it as you may observe it doth in ver 15 18 19. but here there is no such thing expressed therefore it is so to be understood and the Apostles words to be construed to this sense Wherefore it is or the case is here as it was in Adam as by one man sin entered into the world c. there imputation so here The second is ver 18. in the Originall verbatim thus As by the transgression of one upon all men to condemnation so by the righteousnesse of one upon all men to justification of life What upon all men Our Translation hath added some words to clear the sense but the shortnesse of the Apostles style doth better clear his intent namely to intimate imputation as speaking to this purpose As by the transgression of one there was that that redounded to all to condemnation so by the righteousnesse of one there is that that redoundeth to all to justification of life And to clear that he meaneth not that all that were condemned by Adams Fall were redeemed by Christ he at once sheweth the descent of Originall sin and the descent of it for all the death and righteousnesse of Christ Quae tamen profuerunt antequam fuerunt Ver. 13. For till the Law sinne was in the world but sinne is not imputed where there is no Law Neverthelesse death reigned from Adam to Moses By what Law was sinne sinne and did death reign when the Law was not yet given Namely by that Law that was given to Adam and he brake the guilt of which violation descends to all Having to the end of the fifth Chapter stated and proved Justification by faith in Chap. 6 7 8. he speaks of the state of persons justified which though they be not without sinne yet their state compared with Adams even whilest he was sinnelesse it is farre better then his He invested in a created finite changeable humane righteousnesse they in the righteousnesse of God uncreate infinite unchangeable He having the principles of his holinesse and righteousnesse in his own nature they theirs conveyed from Christ He having neither Christ nor the Spirit but left to himself and his naturall purity they having both See Chap. 8.1 2 9 10 c. At the nineteenth verse of Chap. 8. he begins upon the second mystery that he hath to treat upon the calling of the Gentiles whom he cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole Creation or Every creature by which title they also are called Mark 16.15 Coloss. 1 23. and he shews how they were subject to vanity of Idolatry and the delusions of the devil but must in time be delivered from this bondage for which deliverance they now groaned and not they only but they of the Jews also which had received the first-fruits of the Spirit longed for their coming in waiting for the adoption that is the redemption of their whole body for the Church of the Jews was but the child-like body and accordingly their Ordinances were according to child-like age of the Church but the stature of the fulnesse of Christs mysticall Body was in the bringing in of the Gentiles Being to handle this great point of the Calling of the Gentiles and Rejection of the Jews he begins at the bottome at the great doctrine of Predestination which he handles from ver 29. of Chap 8. to Chap. 9.24 and then he fals upon the other That Israel stumbled at Messias and fell seâ—king indeed after righteousnesse but not his but their own and that they are cast away but not all A remnant to be saved that belonged to the Election of Grace As it was in the time when the world was Heathen some of them that belonged to the Election came in and were proselyted to the worship of the true God so some of these while all the rest of their Nation lie in unbelief And in this unbelief must they lie till the fulnesse of the Gentiles be come in and then all Gods Israel is compleated The most that he salutes in the last Chapter appear to have been of the Jewish Nation and the most of them though now at Rome yet sometime to have been of Pauls company and acquaintance in some other place The expulsion of the Jews out of Rome by Claudius Decree might very well bring many of them into his converse as well as it did Priscilla and Aquila whom he names first among them Epenetus was one of his own converts of Achaia Mary had bestowed much labour on him yet he hitherto had never been near Rome He that would dispute the point of the first planter of the Gospel at Rome might do well to make the first muster of his thoughts here And whereas the Apostle speaks of the saith of the Roman Church as spoken of throughout the world Chap. 1. ver 8. it is very questionable whether he look to the times before the Decree of Claudius or those since Claudius death when all the scattered were returned again and many of those that had come out unbeleeving Jews had returned Christians thither as I beleeve the case was of Aquila and Priscilla and some converted in other places had now taken up their residence there as Epenetus Andronicus and Iunia c. Those whose salutations he sendeth thither may be the better judged of who they were by observing who were of his retinue at this time which are named Act. 20.4 as 1. Timothy 2. Lucius who seemeth to be Luke called now by a Latine name in an Epistle to the Latines He was with Paul at Corinth at the sending away of the Epistle for having mentioned the others that were gone to Troas these saith he staied for us joyning himself in Pauls company going now to Corinth 3. Iason seemeth to be he that is called Secundus Act. 20.4 the one his Hebrew name and the other the same in Latine for Secundus is said to be a Thessalonian and so was Iason Acts 17.7 4. Sosipater here in all probability he that is called Sopater of Berea there 5. Tertius that wrote out the Epistle it may be was Silas an Hebrician will see a fair likelihood of the one name in the other it being written in Hebrew letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Hebrew names to the Romans are rendred in the Roman Idiome 6. Gaius the same in Greek with the ordinary Latine name Caiâ—s it appears that he was a Corinthian 1 Cor. 1.13 and in that Paul here cals him Mine host and the host of the whole Church to the understanding of which the observing of a custom of the Jews may give some illustration Maymony in his Treatise concerning the Sabbath speaketh about that rite that they used of hallowing the Sabbath with a seâ— form of words at his coming in per. 30. hath this saying This hallowing of the Sabbath may not be used but only in the place where they eat as for example he may not use the hallowing words in one house and eat in another Why then
his life none of the Church that was at Rome nor any of those that were of his own retinue durst own him or stand by him in his exigent but the Lord was with him and brought him off safe from the Lions mouth He being assured by this providence of God to him and for him in his great danger that he was reserved for the further benefit of the Church and propagating of the Gospel applieth himself to that work the best way he can considering his condition oâ— imprisonment and whereas he cannot travell up and down to the Churches to preach to them as he done he visiteth divers of them by his Epistles And first he writeth THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS and sendeth it by Crescens as may be conceived from 2 Tim. 4.10 For though Demas and Crescens and Titus their departure from Paul be reckoned altogether in that verse yet the reason of theâ—r departure cannot be judged to have been alike for however Demas started upon some carnall respect yet Crescens and Titus are not so branded nor will the eminent piety of the later suffer us to have any such opinion of him and the judging of him doth also help us to judge of Crescens who is joyned with him The postscript of this Epistle both in the Greek Syriack Arabick and divers other Translations doth generally date it from Rome Beza from Antioch Erasmus from Ephesus but all upon conjecture for there is no intimation in the Epistle it self of the time or place of its writing Beza upon these words in Chap. 1. ver 2. And all the brethren which are with me saith thus Puto sic totum Antiochenae Ecclesiae Presbyterium significari inde scriptam hanc Epistolam c. I think by this he meaneth the whole Presbytery of the Church of Antioch and that this Epistle was written from thence at that time that passed between Paul and Barnabas their return into Asia from their first journey forth and the coming of those troubles to Antioch Acts 14.28 But that Apostacy in the Churches which the Apostle crieth out against in this Epistle and in others was not then begun and moreover it may well be questioned whether the Churches of Galatia were then planted And the former answer may likewise be given to the opinion that this Epistle was written from Ephesus namely that at the time of Pauls being at Ephesus the Apostacy which ere long did sorely and almost Epidemically infest the Churches was but then beginning And this is one reason why I suppose it written from Rome at this time that we are upon because that gangrene in the Eastern Churches was now come to ripenesse as it appears by the second Epistle to Timothy which was written this same year See 2 Tim. 1.15 False teachers had brought back the Galatians from the simplicity of the Gospel to their old Ceremonious performances again and to reliance upon the works of the Law for Justification which miscarriage the Apostle taketh sharply to task in this Epistle And first he vindicates his Apostleship as no whit inferiour to Peter and Iames and Iohn the Ministers of the Circumcision and those that chiefly seemed to be pillars and he shews how these approved of him and it And then he most divinely states the nature of the Law at which was the great stumbling and especially speaks to that point that they most stood upon their living in it The Lord had laid a stone in Sion which the Jews could not step over but stumble at even to this day and that is that which is said in Levit. 18.5 Ezek. 20.11 and in other places which the Apostle also toucheth in this Epistle Chap. 3.12 from whence they concluded that no living no justification but by the works of the Law The Apostle in the third Chapter of this Epistle laies down two conclusions that determine the case and resolves all into faith The first is in ver 17. namely that the Law was not given to crosse the Covenant of grace but to be subservient to it The second in ver 10. that the Law did plainly shew of it self that no man could perform it but it left a man under the curse Observe that he saith not As many as fail of the works of the Law but As many as are of the works of the Law shewing that the Law did not only denounce a curse upon all that performed it not but plainly demonstrated that none could perform it and so left all under a curse and these words Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things c. conclude both So that the Law was not given for justification but to be subservient to the Covenant of Justification not to crosse the Covenant but to serve it not purposely to leave under the curse but to shew the curse and to drive men to get from under it So that men might live in it but not by it It was the way in which men were to go to seek for Justification but it was not the cause or means whereby they were justified See Gal. 3.5 The Jews made the Morall Law crosse to the Covenant of grace whilest they sought to be justified by works and they made the Ceremoniall Law crosse the Morall whilest they resolved all duty into Ceremony and so the Law which in it self was holy and pure and good they turned to death unto themselves by their abuse They might have lived in the Morall Law had they used it aright though not by it for the more a man sets himself to the exact performance of it the more he sees he cannot perform it and therefore he is driven the more to Christ But they resolved all into Ceremonious performance and so lost sincerity toward the Morall and hereupon the Ceremoniall Law good in it self became to them Statutes not good and Iudgements wherein they could not live Ezek. 20.25 From Rome also and reasonable early in this year Paul wrote THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY and in it urgeth Timothy to come to him before Winter Timothy was now at Ephesus when this Epistle was directed to him as may be observed out of the Epistle it self by these collections 1. In that he willeth him to salute the houshold of Onisephorus Chap. 4.19 who was an Ephesian Chap. 1.16 18. 2. In that he biddeth him take Troas in â—is way as he comes to him Chap. 4.13 which had been the way that Paul himself had gone from Ephesus 2 Cor. 2.22 and to Ephesus again Act. 20.5 3. In that he warneth him of Alexander Chap. 4.14 who was an Ephesian 1 Tim. 1.20 Act. 19.33 There is one passage in this Epistle which hath caused some to doubt about the time of its writing for about the place there is no doubt and that is what he saith Chap. 4 6. I am now ready to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand which would make one think that he was now ready to be martyred and taken
the persecution caused by the Beast that even death should be desirable to deliver the Saints from that trouble and incouraging to stand out against the Beast and his Image even to the death These bitter dealings against the Church ripen the sinnes of the world ready for cutting down and thereupon Christ is described coming as against Egypt Isa. 19.1 riding upon a cloud and with a sickle in his hand to reap the earth As Ioel 3.13 betokening his vengeance against his enemies So the earth is reaped Harvest and Vintage and all This is a generall intimation of Gods judgement and vengeance which is more particularly handled in the pouring out of the Vials Chap. 16. It is observable that the word for reaping of the earth comes out from the Temple yea though Christ have the sickle in his hand yet an Angel out of the Temple cals to him to reap and another Angel comes out of the Temple with a sickle and a third out of the Temple cals to him to reap As this may be understood to Doctrinall information that the cries and urgencies of the Church to Christ stirre him up to avenge them on their enemies Luke 18.7 so the expressions may be explained by allusive application The putting in of the first sickle to reap the first corn in Iudaea was by the word and warrant of the Priests and Rulers sitting in the Temple and they that were to reap when they were come to the corn put not in the sickle till the word was given Reap The manner and managing of this businesse viz. the reaping of the first sheaf is recorded and related by the Talmud Menachoth per. 10. and in Tosaphta ibid. These three men say they that were appointed by the Sanhedrin to reap went out into the valley of Kidron with a great company following them on the first day of the Passeover week when now it grew towards evening with three sickles and three baskets One when they came to the place said to them On this Sabbath on this Sabbath on this Sabbath In this basket in this basket in this basket With this sickle with this sickle with this sickle Reap to whom the three answer Well well well I will reap The other saies Reap then Then they reap c. Thus phrases taken from known customs do speak the plainer And so is the expression taken from common speech and opinion when it is said in ver 30. The wine-presse was troden without the City and blood came out of the wine-presse even to the horse bridles Here is treading a wine presse of blood a◠Christ treadeth in Edom Isa. 63.1 3. Edom is the common name by which the Hebrew Writers call the Romans The wine-presse was without the City alluding to the wine and oyl presses which were without Ierusalem at the foot of mount Olivet Blood came up to the horse bridles An hyperbole by which they expressed great slaughter and effusion of blood So Talm. Ierus in Taanith fol. 69. col 1. describing the wofull slaughter that Hadrian made of the Jews at the destruction of the City Bitter saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The horses waded in blood up to the nostrils by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs Of that space and extent doth R. Menahem on gen fol. 60. reckon the largenesse of the Land of Israel REVEL CHAP. XV. WHat was spoken in generall in the conclusion of the preceding Chapter concerning the treading of the wine presse of Gods wrath is here more particularly prosecuted in the story of the seven Vials At the beginning of which Iohn again cals us to reflect upon the scheme of the Temple in heaven which all along speaks according to the platform of the Temple at Hierusalem Here is a sea of glasse mingled with fire and harpers harping by it c. singing the song of Moses which as it cals to minde Moses and the peoples singing upon the red sea shore upon their delivery from Egypt Exod. 15. so doth it plainly allude to the musick at the Temple by the laver or sea and which standing near the Altar was as a sea of glasse mingled with fire Moses and Israel sing after the destruction of Egypt for their deliverance was by her destruction but those here that have got victory over the Beast sing before he is destroyed for they are delivered from him and prevail against him though he stand in his strength and his destruction be not yet come The Gospel grew and Sanguis Martyrum was semen Ecclesiae do Satan and Antichrist what they can After this song The Temple of the Tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened ver 5. All the whole building upon Mount Moriah was called the Temple the Courts and Cloisters and Chambers c. but the very house it self The Holy and Holy of Holies was only and properly The Temple of the Tabernacle of Testimony And the song mentioned before ver 2. is represented as being in the Court near the Altar and laver but now the very House it self is opened Parallel to what is spoken Chap. 11.19 The Temple of God was opened in heaven and there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Covenant The Lord in pouring out vengeance upon Antichrist will manifest his judgements as ver 4. and open his Counsels and Covenant for while the enemy raged and raved and destroyed those that would not worship him and when even all the world in a manner did worship him the Lords judgements were hid and his Covenant with his people as it were out of sight or as if no such thing had been but when this vengeance shall come then all will be plain The seven Angels that pour out the seven Vials are charactered in the garb of Priests coming out of the Temple in white linen and girded over the breasts as the Priests were One of the living creatures gives the Vials into their hands the very same sense and carriage with that Ezek. 10.7 REVEL CHAP. XVI WEre the Stage where the things of this Book were to be acted and the time of their acting of as little compasse as was that of the things of Daniel one might with more probability allot the severall things mentioned to their severall times as the things in him may be done But since the scene here is as large as all the world where the Gospel was to come and the time as long as time shall be 1600 years past already and how much behinde none knoweth to undertake to apply every thing in this Book to its particular time place and occasion is to runne a hazardous undertaking In some places indeed the things are so plain that they speak themselves but in many so obscure that he that will venture to bring them to particular application doth it more upon his own venture then upon any good textuall warrant And amongst those obscurities these Vials are not the least Take them in a generall interpretation as I beleeve they are
phrase used by the Jews Onkelos renders Deut. 33.6 thus Let Reuben live and not die the second death And Ionathan Isa. 65.6 thus Behold it is written before me I will not grant them long life but I will pay them vengeance for their sins and deliver their carcases to the second death And ver 15. The Lord will slay them with the second death Observe in the Prophet that these verses speak of the ruine and rejection of the Jews now a cursed people and given up to the second death and in Chapter 66. ver 29 30 31. is told how the Lord would send and gather the Gentiles to be his people and would make them his Priests and Levites And then see how fitly this verse answers those In stead of these cursed people these are blessed and holy and might not see the second death and Christ makes them Priests to himself and his Father In this passage of Iohn scorn is put again upon the Jews wild interpretation of the resurrection in Ezekiel They take it litterally think some dead were really raised out of their graves came into the Land of Israel begat children and died a second time Nay they stick not to tell who these men were and who were their children Talm. Babyl in Sanhedr ubi supra After the thousand years are expired Satan is let loose again and fals to his old trade of the deceiving the Nations again ver 8. Zohar fol. 72. col 286. hath this saying It is a tradition that in the day when judgement is upon the world and the holy blessed God sits upon the Throne of judgement then it is found that Satan that deceives high and low he is found destroying the world and taking away souls When the Papacy began then Heathenism came over the world again and Satan as loose and deceiving as ever then Idolatry blindnesse deluding oracularities and miracles as fresh and plenteous as before from the rising of the Gospel among the Gentiles these had been beating down and Satan fettered and imprisoned deeper and deeper every day and though his agent Rome bestird it self hard to hold up his Kingdom by the horrid persecutions it raised yet still â—he Gospel prevailed and laid all flat But when the Papacy came then he was loose again and his cheatings prevailed and the world became again no better then Heathen And if you should take the thousand years fixedly and literally and begin to count either from the beginning of the Gospel in the preaching of Iohn or of Peter to Cornelius the first inlet to the Gentiles or of Paul and Barnabas their being sent among them the expiring of them will be in the very depth of Popery especially begin them from the fall of Ierusalem where the date of the Gentiles more peculiarly begins and they will end upon the times of Pope Hildebrand when if the devil were not let loose when was he He cals the enemies of the Church especially Antichrist Gog and Magog the title of the Syrogrecian Monarchy the great persecutor Ezek. 38. 39. Pliny mentions a place in Caelosyria that retained the name Magog lib. 5. cap. 23. So that Iohn from old stories and copies of great troubles transcribeth new using known terms from Scripture and from the Jews language and notions that he might the better be understood So that this Chapter containeth a brief of all the times from the rising of the Gospel among the Gentiles to the end of the world under these two summes first the beating down of Idolatry and Heathenism in the earth till the world was become Christian and then the Papacy arising doth Heathenize it again The destruction of which is set down ver 9. by fire from heaven in allusion to Sodom or to 2 King 1.10 12. and it is set close to the end of the world the Devil and the Beast Rome imperiall and the false Prophet Rome Papall are cast into fire and brimstone ver 10. where Iohn speaks so as to shew his method which we have spoken of The devill was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the Beast and the false Prophet are He had given the story of the beast and false Prophet the devils agents and what became of them Chap. 19. v. 20. And now the story of the devill himself for it was not possible to handle these two stories but apart and now he brings the confusion of all the three together and the confusion of all with them that bare their mark and whose names were not written in the Book of life REVEL CHAP. XXI THe Ierusalem from above described The phrase is used by Paul Gal. 4.26 and it is used often by the Jews Zohar fol. 120. col 478. Rabbi Aba saith Luz is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ierusalem which is above which the holy blessed God gives for a possession where blessings are given by his hand in a pure Land but to an impure Land no blessings to be at all Compare Rev. 21.27 22.15 Midras Till in Psal. 122. Ierusalem is built as a City that is compact together R. Iochanan saith The holy blessed God said I will not go into Ierusalem that is above untill I have gone into Ierusalem that is below c. Ezekiels Ierusalem as we observed was of a double signification namely as promising the rebuilding of the City after the Captivity and foretelling of the spirituall Ierusalem the Church under the Gospel and that most especially At that Iohn taketh at here and that is the Ierusalem that he describeth And from Isa. 65.17 18. joyneth the creating new heavens and a new earth and so stateth the time of building this new Ierusalem namely at the coming in of the Gospel when all things are made new 2 Cor. 5.17 A new people new Ordinances new Oeconomy and the old world of Israel dissolved Though the description of this new City be placed last in the Book yet the building of it was contemporary with the first things mentioned in it about the calling of the Gentiles When God pitched his Tabernacle amongst them as he had done in the midst of Israel Levit. 26.11 12. That Tabernacle is pitched in the fourth and fifth Chapters of this Book And now all tears wiped away and no more sorrow death nor pain ver 4. which if taken litterally could referre to nothing but the happy estate in heaven of which the glory of this Ierusalem may indeed be a figure but here as the other things are it is to be taken mystically or spiritually to mean the taking away the curse of the Law and the sting of death and sinne c. No condemnation to be to those that are in Christ Iesus The passages in describing the City are all in the Prophets phrase Ezekiel and Isaiah as compare these The Bride the Lambs wife ver 9. Sing O barren Heathen that didst not bear c. Thy Maker is thine Husband thy Redeemer c. Isa. 54.1 5. Ver. 10. He carried me away in the
we touched before The Babylon Talmud in Sanhedrin in the Chapter Helek doth shew their full opinion about the daies of Messias and amongst other things they say thus as Aruch speaks their words in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a tradition of the house of Elijah that the righteous ones that the blessed God shall raise from the dead they shall no more return to their dust but those thousand years that the holy blessed God is to renew the world he will give them wings as Eagles and they shall flee upon the waters The place in the Talmud is in Sanhedrin fol. 92. where the text indeed hath not the word thousand but the marginall glosse hath it and shews how to understand the thousand years And Aruch speaks it as a thing of undeniable knowledge and intertainment And so speaks R. Eliezâ—r in Midras Tillin fol. 4. col 2. The daies of the Messias are a thousand years As Iohn all along this Book doth intimate new stories by remembring old ones and useth not only the Old Testament phrase to expresse them by but much allusion to customs language and opinions of the Jews that he might speak as it were closer to them and nearer their apprehensions so doth he here and forward This later end of his Book remembers the later end of the Book of Ezekiel There is a resurrection Ezek. 37. Gog and Magog Ezek. 38. 39. and a new Ierusalem Ezek. 40. and forward So here a resurrection ver 5. Gog and Magog ver 8. and a new Ierusalem Chap. 21. 22. There a resurrection not of bodies out of the grave but of Israel out of a low captived condition in Babel There a Gog and Magog the Syrogrecian persecutors Antiochus and his house and then the description of the new Ierusalem which as to the place and situation was a promise of their restoring to their own Land and to have Ierusalem built again as it was indeed in the daies of Ezra and Nehemiah but by the glory and â—â—rgenesse of it as it is described more in compasse then all the Land of Canaan they were taught to look further namely at the heavenly or spiritual Ierusalem the Church through all the world Now the Jews according to their allegoricall vein applied these things to the daies of Christ thus that first there should be a resurrection caused by Messias of righteous ones then he to conquer Gog and Magog and then there must come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The brave world to come that they dreamed of Beside what they speak to this tenour in the Talmudick Treatise last cited there is this passage in Ierus Megillah fol. 73. col 1. They are applying particular parts of the great Hallel to particular times what the great Hallel was we shewed a little before And that part say they I love the Lord because he hath heard me refers to the daies of Messias that part Tye the sacrifice with cords to the daies of Gog and Magog And that Thou art my God and I will praise thee refers to the world to come Our Divine Apocalyptick follows Ezekiel with an Allegory too and in some of his expressions alludes to some of theirs not as approving them but as speaking the plainer to them by them Here is a resurrection too but not of bodies neither for not a word of mention of them but of souls The souls of those that were beheaded for the witnesse of Iesus lived and reigned ver 4. and yet this is called The first resurrection ver 5. The meaning of the whole let us take up in parts There are two main things here intended First to shew the ruine of the Kingdom of Satan and secondly the nature of the Kingdom of Christ. The Scripture speaks much of Christs Kingdom and his conquering Satan and his Saints reigning with him that common place is briefly handled here That Kingdom was to be especially among the Gentiles they called in unto the Gospel Now among the Gentiles had been Satans Kingdom most setled and potent but here Christ binds him and casts him into the bottomlesse pit that he should deceive no more as a great cheater and seducer cast into prison and this done by the coming in of the Gospel among them Then as for Christs Kingdom I saw Thrones saith Iohn and they sate upon them c. ver 4. here is Christ and his inthroned and reigning But how do they reign with him Here Iohn faceth the foolish opinion of the Jews of their reigning with the Messias in an earthly pomp and shews that the matter is of a farre different tenour that they that suffer with him shall reign with him they that stick to him witnesse for him dye for him these shall sit inthroned with him And he nameth beheading only of all kindes of deaths as being the most common used both by Jews and Romans alike as we have observed before at Acts 12. out of Sanhedr per. 7. halac 3. And the first witnesse for Christ Iohn the Baptist died this death He saith that such live and reign with Christ the thousand years not as if they were all raised from the dead at the beginning of the 1000 years and so reign all together with him those years out as is the conceit of some as absolute Judaism as any is for matter of opinion but that this must be expected to be the garb of Christs Kingdom all along suffering and standing out against sinne and the mark of the Beast and the like whereas they held it to be a thousand years of earthly bravery and pompousnesse But the rest of the dead lived not again untill the thousand years were finished This is the first resurrection Not that they lived again when the thousand years were finished but it means that they lived not in this time which was the time of living when Satan was bound and truth and life came into the world The Gentiles before the Gospel came among them were dead in Scripture phrase very copiously Ephes. 2.1 2. 4.18 c. but that revived them Ioh 5.25 This is the first resurrection in and to Christs Kingdom the second is spoken of at the 12th verse of this Chapter that we are upon Paul useth the same expression to signifie the same thing namely a raising from darknesse and sin by the power of the Gospel Rom. 11.15 Now when this quickning came among the Gentiles Satan going down and Christs Kingdom advanced and the Gospel bringing in life and light as Ioh. 1.4 those that did not come and stick close to Christ and bear witnesse to him but closed with the mark of the Beast sin and sinfull men these were dead still and lived not again till the thousand years were finished that is while they lasted though that were a time of receiving life Blessed therefore and holy are they that have part in this first resurrection for on them the second death hath no power ver 6. The second death is a