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 explain'd?

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 promis'd 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 declar'd 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, dishonourable 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 Oeconomy, 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 Oeconomy, or Dispensation?

A. It is the free dispose of Things, after the Counsel of Gods 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 charg'd with Carnality, and sensual Inclination?

A. This hath been the Art of Sathan, and of Antichrist, to Bring out of Repute so Great a Doctrine of Christ, that It is peculiarly call'd the Everlasting Gospel; that the Antichristian [Page 3] 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 Luke 20. 35. 36. Rom. 8. 23. 1 Cor. 5. 3. in Marriage; Neither can They Dye any more, 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 Rev. c. 20. c. 21. c. 22. 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 nam'd, to Answer the Table, or Representation of Things in that Prophecy of the Revelation; But it is subjoyn'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 Wee of the Living Saints are Joyn'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 expresly said; These shall not dye, but be Changed, and caught up to meet the Lord in the Clouds, and be for ever 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 [Page 4] 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 Labour, Sorrow, Curse or Death, till They are so changed; and they shall propagate a Holy Seed, Psal. 110. 3. in such abundance, as to recompence 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 refer'd 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 Jacobs 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. Ezeck. 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 rais'd to Illustrate the Glory of it; and to bear the Shame, and Disho­nour of their wickedness under the Just and Righteous Con­demnation of Christ; call'd a being slain with the Sword of his Mouth; Shame and Contempt shall be pour'd 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, [Page 5] whose Worm dyes 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 prefering the present World, before, and above the World to Come. Lastly, in what ever State Any of them can be suppos'd to be, They are certainly so under Christ and his Saints, That They are made his Foot-stool. Dan. 12. 2. John 5. 29. Esay 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, Honour, 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 Dishonour; 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 Receiv'd a Kingdom, He Return'd in it, Luke [Page 6] 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 Joyn'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, Every one shall Rise in his own Order; Christ the First Fruits, and They, which are Christs 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 Sathan is Bound, and [Page 7] 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 Connexion betwixt the Dead being Rais'd, and the Wee of the Saints being Chang'd. For saith He, Behold, I shew you a My­stery, We shall not All dye, but we shall All be chang'd 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 chang'd. All as it were in one moment?

A. The Apostle shews the suddenness, and Immediate effect of the Power of Christ in both Raising the Dead, and Changing the Living; but the so close Connexion 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 chang'd, but at several di­stances of Time; Forthe Apostle says, the Dead in the Third person shall be [...]a [...]'d. To shew, the Wee of Saints of the first person are of a different State, and order of Time in being Chang'd 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 [...], or afterwards, betwixt the Saints dead in Christ, at the Coming of Christ Rising first; and the Living Chang'd, 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 [Page 8] 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 [...], 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 Wee 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 Oeconomy 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 Lords; His Reigning, and his Throne in the New Jerusalem; The Time of the Dead being Judg'd, and Rewards Given to All that Fear'd his Name, Great, and Small, and the destroying them that destroy'd 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 Sathan into the [Page 9] 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 sate 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 flie away from that white Throne of Pure and Liquid Eternity, and the Kingdom Delivered up to God All in All, Esay 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 [Page 10] 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 Oeconomy, 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, Dis­honour, 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 every where 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 Forc'd 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 preferr'd the Present before a Future State, Esay, 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 [Page 11] 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 Christs Kingdom) from the Sun, that its Beauties may be seen; so the Glory of Christ in his Humane 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 Oeconomy, 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 perswade 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 Gods Crowning Holy Persons and their Actions with Honour; or his Judgments on wicked Men made Examples here, do above All other Things exceedingly Affect us, 2 Cor. [Page 12] 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 press'd?

A. Because the darkness of the Apostasie, 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 restor'd, 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 Humane 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 prov'd 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 Ʋnjust 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 Wee of Saints, who shall not dye, 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 sinn'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 deliver'd 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 it self 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 de­clar'd 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 it self, 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 deliver'd up to God and the Father, be the Last End, It must be an End before all Oeconomy, 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 it self, 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 Ʋnion to the Father, the Word, the Spirit, who are One, and who Inhabit Eternity; Creatures therefore below be­ing capable of this Ʋnion, as All, which have not Understand­ing, are Annihilated; And Creatures of Understanding, An­gels [Page 15] and Men can be no other, then miserable in the loss of this Ʋnion; Hell therefore the lowest Lake, lies in departing from God. Mat. 25. 45. 46.

2. The Eternal Ʋnion, if there be such an Ʋnion, (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 Wisedom, 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 it self, 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 Ʋnion to God; And that in Him, They might All be Reconciled to God with the whole Inferior Creation; (which Having serv'd 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 Ʋnited to God for ever, Ephes. 1. 10. Col. 1. 20.

Q. What need could the Angels, who never sinned, have of a Mediator, by whom They should be Ʋnited 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 Humane 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 Paradice 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 wash'd 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: [Page 17] 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 every one must be Holy. As to their Hap­piness, and Glory, They Reign with Christ for ever; 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 Chrystal, 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 [Page 18] 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 Ʋnion 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 Ʋnion 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 humane 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 for ever, 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 call'd a Sabbatism, a Para­dise; There is a Tree of Life, and a River of Life; All which Point to the Higher Perfection of Ʋnion with God All in All, [Page 19] 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 Ʋnion 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 Forc'd to Know and to Be­lieve it; For this They could not see here, but would be High­ly perswaded 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 Abhorr'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, Remembred no more, cut off for ever from the Hand of God in a Land of Silence, Forgetfulness, and Ʋtter 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 Priviledges 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 Ʋnion 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 [Page 20] Death soever Follow Them, and are so enlarg'd 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 dye 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 chang'd 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 chang'd, 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 Ʋnholy 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 Dishonour; 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 Ʋnion 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 Just Men, not Spirits, made per­fect. Man being made perfect, Heb. 12. 23. They [Page 21] are for 1000 years Confirm'd in that most perfect State, and with Angels They Behold in this Great Oeconomy, the utmost God is pleas'd to have seen in a Created State, in order to Ʋnion 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 Humane Nature a Kingdom throughout Eternity?

A. The Eternal Word in Humane 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 Ʋnion 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 Gods 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 Ʋnion 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 Finall, 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 Supream 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 Christs Kingdom; So that All other Ene­mies of Christs Kingdom shall be only as Dead Men, Slain with the Sword of Christs 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 call'd Hereticks, Alive; upon the Beast his False Prophet, and all their Worshippers, and their Babilon; And the Smoke of their Torment Ascendeth for ever 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 Sathans 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, [Page 23] but being Chang'd; Yet till They are all Actually Chang'd, 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 any more, 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 [...] 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 for ever, 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 Daniels 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 call'd 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 call'd the Oeconomy, or the wise Order of All Times in Re­lation to it by the Supream, and wise Pater-Familias, or Go­vernour of the World; who as the Great Potentate, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords 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 call'd Gods, or Christs 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 Ʋniversal Church Cleans'd; drawn in the 2300 Evens. Morns. according to the Prophetical Cypher before nam'd, and establish'd 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 Apostasie; Into 30 and 45. after that Apostasie, 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 Apostasie began: From [Page 25] 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 open'd to it, were Seal'd; and There are They of the Synagogue of Sathan, 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 shew to his Servants, what before was only in [Page 26] 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, tho' a Man Knew the day, or Hour never so precisely, Yet He would not Know the day, and Hour of his Lords coming, but It would be to Him, as of a Theif in the Night; and as a man dics in that Watch, or the neglect of it; So Christ comes upon Him, tho' ma­ny Hundred Years after Death; if It were not such a Watch, the Apostle had discharg'd the Thessalonians of it, by Adjuring them not to expect the day of Christ, till after the Apostasie; and in Them all Christians after, till that Apostasie 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 Sathan 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 mag­nifie 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 prepar'd to God All in All, the Glory of having Faithfully managed, and hap­pily Atcheiv'd All Things is for ever 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 stile The Lords Prayer, is the Prayer of this Kingdom Taught to all his Disciples; The Lords 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 [Page 27] Lords Supper, is the shewing forth his Death till He Come, 1 Cor. 11. 26. Then that Passover is fullfill'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, Ascention, 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 Oeconomy 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 Ʋnjust 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 Chang'd; of the necessity, ac­cording to this Oeconomy 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 Ʋnited 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 Apostasie 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 Oyntment (that Antichrist now Counterfeits to his Death) as the Great Prince Messiah, the Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec, 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 Esay. c. 62. 5. by Christ often; and He makes his Coming to be on purpose ( [...]) [ 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 every where 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 Oyl 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.