THE CATECHISM OF THE KINGDOM OF OUR
Lord Jesus Christ:
IN THE Thousand Years.
Showing by Scripture, That the Great Articles of the
Redemption,
the
Resurrection,
the
Mystery of the Saints
not
Dying
but
Changed,
the
Judgment,
the
Delivery up of the Kingdom
to
God All in All,
cannot be Explain'd at Full Dimensions without it.
Luke 1. 4. That thou mayest know the Certainty of the Things wherein Thou hast been Catechized, or Instructed.
London,
Printed for the Author, 1690.
To the
Bishops
Assembled in
Parliament.
And to the
Evangelical Episcopacy,
throughout the
Protestant
Churches of Christ
in these Nations,
Grace, Mercy,
and
Peace,
from
God the Father,
through our
Lord Jesus Christ,
by
the Eternal Spirit.
I
Have heretofore Represented to you the
Majesty,
and
Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that shall
Seven Times
hence after the Expiration of the
Apostasy
(now
Ecclipsing
it) be Daily more, and more Visible; Till it shine out in perfect Glory. This I have done according to the
Sure Word
of
Prophecy,
which is of no
private Interpretation,
but being
Scripture,
must be searched even as All other
Scripture,
and so be, as All other
Scripture, Profitable;
and it hath this Excellency above other
Scripture;
That It particularly shines, as a
Light
in a
Dark place,
viz. In this Time of
Eclipse,
or, as the Pole-Star in the Night, that we may know, whereabout we are in Time, and State.
Yet because the General Prepossession of Men,
Caring for none of these Things,
would not have
Prophetic Scripture Search'd;
that I might make
Acceptable
this Great Truth every way; I have now Represented it, as It is Carv'd, and Wreath'd into the whole
Analogy of Faith,
the Great
Articles,
and
Principles
of the
Doctrine of Christ,
according to the most Instructive
Scriptures,
viz. the
Redemption,
the
Resurrection,
the
Eternal Judgment,
the
Saints
not
Dying,
but
Changed,
the
Delivery
up of the
Kingdom to God All in All;
which cannot be without the
Kingdom of Christ
Explain'd at full Dimensions.
Now I call the Following Treaty hereof, a
Catechism,
as an Intimation of the Plain manner of Handling for the benefit of All; and of the necessity of Consideration, and Repeated Application of our Minds to it; and also to show; The Kingdom of Christ, though it yet lie Hid in its Roots the Fore-named Articles, is still a
Fundamental Truth;
and so though
Catechism
may seem below your Orb, yet This of the
Kingdom of Christ,
even as All
Catechetical
Truths, deserves the Gravest and most Awful Judgments to Try and Recommend Them.
I do Acknowledge myself the unworthiest of the Servants of Christ, in the most Abased Circumstances; and lay myself at the Feet of the
Church of Christ
with most Penitential Confessions and Acknowledgments; Yet I must be Bold in our God to
say, He hath been pleased to Reveal to me, of an
Infant Understanding
in Compare; and the
Chief of Sinners;
what He hath not so fully Reveal'd to the more
Holy
and
Prudent; Even so Father, For so It seemed Good in thy sight.
I most Humbly therefore Beseech, and do even
Adjure
you by the
Coming of our Lord Jesus,
and by our
Gathering together to
Him in the
General Assembly
of his
Kingdom,
That You would either show by
Scripture; These Things
cannot be
so;
or Receive this
Ministry,
as the
Oracles of God,
and Testify your Regard to it, that now makes in your Ears the
cry of the Bridegrooms Coming
in
his Kingdom,
That none of us may be among the
Slumbring,
though
Wise Virgins,
much less among the
Foolish.
And You, to whom This Address will first Come, ought to be the more
Watchful,
because the Worldly Splendor of Your Sphere not so well Agrees with the present Ecclipse of
Christian Glory,
with the
Tribulation
and
Patience
of the
Kingdom of Christ;
and that
Sackcloth,
and
Fasting
state for the
Bride-grooms Absence;
You should then surmount that Disagreement by more Eminent Services to this
Kingdom,
least There should seem Any
Surrogation
in the
Reformation
to the
Feet of Clay;
the
Papacy,
the
Cardinalism,
the
Roman Hicrarchy;
who as the most Diametral opposites to the
Kingdom
of Christ
Receive
the First Stroke of the
Stone Cut out of the Mountains without Hands;
and so You Receive the Dishonor of any part in their Fall, at least of Lukewarmness for that Glory of Christ; Or least, as They by a False Glory, as if 'twere the Glory of Christ, Glittering in this worldly Glory, Rob the True Light, and are Effaced by that True Light Appearing, or its Epiphany, You should at all share in that Effacement.
That we may be therefore All Guided by the
Father of Lights,
with whom is no
Variation,
nor
Shaddow
of
Turning,
to
Try the Spirit
of this Doctrine; and not to Call the
Light
of it
Darkness;
but to Come perfectly out of the present
Ecclips;
to
Go on to Perfection
in the Doctrine of Christ is, and shall be the most zealous Prayer of
Your most Humble most Affectionate Servant in the Gospel of the Kingdom.
Tho. Beverley.
The General PREFACE To all Christians.
I
Know it will be said with Plausibleness against this Following
Catechism;
We had rather Preach, and Hear of the Plain, Safe, Fundamental Points of
Faith,
and
Repentance,
of the
Resurrection
of the
Dead,
and of
Eternal Judgment,
in the Ordinary way of Discourse; The
Old Wine we have Tasted is Better;
We will not, as it were,
Ask a Sign,
and
Tempt God
in
seeking to understand
Prophecies,
and
Mysteries.
But is
it not enough for you to weary Men,
but will ye
weary my God also,
who hath given you
Prophecy
to search it, and the
Strong meat of Scripture,
and not only the
Milk,
as to
Children unskillful in the word of Righteousness?
He hath commanded you to
leave
(not by way of Forsaking) the
Word of the Beginning of Christ,
but to
Go on to perfection;
not dishonourably staying in Foundations without a Superstructure; He hath given you the Example of steady Resolution herein;
This we
will do, if God permit.
He hath in a Figure Represented to you the
Primitive Christian Church,
not doing thus, though it was so plentiful a
Partaker of
mighty effusions of
the Holy Spirit,
had a Liberal Taste of the
Good word of God;
They
Tasted
of the
mighty Powers of
the
World to come,
viz The
Kingdom
of Christ; Yet through Resting in
Principles,
not
Loving Truth,
not
Going on to Perfection,
They Dwindled away, and fell into the
Antichristian Apostasy,
and came to
Crucify
in that
Spiritual Sodom,
and
Egypt
(even
Rome,
Call'd
Catholic Church
now, where also
Our Lord
was
Crucified,
viz. under its Dominion) the
Son of God afresh in
his
Witnesses,
and have
put him
to an
open Shame;
And through the
Impossibility of Repentance,
as such an
Antichristian Church,
as we see
Rev. 16. 9.
It cannot be
Renewed;
But under all the
Droppings of the Reformation
upon it, it is a
Ground
over-grown with
Briars
and
Thorns,
and is very
nigh
now to a
Curse,
whose
End is to be Burn'd,
Rev. 18. But of
Reformed Churches,
and
Christians
we
Hope Better Things,
and
Things,
that have
Hold
of that
Great Salvation
of the
Kingdom,
though
we thus speak;
The
Lord therefore shall give you a Sign,
a
Mahar-Schalal-Hash-Baz,
a
Sign
of his
making
haste to the Prey.
For as soon as the
Child
now
Born
shall by a
seven years Age know to choose the Good,
and
Refuse the Evil;
That Great
City
shall be
Forsaken
of its
Ten Kings,
who have so long
given their Kingdom to the Beast;
and so its
Tenth
shall
Fall,
and the
Witnesses shall Rise;
And this,
as it were, New Song,
shall be
Sung,
and the
Everlasting Gospel
Preached,
and we shall be as
New Bottles
filled with the
New Wine
of the
Kingdom:
And these Truths shall be no longer called Novelties, Whimsies, and Intoxications; nor men say any longer;
We like the Old Wine Better.
For
Christians
shall be
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
, Pursuers of Truth in Love,
Ephes. 4. 13. &c. as of
perfect Age, Growing
up to the
Fullness of Christ;
and
Strong Meat
shall belong to them, as
Having Senses exercised to discern Good and Evil.
For then the Apostasy shall go off, and the mighty
Gifts
that were but
Tasted
at first as to length of Time, shall Reeurn with
Miraculous Powers of the World to come.
Because it shall then be drawn near, and it shall never End; Now the mistake is Great, that These
miraculous Powers
ceased, because the
Canon of Scripture
was sufficiently
Seal'd;
The
Mystery of Iniquity
growing up to the
Apostasy
caused the Cessation; when That Ends, These shall Return. Let us therefore in our Earnestest
Going on to Perfection, wait upon Christ
till be
Rises
upon this
Glorious mount of Prey,
in the
Succession
of his
Kingdom,
when the
Light of one Day
then, shall be as the
Light of seven now.
Even the
Sun shall be ashamed, and the Moon Confounded,
when He
Comes
to
Reign
before his
Ancients Gloriously. And now His going forth
is Prepared as
the Morning,
we
shall know,
if we
Follow on to know the Lord.
But if Any
will
be
Ignorant,
It must be so; If Any one Aggrieved,
Scripture
is
open,
Let him
Implead
what's Written; I stand on the Justification by Divine Help.
THE CATECHISM OF THE KINGDOM OF OUR
Lord Jesus Christ.
Question.
WHere is the Doctrine of the
Kingdom
of
Jesus Christ
to be found?
Ans.
It is especially to be found in the opening of
Prophetical Scripture,
being the
Mystery spoken
of by all the
Prophets. Revel.
10. 7.
Acts
3. 21.
Quest.
What is the Rule of the True Explication of
Prophecy.
Ans.
That of the
Apostle;
He that
Prophesies,
let Him
Prophecy according to the Analogy
or proportion of
Faith. Rom.
12. 6.
Quest.
What is the
Analogy,
or proportion of
Faith.
Ans.
It is the
Form of sound words
according to the whole
Scripture,
which is a Table so exactly square, nothing can without plain Injury be Added to it, or Taken from it.
Quest.
Is the
Kingdom of Christ
to be thus explained?
Ans.
I Trust, we shall Find it so by
Searching
All
Scripture
with
Noble Minds,
whether those Things are so or not; and thereby giving heed to that most
Sure word of Prophecy,
that we shall
do well to take heed
to, as to a Light that shineth to us in a dark place; So we shall Find it no
Cunningly devised Fable, Acts
17. 11. 2
Pet.
1. 16. 19.
Quest.
What then is to be understood by the
Kingdom of Jesus Christ?
A.
The
Kingdom of Jesus Christ
is the Glorious, and Visible
Appearance
of Christ Himself with all
Saints,
who have
died in Him,
and whom He
will bring with Him;
who shall dwell with Him in the
New Heaven,
he hath promised in the Region of the
Air
above; And for the Full Glory of this Kingdom, There shall be a
Generation
of
Saints
in the
New Earth
below; who are the
Living,
the
Remaining;
Both sorts Rescued from the common
Fire
for the
Perdition of ungodly Men.
1
Thess.
4. 13. to the end, 2
Pet.
2. 9.
c.
3. 7. 13.
Q.
Is it not enough, that there be a
Day of Judgment,
and a State of Glory, and Happiness to
Christ,
and his
Saints
in the
Highest Heaven,
and of punishment to the wicked in the
Lowest Hell?
A.
God hath in his word declared to us, That is not enough; but There shall be upon Greatest Reasons given us therein, a
New Heaven,
and a
New Earth,
and a State of
Saints
in both, and of the
Enemies
of Christ being made his
Footstool;
that there may be a most visible Appearance of the Glory of the one, and of the
Contemptible,
dishonorable and condemned State of the other. 2
Thess.
1. 5. to
v.
11. with
Dan.
12. 1. 2
Rev.
19. 14. 15. to the end.
c.
20. 4. 6.
Q.
What shall be the Highest Spirit, and Constitution of this State?
A.
It is an
Economy,
or dispensation, wherein there is a most exalted State of Holiness and Purity, in the enjoyment of God, and of Jesus in his
Redemption, Rev.
5. 9. and
c.
4. 5. of the
Communion of his Spirit;
Free from Sensuality, and Impurity, and in perfect Happiness, and Security from all
Toil, Grief, Pain, Death,
and
Curse;
so that all the
Saints
are
Priests
of
God,
and of
Christ,
and
Reign
with Him,
Rev.
20. 6. c. 21. c. 22.
v.
1. to
v.
7.
Q.
What do you mean by an
Economy,
or
Dispensation?
A.
It is the free dispose of Things, after the
Counsel of God's own Will,
for the Manifestation of his
Wisdom
to
Angels,
and
Men
in this, or that way, as the Master of the Great
Family
of All Things.
Ephes.
3. 9. 10.
Q.
But hath not this doctrine been generally charged with Carnality, and sensual Inclination?
A.
This hath been the Art of
Satan,
and of
Antichrist,
to Bring out of Repute so Great a Doctrine of Christ, that It is peculiarly called the
Everlasting Gospel;
that the
Antichristian
Kingdom
of this World, as a
Dead Child
might be put in its place.
Q.
What then is the State of the
Saints dead in Christ,
whom He
Brings with Him,
and who shall be in the
New Heaven?
A.
They, who are
Accounted worthy
to
obtain that World,
and the
Resurrection from the Dead,
neither
Marry,
nor are
Given
in Marriage;
Neither
can
They
Dye anymore,
being the
Children of God,
and of the
Resurrection;
and The
Adoption.
But They
Sit on Thrones,
and
Judge Angels,
and the
World
with Christ; and
Reign with Him a Thousand Years,
not upon, but
over the Earth;
They
see the Face of God,
and
of the Lamb,
and
his
Throne
is in the
midst of Them,
as
His Servants They serve Him,
and his
Name is in their Foreheads;
He is their
Light,
and their
Temple;
They
Eat of the Tree of Life,
and
Drink of the Water of Life;
and
over Them the second death can have no power.
Q.
But it seems, They only, who have been
Martyrs;
and especially; They who would not
Receive the mark,
and
Name
of that
Antichristian, Idolatrous
Power, which the
Revelation
calls the
Beast,
are They, who thus Rise, and enjoy that State a
Thousand Years. Rev.
20. 4.
A.
They are indeed the principal there named, to Answer the Table, or Representation of Things in that
Prophecy
of the
Revelation;
But it is subjoin'd immediately,
v.
6.
Blessed
and
Holy is He,
that
hath part in the first Resurrection,
though they are not the principals
Beheaded for Christ;
And the
Apostle Paul
assures us,
All who have died in Christ,
will
God bring with Him;
That none should
Mourn without hope for Dead Friends,
as if They should loose that Glory; For none of the
Saints
can be perfected the one without the other; The
Living Saints
cannot
prevent the Dead,
and the
We
of the
Living Saints
are Join'd in that Glory with the
Dead Rais'd. 1 Thess.
4. 15. and
Heb.
11. last. Call'd, we All as making up the whole.
Q.
What then shall be the State of the
Saints Living,
and
Remaining
at the
Coming of the Lord?
A.
They also are, as was said,
Partakers of the First Resurrection,
so that the
Second Death shall have no Power over Them;
For the
Blessed,
and the
Holy
is only
He,
who is so
Partaker.
And it is expressly said; These shall not
die,
but be
Changed,
and caught up to
meet the Lord in the Clouds,
and be
forever with the Lord;
So they cannot fall into the
Lake of the Second Death;
The
Leaves of the Tree of Life are therefore for the Healing
these saved of the Nations;
And the
River of Life
from the
Throne
runs down to them; and the
Trees of Life are for their Food,
and
Medicine,
and the
Healing Waters
from the
Sanctuary;
so that
whatever doth Live shall Live. Rev. 22. 2. Ezek.
47. 11. They shall be as
Adam,
had he continued in
Paradise,
served with the whole Variety of the
Creation
for Use, and Delight; without Lust, or Sensuality; without Labor, Sorrow, Curse or Death, till They are so
changed;
and they shall propagate a
Holy Seed, Psal.
110. 3. in such abundance, as to recompense with a much more to the Glory of the
Second Adam (Rom. 5. 12. to the end)
for the few that are
saved
within the World of the
First Adam.
Q.
What Entercourse shall there be betwixt the Saints of the
New Heaven
above, and the Saints of the
New Earth
beneath?
A.
Such as betwixt the Lights of Heaven, and the Firmament, and our Selves now on Earth; For the
Nations of the Saved shall walk in the Light of the New Jerusalem
above,
shining
as the
Sun
and
Stars
down to them; And as All Glory on Earth is referred to the
Light of the Sun
and the Heaven over us; So the
Saints,
the
Kings on Earth
shall
bring their Glory to the New Jerusalem
above; especially, They shall
give their Glory,
and
walk in the Light
and Enjoyment of
God and of Christ.
And
Angels
and
Saints
above,
Angels Equalls
shall
Ascend
and
Descend
on that
Jacob's Ladder,
whose Foot being on
Earth,
its
Top reached to Heaven,
and
God
and the
Lamb
are on the
Top of it;
and by
Ezekiel's steps enlarging,
and
winding still upward,
shall All below
Ascend
upward,
Gen.
28. 12, 13.
Ezekiel.
41. 7.
Q.
Give yet a fuller Account of the State of the wicked in this
Kingdom of Christ.
A.
The Scripture is not so full, nor so clear in setting out the State of the Wicked under this
Kingdom;
yet so that It is most certain, that They who have lived before it, are raised to Illustrate the Glory of it; and to bear the
Shame,
and
Dishonor
of their wickedness under the Just and Righteous Condemnation of Christ; called a being
slain
with the
Sword of his Mouth; Shame
and
Contempt
shall be poured upon Them, as a Just Recompence of all the Scorn, They have cast upon Christ, his ways, and Servants; and They shall be seen in a State of Punishment, Destruction, and Death; under a sharp sense of it in Themselves, and so that They shall be
seen,
as
Carcasses,
whose
Worm dies not,
and their
Fire
is not
quenched,
so that They are an
Abhoring of all Flesh.
And this is a Just, and Righteous Recompence of all the Cruelties, They have exercised upon the Servants of God, and their Disobedience to God, and to Christ, and their so obstinate preferring the present World, before, and above the World to Come. Lastly, in what ever State Any of them can be supposed to be, They are certainly so under Christ and his Saints, That They are
made his Foot-stool. Dan.
12. 2.
John
5. 29.
Isaiah
66.
ult.
2
Thes.
1. 9.
Psal.
110. 1.
Q.
When does the
Kingdom of Christ begin?
A.
It begins at the
Coming,
and
Appearance
of Christ, and at the
Resurrection
of his Saints at that his
Coming,
and
Appearance;
a
Resurrection
to
Life, Honor,
and
Immortality,
and to a visible Glorious
Appearance
with Christ, and
Reigning with Him.
Q.
Is there not a
Resurrection
of the
Wicked
at the same Tme? And if so, How then does their
Resurrection
stand in Relation to the Happy
Resurrection?
A.
There is their
Resurrection,
as was last declared; but because It is a
Resurrection to Punishment,
and
Dishonor;
It is called
Death;
and They are called the
dead,
though i
•
a
visible Appearance;
The Scripture therefore but seldom names the
Resurrection
of the
wicked,
as a
Resurrection;
and when it speaks of the
Resurrection
at any Time absolutely, It means the Happy, and blessed
Resurrection,
as
Luc. 20. 35, 36. 1 Cor.
15. throughout.
Rev.
20. 4. 6. And therefore there can be no other Respect had to them in the
Kingdom
of Christ, and the
Resurrection
proper to it, but as They add to the Triumph of the
Kingdom,
and are in a State of Deprivation of its Glory.
Q.
What proof can you give of the
Kingdom of Christ
at his
Coming
and
Appearance?
A.
The whole Stream of the
New Testament
Joyns his
Coming,
and his
Appearance,
and his
Kingdom
One with Another. The
Son of Man coming in his Kingdom,
Mat. 16. last.
When the Son of Man shall come in his Glory,
and
All the Holy Angels with him; Then shall He sit on the Throne of his Glory,
Mat. 25. 31.
Remember me when Thou Comest in,
(not into)
thy Kingdom,
Luk. 23. 42.
Because They thought the Kingdom of God should immediately Appear,
He
spake a Parable unto Them
of a
Nobleman, going into a Far Country to Receive a Kingdom,
and
to Return;
and Having
Received a Kingdom,
He
Return'd
in it,
Luke
19. 13, 15.
When we made known unto You the Power and Coming of Christ,
and were
Eye Witnesses of his Majesty;
(to wit) in the
Transfiguration,
that Great Fore-Appearance of his
Kingdom. Behold, He
who is the
Prince
of the
Kings of the Earth
cometh in the
Clouds,
and
Every Eye shall see Him,
Revel. 1.5.7. And his
Appearance,
and his
Kingdom
are Join'd, 2
Tim. 4. 1. He shall Judge the Quick,
and the
Dead
at his
Kingdom,
and at his
Appearance.
Q.
Give a proof of the
Kingdom
at his
Resurrection?
A.
The Apostle plainly declares it; For he says, Everyone shall
Rise in his own Order;
Christ the
First Fruits,
and
They, which are Christ's at his Coming:
And without Any other Mention of his
Kingdom,
He says, He must
Reign,
till he hath
put All his Enemies under his Feet:
Now when did this
Reigning Begin,
but at his
Coming?
Or where did the Apostle Give any Intimation of his
Reigning,
but at his
Coming
according to all the Fore-mentioned
Scriptures?
And when He
Comes
and
Descends,
and no Longer
Sits
at the
Right Hand of God,
Then God first makes his Enemies his
Footstool,
not when he
Sits,
but when He
Comes,
and then He Begins to
Reign;
and He
Reigns
Till all his
Enemies
are his
Footstool.
And when He
Descends,
and
Comes,
and
Reigns,
The
Dead in Christ Rise.
and then He
Brings
Them
with Him;
His
Kingdom,
and the
Resurrection
of his
Saints
Begin together.
Q.
What Place then hath the
Day of Judgment?
A.
The
Day of Judgment
is the same with the
Kingdom of Christ,
and with the
Resurrection,
All Begin, Continue, and End Together with this Difference: The
Judiciary Sentence
is at the Beginning,
Rev.
19 last. and at the End,
c.
20. 13. 14. 15. and between, a Righteous and Holy
Government;
which
Government
the
Scripture
often calls
Judgment,
Psal. 72. 4. And All Men, whether They Rise to
Life
or to
Condemnation,
are before, and as it were about the
Tribunal,
or
Judgment Seat,
which is also the
Throne of Christ,
and Receiving according to what
They have done in the Body,
whether it be Good or Evil, during the whole space of the
Resurrection, Kingdom,
and
Judgment
of Christ, 2
Cor.
5. 10.
Q.
How long then does the
Kingdom of Christ,
the
Appearance
in the
Resurrection,
and the
Day of Judgment
last?
A.
The Grand, and the most Definitive Time, in which Christ shall
Reign with his Saints,
is, while
Satan is Bound,
and
That is a
Thousand Years;
And the
Apostle Peter
having named the
Day of Judgment,
Immediately, as it were Adjures Christians, not to be
Ignorant,
that
One day
(as if He should say, That
One Day of Judgment
) is with the
Lord
as a
Thousand Years;
and the several,
viz. Six Thousand Years
before it, but as each, one day; so making that
Day of Judgment
a
Sabbatical Day,
or
Sabbatism. Rev. 20. v.
2. to 8. 2
Pet.
3. 8.
Q.
But seeing, as hath been said; The
Living Remaining Saints
have a State in this
Kingdam of Christ
in the
New Earth,
even as the
Saints dead in Christ,
have in the
New Heavens;
How can so long a space, as of the
Thousand Years
consist with the
Apostles
Doctrine, 1
Cor.
15. 52. that speaks, as of a close Connection betwixt the
Dead being Rais'd,
and the
We
of the
Saints
being
Changed.
For saith He,
Behold, I show you a Mystery, We shall not All die,
but
we shall All be changed in a moment,
in
the Twinckling of an Eye at the last Trumpet, (For the Trumpet shall sound)
and the
Dead shall be Rais'd Incorruptible,
and
we shall be changed.
All as it were in one moment?
A.
The
Apostle
shows the suddenness, and Immediate effect of the Power of
Christ
in both
Raising the Dead,
and
Changing the Living;
but the so close Connection betwixt the
Raising
and the
Changing
does not thence Follow: For within the Time of
John's Seventh,
and last
Trumpet,
when the
Kingdom of Christ
Begins its Succession, and which contains all from that
Kingdom of Christ
so beginning, and its being
Deliver'd up;
The
Dead shall be Rais'd,
and the
Living changed,
but at several distances of Time; Forthe
Apostle
says, the
Dead
in the Third person shall be
•
a
••
'd. To show, the
We of Saints
of the first person are of a different State, and order of Time in being
Changed
from the
Dead in Christ,
that shall be
Rais'd.
Q.
But it does not seem, that this change of persons can bear the weight of so Great a point of doctrine?
A.
I allow it, if there were not that Great Consenting
Scripture, 1 Thess.
4. 17. where the
Apostle
puts the same
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
, or afterwards, betwixt the
Saints dead in Christ,
at the
Coming of Christ Rising first;
and the
Living Changed,
or which is the same,
Caught up;
that He had put betwixt the
Resurrection of Christ,
and his
Saints Rising
at his
Coming;
which hath made as great a distance, as 1700
Years
already; For saith the
Apostle,
the
Lord Himself shall descend with a shout,
with the
Voice of the Arch Angel,
with the
Trumpet of God,
and the
Dead in
Christ shall Rise First; Then we which are Alive,
and
Remain, shall be caught up, viz.
without
Dying;
Now the word which is here Translated, [Then] was, 1
Cor.
15. 27. Translated [Afterward] and may therefore very well allow the distance of above a 1000
Years
in one, as in the other; which distance the
Translators
knowing betwixt Christ's
Resurrection,
and of his
Saints
at his
Coming,
Translated [Afterwards] a word of distance in our
English;
But not understanding so well that distance betwixt the
Raising,
and
Changing the Saints,
they render the same word
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
, 1
Thess.
4. 17. [Then] which signifies often with us the same moment; but this
varies not the Truth of Things, and of Scripture.
Q.
How is the State of the
Kingdom of Christ
bounded at the Period or End of it?
A.
By the
Saints Living,
and
Remaining
being
Caught up to Christ
in the
Air,
by the
Subduing the last Enemy Death,
and by the
Delivering up the Kingdom to God All in All;
So that the
Coming of Christ
and his Appearance in and at his
Kingdom,
the
Dead in Christ Rising,
His
Saints,
the
We left Living,
and the
Judiciary sentence
on his
Enemies to be his Footstool
at the beginning; and these Great Pillars at the end bound at each Point this Greatest
Economy
of the
Fulness of Times;
and not only distinguish, but exalt it far above all other Time; And herewith Admirably Agrees the whole State of Things in the
last Trumpet
of the
Prophecy
of the
Revelation,
wherein we have several Expressions of the
Kingdom of Christ,
or his
Taking to Him his Great Power,
and
Reigning:
The
Heavens open to Him
with his
many Crowns,
and the
Title
or
Name on his Vesture,
and on his
Thigh, King of Kings, Lord of Lord's;
His
Reigning,
and his
Throne
in the
New Jerusalem;
The
Time of the Dead being Judge'd,
and
Rewards
Given to
All that Fear'd his Name, Great,
and
Small,
and the
destroying them that destroyed the Earth;
A voice
Commands to write
the
Blessedness
of All the
Dead
in the
Lord,
and their
Sabbatism; Yea, from henceforth or Immediately; Christ with a Crown,
and on a
White Cloud,
Giving down it, Dew, as the
Dew of Herbs,
that the
Earth may disclose its dead, &c.
and
Reaps his Wheat
with his own Hand, and gathers by his
Angels
the
clusters of the Wicked, to cast Them into the Wine-press of the Wrath of God;
which He
coming in his Kingdom Treads;
and
Slays,
or
Condemns with the word of his Mouth
All the wicked,
Small
and
Great; Chains,
and
Seals
up
Satan
into the
Bottomless-pit,
the
making
all his
Enemies
his
Footstool;
while at the same Time there are the
Nations of Them that are saved, viz.
of the
Living Remaining;
And this
Kingdom
lasts, till the
Living Remaining
are
caught up to sit with Christ
on his
Throne;
as he
sat Down
on His
Fathers Throne;
and the
Devil,
the
Dead, Death,
and
Hell
are
Cast into the Lake
of the
Second Death;
which is the
Subduing
the
Last Enemy, Death;
at which
Heaven
and
Earth fly away
from that
white Throne
of Pure and Liquid Eternity, and the
Kingdom Delivered up to God All in All,
Isaiah 26. 19. Mat. 13. 30. Rev. 11. 15.
&c. c.
14. 13. to the End,
c. 19. c.
20. all along. All which are Admirable Correspondencies with all the Former
Scriptures,
and their High Importance already given. And Thus the
Kingdom of Christ
is from the
First Resurrection,
the
First,
because at the Beginning of the
Kingdom of Christ;
and the
Second Death
the
Second,
because at the End of the
Kingdom of Christ:
For the
First Resurrection
hath properly no Second, but is All One
Resurrection,
from the First
Rising
of
the Dead in Christ
to the
Living Remaining Saints caught
into the
Partakership
of it; And the
Second Death
hath no
First,
but is All one
Death,
from the
Having no Part in the First Resurrection,
in the
Holy City,
and no
Right
to the
Tree of Life,
to the
Casting into the Lake
of the
Second Death:
So the
First Resurrection,
and
Second Death
are only Oppos'd, As
First,
and
Second.
Q.
Is there Any other
Scripture
Representation of this State of the
Kingdom
of
Christ,
that may Evidence it to be such a peculiar Dispensation, that hath never yet been, and that shall be yet, before the
Giving up the Kingdom to God All in All?
A.
There is that Great One; The Time of the
Restitution
of All Things,
viz.
Of the whole
Creation Deliver'd from the Bondage of Corruption into the Glorious Liberty of the Children
of God, Rom. 8. 21. which is at the same Time with the
Re-Livening
(which we Translate Acts 3. 19.
Times of Refreshing) the Dead in Christ;
or as the Apostle
John, Rev.
20. 4. calls it, the
Souls Living,
And This must be what never hath yet been; For it must be, when Jesus before Preached, and whom the
Heavens
must
Receive,
till He be
Sent; Come;
which we All Acknowledge hath not been yet; and yet must be before the
Kingdom Deliver'd
up: For then the
Restitution
shall be
Deliver'd
up also. There is also the
New Jerusalem,
which according to the Compare of
Ezekiel
in the
Israelitish
Description
of Things proper to the
Old Testament,
and
Johns,
proper to the
New Testament,
Assure, There must be such a State of Things, as never hath yet been; And in Regard of a Higher State, where the
Throne of God
and the
Lamb
are; and Those who Immediately, as being in their presence,
Eat of
the
Tree
of
Life,
and drink of the
Water of Life;
and in Regard of the
Nations Saved,
and
Healed;
must be a State above, and below; and so before the
Kingdom Deliver'd up to God
and the
Father,
when he is
All
in
All.
Q.
This being a very Great Point, and so Differently Expounding those Fundamental Points of the
Resurrection,
and of the
Day of Judgment,
as in the
Kingdom of Christ;
There need besides the given Proofs of Scripture; which are generally Explained so, as to Reach no further then the Common Exposition of these Doctrines; Great Accounts of Scripture Reason drawn from the most Intimate Sence of it, to Establish such an Exposition?
A.
There are Exceeding High Accounts from Scripture-Reason of the
Manifold Wisdom, Holiness,
and
Justice
of God in this Grand
Economy,
or
Dispensation.
Q.
Give Account of the First, and Fundamental, and most Immediate Reason of such a Dispensation?
A.
That there might be a State of
Visible Appearance
of the
Glory of Christ,
and of his
Saints;
and of the Contempt,
Dishonor,
and Retributions of Justice on Wicked Men; For that These Things should
Appear,
be set in open View, in a Full and Clear Light is everywhere made Known in
Stripture.
First as a Recompence to the Deep Humiliation of Jesus Christ Himself, and to his
Saints
who have been all along, but especially since the Delay of his
Kingdom
at his Resurrection in a Low, Scorn'd, and Persecuted State;
Tortur'd
by Cruelties, and Forced out of the World by Violent Deaths; who have therefore from the Truth of God been Arm'd, and Encourag'd in their Obedience, and against these Sufferings, by the Assurance of a
Visible Appearance
in
Glory,
and
Reign
with Christ; and of the Visible
Shame,
and
Confusion
of their
Enemies,
and of all Wicked and Unholy Men, who have so obstainately prefer'd the Present before a Future State,
Isaiah,
65. 13, 14, and to the End.
Mic.
7. 17. and
Dan.
12. 1, 2.
Phil.
2. 9, 10, 11.
Heb.
11. 35. with many more Scriptures.
Q.
But can there be no
Appearance
of this Glory, and of
that
Contempt,
but in such a state of the
Kingdom of Christ?
A.
No: Not in this World; because however some Appearances may
be of these
Things on each side in some Instances: Yet in General All is so in Confusion and Disorder here, and this is the very
Cross-Handed
State of
Evil
to the
Servants of God,
and of the
Prosperity
of
Wicked Men,
that no Man
Knows Love or Hatred by All that is before him;
Not in the State of
Spirits in Heaven
above, or in
Prison below:
For All Scripture Reason makes it most Evident, There can be no
Appearance
without a
Resurrection;
Not in the State of
Eternity:
For then
God All in All,
as the
Highest Glory
Swallows up the Less; when
God is All in All,
The
Son is subject;
There must be therefore a Distance of the
Rain-bow
(the
Emblem
of Christ's
Kingdom
) from the Sun, that its Beauties may be seen; so the Glory of Christ in his
Human Nature,
and of his
Saints
in visible
Glory,
must be seen at a Distance from
God All in All:
Not in the
Day of Judgment,
or the
Resurrection,
as a short Transitory Space: For that could be no
Kingdom,
nor any Appearance worthy so Great a Cause, that had only a moment; But it must be a settled
Economy,
or State of Duration; the
Fullness
of
Times,
as it own proper
Times,
and not short
Time
ononly; When the Great Potentate gives a Show, it shall be of a thousand years Duration:
Eccles.
9. 1. 1
Cor.
15. 28.
Ephes.
1. 10. 1
Tim.
6. 15.
Rev.
20. 6.
Q.
How may This be also Set in Agreement with the State of the Wicked?
A.
Very exactly; For here They very generally appear in Prosperity; And the State of the
Second Death
is a State Given, as Removed from all Appearance:
Psal.
73. all along,
Rev.
20. last. So that there must be such a peculiar State of Appearance under
Wrath,
according to all
Scripture.
Q.
Is not This a Curiosity only of Speculation, or of what Practical Force is it?
A.
Surely of very Great; seeing nothing is so suited to moving to Repentance, and to
persuade
us to Holiness as this
Terror
of the
Lord,
that is so suited to men Knowing, and understanding Themselves, as here in
Bodies:
And which is so written in Nature, that Any Instances of it in this World, either of God's Crowning Holy Persons and their Actions with Honor; or his Judgments on wicked Men made Examples here, do above All other Things exceedingly Affect us, 2
Cor.
5. 10. 11.
Psal.
64. 7. 8. 9. And the Contrary is by
Solomon
Accounted the Great Cause of Impenitency.
Eccles.
8. 11.
Q.
How comes it then to pass, the
Resurrection
hath been no more thus Explain'd and pressed?
A.
Because the darkness of the
Apostasy,
and
Love of this present World,
as if the Glory of it were Given to
Antichrist,
as the
Vicar
of Christ, is that
Word,
which the
Apostle
says, hath
Eaten
as it were a
Gangrene;
as if the
Resurrection
were now
already;
or as if there were no
Resurrection
in such a State of
Glory,
and of
Visible Appearance
in
contempt,
but a sudden Translation into
Eternity
with God, or in the
Lake,
1 Cor. 15. 12. 2 Tim. 2. 17. 18.
Q.
Give Account of a Second Scripture Ground of this
Visible Glory,
and
Kingdom
of Christ, and of the Subjection of his
Enemies?
A.
Without such a State of the
Kingdom of Christ
in the
Creation restored,
or in a
Restitution
of All Things, the Redemption of Christ were not Perfect and Compleat; For whatever the
First Adam
desolated, the
Second Adam
was to
Restore,
and to Bring again into order; There must be therefore a Deliverance of the Creature from the
Bondage of Corruption,
and from all their mutual Enmities; So that the
Wolf
and the
Lamb
may
dwell together, &c.
And on this very Account There must be a
Generation of Saints
below, as
Adam
and his
Seed
should have been in
Paradise;
and the
Saints dead in Christ,
in a Restored State in the
Heaven
above, (which Evil Spirits now Inhabit,) and from thence They behold the Glory, and Happiness of the Human nature in the
Remaining Saints
here below; and the whole Creation of God, as Renewed and Restored by the Mediator, and by Him set out in Glory; according to
Psal.
8. which is by
Heb. 2. 5. &c.
Applyed to the
World to come,
whereof
we speak,
and to Jesus Christ
Adoninu
or
Lord
in our Nature, or the
Second Adam.
Q.
But is there any proof, that this State of
Restitution
pertains not only to the Glory, but to the essential perfection of the
Redemption?
A.
I Account the
Apostle
hath given us the proof of this in the
Resurrection,
the greatest Instance of the
Restitution;
So that by a Parallel with that, the whole
Restitution
will be proved also to pertain to the essential Perfection of this
Redemption.
Q.
What is that proof?
A.
It is 1
Cor.
15. 12. and so forward.
Q.
How do you draw out the proof of what you are upon, according to that
Scripture?
A.
In these Four Things.
1. That whatever
Adam
lost, and whatever was a Part of the
Death,
Threatned upon
Adam's Fall,
must be Restor'd by the
Second Adam,
the
Mediator.
For so saith the
Apostle, v.
21. 22. and he Brings it in by way of Argument;
For since by Man came Death,
by
Man came also the Resurrection of the Dead;
And as in
Adam All Dye, so in Christ shall All be made Alive:
By Agreement of Reason, since by Man came the
Curse
on the
Creation of God,
by Man came also the
Restitution,
and if there be Argument in one, It must be also in the other.
2. A Future State of Happy
Spirits,
might be supposed. without a
Resurrection,
as well as a State of
Spirits
in misery without a
Resurrection;
Now the
Apostle
supposes a State of
Spirits
in
Misery,
though there be no
Resurrection of the Dead.
For Those words;
v. 17. You are yet in your Sins,
suppose a State of Future
Misery
of
Spirits
without a
Resurrection;
Therefore There might be a State of Christ in the Glory of
Spirits,
and so of his
Saints,
though no
Resurrection;
But this according to the
Apostle's
Argument will not suffice the very essential perfection of the
Redemption
without a
Resurrection;
Proportionably the
Curse
upon the
Creation,
being a part of
Adam's Death,
as appears,
Gen.
3. 18. 19. That must be taken off, as necessary to the essential Perfection of the
Redemption;
And a Happy State of
Eternity
in a dissolved
Creation,
can no more suffice, then a Happy State of
Spirits
without a
Resurrection.
3. The
Unjust
Arise, and are yet in
Their Sins,
for They Rise to
Condemnation;
So that a
Resurrection
without a State of this
Restitution,
wherein that
Resurrection
shall be Happy, is a
Death,
and not a
Resurrection
in general
Scripture
Account; Therefore
Resurrection
is to Glory all along this Chapter.
4. To the Compleating of this parallel betwixt the
First Adam's death,
and the
Second Adams Life;
There must be a
We of Saints,
who shall not
die,
but be
Changed,
making up the
All,
the Full number of
Saints, viz.
Those who are
Dead
in
Christ,
and Those who are
Changed;
For in the State of
Restitution;
There can be no
Death
to the
Seed
of the
Second Adam:
And if It be in this World, It must be a World in a State of
Restitution.
And because such a State on Earth had been, if
Adam
had not sin'd, It must be now by the
Second Adam.
Q.
Is there yet any Further Account of the
Kingdom of Christ
from
Scripture
Reason?
A.
There is yet the Highest
Scripture
Reason for the
Kingdom of Jesus Christ;
that is, that His
Saints
may be Fitted to be
delivered up,
with the
Kingdom
to
God,
and to the
Father,
that
He may be All in All;
which is the ultimate End, and Last Result of All Things; The
Apostle
therefore discourses of the
Kingdom of Christ,
as in an Immediate Conjunction with, and Subordination to that
Eternal Kingdom
of the
Father, God All in All.
1 Cor. 15. 28.
Q.
Why do you call this the Highest
Scripture
Account of the
Kingdom of Jesus Christ?
A.
Because, That which is the Highest, and last means to the Highest and Last End (which Highest and Last end, gives value and Reason to All means) Receives the Highest Reason, and the most Absolute necessity for itself from that Last End; now It is most evident, and certain from the
Apostles
discourse, The
Kingdom of Christ
is the Highest, and Last means to the Last, and Highest End; It is the Highest, because It Alone is thought worthy to Touch, and Attain that End, And It is the Last; because no other comes between it, and that End; For when in this
Kingdom Christ
hath Fully
declared God's Name
to the
Saints,
and put down all
Rule Authority,
and
Power
in order to
God's
being
All in All;
Then in the Highest, and last Act of
Subduing,
or
Casting Death and Hell into the Lake,
and also in the Highest Act of
declaring the Name of God,
It
delivers up itself,
and is
subject,
that
God may be All in All.
John 17. 26. 1 Cor. 15. 28. 54.
&c. Revel.
20. last.
Q.
If the
Kingdom delivered up to God
and the
Father,
be the Last End, It must be an End before all
Economy,
or
Dispensation
of means, For the End must be before all means; How do you state this?
A.
It must needs be so, even before
Creation
itself, and therefore we Read so often of the
Purpose of God
before, or from the
Foundation of the World, Ephes. 1. c.
3. And It Contain these Two Things, as not of Free
Dispensation,
but of Absolute necessity.
1. That the Eternal Rest of All Created Beings, can be only in
Union
to the
Father,
the
Word,
the
Spirit,
who are
One,
and who
Inhabit Eternity;
Creatures therefore below being capable of this
Union,
as All, which have not Understanding, are Annihilated; And Creatures of Understanding,
Angels
and
Men
can be no other, then miserable in the loss of this
Union; Hell
therefore the lowest
Lake,
lies in departing from God.
Mat.
25. 45. 46.
2. The
Eternal Union,
if there be such an
Union,
(which is of
Free Grace
only) can be only by
God
to
God,
and so must be by the
Eternal word,
through the
Eternal Spirit
to the
Father:
Now among All the Varieties of Dispensations, wherein These Grand Ends, which upon the supposition of Creatures
Eternally
Happy are Absolutely necessary, are brought to pass by Infinite Wisdom, and Power, The
Kingdom of Christ
is Supreme in the order of means, or Dispensations, as is evident in that, It is the Last, and so Supreme.
Q.
If the
Kingdom of Christ
be the Supreme
Dispensation,
and means, It must then be in the Eye of God, before any other Means or
Dispensation;
And if Creation be but
Dispensation
in order to the Supreme End of God, being
All in All;
the
Kingdom of Christ
must be in the Eye of God before
Creation
itself, either of
Angels
or
Men?
A.
And so the
Scripture
always Represents it; The
Lamb
had the
Book of Life
for his
Kingdom
before the
Foundation of the World,
and His
Purpose
in Christ is an
Eternal Purpose;
And
Angels
and
Men,
even All Things were
Created by Him and for Him,
and by Him They
Consist.
Ephes. 3. 11. Col. 1. 15. to 21.
Q.
But are not These Things to be understood of Christ, as He is the
Eternal Word,
and not as in our
Nature?
A.
They are All proper to the
Eternal Word,
not by way of Free
Dispensation,
but Absolutely, and Eternally; and to the
Eternal word
in our
Nature,
by way of Free
Divine Dispensation
in order to the union of all Created Beings of Understanding to
God All in All.
Q.
Wherein then stands this
Dispensation?
A.
In that, the
Eternal word
far above
Angels, Principalities, Powers
Became lower then the
Angels,
by Becoming Man; and so Comprehended the whole
Created Intellectual Nature,
that he might be the
Head
of the whole in their
Union to God;
And that
in Him,
They might
All
be
Reconciled to God
with the whole Inferior
Creation;
(which Having served the Glory of the
Creator by Jesus Christ,
They
Fly
back into their Former State of Nothing in themselves, but indeed are Return'd into the Divine Immensity,) and
Angels
and Men be
United
to God forever,
Ephes.
1. 10.
Col.
1. 20.
Q.
What need could the
Angels,
who never sinned, have of a
Mediator,
by whom They should be
United
to God, or what Sign is there in Scripture of any such thing?
A.
In that even Purest
Created
Nature is
not Clean
in his sight; that is, Compar'd with the Infinite Holiness of God, and that there is
Folly
in it; The
Angels,
that
Stand, Stand
by their
Election,
and
Cover their Faces before God,
and
Christ,
in an Humble, Thankful, and Reverential Acknowledgment hereof;
Learn by the Church
the Great
Mysteries of
the
Gospel,
Adore and
Worship
the
First Begotten, Coming
into his Great
World to Come,
and Converse in
Innumerable Companies
with his
Saints
above, and below in his
Kingdom,
even as they Serve, as
Ministring Spirits
now for the
Heirs
of that
Kingdom, Job.
4. 18. c. 15. 15. 1
Tim.
5. 21.
Isa.
6 2.
Ephes.
3. 10. 1
Pet.
1. 12.
Q.
How did Christ Appear in this
Dispensation
for
Man
before his
Fall?
A.
If God Charges even the
Holy Angels
with
Folly,
so that the
Heavens
were not
Clean in his Sight; How much less Men, whose Houses are of Clay,
and whose
Foundation
is
in the Dust?
There must be therefore a prospect in the Divine Eye of their State in a
Mediator,
and as in
Glorious Bodies, Job
4. 19.
Phil.
3. 21.
Q.
What
Types,
or
Fore-Appearances
were there hereof?
A.
Adam
Himself, as Comprehending
Human Nature
in his State of Holiness, and Blessedness, even before his Fall was, but a
Type
of Him, that
was to Come,
and who did indeed so Comprehend all his
Seed.
The First Sabbath was but a Type of the Great
Sabbatism
of the
Second Adam,
that Remains to the
People of God
in the
World to Come;
For This
Sabbatism
then
Remain'd;
Although the
Works
were
Finish'd
from the
Foundation of the World;
and That
Paradise
was but a
Type
of the
Paradise
of
God, Rom.
5. 14.
Heb.
4. 3, 4.
Rev.
2. 7.
Q.
But how does the State of the
Kingdom of Christ
Agree with the
Redemption
of
Fallen Man by Christ?
A.
Admirably it Agrees, and in a much Fuller and Clearer View; For His
Saints,
as in Highest Representation of his
Redemption
are every single Person, in
Robes washed white in his Blood;
They are
Priests of God,
and
of Christ,
as to their
Justified
State; And as to their
Sanctification,
the
Throne of God,
and of the
Lamb,
are in the
midst
of
Them,
They
see his Face,
as
his Servants they serve Him, His Name
is in their
Fore-heads:
They are, as the
Pillars of his Temple,
and
Go out no more
from Him; And there can in
no wise Enter into that State Any Thing that defileth,
so that everyone must be Holy. As to their
Happiness,
and
Glory,
They
Reign with Christ forever;
Thus in the particulars; Consider them together as in the
General Assembly,
and
Church
of the
First born written
in
Heaven;
And so They are the
New Jerusalem,
the
Bride
or
Lambs wife,
to whom
It is Given
in Regard of
Justification
to be
Cloathed with Linnen, White,
and
Clean, which is the Righteousness of the Saints;
As to
Holiness,
It is
Clear,
as a most
Precious Jasper,
and
Wall'd High,
and Guarded by
Watch
of
Angels
from all
Defilement;
As to
Happiness
and
Eternal
security; The
Lord God,
and the
Lamb
are the
Light
thereof, and the
Glory of God Enlightens
it, that it can see in no other Light;
God and the Lamb
are the
Temple
of it, that cannot be defiled; The City hath the
Tree of Life, Bearing Twelve several kinds of Fruit, viz.
an universality and perfection of
Life;
and a
River of Life, Clear as Crystal, Proceeding
from the
Throne. Heb.
12. 25.
Rev.
c. 20. c. 21. c. 22.
Q.
But how does so Great a State, and the so High Expressions of it, work as to the
Delivery up of the Kingdom
to God
All in All,
and to Christ as the Bond of union?
A.
These Two ways, First, That the State of
Delivery up of the Kingdom to God All in All,
cannot be better expounded to us, then in those so divine words of our Lord in his
Mediatory Prayer. John 17. 21. That They All may be one, as Thou Father art in me, And I in Thee, That They also may be one in us, that the World may Believe, that Thou hast sent me; And the Glory which Thou gavest me, Have I given Them, that They may be one as we are one; I in Them, and Thou in me, That they may be made perfect in one, and that the World may Believe, that Thou hast sent me, and hast loved Them, as Thou hast loved me; Father, I will that Those which Thou hast given me, may be with me, where I am, and may Behold my Glory, which Thou hast given me; For Thou loved'st me before the Foundation of the World; Oh! Righteous Father, The World hath not known Thee, But I have known Thee; And These have known that Thou hast sent me; And I have declared to them Thy Name and will declare it, that the Love wherewith Thou hast loved me, may be in Them,
and
I in Them.
Q
What Arises from these words to our present purpose?
A.
First, That so High Expressions can fit no State, but of
God All in All,
even as He was before the Foundation of the
World
All in All;
and to which State, Our Lord's words so much Refer; when
All the Saints
are thus one with
God in Christ,
then is He thus
All in All,
as before the
World
began. Secondly, That as this State Requires the Highest Purification; of which the
Purification
of the
Virgins,
for the
Royal Bed
of
Ahasuerus
is but a dark
Emblem;
so no Expressions of such a preparatory Purification, but as before Represented in the
New Jerusalem,
and
Kingdom of Christ,
can be parallel to such a Purification; But They Reach it, and Admirably Reach it; The present State of
Sanctification
is much too Low for it; The Purity of the
Bride,
the
Lambs Wife,
and of the
Saints
in this
Kingdom
Rises to it. Thirdly, All this Preparation, and this
Eternal Union
is in the
Eternal word,
who was
with the Father,
and
One with him,
and whom the
Father loved
before the
Foundation of the World;
And He thus prepares his
Saints
not only in this State, (though here also) but in his
Kingdom
most Highly, Compleatly, Perfectly, and therefore especially.
John
17. 24. 26.
Q.
Give me the second way, how so Great a State, and so High Expressions of it work, to the
Delivery up of the Kingdom
to
God All in All?
A.
In that, although this
Kingdom of Christ
be so Holy, so Heavenly, so Pure, so much of God in it, and so Happy, and Blessed in
Christ,
and in his
Saints;
yet because It is the
Kingdom of the Man Christ Jesus,
and of his
Saints
in a visible Created Glory, and not the Highest
Union
to
God All in All,
Christ Gives this Last Declaration of the
Name,
that is of the Nature, and Glory of God; He freely
Delivers
up this his
Kingdom,
and the
Son,
as in human Nature, suffers most willingly that Glory of Himself, and of his
Saints,
to be
Swallow'd
up by
God All in All,
and
unites
them with Himself to the
Father,
as He is the
Eternal word;
and so
They are with Him forever, Beholding the Glory He had
with the
Father,
before
the World was;
which is the Highest Instance of self-denial of all
Created Glory,
and Giving up All to
God All in All,
that could be given.
John
17. 5.
Q.
What Signs are there of such a Preparation in the
Kingdom of Christ
for
God All in All?
A.
In Token of this, this State is called a
Sabbatism,
a
Paradise;
There is a
Tree of Life,
and a
River of Life;
All which Point to the Higher Perfection of
Union with God All in All,
then was even in that
Kingdom of Christ;
Even as
Priesthood,
and a
Temple-State
do; For though
God,
and the
Lamb
be the
Temple;
Yet God being our
Temple,
is not so High, as our
Union to God All in All.
Q.
How does the State of the wicked Agree with this so High State of the
Kingdom of Christ
in preparation to their being cast into the
Lake,
when God is
All in All?
A.
Their being in a
Visible State,
and beholding the
Glory of Christ,
and of his
Saints
in a
Visible State,
gives them that Conviction; that the
Father sent Christ,
that He
Loved the Saints,
as He
Loved Christ,
that They are Forced to
Know
and to
Believe
it; For this They could not see here, but would be Highly persuaded of the Contrary; And when the
Saints
are
Delivered up to God All in All,
and They in the
Lake;
It is not then to be seen by Them; In this
Kingdom,
then It must be seen; And yet in this very State, they being Irreconcileable to the
Divine Kingdom;
They are even with the
Comfort of the Saints,
Beholding their
Abhor'd State,
and way,
Cast into the Lake,
that They might be no more Annoyance to the
Divine Kingdom,
but at an utter Separation from it, Remembered no more, cut off forever from the Hand of God in a
Land
of
Silence, Forgetfulness,
and
Utter Darkness,
Ezek. 14. 22. Rev. 20. last.
Q.
But how are the
Saints
below Fitted then for this State of being
Deliver'd up to God All in All?
A.
They having their part in all the Privileges of the
Saints
above, and being
Caught up to Christ
before the
Delivery
up of the
Kingdom,
are thereby fitted to be
Deliver'd up with All Saints,
and to be united to
God All in All.
Q.
But seeing the
Saints of Christ
have been also All
Sinners,
and many of Them very
Great Sinners,
and some not brought home to Christ till
Death;
Whereas many of the
Lost
have been of
Fair
and
Innocent Lives;
how can such a difference in this
Visible State
of the
Resurrection,
consist with the
Glory of Justice,
then to be manifested?
A.
The
Infinite Richness of Grace
having made in All the
Saints,
the Great difference of
Union to Christ,
in the Glory of whose
Righteousness
They
Appear,
and thereby in the
Participation
of the
Divine Nature,
Their
Sins
are so
Blotted
out through the
Blood of the Lamb,
in this State of
Re-enlivening,
as though,
They are sought for, They cannot be found;
And even the
Works
of the Few Moments of
Holy Action,
as of Converts, how near
Death soever
Follow Them,
and are so enlarged by the
Obedience of Christ,
the
Linnen white
and
clean,
which is the
Righteousness of the Saints,
that It Invests Them; All which makes the difference betwixt the
Saints,
and the
Reprobate
Inconceivable; For the
Talents,
that the
Reprobate
might have here by General Grace to Adorn Them, are
Taken from them,
and All their
Sins find them out,
and are as the
Garment that covers them,
and the
Girdle,
wherewith They are
Girded continually;
Allowing yet the differences of
Punishment
betwixt the more, and less
Malicious Sinners. Jerem.
50. 20.
Luke
23. 40. &c.
Mat.
25. 28.
Q.
But the
Kingdom of Christ
seems a State of
Purgation
for that last State of
Delivering
up the
Kingdom to God All in All;
Why may not therefore some, that have not
Repented
here,
Find place
in that State for
Repentance,
especially when some are
Converts
so near
Death;
and so many die
Infants,
and are
Sav'd,
who had no
space
of serving God in this World?
A.
In the deep, and wise dispose of God (besides that Standard of
Glorifying God here on Earth,
) the
Spirits
unreconciled to God in Christ, and unsanctified in the very moment, wherein They leave the Body, become
Devilish, James
3. 15. and so can be no more changed after, then
Devils;
and the Bodies being laid down without any Seeds of the
Divine Life,
not the
Temples
of the
Holy Spirit,
are Taken up in the very same State, and can never be changed, because the
Spirit
to Inhabit them, cannot: And so thus as the
Spirits of Holy Men,
are Pledges of Happiness to the whole Man, so the
Spirits
of
Unholy Men
in
Prison
are Hostages for the whole man to Justice under Wrath; and hereby there is in each order of
Spirits,
having in themselves a sense of their Future Condition, a Preparation for the
Kingdom of Christ
in
Glory,
or in
Dishonor;
For thus there is no discontinuance in the Sense, and Knowledge, Each have in the Reasons of the Future State, as there would be if the
Spirits of Men, st
•
pt in the dust,
as their
Bodies
do, till the
Resurrection
and that
Visible
Appearance in the
Judgment
and
Kingdom of Christ;
But They are
Spirits in Prison,
or with Christ. 1
Pet.
3. 19.
Philip.
1. 23.
Q.
But there seems to be some Greater Refinement of
Saints,
in the
Kingdom of Christ
for
Union to God All in All?
A.
The
Spirits of Saints
having been with Christ from their Leaving the Body, and in the very beginning of the
Kingdom of Christ,
the whole
Man being made perfect,
Heb.
12. 23. They
are for 1000 years
Confirm'd
in that most perfect State, and with
Angels
They Behold in this Great
Economy,
the utmost God is pleased to have seen in a Created State, in order to
Union with God All in All,
and so are
Deliver'd
up with
the Kingdom;
the Just Contrary to which is in every particular to Wicked Men for their being
Cast into the Lake.
Q.
Hath not the
Eternal Word
in
Human Nature
a
Kingdom
throughout
Eternity?
A.
The
Eternal Word
in
Human Nature
hath a
Kingdom
throughout
Eternity;
but not as the
Son of Man,
but as the
Eternal Word;
The
Glory
in which then Christ is seen by his
Saints,
being the
Glory
he had with the
Father
before the
World Began,
of the same Nature wherein He is now at the
Right Hand of God,
till
He appears;
and the
Union
in that
Eternal
State is by
God
to
God,
by the
Word
to the
Father;
so the
Son
as
Man
is
Subject
and
God All in All,
John 17. 5, 24.
Q.
Is God excluded in the
Kingdom of the Son?
A.
No; He is
Excepted,
saith the Apostle, who
put All Things under Christ;
The
Throne of God,
even as of the
Lamb
is in the
New Jerusalem,
It is
God's Kingdom;
He
Appoints sitting at the Right and Left Hand of Christ;
But the
Divinity
pleases so to
Oeconomize
its own
Glory,
that the
Son may be seen to Reign in Glory,
1
Cor.
15. 27.
Revel.
22. 3.
Mat.
20, 23.
Phil.
2. 11.
Q.
But it seems by the High Expression of God, who is purest
Spirit,
being
All in All;
and by the
Lake of the Second Death,
and even the
New Heaven,
and
New Earth
after the 1000 Years
Flying away, Revel.
20. 11. there is no Bodily or Material Nature Continued, no not of the Son's
Glorious Body,
who is then
Subject,
nor of his
Saints?
A.
Scripture
having Declar'd no such Thing, No such Thing can be suppos▪d, but that
Christ and his Saints
shall be
in Bodies;
But it is certain; There shall be Highest
Spirituality
in Conformity to the
Divine Nature,
that He may be
All
in
All,
and in
Union
to Christ, most
Spiritual Bodies;
Even as in the Lake, All the
Damned
become
Spiritual Wickednesses
to the Highest Degree; All which Confirms the Nature, and State of the
Resurrection
to stand in
Visibility,
and
Appearance
for the thousand Years.
Phil.
3. 21.
Ephes.
6. 12.
Q.
What kind of State must that be of the
Beast,
and of the
False Prophet,
who are
Cast Living
into the
Lake,
even before, the
Devil,
the
Dead, Death,
and
Hell
are Cast into it?
Rev.
19. 20. c. 20. 10. &c.
A.
The finding out the meaning of that State is the more necessary, because it will much clear that Last Issue, or Casting of the
Devil, Death,
and
Hell,
into the
Lake:
1. The
Casting
into the
Lake
therefore signifies Final, and most utter Cessation of Action; so that the
Casting
the
Beast,
and the
False Prophet into
the
Lake
Imports to us, that the
Antichristian State,
of which the Beast, and the
False Prophet
were the Supreme Constituents, or Parts, being the Counterfeit, and Undermine of the True
Kingdom of Christ,
shall, as the Apostle speaks, 2
Thes.
2.8. be utterly
Consum'd,
and
Abolish'd
by it. 2. In that it is a
Lake Burning with Fire and Brimstone;
It speaks severest Punishment, and Torment by the
True Kingdom of Christ
shining upon the
Beast,
and
False Prophet,
and as it were in their very Faces. 3. In that the
Beast,
and the
False Prophet
are
Cast Alive
into
the Lake;
It Declares; that the Full
Abolition
of the
Antichristian Kingdom
shall be in the very Beginning of the
Kingdom
of Christ; and that the Punishment of the
Antichristian Kingdom
as the Counterfeit, and Undermine of the
Kingdom of Christ
shall be the most Conspicuous, and Illustrious of all the Punishing Part of
Christ's Kingdom;
So that All other
Enemies
of Christ's
Kingdom
shall be only as
Dead Men, Slain with the Sword of Christ's Mouth,
in Comparison; But the Severity upon the
Anti-Christian Kingdom
shall be like
Burning Alive,
as it were in Just Recompence of their
Vivi-Comburia,
or
Burning
Those Servants of Christ They called
Heretics, Alive;
upon the Beast his False Prophet, and all their Worshippers, and their
Babylon;
And the Smoke of their
Torment Ascendeth forever and ever;
and Wicked Men
have their part
first, but are not cast till the very End into the
Lake. Rev.
19. 3. 21.
c.
21. 8.
Q.
How is This to be Applied to the
Casting the Devil, Hell,
and
Death,
with all their
Dead
into the
Lake, just before Christ Delivers up the Kingdom?
A.
Hence it Appears, That the Action of the
Devil
in
Deceiving
is only
Chain'd
up, but not utterly
Abolish'd
in the
thousand Years Kingdom
of Christ: For He is
Loosed
out of
Prison
for a
Little Space
after the
Thousand Years,
and He
Deceives the Nations
again; But
Fire comes down
suddenly from
Heaven
on those
Nations
in the very Attempt; and then an utter end is put to Satan's whole Action; For He is
Cast into the Lake,
and so notwithstanding the Victory over
Death
in the
First Resurrection
of
Dead Saints,
and the
Living Remaining Saints not Dying,
but being
Changed;
Yet till They are all Actually
Changed,
so that
Mortality
or Possibility of Dying
Puts
on
Immortality,
and
Corruption
puts
Incorruption,
and so Mortality is
swallowed up of Life
in the
Living Remaining Saints Caught up,
even as in the
Dead in Christ Rising first,
who cannot
Dye anymore,
being in
perfect Immortality,
Luc. 20. 36.
Death
and
Hell,
with all their own Subjects, the
Dead
are not
Cast
into
the Lake,
so as to be utterly
Abolish'd from any
possible place in the
Kingdom of God.
Then They are; and when this
Last Enemy Death
is thus
subdued,
Christ
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
Then,
so Long after his First Beginning to
Reign, Delivers up the Kingdom,
having Done all to be Done, as the
Second Adam,
and God is
All in All:
But still and forever, even
Eternally,
That
Lake Burns with Fire and Brimstone;
For the
Kingdom of Life
shines in the Face of it with
Everlasting Torment
while it is not yet able to Return one of its
Sulphur
Steams in Revenge, 1
Cor.
15. 24, 55, 56.
Revel.
20. 10. to the end. 2
Thess.
1. 9.
Q.
Have we any Accounts of Time kept in
Scripture
from the First
Creation
to the Times of
Restitution,
or of the
Kingdom of Christ?
A.
There hath been for the sake of it kept a Constant Account of Time, from one Point to the other.
Q.
What Reason have you to think so?
A.
Because as the First
Coming of Christ
in the Flesh is said to be in the
Fulness of Time, viz.
of that Time; Because it was in be in the
Fulness of Time, viz.
of that Time; Because it was in the Just Time according to
Daniel's
seventy Weeks and according to the Agreement of all Christians; So this Time of the
Heading
of
All Things
under Christ in his
Kingdom,
is called the
Fulness,
not of
Time,
as of one Time, but of
Times
as of all
Times,
Issuing according to Just Account into it: And further it is called the
Economy,
or the wise Order of All
Times
in Relation to it by the Supreme, and wise
Pater-Familias,
or Governor of the World; who as the Great
Potentate, King of Kings,
and
Lord of Lord's
Giving the whole
Family
of
Angels,
and
Men
a Show of and for his Glory, would have it at this
Fulness
of
Times,
for a
Thousand Years;
and These are called
God's,
or
Christ's Proper Times,
and the
Times of Refreshment,
and the
Times
of
Restitution,
as in the Just Place of that Time: All which speaks, that there was a Strict Calculation of Time for it, and to it;
Gal.
4. 4.
Ephes.
1. 10.
Acts
3. 21. 1
Tim.
6. 15.
Q.
Where is This Account of Time to be Found?
A.
It is to be found all along
Holy Scripture
in this manner; In the First Roll of
Patriarchs
from the
Creation
to
Shem,
the Head of the
New World
after the
Flood,
1658 years.
Genesis
5.
c.
11. 10.
From
Shem
to
Abraham, Receiving the Promises
by the Second Roll of
Patriarchs,
425
Y. Gen.
11. to
c.
12.
From thence to the
Going
out of
Egypt,
immediately before the
Tabernacle of Testimony
set up, 430
Y. Exod.
12. 40.
c.
40.
From thence to
Solomon's Temple,
Begun in his
Fourth Year,
and so to his
Death,
516
Y.
1
Kings c.
6. 1.
c.
11. 42.
From thence to
Ezekiel's Divine Temple
and
City,
drawn by his
Bearing
the
Sin of Israel,
divided from
Judah
so many
Days
for
Years,
according to the
Reign
of
Israel's Kings,
to their
Captivity,
and then by the
Kings
of
Judah,
to 14 years after the
City Jerusalem smitten,
and the
Temple Burnt,
390
Y. Ezek.
c. 4. 4. 5.
c.
40. 1.
&c.
From thence to the End of
Judah's Captivity,
drawn by the
Forty days
for
Years
of
Ezekiel, Bearing the Sin of Judah,
as from that vision of the
City
and
Temple,
to
Cyrus his First year, 40 Y. Ezek. c. 4. 4. 5. c 40. 1. Ezra
1. 1.
From thence by the
Sanctuary,
that then lay Trodden under
Foot
to the
Sanctuary
of the
Universal Church Cleans'd;
drawn in the 2300
Evens. Morns.
according to the
Prophetical Cypher
before named, and established for after Times of a
Day for a Year,
2300
Y.
Dan. 8. 13. 14.
Q.
Can we know whereabout we are in nearness to the
Kingdom of Christ,
by so long a Line of Time?
A.
If we would be diligent in Searching, and Comparing
Scripture,
we might find this Line divided into 75
Years
before
Daniel's 70 Weeks
began, for the
Word going forth
to
Restore,
and
Build Jerusalem;
Into 490 by those 70
Weeks,
for the
Death
and
Resurrection of Messiah,
and the first
Apostolical
Preaching to the
Jews;
Into 1260 of the
Roman Papal Apostasy;
Into 30 and 45. after that
Apostasy,
making first the 1260 1290, then the 1290 1335. The first 75 in preparation to the
Litteral Jerusalem,
and
Temple Restor'd
after
Litteral Babylon falling,
and the last 75 preparing to the
New Jerusalem,
after
Mystical Babylon falling,
exactly Answer One after Another; and by all these Summs laid together, we certainly know There must be 400 between the
Weeks
ended, and that
Apostasy
began: From
whence It Follows, we must be in the 2218
Even. Morn.
just 7
Years
before the
Fall
of
Mystical Babylon,
Dan. 9. 24.
c.
12. 11. 12.
Q.
Is there any other way of knowing the Time?
A.
There is, even plainly Running into ordinary Observation; For there are
Time, Times, Half a Time,
plainly given to the
Beast,
the last Part of the
Roman Fourth Monarchy
in
Daniel, c.
7. 25. and
Sworn
to Him for Scattering the Holy People,
c.
12. 7. and the
Church
is Accordingly said to be in the Wilderness for those
Times,
in the
Revelation; Rev.
12. 14. Now at the
Reformation,
There was such a Retrenchment of the Papal Power, as could not be till the
Morning of the Half Time,,
with the Truth of
Prophecy;
Then there might, even as Christ might
Rise
at the
Morning
of the
Third day,
though according to
Prophecy,
He was to be
Three days
and
Three nights
in the
Heart of the Earth:
The
Reformation
therefore Beginning at 1517, by
Luther,
as all Agree, and the
Half Time
being an 180
Years,
as being the Half of 360 a
Time;
It must needs be There can be but 7
Years
to the End of the 1260, and so to the
Kingdom of Christ,
preparing to
Cleanse his Sanctuary,
for his
Kingdom
1772; So we must be in the 2218
Even. Morn.
Q.
Why then did not the
Papacy
wholly Fall at the
Reformation?
A.
That there might be as punctual a performance of the Full Time of the Three
Times,
and a Half to the
Papacy,
as could consist with the
Kingdom of Christ,
to which some Appearance was at that Time due.
Q.
Can the
Reformation
then be perfect?
A.
No, For the
Thunders
that opened to it, were Seal'd; and There are
They of the Synagogue of Satan,
that stay the Glory of it, till the
Philadelphian
State come; And then even They shall worship at
Philadelphia's Feet, Rev.
3. 9.
c.
10. 4.
Q.
When shall that be?
A.
At the very same Time, when the
Popacy
falls; For
They of the Synagogue
stand by that Title, and then
Bow;
For Christ
makes them
by Grace so to
Worship,
that is, to
Bow.
Q.
How can such a Computation consist with
No One Knowing
of that
Day
and
Hour,
not the
Angels,
nor the
Son,
but the
Father only Mark
13. 32.
A.
God
is said therefore, as on purpose to
Give the Revelation to Jesus Christ,
to
show to his Servants,
what before was only in
the
Father's
Cognizance; And then Blessed is He that
Reads,
or Expounds, and They who
Hear
or understand what is so
Reveal'd
by
God to Christ. Revel.
1. 1. 3.
Q.
But Christ further says,
Watch,
for you
Know not the Day
nor the
Hour
when your
Lord cometh? Mark
13. 35.
A.
That
Watch
is a Spiritual
Watch,
without which, though' a Man
Knew the day,
or
Hour
never so precisely, Yet He would not
Know the day,
and
Hour
of his
Lord's coming,
but It would be to Him, as of a
Thief in the Night;
and as a man dics in that
Watch,
or the neglect of it; So Christ comes upon Him, though' many Hundred Years after
Death;
if It were not such a
Watch,
the Apostle had discharged the
Thessalonians
of it, by Adjuring them not to expect the day of Christ, till after the
Apostasy;
and in Them all Christians after, till that
Apostasy
expire. 2
Thess.
2. 1.
Q.
Are the
Thousand Years
of
Christ's Kingdom, Litterally,
or
Mystically
to be understood?
A.
They are both ways to be understood,
Litterally,
Adding so many Years to the Time Allotted to the
Visible Creation,
till All be
Deliver'd up to God Himself; Mystically,
as a
Thousand Years
are a
Cube
of Time, signifying the perfection of Time, which none of the
Patriarchs
after
Adams Fall
could Attain, how near soever They came to it.
Gen.
5.
Q.
Is it no Impeachment to the
Kingdom of Christ
never ending, that
Satan
is loos'd at the end of the 1000
Years,
and
Deceives
the
Nations
to a new Attempt?
A.
No, For It only gives Just occasion to Christ, to magnify his Power, Judiciary Authority, Justice, and the Final
Putting down All Rule and Power,
and
Subduing the Last Enemies,
the
Devil,
the
Dead,
and
Death,
and
Hell;
And having Quickly drawn up all the
Living Saints
to his
Own. Throne
first, according to 1
Cor. 15. 24. 51. 1 Thess. 4. 17. Rev. c. 3. 21. Rev. 20.
and so
Giving up the Kingdom,
every way perfectly prepared to God
All in All,
the Glory of having Faithfully managed, and happily Atcheiv'd All Things is forever due to Him.
John
17. 24.
Q.
Are the Worship, and Ordinances of the
New Testament
any way
Prefigurative
of this
Kingdom of Christ?
A.
Very Fully, For the
Gospel
is the
Gospel,
and
word of this Kingdom;
The
Prayer,
we style
The Lord's Prayer,
is the
Prayer of this Kingdom
Taught to all his
Disciples;
The
Lord's Day
is the
Type,
and Pledge of that
Sabbatism; Baptism
is the
Figure
of being Sav'd, 1
Pet.
3. 21. from that
Deluge of Fire;
The
Lord's Supper,
is the
showing forth his Death
till
He Come, 1 Cor.
11. 26. Then that
Passover is fulfill'd,
and that
Fruit of the Vine drunk New,
Luc. 22. 16. 18. Nor can any of the
Old Testament Types, Prophecies,
and
Promises
be Fully Drawn out, but in that
Kingdom,
and
Appearance;
So that in Summ it is the
Everlasting Gospel, God
hath always been
Gospelizing
throughout the
Old,
and
New Testament,
Rev. 10. 7.
Q.
But if These Truths are of this Great Weight, Can the
Churches of the Saints
be so unacquainted with Them?
A.
Even, as the
Jewish Saints,
and the very Apostles were Ignorant of the
Sacrifice, Resurrection, Ascension,
and
Intercession
of Christ, so
Fundamental
Points; till the
Powring down the Spirit
for
Preaching
the
Gospel
then; Even so, and much more may the
Saints of Gospel
Times, even now, till the Second
Powring down the Spirit
for the
Preaching the Everlasting Gospel
be, and have been Ignorant of the Full Dimensions of the
Redemption of Christ Fulfill'd
in his
Kingdom;
of the
Glory
of that
Economy
to the
Highest Glory of God
the
Father in his Creation
and
Love of Man;
of the
Resurrection,
as such a
visible Appearance
of the
Just
and
Unjust
for a
Thousand Years,
the
Dead in Christ Rising first;
Of the
Mystery
of the
Saints Remaining,
and
Living
on
Earth,
making up the Full Number of all
Saints,
and not
Dying
but being
Changed;
of the necessity, according to this
Economy
of the Infinitely Holy and Wise
Being,
of such a Preparation for the
Saints,
as
Priests of God and Christ a Thousand Years,
to be
United to God All in All:
And notwithstanding this Ignorance, They may be True
Churches of Saints;
but the nearer the Time Approaches, the
Slowness
of
Heart to Know,
and
Believe
these Things, will Argue a greater
Lukewarmness
for the
Kingdom, Glory,
and
Coming
of
Christ,
and It hath been all along a dark Shade of the
Apostasy
upon the Churches.
Q.
What
Spirit
are we then to be of, with Relation to the
coming
of Christ in this his
Kingdom?
A.
Of the Vehement, and even Passionate
Spirit
of the
Bride,
which says,
Come; Make hast my beloved
to the
Mountain of Spices, Anointed
for thy
Kingdom
with that
Precious Ointment
(that
Antichrist
now Counterfeits to his Death) as the Great
Prince Messiah,
the
Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,
and thy
Saints,
as
Kings,
and
Priests
with Thee in that Great Day of thy
Nuptials
in thy
Kingdom:
Rev. 22. 17. Cantic. 8. 14. Exod. 30. 33. Psal. 110. 4. Rev. 20. 2.
Q.
You seem to have forgotten this
Marriage,
so great an
Emblem
of the
Thousand Years Kingdom
of Christ in
Scripture?
A.
I Reserv'd it as the
Best Wine
for the
Last;
For it is indeed most often so made use of in
Holy Writing;
by
Solomon
in that most
Prophetick, Nuptial Song of his, of the Kingdom:
by
Isaiah. c.
62. 5. by
Christ
often; and He makes his
Coming
to be on purpose (
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
) [
for
] the sake of the
Wedding,
and not as we Translate, [
from
] it,
Luc.
12. 36. By the
Apostle Paul
Calling it (as the Kingdom is Call'd)
Mystery, Ephes.
5. 25. 32. By the Apostle
John
in the
Prophecy
of the
Kingdom
just Appearing,
Rev.
19. 7.
c.
21. 2.
c.
22. 17. And it Carries Great Argument and Instruciton.
Q.
What is the Argument?
A.
That the
Kingdom,
which is this
Wedding
everywhere in
Scripture,
is not yet; For the
Bridegroom
is now
Taken from us,
as Christ Foretold, He would be,
Luc
5. 35. Nor can it be
at the Kingdom Deliver'd up;
For the
Second Adam
(of which the First
Adam's,
and
Eves Marriage
was the Type) who is the
Bridegroom,
is then the
Bridegroom
no longer; But He Unites Himself with the Bride to the
Father All in All:
John 17. 21.
&c.
Q.
What is the Instruction?
A.
In Three Things. 1. That even the
Wise Virgins
not
Bearing this New Wine in their Old Bottles, slumber,
even as the
Foolish,
though with
Oil in their Vessels,
Grace in their Hearts which the
Foolish
not Having, were
shut out,
Mat. 25. 1.
&c.
And 2. That we ought to be in
Fasting
and
Sackcloth,
as the
Children
of the
Bride-Chamber,
all these
Days
of the
Bridegrooms
being
Taken from
us,
Luc
5. 35. 3. That we should Hearing with an Ear to Hear and Thirsting most Affectionately to the
Bridegrooms Saying; Behold I come Quickly;
Resound,
Even so come Lord Jesus;
That He may say to us in Grace;
Come Then Also,
and with me
Drink the Water of Life Freely;
And that we may do Thus;
The Grace of the Lord Jesus be with us All.
Amen.
Rev.
22. 17. to the End.
FINIS.