it folow that such are said to hav so much glory here may not be said elswher to hav more Shal the Saints Bodies during thos one thousand yeers shine as the Firmament and Stars yet eat drink sleep go to wars or wors Surely so great glory cannot sort or sute with such sordidity Repl. The first Resurrection is promised to Daniel as a prime privilege Thou shalt stand in the lot at end of dais but the last Ibid v. 13. common to al Ergo c. Sol. This inference is improper and impertinent for Mr. Archer holds how al the Godly shal partake the first Resurrection so wel as Daniel nor is any sound reason to includ him rather then Moses or David The truth is no Resurrection is their imported but a free promiss that Daniel shal liv in peace and prosperity as he did al dais of his life til the end So bold are Sectists to scru Scriptures and seduce Idiots Ob. Daniel saith from the time daily Sacrifice shal ceas and Ibid. v. 11. 12. abomination which makes desolat be set up ther shal be one thousand two hundred dais blessed is he that coms to the one thousand three hundred thirty fiv dais Mr. Archer taking yeers for daiâ— as is usual makes them to begin under Julian Apostata who invited the Jews to reedify their Temple til not a stone was left on a stone so by his comput the first Sum 1290. completed A. 1650. the last A. 1695. as he presumes Sol. In this confident assertion no part is sound for what warrant hath he to take yeers for dais Yet so writers use Or what reason to begin them with Julian Indeed he opened Pagan Temples and set up Idolatry but caused not the Jews daily sacrifice to ceas but desired to promot it had not God prevented nor erected any abomination in Christian Churches Daniel designs only two times when solen sacrifice shal be put down and abomination set up viz. by Antiochus and Titus not so late as Julian nor is the Earthquake story authentic but application to Christs prophecy most audacious sith 't is intended to Titus time as the Text plainly provs Daniels words declare the short durance of Antiochus desolation viz a time times and half which is three yeers and half or 1290. simple dais and from it til a plague shal fal on his Person 45. mo 1335. which betided precisely to Antiochus as the Maccabees and Josephus testify but nothing to Julian Ob. David saith when the Lord shal build up Sion and his Psal glory appeer Ergo Jerusalem shal be rebuilt by God and Christ reign gloriously ther. Sol. This is to snatch at shadows or semblance of words but the Text treats of Babylons captivity and the Saints earnest longing to see Sion restored which is promised that the Lord shal get glory by it but of Jerusalems rebuilding or the Lords appeering ther in glory ne gry quidem nor ground Ob. Peter saith The day of the Lord wil com as a Theef 2 Pet. 3. 〈◊〉 in the night in which the Heavens shal pass with a nois and Elements melt with heat the Earth with al Works therin shal be burnt up Nathless we according to his promiss look for a new Heaven and Earth wherin dwels righteousnes Ergo al old Creatures shal be consumed with fire and new substituted for the Saints use far more glorious and righteousâ— as som presum to model Sol. Several Sects diversly and dangerously distort this Text but the Apostles answers som Scoffers which ask Wher is the promiss of his coming Not to reign one thousand yeers as Chiliasts fondly imagin but to judg al flesh as is evidently expressed which is after thos one thousand yeers or at last end of them Yea many words That day wil com as a Theef 2 Theâ— â— 7 8. in which the Heavens Elements and Earth shal be burnt up cleerly convince Christs coming to Judgment the last words wheron they most rely A new Earth wherin dwels righteousnes as if they cannot mean the Judgment day becaus no righteous Men shal then dwel on Earth the Original runs we in whom righteousnes dwels look for a new Heaven and Earth For the habitation of righteousnes refers to just Men who expect the performance of promiss but if they be read as we translat righteousnes relats soly to the Heavens in quibus Coelis not in qua Terra sith one Pronoun respects not â—oth Substantivs as Junius observs Yea Archer agniseth that no righteous Soul is to inhabit Heaven in thos one thousand yeers nor any after within the verge of created Heaven for aâ— that space shal be Hel as he holds so al tends nothing to a Millenar reign Ob. Isaiah saith I creat new Heavens and a new Earth but Isaiah 65. 17 21 â—2 the old shal not be remembred nor com to mind They shal build houses and inhabit them plant Vineyards and eat the fruit of them for my elect shal long enjoy the works of their hands but thes things cannot be doon after the last Judgment Ergo c. Sol. The Prophet means not that after Heaven and Earth is burnt or new created Men shal build or plant but Mr. Burroughs expounds it by a Metaphor that God in later dais shal doo such glorious things for his Church as if he made al new which is far from burning the old being no more then what Peter brings from Joel 2. 30. I wil shew wonders in Heaven and Earth Blood Fire and pillars of Smoke which was accomplished at Pentecost when the holy Ghost descended 〈◊〉 12. 26 27. Nor more then that in Haggai 2. 6. Yet 't is a little while and I will shake the Heavens Earth and Sea which was performed at Christs first coming and the Apostles preaching to the Gentils wherof Isaiah speaks in the cited chapter as St. Paul Rom. 10. 20. expounds the first vers I was found of them that sought me not but to interpret it of his secund coming wil make the Jews suspend their faith til those promises of building and planting be fulfilled Ob. 'T is said God hath not subjected the World to com to the â—â—b 2 5 8 Angels but now we see not al things put under him Ergo Christ is to hav al put under him This is not yet doon at his first coming as the Words are cleer nor shal be in the life to com for then he must resign the Kingdom to his Father so by consequent it must be exeâ—uted during his interstitial Millenar reign when he shal triumphantly subdu al and al sorts of Enimies Sol. The World to com ther meant and mentioned is the time of the Gospel which was not ministred by Angels like the Mat 28. 18 Law on Sinai but by the Son of God this new world differed more from the old then the Earth after the Flood from it before and began at Christs first coming but manifested at his 〈◊〉
one end nor is it so sole-sufficient to shuffle out the right religious celebration of al other Festivals for wher is it said we shal sanctify that only or why doo we ordain others upon occasions the Ascension was Christs last act of appeering on Earth yet may it not exclud the commemoration of his Resurrection no more then that can includ the celebration of al antecedent blessings or benefits imparted by his Passion Circumcision Nativity and Conception let God be glorified in al his wondrous works yea thos Annal Fests were instituted by the same authority that the weekly Lords Day tho this haply first by the Apostles meeting theron A. C. 324. to break bread which yet they did at other times but Constantin published the first Edict or Law for strict observing of it which Decree enjoyns also an Anniversary celebration of other Fests consecrat to our Saviours name as Eusebius and Sozomen relate thos words of the fourth Commandement six dais thou shalt labor are only permissiv thou shalt hav leav to labor six dais not preceptiv to injoyn it sith the sole intention is to sanctify the seventh Master Fisher who writes judiciously of this subject saith Of Gospel Festivals that the moral part of the fourth Commandement in the first words Remember to keep holy the Sabbath Day injoyns only a Sabbath no precise particular time to Gods public service but the Ceremonial commands the seventh day since abrogated on which God rested to be halowed yet the Lords Day is not appointed to be sanctified by the Letter of that Commandement nor is it moral no nor doth the Gospel giv any warrant to keep it weekly St. John specifies two times of Christs appeering to his Disciples John 20. 9. 19. after his Resurrection 1. At evening the same day he Luk 24 29. 33. 41. 42. rose when they assembled with the dores shut for fear of the Jews and had broild fish with an Hony comb for supper but they met not to celebrat his Resurrection as new Sabbatarians teach nor had they any Praying Preaching or other Divine duties ther mentioned For Mary Magdalens going to the Sepulcher with Spices and the two Disciples traveling John 20. 26. to Emaus cleerly convince it in their reput to be a or commonday 2. After eight dais or when eight dais were complet which haply was the ninth so it fals on the secund third of next but cannot be on the first day of the week unles they say as som doo that after eight dais must be interpreted before eight dais viz. on the seventh which is preposterous In al the Acts of Apostles is no appointment of holy Assemblies on the first day abov the rest St. Paul being to depart next morow cam together with the Dâ—sciples at Troas on the Acts 15. 28. 29. first of the week to break bread which al grant was Sunday night and continued together til Day-break must we therfore keep the Lords day from Sunday night til Monday morning or rather from Saturday night to Sunday night as they say surely they then met daily to Pray Preach and break bread without distinction of one day before another and that assembly was in the night when the Lords day was past In al the sacred Epistles of Paul James Peter John Jude is not one syllable of the Lords day thos words ther remains therfore Heb 4. 9 11. 14. a rest to Gods People are not meant of a temporal weekly rest but a spiritual eternal in the Heavens wher Christ Jesus our high Priest is gon before us into which Men must striv to enter by Faith being begun in this life by ceasing from sin and dooing righteousnes but finished or perfectly continued in the life to com Indeed St. Johns speech That he Rev. 1. 10. was in the Spirit on the Lords day at Ile Patmos shews ther was a day then so caled but whether it were a Festival whether weekly or Annal And if weekly whether the first of Christs Resurrection or sixth of his Passion which the Greecs kept weekly til Constantins Edict and Patmos is a Grecian Iland is not expressed nor is the weekly celebration of it commended or commanded in sacred Scripture Yet it is very antient even in the Apostles dais grounded on the foresaid words and generaly received in al Churches so 't is a custom constitution or tradition of the Catholic Church but no Doctrin or Article of Faith prescribed in Gods Word as al Orthodox Authors agree The Church set it apart in stead of the seventh day on good grounds 1. The Morality of the fourth Commandement requires set dais or times for Gods public service so the Church according to the liberty wherwith Christ hath made her free consecrated the first day among other Annals to be weekly kept holy without any affiâ—mation of morality which is but the blind zele of som men 2. The equity of a seventh day under the Law moved the Church to assign a like proportion of the first day every week to be Religiously halowed howbeit shâ— hath sufficient Reasons to refuse the last day and chuse the first 1. that by not observing the Sabbath Christians might be and they are freed from the yoke of the Ceremonial Laws 2. that herby a difference or distinction might be put betwixt us and the Jews The like two motivs or inducements she hath to chuse the first 1. Becaus God began the Creation on that day 2. In memory of our Saviours Resurrection becaus therby he mightily declared himself to be the Lord in which regard t is caled the Lords Day yet t is so spoken by way of affirmation not appropriation as if he declared himself to be the Lord at Mat. 1. 23. no other time or no day els to be termed the Lords 1. For he mightily declared himself to be the Lord by being born of a pure Virgin as no meer man ever was and that is so wel to be caled the Lords day yea he self expresly cals it his day John 8. 56. Semblably in sustaining Gods wrath for the sins of the World he mightily declared himself to be the Lord and the Passion day may be so stiled Again by ascending into Heaven in his Apostles view he mightily declared himself to be the Lord and that is also the Lords day 2. Christ by his Resurrection occasioned the first day to be kept holy whence som Writers say he changed the Sabbath into that day not as if he were Author or Institutor and did actualy set it apart to be halowed but only was Causa sine qua non or occasion of it as 't is said here the Papists made Nov. 5. an holy day yet the Parlement inacted it 3. That Christs rising is a part of Mans redemption but not the whol work but his Incarnation Birth Passion Ascention hav their several shares so wel as the Resurrection Sith then to be conceived born crucified buried rise again ascend
Thes Texts tend al to the Registry of Gods simple Prescience and Providence which tho they be no causes of any effects yet are certain in the events and cannot be frultrat but make nothing for absolut Decree of a prefixd period to our dais Dr. Charlton debats this point acutly and accuratly part wherof shal be decurted God the giver of life sole moderator but not Author of death for al natural motion proceds from one first mover God whence S. Paul saith In him we live mov Acts 17. 28. and hav our being The term Life is taken either for the period of every Mans dais caused by a sensible decay or dissolution of al ligaments which chain the Soul to the Body or by an extinction of his vital flame upon consumption of the Radical fuel when no preternatural causes interven to anticipat the dissipation of that elementar temper on which Lifes subsistence necessarily depends or els for the end of every Mans Life in general by what means or whensoever be it by diseases or violent accidents without respect to the gradual decay and consequent cessation of natural temperament in old age From the first acception arise 2. Questions 1. Whether this term of Life circumscribed by a natural deflux of the Body which is a kind of mature facil faling away of Natures ligaments like ripe Apples be definitly fixd by divine Ordinance to leav every in dividual in his own moderation without prescribing or procuring that this decay of temperature should hav more or less duration then what may naturaly occur from the more or less durability therof 2. If Life be thus fixd by Gods decree not to prolong it beyond the point of its natural durability whether he can without altering his own established cours of Nature being moved by Mens praiers or pitty as he added 15 yeers to Ezekiahs dais correct thos depravities procured by excess sicknes or other extraneous means and so hinder the dissolution therof That is whether if God hath predetermined that none shal exced the term to which the durability of his individual temper or strength of constitution may probably extend his special Providence doth not permit that the temperament may be vitiated impaired or ruined by putrefactiv destructiv preternatural causes obvenient and so not hold out to that point of time which otherwise by its primigeneous nativ condition it might hav reached unto For the secund acception of Life in general by what means of dissolution soever sicknes surfeit shipwrack suffocation famin war wounds or other-wais this question occurs whether the immature pâ—â—eâ—natural period therof be so precisely prefixd that no Human prudence or providence can prevent or prolong it nor fortuitous accidents accelerat or prevert it In brief whether the Catastrophe of ech Mans life be prefined in the Book of Fate or Divine Decree Life is said to be fixd in a duple sens 1. In respect of som absolut Decree antegredient to Gods Presâ—ience of al secund instrumental causes so that Man cannot possibly prorogue it beyond or fal short of that fatal term 2. In respect of som conditionat Hypothetic Decree whos alteration or accomplishment is superseded by the electiv liberty of mans Wil either as guided by supernatural light of divine Grace to pursu the real tru good or seduced by delusion of its own sensual judgment to wander in the devious tracts of error and so chus seeming fals Good Now it skils not whether this conditionat Decree be grounded on certain prenotion of al concomitant circumstances and corollary relations concerning Mans election of adhering to good and evil Objects and his consequent virtuous or vicious cours of life Or whether it be made without any such infallible prenotion or volition yet with a positiv deliberat sentence certainly to be executed in du time when the right use or abuse of Freewil shal be fulfilled Hence arise 3. Opinions 1. Som hold the term of every 1 Opinion very Mans life with al causes and clauses conducing to be flatly fatal or immovable by Gods irresistible Wil and Decree according to the vulgar saying his time is com this is a Stoical devise used as a spur to excite magnanimous spirits against dangers of death that every Mans destiny is writ with invisible indeleble characters in his forhead which al Mahometans maintain doctrinaly and many Christians ignorantly But 't is in it self impious if not blasphemous to confine Confut. Gods chief attribut of infinit Omnipotence within the definit lists laws or limits of secund causes and it derogats from the liberty of Mans wil leaving nothing in his power to elect or eschew nor to act or shun For if Fatal necessity be defended al our actions shal be but so many accomplishments of ineluctable Destiny and results of Counsil the decrees of Fate so al human pruâ—ence is palpable folly 〈◊〉 study of Wisdom painful vanity and al Laws meer tyranny siâ—h thâ—y injoyn only what must hâ—vâ—in doon otherwise or restrain what would els be checked by coercing fatality Thus shal al praâ—ers be fruitless vows hopelâ—ss exhortations to good needless dâ—hortations from evil frivolous and acts of piety or devotion superfluous with a â—â—yriod of other incongruâ—ties appendent if absolut fatality be admitted which is inconsistent to the rules o. Reason and Râ—ligion 2. Others assert a fixed fatality of every Mans life 2 Opin a posteriori not to be extended beyond the natural condition of each particular constitution but not a priori sith it may be contracted or abbreviated as 't is commonly but simply said one may shorten tho not exced his time appointed by divine Dâ—cree Certes God made no such absolut decrees for the length Confut. of any Mans life but leavs every Man free to be his own Carver in al temporal mundan affairs 3. Divers defend that Mans life may be lengthned or 3 Opin shortned more or less of what it usually is in most Men by the right use or abuse of means according to Gods prenotion or Hypothetic determination leaving the means to every mans Freewil This is perpendicularly proved by many plain places and Confirmat pregnant instances extant in holy Writ but none that hav any color for a fixed fatal period Salomon saith The Prov. 10. 27. fear of the Lord prolongeth dais but the wickeds yeers shal be shortned For God promiseth long life to them that honor their Parents and generaly to al such as shal keep his Commandements Yea he said to Salomon If thou wilt 1 Kings 3. 14. walk in my wais as thy Faâ—her David did I wil lengthen thy dâ—is And David definitly saith Bloody and deceitful Men shal Ps 55. 23. Ps 102. 24. Ps 6. 4 5. Ps 30 Ps 8â— not liv out half their dais Again Take me not away in the midst of my dais The like he praied in sicknes That God would not cut off the thâ—ed of his Isâ— and givs thanks for preserving him from death
Ezekiah hearing imminent death denounced praied with tears and had his life prolonged 15. yeers Jonah from God threatned destruction to Ninive within 40 dais yet upon repentance they were preserved Contrarily sundry exemples are current of such as hav bin cut off for their sins so was the whol stock of mankind except 8. Persons in the universal Deluge so al the Israelits except Josua and Caleb were buried in the Desart so Corah Dathan and Abiram with their families were swallowed quick of the Earth beside many mo To Jobs place prâ—cited he answers that it means not the term of particular Mens lifes but in general of mankind that his time comparatly is very short being cycled within a smal circle of moneths and dais In which sens it runs parallel with that of Moses The dais of our yeers are 70 and Ps 90. 10. if by reason of strength Men com to 80 yet is their life but labor and sorow for 't is soon cut off and we fly away So David Ps 39. 5. saith Lo thou hast made my dais as an handbreadth and my age is nothing before thee verily every Man at his best state is altogether vanity Nor doth Job shew by what maner of ordinance or decree God made that definition of dais and moneths but most probably refers to his infallible prescience of every Mans future demeanor upon the Hypothesis of his good or il use of Freewil Ob. 'T is objected That it matters not whether Gods prescience preced his preordination of any future event and so founded upon prevision or els be subsequent to Preordination which is the basis of prevision for it folows both wais that the term of life is intransibly fixd sith divine Prescience can no more be defeated then decree Sol. Indeed Prescience whether it preced or succed Decree is ever certain precise or infallible in event by necessity of consequence not of consequent that is from the Hypothesis or conditionality tho not from the efficacy or causality For if God infallibly foâ—eknows as he doth that the period of Mans life shal be by such means or maner then it wil assuredly be so yet his prenotion hath no influence on our actions as the Schools say For divine Prescience Prescienâ—e is duple 1. Antecedent to Preordination whos Object is a future thing without any previous Decree hereby God eternaly foresaw al things to com both necessary by the impuls of natural causes and future contiâ—gâ—nts depending on Freewil sans relation to any after Decrees Hereof Rabbi Isaac Bar Sesac saith God from eternity disposed al mundan affairs and foresaw al effects which should ensu in time even the action of Freewil whether to be doon or not Hownbeit Man doth not any thing in time becaus God foreknew it but contrarily becaus Man wil doo this or that in time therfore God eternaly foreknew it would so com to pass 2. Subsequent to Gods Decrees which hath for its Object a thing to com and presupposeth it so fully as the former together with the maner or Order of its futurition as fixd and stable being so constituted by an antecedent preordination This last is also duple 1. Conditionat That if a Man being born of a sound durable constitution shal observ good courses tending to health and use fit remedies against maladies God foresees he shal liv long but if he take contrary courses God foreknows he shal be subject to diseases and dy untimely 2. Absolut wherby God certainly knows that such a Man wil chus a prudent cours of life and fit means to prevent or cure diseases wherby he shal liv long in health or that another wil liv intemperatly or neglect means and shorten his dais Both which suppose a certainty of divine Prescience touching the precise period of every mans life as also the order or maner of its futurition and al concurring causes Among which the most energetical is the right use or abuse of hâ—s own Freewil in whos power it was to prolong or abbreviat that term forward or backward so far is Gods prenotion or prevision from excluding a temperat diet and phisical remedies that it necessarily includs it els God foreknows he wil be accessary to shorten his own dais like a Fâ—lo de se For if Man hath no Freewil to use or refuse sitting means Gods Prescience is uncertain sith it determins nothing but presupposeth al nor doth he by any Decree subsequent to Prescience preordain that this or that Man shal recover of such or such a sicknes unles he shal use the means ordained by divine providence but if he wilfully or negligently rejects it he hastens his own Catastrophe The result of al is that God foresees al things and the maner of means how they wil com to pass yet doth neither caus nor compel any necessity of the event Next for the absolut Decree of Predestination their main arguments shal be mustered up together Ob. S. Paul saith The children being not yet born nor having Rom. 9. 11 12 c. doon good or evil that Gods purpos according to election might stand not of works but of him that caleth it is writen Jacob have I loved but hateâ— Esau For he saith to Moses I wil have mercy on whom I wil So ' tâ—s not of him that willeth or runneth but of God that sheweâ—h mercy For he hath mercy on whom he wil and hardens whom he wil as he did Pharaoh to shew his power in him Thou wilt â—ay â—hâ—n why doth he yet find fault for who can resist his Wil nay but O Man who art thou that repliest against God Shal the thing formed say to the Former why madest thou me so Hath not the Potter power over his Clay of the same lump to make one Vessel of honor and another to dishonor What if God to shâ—w his wratk and make his power known endured with long suffering the Vessels of wrath prepared for destruction and to manifest the riches of his glory on the Vessels of mercy which he had prepared to glory Isaiah crieth though Israel be as the Sea sand a remnent only shal be saved Ergo al depends on Gods absolut antecedent Decree of pure pleasure Sol. The Lutherans refer al to simple Prescience whereto they stick like limpets nor is any warrant in holy Writ for absolut irrespectiv Decree or to exclud Prescience from Gods proceedings but this place of S. Paul is one of which S. Peter speaks that Many misunderstand to their condemnation God loved Jacob and hated Esau before they did good or evil but not before he knew what both would doo for Men are prius dâ—mnati quam nati sed non quam noti God knew Adam the root and al particular branches of Mankind what their affections actions and ends wil be so wel for matters of this life as that to com if he should Decree to creat them and passed permissiv Decrees accordingly He knew Moses and David would be Men after his own
holy Land but Jerusalem the City of general worship more holy the Temple holier and Sanctum Sanctorum holiest of al places A Sacrament is a separation of som visible thing from common use consecrated to Gods service for a sign of our admission Sacrament into his Kingdom or a commemoration of the same Circumcision was the sign of admission in the old Testament Baptism in the new but the commemoration in the one was eating the Pascal Lamb once annaly to mind them of the night when they were delivered from Egypts temporal bondage and celebrating the Lords Supper in the other wherby we are remembred of our deliverance from sin and Satan by our Saviours crucifixon The Sacraments of admission Circumcision and Baptism are used but once to every one becaus we are admitted no oftner but thos of commemoration Passover and the Lords Supper often reiterated becaus we must be often minded of our deliverance and allegiance Ther be other Consecrations which in ample acception may be stiled Sacraments as the word implies a sacred institution for Religious uses as Ordination Matrimony and many mo but as it imports an Oath Promiss or Covenant of Allegiance to God thos precited are soly so named A Common-wealth cannot possibly consist wher any sav the Soveraign hath power to giv greater rewards then life or inflict Chap 38. grievouser punishments then death but sith eternal life excels temporal and endless torments exced death of nature 't is worthy to be wel weighed of al that wil obey Authority to avoid the calamities of confusion and civil war what is meant in Scripture by eternal life and endless torment as also for what offenses and against whom committed Men are to be eternaly tortured and for what actions to enjoy everlasting life Adam had enjoied it in the terren Eden Paradise for ever had he not broken Gods commandment to eat the forbidden fruit who had the Tree of Life allowed to eat but so soon Eternal Life Gen. 3. 22. as he tasted the one God thrust him out of the Garden lest he should take of the other and liv for ever So if he had not sinned he should liv on Earth perpetualy but mortality seized on him and al his posterity for this first sin Sith then he forfeted eternal life by sin he who is to cancel that forfeture must recover it by righteousnes which Christ Jesus did by satisfying for the sins of al that beleev in him and so recovered life eternal lost by Adam to al beleevers So saith St. 1 Cor. 15. 21 22. Paul sith by Man cam death by Man cam also the Resurrection of the dead for as in Adam al dy so in Christ shal al be made alife Touching the place wher Men shal enjoy eternal life the precited Texts seem to set it on Earth for if al forfeted it in earthly Paradise by Adam they shal enjoy it on Earth by Christ els the comparison were not consonant nor complet So saith David God commanded the blessing on Zion Ps 133 3. even life for evermore So St. John to him that overcometh Rev. 2. 7. I wil giv to eat of the Tree of Life in the midst of Gods Paradise Rev. 21. 2. 10. This was the Tree of eternal life on earth Again I saw the holy City new Jerusalem coming down from God as a Bride adorned for his Husband As if he should say new Jerusalem Gods Paradise or rather the Church Christs Spous shal descend from Neaven at Christs next coming to Gods people and Acts 3. 11. not they ascend to it So the two Angels in whit clothing said to the Apostles looking at Christ ascending This Jesus who is taken up from you into Heaven shal so com as you see him go up into Heaven As if they had said Glossa corrumpit textum he shal com down to govern them under his Father eternaly on Earth he coms to Judg not to Rule and not take them into Heaven This conforms to the restauration of Gods Kingdom began under Moses which was the Israelits Politic Mat. 12 30. government on Earth Christ saith In the Resurrection Men neither marry nor giv in mariage but are as the Angels in Heaven This describes eternal life like that which Adam lost at point of mariage For sith Adam and Eve if they had not sinned had lived on Earth eternaly yet could not continualy propogat Progenies becaus if immortals should immortaly procreat as Men doo now the Earth in short space could not afford Foot-room to stand on much less food to sustain them How then can a new created Earth except extended to Quaeâ—e iâ—finit immensity contain al Mankind which are unimaginable multituds born and to be born since the Creation Thes with sundry such quirks surpass the reach of reason to resolv The comparison betwen life eternal lost by Adam and recuperated by Christs victory over death holds thus that as he lost it by sin yet lived long after so a faithful Beleever recovers it by Christ though he dy 〈◊〉 natural death for a long time even til the general Resurrection for as death is counted from Adams condemnation not execution so is life reckoned from the absolution not from the Resurrection of thos elected in Christ Jesus Such are his specious speculalations favouring of singularity That Men after the Resurrection shal liv eternaly in Heaven Ascention into Heaven caled by St. Paul the third Heaven is not evident in Scripture by the Kingdom of Heaven is meant Gods Kingdom who dwels in Heaven which was Israels People whom he ruled by Judges Prophets and high Priests as Lieftenents til they rebelled and required a mortal King like other Nations So when our Saviour by his Ministers shal perswade the Jews to return and accomplish the fulnes of Gentils ther shal be a new Kingdom of Heaven becaus God whos Throne is Heaven shal be King yet it folows not that Man shal ascend to his seat of happines or higher then his Footstool No Man John 3. 13. hath ascended into Heaven but he that cam down from it even the Son of Man that cam down from Heaven Wher note that thos are St. Johns words not Christs as al the rest were who was not then in Heaven So David saith Thou wilt not leav Ps 16. 10. my Soul in Hel nor suffer thy Holy one to see corruption which St. Peter provs to be spoken of Christs Resurrection not of Acts 2 31 34. himself becaus David is not ascended into Heaven If any answer 't is tru they shal not ascend in bodies til the Resurrection but their Souls enter Heaven so soon as they dy As Christ confirms Who provs the Resurrection by Moses words Luk 20. 37 38. at the bush when he cals the Lord the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob who is a God of the living not of the dead This cannot be construed of the Souls immortality sith Christ ther