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A40762 A sober inquiry, or, Christs reign with his saints a thousand years, modestly asserted from Scripture together with the answer of most of those ordinary objections which are usually urged to the contrary. I. F. 1660 (1660) Wing F26; ESTC R5515 86,615 187

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those very souls was promised after the number of these Martyrs should be compleated what they cry for and is here fulfilled should be done v. 11. And it was said unto them that they should rest for a little season till their fellow-servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled The expression here is very curious and such as is worthy diligently to be minded for the Holy Ghost hath here linked together souls and men to shew that by those souls he meant men as also the faithful of the second period with the first to shew that both shall live and reign with Christ now in this third period 4. By the name of Martyrs also by a Synecdoche are here understood all the faithful dead in Christ who here and often elsewhere especially in the Prophets are decribed as it were killed for Christ Whence also they are wont to be called Christs dead body Esay 26.19 Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise So Paul writes of all the faithful Rom 8.36 For thy sake we are killed all the day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter And of all the faithful it is spoken Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead which die in or for the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea more those whom Paul had called dead in Christ 1 Thes 4.16 And the dead in Christ shall rise first A little before viz. verse 14. He had called them dead for Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per vel propter Christum who sleep through or for Jesus Hence he is not only said to come with ten thousands of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all Jude 14. with ten thousand times ten thousand Dan. 7.10 But also with ALL his Saints Zac. 14.5 And the Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Omnes Sancti tecum Christe vel tecum pro cum eo Hebraeo more So that as I said by the name of Martyrs or slain all the faithful dead in Christ are here understood All the Saints come with him 5. Certainly all the faithful are in very deed killed for Christ and therefore Martyrs if not in the thing done or in the effect yet at least in affection and firm purpose of minde Therefore Christ saith Luke 14.26 If any man come to me non odit animam suam and doth not hate his own life i. e in comparison of me and if ever I and it come in competition be willing to lay it down for me he cannot be my disciple To conclude then by Souls reigning with Christ are meant all the faithful dead in Christ Concerning whom the Apostle Paul thus speaks 2 Tim. 2.11 12. If we be dead with him we shall also live with him if we suffer we shall also reign with him unto which words John seems to have respect here when he saith They lived and reigned with Christ But so that brings me and I come next to the handling of the third thing proposed Qu 3 What is this life and reign of the Saints with Christ a thousand years Answ The Text saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And ver 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years And they shall reign with him a thousand years This life of the souls of them that were beheaded seems to be no other then the life of the body which they did lay down in the death of the body and which now in the Resurrection they receive again no more to die the death of the body Certainly this life cannot be meant of life spiritual in opposition to death spiritual or death in sin because it is the life of those that were beheaded to whom it is not granted after death to rise from sin Besides lived here is all one with the Resurrection here spoken of v. 6. They lived that is they rose again to life Which that it is meant of a corporal and not of a spiritual Resurrection there are in the Text Arguments for the one and against the other And first these Arguments in the Text offer themselves for it viz. 1. Because John speaks of the souls of them that were beheaded that is of those that were slain or dead in body And he saith they lived that is they lived again but the dead in body live not again but by a Resurrection from the death of the body The Argument may be thus framed The Resurrection of the dead in body is the Resurrection of the body Mat. 22.31 Mark 12.26 Acts 23.6 Acts 24.21 1 Cor. 15.12 But the first Resurrection is the Resurrection of the dead in bodys for it is the Resurrection of those that were beheaded Ergo it is of the body 2. The Text speaks of such a Resurrection wherein men live a thousand years after they be raised which cannot agree to any other life or resurrection but the life and resurrection of the body Ergo this resurrection is a bodily resurrection 3. Such a resurrection is meant as hapneth to the rest of the dead after the thousand years are ended who lived not again ti●l the thousand years were finished ver 5. which shall be of the body Ergo this resurrection is of the body also 4. The men that were beheaded must so live during the thousand years as the rest of the dead lived not all that whi●e But the rest of the dead lived all that while in soul separated from the body Therefore the men that were beheaded must live all that while in soul joyned to the body 5. The men that were beheaded must so live at the first resurrection as the rest of the dead shall at the second resurrection but the rest of the dead shall live in body and soul too at the second resurrection therefore the men that were beheaded shall live in body and soul too at the first resurrection But they cannot be said to live in their bodies unlesse they be raised from their graves therefore the first resurrection is of the body from the grave But thus we see that the Te●t it self affords us Arguments to prove that this resurrection is a corporal or bodily resurrection It will also secondly afford and yield arguments to prove that it is not a spiritual resurrection as 1. John was not called upon from Heaven to behold that which he and every Christian new before or to have Tautologies told him For if by resurrection should be meant regeneration as som would have it he knew and so did every Christian before that such were blessed And according to that interpretation the words sound no more but this Blessed and holy is he that hath part in holinesse which were but aharsh Tautologie 2. This spiritual resurrection did begin in Adom after his fall and hath continued ever since and shall to the worlds end But the first resurrection here spoken of did not begin in
divided hate and devour hurt and destroy one another I leave it saith that Reverend mystery Searcher Mr. Mede to the judgment of learned men and men well able to judge in such like mysteries in Divinity whether this be not the best and easiest way to deal with the Jewes not to wrest those plain Prophesies touching things appertaining to this last and glorious coming of Christ to his first coming for while we do so the Jewes laugh and scorn at us and are hardened in their infidelity The Apostle Peter takes this course to convert the Jews Acts 3.19 Repent saith he and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord And he shall send Jesus Christ which was preached unto you whom the Heavens must receive until the times of the restitution of all things of which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy Prophets since the world begun 4. Because unlesse this opinion of Christs Millenary Kingdom and reign with his Saints a thousand years be granted and received nothing of certainty can be brought concerning the true and genuine sense of the 20th chapter of the Revelation and that in the 7. of Daniel and many other of the Texts before named wherein a mans Conscience can safely rest Which amongst some others Pareus himself confesseth who saith the more he studied it the lesse he found out whereby to untie the knot which had so tortured all Interpreters only this he saith he found that it is more easie to tell what this thousand years are not then what they are And a little after he saith I do not therefore here promise you that after all others I shall so untie this knot of a thousand years as to satisfie all men in this Millenary Reign of the Martyrs and Saints with Christ The Reason is given by a learned Writer because he left the letter of the Text and did turn the whole discourse to an Allegorical sense without any sufficient reason or necessity at all It hath doubtlesse been the unhappy fate of many by their learning in their Expositions to make plain Scriptures dark and difficult texts far more difficult then before 5. Because it seems altogether unreasonable to go about to in●erpret that whole place in the 20. chapter of the Revelation figuratively because of one or two figurative expressions in it which yet have an ea●te explication without any figure In a plain ●●●●ence we may somtimes meet with one trope or other but it doth not therefore necessarily follow that all and every word in the sentence must be so taken nor is that reasonable Propter unius verbi translationem nen totus locus figuratè accipiendur est saith Austin Neither indeed is this Prophesie of a thousand years propoled under representations and pictures as many others are in the Apocalyps but it is declared in as clear and elegant word as you can posibly imagine be it by the Holy Ghost never so really meant 6. Because this Interpretation of a thousand years after the Armageddon battel and the d●struction of Antichrist in Christs second coming doth best agree with all those Scriptures which speak or this subject which consider a long tract of time in it as well as in his first-coming as was shewed before Now we are not to think that because the Lord Jesus Christ shall come as a Thief or like the L'ghtning that therefore he shall presently like a thief or like the lightning vanish or disappear Nor because his second coming is joyned with the final Resurrection and last Judgment properly and strictly so called therefore they shall be done presently together and all at once but every thing shall be fulfilled in its own order and time In a processe of time sensibly and by degrees will the Lord proceed in the restitution of all things after the same manner as his proceeding was in the Creation of all things though he could have created all things in one and the same moment God will never huddle his works on helps 7. Because to interpret the first Resurrection of a piritual resurrection from sin is altogether new and unheard of and unknown to all Orthodox Antiquity and that almost till Austins time And was first of all found out by Tyconius the Donatist of whom Austin borrowed it whom afterward Primasius followed Gregory and others Yea they that deny this Interpretation deny that which was of old denied by the Hereticks against the Orthodox as it doth plainly appear from Justin Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew which Dialogue is set down at large by Mr. Mede at the latter end of his Commentary upon the Revelation whither I refer the Reader But to clear the thing beyond doubt Consider that though the death in sin may be called a death yet it is not nor any wherein Scripture called the death either first or second if that death in sin be the death then it is the first death and the Life of Grace the first Resurrection and then all that have a part in this should be freed from the second death which second death by this reckoning must be the death of the body but that we see is false for the godly die the death of the body as well as the wicked Therefore let us give way to the plain truth which is in a word thus The first death is the death of the body or a bodily death the second death is the death of the soul or the soules everlasting punishment in Hell And the first Resurrection or the first order in the Resurrection for I speak not here of Christ and those that arose then is the Resurrection of the body or a bodily Resurrection of the Saints and they that have part in this are none but such as are holy and by this their being within the Compass of the first order in the Resurrection or being raised in the first Resurrection they are beyond all fear of condemnation in hell which is the second death Therefore the Text says Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath no power which Resurrection as we see cannot be meant of the life of grace but must be meant of that corporal Resurrection which is opposed to a bodily death or the death of the body and not to the death in sin 8. Because although Christs Oeconomical or Mediatory Kingdom is but one in regard of its essential forme yet it is indeed twofold in respect of its accidental forme For Christs Kingdom which is humble low and cometh not with observation and is much accompanied with the Crosse and persecuted according to his first coming which was humble and low to his very passion is one thing And his glorious Kingdom is another which comes with observation as lightning shining upon the earth and in great peace and security according to the nature and condition of his
day of Judgment when the thousand years are ended That an houre is thus taken for time in general appears Rev. 11.13 The same houre was a great Earthquake i e. A Kingdom quake a Nation quake And the tenth part of the City fell which no man will understand of the same twenty fourth part of the same individual day but of time in this general acceptation 2. We are to put a difference between the last day in general and the last day in special Now what is the last day in general but the great day of Judgment at the dawning of which the thousand years we speak of shall begin and then the godly shall rise In the evening of which day the thousand years shall end and the wicked one shall rise and not before But if we speak of the last day in special it may have another day or another year to follow after it acoording as the day or year is that we speak of As suppose we speak of the last day of this world it hath a day and a year and another word to succeed it Mat. 12.32 The world to come Eph. 1.21 Heb. 2.5 As the old world of which St. Peter speaks had 2 Pet. 2.5 with 2 Pet. 3.6 But if we speak of the last day of the next world it is the ultimate day of all or the last day under the Sun and hath no day to succeed it but eternity And here we are to take notice the thousand years we speak of are in the world to come And in the last day of this world shall be the resurrection of the just And in the last day of the next world shall be the resurrection of the wicked And further we are to know that in those two places of John viz. John 11.24 and 6.4 where the last day is spoken of there is mention only of the resurrection of the just no mention at all of the resurrection of the wicked and therefore it may be supposed they are left out because they shall not be raised up at that time but be stayed till afterwards 3. We are to put a difference between one moment and another and we say the moment in which the just shall be changed is the begining of the thousand years and the moment in which the wicked shall be raised is the end of the thousand years Furthermore by the word moment and twinkling of an eye is meant the suddenness of the change and not the time when it shall be And we also the Apostle speaks not of the wicked but of the just only and why should they be left out if that were their time of raising or changing but we see by other Seriptures that they shall have another time Obj. 5 The Saints shall be caught up from the Earth to meet the Lord in the aire 1 Thes 4 16. How then can they reign with Christ on the earth Answ This will prove no impediment at all these things being well considered 1. When Christ ascended up to Heaven it is not to be doubted but the Angels met him by the way what man will say they did not return to heaven with him 2. It is the custome when the Judges ride the Circuit whither they intend to come the Sheriffs and Justices ride to meet them and to accompany the Judges to the place of judicature And no other is the case here When Christ is coming to the Earth the Saints shall be caught up to meet him in the aire when they have so done they return back and go with him to the Earth from whence they came 3. It is not said that Christ shall come from Heaven to meet the Saints such a speech would imply that they are about to go to Heaven with Christ and that Christ came to meet them in the way and to bring them thither but the text faith the Saints shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air this speech doth imply that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming from Heaven to Earth and the Saints meet him by the way and return with him to the Earth whence they came and he is going 4. Lastly unless the Saints did meet him in the aire and return with him to the Earth Christ should not stand at the Latter day upon the Earth as Job saith he shall Job 19.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 novissimo super pulverem staturum i.e. I know that at or in the last he shall stand on the dust That is at the last day he shall stand on the dust of the Earth which the most certain and literal expressions the Hebrews have for that purpose Neither else could Christ come with all his Saints as the Scripture saith he shall Zach. 14 5. And the Lord my God shall come and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnes sancti tecum all his Saints with thee Or which is all one he shall come with thee and all the Saints So 1 Thes 3.13 At the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints So 1 Thes 4.14 Those which sleep in Jesus Christ will God bring with him And whether will God bring them with him but to the Earth whence they were caught to meet him Object 6 Of what quality the first death is of that quality the first resurrection is But the first death was a spiritual death or death of the soul in sin and from hence followed the second death which is the death of the body Answ 1 If the first death be a spiritual death what shall we call the death of the body shall we call it the second death as this Objection doth and as in order it follows that which is here called a death or shall it be called a third death The second death it cannot be for that is of the soul and body in hell and every of the Saints escape that Rev. 20.6 On such the second death hath no power But the Saints escape not the death of the body The third death it cannot be for we read in Scripture of no such death it remaineth then that the death of the body is the first death is the death of the body as well as the death in Hell the second 2. We must distinguish between death properly taken and improperly taken The first death properly taken is the death of the body and the first resurrection properly taken is the resurrection of the body Now John speaks of death properly taken and not of the other and of the resurrection properly taken and not of the other As appears by this that this resurrection is such to the godly first as it is to the wicked afterward which is a proper resurrection 3. We are to distinguish between death visible and invisible The first death visible is the death of the body And the first visible resurrection is the resurrection of the body Now the Apostle John speaks of death visible and of a resurrection visible and not invisible and therefore he hath it in a vision
Nations of them that are saved who are mortal and eat and drink and have Kings and Ordinances and marry and have children and their children are all taught of God And many will be converted to God within the thousand years all these walk in the light of the New Jerusalem and these Kings bring their glory and honour to it and take directions from it And then when the thousand years are ended comes the battel of Gog and Magog and the last and general Judgment then sounds the last Trumpet which is as I said before the Trumpet of consummation as the other was of the initiation of that great day and they that are then found alive shall be changed as before and Christ makes an end of his Kingdom after the separation sentence and execution delivering up the Kingdom to the father that God may be all in all thenceforth for ever This Answer if I be not deceived cuts the ham-strings of this objection if it self be good and there are but two things I think to be cleared to make it passeable 1. That the Rapture of the Saints 2. That the Trumpets are such as in this predication they are said to be a word therefore to these 1. This Rapture of the Saints that are alive at Christs coming must be I think in the beginning of the thousand years for they shall meet the Lord in the aire which cannot be meant of the end of the thousand years for then Christ is on the Earth with them so that although 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first and then may admit a great distance of time as Mr. Mede saith in his first answer to this objection yet I see not how it can do so here And if as he saith in his fourth Answer this Rapture should be to preserve the Saints from that great Conflagration of the Earth and the works thereof 2 Pet. 3.10 that is also held to be in the beginning of the thousand years in the Armageddon battel before the New Heavens and New Earth And that this Rapture should be without their change and stating in immortality I think hardly any man will say for they are thenceforth ever with the Lord on Earth during the thousand years and in Heaven ever afterwards Ergo they neither marry nor multiplie nor die any more but are as the Angels and therefore are nore of the Nations that are said to be saved and walk in the light of the New Jerusalem Rev. 21.24 2. But the greatest question will be about the two Trumpets the one of initiation or inchoation of the thousand years the other of consummation in the end of the thousand years or rather some time after Rev. 20.9 to wit when Gog and Magog's attempts are over and their armies burnt with the fire that falls from Heaven and consumes them for then doth the last Trumpet sound Now that this is so I humbly offer what follows for the clearing of it 1. Because all the dead are said to be raised at the sound of the Trumpet now as we have already heard they are raised at two distinct different times therefore there must be two distinct and different trumpets for otherwise some should be raised with the sound of the trumpet and the rest without which I think hardly any man will affirm or grant 2. Because the text tells us 1 Thes 4.16 1 Cor. 15.52 of a trumpet and the last trumpet which seem to be distinguished one from another for the last trumpet must necessarily be understood in opposition to a former of the som kind and wheras some have taken this last trump to be the seventh Apocalyptick trumpet Rev. 11.15 and so called the last in opposition to the former six that cannot be because those are judicial trumpets but these are of another kind and have a distinct use and end from the former Object 18 Our Creed speaks but of one Resurrection not of two Answ 1 So the Creed speaks but of one forgiveness of sins not of two and yet one man hath his finnes forgiven before another so it speaks of but one eternal life not of two or ten or many yet one man enters into eternal life before another and indeed every man in his own order so that if there were as many eternal lives distinct one from another as there is orders or distinct times of entring into the same we must reckon not one or two or ten but many thousands so it is with the resurrection of the dead one man dies before another and one man riseth before another 2. The Church of Christ in her Primitive and purest state taught this without doubt that the resurrection of the body is but once and one and yet in these parts viz. of the just in their place and order then of the unjust after in their place and order or at the Apostle phraseth it 1 Cor. 15.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one in his own order 3. All men die but once yet all men do not die at once So all men rise but once yet all men do not rise at once but some at one time some at another 4. When we speak of the first and second resurrection of the body we mean it either of one body or of divers if but of one body there is but one resurrection and no more But if we speak of divers bodies whereof one sort is good the other bad and compare th●● together and ask the question which 〈◊〉 rise first the Answer must be the good sh●●● rise first and have their part in the first re●ur rection and the bad shall not arise until the second resurrection The rest of the dead lived not again till the one thousand years were ended Object 19 A spiritual resurrection is before the corporal and every soul riseth spiritually from the death of sin before he riseth corporally from the Grave therefore the spiritual resurrection is the first and the corporal resurrection from the Grave is the second Answ 1 If the spiritual resurrection be the first then why doth Paul say the dead in Christ shall rise first he should have said the dead in Christ shall rise second for a spiritual resu●● rection was before it 2. Though a spiritual resurrection be in som sense before a corporal yet it is never called the first resurrection in all the Scripture that title belongs to the resurrection of the body and no other 3. We may distinguish in this case between a resurrection properly and improperly so called the first resurrection properly so called is of the body though a spiritual resurrection improperly and only analogically so called precede and go before it 4. The first resurrection is so called not ab●olutely but comparatively and that not in reject of one body but divert bodies Take one and the same body as for instance Peters and ask the question what resurrection did befall him first a spiritual resurrection or a corporal the answer is a spiritual
visibly represented to him Object To do a thing with Christ doth not imply his personal presence with us but in Scripture phrase we may be said to do a thing with Christ which we either do for Christ or by his assistance or do a thing that Christ did before us though himself be not personally present with us As Rom. 8.18 If we suffer doth not imply that no man can suffer but be must have Christ personally present with him on the Earth to suffer with him No! that cannot be the meaning but we suffer with Christ though we be on the Earth and he in Heaven because we suffer for him and by his assistance and suffer the same things he suffered before us So this phrase of reigning with Christ doth not imply Christs personal abode with us but only the doing of a thing or enjoyment of a thing for Christs sake or the doing of that which he now doth though in another place or the doing of that which he did before us Answ For a man to do a thing with Christ before death doth not imply Christs personal presence with him in the doing of it but for a man to do a thing with Christ after death doth imply Christ is personally present with him at the doing of it As that very text quoted in the objection doth sufficiently declare viz. Ro. 8.17 If we suffer with him we shall be glorified with him the former clause if we suffer with him is spoken of a man before death and doth not imply that a man is personally present with him when he suffers But the latter clause we shall be glorified with him is meant of a man after death and doth imply that a man is personally present with him when he is glorified together with him So likewise for a man to live with Christ before death doth not imply the personal presence of Christ the reason is because before death we are absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5.6 But for the Saints to live and reign with Christ after death yea after the resurrection of their bodies this doth imply Christ is personal present with them where they so reign and the reason is because after death they are ever with the Lord and never absent from him As the Scripture testifier John 14.3 That where I am there ye may be also John 17.24 Father I will that they also whom thou bast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me Phil. 1.23 I desire to depart and to be with Christ 1 Thes 4.17 And so shall we ever be with the Lord. 2 Tim. 2.12 We shall also reign with him Therefore seeing the Saints are said to live and reign with Christ and are not Saints Militant or the Saints before death but Saints triumphant or Saints after death as hath appeared before it follows that Christ is personally present with them so living and reigning Object 8 This opinion dispeoples Heaven of all the antient glorious inhabitants thereof and that for no less then a thousand years togegether Ans 1 Are not the Angels the inhabitants of Heaven in the time of the thousand years and yet they shall be on the Earth somtime too John 1.52 Verily I say unto you hereafter you shall see Heaven open and the Angels of God ascending and DESCENDING upon the Son of man which words have a special reference unto the time of the thousand years when Christ shall be on the Earth 2. How many souls were in Heaven before Abel came thither So many shall there be when the thousand years begin and while they are 〈…〉 many shall be left in Heaven when 〈…〉 ●●●ement shall begin and be so 〈…〉 when the thousand years shall 〈…〉 and no more for they are one and 〈…〉 Object 9 This opinion implys a threefold coming of Christ the first when he came to take flesh the second when he comes to take receive and enter upon his kingdom the third when he shall come to judge to conclude and end the world Answ This opinion owns but two comings of Christ and as the Scripture so this opinion knows no more The first at his Incarnation The second at this Great day of Judgment the third I know nor for the thousand years are durante currente die judicii the day of Judgement continuing and running on His first coming 〈◊〉 but one and takes into it all neither the meaning of those texts nor can the world bring any such thing to pass 3. Both those forecited texts are to be understood with intermination Now God will have the thousand years to be a time of perfect and compleat intermination to the New Jerusalem or camp of the Saints For the Tabernacle of God shall be with them and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be among them no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain Rev. 2●●● 〈…〉 also be a time of far more per●●● 〈…〉 intermination to the other 〈…〉 in a state of mortality and are 〈…〉 21.24 the. Nations that are saved and walk in the light of it then ever the sun saw or the people of God enjoyed before Now that those texts are to be as I said understood with intermination is manifest by that rest which sometime the Church had As Acts 9.31 Then had the Churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Sa●a●ia c. So also in Solomons time 1 Kings 4 25. whose peaceful time was a type of the peace rest and quiet we are speaking of we see what an abundance of quiet they injoyed for the text saith Judah an● Israel dwelt safely every man under his vine and under his figtree from Dan even to Beersheba all the days of Solomon It such were the peace of Solomon who was but a type what is like to be the peace of the Church under the antitype who is a King as of Righteousness so of peace as it is said of Melchizedeck another type 4. Tribulation is not essential to the Earth but accidental only and if Christ be pleased to make that a place of happiness to the saints which is now a place of misery let no mans eye be evil because Christs is good 5. What is meant by the Earth in this question Not the Earth unreformed and unrenewed but reformed and renewed as it shall be at the day of Judgement The former is a place of misery procured by the 〈◊〉 Adam the second is a place of happiness for that time procured by the second Adam Jesus Christ Object 12 The reign of this Saints everlasting in Heaven therefore it is not temporary upon the Earth as this opinion implys Math. 5.10 2 Tim. 4.18 Answ The reign of the Saints is in both places though not at one and the same time but at distinct and diverse times succeeding one another 1 If we speak of the time before the day of Judgment the souls of the