The Christian Doctrine of the Day of Judgment, Title page – To the reader
THE UNIVERSAL Chriſtian Doctrine OF THE Day of Iudgment: Applied to the Doctrine of the Thouſand Years Kingdom of Chriſt. (Herein Guided by Mr. BAXTER's Reply) To Vindicate It from all Objections. Shewing as is the One, ſo is the Other; (VIZ.) His Judging the Quick and the Dead; and His Appearing, and His Kingdom. Which, ſeeing it muſt have ſome Duration, the Scripture 1000 Years, is on Great Proof Preferr'd By THOMAS BEVERLEY, An humble Miniſter of that Kingdom.
II. PET. III. 7, 8.
—The Day of Judgment, and of the Perdition of ungodly men. But Beloved, be not ignorant of this One Thing, That one Day is with the Lord as a Tbouſand Years, &c.
LONDON, Printed in the Year 1691.
The Preface TO THE READER.
BEcauſe Many will Deign to Read a Preface, that will not a Book; I ſhall take Freedom to give a Proſpect of the Whole in a Preface: And firſt, I am very Senſible my Lot of Diſcourſe, is fallen on ſuch Ground, that each Point muſt be Disputed for; not Adorn'd, nor Simply Taught; but Argued, and Won, as it were by Inches; And which much Increaſes the Difficulty, The Land of Promiſe, as the Map of it lies in Scripture, is not in any Entire Table, but in ſeveral ſmaller Lines variouſly Planted, which muſt be Transplanted and laid Together.
And Who is Sufficient for ſuch a Thing, as a Teacher? And as for Hearers, They are not only Ʋnteachable, or Dull of Hearing, but are Prejudic'd, and Cry out againſt this Heritage of the Lord, as a Speckled Bird: Some call ſuch a Diſcourſe Whimſie, Ʋnintelligible Non-ſenſe, Fooliſhneſs; To other Graver Chriſtians, and even Teachers: It is a Scandal, an Offence, full of Cauſes of Objection; And even to many more Favourable, unintelligible Myſtery; Plain Things, ſay they, are more Profitable: But none of theſe Things move Me, that I ſhould not Take heed to Fulfil this Miniſtery, I have Received of the Lord.
I intend this Small Tract, not ſo much as a Rejoynder to Mr. Baxter's Reply upon my Anſwer; For, who am I, that I ſhould maintain a Controverſie with ſo Honoured, Able, and Faithful a Miniſter of Jeſus Chriſt? I only with Thankfulneſs take Advice from Him, what Points to Clear, what to Guard, what Advantage to take for Defence; And had I not found ſome Arugments, which I have not propos'd, or not fully urg'd before; and ſo fit a Medium or Inſtrument of Conveyance of this Doctrine, as the Parallel between it, and the Ʋniverſally receiv'd Article of Faith; Chriſt's coming to Judge the Quick and the Dead at his Kingdom; (which muſt needs be a middle Kingdom,) I had been ſilent; Nor ſhall I think of opening my Mouth any further in this Point, till I find ſomething Objected; which, what I have now ſaid, if Duly Conſider'd, will not Anſwer, which, I am much in hope cannot be; For to be Conſcious to have ſaid, what can be ſpoken by One, even as an Oath, ought to conclude One, and on Ones own part to be an End of All Strife; Of ſmall Queſtions and Exceptions, I know there is no End: And I muſt confeſs with Thanksgiving to God, and with Subordinate Thankfulneſs to Mr. Baxter; On His ſo often Naming a Middle Kingdom by way of Objection, it was as it were by a Divine Prompting ſaid to me; This Notion of a Middle Kingdom, which the Day of Judgment must needs be, and which I have long ſince underſtood the ſame with the Kingdom, is the Key of this Great Myſtery; and ſo I have Found it, and am ſo Fully ſatisfied in it; Even above, all I have written before; that I am at perfect Peace, and will Contend no more; I can look on any further Objection, but as the Talk of Looſers: For I am ſure, ſuch an Appearance of the Kingdom of Chriſt, as the Day of Judgment is, or ſuch a Return with the Kingdom Receiv'd, as Luke 19. 15. or a Coming not [into] as is to Loſs, Tranſlated, Chap. 23. 43. but according to all Scripture Language [in his Kingdom] muſt needs be in the Middle between the Kingdom of Chriſt hitherto, and to Eternity; And it muſt have a Space of duration defined, for It is not Eternal, All Acknowledge; I therefore preferr only the Scriptures naming a 1000 Years, with ſuch Apparences of that Time, and according to the ſo Known Axiom of the Jews, the People of God before the New Teſtament; The Day of Judgment ſhall be a 1000 Years.
It is evident alſo from the Article Founded on 2 Tim. 4 1. Chriſt Judges the Quick, or Living, even as the Dead at his Appearing and Kingdom, There must be Saints Rais'd, and Saints, The Living, The Remaining, of which I Treat according to Scripture Guidance, as by 1 Theſſ. 4. 17.
The New Heaven, and the New Earth, muſt needs be at the ſame Time New, by ſuch a Luſtre of Chriſt's Appearance, the Sun of Rig…teouſneſs; Even as the Heavens and Earth are, as it were, New to us every Summer by the Suns Return; And it is no more, then Go… intended in his Firſt Creation, ſuch a Glory of it: And I cannot but Give, Eſay. 45. 18. in ſomewhat a differing Tranſlation, but ſuch as I ſuppoſe the Original will well Bear, to this purpoſe; upon naming the Salvation of Iſrael as an Everlaſting Salvation, World without end; It follows, Thus ſaith the Lord, that Created the Heavens, that Formed the Earth; He hath Eſtabliſhed it, He Created it, not (ſaith the Tranſlation [in vain] ſay I out of the Hebrew, for a [Tohu] ſuch an Inanity of Glory, as It is now; He Formed it, [to be Inhabited] ſaith the Tranſlation; ſay I, according to the Hebrew, [for the Sabbath] even this Great Sabbatiſm, wherein Jehovah ſhall be one, his Name one, none elſe, no Idols Name any more for ever. And then ſhall He Appear that Infinite Foreknower, declaring the End from the Beginning, that He may be known to be God.
And by All Theſe Things, I hope Mr. Baxter will be ſatisfied concerning the Specificneſs of this Kingdom, Beginning with a Judgment, and ending with a Judgment, and its entire middle Space, an Appearance according to that Judgment, viz. of the Saints in the Glory of the Reſtitution of All Things by the Second Adam, the Redeemer, the Reſtorer of all the Ruins of the Firſt Adam; and an Appearance of the Wicked in Shame and Contempt; and both theſe for the 1000 Y. Receiving what they have done, in Body before the Tribunal of Chriſt; Now All will Acknowledge as this Kingdom hath not been yet; So it ſhall not be for ever, but be deliver'd up; Here therefore is a perfect Specification, except Specification be an unknown School-Term.
I Know in ſome Things, I differ from that Sweet, as well as moſt Judicious, and Pious Writer Mr. Increaſe Mather, as Appears by his Accurate diſcourſe; De Signo Filii Hominis, or of the Sign of the Son of Man. I ſhould be moſt Glad by Friendlieſt Conference, or entercourſe of Letters to conciliate; as concerning a Scripture-Line of Time to this State, concerning Chriſt having his Palace of Glory, not on this New Earth, but in the New Heaven, concerning the Wicked Dead Rais'd; In which Points I perceive my Self to differ from Him, but as I Hope on Great Scripture Grounds.
Now to Conclude All; This Kingdom is the Great Practical Doctrine, which, when It ſhall be Ʋniverſally Preach'd by the Everlaſting Goſpel, ſhall Bring in all the World, Jews, and Gentiles to Christ; And beſides the Bleſſed Effuſions of the Spirit, that ſhall go along with it, How muſt it needs in Reaſon prevail! For what would the Great Value and purchaſe of, but a 100 Years in the Vigors, and All Affluences of Life be, and in ſuch a Heaven and Earth, as are now, and if Men were ſo enclin▪d, in all wiſe, and vertuous Converſes?
Of what Ineſtimable Value then to every ſerious Conſiderer, even now, the offer of ſo much a Higher, and Longer 1000 Y. of Life, as is propos'd on ſo Great Scripture Grounds? How may it ſatisfie that Appetite, Implanted by Creation into our Natures, which is that very Olam, or World ſet by God in the Heart of Man. Eccl…ſ. 3 11. the Deſire to ſee the Glory of God in his Viſibly Glorious Creation, for a perfect Duration of Time?
But how much ſtronger will the Impreſſion be upon an Enlightned, Convinced, Awaken'd World under that Everlaſting Goſpel Preach'd? when that ſhall be Fully declar'd, and …liev'd, that Few will now Believe, though it be never ſo plainly Told Them; In the mean Time, ſeeing we All profeſs to Believe Fully the Apoſtle Peter▪s Doctrine of Looking for New Heavens, and a New Earth according to his Promiſe, wherein Righteouſneſs ſhall dwell. Let us Reſolve what Manner of Perſons we ought to be in all that Holineſs, and Godlineſs of Converſation; and let us Grow in Grace, and the Knowledge of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt beyond the Beginnings of his Doctrine, Going on to Perfection, and ſo unravel the Apoſtaſie, where it Began in not ſo doing; and above all, Let us Give All Dilligence, that we may be Found of him in Peace without S…ot, and Blameleſs, and by Him be ſo Preſented before the Preſence of his Glory.
And let us conſider, the Day is near Approaching; Concerning the Truth of which, I make Appeal to Him, to ſhow by his Arm made bare in unqueſtionable Evidence of Fact, and Event, every Thing in its proper Time; And I am now waiting at this Time, when the Kings are preparing to Go out to War for a Dawn of th… Morning Star on the Suffering Witneſſes of the yet Afflicted Thyatyra, the French and Vaudois; and that the Rod of Iron ſhould begin to Break t…at Potters Veſſel, whom patience hath yet ſpar▪d from being a foreign, (for what ends will be ſeen,) who with a more then Herodian Inſolence, and Cruelty, hath n… only let Reſt on Him, as Herod, but even Hunted for ſuch Attributions, as to a God, and not to a Man, and ſo Inhumanely Vex'd ſo many of the Church of Chriſt, to pleaſe a Sacrilegiouſly Flattering Jeſuitic Order. Now to the only wiſe God be Glory for ever, Amen.