were so ignorant as to intend by such a Conversing that those Saints that shall remain alive till Christ comes should continue in a mortal State during the thousand Years But you further tell us That when Christ comes he must have all the Saints come with him who are raised c. You did very well to put in these words who are raised c. for who think you will oppose you here I say again certainly none will be so weak as to affirm that any of these shall be left behind But shall there be no other Men left behind is now the Question for satisfaction read Matth. 24.40 41. Luke 17.34 35 36. Zech. 14.16 Again Though all those that died and shall be found in the Faith when Christ comes shall be raised and changed yet this follows not that there shall be none converted at and after his Coming who will not then viz. at that instant be changed with whom those glorified Ones many converse But you come after with this Reason which you think cuts off all viz. Because Christ shall come in flaming Fire against them that know him not nor obey his Gospel the Day of Grace being then over and none to be converted after that Answer First take notice that although he shall come in flaming Fire c. yet the Holy Scripture no where tells you That all Men that are upon the Earth the glorified Saints here excepted shall be burnt up Neither doth it any where tell you that the Day of Grace shall be so over as that there shall be no Day of Grace to any after that time nor that none shall be converted at or after the coming of Christ neither is any thing like it in all the Book of God but the contrary And whereas you hint at the Parable of the Virgins Matth. 25. as a Ground for this your Conception pray consider these were not only Persons that had the Day of Grace before allowed them to whom the Gospel was preached but were Members of the Church of Christ and therefore no marvel that it will be too late for such to get Oil in the Vessel when Christ comes But what 's this to the purpose respecting others not in that Capacity but under other Circumstances But now to your 3d Absurdity Abs That whereas Christ saith The last Enemy is Death Here the raised Saints after Death are to meet with another Enemy viz. the Gog-Magog Army Answer What though the Apostle Paul which I suppose you mean tells us The last Enemy is Death 1 Cor. 15. yet he doth not there tell you this Enemy of Christ shall be destroyed at the very instant when the Saints that died before Christ's Coming shall be raised Neither is it any where else so written but the contrary Read the 24th and 25th Verses from whence it is evident that this Enemy Death shall not be destroyed till the end of Christ's Reign And 't is as plain Rev. 20. that the Gog-Magog Army shall make that Attempt and be destroyed immediately before the last Resurrection or Destruction of Death True it is the Saints before-mentioned shall through Christ get the Victory over Death before so did our Lord at his Resurrection But I presume you will not say he did then destroy Death for Victory and Destruction are two things Thus I have shewed that this Opinion you contend against infers no such Absurdities I come now to your 10th Argument This cannot be the Corporal Resurrection because it is said expresly That during this thousand Years c. the Saints shall build plant marry and give in Marriage enjoy the Works of their Hands be liable to Death c. Which is utterly inconsistent with the Resurrection-State Luke 20.34 35. Answer Here you reason fallaciously for you cannot but know the word Saints is an ambiguous word and ought not to be disputed from unless explained for though our Lord tells us the Children of the Resurrection shall not marry viz. when raised yet he no where tells us that Saints shall not marry in the thousand Years viz. fuch as are in a mortal State Thus this Argument falls to the ground like its Fellows Therefore lastly It will follow that if it be neither the Corporal Spiritual nor Eternal Life that is here meant to the which the Saints are raised then must it be the Mystical or Civil Life c. Answer This last is built upon all the rest especially as it respects the Corporal Resurrection To which there needs no other Answer but this viz. If there be no weight in them then this must needs be too light also and that they are so let the Arguments and Answers be compared and I leave it to every unbiassed and impartial Reader to judg As for those five Arguments in your large Sheet or any elsewhere in the Book they are either the very same with some of these sixteen that I have answered or else comprehended in them and therefore I suppose need no particular Answer I shall therefore proceed to the second Author to answer his Arguments or Demonstrations as he calls them which are in number six A Brief ANSWER to Six Demonstrations as the Author calls them laid down by T. M. in his Treatise of The New Heavens and New Earth pag. 8. to evince this for a Truth That the thousand Years Reign of the Saints with Christ will be before and so without his Personal Presence on Earth Or before the Second Coming of Christ as Title-page Demonst THE thousand Years is set forth in Scripture and so generally understood to be a time of Peace Plenty Liberty and Rejoicing of the whole Earth But when Christ comes in Person it produces an universal Destruction and Astonishment to the World Rev. 6.15 Every Bondman and every Free-man crying to the Rocks c. so Rev. 1.7 Matth. 24.30 Answer This Demonstration is fallacious in that it unites where it should divide and is true in one sense and false in another As to your first Proposition of this Demonstration If by time of Peace c. you mean only and altogether without any War or Destruction as that 's your Meaning or else you give away the Cause And by the whole Earth you intend every Man upon the face of the Earth all the time of the thousand Years then I deny this Proposition and tell you That the Scripture no where sets out the thousand Years to be such a Time neither is it generally so understood as you affirm nay so far from being generally so understood that I know of none at all that understand it so Doth not your self hold that there shall be War in the thousand Years and therefore you frequently call the first part of that time The smiting part as may be seen in the first Author's large Sheet and frequently in his Book But now to your second Proposition of this Demonstration If by universal Destruction and Astonishment to the whole World you mean every Person in the World
and the Consideration of his Churches W. S. The ANSWER to the First Book Intituled THEOPOLIS c. SIR I Have impartially read and seriously considered what you have writ in your Theopolis c. weighing it in the Ballance of the Sanctuary according to the Rules proposed by you and find it greatly wanting insomuch that I cannot but wonder you should take so much pains to so little purpose for all that you have said in my Judgment proves nothing for which you urge it viz. That the Saints shall reign a thousand Years upon Earth before Christ's Second Coming And that you may see your great Mistake herein I shall give a brief and plain Answer to what may seem most material therein for that purpose not in the least denying but plainly acknowledging the glorious Kingdom of Christ on Earth And first you tell us page 97 98. That there is a five-fold Kingdom belongs to Christ spoken of in the Scripture viz. 1st A Providential 2dly A Spiritual 3dly A Mystical 4thly A Monarchial or Davidical Kingdom 5thly A glorious Mysphatical Kingdom viz. The Soveraignty that Christ in Person with all the Saints in their glorified Bodies with him shall upon their general Resurection and Judgment exercise here upon the Earth before all is given up into the Father's hands And for want of a right distinguishing herein proceed as you humbly apprehend all the mistaken Notions and Differences about the Kingdom of Christ treated of in your Book And truly I do acquiesce with you herein for I conclude your wrong Distinction or Misapprehension of a five-fold Kingdom of Christ as thus distinguished by you is the great cause of all those your mistaken Notions about the Kingdom of Christ in your Book for to say nothing of four of your five I cannot yet see by all that you have said that the Holy Scripture speaks of your fourth Kingdom as distinguished by you from the fifth Kingdom which fourth you call a Monarchial or Davidical Kingdom that is to take place here over the Nations before the Second Coming of Christ but rather that the Holy Scripture is wholly a stranger to it And now I shall answer your Arguments urged on that account The first sort you direct your Reader to â—0 31 32. as most fit to be taken notice of in the first place are in number five urged by you to prove at least consequentially or in the second place That Christ will not come in Person at the beginning of the thousand Years Arg. 1 Your first Argument is Because his Personal Coming is not to be till the Judgment-Day And that say you is not to be till after the thousand Years and after the Battel of God and Magog meaning Gog c. Rev. 20.8 Answer The first part of this Argument I grant viz. That his Personal Coming is not to be till the Judgment-Day But the two last Branches I deny viz. That the Judgment-Day is not to be till after the thousand Years after the Battel of God and Magog For 't is evident to all that will not shut their Eyes that the Judgment-Day begins at the beginning of the thousand Years Rev. 20.4 AND I SAW THRONES AND THEY SAT VPON THEM AND JVDGMENT WAS GWEN VNTO THEM c. with the Chapter before compared with Dan. 7. where the same thing is spoken of He beheld the little Horn viz. the Man of Sin or great Antichrist make War with the Saints till the Antient of days comes and one like the Son of Man came to the Antient of days yea near before him and until the Throne were set or PITCHED DOWN so it is in the Original not thrown down And the Antient of days did SIT ver 9. with his Son brought near before him or set by him with the Saints ver 10.22 THE JVDGMENT WAS SET ver 10.26 Arg. 2 Because when he comes in Person 't is not to such a Work as this viz. to fight and subdue Enemies with material Swords nor to put his People as the Lamb's Army and Followers upon any such Service at that time being then all to be in the Resurrection and glorified State made like himself in Glory and as the Angels of God Neither will any of his Enemies be in a Capacity to make Resistance or Opposition who in their own Persons shall be destroyed by Fire and the very Earth they inhabit and all its Works burnt up and consumed at whose Presence the Earth and Heaven flee away Answer If by those words not to such a Work as this you mean not at all then I deny it and tell you 'T is to do such a Work as that Reason 1 You reason First Because Christ's People will be all in the Resurrection and glorified State made like himself in Glory and as the Angels of God Answer Now this Reason of yours I also deny and tell you You are greatly mistaken herein for although all the Saints that died in the Faith and are found alive in it when Christ comes in the Clouds c. shall then be raised changed and glorified and so said to be in the Resurrection c. yet all Christ's People that shall stand with him Rev. 14.1 Zech. 14.4 and follow him in that Army when he shall come down and stand upon Mount Zion and upon the Mount of Olives will not then be in the Resurrection viz. raised and glorified c. For part of those People and Followers or Army will be of the Jews who will not be converted till after the Resurrection of the fore-mentioned Saints and therefore not raised and so changed with them 'T is conspicuous enough that their Conversion will not be fully wrought till the Deliverer viz. Christ comes to Zion Isa 59.20 Rom. 11.25 26. Then shall he turn Vngodliness from Jacob Or more fully thus Our Lord Christ appearing in the Clouds of Heaven and the Saints Resurrection and Ascension up to him together with the wonderful things that shall be wrought then and Christ's coming down with his glorified Saints and Angels to deliver the whole House of Israel then remaining from the hand of their strong and mighty Enemies Isa 59.19 Ezek. 38.9.16 Zec. 14.2 3. that will come in like a Flood a Storm and Cloud to cover the Land yea all Nations gathered against Jerusalem to battel These things I say will produce the Jews Conversion or be the means to bring forth that Nation and therefore not till these things be accomplished shall that Nation be converted Ergo Not raised and changed but still in their mortal State Therefore according to your own Argument may under Christ do such a Service as above specified We are likewise told the Jews the number of whom Rev. 7.4 to the 8 Verse Verse 9. even of all the twelve Tribes of Israel will be one hundred forty four thousand who are distinguished from the innumerable Company of glorified Saints as you may clearly see Chap. 14. 1. These are said
to stand with the Lamb upon Mount Zion 〈◊〉 19 20. when the Sickle shall be thrust into the Harvest yea when the Wine-press shall be trodden without the City Jerusalem in the Valley of Jehoshaphat 〈◊〉 3.2 12 〈◊〉 14. when the Lord shall plead and decide the Controversy of his People and thresh the Nations by his Thresher 〈◊〉 4.13 i. e. the Daughter of Zion viz. the Inhabitants of Jerusalem or Jews yea at that Day when the Lord shall set his Feet upon the Mount of Olives which you acknowledg to be at the Personal Coming of Christ â—â—ech 14.4 4. and Day of Judgment p. 101. Then Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem Reason 2 Your next Reason is Because there will not be any of Christ's Enemies in a Capacity to make Resistance or Opposition at his Personal Coming Ergo. Answer The Answer to this shall be short by denying what you have said and I tell you That Enemies may be in a Capacity to oppose though not to overcome yea 't is well known a Child may oppose a Man a Dwarf a Giant But you tell us They will be destroyed by Fire then I confess they will be then incapable indeed when they are burned to Ashes But pray what is this to the purpose Will they not be in a Capacity before Or 2dly Will all Christ's Enemies be burned up before his Coming that none shall be left to make Resistance or Opposition at his Coming You have brought no Text to prove it and I know not of any Text that will do it therefore I conclude none are bound to believe you Reason 3 Lastly You tell us The very Earth they inhabit and all the Works thereof shall be burnt up and consumed at whose Presence the Earth and Heaven flee away Ergo No room for such a Work Answer But pray where doth Holy Scripture tell us so i. e. That the Heavens and Earth shall be consumed Doth not your Second in his Treatise p. 5. tell us That the Scripture doth not express an Annihilation thereof c. Again what though the Scripture speaks of such great things to be done in that great Day of the Lord yet doth it not follow from hence that all these shall be done in the first Hour of that Day and that before the Enemies make opposition Thus much in answer to the Reasons brought to prove your second Argument Arg. 3 Because such an Apprehension would make three Personal Comings of Christ whereas we read but of two Heb. 9.28 Who will appear the second time c. because it is expresly said He sits at the Right-hand of God till his Enemies be made his Foot stool Answer What such an Apprehension make three Personal Comings Yes it may be so if such a skilful Artist as your self had it in hand who have got the knack of Distinction who can divide and subdivide till you have made ten Corporal Resurrections of one as may be seen in your 53d page For without making three of two or two of one I am sure it cannot be done Again if but two Personal Comings then you infer this at the beginning of the thousand Years cannot be the second Personal Coming because say you 't is expresly said He sits at the Right-hand of God till his Enemies be made his Footstool Here you think you have your Antagonist fast and are invincible I confess you are safe enough yet whilst you have not here told us where 't is thus expressed and since I must also acknowledg if my Memory fail not 't is expresly said so in all the Books that ever I read about this Subject and they are more than a good many I mean those Books written for a thousand Years Reign before the Coming of Christ to the everlasting Shame and Consusion of your Faces who have time after time affirmed That this is expresly written in the Holy Scripture as we well know you intend in this place and as you else-where in your Book affirm for this is three times at least affirmed by this Author in his Book by which you have miserably deceived your selves and others as some in my hearing have confest Be not offended for herein I must be plain with you take it as you please Is it not to be wondred at that ever any Men of Learning and Conscience should bear the Face to affirm such a thing when I dare be bold to say there is not one place in all the Bible that saith so To mistake at some times in the business of Interpreting of Scripture is an Infirmity we cannot help though Caution had need be had therein especially in Cases of this nature but to transgress in this kind looks too much like Presumption This may serve for an Answer at present till I meet with it again Arg. 4 This conquering fighting Work is not by Christ in Person at this time of his glorious and terrible Appearing Answer This I deny but I will now hear your Reason Reason Because the Execution then upon the Enemies will be say you sudden and speedy like Travail upon a Woman with a Child as a Thief in the Night like Lightning as it was in the days of Lot and Noah with sudden Destruction and as a Snare will he come upon all the Inhabitants of the Earth This Work at Christ's Personal Coming will be done at an instant suddenly at the Sounding of a Trumpet in the Twinkling of an Eye whereas this Work asks time gradually to be performed And you comprehend in the first the Preparation for and Judgment of the great Whore c. Answer First I must tell you You have comprehended more into the thousand Years than will be for this Judgment of the great Whore will be before the thousand Years and not executed by Christ's Followers 〈◊〉 17.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 14. but by them that afterward will give their Kingdom to the Beast and afterward make War with the Lamb. Secondly You say the Work of the beginning of the thousand Years asks some Time c. Ay And so will that also which will be done when Christ comes in Person for although 't is told us Christ shall come as a Thief c. viz. very suddenly and unexpectedly yet 't is not any where told us That Work that he shall then do shall be done as suddenly as a Thief cometh nay that very Similitude if you will follow it so far le ts us know the contrary for though a Thief in the Night comes suddenly yet he oft-times is long enough a doing his Work viz. Rifling and Robbing as some have sadly experienc'd So also tho Travail upon a Woman with Child cometh suddenly yet her Delivery asks some time and is not done in the Twinkling of an Eye â—en 7.12 7 24 â—hap 8 3. â—ompare â—hap 7 11. â—h Chap. â— 13 14. and so I may say of the days of Noah c. for though it was sudden yet you cannot but know the Waters were forty
Days increasing and prevailed upon the Earth one hundred and fifty Days before they began to abate but were not dried up till twelve Months were compleated c. Again whereas you say That Work of Christ's Personal Coming shall be done at the Sounding of a Trumpet c. What then the Question may be how long the Trumpet shall sound Surely you will not upon second Thoughts say no longer than the Twinkling of an Eye for that 's no Sounding at all But again Where find you that any thing save the Coming of Christ and the Resurrection Change and Ascension of Saints shall be at the Sound of a Trumpet and yet surely you will conclude there 's something more to be done when Christ comes Again You say the Work that Christ shall do at his Personal Coming will be done in the Twinkling of an Eye But pray what Work else besides the Change of Saints I find no other nor any body else for me The Text that speaks of this for there is no other that I can find viz. of something done then in the Twinkling of any Eye is 1 Cor. 15.51 52. which speaks so plain of the Change of Saints only to be in the Twinkling of an Eye that unless the Reader 's Eyes twinkle and that greatly too when he beholds the Text he cannot lightly be mistaken You also tell us The Execution upon the Enemies will be sudden and speedy like Lightning at the Personal Coming of Christ But how you came to know this I much question Mat. 24.27 Luke 17.24 since I find no Text in holy Writ reveals it True it is the Coming of our Lord is compared to Lightning but then it ought to be observed 't is not in respect of the Swiftness of it but in respect of the Visibleness of it But again admit it had what 's this to the Question which is concerning the Destruction of the Enemies Again You further add As a Snare c. I grant it But what 's this to the Question for Ensnaring and Destroying are two things Do you not know many Creatures are taken or ensnared suddenly but not destroyed so quickly Thus you may see how you deceive your self and others in such an ambiguous Manner Arg. 5 Neither can Christ's Personal Appearing be at this time because then it must be supposed that Christ being in the Camp of the Saints and beloved City shall suffer Himself and all the glorious Angels and glorified Saints to be besieged and straitned by the Gog. Magog Army Therefore must this be done by his virtual Presence Power and Spirit though spoken as if he did it in Person and these great Conquests effected c. Answer O God! What is it that Men will not stretch at to maintain their own Fancies In your Book you give us an Instance of Maton which you commend viz. Whatsoever Text of Scripture is expounded any other ways than God meant by it it is according to its Interpretation the Word of Man and not of God and consequently in adhering to such Interpretations we believe not what God saith but what Man doth make him say How much you have fulfilled this Man's Sentence in Expounding this Scripture contrary to what God meant by it let all judg and let your Tongue or Pen condemn you for pray read the Text and see whether there be any such thing in it or at all like unto it The Text is Rev. 20.7 8 9 10. And when the thousand Years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his Prison and shall go out to deceive the Nations which are in the four Quarters of the Earth Gog and Magog to gather them together to battel the Number of whom is as the Sand of the Sea And they went up on the Breadth of the Earth and compassed the Camp of the Saints about and the beloved City and Fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone where the Beast and the false Prophet are and shall be tormented Day and Night for ever and ever Now I will appeal to any judicious and unbiassed Man whether here be any Suffering and Straitning in this Man's Sense to Christ or his Angels and Saints You may as well say Christ now suffers in Heaven and yet this must pass for an Argument Thus I have done with the five first Arguments which you have laid down to prove That Christ comes not in Person at the beginning of the thousand Years Reign and therefore there must be as you conclude a thousand Years reigning before his Personal Coming Let the Arguments and Answers be compared and then judg In the next place I shall consider your eleven Arguments of the second sort upon the latter part of the 4th Verse of the 20th Chapter of the Revelation i. e. these words And I saw the Souls of them that were beheaded for the Witness of Jesus and for the Word of God and which had not worshipped the Beast neither his Image neither had received his Mark upon their Foreheads or in their Hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand Years Upon which words say you all this Opinion or Discourse of yours is grounded See your large Sheet When you have told us the great Difference of Writers and Commentators hereon some judging it to be a Corporal Resurrection others a Spiritual viz. A renewing and reviving of the Soul the Effects of Christ's Spirit upon the Hearts of Bevers c. p. 47. Then you tell us That it is humbly conceived the Mind of the Spirit is here a Mystical Resurrection or Civil Life that they are said to live as most consonant to Truth as you say sound Reason and the Scope of the Place they lived And as you more largely speak p. 61 62. This Life is a reigning State both of the one and the other and the contrary viz. Death a dethroned scattered imprisoned and captivated State The Dead that lived not Where you shew us by the direct Antithesis That this Life and Death of the one and the other is the same viz. That the Saints now are dead the other now alive the Saints shall then live and the Wicked then be dead viz. in the thousand Years After the thousand Years the Wicked shall live again and the Saints then die again according to the former Distinction For say you They must take their turns as the one goes up viz. to the Throne the other goes down They viz. the Wicked are not to live again till the thousand Years be finished implying say you That when the Dragon is loosed there will then be a Military Power and Jurisdiction at least that they viz. the Wicked may live too Again in opposition unto Christ and the Saints in their encompassing the Camp of the Saints and beloved City which their viz. of the Wicked said raised State makes good You tell us further That Living and Dying
first Author therefore my Answer to that in my 5th Page might suffice to which I refer you But I 'll add a few words because we have a little more in this The first Author both in his third Argument and again in his large Sheet tells us that it is expresly said in the Scripture That Christ shall continue and sit at the Right-hand of God till all his Enemies be made his Footstool or destroyed But he had that Policy in both these places not to tell us where 't was thus expressed fave as aforesaid But this hath told us where i.e. Psal 110.1 Acts 3.21 I suppose he means Acts 2.34 35. Which places I have well considered and find no such thing neither in Words nor Sense nor in any other place of Sacred Scripture True it is thus written The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my Right-hand until I make thine Enemies thy Footstool But not until I have made them so Now who is so weak that cannot see a Difference between these two words It 's well known the one viz. until I make speaks of a Work to be done and so respects the beginning of that Time when this must be set about The other viz. until I have made speaks of a Work done and so respects the end of Time Therefore consider how you have abused these Texts and led many an unwary Reader aside making this the Foundation to build this your Principle upon For you cannot but know that to Change Add or Take away from a Word but so much as one Letter quite alters and destroys the Sense as hath been told the Quakers in Print who are much guilty herein or at least their Advocate W. L. For that Instance in 1 Cor. 15.51 it 's said We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed Leave out but the Letter C and then it must be read We shall all be hanged And the like in changing a Letter as might be shewed as you have now done in taking away K and putting in D instead of it and more than this in adding the word Be which you are forced to do or some such word of the same Sense or else you can make no Sense of it in the Reading And more yet in adding the word All as the first Author hath done and the Latter in effect If that Printer in King James's time was fined a thousand Pounds because the Particle Not was lest out of the Seventh Commandment What shall they be thought worthy of that both change in respect of Letter and add Words to what is written to the total Destruction of the true Sense thereof Read and fear what 's said Rev. 22.18 19. Object But possibly some may object and say Although the word Made be not in the Text cited yet 't is in Heb. 10.12 13. Answer True it is so but then pray mark 't is not here said He shall sit at the Right-hand of the Father till his Enemies be made his Footstool but thus This Man after he had offered one Sacrifice for Sins for ever sat down on the Right-hand of God From henceforth expecting till his Enemies be made his Footstool Which alters the case For who is there but will grant this viz. his Expectation from that Day forward that such a Work shall be done and yet deny that he shall sit there till it be done for as he in Heaven so we on Earth expect this viz. that his and our Enemies shall be made his Footstool But what 's this to the Case in hand Ergo Your Conclusion That Christ's Coming is after the thousand Years or that he will not come a thousand Years before the subduing of Gog and Magog Rev. 20.8 9. is altogether false Demonst 6 Neither is Gog his last Enemy but Death is so called 1 Cor. 15.26 Therefore Christ's Coming is not till he comes to swallow up Death in Victory ver 54. in the Resurrection of the Saints See above Answer This Demonstration I grant in all the Parts or Branches of it except your Therefore First Your Antecedent That Gog is not the last Enemy but that Death is so called 1 Cor. 15. 2dly Your Consequence or Conclusion though not from these Premises Christ's Coming is not till he comes to swallow up Death in Victory in the ver 54. Resurrection of the Saints But now what 's this to the Question viz. That Christ's Coming is after the thousand Years You bid us see above and I refer you to the abovesaid Answers But I suppose here lies your Mistake as this Demonstration implies i. e. that you account Destruction and Victory both one thing and therefore you argue from the one viz. Destruction to the other viz. Victory A strange Mistake and as strange Arguing of a wise Man Do not all Men know that although sometimes they may go together yet they are two distinct things and very frequently go asunder viz. the Victory before the time of Destruction Instances hereof enough among Men might be produced if need were And 't is as true in this case 'T is well known our Lord himself got the Victory over Death when he rose from the dead yet did not then destroy Death so the Saints through Christ get the Victory over Death at their Resurrection yet Death shall not then to wit at that very instant be destroyed And our Apostle very wisely makes the Distinction in that 1 Cor. 15.23 24 25 26. and this very Verse viz. 54. He doth not say That at the Saints or first Resurrection shall be brought to pass the Saying O Death or O Grave I will be thy Destruction But that Saying Death is swallowed up in Victory And herein you greatly contradict your self in making these two one viz. Destruction and Victory or contemporary namely at the Resurrection of the Just or first Resurrection For in your 9th and 10th Pages you tell us The Wicked shall not be raised till after the Saints nay that many things shall pass or be done between the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust Now if this be true as I grant it is then by your own Grant Death will not be destroyed at the first Resurrection since it shall hold the rest down after that is past And this is evident from both Isaiah from whence the Apostle hath these words and from 1 Cor. 15. also Ergo I conclude from this your Demonstration or the Consequence thereof that since Christ shall come Personally at the first Resurrection and that will be as I have shewed at the beginning of the thousand Years that then the thousand Years are not before nor without but with his Personal Presence on Earth Thus much in answer to your Six Demonstrations A POSTSCRIPT READER this Treatise was wholly composed and designed for the Press some Years past as may be conceived by some Passages in the Epistle But for some Reasons of no necessity herein to be inserted came not forth till now and I hope may be as