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
City where our Lord was Crucified which is as well known at this time to the Churches to be Jerusalem by that Description as Mystery Babylon is known to be Rome by the Description given in that behalf But again we have more in this Case it 's told us That it 's the City which was spiritually called Sodom and Egypt Now we find Jerusalem so called Isa 1.10 Jer. 23.14 Perhaps you will say Rome's mystical Name was written in her Fore head Ergo She might be known by it also But pray hold John it 's true saw it so in the Vision but 't was not so plain but he still wondred and that with great admiration who this Harlot should be as you may see ver 6 7. And yet notwithstanding this at least equal nay more Plainness the Author makes this an Allegory as you may see p. 48 49 50. A mystical City mystical Prophets mystical Heaven And why not as well a mystical Christ and a mystical Crucifying in a mystical City viz. the Hearts of Men as William Pen the Quaker against Muggleton p. 58. and in his Vindication of George Fox p. 12. Sect. 6. But again Why must this City New-Jerusalem chap. 21. be an Allegory with this Author Is it because St. John had not so clear a sight of this City p. 17. 3. 21. 10. Certainly this cannot be supposed unless the Author imagines that the Wilderness will give a better Prospect of Mystery Babylon than a great and high Mountain will do of the New-Jerusalem which cannot lightly be supposed and 't is evident here 's as plain a Description of this as the other But he tells you p. 164. That it 's called an Allegory Gal. 4.24 Now whether New-Jerusalem be there so called I need give no other Answer but desire the Reader to see if he can find any such thing in that Text. 'T is evident to all that will not shut their Eyes 〈◊〉 11.10 That our God hath builded a City for his Saints and will one day bestow it upon Abraham and his Sons for a Reward of their Losses 〈◊〉 3.12 â—â—ap 21.2 and this City shall come down from God out of Heaven it 's for the Saints and therefore not the Saints as this Author affirms p. 156. The Saved Ones shall walk in it ver 24. Ergo Not the City it self There shall in NO WISE enter into it any thing that defileth c. ver 27. Which cannot be meant of the Church here in this mortal State before the Personal Coming of Christ in the primest and purest Age that ever was or shall be Further This Author will have the Dragon Rev. 12.9 and 20.2 to be allegorical or figurative viz. the Pagan Empire not any particular Person or Creature p. 14 15. although there 's none of those he calls plain things so plainly described He tells you of some places where some other are called the Devil Admit this to be true 't will not prove the other for not only in this Book of the Revelation but in the whole Bible there is not a plainer Speech And we may as well with the Quakers conclude that all the Scriptures that speak of the Devil are meant only of a mystical and figurative Devil And I dare say you may as soon find a Dolphin in the Wood as a Devil in Hell if this be not he for pray mark how our Lord describes him That old Serpent called the Devil and Satan which deceiveth the whole World If this can be applied to any other I must confess my self very ignorant therein But I rather conclude this Notion to be like W. Deusbery's Interpretation of Matth. 21. touching the Ass that Christ rode upon which he hath taken the Boldness to affirm That it was the wild Nature in all the Children of the Lord. Another saith That it was the Lord's People And G. W. a Quaker likewise upon Rev. 11.8 saith That City is the Rock of Ages And indeed if Men may take this Liberty in their interpreting Scripture then I may boldly say The plainest Scripture will not scape their Allegorizing Frames But now if this Book of the Revelation be the Key to unlock the whole Bible as this Author confesseth then 't is strange the Key should be made more difficult than the Lock for so indeed it is if the most part be an Allegory as this Man affirms it is It 's called not only A Revelation but The Revelation a wrong Name if this Man's Doctrine be true True it is that what is therein delivered as many other places of Scripture are is set forth by Metaphors but it follows not That therefore the Doctrine there delivered is in it self Allegorical or but Metaphorical For instance Chap. 1. The seven Churches are set forth by seven Golden Candlesticks and the seven Ministers or Messengers by seven Stars Now will any wise Man conclude these seven Churches and seven Messengers are but figurative Churches and Messengers and not really such And so Rome is set forth by a great and brave decked Harlot what then Chap. 17. must this be only a Figure viz. Rome and not a real City as some gether figurative and several others also but this Author acknowledges the contrary So of the Waters Again Chap. 12 chap. 20. the Devil is set forth by a great red Dragon a fit Similitude indeed But what then Must this Devil be nothing but a Figure still Sure in all such Figures there is something figured out that is really so â—â—p 11. So by the two Candlesticks and two Olive-Trees are set forth the two Prophets But what then Must these Figures be but a Figure of a Figure still although our Lord tells us plainly They are two Prophets set forth by these two famous Similitudes and describes their Work and the time of it with their Death how it shall be and by whom how long they shall lie dead and where and what shall be done to them in that time by their Enemies and also their perspicuous and dreadful Resurrection and Ascension All which cannot be applied to any thing else save two Persons 〈◊〉 his 48 49 Pages Yet this Author will have these two Prophets to be but figurative Prophets still viz. The Church of God and others of the same stamp with this Author Magistracy and Ministry by some the two Testaments c. O what strange stuff have we here Brave Interpreters of Scripture But let God be true though every Man a Liar True it is many things in this Book are delivered by Metaphors but not all and those that are so signify something that 's real Therefore according to this Author p. 3. the Consideration whereof calls for the greater Circumspection Wariness and Sobriety as indeed other Writings do wherein are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest to their own Destruction Pet. 3.16 I commit all that I have said to the Blessing of God
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
both great and small without Exception as that is it you must intend or else you say nothing then I deny this Proposition also and tell you Christ's Personal Coming will have no such Product Your Scriptures produced for this are three viz. Rev. 6.15 and 1.7 Matth. 24.30 In two of these there is not a word of Destruction In the other it 's only wished or called for But admit this that every one of these shall be destroyed mentioned in this last Text yet doth it not follow that every Person both great and small upon the face of the Earth at that time shall be destroyed For it 's well known this phrase every Man in Scripture is oft-times to be understood respectively without reference to that sort of Men the Discourse concerns and not every Man in the World as 1 Cor. 12.7 and many more and so here 't is as evident for at the opening of the sixth Seal when he sees these run to the Rocks 〈…〉 7.3 c. there 's a 144000 of the Tribes of Israel upon the Earth which are not of this Number that run to the Rocks and wish for Destruction besides many more that might be named which shall not perish immediately at the Appearing of Christ Ergo Your Demonstration is become no Demonstration Demonst 2 When Christ comes all the dead Saints are raised and the Living changed and all together caught up to meet the Lord in the Air and so to be for ever with the Lord 1 Thess 4.17 18. So that from that time they could no more converse with the unconverted of this World as the thousand Years requires See Luke 20.35 36. Answer If by these words Caught up into the Air and ever with the Lord you intend these shall never come down out of the Air again then you say something as to these But pray who told you that not this Text nor any in the whole Bible 2dly What you mean by Conversing with the Vnconverted I do not well understand and therefore when you have told me I shall give you a further Answer 3dly What if these should not so converse with the Unconverted as you mean Shall there be no other Saints then to do it Pray mark the Text speaks only of such as were converted before Christ's Second Coming and not of those that shall be converted when he comes See more in my Answer to the 9th Argument of the first Author in my 24th and 25th Pages Demonst When Christ comes he comes in flaming Fire taking Vengeance on them that know not God c. 2 Thess 4.7 8. Jude 14 15. and then also the World and the Works that are therein shall be burnt up 2 Pet. 3.10 Now all these Persons and things being destroyed at that Day if this were at the beginning of the Thousand Years where was the Reign for a thousand Years after of the Saints over the World in converse with the Unregenerate Therefore Christ's Coming is after the thousand Years Answer I answer And first by way of Concession taking your first Proposition to be true according to your three Texts I resolve your Query as to the Persons thus That notwithstanding these Persons spoken of in these Texts should be destroyed at the beginning of the thousand Years yet there shall many more remain undestroyed over which these Saints shall reign As 1st Though one of these Texts tell us that he will take Vengeance in flaming Fire on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel c. yet it follows not from hence that he will then destroy them that do know the Lord and turn to him Nor 2dly Those that are at that time incapable to know him for Incapacity is no Sin nor Cause of Vengeance Nor 3dly Those that have not heard of his Fame or had the Gospel preached to them for pray mark the Texts and you may clearly see they speak of such Persons which had the Gospel preached to them and were disobedient to it and persecuted them also that did obey the Gospel Secondly As to the Destruction of things which you say will then be pray remember your self what you said of it in your 5th Page viz. That none of these i. e. Shaking Melting Dissolving Burning up Folding up and Changing express an Annihilation but destroying the former Surface and the Works of Men on Earth Therefore you have no cause to say Where shall they reign c. But Thirdly What Cause had you to make this Supposition if this were at the beginning of the thousand Years Certainly no ground from these Texts nor any other and therefore you do by this subtilly deceive your Readers â—â—et 3.10 Pray mind once more the Text But the Day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the Night in the which the Heavens shall pass away Not in the beginning of which So that your Conclusion viz. That Christ's Coming is after the thousand Years falls to the ground See more in my Answer to the first Author's second Argument in my 4th Page Demonst 4 Upon Christ's Coming and Raising the Saints c. Then follows the Day of Judgment 2 Tim. 4.1 which is clearly set down in the Order of things to follow the thousand Years Rev. 20.11 to the end See p. 9 10. So that Christ's Coming to Judgment cannot be before but after the thousand Years Answer Your first Proposition I grant viz. That the Day of Judgment shall follow Christ's Coming and the Saints Resurrection c. But what you assert in the second place I deny and intreat you and every unbiassed Man to consider First Whether there be any thing like it in this Text â—ev 20. nay it 's so far from it that the very contrary is found evident therein First see 2 Tim. 4.1 Who shall judg the Quick and the Dead at his Appearing and his Kingdom and Rev. 20.4 5 6 7. gives us an Account of the Saints Resurrection and their reigning with Christ a thousand Years before this in the 11th Verse shall be accomplished And you confess herein and in your 10th Page That upon the first Resurrection viz. of the Just Christ will sit and judg his People So that 't is plain the Judgment-Day shall begin as you confess when Christ comes and hath raised his Saints which as I have already shewed will be at the beginning of the thousand Years and therefore Christ's Coming in Person will be before and not after the thousand Years See more in my Answer to the first Author's first Argument in my 2d Page and to his 4th and 5th Arguments of the 2d sort in my 20th and 21st Pages Demonst 5 Psal 110.1 Acts 3.21 Christ is to remain at God's Right-hand till his Enemies be made his Footstool But after the thousand Years Gog and Magog assault the Saints Rev. 20.8 9. Therefore he came not a thousand Years before while that Enemy was unsubdued Answer This Demonstration is much-what the same with the third Argument of the
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