ul sayes (Rom. 1.16,17.) "The Gospel is the power of God to
Salvation to every one that beleeveth; To the Jew first, and also to the
Greek. For therein is the righteousnesse of God revealed from faith to
faith;" from the faith of the Jew, to the faith of the Gentile. In
the like sense the Prophet Joel describing the day of Judgment, (chap.
2.30,31.) that God would "shew wonders in heaven, and in earth, bloud,
and fire, and pillars of smoak. The Sun should be turned to darknesse,
and the Moon into bloud, before the great and terrible day of the Lord
come," he addeth verse 32. "and it shall come to passe, that whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. For in Mount Zion,
and in Jerusalem shall be Salvation." And Obadiah verse 17 saith
the same, "Upon Mount Zion shall be Deliverance; and there shall be
holinesse, and the house of Jacob shall possesse their possessions,"
that is, the possessions of the Heathen, which possessions he expresseth
more particularly in the following verses, by the Mount of Esau, the
Land of the Philistines, the Fields of Ephraim, of Samaria, Gilead, and
the Cities of the South, and concludes with these words, "the Kingdom
shall be the Lords." All these places are for Salvation, and the
Kingdome of God (after the day of Judgement) upon Earth. On the other
side, I have not found any text that can probably be drawn, to prove
any Ascension of the Saints into Heaven; that is to say, into any Coelum
Empyreum, or other aetheriall Region; saving that it is called the
Kingdome of Heaven; which name it may have, because God, that was King
of the Jews, governed them by his commands, sent to Moses by Angels from
Heaven, to reduce them to their obedience; and shall send him thence
again, to rule both them, and all other faithfull men, from the day of
Judgment, Everlastingly: or from that, that the Throne of this our Great
King is in Heaven; whereas the Earth is but his Footstoole. But that the
Subjects of God should have any place as high as his throne, or higher
than his Footstoole, it seemeth not sutable to the dignity of a King,
nor can I find any evident text for it in holy Scripture.
From this that hath been said of the Kingdom of God, and of Salvation,
it is not hard to interpret, what is meant by the WORLD TO COME. There
are three worlds mentioned in Scripture, the Old World, the Present
World, and the World to Come. Of the first, St. Peter speaks, (2 Pet.
2.5.) "If God spared not
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