches of the Future World, but that They are for the Learning, and Admonition of every Age of the Church in their most Mystic Sense, (if They had Ears to hear, which very words show the Sense to be highly Parabolick, and Mystic) and still much more in their plain Doctrinal, Instructing or Reproving, Correcting, Consolatory Sense, and directed to all Churches, and Christians in all Ages since; Even as They were for the Churches of that Time, and more particularly, Written, Each Epistle, to the Church then, to which each was directed.

3. As to the Church of Philadelphia, and the Objections concerning it, I have so Fully spoken in my Treatise of the Reformation to be Reform'd; especially at Page 62. &c that I would only Recollect this Brief Satisfaction: That I look upon some Low, and Depress'd State of Saints of Christ, Symbol'd all along by it from the Reformation Entring, until the Reformation itself shall be Reform'd; to which the Little strength, and such like Expressions are to be Applied; That it is so Long, Over-Lour'd by the Height and Grandieur of Sardis, especially those of it, who make Them of the Synagogue of Satan; That it • nters its proper Time of Succession, when it shall Appear in Another Kind of Glory at 97; when also the Kingdom of Christ enters its Succession at the end of the Apostasy, and the Time of it, as I have always explained that Succession. Then Christ hath Right of a Kingdom, the Four Monarchies being at an end, and prepares for its Glory by the Seven Thunders opened, and the Vials poured out, wherein the Church of Philadelphia shall be Highly Serviceable; This State lasts for Daniel's 75, Added to 1260 of the Apostasy, and making 1335, Dan. 12. 12, 13. shall be at our 1772. Then the New Jerusalem comes down on the Philadelphian Church, in a Glory Transcendental to he Church States that ever have been • n E •• th; for a 〈…〉 • he end of the 1000 Years, the Glory Retires fr • m 〈…〉 on Earth, This Loose • Satan, and the Condemn'd, Captiva ••• 〈…〉 • og and Magog; to make whatever Attempt They 〈…〉 •• ss •• ility o • Change in the State of the Saints of the first Resurrection Above; but on the Saints Below, it hath the Operation of the Abatement of the former Fervors of Bringing all their Glory to the Jerusalem Above, and Earnest Desire of being Caught up to it, as its intended; but are about to Acquiesce and Settle in a State by Themselves on Earth; which Christ by no means Allows, nor Endures. Here enters the Laodicean State; of which because I have, never at any Largeness, published my Thoughts, I would be more large, when I have given these Pre-Cautions.

1. That neither on my Judgment concerning Laodicea, nor concerning Gog and Magog, as the Captivated Dead or Condemn'd of the Thousand Years do I suspend the Weight of my principal Doctrine of the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ; but therein offer the best Light, I am able to give in so dark Points, in Agreement with my principal Doctrine, and the Symmetry of Prophecy, and Commend my Self therein to the Candor of the Wise and Sober, without any occasion of Offence or Exasperation.

2. That the strangeness of the Abatement of Fervours in the Living Saints, or the Laodicean Church, will be easily taken off by considering; The Assurance of the best • reated State, depends upon the Degrees of Divine Confirmation, which does not perfect itself into the very Nature of Unchangeableness, but in the Kingdom of the New Jerusalem Above, and in the Kingdom of Glory; Yet from hence no such Thing as a Falling from Grace in the Saints much less in the Kingdom of Christ, though Below, can be Fairly Collected.

For there is an unchangeable Love manifesting itself in the midst of We • kness, till th • Saints are brought to the State of Incorruption and Immortality; which is not but in the Kingdom of Christ Above; where the Saints of the First Resurrection are, and the Living Remaining, are (as I always Asserted) Cau • ht up without the loss of any One, and so Deliver'd up together into the Absolute Eternal Life of God All in All; which States are by the Decree of God in their own Nat • re, so Fram'd by Infinite Wisdom and Power, in Conjunction with Infinite Love and Grace in Christ, as Unchangeable, as God himself.

For the Manifestation therefore of the Weakness of any State, but of that Absolute Incorruption in the Kingdom of Christ Above, and of Eternity; for the Manifestation of the Power and Grace of Christ's bringing his Saints Below, safe to these States through the possibility of Danger at the end of the Thousand Years; for the Greater • onquest over Satan, Sin, and Death; And lastly, for the showing the Necessity of putting an End to all Church-State on Earth, without such a Glory of the New Jerusalem coming down upon it; which Infinite Wisdom, for the Glory of God All in All, had Determin'd to be only a Thousand Years; On all these Accounts there is a Permission of the Appearance of the Danger; but it was no sooner given Leave to Appear, but there was immediately a Catching up of the Prey, as it were, out of the Mouth of the Lion, and with Violence pulling out 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 of the Fire every One of the Saints below, and without the Loss of One. In all which I desire to be Clearly, Justly, and Candidly Understood.

3. There is less Wonder, that the Wicked Captiv'd and Bound under Condemnation, and the Glory of the Kingdom of Christ for the Thousand Years shining just in their Faces, should break out into that Outrage of Gog and Magog. For thus, as Dead all that Time, not in the Sense of Suffering and Torment, but of any Spirit for Action against the Kingdom of Christ, They lay Bound and Fetter'd; It is no wonder then, that upon the withdrawing of the Glories of that Kingdom, Satan and that Gog and Magog break out into that Attempt, upon these Accounts;

1. All the Conviction and Punishment the Devils have been under these Thousand Years, and of the Damned throughout Eternity, does not according to the Judgment of all Divines upon Scripture, at all abate their Wickedness, and Rage against God; but in whatever they find their Chain loose and allowing Liberty, They take it. This then will be the Case of Satan, Gog and Magog at the end of the Thousand Years; They find the Chains of the Kingdom of Christ loose about Them, so They Stir, They Move thus▪

2. There is no doubt, Satan is the Name of the Highest Dominion, Power, and Influence of Wickedness in Scripture; He therefore being particularly loosed at the end of the Thousand Years, mightily Agitates and Enflames to the Highest the Highly disposed Spirits of the Gog and Magog, full of Rage and Hatred of the Kingdom of Christ, the Loss and Torture of which They will have Endur'd a Thousand Years; besides the undoubted Foresight of the Lake forever; And not able so strongly Chain'd, to have moved against it; upon a Loosening of Satan, and a Power of Action, as it were of some Liveliness, by the Thousand Years Glory Retiring; They are under Satan's Energy, called Deception because of its Folly and Falsenses, how Powerful soever; That they Gather, and Compass the Holy City.

3. The Wisdom, Justice, Glory, and Power of God and Christ in a Supreme manner permitting, Order also, and over-rule this Effort.

1. That there might be a full Display of the Wickedness and Irreconcilable Spirits of Satan, and this lost Gog and Magog of the Condemned, and of their Fittedness for the Wrath of Christ's Coming Down; not as a Second Conflagration of the New Heaven and Earth, which by a milder Exffection Fly away, when Christ Delivers up the Kingdom; but on Satan and his Hosts, only Fire comes down, as it were, Hell from Heaven upon Them, shutting them up forever in the Lake; where there shall be an utter Impossibility of Satan being Loosed, of Gog and Magog Feeling any such Life or Action, or Gathering in Battle forever.

2. When therefore all the Numbers, Strength, utmost Efforts of Rage and Spirit in Satan and all his Legions and Hosts are thus at the Heighth; there is then this Supreme Manifestation of the Glory and Pow • r of God against these Armies, whose Number is as the Sand on the Sea; That the Grace, Love, and Mercy of God 〈…〉 • hrist in the R • s •• e o • th • 〈…〉 Castle, Camp, or Strong Citadel of his Saints in the New Earth, the New Jerusalem below, the Beloved City, might be seen at last in this Illustrious and Glorious Deliverance and Rescue. It is therefore called a Battle, even as the Second Part of that Great Battle of the Day of God Almighty at Armageddon; And now the Victory is Compleat and Irrecoverable, by the Catargesis, or Casting into the Lake, th • t after a Full and Absolute Judgment immediately followed; And of this Battle, even as of that of Armageddon; All the Great Battels, Deliverances, and Victories, as of Moses over Amalek, Joshua, and David, Psal. 18. Asa, Hezekiah, Constantine, Theododosius his Last against Eugenius, and Argobastes, were Types.

4. By way of Recollection, and for further Preparation concerning the Church of Laodicea, let us consider the Six-fold Repetition of the Thousand Years, Rev. 20. and how they are Assign'd; which will add Certainty, and Luster to both the Thousand Years, and the Hipothesis, or Frame of Doctrine built upon them

1. They are Assign'd to the Binding of Satan, the Dragon, the Old Tempting, and Deceiving Serpent, the Devil and Satan, the Great Accuser and Adversary; He was laid hold on by the Angel, or Ministers of the D • vine Power and Pleasure, having the Key of that dark Vault of Impossibility for Satan to Appear or Act, but in the Torment of his own Guilty and Miserable Spir • t; as the Chain also Signifies; so much as in the smallest Instance; even as at all Times He is Remanded into it, and Held in it, but according to the Permission of God; He was now laid Hold upon, Bound and Chain'd, and Seal'd up for a Thousand Years. Here Satan is Consider'd as in the Essentials of the Prince and whole Host of fallen wicked Spirits, full of Power, Might, and Rage, as well as Counsel and Policy; the whole Number of these Intelligences, Spirits and their Action, is as effectually, and to all Intents and Purposes Bound for the Thousand Years, as it shall be, when Satan is Cast into the Lake for Eternity, and under the Absoluteness of Kingdom, when all Enemies subdued, God shall be All in All.

2. The Thousand Years are Assign'd to the Not deceiving the Nations, till those Thousand Years are Expired or Finisht. Now it is most Eviden • , These Nations are not the Nations of the Saved, Chap 21. 24. and Healed by the Leaves of the Tree of Life, Chap. 22. v. 3. For These were Destroyed from Heaven; But there were at the same Time other Nations Saved, and Healed, a Holy and Beloved City. There is therefore a certain. Assurance, the Nations here spoken of, are the Wicked Reserved to Future Destruction▪ Now These, I say, are Really the Dead, who (as I shall just now speak more) were Symbolized by Nations, or Gentiles, more properly Aliens, as 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 often signifies, from the Common-wealth of Israel, the New Jerusalem below. But for the Thousand Years they are not to be stir'd by Satan; They cannot be Deceiv'd into any Action against the Kingdom of Christ; The Glory of Christ's Kingdom is so Full in their Face,

3. The Thousand Years are Assigned to the Martyrs, and all the Saints of Christ, whose Saintship is Symbolized by the Not worshipping the Beast, &c. That is, as Pure to God in all Ages before the Beast, and making up One Church of the First Born with Them; as the Apostle calls this whole Number of Saints: These are Rais'd in Bodies of the First Resurrection, and Reign with Christ in his Thousand Years Kingdom, a Thousand Years.

4. These Thousand Years are Assigned to the Rest of the Dead not Living again, till the Thousand Years are Finisht; And these Dead signify to me Those, Chap. 19. Slain with the Sword of Christ's Mouth; and on whose Flesh the Fowls, viz. the Saints of Christ Triumphing in the Vengeance, and Washing their Feet in the Blood of the Wicked, are Satisfied upon. It is Expresly said, They Lived Not, which is Principally to be understood of the Highest of Life in the Highest Senses of it; For as soon as ever The Saints were Rais'd, All the Wicked Dead were Rais'd; But They Lived not, Living not so, as to Reign with Christ, as the Dead Saints Rais'd, Saints of the First Resurrection liv▪d.

But because They are of a Resurrection, though a Resurrection of the Unjust, and to Condemnation; Therefore They are spoken of next to the Raised Saints: But They Lived not, till the Thousand Years were Expir'd; As soon as ever that is said, it is Added immediately, This is the First Resurrection; the First and Only Resurrection to Living: But These Dead were not of it, and so They never can Live in the true Senses of Life, though Rais'd; For They Liv'd not till the Thousand Years of the First Resurrection were Finisht, and so could not so much as Taste of the First Resurrection, or Partake of it; and then They never can; For they are immediately Forepriz'd; as soon as ever it had been said, They were the Dead, who for the Thousand Years Liv'd not; It is said, Blessed and Holy is He that is Partaker of the First Resurrection, over such the Second Death hath no power; Over All else it hath: The Dead therefore, which These are, are Cast into the Lake of the Second Death.

There may be also a Secondary Sense of the Dead not living, viz. Not Appearing, as Gog and Ma • og, till the Thousand Years are Finisht, as hath been shewn; But This is 〈◊〉 Principal.

5. These Thousand Years are Assign'd to the Partakers of the First Resurrection, Holy Saints, and in • State of Paradise-Blessedness, making up with the Risen Saints; We All; as the Apostle saith, 1 Cor. 15. 25. and 1 Thess. 4. 17. viz. who Come to us, and make us up to an All, to a Complement of Saints, who cannot • e the Dead; for They Die not All, but are Changed, and so Participants of the First Resurrection; Not the Dead, for They are the Living, and Remaining: These also, though they are not Saints of the First R • s • rrection, yet Partakers; Though they are not said here to • ive, yet They are Priests of God and of Christ, and Reign with Him as Kings of the Earth; Nations Saved, and Healed a Thousand Years; And so the Greatness of the Redemption of Christ Abounds in the Sight of their short Danger; and They are Caught up to Christ, and to all the Saints above, and are ever with the Lord, and so the Second Death hath no Power over Them.

6. These Thousand Years are Assign'd not in their whole Line, but in their end, to the Loosing of Satan for that little space; to the Insurrection of Gog and Magog, against the Holy City; and the Casting Satan and the Dead into the Lake.

Object. If it should be said, How can One and the Same sort of Persons be Known to be the same, when Prophecy hath so varied their Names, Calling Them the Nations, or Gentiles; The Dead; Gog and Magog?

Answ. So Great a Prophecy as This of the Revelation, that hath pronounced a Blessedness upon Them who Read, and who Hear it, Expects, All should be most Accurate and Diligent in Comparing it Self with it Self, bringing All Scripture into a Compare with it, that so the Two Leaved Gates of its Truth may open to Them, and the Secret Treasures, even Treasures of Darkness, as it seems to our dim Understanding, may be Disclos'd to Them; And if Any think the Trouble too Great, They are shut Out.

In this Case therefore by Comparing, we come to understand, that there is not only fair Inducement to think the Dead, the Nations, Gog and Magog, to be the same, but Greatest Assurance, They must be the same.

There is fair Inducement, in that Gog and Magog, being Described as a Great Multitude, whose Number is as the Sand of the Sea; They must be a Collection of Nations, and therefore They are expressly called the Nations, Chap. 9. v. 8. and a Hammonah of Nations, as of Old in the Type, Ezek. 39 9. Now we find such a Collection of Nations, Slain with the Sword of Christ's Mouth, Chap. 19. For v. 18. Their Flesh is Expos'd as a Feast to the Fowls in such a Collection of Kings, Captains, Small and Great; And v: 19. They are said to be the Kings of the Earth, and their Armies Gathered together under the Beast, as their Chief; And when the Beast and false Prophet were Taken and thrown into the Lake, verse 20. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the Rest, even the whole Rest besides the Beast and false Prophet, are v. 21. expressly said to be Slain with the Sword of Christ's Mouth; And so They became the Dead; therefore Chap. 20. They are called very properly in so Neighbor a Context, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the Rest of the Dead; by the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , of Chap. 19. v. 21. and the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , put together; The Remnant slain, Chap. 19. 21. The Remnant of the Dead, c. 20. 5. Slain and Dead being most Conjoyn'd in Signification, They appear to be the same: And these Rest slain, and so Dead, are in their whole Number and • ollection, the Gog and Magog so gathered together, as to the First Battle at Armageddon So to the Last Battle of the Thousand Years, or of the Day of Judgment ending.

There is beyond this Indu • ement, strong Argument; For who-ever Live in the State of the Thousand Years, must be Partakers of the First Resurrection; Because They are the Nations of the Saved, saved from the Sword of Him that Sate on the Horse; As they are called, The Land brought back, or Rescued from the Sword, Ezek. 38. 8. All Those are Healed with the Leaves of the Tree of Life; They must be therefore the Living, for All that are Living are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the very Left as under a peculiar Guard, and Care of Life; So They are called the People left, and Escaped, and the Living, Isaiah 4. 2, 3. and by Ezekiel compared to Fishes in the Living, and Healing Waters; wherein whatever doth Live, shall Live; and the Dead, viz. the Raised-condemned, to Marishes, or Miry places, not Healed, but Given to Salt, Ezek. 47. 9, 11. even the Salt of that Fire, never Quench'd, March 9. 47. From whence it Follows, whoever Escape in that Great Tribulation, the Fire, the Sword, the Hail of the Day of Judgment, and Perdition of Ungodly Men at that Battle of Armageddon, are the Living Remaining, Written in the Book of Life, and shall Live; And All other are to be Accounted the Dead, First Slain with the Sword of Christ's Mouth, punnish'd with Everlasting Destruction, and then cast into the Lake at last: For so it is Everlasting Destruction to be Slain with the Sword of Christ's Mouth, Because All the so Slain are the Dead, not Partakers of the First Resurection; So the Second Death gets the Power over Them, certainly and infallibly; They are cast into the Lake that Burns with Fire, and Brimstone, which is the Second Death.

Having thus far Pre-cautioned concerning all Things relating to the State of the 1000 Years, and the Little Space of Satan's Loosing after the 1000 Years: I will now in very Brief, Lay down some very short Positions, Clearing the Doubts Arising from the State of the Living Remaining Saints, as It is Symboliz▪d, and Figur'd by the Church of Laodicea.

Posit. 1. The Great Reason persuading, The Church of Laodicea is the Representation of the Saints after the 1000 Years, is, that, There are Great Reasons to be Given, e • sewhere declared; That the Seven Churches are as a Prophetic Seheme, prepar▪d by Christ to Run the whole Line of Time, Allotted to the Apocalyp • ic Prophecy; as it is first Given by those Churches, with Relation to the Church of Christ, to the very end of All at the Kingdom delivered up; and as more Generally, It is the Second Time, Fully Given in the Prophecy of the Book, sealed with Seven Seals, and Gradually Open'd to the Kingdom by Christ.

Posit▪ 2 If it be so, Then the Philadelphian Church being the Church, on which the Thousand-Years-New-Jerusalem comes down, and Rests, The Laodicean Church that comes after it, must needs be the State of the Church upon the Glories of the New Jerusalem above being withdrawn, Satan Loosed, and the Assault by Gog and Magog, deceived by Him, preparing; For All These Immediately succeed the 1000 Years, if then, the Church of Philadelphia Agrees in Time with the 1000 Y. and describes the State of the Church during those 1000 Years, the Church, that Follows that, must describe the State of the Church after the 1000 Years.

Posit. 3. There is a wonderful Agreement hereunto of the Titles of Christ in writing to this Church, viz. the Amen and Faithful Witness to the Last End; about to Close the whole Created State, by delivering up the Kingdom; as well as the Beginning of the Creation of God; the Name of the Church, Laodicea, as in a Judiciary Power over the Nations of the Raised, Condemn'd Wicked, Lying Captive at Christ's Feet, and so at his Saints Feet, as the Dead. The Promise of Sitting down with Christ on his Throne, (They being Caught up to it;) and that, as Christ Sat down on his Father's Throne, till the Time of his own Kingdom, So these Saints sit, while the Last Act of Judgment on Satan, Gog and Magog, on Death, and Hell, is in Sentence and Execution, and so until the Kingdom delivered up; All these I say, Admirably Agree to the Last End of Things.

Posit. 4. The several Branches of the Epistle must not be Rigorously Applied to the Saints Living, Remaining in the New Jerusalem State, but carried only to the Principal Scope; and whatever Exceeds that, must be understood, as in all Parables of Scripture, to Flourish and Embellish the Figures, that They may most to the Life, Express that Principal Scope; and the Rest must vale off, and be Applied only to the Groundwork itself of the Figure; as here It must to the Church of Laodicea, that was in Being, when the Epistle was written; and so These Following Particulars are of Chief Remark, in which, let us then Hear, what the Spirit thus speaks to the Church of Laodicea.

1. The Lukewarmness of the Church of Laodicea, Applied to the Living Remaining Saints cannot be understood, but of the abatement of the fervors for the Glory of the Jerusalem above, to which hitherto these Kings of the Earth, the Saints below had Brought their Glory: But now those Glories from Above being withdrawn, and the so Free and Illustrious Communications ceasing, These Saints below, whereas They rather Acquiesce in their State below, at least, as very well; should have Burnt in an Immediate Zeal to be Caught up, as Elijah in Chariots of Fire to Christ above, and to be ever with Him.

2. The Spewing out of Christ's Mouth can by no means indeed be understood of a disgraceful, dishonorable End put by Christ to his own Kingdom below, or on his, the Living Remaining Saints; but only that seeing a Church State on Earth, Born up in Glory from the Jerusalem State above, during the 1000 Years, could by the decree of God, Assigning only a 1000 Years for it, be no longer; and that his Saints not yet vested in Immortality, and Incorruption, would be liable to Satan 's Assaults, and to Temptation, and to Fall from their Glory; He would therefore Spew out forever Any Church-State, but what should be Fix▪d in Immortality and Incorruption, and so Immediately be delivered up through Himself to God▪ and the Father.

This Spewing, or Vomiting out of Christ's Mouth, signifies then the utter Impossibility forever of any Lapsible Church State, or what is not so Eternally secured; Seeing it is most Impossible, Christ should Return to his Vomit anymore.

3. The Church of Laodiceas, so high Account of itself, as being Rich, and Increas'd with Goods, &c. but in Christ's Account being Poor, Mise •• ble, Blind, and Naked, and Counsel'd therefore by Him, to Buy of Him Gold tried in the Fire, white Rayment, and Eye-Salve▪ as Applied to the Living Remaining Saints, is no otherwise to be understood; then that All that Excellent State of the Jerusalem below, was through the Beams of a free Communication from the Jerulalem above, with which It was in Union; but that being no longer possible because the Thousand Years were finished, there could be no Satisfaction in any longer Continuance below, however They might be Tempted to mistake concerning it; For the State of the Church so Deserted was poor, miserable, blind, naked; and the Good State could no way be Recover'd, but by the Pure Gold, the White Rayment, and Eye-Salve of Immortality, Incorru • tion, and Immediate Sight of Christ Face to Face, in his Kingdom above.

4. By the Rebuke and Chastisement on Laodicea, as It may be Apply'd to the Living Remaining Saints, is Figur'd, in t •• t Compass • ng the Camp or the Munition of the Saints, Christ's main Intention and Design which was Love; the end of it being to stir up that Zeal, and change of Mind, or Resipiscency, producing an Earnestness to be Caught up to Christ in his Kingdom above; according to the Necessity that must needs A • pear from so Bold an Attempt of Satan, as soon as ever the Glories of Jerusalem above were stayed, which was the Security of that below; And seeing there was but a Thousand Years Determined to that Universal Glory of the Kingdom of Christ, and there could be no longer such a Communication, and yet that there was not that Ardor in these Saints to be Translated to the High • st State; Christ stops also those Influences, that Fetter▪d Satan, and the Gog and Magog; which They immediately Feel as a Loosening of Themselves, and so They Come up, and Cover the New Earth, and Compass the City; So that the Remove of the Saints is, as by a violent Motion, as it were Spewing out; and by a Severe Admonition upon the Saints, that Their Zeal for that Remove up, might Flame out, and so Christ in a Zeal of Fire from Heaven, Devouring their Enemies, might Rescue Them: This Translation is therefore called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , 1 Thess. 4. 17. Implying a Violence in the whole Transaction; as of a mighty Rescue from a destroying Beast of Prey.

5. Christ Standing so Graciously at the Door, and Knocking, even at every Door, and Assuring his Free Communion in Supping with his Saints, and They with Him, shows in the Application to the Living Remaining Saints, that Never-failing Love of Christ, as the Redeemer and Second Adam; that when those Brighter Rays were Retracted and with held; yet would not Fail to Visit Them, by no less Effectual, though not by so Resplendent Rays; and when He did not Visit Them, as a New Jerusalem below, any longer to Continue; He yet looked with a particular Care and Love to every Single Saint, to Loose not so much as One; not One of those Saved, and continually Healed with the Leaves of the Tree of Life, and the Water of • ife, being possible to be Lost: Forasmuch as not One was a Son of Death, for that were to be a Son of Perdition, and of the Second Death, and so not to be of the Saved of the Nations, nor of the First Resurrection, over whom the Second Death can have no power.

6. These Living Remaining Saints are therefore every One Over-comers, and so every One Caught up to Sit with Christ on his Throne, as Christ Sate down on the Father's Throne; They Sit with Him in those Great Acts of Judgment, and when Satan is Cast into the Lake; And when Death, Hell, and the Dead, are Cast into the Lake, the Great and Final Acts of Judgment, They put on Immortality and Incorruption: They with all Saints meet Christ in that High Act of Resignation of the Kingdom, and having been Kings and Priests before, during all the Thousand Years, are in one Moment Perfected into an Equality to the Saints of the First Resurrection, and So to Angels, to whom Those are Equal at that Resurrection; that Possibility of Dying and Falling, of which for the Glory of the Redeemer, and his Grace, and Mighty Power over Satan and the Dead, there was but a Shew and no more, even all Mortality is swallowed up of Life, and so They are Ever with the Lord, who is Ever with the Father All in All.

And thus I have according to the utmost Grace and Assistance, God hath herein been pleased to give me, Set out the Kingdom of the Thousand Years, which is indeed the First Resurrection, and there is no Second; All Second to it, is Second Death; as I have and do Affirm Constantly. All Saints are either Principals or Partakers; Here are the Two in Capital Letters written Rev. 20. 5. 14. This is the FIRST RESURRECTION. This is the SECOND DEATH. So that (however it be not Intentional, not Understood by Them that say it,) To say, the Thousand Years are past already; Is to say, The Resurrection is past already, as I have already Observ'd.

And if They are past already, how comes it to pass the Season since their Ending, hath been not a Little Season? as the Prophecy so Positively Asserts it to be: For Beginning the Thousand Years at Constantine, and Ending Them at 1300, when the Turkish Euphrates Began to Swell over in the World, there must have passed about 400 Years since, which Compar'd with a Thousand Years, besides what still may be Expected, it is no Small Season; Nor does Prophecy barely say, The season of Satan's Loosing is Small or Little; But it Describes All Things in the most Rapid Motion to a Final End; Which will by no means Agree with so long a Time, as hath already Actually passed: But thus it Fares with All, who will Deny Great Scripture Evidence; They are forced to swallow Camels of Difficulty, for the Gnats they so strain at. But God forbid I should seem to Charge All that do it with Hipocrisie; except that secret Hipocrisie Remaining and Lurking in the Heart of the Holiest here: Nor do, or can I in the least suspect the least Shadow of any Favor to the Horrid Anticristianisms of Popery, in the sudden Resolve to be a Papist, if one Human Angel, or Governor over all the Christian Churches could be supposed to be the Institution of Christ: For certainly if such a Love of Pre-eminence had not been Cursed by God, as making Preparation for the Man of Sin, to sit so High in the Temple of God, and to let into it the Desolating Abomination; That might have been the most pardonable Error in Popery; Especially according to even Protestant Episcopal Principles: For They beginning at Deacons, (as the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , or First Degree that the Apostle intended) go up to Priests, from Priests to Archdeacons or Deans, from them to Bishops, from Bishops to Archbishops, and why not to Patriarchs, as Primitive? And why not from thence, (as All Heighth would Culminate to One) to the Pope, as the Head of Unity and Order, the Vicar of Christ, the Successor of Saint Peter, who is Nam'd, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as if a Scandal were laid into that Philoprotensia, if I may so call it, that Primating Affectation; But All Sincere Protestants, though most Episcopal, Abhor the Dreadful Consequences from such a Primacy, as the Papaoy Claims; not only over Consciences, but over Princes, and Civil Powers, in Ordine ad Spiritualia, or to Infamous Ends, called Spiritual; which Spirituality, I am very prone to suspect, was Foretold in the Holy Spirit's Choice of that Word [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] Rev. 11. 8. and that it does not only signify, Spiritually, viz. Mystically, but is also Prophetick of that Great use Anticbrist should make of that Word [Spiritual;] On which Account I cannot but pray, All Protestants might get from under the Fathality of that Word, any way Secularly Apply'd; as also from any Primacy Allied to the Feet of Clay; I have so Great an Honor, and Love for many, who stand so high in, as They are called, Spiritual Dignities, who, I am Bound to hope, are yet in their Truly Chief Situation, Stars in the Right Hand of Christ.

But the Chief Reason I make this Digression, is, that I may observe, how far One may be from such Portentous Consequences, that may seem yet to have some Ground; Such are charged on me on Dr. Crisps Account; All which I detest with Greatest detestation, as I Fully Believe he did, but minded only to Give the Full Consolation to Consciences Arising from Christ, being an 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a Ransom in our Steed, a Sacrifice, a Surety, and Sin for us; and designing All his discourses of These Things to be Confin'd to the Elect only, who shall All be brought in by Christ, and Receive an Efficacious Spirit of Holiness and Perseverance.

But to Return to the Thousand Years, which I have Affirm'd to be the Perfection of Time; Because It is the Fulness of Times, or of All Times, to which the Scripture therefore Sets up as Pillars, Two 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , or It is Done, It is Done; One of Destruction to the Wicked, One of Salvation to the Saints: Therefore I Avouch a Scripture Line of Time from the First Sabbath, to this Great Sabbatism in Express, either Historick first, or afterwards Prophetick numbered Nambers; And because This is a Divine Chronology, It is not subject to the endless Contrasts and Feuds of Greatest Chronologers, never to be Reconciled by Persons of Greatest Learning, Reading, and Judgment; much less by Me less than the least of the Sons of Learning, not Worthy to be Nam'd among Them; Yet by the Grace of God, in this Matter I Am, what I Am, and hold in my Hand the Unerring Clew of His Word.

Some small Errata, The understanding Reader will pardon and mend. I only note page 9. line 16. for Believ'd, read, Beloved, p. 13. l. 24. for pro. read premises, p. 28. l. 35. for Effec. Read Affection, p. 29. l. 30. read, that, before Kingdom.

A POSTSCRIPT TO THE READER, Concerning the Thousand Years, further Cleared.

SInce the Finishing of the Fore-going Discourse, as I was in Earnest Thought about the Clearing the Due Assignation of the Thousand Years; To the Saints of the First Resurrection Reigning with Christ; To the Wicked Raised, but not Reigning with Christ, and so not Living; And to the Saints, the Living and the Remaining, or Left under a Guard of Life, Secur'd from the Sword of Him that Sat on the Horse, and so never Dying. To every of which Classes, the Thousand Years are plainly, and without any violence in the Threefold mention of the Thousand Years, Vers. 4, 5, 6. Assign'd: It yet seemed a Doubt to Me Worthy of a further Illustration, Where the universality of the Raised Saints; Concerning which, the Apostle is so clear, That Christ brings Them with Him, should be placed: Because They could not with such Satisfaction be Repos'd either with the Martyrs and Non-Worshippers of the Beast, &c. Nor with the Partakers of the First Resurrection, who, though Changed, are not • aught up till a Thousand Years after, which I never yet see Disprov'd: Although because Scripture is so Positive, All the Dead in Christ rise first; They must have been Included in One of those Two. And I did accordingly in the foregoing Treatise, Incline to place Them among the Martyrs, page 30. line 1. But yet a Desire of a further Explanation, remained with me; And, I hope, I may say, without vanity, God hath helped me. And I Found Their Seat is distinct, and in the First Place, viz. In those words, I saw Thrones and They Sate upon them, and Judgment was given to Them; most Agreeable with Daniel's Prophecy. Chap. 7. v. 26, 27. Who therefore are the They who Sate on Thrones? I know it may be said, No More was meant, but that the Thrones were Sat upon, as, They shall require thy Soul, Luke 12. 20. and They may Receive You, Chap. 86. v. 9. But considering the following words, Judgment was given to Them; cannot be thus any fair way Expounded. I conclude, The [They] must Relate to some Persons spoken of before, and who should They be, but Those Signified by the Armies of Heaven, Chap. 19 14. who Followed Christ on white Horses, in Linnen white and clean? Most Admirably Agreeing with the Prophet Zechariah; The Lord my God will come, and All Thy Saints with Thee, Zech. 14, 5: With the Apostle Paul, 1 Thess. 4. 14. Those that Sleep in Jesus, will God b • ing with Him; With the Epistle of Jude, Reciting Enoch 's Prophecy, v. 14. The Lord cometh with Ten Thousand of his Saints, &c. Wh • n therefore the Prophecy had Disposed of • he several Enemies of Christ; as the Beast, and false Prophet, Chap. 19. Cast into ehe Lake, and the Remnant Slain with the Sword of Christ's Mo • th, and Satan the Dragon Bound, &c. Then it gives Account of the Armies of Heaven, that were with Christ in this Victorious Dispose; And of Them, It says, I Saw Throne • s, and They [Those Armies] Sate upon them, and Judgment was given to Them; And so being in the Fore-Front, or First, Set on the Thrones, must needs Reign with Christ the Thousand Years. Allowing therefore not only the Scripture-way of giving Account of Things, not in such a Method as Human Writings observe, and much more allowing for the Secrecy of Prophecy; This is to Me a Full Satisfactory Account, and I hope it will not be unworthy the Consideration of All, who are Serious Considerers of these Things,

Then follows the Account of All Suffering for the Witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God; Surely from the Beginning of the World; but with an especial Reference to the Roman way of Punishment of such Offender • , showing a Direct Eye upon Roman-Martyrdoms, by Beheading; as John the Baptist, and the Apostle Paul said to be; But most particularly the Non-Worshippers of the Beast; who are so particularly Recorded for Three Reasons.

1. Because hereby the Judgment upon Them as Heretics and Rebels to the Government of Christ, as Antichrist pretended, is as an Attainder by an Illegal Power, Signally taken off.

2. That the Prophecy all along before Insisting upon the Beast, his Image, &c▪ might have the Due Honor given to it, by placing a peculiar Remark upon the Principal Subjects of it; So that it is most Admirable, how any Rational Considerer of the Prophecy, can suppose Pagan Rome, Falling about 300 Years after Christ▪s Resurrection, should Take up such a Prophecy, against so manifest Assurances, that it must Run on to the End of the World; That even the Wisest Papist cannot Deny it: But what Violence must They use to it, that Believe the Papacy to be the Beast, and yet so begin the Thousand Years; That they must be long ago before Him Finish'd? Could such a Prejudice be brought from this Prophecy, or Scripture in general against my Doctrine of the Thousand Years Kingdom, or such a Proof against me, as I have given, of the Flying away, Revel. 2 • . Of the New Heavens, and the New Earth; I would be so Retracting indeed, as Immediately to Retract, and even to Recant; In the mean Time, as I have Stated Things, I fear no Accessions to Mahomet by My Doctrine of the Kingdom of Christ.