A history of the work of redemption. Containing the outlines of a body of…

Each of those comings of Christ is accompanied with a terrible destruction of the wicked, and the enemies of the church: the first with the destruction of the persecuting Jews, which was amazingly terrible; the second, with dreadful judgements on the Heathen persecutors of the church, of which more hereafter; the third, with the awful destruction of Antichrist▪ the most cruel and bitter enemy that ever the church had; the fourth, with divine wrath and vengeance on all the ungodly.

Further, there is in each of these comings of Christ an ending of the old heavens and the old earth, and a beginning of new heavens and a new earth; or an end of a temporal state of things, and a beginning of an eternal state.

3. I would observe, that each of those four great dispensations which are represented as Christ's coming in his kingdom, are but so many steps and degrees of the accomplishment of one event. ⟨p. 179⟩They are not the setting up of so many distinct kingdoms of Christ; they are all of them only several degrees of the accomplishment of that one even prophesied of, D•n. vii.13.14. "And I •aw in the night visions, and behold, one l•ke the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought […] near before him. And there was given him domini••, […] glory▪ and a […], that all people, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion •nd his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." This is what the Jews expected, and called "the coming of the kingdom of heaven;" and what John the Baptist and Christ had respect to, when they said, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." This great event is gradually accomplished, or is accomplished, by several steps. Those four great events which have been mentioned, were several steps towards the accomplishment of this grand event.