Reply Against the Doctrine of the Thousand Years Middle Kingdom, Postscript
Poſtſcript.
§ 1. I Underſtand that on further thoughts, ſome men that are further from me, than Mr. Beverly, are like by his Book, to be much confirmed againſt Chriſtianity. Their Judgment of Chriſt is much like the Turks, That there is One God, and Jeſus is one of his three great Legiſlator-Prophets, and to be called his Son, becauſe of his miraculous Generation: But that as Incarnate and the Son of Man he hath but a Temporal Kingdom, and that Humanity ſhall at the end of the Thouſand years be put off, and with the Kingdom delivered up to the Father, ſhall ceaſe; and that God's being All in All implieth this ceſſation.
Becauſe Mr. Beverley taketh himſelf not accountable for other mens Errours, and ſeemeth himſelf to renounce all ſuch, I will ſpeak to them my ſelf, (and to him on the by,) firſt, deſiring him to have ſo much charity to ſuch men, as to undeceive them by explaining theſe few particulars of his.
§ 2. 1. To tell them what he meaneth by his diſtinction of Chriſt's Nature and Kingdom as Man in our Nature, and his Nature and Kingdom as the Son of Man, which he thinks ends with the Millennium. To tell them what he meaneth by Chriſt's Humane Nature before the Incarnation. If it be the Natura Mentalis in genere, is it not as much an Angelical Nature as a Humane? And he was not Jeſus Chriſt the Anointed Saviour from Eternity, nor before he was here Incarnate of Mary. If his Body and Humane Soul then received, die or ceaſe, then Jeſus Chriſt dieth or ceaſeth, though the Mental Nature Humane or Angelical ceaſe not: Leave us not to the equivocal of a continued [Humane or our Nature] while you diſtinguiſh [Chriſt Man] from [Chriſt the Son of Man] But tell us whether it be only a Spiritual Mentality, ſuperangelical, or the Soul and Body of a Man at his Incarnation. If it be the Anima Mundi, is it not the Common Nature of all things?
2. To tell them yet what he meaneth by the Kingdom of Eternity as diſtinct from the Thouſand years Kingdom; ſeeing he denieth that there were any Subjects, or Creatures from Eternity, what is that Kingdom that hath no Subjects, nor Government? If he mean only [To Eternity,] of that anon.
3. To tell us alſo how it can be that Chriſt ſhould continue in our Nature, and yet be no Object of our Souls, but only a Conveying Medium.
§ 3. Now I deſire both him and theſe others that miſuſe him, to conſider as followeth.
I. Is there any Scripture that ſaith, that Chriſt had two Humane Natures?
II. Ceſſation is no leſs than Death, or Tranſmutation into ſome other Nature. If Chriſt's Incarnate Humanity Die, how is he called Immortal, Eternal, and ſaid to bring Life and Immortality to light, his Kingdom to have no end, as the ſlain Lamb, to be dead and alive for evermore; to have the power or Keys of Life, and Death, and Hell, &c.
If it be Tranſmutation, it is either of his Humane, Specifick Form: And then into what other Form, Nature or Being is he changed? It is but the perfecting of the Humane Form which he had, by turning corruptible fleſh and blood into a ſpiritual glorious body: And this was done before at his Aſcenſion. And this we deny not, to be eternal as to come. If this be your ſwallowing up.]
III. If we ſhall have the ſame Humane Nature [in ſpecie ſpiritualized and glorified after the Thouſand years that we had before, ſo ſhall Chriſt; for he will make our Vile Bodies like to his Glorious Body. But many Promiſes aſſure us of ſuch a continuance: Elſe we ſhall be no Men, but Nothing, or ſome thing of another ſpecies. And Chriſt calleth us Brethren and Coheirs.
IV. If Chriſt will be the Head of the Glorified Church after the Thouſand years, then certainly there will be a Unity of Humane Nature, and an everlaſting Communion both as with a Cauſe Efficient, Objective and Final. And it cannot be true which you ſay (and the Infidels will take hold of) that Chriſt as Man in our Nature will not be an Object (even of Fruition. For we ſhall ſtill be Individual Members of a Political Body: And ſhall we have a Head, and King, and not Know him, and not Love him, and not Praiſe or Honour him? Shall the Saints praiſes of the Lamb, that Redeemed them, ceaſe then for ever? Shall we all then ceaſe to be Kings and Prieſts, and to ſit with him on his Throne, and to ſing the ſong of the Lamb, and to ſee him as he is, and face to face, and to behold his Glory given him as Man? Is he in all this no Object? And how oft doth Scripture make him the Final Object under the finis ultimatè ultimus, as he is to be glorified? Shall an Intelligent Head and Members live together, and neither know, nor love, nor rejoice in each other?
V. Shall the whole Heavenly City, Society and Chore, be diſſolved for ever? If ſo, do not the Mahometans hope for a better felicity than ſuch, who think Mahomet will for longer time than a Thouſand years give them their deſires, and that his Kingdom ſhall not end by being ſpewed out finally in everlaſting diſgrace?
But if the Body and City continue, ſo will the Head and King. And will Chriſt's Incarnate Humanity ſpiritualized be for ever uſeleſs? Will he live for nothing? Heaven and Angels will not be uſeleſs: God ſhall ſhine in them, and we ſhall ſee that light. Shall it be our joy to ſit with Abraham, Iſaac and Jacob, and to enter into the Joy of our Lord, and this all ceaſe, and the Deity only be an Object after a Thouſand years? O ſhort everlaſtingneſs!
VI. Open your Eyes, and ſee your Contradiction, that think Chriſt's Kingdom (as the Son of Man) ſhall for ever ceaſe, and yet that Chriſt ſhall be ſubject to the Father. Shall he be ſubject as God, or as Man? Not as God, for God is not ſubject to himſelf: If as the Son of Man, then that Manhood continueth in being: And doubtleſs in a Glorious Objective and Effective Being.
VII. But ſpeaking to men inclined to believe that Chriſt ſhall be no Chriſt after the Thouſand years, I will deal with them according to their Principles; and argue from Natural Order, and from Oeconomical or Inſtituted.
Do you not believe that God hath Creatures of divers ranks, ſome above others in excellency and cauſality? No wonder that he that believeth not any Creatures continuance, believeth not Chriſt's: Or he that believeth not that one is above others in operation, believeth not the continuance of Chriſt's Power. Do you think that God worketh by any ſecond Cauſes (though he be himſelf never the further from the Effect, nor leſs in the Cauſality?) Doth he not enlighten, warm and quicken earthly Creatures by the Sun? and govern Men by Angels, and Subjects by Princes, and Beaſts by Men? Certainly if the World ceaſe not, this Natural Order of Creatures and Cauſes will not ceaſe. None but mad-men, I think, will doubt that Angels and Devils have Rule and Inferiority.
And if ſo, after the Thouſand years ſome prime Creature muſt be a Superior Cauſe of operation to the reſt, and that according to the Nature of each, and therefore to Man, that is, Intellectual, Volitive, Affectionate and Active. And what Creature is this? Why may you not grant it to Chriſt, as well as to any other? Will you ſay with Ariſtotle, It is the firſt or higheſt Orb? That Orb then muſt be a Spirit: And what Spirit before Chriſt the Firſt and Laſt? If his Humanity ceaſe, ſhall Angels ceaſe too? Or ſhall they be advanced ſo far above Chriſt as a Creature, as to Reign under God for ever when Chriſt is depoſed or extinct?
Obj. He is not depoſed, but his Created Nature will be ſwallowed up in the Deity.
Anſ. Intelligible ſenſe is ſwallowed up in ſuch inſignificant Metaphors. Is the Humane Nature turned into the Divine, and a Creature made the Godhead it ſelf? If not, what can you mean but Extinction or Annihilation?
Obj. But there was no uſe for a Mediator before the Fall, and and there will be none after.
Anſ. There was no uſe for his Recovering Government; and there will be none in perfect Glory: But there will be uſe for Chriſt's and his Body's glorious Fruition, and felicitating work, as the ſtate of Reward: There was no uſe for us before we had our Being; and yet we may have everlaſting life.
Obj. But the Kingdom it ſelf, and not only the Modus Regendi, will be given up, and Chriſt Subject and God all in all. And you ſay, the Kingdom continueth, and make two Kingdoms, when Scripture maketh but one.
Anſw. Is the Queſtion de Nomine, or de Re? If de Nomine only, take your liberty to call it One, or Two, or Three: If de Re, are not theſe real differences? 1. Between the Genus or Species Superior, and the Species Inferior or Specialiſſima: For in each ſenſe is the word [the Kingdom of God, Chriſt's Heaven] oft taken in Scripture.
2. Between the Governing of men as an Army, a School, a Hoſpital, the Governing them as meer Subjects (healed, taught, ſubdued.) 1. The ſtate of the Subjects is not the ſame 2. The Relation of the Ruler is not the ſame (a Captain, a Phyſician, and a Viceroy.) 3. The finis Relationis is not the ſame. 4. All the perſons are not the ſame (for Conqueſt deſtroyeth ſome Rebels.) 5. The Laws are not the ſame. 6. The Execution is not the ſame.
What is it then that you would have? Is it that Chriſt as a Creature ſhall ceaſe? Or that he ſhall have no power under the Deity? Who ſhall have it then? Doth not Scripture ſet him above Angels? Are they not his Miniſters? What Creature ſhall be over Chriſt? To ſay, There ſhall be no Kingdom, is to ſay, There ſhall be no God. To ſay, There ſhall be no Government under God as ſecond Cauſes, is to ſay, There ſhall be no World.
Obj. But why call you it two Kingdoms?
Anſ. Becauſe Scripture and all Divines do ſo. The Kingdom is taken from the Jews, and given to another Nation. The Kingdoms of the World are become the Kingdoms of Chriſt] And many ſuch Texts, ſpeak not of the Kingdom of endleſs glory.
Obj. But after the Reſurrection and Thouſand years there will be no Legiſlation, no Judgment, no Execution; therefore no Kingdom of Chriſt.
Anſ. You may as well ſay, [No Kingdom of God,] for you infer that or nothing. But a Law is nothing but the notification of the Rulers will to the Subject: And will not God make it our Duty to love and praiſe him? His face, yea and the face of Chriſt, will be a Law, or notification of our duty. Cannot God govern us by a perfect Law of Nature and Intuition? Shall we ſee God, and not know his Will? Yea, have Angels now ſo much work to do, rejoyce over men, and Saints ſhall judge the World, and ſhall we for ever have no work of Obedience, Love, Joy or Praiſe?
And there will be Executive Judgment of Rewards and Puniſhments for ever. The Rebels will not be annihilated: Their Worm dieth not. And it is Chriſt the Lamb that is ſaid to deſtroy them, and to bleſs the juſt. And this as Believers in Chriſt or Unbelievers, 2 Theſ. 1. 6, 9, 10, 11.
It is the ſad caſe of the Church, that even ſtudious Miniſters muſt have new Books written, to anſwer every doubt that ariſeth to them, and cannot anſwer them themſelves.
I conclude, that 1. Theſe men teach the Mahometans to vilifie Chriſt's Kingdom, and conſequently the King himſelf, as if when the ſinful Kingdom laſteth about ſix thouſand years, Chriſt's Glorious Sabbatical Kingdom ſhall laſt but one, and then for ever be ſpewed out with loathing as neither hot nor cold, but naked and miſerable.
2. That they tempt men to Paganiſm, and to take either the Stoicks Revolutions, or Ariſtotle's Eternity of the World as an Eternal Body and Effect of an Eternal Cauſe, to be better than the Goſpel.
And did I expound [Delivering up the Kingdom] as groſly as they; I would rather fall into Peter Sterry's way, that Chriſt hath three Natures, The Divine uniting it ſelf to the firſt and nobleſt Creature; and that prime Created Nature aſſuming the Humanity, and ſo ex Ordine Naturae as ſuperangelical, and ex Ordine Liberae Inſtitutionis, retaining the Humanity glorified by way of Reward, Ruling the World as the higheſt ſubordinate created Cauſe. I confeſs this would ſeem to accommodate us in expounding Heb. 1. Col. 2. &c. and to reconcile the Arrians to the Orthodox, if not to reconcile us to Ariſtotle, and them that think it unlikely, that God who now delighteth in his Creatures, ſhould have none from and to eternity, but Himſelf? if Chriſt had a middle created ſuperangelical Nature from. But we muſt not make Doctrines to accommodate us in our difficulties, eſpecially ſuch as the Church never commonly received. (Though I will not undertake to confute it.) But if I ſhould grant this Doctrine (that the Divine Eternal Word, produced creatures in different Order, and produced the higheſt creature ſo as to Unite it ſelf to it eminently as that by which he would make, or at leaſt operate on the Inferiour; and that this prime Creature at leaſt was God's Eternal Effect, and that this is either the Natura Mentalis in Genere, comprehending that of Angels and Men, or ſome higher Nature above both, and that the Word in this Nature united was it that appeared to Abraham, Moſes, &c. and after to Redeem Man aſſumed the Soul and Body of Man as a third Nature, by ſuch an Hypoſtatical Union, as I have deſcribed, cap. 3. in End of Controverſies.] I ſay, ſhould I grant them all this, I would never grant them againſt plain Scripture, that Chriſt's third Nature here received, dieth or ceaſeth after the Thouſand years, or that he continueth it Glorified to no uſe active or objective, and that he will not ſtill be the Mediator of Fruition.
Nor ſhall I believe that we Men (no nor Angels) ſhall have no Exiſtent Nature to Eternity, but what we had from Eternity in duration.
Or if their laſt Argument would hold, that [eternal, and everlaſting, and for ever and without End] in the Promiſe, did mean but [a long time] as it doth oft in the Old Teſtament, I ſhould leave this long time as known only to God (and all that ſhould follow;) and not confine it, and all Chriſt's Humane Reign in Glory, to a Thouſand years, upon ſo unconcluding an Evidence, as one only obſcure Text, Rev. 20. which may clearly be proved to have no ſuch ſenſe.
The Lord inlighten us.
FINIS.
End of the text · Richard Baxter, Reply Against the Doctrine of the Thousand Years Middle Kingdom (1691)