and shall not lose them Ezek. 34.26 27 28. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing and I will cause the showre to come down in his season there shall be showres of blessing And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit and the Earth shall yield her increase and they shall be safe in their Land and shall know that I am the Lord when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them And they shall no more be a prey to the Heathen neither shall the Beasts beastly men of the Land devoure them but they shall dwell safely and none shall make them any more afraid Ezek 36.28 29 30. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses and I will call for the corne and will increase it and lay no famine upon you And I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the Heathen And many other places 11. Though long life will keep a man from Heaven whilest it lasteth yet it is counted for a blessing in the word of God to have it In Exod. 20.12 It is promised as the reward of obedience to the fifth Commandement And Paul tells us Ephes 6.2 3. That this is the first Commandment with promise that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the Earth Psal 91.16 With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my salvation Prov. 16.31 Ahoary head is a crown of Glory being found in the way of Righteousness Is it a blessing a reward and a crown now and would it be a judgement then sure I am had God thought so he would never have made a promise of it to his people as he doth Isai 65.20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled up his days and ver 22. At the days of a tree are the days of my people and mine Elect shall long iâ—joy the work of their hands 12. Lastly though long life be one of the priviledges of this Kingdom yet there shal be death I conceive at last that is to the Nations that are saved and walk in the Light of the New Jerusalem but not to the camp of the glorified Saints or which is all one the New Jerusalem And though this is controverted by som that this is so apears ni fallor plainly thus 1. That those whose souls descend and come down with Christ and are reunited to their bodies and are literally and properly the raised Saints who are raised in the morning of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great day of Judgement or beginning of the thousand years and are that company who are called the New Jerusalem and camp of the Saints that these shall die no more may be taken I think on all hands pro confesso as a thing granted which is also proved Rev. 21.4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and THERE shall be no more DEATH neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain all which are applicable to them but not to the other 2. The other therfore who came not down with Christ but are upon the Earth and are called the Nations that are saved and walk in the light or by the direction of the former they as also all who shall afterwards be converted during this Kingdom have sin and pain and tears and Kings and Ordinances and eat and drink and are mortal and die c. Now that they die for this I think will be most questioned by som is plainly hinted by the Prophet Isaiah chap. 65.20 The child shall die an hundred years old it is beyond doubt that the is speaking of this Kingdom and though he tells us of a long life where he that lives the least or but a little time comparatively shall live an hundred years yet he owns death in this Kingdom for all that the child shall die a hundred years old Also the Apostle Paul tells us 1 Cor. 15.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death Now Gog and Magog shall be destroyed at or after the end of the thousand years therefore death which is the last enemy to be destroyed cannot be destroyed a thousand years before but is destroyed after the destruction of Gog and Magog when the thousand years are ended or finished Object 17 This Opinion makes the living Saints mortal but the Apostle saith 1 Thes 4.17 That they shall be caught up and be ever with the Lord now if the living Saints I mean those that are found alive at Christs coming be caught up and changed which is somthing equivalent to death and states them in immortality and be ever with the Lord how can they and their posterity be in a state of mortality for a thousand years how can these things hold together Answ This Objection I confesse hath seemed hard to some and is urged as unanswerable by others and Reverend Dr. Twisse in Mr. Mede's Diatribae part 4 pag. 472. having propounded and answered nine Objections against this opinion propounds this in the tenth and last place and leaves it unanswered as not knowing what could be said to it whereupon Mr. Mede takes it for Tythe and answers it whose Answers you may please to see and peruse they are eâ—dens l. p. 473. I conceive submitting my opinion still to better judgments in this mystery that the plain and true answer in this those of Gods people that are alive at Christs coming those shall be caught up together with the raised Saints which shall be don in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the sound of the Trumpet of the initiation of that great day for this is not the last trump or the trumpet of consummation and be changed and so put into a state of immortality and neither marry nor have posterity nor die but be as the Angels and therefore they are not meant by the Nations that are saved that walk in the light thereof But you will say who are they then I answer that when Christ shall thus gloriously manifest himself in person to the world for his people and against his enemies and shall have destroyed the most part of those that oppose him by far at that great Armageddon battel I say then there shall and will be a mighty conversion of very many of those who see these things being such wonders as men never saw before Yea and all or most of those few that escape destruction at that great Armageddon battel being converted shall go and preach the strange things of that day and time to the Nations who are afar off and have not seen and heard them and of these when they shall have heard those things shall very many be converted and these are the
Adom but is to begin after the Armageddon battel which will be the last and fatal blow whereby the Beast and false Prophet shall be for ever cashiered out of the world and last a thousand years and no longer Ergo this resurrection is not regeneration 3. He that hath part in the first resurrection shall live and reign with Christ a thousand years but no regenerate man did ever live so long in a state of regeneration Ergo regeneration cannot be meant by this resurrection 4 No man is regenerate after death but the men that were beheaded did live and reign with Christ a thousand years after they were beheaded Ergo this life and reign cannot be meant of regeneration 5 The men that were beheaded c. are not any of them excluded from reigning with Christ a thousand years but if the first resurrection be meant of regeneration then begin the account when you will and many shall be excluded To instance suppose we begin at the death of Steven Acts. 7. who was the first that was slain for the witnesse of Jesus and the Word of God The thousand years were then ended about six hundred years ago and all that were beheaded since are excluded from reigning with Christ a thousand years Or suppose we begin with Constantine as many desire the thousand years were then ended about three hundred years ago and so they that were beheaded before the days of Constantine are excluded from the thousand years and they that have been beheaded since in the last three hundred years are excluded also Ergo. 6. He that hath a part in the first resurrection hath a share in the thousand years whether he were beheaded or no as appears ver 6. before mentioned but they that were regenerate before the death of Christ had a part in the first resurrection if we understand it of regeneration and yet they had no part in the thousand years because they were dead before And they that have been regenerated since the thousand years are supposed to be ended had also a part in the first resurrection i e in regeneration yet they had no share in the thousand years because they are supposed to be ended before they were regenerate Ergo 7 If the first resurrection be meant of a Spiritual resurrection then when it is said that the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were ended That must be meant of a spiritual resurrection too for the words they lived not again ver 5 are opposed to the words they lived ver 4. and so consequently to the first resurrection as is proved before But this latter clause is not meant of a Spiritual resurrection for then the rest of the dead should be regenerate when the thousand years are ended and then none should be for ever damned which most exactly contradicts the Text Rev. 20.15 Whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of fire Ergo no spiritual but a corporal resurrection is meant If by the word Donec until we understand nunquam never as some would have it this is contrary to the Scripture too For when it is said ver 3. Satan shall deceive the Nations no more until the thousand years be fulfilled the meaning is he should them not deceive while the thousand years continued but should have liberty to deceive them afterwards So when it is said the rest of the dâ—ad lived not again until the thousand years wâ—re finished the meaning must of necessiâ—y be they lived not again whise the thousand years continued but are to live again when the thousand years are ended but then they are not to live again by a Spiritual resurrection therefore that is not the meaning of the words but the meaning is they shall live again in a bodily resurrection But if this latter clause be meant of a bodily resurrection then the former clause where it is said the souls of them that were beheaded lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years is meant of a bodily resurrection quod erat demonstrandum But thus I have done with that first misunderstanding of this Text to understand it of regeneration which I confess I le not for these and other reasons how it can be Neither yet can it be meant of a life of of Glory in Heaven as some others would have it For John was not called to Heaven to see things to be done there but to see things there to be done on Earth Rev. 4 1. A door was opened in Heaven and he called to come up for what end to see things that must be hereafter Where in Heaven No! but on Earth see Rev 6.1 2 3. And all done on Earth Those things that were represented to John in Heaven shall be done on Earâ—h As the Vision of the Woman and the great red Dragon represented to him in Heaven but fulfilled on the Earth There is not one instance can be given of any thing in the Revelation that is to be fulfilled in Heaven except the Text do express it so to be which it doth not here for the Apocalyps is a Revelation of things to be fulfilled on Earth Besides it cannot be meant of a life in Heaven because many of those who were killed have lived this life before these thousand years and the life in Heaven is not a life to end when these thousand years are ended Nor can that life be called a living again or a resurrection for that life and happiness of the Saints is not the restoring of a life lost but the enâ—oyment and possession of a New life It is therefore a Corporal life which at length the life from the dead after the final destruction to the Beast and false Prophet in the day of Christs second coming which will be the time of the resurrection first of the first and secondly of of the second The reign of these souls that is of the dead now living as soon as ever they are united to their bodys will be a raign upon Earth as plainly appears Rev 5.1 â— And hast made us Kings and Pâ—iests unto God and we shall reign on the EARTH Either then this shall be on the Earth or else the four and twenty Elders were mistaken in their doxologie Now what is there said in terminis is here in this 20 chapter said to be fuâ—filled ver 4. and 6. They lived and reign-with Christ a thousand years and they shall reign with him a thousand years which cannot be meant as I said of Heaven after the day of Judgement for that is longer then a thousand years nor of the Kingdom of Heaven before the day of Judgement for that also is more then a thousand years but of a Kingdom they shall have on Earth as the words plainly shew in the fore cited Text Rev. 5 1â— Besides that this Kingdom and the Saints reign shall be on Earth may be gathered from two things in the Text which offer themselves to leave this
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 〈…〉 â—â—â—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. 2â—â—◠〈…〉 also be a time of far more perâ—â—◠〈…〉 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 Saâ—aâ—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 anâ— 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
both is as I have shewed in one already and shall in the other when I have done with this Objection by that succession of Kingdoms to point out the Kingdom and the time of the Kingdom of Christ 2. I acknowledge also the subject of the Apocalyptical Visions to be fata Imperii Romani post primum Christi adventum usque ad secundum super futuri the Fates of the Roman Empire which after the first coming of Christ was still to continue in being even till the second And this I affirm The Roman Kingdom was revealed unto Daniel but not according to that distinct succession of things and specification of the fates thereof which was first made known unto St. John but only in general and in imagine confusâ not to be Explicated but by Christ himself I say the Roman Kingdom was revealed to Daniel in the general but the order of the times thereof and the â—eries rerum gerundarum or course of things to be acted therein not until the Revelation unto St. John 3. Nor is it strange or unwonted that a thing may be revealed in general and yet most of the particulars concerning the same to be unknown and sealed The Calling of the Gentiles or the Kingdom of Christ among the Gentiles by way of surrogation to the Jewes was revealed unto St. Peter and Paul and the rest of the Apostles but the particular fates and states of that Kingdom were never known till Christ revealed them to St. John in the Apocalyptical Visions The like I say of the fourth or Roman Kingdom the general Revelation whereof could not but be before the opening of the sealed Book in the Apocalypse since it had then been so long a time in the World as that it was grown past the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and had fulfilled what it was to fulfil upon Daniels people 4. As for the persecutions of the Church I deny the Argument either of the Seals or Trampers to be the Roman persecutions of Christs Kingdom or that any of them have reference to persecutions save the fifth Seal only or that any thing contained in them was made known to Daniel save the Catastrophe only represented in the last Trumpet which the Angelus tonitruum proclaims there to be Consummatiâ— mysterii Dei prout annunciavit servis suis Prophetis the finishing of the mysterie of God as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets and therefore cannot be denied to have bin both foretold and expected for the General although not for the Manner Time and Order in Seriâ— Rerum Gerundarum in the course of thing to be acted till then Clear it is that the Assertion by som wonned and in the Objection named that the Roman persecution was revealed to none till Christ revealed it to John cannot stand unless we deny the coming of the man of sin who is a great limb of that fourth Kingdom to be any part of the Churches afflictions for this was revealed unto St. Paul both for the quality and the fall thereof viz. that Christ should destroy it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I make no doubt but St. Paul learned out of the seventh of Daniel where that ruffling-horn is not destroyed until the Son of Man comes in the Clouds of Heaven to receive that universal Kingdom which shall never suffer persecution But whereas it is said that the ruffling horn of the fourth Beast is Antiochus Epiphanes I demonstrate the contrary by this one Argument following The Ruffling-horn reigns until the Ancient of dayes comes in fiery flames to destroy him and to give Judgment unto the Saints of the most High and until the time comes that the Saints possessed the Kingdom viz. until the Son of man comes in the Clouds of Heaven to receiv a Kingdom wherein all Nations People and Languages should serve and obey him Dan 7. ver 9 10 11 13. which is expounded ver 22 26 c. But Antiochus Epiphanes reigned not until this time for he died 160 years and more before the Birth of Christ and almost 200 years before his Ascension the least of which Numbers is a longer space of time then was from the death of Alexander unto Antiochus Ergo Antiochus Epiphanes is not that Ruffling-horn But I conceive this may suffice to answer this Objection I therefore now shall step a little forward and look into that other Text Dan. 2.31 to v 45. where we have in Nebuchadnezzar's great Image he four great Monarchies of the World represented and held out unto us and that in this order following viz. 1. The first Monarchie was the Assyrian which fell into the Babylonian and blossomed in Nimrod Gen. 10.8 9 10 and was ripened in that present Nebuchadnizzar his Child and Grandchild This Monarchy was represented in that Image by the Head of Gold Dan. 2.38 2. The second Monarchie was that of the Medes and Persians which blossomed in Cyrus who conquered Babylon and slew Belshazzar and endured till Darius whom Alexander a Grecian overthrew This Monarchie was exprest in that Image by the Breasts and Armes of Silver Dan. 2.39 with ver 32. 3. The third Monarchie was that of the Greeks which blossomed or rather immaturely and suddenly ripened in Alexander the Great of Mecedon who presently by his Victories over run the World and by his sudden and untimely death was divided into four great parts by four of his Chief Generals who parted the World among them Dan. 2.39 This Grecian Monarchie was expiest in that Image by a belly and thighs of brass 4. The fourth Monarchie was that of the Romans which blossomed and ripened leisurely and by degrees and was therefore more likely to last long And by certain gradations and much time rooted out successively all the inheritors of Alexander and the Upholders of the Greek Monarchie and possest all the Chief known parts of the World and so fetching its beginning lower Westward and yet up as high Eastward it became a mightier Monarchie then any of the former This Monarchie was expressed in the Image by the legs of Iron Dan. 2.32 40. because as Iron it was strongest of all and subdued all under it but in processe of time the Body of the World which it bore up being so great to which it was a leg or supporter it divided it self as it is in the natural body into two legs and is in the Image so expressed though for a great while it was but one Monarchy yet at last it grew into two the Eastern and Western Monarchy the Western after the Eastern was lost fell into feet and toes or Kingdoms wherein was both strength and weaknesse iron and clay and these never to be rejoyned or united notwithstanding it hath bin endeavoured by Marriages and other Covenants to mingle and to rejoyne in one Monarchy But it shall never be but to the period and upshot of their Soveraignty and Monarchy they shall remain Kingdoms distinct as feet and toes of iron and clay unminglable ¶
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 tiâ—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 whiâ—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 Teâ—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 inâ—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 eaâ—te explication without any figure In a plain â—â—â—â—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 dâ—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