A dissertation concerning the future conversion of the Jewish Nation. Answering the objections of the Reverend and learned Mr. Baxter, Dr. Lightfoot, and others. : With an enquiry into the first resurrection. / By Increase Mather, president of Harvard-Colledge, at Cambridge, in New-England. ; [Three lines from Jeremiah]

The Doctrine of the JEWS CON|VERSION vindicated.

CHAP. I. The Doctrine of the Jews Conversion no New or Singular Opinion. Who have op|posed it. Mr. Baxter's great Worth acknowledged. Why to be answered. His Arguments against a National Conversion of the Jews summarily rehearsed.

THAT a General Conversion of the Israelitish Nation, is according to the Scriptures to be expected in the latter Ages of the World, is nothing but what Christians in all Ages have believed. So the Ancients (Fa|thers as they are called) who lived towards the Primitive Times. So the School|men in the dark Days of Popery. So the chief Reformers in this and the last Century, all which I have elsewhere made to appear, and therefore shall not again mention the Names of those great Authors, whether ancient or modern, which have declared their Judgment, and given their Testimony to what we assert as a glorious Truth. Some few of late have opposed the commonly received Doctrine, as a Scriptureless Notion. Iacobus Batalerius a Dutch Mi|nister hath published a small Tract, entituled Dissertatio de Israelitarum Con|versione à Paulo ad Romanos undecimo capite pr••dictâ. In which he endeavours to prove that whilst the Apostles were yet living, not only some Part of, but that All Israel was converted and saved, at least wise before the Apostle Iohn died; supposing that the One Hundred Forty Four Thousand Sealed ones of all the Tribes of Israel, spoken of Revel. 7. are not meant (as doubtless they are) of believing Gentiles, who are Surrogate Israel, but of the Natural Israel▪ and that the Restitution of all Things predicted, Acts 3.21. was fulfilled by the first Com|ing of Christ, with many other Things like these mentioned. His Book was Printed Anno 1669. Hague. Also Mr. Iames Calvert hath written a Treatis•• with this Title, Colluctationes Theologica cum tribus Ingentibus dubiis. viz. De Reditu decem tribuum, de Conversione Iudaeorum, Mensuris Sacris Ezekielis: Whose Schem•• we shall anon consider. With these Authors does the Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter concur in his Sentiments about the Iews.

As for Mr. Baxter, I am far from joyning with them who damn him as an He|retick, as bad as Pelagius. Altho' he had not in every Point (as B••col••er says of another) Caput regulatum Calvini; nevertheless he was a Man of excellent Na|tural Parts, of great Reading and Learning, and of eminent Piety; and one that did great Service for the Church of God; an happy Instrument of con|verting many Souls, and is now undoubtedly among the Blessed. Maccovius said of our Ames, whose Judgment differed from his in some Matters of Controversy, Sit Anima men cum pientissimâ Animâ Amesij; so say I, Sit Anima mea cum Animâ Baxteri.

This notwithstanding, it is better to maintain the Truth with the Generali|ty of the Orthodon than to ••rr with Origen: Mr. Baxter was subject to Mistakes.

Bernardus non videt omnia. His Aphorism•• about Iustification 〈◊〉〈◊〉 very 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to the most judicious Divines both in England and New-England.

His Christian Directory hath some Superstitious Things in it, which his Anta|gonist (Mr. Danver••) hath noted, and thereby exposed him to those Men who have no Kindness for his Memory. In many o•• his Writings these are Ar••i|nianish Notions, which I wish had never been there. He honour'd himself in his imitating Austin, in writing a Book of ••••tractati••ns: I wish he had done more that Way. Were he now living, it would not trouble him to see any of his Mistakes corrected. Not long 〈◊〉〈◊〉 his Death, in private Discourse, he did seriously profess his Desires to 〈◊〉〈◊〉▪ that if I observed any dangerous Error in any of his Writings▪ in Case the Lord should continue my Life after his, I would refute that Error. This argued both a Sincere Love to Truth, and Humility to be in his Holy Soul.

As to what he has written against a future Conversion of the Jews, inasmuch as he has been pleased to honour me with the Dedication of that Book, wherein he treats of this Subject, entreating a Confutation of what is erroneous therein, I may the more freely do it; and I shall conscienciously for••ear such Reflections as Polemical Writings are usually attended with; espec••••lly considering not only the Worth of the venerable Person against whom I def••nd what I believe is Truth, but that he is gone to his Everlasting Rest.

I shall not spend Time in reciting all Mr. Baxter's Words, and in that Way follow him 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉, that would be tedious.

The Sum of what Mr. Baxter says, is this, What has been foretold in the Scrip|tures, whether of the Old or New Testament, concerning the Conversion of the Jews, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 already fulfilled, in as m••ch as many of them were converted in the Days of the Apostles, after which Millions of Infidel Jews were destroyed by the Roman Empe|rors, by Means whereof the greatest Part of that Nation left alive in the World, were Christians. And in the Days of Constantine the Great, inasmuch as that Em|peror became a Christian, Multitudes of the Pagans became Christians, and pro|bably Multitudes of the Jews, and since that in all Ages many Jews have been bap|tized. This is the Sum and Substance of what Mr. Baxter does object in his Book of the Kingdom of Christ, Printed in the Year 1691. Since which Time I have had no Leisure to perpend his Arguments, but now have gained a few spare Hours from other Employments. Deus nobis h••c oti•• focit.

CHAP. II. There was not any National Conversion of the Jews in the Apostles Days; nor will there be until the Fulness of the Gentiles be come in. What is meant thereby. The Body of the Israelitish Nation, comprehending the Ten Tribes, not destroyed by the Romans. No extraordinary Conversion of the Jews in the Reign of Constan|tine. Of Jews converted in several Ages. Few Jews have ever embraced the Protestant, which is the only true Christian Religion.

LET us now impartially consider what there i•• of Weight in that which the Reverend Person ••••••tioned, has objected.

1. To affirm that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 was in the Apostles Days a National Conversion of the Iews is clearly against the Scripture. It is contrary to what the 〈…〉〈…〉 foretold would come to pass. The Spirit in them shewed that Israel 〈◊〉〈◊〉 not be ga••hered, that that Nation would not esteem, but a••••or and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the 〈…〉〈…〉 and that they should therefore be themselves rejected and discovenanted, Isa. 49.5, 7. and 53.3. Zech. 11.8, 9, 10. It is very tru•• that many Thousands of Jews

did believe, and that in the City of Ierusalem. So did the other Apostles say to Paul, Acts 21.20. and Myriads besides in other Places: Nevertheless all these were but a small Number compared with the Body of that wondrously multiply'd Nation. It is very strange that any should call that the Time of the Iews Conversion which was the Time of their Rejection. Hence the Apostle speaks of 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉, their diminishing▪ Rom. 11.12. because the believing Iews were but a very small dimi••utive Number, compared with those that obstinately refu|sed the Gospel; and he shews not only that Judicial Blindness was upon them, but that they would continue under that Blindness, until the Fulness of the Gen|tiles be come in, Ver. 25. The Fulness of the Gentiles is not come in to this ve|ry Day; therefore the Salvation of Israel, which the Apostle speaks of to the Romans, is not yet accomplished. Mr. Baxter's Notion (p. 58.) that when the Empire of the World fell into Christian Hands, that then the Fulness of the Gentiles came in, wants a solid Foundation: It might with as much Reason be sup|posed, that when Crowned Heads did, since the Antichristian Apostacy, embrace the Gospel, and defend the Reformation, that then the Fulness of the Gentiles c••me in, Rev. 14.14, 15. The Argument alledged to confirm his Interpretation is not cogent, viz. That it must either be so, or else the Meaning of it must be that when all the Gentiles are converted that shall ever be converted, then is the Fulness of the Gentiles come in. That great Man Dr. Prideaux (whose Learned and Ortho|dox Writings have been very useful to the Church of God) has given a better Interpretation of the Text, than either of those mentioned by our Reverend Author; scil. That when the Roman Idolatries and Mahometan Blasphemies are re|moved, the Fulness of the Gentiles will come in, and the Way be made clear for Israel's Salvation. Vid. Prideaux Orat. de Voc. Iudaeorum. p. 122.

In some Places of Scripture, by the Gentiles, the Romans, or the Roman Mo|narchy is meant, Acts 4.27. and 21.11. Then by the Fulness of the Gentiles may be meant the full Time of the Continuance of that Monarchy, which will re|main until the Sixth Vi••l be poured out, and then is the Iews Conversion to be expected, Rev. 16.12. Some have thought that the Parchments which Paul desir|ed Timothy to bring to him, were some Notes of our Lord's Sermons which 〈◊〉〈◊〉 had, and Paul from him. Be that Conjecture as it is, it cannot be deni|ed but that some of Paul's Expressions are like unto what is in Luke's Gospel, and why may not this under our Consideration, allude unto those Words of Christ, mentioned Luke 21.24. Ierusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the Times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. i. e. until the Times be fulfilled when the Fourth Monarchy shall come to its total Ruin. See a like Phrase, Ier. 27.7. When the Four Monarchies of the Gentiles are finished, especially when the last Period of the Fourth Kingdom prophesied of, viz. When the Time, Times and half a Time is expired, then ends the Time of the Gentiles and the Iews Misery. See Mr. Ios. M••d••'s Works, Fol. 263, 873, 910, 920. This Time is not accomplished, but that it is very near its Period has been by many late Writings evinced, and in par|ticular by my Learned and very dear Friend, Mr. Samuel Le••, in his Book D•• ••••cidio Antichristi. He once shewed me in Manuscript a Second Part of his elaborate Meditations de Antichrist••; I wish the World might see them: Whe|ther they were with him when he was taken Prisoner and carried into France (where he died) I know not, I cannot hear of them in New-England.

2. To say the Body of the Israelitish Nation was destroyed by the Romans, therefore the Prediction that all Israel shall be saved has been fulfilled, is odd kind of arguing. And altho' the conquering Sword of the Roman Emperors, Vespatian, Tr••jan, Adrian, &c. has cut off Millions of Iews, it is a great Mi|stake to say that the Body, or major Part of that Nation has been destroyed.

There is an old Prophesie, and most certainly a true one, that Dan and Ioseph, shall look for Salvation, by Christ▪ Gen. 49.18, 26. And many other Scrip|tures there are (as I have elsewhere noted) which foretell a Conversion of the Ten Tribes. Now let Mr. Baxter's Supposition be granted, (which is Datum non concessum) that the Body of the Two Tribes is extinct, unless it can be proved that the Ten Tribes have embraced the Gospel, the Promise made to them remains still to be accomplished, Hos. 1.11. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Lightfoot has observed, that through|out the whole 11th Chapter to the Romans, there is not the Name of Iew, but of Israel, mentioned, to shew that the Ten Tribes are as much concerned in the Salvation there spoken of as the Two Tribes. It is objected, that those Tribes are no where in the World. I will not insist on Mr. Fletcher's Ar|guments to prove they are among the Tartars; tho' this was also the Opi|nion of Genebrand, Boterus, and of Morney, de verit. relig. Christianae, C. 26. p. 423. and others. If I should say that R. Benjamin in his Itinerary relates that he saw Multitudes of them who at that Time retained the Distinction of their Tribes, Mr. Baxter tells me he is a Iew, and not to be credited, nor in Truth is he in some of his Relations, as Lemperaeur has made to appear. But Iosephus (a more credible Iew) says, that in his Time the Ten Tribes were known to be beyond Euphrates in almost infinite Numbers, Antiqu. L. 11. C. 5. And Ierom in his Comment on Hos. 1. and Ioel 3. says, that in his Days they were known to be in Media, where the Scripture informs us that they were transported and planted by the Assyrians, 2 Kings 17.6. and no doubt but that great Multitudes of that Nation are there at this Day. Vid. Bochart. Geogr. Sacr. L. 3. C. 14. When the Seventh Trumpet shall sound (and we are now come towards the End of the Sixth Trumpet) and the Kingdoms of the World shall become the King|doms of our Lord and of his Christ, these shall all become Christians, Ier. 31.1. Ezek. 20.40. Zech. 14.9. Revel. 11.15.

3. There have been no such great Conversions amongst the Iews, as is pre|tended; but it is rather a true Assertion which Dr. Willet in his Book de gene|rali & novissimâ Iudaeorum vocatione, p. 22, &c. has confirmed, sc. paucissimi ex Iudaeis ullâ atate conversi. It is only a Conjecture, that because Multitudes of Pagans did in the Days of Constantine the Great turn Christians, that therefore the Iews did so too. Search the Histories of those Times, and nothing will be found therein concerning any memorable Conversion of the Iews under the Reign of that Emperor. The Scripture had foretold, that that Nation (as to the Generality of them) would continue Infidels; and therefore so it has been, and so it will be, until God's appointed Time to have it otherwise shall come.

That there were Christianized Iews in Constantine's Time, for whom he caused Churches to be built, to encourage them in their Prof••••sion of Christianity, the Writers of Ecclesiastical History have informed us; but not of any General Conversion amongst them. The greatest and most remarkable Conversion of the Iews was that which some say was effected amongst them in Arabia (where it's certain that they were very numerous) by a glorious Appearance of Christ (like that to Paul, Acts 9.) to them, upon which it's said many Thousands of them believed, and upon their receiving Baptism were recovered from that Blindness which the Glory of the Apparition had affected them with. Mr. Baxter judg|eth that Relation to be fabulous; nor do I put it into my Creed, tho' I know Learned and Judicious Writers, Protestants as well as Papists, have mention'd it without reflecting on the Story as fictitious. When Basilius was Emperor in Constantinople, he did by great Rewards tempt a Multitude of Iews to become Christians; who accepted of his Offer, and out of Love to Lucre would be|come

Christians. See Magdeburg centur. 9. cap. 2. & Zonoras Tom. 3. But Men whose Conversions are hired, are not worthy the Name of Christians: The like is to be said of such as are persecuted into Christianity, which has been the Fate of many miserable Iews in Spain. It is reported that many Sama|ritan Iews were compelled to embrace Christianity in the Days of Iustinian. V. Usser. de Cainane. p. 192. Grotius in Levit. 17.4. The holy Apostles did never practise nor teach such Ways of Conversion. As for the Iews converted to the Popish Religion, their Conversion was more to Antichrist than to Christ; they were perverted to the old Idolatry of their Fathers in Babylon: Tho' they did not worship Baal and Ashteroth, they worshipped St. Peter and the Virgin Mary, which is no less Idolatry than the former. Should any pretend that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Israel has been saved, by being perswaded to pray to Gods that cannot save them? That in these latter Ages of the World some eminent Iews have been made famous Christians is very true. Paulus Riccius, in the Court of the Emperor Maximilian, of a Iew became a Christian. Eli•••• Levita turned Christian, and brought Thirty Iews more with him to be Baptiz'd, Ann. circiter 1517. R. Samuel, Antonius Margarit, Ernestus Ferdinandus, Paulus Weidnerus, Christian•••• Gerson were famous converted Iews, and have written Books against Iudaism. Hieronymus de sancta fide, about the Year 1412. turned Christian: He wrote a Book unto his Countrymen the Iews, wherewith Five Thousand of them were converted, as is in the Bibliotheca Patrum related. Lud Carretus (a Iewish Physi|tian) became a Christian in the Year 1553. His Conversion was in Part effect|ed by strange Visions in his Sleep. He gives an Account of them in an Epistle to his Sons, which he calleth Visa divina. This Epistle Buxtorf has publish'd in his Synagoga Iudaica. The Fifty Third Chapter of Isaiah is wont to be cal|led Tortura Rabbinorum. Manasseh-Ben-Israel said of it, Iste locus magnum scan|dalum dedit. The Divine to whom he spake it, replyed well, Recté quia 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Christus est lapis scandali. Hulsius says that some Iews told him that their Ma|sters could easily extricate themselves from all the other Prophets, if Isaiah would hold his Peace. Andradius relates that he knew several Iews in Africa, who by reading that Chapter became Christians. They told him the Words which chiefly convinced them were those in Ver. 4. 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉 which we translate smitten [of] God, and afflicted, but the Iews said there should be no [of] in the Translation, but that they ought to be read thus, a smitten God, and humbled, and that the whole Chapter was to be understood of God made Man, that he might bear and satisfie for our Sins. Mr. Baxter did not mistake when he affirmed that some converted Iews proved eminent Divines. Nichol•••• de Lyra was such an one in his Time, Anno 1310. of whom Luther was wont to say wittily, N••si Lyra lyrasset, totus mundus delirasset. Iohn Isaac a German Iew became a Professor in Col••gn, Anno 1558. He says of himself that he was converted by reading that Chapter in Isaiah but now mentioned, and that he had read it above a Thousand Times over: And that disputing with Five Iews at once at Frankford, he stopped their Mouths with that Chapter, that they could not answer a Word. Paulus Burgensis was a famous converted Iew; he died, Anno 1435. wrote Additions to Lyra's Notes on the Bible, and Two Volumes called Scrutinium Scripturarum. He was Chancellor of Spain; had a Son that succeeded in his Bishoprick. Vid. Hofmauni Lexic. Univers. p. 112. But above all, there was Emanuel Tremellius, who was not only a Christian, but a Protestant-Iew, he was a Professor at Heidelberg. His assisting Iunius in translating the Bible; his Commentary on Hosea, and his Learned Notes on the Bible, have made him famous to Posterity, His dying Words which were, Vivat Christus & pereat Barabas, Let Christ live and let Barabas die, shews him

to be a sincere Convert. How 〈◊〉〈◊〉 such Converts have been known amongst those of the Iewish Race since the Apostles Days! Protestants, who are the true Professors of the Gospel, have not had many Iews amongst them. Apparent r••••i 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in gurgi•••• v••sto. And at this Day,

— Vix sunt totidem quot Thebarum portae, vel Divitis ostia Nili.

There are Two at London, viz. Iohn Alexander and Theodore Iohn, who is lately joyned to the German Lutheran Congregation within that City. I have not heard of many Iews in the present Age who have become so much as nominal, much less real Christians; and I believe there will not be many until the Day comes when all Israel shall be saved, which (without taking God's Name in vain) I pray God to hasten. We see then that notwithstanding the weightiest of Mr. Baxter's Reason•• offered against it, the old Doctrine concerning a fu|ture Conversion of the Iewish Nation remains a Truth. As for what he has suggested (in p. 65.) concerning the Conflagration, the Thousand Years, Gog and Magog, they will in the Close of our Discourse come under Considera|tion. His Objections, p. 66. That Considering the present Unpreparedness and great Wickedness of the Jews, their scattered Condition, and that we must imagine Mira|cles if we believe such a Conversion of that People as has generally been supposed. I answer, Why may we not believe that God will do wonderful Things in the last Ages of the World? His last Works are wont to be the most glorious. Have not Marvels (if not Miracles) been done in our Days? It is confessed, that the Calling of the Iews, whenever it shall come to pass, will be an asto|nishing Work of God, it will be 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉, which has caused many with Chry|sos•••••• to call it 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉. But why should it seem incredible, that God should do it? He is able to graft them in again, and has said that he will do it. Nothing less than Omnipotency can, and that both can and will make the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Bones live.

CHAP. III. The R••••sons of Mr. Baxter's being so mistaken in his Exposition of Prophesies. Mr. Fox's Interpretation of the Forty Two Months. Mr. James Calvert considered. Grotius and Dr. Hammond not the best Interpreters. The Pope is [the] Anti|christ.

NOtwithstanding the rare Accomplishments wherewith Mr. Baxter was adorned, it is not to be marvelled, if in a Subject of this Nature, he did not so clearly discern the Truth as perhaps some others, his Inferiors, ••ave done. Nec omnia poss••••us o••••es. His Talent did not lie in the Interpretation of Prophesies: ••or was be happy in his Choice of Authors who have hand|••••d this Argument. I remember at my first Acquaintance with him, (which was in the Year 1688.) he told me that a Provocation of Dr. H. M••r••'s who had reflected on him for his Ignorance, or Unacquaintedness in Apocalyptical Mysteries put him upon the Study of the Revelation, and that he had read Two and Thirty Authors who had written on that Part of the Scripture; I pray'd him to tell me whom of all the Thirty Two he did chiefly value; he told me 〈◊〉〈◊〉 was Mr. Fox (the famous Martyrologist) and he was wonderfully taken with 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Exposition of the Forty Two Apocalyptical Months, supposing Mr. Fox had the ••iscovery by Divine Instinct. It is indeed surprising to read Mr. Fox's Re|lation

of that Matter; he makes a solemn Protestation in his 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in Apo|calyp. p. 216. and Acts and Monuments, Vol. 1. p. 1••9. That 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ••e was 〈◊〉〈◊〉 on a Lord's Day concerning the Persecutions of the Churches and the Forty Two Months which he once thought made but Three Years and a half, there seemed something to say to him, (yet he heard no Voice, only a vehement Impression on his Mind, which was attended with a strange Majesty) Number as Daniel doth his Seventy Weeks. Hereupon he concluded, that since one of Daniel's Weeks was Seven Years, by the Forty Two Months must be meant Seven Times Forty Two, that is Two Hundred and Ninety Four Years; and finding that the Primitive Perse|cutions continued so long, he concluded that to be the true Interpretation of the Forty Two Months. Suppose this strange Impression on Mr. Fox's Mind were (as I am apt to believe it was) from a good Angel, his Way of num|bering was very strange. Daniel's Seventy Weeks made Four Hundred and Ninety Years: Had Mr. Fox followed Daniel's Rule in numbring, he would have found that Forty Two Months was in the Prophetical Stile, Twelve Hun|dred and Sixty Years, and that therefore they related not unto Rome Pagan, but Rome Papal. Now Mr. Baxter's following that excellent Man in this Mistake, caused him to think that Babylon in the Apocalypse was to be expounded of Rome Heathen, and not Apostate and Antichristian, which is a Fundamental Error in Apocalyptical Interpretations. I remember likewise, that Mr. Baxter did to me (as he does in his Printed Book) very much commend Mr. I. Calvert's Book before mentioned. I confess, that as I saw the Title of it in the Cata|logue when first published, hoping that some Light might be given to the Mysteries treated on, I sent Three Thousand Miles to obtain it: When it came to my Hand, casting my Eye on the Frontispiece, and seeing Imprim••••••r Sam. Parker, I was afraid I should find my self disappointed in what I ex|pected, and so it happened.

This Author calls that Truth which the greatest Worthies in this Age have believed, a Thing incredible, a golden Mountain, the Vision of one asleep, &c. He pretends that Ezekiel's Distribution of the Tribes is not Mystical, but Histori|cal, and that Exekiel's City was that Ierusalem which the Romans destroyed, and that whereas the Name whereby that City shall be called is, The Lord is there, that was fulfilled (he says Page 184, 221.) in that Zorobabel who was a Type of Christ, and afterwards Christ himself was personally present in that Ierusalem. He thinks the Second Temple did answer that described by Ezekiel. Most certainly when the Iews read such Things written by Christians, they laugh them to Scorn, and are harden'd in their Infidelity. Ezekiel's Temple shall never be prophaned, Ezek. 47.7, 8. But the Second Temple was pro|phaned by Antiochus, Pompey, Titus, &c. Another pretty Conceit he has (p. 62, 63.) concerning the New Ierusalem, viz.

That after the Old Ierusalem was destroyed, the City was built again in the Days of Adrian the Empe|ror, and then inhabited by Christians, but there was no Temple in it, so was Rev. 21, 22. fulfilled.

This is somewhat like Eusebius's Interpretation, who because Constantine turned the Heathen Temples which he found in Ieru|salem, into Christian, supposeth that to be the New-Ierusalem. I mention not these Things to confute them, for the very Recitation is Confutation suffici|ent; yet out of this Author has Mr. Baxter taken (in a Manner all) his Ob|jections against a future Conversion of the Iewish Nation. But whence had Mr. Calvert his Notions? Not out of his own Head; for he says in his Preface, Ducibus Grotio & Hammondo in hunc Trancitem de vulgari Viâ d••stexi. I shall not wonder to see a Man going out of the common Path, nor yet d••|flecting into very great Errors, who will follow such Guides as 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and

Dr. Hammond. As for Grotius, I look on my self as concerned to warn young Scholars to beware of him, lest they suck down Poison when they think they have found Honey. He has (as Dr. Owen in his Answer to Biddle has made to appear) by perverse Expositions and Interpretations in his Annotations on the Bible, corrupted many Texts of Scripture. It is an amazing Thing that a Man who had written a Book with such Clearness and Strength of Argument as Grotius's Book De Satisfactione Christi, is managed with should against all that Light turn S••cinian; and that he was at last a Papist, who can doubt, since he defends Transubstantiation, and that the Council of Trent in the Point of Iustification is Orthodox? It is Pity such a Man should have (which he boasts or) many Followers in England. But it may be, there are some that like him the better for his advising the King of Sweedland not to tolerate Calvinists within his Do|minions. They that would see more of Grotius's Principles, may read Mr. Baxter's Treatise of the Grotian Religion discovered. His fanciful and absurd Interpretations concerning Antichrist are solidly and unanswerably refuted by 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in his Strigil. and by Maresius, who shews how Grotius does on all Oc|casions Pelagianize. Vid. Mares. de Antichristo, p. 134. Yet this Grotius before his Apostasie could see a future Conversion of the Iews; for in his excellent Book De veritate Religionis Christianae, he does acknowledge it, and pray for it. That Dr. Hammond has borrowed most of his Notions from Grotius (especially his Apocalyptical ones) whoever compares them will quickly discern. They have both of them laid the Pope under an Obligation of Gratitude for endea|vouring to perswade the World that he is not Antichrist: If the Pope will not thank them for it, Campanella the Jesuit does; for he supposeth that the whole Protestant Cause is yielded, if this Point is once gained, (V. de Monarch. Hisp. c. 27.) They jump with the Papists in making Antichrist to be one particular Man, Simon Magus, or Caligula. That Notion has been abundantly refuted by many of our Divines, and very solidly too by one, all whose Notions are not solid, I mean Mr. Brightman, who has a large Discourse and well handled, proving that Antichrist cannot be as Bellarmine and the Popish Doctors believe, one particular Man only. Vid. Brightman in Apocalyp. cap. 17. p. 492, &c. Learned Whitaker (the Glory of the University of Cambridge in his Day) has with such Strength of Argument demonstrated, that the Popes successively are the Antichrist, besides what has been done by Dr. Abbot, Dr. Downham and ma|ny others, and of late by Turretine, who has handled that Subject with great Accuracy and Elaborateness, so as that no unbyas'd Reader can any more be in doubt concerning it. Nor does it look well that when the old Waldenses, Wicliff, Huss, and their Followers, and all Protestants from the Time of Luther, have Preached down Popery as Antichristianism, some have set their Wits on work to find another Antichrist.

CHAP. IV. Dr. Lightfoot's Objections considered. The unparallell'd Wickedness of the Jews, and their long Continuance therein, not unpardonable. Antichristian Nations may be converted. Judaism not the same with Antichristianism. Rom. 11.26. vin|dicated. Authors that have written of the Jews Conversion. Dr. Lightfoot's Positions considered. Conjectures about the Time and Manner of the Jews being brought to own Christ. Rome to be first destroyed.

BEsides the Authors mentioned, there is a very judicious Writer, viz. Dr. Iohn Lightfoot, the late Learned Master of Katharine-Hall in Cambridge, by

whom the common Opinion of a future Calling of the Iews, is questioned▪ Altho' I must crave Leave in some Things wherein we may differ, salva 〈◊〉〈◊〉 & charitate, to dissent from the Notions of that excellent Man, I freely con|fess that his Books have given great Light to 〈…〉〈…〉 and difficult Scrip|tures: I make Account that I possess a Treasure in having them. And I wish that all the Students in our Academy, who design the Ministry, were furnished with all his Works, which are published in Two Volumes in Folio. Nor does be so much deny as doubt of a General Conversion of the Iewish Nation. In his second Vol. p. 1123. he says, The Jews have forfeited their Priviledge: The Gentiles refused the invisible Creator; but these rejected their God visible, and that for a Murtherer. This makes me not believe the Call of the Jews, because they sinned beyond the Gentiles: They have sinned against such Light as shall never appear to Eyes again. Thus the Doctor.

I remember I have heard of one in Cambridge, that being in great Trouble of Mind because of the Greatness of the Sin which had been committed; a Doctor there saying Adam was guilty of the greatest Sin that ever Man was guilty of, and yet his Sin was pardoned, and he is now in Heaven: That poor guilty Creature replyed with an Air that was very surprising, That's more than all the Doctors in Cambridge can prove. So I say, altho' some Learned Men have proposed it as a Problem▪ An Induratio Iudaorum 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉 secum tra|••at peccatum in spiritum sanctum? I will be bold to say, that the Affirmative is more than all the Doctors in Cambridge can prove. And if the Iews are not guilty of the Sin against the Holy Ghost, notwithstanding the Heinousness of their Guilt in crucifying the Son of God, and preferring a Murderer to him, who knows but that Infinite Grace may convert and save them? Especially considering that some Thousands of those very Individual Persons, who did with wicked Hands crucifie the Prince of Life, were nevertheless (such is the exceeding Riches of the Grace of God) brought to true Repentance, and their Sins forgiven, Acts 2.37. To say that because that Nation is under the Guilt of such an unparallell'd Crime as that of crucifying their Saviour, there|fore there is no Probability of their Conversion, does not agree with Zech. 12.10. They shall look on him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him. This Learned and Worthy Doctor in his first Volume, p. 375. expresseth himself with great Modesty: His Words are, Tho' I am unwilling to recede from that charitable Opinion of most Christians, that there shall once be a Calling of them home, yet see I not how the Supposal of the universal Call of the whole Nation, as of one Man, can be digested without some Alloy and Mitigation. And again, p. 377. That they shall be generally called, and that not 'till the Antichrist of Rome is fal|len, and the Fulness of the Gentiles come in, as some Circumstantiate, the Thing needs clearer Evidence than has yet been produced. As for that Notion of a Universal Conversion of the Jews to a Man, I confess the School Doctors have asserted it. So Aquinas, Cajetan, Dominicus à Soto. But our Authors generally affirm only a National, and not a Universal Conversion. So judicious Mr. Strong, in his excellent Sermon on Rom. 11.26. But this Reverend Author, besides what has been mentioned concerning the Iews having rejected Christ and the Offers of the Gospel, produceth chiefly Two Objections. One is, That the Jews are a Brood of Antichrist. But (saith he) The End of Antichrist will not be Conversion, but Perdition. The Argument must stand thus; If the Body of the Iewish Nation be Antichristian, then the Body of that Nation shall not be converted: But so it is; therefore, &c. Both the Consequents of the Proposition, and the Assumption, are to be denied. For tho' it is certain that the 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉, he that is by Way of Eminence called the Antichrist is a Son of Perdition; there

〈◊〉〈◊〉 been (as the Doctor acknowledges) Antichristian Nations that the Body o•• them are converted. Is not our English Nation of Popish become Protestant? Nor has the Doctor proved his Assertion, that the first Generation of Iews is ordina|rily called Antichrist. In a large Sense all false Christs are Antichrists. And the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, after they had refused the true Messiah, were plagued with many false ones; for which Cause it is said, there are many Antichrists, 1 John 2.18. The Ancients looked upon every Heretick as an Antichrist. It is a known Saying of Hilarius, Quisque Christum qualis ab Apostolis predicatus est, negat, Antichristus est. But Antichrist, the Son of Perdition, is spoken of as one not in Being in the Apostles Days, 2 Thess. 2.3, 6. Antichrist is one that pretends to be Christ's Friend, but is really his Enemy. Therefore Antichristianism is stiled The Mystery of Iniqui••y. Were Antichrist a professed Enemy to Christ, (as the unbelieving Iews are) his Iniquity would not be called a Mystery. Therefore I do not see why that Name should be fixed on them more than on other Infi|dels. Mr. Mede (who is an Interpreter of the Apocalypse, 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉) thinks that the Antichristian Apostasie consists wholly in the Church's Ethni|cizing, and not in its Iudaizing: I take it to be in both. But as for the grand Sin of Antichrist, viz. Idolatry, we know the Iews have dreaded that Sin ever since the Babylonian Captivity. So that to say there is no Hope of their Con|version, because they are of the Brood of Antichrist, seems not to be an Ar|gument of Weight enough to cause us to recede from that which has been the received Opinion of most Christians, as the Doctor acknowledges this of the Iews future Conversion to have been.

He does moreover object that the Drift of the Apostle in that eminent Place, Rom. 11. is not to shew that the Iews shall be all hereafter called, only to prove that they were not wholly cast off. But it is clear that the Design of the Apostle is to convince those Gentiles of their Error who insulted over the Blind and rejected Jewish Nation. He therefore tells them that not only some of the then Iews did belong to Election, but that the Obduration which the Body of that Na|tion was punished with, was only, 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉, for a Time, until the Fulness of the Gentiles should come in, and that then all Israel should be saved, v. 26. To say that he intends the Elect, or Spiritual Israel, is against the Drift of his whole Discourse, who throughout the 9th, 10th, and 11th Chapters, speaks of Israel according to the Flesh. Besides, he says he would acquaint them with a Mystery which before they we•••• ignorant of, v. 25. It was no Mystery to them that all the Elect should be saved: But tho' the Prophets had declared it, they were as ignorant of a future Conversion of the Iews, as the believing Iews were of the Conversion of the Gentiles, which seemed a very strange Doctrine to them: Altho' it was revealed unto, and foretold by the Prophets, they did not of a long Time understand it. Now if the Apostle speaks of the Na|tural Israel, nothing can be imagined more clear and express for a National Conversion of the Iews than those his Words are. For the Salvation of all Israel connot intend a few, or any thing less than a National Conversion. All Israel in due Time to be converted, is put in Opposition to a Remnant, and to the diminutive Number that were saved in the Apostles Days. This Salvation of all Israel is called their Fulness, and their being received again, v. 12, 15. The future Conversion of the Iews will equalize that of the Gentiles. Now the Conversion of the Gentiles has been National: Hence it is said the World, i. e. Gentile Nations, have been reconciled; their future Conversion will be like their present Rejection: Now that is not of a few particular Persons, but of the Body of the Nation. But my present Design being rather to shew the Inva|lidity of what is objected against the received Opinion, than by positive Argu|ments

to confirm it, I shall not further insist here. There are Elaborate Dis|courses on this Subject never yet answered, so far as I have seen. Vo••ti•••• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Disputation de generali Conversion•• Iudaeorum. Also what has been published by Divines of our own Nation, Willet, Prideaux, Gouge, or Finch, Fuller, (not to mention others) are not easie by solid Reason to be refuted. My own Thoughts (such as they be) are to be seen in a large Discourse on Rom. 11.26. Printed at London in the Year 1669. from which, as to the Substance of what is there asserted, I do not to this Day see any just Cause to recede.

Since that I have met with some others who have written on this Subject. There is an Anonymous Author has published a Book with this Title, Tractatus de Regno Ecclesiae glorios••. In which there are Eight-Chapters of the future Vo|cation of the Iews. I have somewhere read that Brenius was the Author of that Treatise. Iacobus Alting (Son of the famous Henry Alting) has emitted a large Tract on Rom. 11. in which he does strenuously endeavour to prove a fu|ture Vocation of the Iews. It seems by his Preface that Bishop Reynolds had seen and did approve of what he writes. And I perceive by Mr. Iurieu, (p. 395.) that Whitsius, one of the learned Professors at Utrecht, has lately written on this Subject, and that he does not only acknowledge a future Conversion of the Iews, but that they shall return to their own Land again, and rebuild Ierusalem; which is a Thing doubted of by many who are clear for their Con|version; but that Book I have not yet seen. It confirms me in my old Opi|nion very much, when I see a Person qualified with Dr. Lightfoot's great Sa|gacity and Depth of Judgment, as well as Piety, (for these things are con|spicuous in him) has no more to say against it. Besides, Vol. 1. p. 732. in order to the Confutation of Millenaries, he has several Positions which he lays down as Articles, c. g. That the Bo••k of Daniel speaks nothing of the State of the Iews beyond the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. That the Revelation intends not the Times in Daniel, but begins where Daniel left. That the Fourth Monarchy in Daniel is not Rome. That the Blasphemous Horn in Dan. 7.8, 25. is not Antichrist, but Antiochus, &c. Now if we must either admit of those Positions, (the contrary whereunto has by many been evinced from Scripture Light, to me as clear as Mathematical Demonstration) or else receive the common Opinion of the Jews Conversion, and be Millenaries, for my Part I must sooner believe both than believe any one of the mentioned Articles, which the Learned Doctor is so positive in.

And I must confess that the Argument which Beza, Fayns, and others, (and of late Mr. Iuri••u) have insisted on, has of a long Time been of weighty Con|sideration with me, scil. The Miracle by which God does preserve the Iewish Nation, distinguished from all other. It cannot be supposed that God would for Two Thousand Years preserve this People, scattered amongst other Nations, yet without mixing it self with them, if they were not preserved for some great Work. As if (says Dr. Fuller) they had learned from their River Iordan running thro' the Galilaean Sea, and not mingling therewith, to pass thro' an Ocean of other Nations, and yet remain an unmixed People by themselves. A comfortable Presumption, (saith he, speaking after his witty and usual manner) that these Materials are thus carefully kept entire by themselves, because intended by Divine Providence for some Beautiful Building to be made of them hereafter.

These Things considered I shall not change my Judgment, as to the Question in Controversie, until I meet with more convincing Arguments than what have been objected by Mr. Baxter, Dr. Lightfoot, or any other which I have seen. No Man ought (without very good Reason) to reject an Opinion tha•• the whole Church of God, and a great Part of the World besides, has received

in all Ages for Truth. Dr. Owen, in his judicious Exercitations on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Vol. 1. p. 249.) has asserted that the Generality of the Nation of the Jews all the World over ••••all be effectually called, with which Mercy they shall also 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Deliverance from their Captivity, a Restoration to their own Land, with a flourishing and happy Condition therein. He there says, the Thing it self is acknow|ledged, as far as I can understand, by all the World, that have any Acquaintance with these Things. Christians generally do assert it, look for it, pray for it, and have done so in all Ages, from the Days of the Apostles. Mahometans are not without some Thoughts of what shall befall the Jews before the End of the World. The Jews are in Expectation that the Messiah will come to them. We are in Expectation that they will come to him. And it may be this Difference may ere long be reconciled by his Appear|ance unto them, so calling them unto Faith and Obedience. Thus far Dr. Owen.

As for the manner of their Conversion, I still encline (with Mr. Mede, Dr. Twisse, Dr. Goodwin, Mr. Strong, and others) to think that it will be effected as Paul's was, by a miraculous Appearance of Christ to some of them, and be carried on by the Preaching of the Gospel, with a most glorious down pouring of the Holy Spirit therewith. My Reasons I have expressed in my Diatriba de signo filii hominis & secundo Messiae adventis; which was Printed at Amsterdam, Anno 1682. As to the Time of their Conversion, I have not much to say: The Turks keep them from possessing the Land of their Fathers. The Anonymous Author of the Book entituled Clavis Apocalyptica ad incudem revocata, (which Book I understand was written by one Mr. Cussion, Minister at Denvir in Norfol••) supposeth the Apocalyptical Beast and the Turk will expire together, and that both will be in the Year 1701. and that the Iews will then have a compleat and final Salvation.

That the Turkish Empire is near some fatal Catastrophe, not only the present Posture of Affairs there, but what is written in the Apocalypse gives us Ground to believe. The Turks were prepared and raised up to be a killing Scourge to the Apostate Christian World, for the Space of an Hour, a Day, a Month, and a Year, Rev. 9.15. which makes 396 Years. It is generally agreed that the Turkish Empire, in the present Ottomanical Family, began in the Year 1300. ••etavius makes it to be Two Years sooner, but then it must cease being a Woe before the Year 1696 is expired. That's the Time Mr. Brightman long ago fixed on. ••••sted (in Trifol. Prophetic. p. 164.) says, that sine dubio finem habebit Tyrannis Turcica Anno Christi 1694. Ra••••ius was many Years since perswaded, that after the Year 1694. the Church would see Hal••yon Days. That Year is just now expired. We in America hear nothing of the Turks D••wnfall.

The Vision is for an appointed Time, but at the End it shall speak and not lye. There are also who think that the Twelve Hundred and Sixty Days will End with the Year 96. So Mr. Beverly in his late Books. I remember that once in Dis|course with that worthy Man Three Years since, he told me that he did no more doubt but that in the Year 97. there would be an happy Turn of Affairs, than he did question whether to morrow would come after to day. Nor is his Fundamental Notion of the last Half Time, beginning in the Year 1517. to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 despised. If that hold good, the Twelve Hundred and Sixty Days will 〈◊〉〈◊〉 fallibly end in the Year 97. Perhaps some would rather begin the semi-ti•••• from the Year 1530. when the Protestant Name began; then the 1260 Days expire Anno 1710. Mr. Baxter tells Mr. Beverly if he should live to see him|self disappointed in his Ninety Seven, he does not know how he will be able to bear it: But if he should, he is not the first worthy Man that has been mistaken in Computations. Others concur with him as to the Time, tho' not as to the Ground•• he goes upon. A late Writer thinks that because the last

〈…〉〈…〉 Horns appeared, Anno 455. that therefore the 1260 Days end Anno 〈…〉〈…〉 because these Years may be reckoned by Thirty Days to a Month, 〈…〉〈…〉 ••he whole Account to be Seventeen Years and an Half less, and ••••at brings us to 1697. Others have a Notion that it was an ancient Tradi|••••on that Christianity would last 365. Years. Austin says that some in those Days gave out that the Apostle Peter had so taught. Now we must reckon the ••hristian World to begin at the Destruction of the Iewish World, when the Tem|••le was burnt in the Year 72. to which add 365, and it makes 4••7. the Year when Mr. Beverly begins the Antichristian World, and so ends it with 1697. Napier in his Discovery of the Revelations, Prop. 14. thinks that the Day of Judgment will begin Anno 1697, or at furthest in 1699. There was found in the Study of Iustus Lapsius a Prophecy, which predicts both the Expiration of the Turkish Empire, and the utter Desolation of Rome in the Year 1698. which is Four Years hence: The Words of the Prophet (or however of the Poet) are these.

Nonagesimus Octavus mirabilis Annus Ingruet, is secum gaudia laeta feret. Corruet hoc anno Turcarum invisa prop••go Roma, tuum in libris fabula nom••n erit.

A Prophecy not unlike this was published by ••••gio Montanus above Two Hundred Years ago, which I have quoted in my Discourse of Com••ts, Chap. 10. p. 138.

All these are but the Conjectures of Men, nor may we lay Weight on 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Nevertheless, since the Time that almost all Judicious Writers on the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 have fixed on for the finishing the Beast's Reign is well nigh expired, we 〈◊〉〈◊〉 rationally suppose that great Changes in the World are not far off.

As for the Year of the Iews Conversion, I cannot perceive that it is any where described in the Scriptures. The Iews themselves do not expect their Deliverance until Rome be first destroyed, and then they say it will be out of Hand. R. Kimchi is positive in his Assertions, that whatever the Prophets have said concerning the Destruction of Edom in the last Days, 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉 they have spoken it of Rome. No Man that has any Acquaintance with the Writings of the Iewish Rabbies can be ignorant that when Edom is men|tioned in the Scriptures, they still apply it to Rome, supposing that Ven|geance must come on that City before the Redemption of Israel. There is undoubtedly a Vial to be poured out on the Seat of the Beast, before the Iews return. The Beast has his Seat (which he will needs have it called 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Apostolica) in Italy. I am perswaded that the Time is at Hand when some strange Providence will cause the Pope's more peculiar Territories to be full of Darkness. After that Darkness the Light of Truth concerning the Mystery we are discoursing of, will appear with such Clearness as will leave no Room for Doubt or Disputation. In the mean Time, it is a little surprising to see that the most learned Men amongst the Papists are not without Conviction that a Fatal Day will overtake Rome, when the World will draw near to its End; They confess (and that makes it the more strange to see Protestants deny it) that by Babylon in the Apocalypse, Rome not Pagan, but Christian is intended; which they say will at last degenerate, and after that become subject unto an Eternal Desolation; yea, that it will be burnt and never rebuilt. Thus Tirinus, Ribera, Suarez, and several others among the Iesuits themselves. And there are old Predictions of Rome's Ruin. That of one of the Sybils is famously known. 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉. The Christian Cicero, (as he is commonly stiled) Lactan|tius,

who flourish'd in the Year 290. says in plain Terms, Rom••••em 〈◊〉〈◊〉 de 〈…〉〈…〉 de divino praemio. L. 6, 7. Cap. 15. And again, Cap. 25. At ver•• c••m caput illud orbis c••ci••••ri•• & 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉 esse ceperit, quod Sibyll•• fore aiunt, quis du|bi••••t 〈◊〉〈◊〉 jam finem 〈◊〉〈◊〉 humanis, orbi{que} Terrarum.

CHAP. V. Concerning the First Resurrection. Such Things are affirmed in Scripture as do ne|cessarily imply Two Resurrections. Many are already risen. Several Reasons men|tioned inducing us to believe that the Resurrection of Saints and Sinners will not be Simultaneous. Confirmed by Scripture.

NOT only a future Conversion of the Iews, but another more disputable Point, and that does meet with a more 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Opposition, Reverend Mr. Baxter has observed in some Books of mine long since published, viz. That the Resurrection of the Righteous shall precede the Resurrection of the wicked. He does desire me to give some Proof of that Assertion, since many Scriptures seem to assert a common Iudgment, and consequently a common Resurrection both of the just and unjust at the same Time of Christ's Coming. I cannot see that that Objection of their being mentioned in the same Scriptures, without an express Distincti|on that the one shall precede the other, is an Argument sufficient to prove that they must of Necessity begin together. Certain it is that both shall be in the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Day of the Lord; both shall fall within the Compass of the great Day of Iudgment. But then there is a Morning and an Evening of that Day. The 〈◊〉〈◊〉 will be attended with a First, the Evening with a Second Resurrection. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ••oming of the Messiah is in many Scriptures in the Old Testament spoken of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Day, without any express Distinction of his First and Second Coming▪ Isa. 2.11. Z••ch. 12.3, 4, 6, 8. The Iews therefore do not own Two Comings 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Christ. They say Shil••h shall come, but where is it said he shall come twice? We reply, that such Things are spoken concerning the Messiah as do necessarily imply a First and Second Coming. The Prophets speak of his coming to suffer and die for the Sins of his People, and of his coming to ••udge the Earth. Daniel says that Messiah should be cut off, and yet that the Son of Man should come in the Clouds of Heaven, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 on a Throne, judging the World; which implies Two Comings of Christ. The Iews, to evade this, have feigned Two Messiahs, one the Son of Ioseph, that should suffer, and the other the Son of David, who must reign without suffer|ing. But the ••cripture speaks expresly of Two Resurrections, as we shall see: Besides, in very many Scriptures that is said which does imply no less. When the Prophets and Saints shall rise from the dead, all the Kingdoms of the World will become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, Rev. 11. ••••▪ 18. After this Resurrection is begun, All People, Nations and Languages shall serve him, All Dominions shall obey him, Dan. 7.14.27. There is lately publish|ed a Book entituled A new System of the Apocalypse: It is a judicious Treatise; the Author not mentioned; but I understand it was Mr. Phillipot a persecuted French Minister. He observes that the Scriptures but now quoted cannot be fulfilled after the Universal Resurrection, because then there will be no Do|minions for the Saints to reign over: This then infers there will be a Resur|rection of the Saints before the wicked shall rise to their final Judgment; and that there is not a Simultan••ity in the Resurrection of all the dead, is past all doubt, since many of the dead are risen already. There were Multi|tudes of Saints who rose immediately after the Resurrection of our Lord Je|sus Christ, Mat. 27.52, 53. Probably those raised Saints did wait upon our

Lord Christ, and ascend with him to Heaven: Whence it was a celebrated Say|ing amongst Christians in the Primitive Times, That Christ descended alone, but ascended with a Multitude. Cyril, Chrysostom, and others of the Antients were of Opinion that all the Saints that died before our Saviour's Time did then rise. See Mr. Mede's Works, Fol. 750. It is therefore certain that they have a wrong Idaea of the Resurrection in their Minds, who think that all Mankind shall rise at the same Hour.

That the just shall rise before the unjust, the subsequent Reasons have indu|ced me to believe.

Reas. 1. If after the Resurrection of the Saints, the wicked shall be destroyed by that Fire in which the Lord shall be revealed from Heaven, and after that restored to Life at the ultimate Iudgment; It must needs be acknowledged that the Resurrection of the just will precede that of the unjust; but all this is true. The Living Saints at Christ's coming shall be caught up into the Air, that so they may escape that Deluge of Fire, which will be the Perdition of ungodly Men, Luk. 17.34. 1 Thess. 4.17. 2 Pet. 3.7. But before this Rapture of the living, the dead Saints shall be raised. There|fore the Apostle says, They that remain unto the Coming of the Lord shall not pre|vent them which are asleep. i. e. ••hey, as to their Bodies, shall not be with Christ before the Bodies of Saints asleep in the Grave shall be with him; but the dead in Christ shall rise first, and 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉, after that the living Saints will be caught up to meet the Lord coming in the Air, •• Thess. 4.15, 16. Chrysostom on that Place observes that the just shall be the first Risers, not only in Dignity, but in Time. As when the Flood came, there was a Difference made between Noah's Family and the rest of Mankind: Thus when the World shall perish by Fire, no Saint shall be hurt by that Fire, but Sinners shall. We must not be wise above what is written, and therefore we may not determine how long the Conflagration will last. Noah's Floud continued for many Days and Months, he was a whole Year in the Ark. The Weapons of Ezekiel's Gog are Seven Years in burning, Ezek. 39.9. No Doubt but that the Conflagration of the Great Day will last a long Time. Many will perish as soon as the Fire begins; but the wicked shall not be raised until the Conflagration be over: Nor (as we shall endeavour to prove) of a long Time after that. When as the Saints shall rise when the Heavens and the Earth, which now are, shall begin to be on Fire. This demonstrates that there will not be a Simultaneity in the Resurrection of the just and unjust.

Reas. 2. The Jews did and do believe from the Scriptures of the Old Testament, not only that there shall be a Resurrection both of the just and unjust, but that the just shall rise first. It is uncertain who was the Author of the Apocryphal Book of Wisdom, only that he was a Iew, and one that probably wrote whilst they were yet a Church, and the Holy Spirit not wholly departed from them. There are many excellent Documents contained in that Book. Grotius says truly concerning it, Venerandam habet antiquitatem apud Christiano•• semper in pretio est habitus. Now some judicious Writers conceive that he has Respect to the First Resurrection in Chap. 3. Ver. 6, 7. where he says of the righteous, that in the Time of their Visita|tion (so is the Resurrection stiled) they shall shine, they shall judge the Nations, and have Dominion over the People, and their Lord shall reign for ever. The Iews believe that when Messiah comes, their Fore-fathers shall rise out of their Graves and reign with him. Some of their Rabbins speak of a particular, and of a general Resurrection. So Eben-Ezra on Dan. 12.2. And not only he, but this has been the Opinion of many of them. The Author of Sepher Abkat affirms, That many Doctors say, that when Messiah comes, 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉 none shall live again but the just. Vid. Grelleti prodrom. in Apocalyp. p. 216. Kimchi and other Hebrew Doctors expound Psal. 1.5. Where 'tis said, the ungodly shall not

rise in the Iudgment, nor Sinners in the Congregation of the Righteous, as excluding Sinners from partaking in the glorious Resurrection of the great Day of Judgment. There is a Place in Isaiah which both Iewish and Christian Exposi|tors have interpreted of a particular Resurrection of the just before the uni|versal Resurrection, viz. Isa. 26.19. The Prophet says that the dead Saints shall rise at the same Time with his dead Body, but in Verse 14. he says of the wicked, they shall not live, they are deceased, they shall not rise: Here seems to be a Distin|ction and Opposition of the Resurrection of the Saints to that of the wicked, declaring that when the one shall be, the other shall not be. The not rightly un|derstanding these Scriptures has caused some of the Iewish Rabbies to run into the Heresie of denying an universal Resurrection. Because the Scripture does intimate that some shall rise from the dead when others shall not, they have fondly supposed that none but Israelites shall have a Resurrection from the dead. It is a celebrious Saying amongst them, That there are four Things which Israelites are priviledg'd with above all the Nations of the Earth, viz. Prophecy, the Law, the Holy Land, and the Resurrection. Vid. Buxtorf. Synagog. Iudaic. Cap. 3. Edit. Bas••••. 1661.

There are judicious Interpreters who suppose that the Angel speaketh of a First Resurrection in Dan. 12.2. where it is said that many of them who sleep in the Dust of the Earth shall awake: Since it is not said All, but Many that sleep awake, when as at the Day of Judgment, not only many, but All will rise. Mr. Brightman and Mr. Huit, in their Commentaries on Daniel, are of Opinion that it is only a Mystical Resurrection of the Iewish Nation which is there spok|en of; with whom I perceive my worthy Friend Mr. Samuel Clark in his Notes on that Place does concur. But the Reason alledged has no Cogency in it: For (as Glass••us observes) Many is in the Scripture taken, 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉, for All, Isa. 52.15. Rom. 5.15, 19. and 12.8. We may not unnecessarily recede from a Literal Interpretation. And inasmuch as the Iewish Church did build her Faith of the Resurrection on this Text in Daniel in a special Manner, (as may be seen in Manasseh-Ben-Israel in his Book De Resurrectione) I think we should not exclude the Literal Sense of the Words.

Now taking it for granted that the Resurrection here spoken of, is that which shall be at the Judgment of the Great Day, this Text seems to be a very pregnant and clear Proof that the just shall rise unto everlasting Life a long Time before the wicked shall rise unto Shame and everlasting Contempt: For the Angel does plainly intimate, both that this Resurre|ction shall be when the Time, Times and half Time is fully expired; and when the King of the North, having planted the Tabernacles of his Palace between the Seas in the glorious holy Mountain, shall come to his End. But this King of the North will come to his End long before the ultimate Resurrection, as in the Se|quel of our Discourse will be made to appear: Therefore some shall awake out of the Dust of the Earth unto Everlasting Life long before that. I omit here Mr. Burroughs's Argument (on Hos. 1. p. 133.) that standing up in this Resurrction is promised to Daniel as a special Favour to him as an emi|nent Saint, and that therefore the Place cannot be meant of the General Re|surrection which shall be at the ultimate Judgment. What is that End of Days in which Daniel must stand up, that is, rise from the dead? Does it not mean that after the Time, Times and half a Time (when Iohn also saith that the Mystery of God will be finished) are expired, this first Resurrection will begin.

Reas. 3. There are Scriptures in the New Testament which intimate that the Resurrection of the just will precede the universal Resurrection.

W•• shall begin with that Scripture, Mat. 24.31. He shall send his Angels with a great Sound of a Trumpet, and they shall gather together his Elect from the four Winds, from one End of Heaven to the other.

It seems by this, that at the Coming of our Lord the Elect shall rise and be gathered together unto him before the Resurrection of the Non-Elect. Mr. Strong (in his Thirty Sermons p. 279.) thinks that this Text is not to be understood of the General Resurrection, because when the last Trumpet sounds, not Elect only, but Reprobates are brought to judgment, when as this Trum|pet in Matthew gathers only the Elect from the Four Winds; therefore (says he) it seems that none shall bear this 〈◊〉〈◊〉 but the Elect, and it shall sound to them as such.

And hence some ha•••• ••nterpreted this Trumpet as intending the Publicati|on of the Gospel for the Conversion of the Elect, supposing that the Coming of the Son of Man in the Clouds of Heaven with great Power and Glory, spoken of in the preceeding Verse, has respect only to his Providential Coming unto the Destruction of Ierusalem. Thus Grotius, and his Admirer Dr. Hammond. But it is a dangerous Exposition that shall make such clear Proofs of our Lord's Second Personal Coming to be nothing but Metapho•••• and Allegories. That Phrase of Christ•• coming in the Clouds of Heaven is peculiar unto his Com|ing to begin the great Day of Judgment, Dan. 7.13. with Acts 1.11. His providential Coming to destroy Ierusalem was at the Beginning of the great Tribulation of the Iewish Nation; When as this Coming in the Clouds of Heaven is expresly said to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 after that Tribulation is ended, Ver. 29. That which Matthew expresseth by saying after the Tribulation of those Days, Luke ex|pounds by saying Ierusalem shall be trodden down, until the Times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. This then is one Scripture which seems to indigitate a Resurrection of the righteous as precedaneous to that of the wicked. Another Scripture which seems to speak no less, is that Luke 14.14, 15. where we read of Blessedness, and Recompences, and the Kingdom of God at the Resurrection of the just. The ultimate Resurrection will be a Resurrection of the unjust: It is called a Re|surrection of Damnation, John 5.29. The Righteous shall rise and reign long before that. The Expression seems clearly to import that there is a Resurre|ction peculiar to the Righteous, therefore called the Resurrection of the just. And in Luke 20.35. It is said, They are the Children of God, being the Children of the Resurrection. Laurentius in his Problem, De Regno Millenario, p. 25 argues thus, The universal Resurrection is not proper to the Children of God; but the Re|surrection spoken of in Luke 20. is proper to the Children of God; for the Children of that Resurrection are said to be the Children of God; therefore it is not the Universal Resurrection which in that Place is spoken of. Another Scripture which some have produced, as confirming a Distinction of Time in the Resurrection, is that 1 Cor. 15.22, 23, 24. In Christ shall all be made alive, but every Man in his own Order, Christ the first Fruits, afterwards they that are Christ's at his Coming, after that the End. It is true that all shall rise 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉, at the Coming of Christ: But a large Space of Time is contained under that Expression of the Lord's Coming. His first Coming comprehends more than Sixteen Hundred Years. We are sure that under the Dispensation which will begin at his Second Coming there will be a Thousand Years, but how much more we know not.

The Apostle asserts an Order in the Resurrection, which implies that some shall have a Preference therein as to the Time of their Resurrection: They that are united to Christ shall rise when his next Personal Appearance be|gins: But it is not said, that the End when the Kingdom shall be delivered to the Father, and all the dead shall rise, will be then, or as soon as they who are in Christ shall rise, but that it will be afterwards. Our English Translation does very much obscure the true Meaning of that Scripture; The Adverb 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉 in Ver. 24. should not be translated then, but afterwards, as it is Englished in Ver.

23. It is there and frequently put for that which comes a considerable Time after, Mark 4.28. We proceed therefore unto another Scripture, which seems to intimate that the righteous shall rise in the Morning, but the wicked in the Evening of the great Day of Judgment, it is that Rev. 2.26, 28, Where the Lord says to the Overcomer, I will give him Power over the Nations, and I will give him the Morning Star. Some Expositors have wearied themselves in vain by seeking to accomodate this Promise to a State of the Church before the Re|surrection; when as it is certain that every one of the glorious Things pro|mised to the Overcomer, in Christ's Epistles to the Churches in Asia, will be ful|ly accomplished at, and not before the Day of Judgment. Now admitting the Doctrine of the first Resurrection, it is easie to see how the Saints reign on Earth and have Power over the Nations; but if the Resurrection be simul & semel of just and unjust, all at the same Moment, it is not easie to demon|strate how Nations and Kingdoms shall be ruled by them.

Christian Victors shall in the Morning of the Resurrection, as soon as the great Day shall dawn, be with Christ, and partake with him in his Kingdom. Thus is the Morning Star given to them.

CHAP. VI. That the Scripture speaks of the first Resurrection in express Terms. That famous Text, Revel. 20. considered and vindicated. That the Resurrection there spoken of is a Corporal Resurrection, proved by Six Arguments. That the Primitive Christi|ans believed the Chiliad, and the First Resurrection, in the Literal Sense. Concerning the Sibyls. Testimonies out of them are of no Validity.

THE Scriptures in the former Chapter in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 implicitly, and by just Consequence prove that the Resurrection of the just shall precede that of the unjust. But there is one Place which does expresly, and in Terms assert ••he First Resurrection. Let that therefore be a Fourth Reason. Notwithstanding it ••as been done abundantly by others, we shall a little consider and vindicate that eminent Text, Rev. 20.4, 5, 6. The Words are, I saw Thrones, and they sate upon them, and Iudgment was given to them, and (there must be repeated as in our English Translation is expressed [I saw]) the Souls of them that were beheaded for the Witness of Iesus Christ and the Word of God, and (there must again 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉 be repeated, notwithstanding the Translators have omitted it. [I saw them]) which had not Worshiped the Beast, neither his Image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, nor in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand Years; but the rest of the dead lived not again 'till the thousand Years were finished. This is the first Resurrection, Blessed and Holy is he who has part in the first Resurrection, on such the second death shall have no power, but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand Years. From which words says Dr. Thomas Burnet (in his Theory — B. 4. p. 152.) If you please we will raise this Doctrine, That those that have suffered for the sake of Christ and a good Conscience, shall be raised from the dead a thousand Years before the General Resurrection, and reign with Christ in an happy State. His Doctrine I believe is an Holy Truth, only I cannot understand why this Millenial Reign should be restrained to the Martyrs, since 'tis promised not only to them that were beheaded for the Word of God, but to them that have not worshiped the Beast, nor received his mark. Which comprehends not only the Iews yet to be converted, but many Protestants and Saints who never had ••he Honour (tho' they would have rejoyced in it) to die for Christ, or for ••earing Witness to his Truth. If it can be proved that it is a Corporal Re|••urrection which is here intended, it puts an end to the present Controversie.

••••••••edius in his Diatribe de Mille Annis p. 129. says that Piscator not long before his Death, wrote a small Treatise of the future Happiness of the Church on Earth, out of which Manuscript he ingeniously confesseth he had taken many Things in that his Diatribe. Both Piscator and Alsted, and of our own Nation, Mr. Mede and Dr. Goodwin, long since, besides many learned Men more lately, have produced such Arguments to prove that what is spoken in the 20th Chap|ter of Revelation must be understood 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉, Historically, and in the Let|ter, as cannot easily be answered. Let the following Arguments be duly weighed in the Ballance of the Sanctuary.

1. It is a known, received Maxim among Divines, that in the Interpretation of Scripture we may not depart from the Literal Sense, if it will stand with the Analogy of Faith. For Men to make Allegories where there are none, is to obtrude their own Imaginations instead of Scripture. Now saith Mr. Mede (Fol. 943.) The 20th of Apocalypse, of all the Narrations in that Book, seems to be the most plain and simple, most free of Allegory, and of the Involution of Prophetical Figures. How can a Man then take a Passage of so plain, and ordinarily expressed Words as those about the First Resurrection are, in any other Sense than the usual and Literal.

2. It is evident by the Law of Opposites. The First and Second Resurrection must needs be of the same Kind, otherwise the Discourse would be Illogical, which may not be supposed. Piscator speaks like a Logician as well as a Divine when he says, In omni Legitim•• distributione membra inter s•• opponuntur sub eodem genere. In every Rational Distribution the opposite Parts are of the same Kind. Here is a Distribution or Distinction of dead Men living again, some at the Beginning of the Thousand Years, the rest not until the Thousand Years were finished. But those that live again after the Thousand Years, live as to their Bodies. That the Second Resurrection is not Metaphorical but real, and to be taken in a Literal Sense is clear and indisputable. For then the dead, small and great, shall stand before God and be judged according to what is written in the Books, and the Sea gave up the dead which were in it, Ver. 12.13. This is the Second Resurrection which comes after the Thousand Years; and it is certainly a Resurrection of the Body. And thus does Mr. Mede argue, It would (says he) be a most harsh and violent Interpretation to say that [Dead] and consequently [living again from the dead] should not, ••trobique, be taken in the same Meaning. For such a Speech in ordinary Construction implies, that as some of the dead lived again in the Beginning of the Thousand Years, in that Sense the rest of the dead should live again at the End of the Thousand Years, and é contra, in what Manner the rest of the dead should live again at the End of the Thousand Years, in that Manner those that were beheaded for Jesus, lived again in the Beginning of the Thousand Years; which living again of those some, is called the First Resurrection.

3. Piscator has another Argument which is to this Purpose, They who after they live again shall be and reign with Christ, do rise in Respect of their Bodies. Now this is affirmed of the Subjects of the First Resurrection; They lived and reign|ed with Christ, and they were Priests of God and of Christ, and reigned with him a Thousand Years. Piscator indeed supposes it to be a reigning with Christ in Heaven after the Resurrection: But the Saints in Heaven shall not reign for a Thousand Years, but on Earth they shall, it must therefore be meant of a Reign not in Heaven, but on Earth.

4. As is the Death of those Reigning Saints, such will be their Resurrection: But their Death was of their Bodies: For it is said they were beheaded, which im|plies a Natural Death. The Romans did usually, and the Iews often put Men to Death (as Iohn Baptist was) by cutting off their Heads with a Sword. Al|tho'

it is said Souls that were beheaded, that does not in the least imply that the Death spoken of was a Spiritual Death peculiar to the Soul; for how can an immortal Soul be beheaded? But frequently in Scripture the Soul is put for the Person, Gen. 46.26. Ezek. 44.25. nay for the Body; As when it is said, Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell. i. e. my Body in the Grave, Psal. 16.10. The martyred sacrificed Bodies of the Saints, are said to be Souls slain, which cry for Vengeance, Rev. 6.9. Dr. Goodwin observes well, their Resurrection to Life must be taken in the same Sense and Proportion to the Life they lost. Inasmuch then as the Natural Lives of the 〈…〉〈…〉 were taken away, their Living implies a Resurrection of their Bodies, for their Souls to be re-united with and live in. The Argument stands thus, A Resurrection of the dead in Body is a Corporal Resurrection; but the First Resurrection is a Resurrection of the dead in Body; for it is a Resurrection of them that were beheaded.

5. The First Resurrection spoken of in the Apocalypse is either a Spiritual, or a Political, or Corporal Resurrection: But neither of the former. It has com|monly been interpreted as meant of a Spiritual Resurrection of the Soul, in Respect of Regeneration; as if it were the same with what Paul speaks, Eph. 2.5. You hath he quickened who were dead in Trespasses and Sins. But if this were intended, how is it ••aid, that they lived and reigned a thousand Years? Do all that are made Partakers of Regeneration live a Thousand Years? And how is it said that the rest of the dead lived not again until the Thousand Years were finish|ed? There never was a Thousand Years in which there was no Conversion, or Spiritual Resurrection of Souls. Besides, a Death in Sin is not called the first Death, and consequently Conversion from a State of Sin is not properly called [the] first (supposing it be [a] first) Resurrection. The Spiritual Resurrection began presently after Adam's Fall, and shall continue to the End of the World; when as that which Iohn speaks of is proper to the Thousand Years, and not to begin before Antichrist's Reign is ended. Yet again, how can it be said of Men that were beheaded, that they were converted after their beheading? Such Absurdities has this (tho' a vulgar) Exposition in it. This Notion is therefore rejected by most that have studied the Apocalypse: But there are many learned and judicious Authors who take the First Resurrection in a Political Sense, as if it were of the same Nature with the Resurrection of the Witnesses spoken of in the 11th of Revelation, and did intend only thus much, that when Antichrist is destroyed, the Church shall be delivered from the Death of Affliction, and continue in a glorious State for a Thousand Years before the ultimate Iudgment, during all which Time Men shall be ruled by the Laws of Christ, and only Saints shall have Power in their Hands. All this I freely acknowledge to be true and according to the Scriptures: But with all due Respect to these Expositors, I conceive that does not comprehend the full Meaning of the Text before us. For this In|terpretation does imply that the Saints of the First Resurrection suffered a Poli|tical Death only, like that of the Two Witnesses. Were that so, a Political Re|surrection would be intended by their living again. But (as has been shewn) their Death was more than Political, and therefore so must their Resurrection unto Life be. Again, this Interpretation implies that the beheaded Saints lived again in their Successors only, and not in their own Persons. When as in Strictness of Speech, a Resurrection is of the same individual Person rather than of a Successor. And certainly as they suffered in their own Persons, so they themselves in their own Persons, and not others for them, shall rise and reign, 2 Tim. 2.12. When Christ says to Overcomers, that they shall eat of the Tree of Life, have a new Name, have Power over the Nations, &c. we may not suppose that he intends they shall have this Glory in their Successors: No more may we think they who have been beheaded for his Sake shall have a King|dom

given them for a Thousand Years in their Successors, but not in their own Persons.

Yet further, it is said concerning the Saints of the First Resurrection, that they are blessed and holy, and that the Second Death shall have no Power over them. How does this agree to them that are the Subjects of only a Political Resur|rection? Will there be a Time when in the Church on Earth there shall be no Reprobate, nor any unregenerate Person for a Thousand Years together? So indeed it will be at the Day of Judgment: But before that Blessed Day it will not be, Mat. 13.30. Nor does this Political Sense well agree with that Expressi|on of the rest of the dead not living again until the Thousand Years were finished. Shall all the dead have a Political Resurrection at the End of the Thousand Years? They must have a Resurrection of the same Kind with that which some had at the Beginning of the Thousand Years. I have yet one Thing more to object here. This Political Resurrection does imply that the Lord's People shall enjoy great Prosperity, yea, and Dominion in this present World, and that for many Ages, when as the Scripture tells them of Persecu|tions and of an evil World, and that the Sufferings of the Church shall last throughout this present Time; yea, until the Day comes when the Creature shall be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption, and we shall have the Redemp|tion of our Body, Rom. 8.18,—24. There is a Kingdom promised, but the Enjoyment of it not to be expected in this present, but in the World to come. In the Resurrection World we shall reign on Earth, but it must be made a New Earth, which it will not be before the Conflagration: The Fire of the Judg|ment Day will purifie and renovate the World. The Scripture is express, that the last Days of this present World will be perilous Times, 2 Tim. 3.1. It is not said some of the last Days will be so: Nor may we distinguish where the Scrip|ture does not. But how then can we believe that the last Thousand Years of this World will be Times without any Peril? The New Heaven and the New Earth which God has promised, i. e. the New World which shall begin with the Resurrection, will be another kind of World than what this which we see is, and has been ever since the Fall of Adam. In that World they shall have Rest and Refreshing, Luk. 20.35. Acts 3.19, 21. 2 Thess. 1.7. In the mean Time they must bear the Cross, conflict with Enemies, and suffer Persecution, Mat. 16.24. Ioh. 18.36. 2 Tim. 3.12. It remains then that the First Resurrection is Literal and Corporal.

6. Primitive and Orthodox Christianity was of this Mind. Indeed since Antichri|stianism has had the Ascendant, as many other glorious Truths, so the Doctrine of the First Resurrection and the Thousand Years Reign has been condemned for Heresie. Baronius calls it Heresie, but A Lapide is more modest. He saith the Millenary Opinion is an Error, but he dared not to call it Heresie, because it was never condemned by any Council. Some Lutherans have been as severe in their Censures as Baronius. There was a late Lutheran Minister, viz. Georgius Lauren|tius, who wrote a Book which he calls Problema Theologicum de Regno Sanctorum in Terris Millenario. His Arguments are proposed with great Modesty▪ Never|theless a Lutheran Consistory condemned his Book as Heretical, and the Author was excommunicated. It is an odd Passage which the Editor of that Treatise has in his Preface to it, viz. That when Laurentius fell sick, he desired to speak with the Vicar who had excommunicated him, told him that he should die with that Sickness, and that the Vicar should quickly follow him. Within a few Days the Vicar was taken ill and died, but in great Horror often over cried out, Laurentius has written the Truth, Laurentius has written the Truth; and so departed this Life. Let Papists and Lutherans think what they please of it, I am certain that if this Opinion be Heretical, the Fathers and Martyrs in the Pri|mitive

Times were Hereticks. Ierome was one of the first that did set himself fiercely against it; and yet in one Place he says, that altho' he did not approve of the Chiliastical Opinion, he dar'd not condemn it, because (says he) many Ecclesiastical Doctors and Martyrs have so taught. This has been so often spoke to, and by so many, that it would be Loss of Time to insist or en|large upon it. Dr. Burnet has laid down this Conclusion, That the Millennial Kingdom of Christ was the General Doctrine of the Primitive Church, from the Times of the Apostles to the Nicene Council inclusively. He observes truly that in the First and Second Century this Doctrine was not contested, or opposed by any ex|cepting Hereticks, who denied the Resurrection wholly. I cannot omit the mentioning of what Iustin Martyr speaks, whose Words are so express and full as that nothing can be more. He tells Trypho the Iew, that not only himself but 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉 whosoever amongst Christians were thorowly Orthodox did believe the Resurrection, and the Thousand Years in Jerusalem, as the Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel had foretold: For (says he) Isaiah speaking of the Time of these Thousand Years saith, there shall be a New Heaven and a New Earth, &c. He adds, One of ours whose Name was John, one of the Twelve Apostles of Christ, in the Revelation exhibited to him, has foretold that they who believe on our Christ shall continue a Thousand Years in Jerusalem, and after that shall be the universal Resurrection and Iudgment. Vid. Dial. p. (mihi) 307, 308. Now that Iustin Martyr, a Learned and Holy Man who lived within Thirty Years of the Apostle Iohn, should affirm that all Orthodox Christians did then believe a particular Resurrection at the Beginning of the Thousand Years, and that the New Ieru|salem would continue for a Thousand Years, and after that a Catholick Resur|rection of all together, (as his Words are) is a Demonstration that this Doctrine was received from the Apostles themselves. It is incredible that Iustin Martyr would affirm that all Orthodox Christians were of this Belief, if it were not so indeed; and it is not to be thought that Christians living so near the Apo|stles, could not some, but all of them be of this Perswasion, if the Notion of the Chiliad and of the First Resurrection, in the Sense expressed and contended for were not Scripture Truth, and some Part of the Faith once delivered to the Saints. Irenaeus was contemporary with Iustin, and also a Martyr for Christ; he does expresly assert a first Corporal Resurrection to begin with the Millennium. He spends an whole Chapter in proving that the Scriptures by him alledged will not admit of Allegorical Interpretations; and that they do not speak of a Super-Caelestial Happiness. Cont. Heret. Lib. 3. Cap. 35. He affirms that the Presbyteri who knew the Apostle Iohn declared that they received this Doctrine from him, and that Iohn was thus taught by the Lord himself, Cap. 33. In some Editions of Irenaeus, the Five last Chapters of his Fifth Book▪ are left out. Fenardentius ingeniously confesses that he believes the Reason was because therein Irenaeus discovers himself to be a Chiliast. What Irenaeus says, if well considered, amounts to little less than a Demonstration that the Doctrine of the Chiliad and of the First Corporal Resurrection is not an Error, but an Apostolical Tradition and Truth. Would Irenaeus say that he received it from those Elders who had it from the Apostles themselves, if it were not so? In one Place he mentions Papias as having thus taught, who was one of Iohn's Scholars, instructed by him. Eusebius confesses that Papias was an holy Man, only to blast his Opinion, he said he had 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉, but a weak Judgment. It ill becomes such an Arianish Author as Eusebius was, to reflect on a venera|ble Father for Weakness of Judgment, who had so little of Solidity and Or|thodoxy of Judgment himself. But Irenaeus speaks in the Plural Number, Presbyteri (p. mihi 497.) quemadmodum [Presbyteri] meminerunt qui Iohannem Dis|••ipul••m Domini i••d erunt. As (says he) the Elders who have seen Iohn the Disci|ple

of the Lord have declared that they learned from him. Doubtless Irenaeus intends Polycarp as well as Papias; for in his Epistle to Florinus, he mentions Polycarp by Name as one of those Elders that were taught by the Apostles. And he says, that when he was a young Man, he heard Polycarp affirm that he was frequently with Iohn and others of the Apostles: Now if Irenaeus had his Chiliastical Opinion from such Elders as Polycarp and Papias, declaring that they had it from Iohn, and from other of the Apostles, doubtless it is no Er|ror, but an holy Scripture Truth. I omit all Citation of Testimonies out of the Sibyls. As for those Sibylline Oracles which were sacred with the Ro|mans of old, they are lost, being consumed when the Capitol was burnt. The Eight Books of Pseudo-Sibylline Oracles which are in the Hands of many (not|withstanding what Isaac Vossius has said to the contrary) were composed and im|posed upon the World by the Fraud and Forgery of Christians pretending to be Inspir'd Gentiles. Therefore Celsus in Origen scornfully calleth the Christi|ans Sibyllista's, complaining that they themselves were the Authors of those Oracles which they attributed to the old Sibyls. Is it probable that the Gen|tiles should have a more distinct Knowledge of the Trinity, of the Incarnation and Sufferings of Christ, and of the particular Miracles wrought by him than ever the Children of Israel, or the Prophets, or the Apostles themselves had, before they saw the Things accomplished? Nor cou'd the Author of those Books be 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉, divinely inspir'd. For there are some Things therein ve|ry futile, as that of Adam's being the first that did descend into Eden, &c. and some Things that are false, concerning God's being the Author of Evil, of Purgatory; and not to mention other Particulars, Erythraea's feigning her self to be Noah's Nymph is an egregious Lie. Could Noah's Daughter not only speak Greek, but write Greek Verses? It seems the true Author was a Gnostick: For the Sibyl pretends to know how many Stars there are in Heaven; how many Men there are, or shall ever be on Earth, which is more than any Angel in Heaven knows: This is perfect Gnosticism. The Author lived in the Primitive Times: For the most ancient Fathers, Iustin Martyr and Athenagoras mention the Sibyls. But as to the Subject which we have in Hand, we may gather from these pretended Oracles that Christians who believed the Day of Judgment and the Resurrection, did also believe the Chiliad, and the Glory of the New Ierusalem; for of all these do these Prophetesses speak many Things. Vid. Plurae apud Hornbeck. de conv. Indor. Lib. 2. Cap. 3. Dupin (the Regius Professor in Paris) in his lately publish'd Ecclesiastical History, calls the Millenary Notion the Dotage of Antiquity, Vol. 1. p. 47. He confesseth that Iustin, Athenagoras, Irenaeus, Clement, Tertullian, and many other ancient Writers, yea, the Primitive Christians, for the most Part, were of that Opinion. He concludes that the Author of the Sibylline Verses was a Christian, who lived in the Primitive Times, be|cause he asserts the Chiliad. Du Pin Vol. 1. P. 21.

CHAP. VII. Other Reasons proving a particular before the Universal Resurrection. The Day of Iudgment begins with the Millennial Kingdom. Daniel's Day of Iudgment and John's Thousand Years the same. The Thousand Years not past, but future. The Day of Iudgment will be here in less than a Thousand Years. The Lord Iesus Christ will appear in Person at the Final Destruction of Antichrist, when the Marriage of the Lamb shall be consummated, and New Jerusalem come down from Heaven. Which Things will be a Thousand Years before the ultimate Resurrection and Iudgment.

WE have in the preceeding Chapter endeavoured by clear Testimony of Scripture to evince that the dead in Christ shall rise a long Time be|fore

the universal Resurrection: We go on to confirm our Assertion by some further Arguments grounded on Scripture Revelation.

Reas. 5. If the Day of Iudgment does begin with the Apocalyptical Chiliad, then the Resurrection of the Iust will be a Thousand Years before the universal Resurrection. This Proposition none will deny. I assume, But the Day of Judgment will be|gin with the Apocalyptical Chiliad. If this be well proved, we gain all that we contend for. There are Two Arguments for it, which for my own Par•••• can|not answer, and therefore must believe the First Resurrection to be Corporal, until I see a clear and solid Answer to them.

Argum. 1. Because Daniel's Day of Iudgment, with the universal Kingdom, and John's Thousand Years are the same. I shall not spend Time to prove that the 7th Chapter of Daniel speaks of Christ's Personal Coming to Judgment. It is won|derful that any Men of Learning should deny it, and affirm that what is spoken in that Chapter is already accomplished. But was the Beast given to the burning Flame at Christ's first Personal Coming? Was the Man of Sin destroyed Four Hundred Years before he was born? Was the Dominion under the whole Heaven gi|ven to the Saints of the most High at Christ's First Coming, who told his Disci|ples that they must expect Sufferings, and not Dominion in this World: Nor in the Interpretation of others to be admitted, which supposeth that Daniel speaks only of a Vertual Coming of Christ, by the Power and Presence of his Spirit. Such Expositions are dangerous, inasmuch as they have a Tendency to weaken the Faith of Men concerning a Fundamental Article in Religion. There is not a more pregnant and illustrious Place in all the Old Testament to prove Christ's Personal Coming to Judgment, than that in the 7th of Daniel, when he shall come with a fiery Stream issuing before him, and ten thousand times ten thousand Angels waiting on him; i. e. when he shall be revealed from Heaven in flaming Fire with his mighty Angels, he will come to Judgment. Now this is that Coming of Christ to receive an universal Kingdom which Daniel speaks of. But Iohn's Thousand Years is the same with this as appears; 1. In that they be|gin at the same Time, s••il. at the Final Destruction of Antichrist. When the Beast is destroyed, and his Body given to the burning Flame, does Daniel's Day of Judgment and universal Kingdom begin, Chap. 7. Ver. 10, 11, 26, 27. When the Beast is cast alive into the Lake of Fire, then does Iohn's Thousand Years begin, Rev. 19.20. and 20.4. If Daniel's Day of Judgment and Iohn's Thousand Years both begin with the total Ruin of Antichrist, as we see they do, then they are the same. 2. They have both the very same Description given to them, as we shall see if we compare them. Daniel saith, I beheld 'till the Thrones were pitched down. Our English Translation, which is until the Thrones mere cast down, is not according to the Chaldee Original. The Meaning is, that Thrones or Seats were placed for the Judges to sit upon. The Hebrew Doctors say, that one of these Thrones is for the King Messias to sit upon. There is mention made of more Thrones than one, because the Saints shall have the Honour to sit with Christ as Assesso•••• in judging the World. Doubtless our Saviour had Respect to this Text in Daniel, when he said to the Apostles in Matth. 19.28. When the Son of Man shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory, ye shall also sit upon Twelve Thrones, judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Now whereas Daniel says, I beheld 'till the Thrones were pitched down, and the Iudgment (i. e. they that were to be Judges) sate: Iohn says, I saw Thrones, and they sate upon them. Daniel says, Ver. 22. And Iudgment (i. e. Power of judging) was given to the Saints of the most High: Iohn saith, And Iudgment was given to them. Daniel saith, And the Saints possessed the Kingdom; that is to say, with the Son of Man who came in the Clouds of Heaven: Iohn says, And they lived and reigned with Christ a Thousand Years. Who that well considers this can do otherwise than

think that Daniel's Vision of the great Judgment and universal Kingdom of Christ with his Saints, and Iohn's Vision of the Saints reigning with Christ a Thousand Years, are one and the same Thing. See Mr. Mede's first Letter to Dr. Medus. Fol. 932.

Argum. 2. If the Thousand Years are not past, but future, and if the Day of Iudg|ment will be here within less than th••se Thousand Years, then undoubtedly the Day of Iudgment does begin with the Apocalyptical Chiliad: But both these are true.

Many Learned Men have thought that the Thousand Years began either at the Birth or Death of our Saviour, or at the Destruction of Ierusalem, or when Constantine the first Christian Emperor was enthroned. This last Opinion is followed by many that have wrote on the Apocalypse: But the Reign or Prosperity of Christians under Constantine continued not a Thousand, nor for more than Twenty or Thirty Years before unhappy Changes attend|ed them. From the Beginning to the End of the Millennium Satan is bound, which hitherto he has never been. If the Devil's Hands have been bound for a Thousand Years, how then has he been able to strike the Church with such cruel Persecutions? And as much since Constantine's Time as before. Some say this Ligation of Satan does not imply his being kept from persecuting the Church, only from being able to deceive the Nations. But he has deceiv'd the Nations within these Thousand Years last past as much as ever since the World began. Has he not deceiv'd the Nations by his Prophet Mahomet? And has he not deceiv'd the Nations by Antichrist? It is strange that any Man should imagine that Satan has not deceiv'd the Nations since Antichrist came, when the Apostle says his coming is after the working of Satan, with lying Wonders, and with all deceivableness of Unrighteousness, 2 Thess. 2.9, 10. And if the Nations have not been deceived since Constantine, how is it said of the Beast, that he deceives them that dwell on the Earth, Revel. 13.14. It is said that after the thou|sand Years are finished Satan must be loosed a little Season: But according to the mentioned Interpretations, the Thousand Years were expired Four Hundred Years ago, which is more than a little Season, compared with a Thousand Years. But why then is not Gog and Magog destroyed by Fire from Heaven, nor the ultimate Judgment here? which without doubt it will be within less than Four Hundred Years after the Millennium.

If the Millennial Reign began a Thousand Years ago, then Christ's Reign on Earth and Antichrist's would be at the very same time, which cannot be. Non bené conveniunt nec in unâ sede morantur. There are others who think the Thou|sand Years are now current. Cotterius supposeth that they began in the Year 1517. Mr. Durham (a worthy Man) makes the Millennium to commence ab anno 1560. He imagines that the Twelve Hundred and Sixty Days were expired, and that the seventh Trumpet has been sounding ever since that. He thinks that this Notion of his will (as he Phraseth it) help to stay the Gadding Expectation of stu|pendious things to come. The First Resurrection is with him the same with Conversion and Regeneration. He would not have us believe that Christ will ever be on the Earth again, no not at the Day of Judgment. I am apt to think that Iob and he had differing Sentiments as to that particular (see him on Revel. 20. p. 715, 727.) But since the Time he fixes upon, the Witnesses have been in Sackcloth, and slain also. What Massacres have there been since that? Would Mr. Dur|ham deny that the Lord's faithful Witness••s in England and Scotland too have suffered a Civil Death since 1560? Yea sin••e 1660? And very lately in Hungary, in Piedmont, in France, and in all Popish Dominions the Witnesses have been slain. If then the Martyrs have Lived and reigned ever since 1560, they have reigned in Sackcloath and lived in their Graves. And if the Thousand Years began above an Hundred Years ago, how comes it to pass that Antichrist is yet living and

reigning? The Devil still reigns by his Vicar at Rome; how then has he been bound for these 130 Years last past? It is therefore a vai•• thing for us to ima|gine that the Millennial Reign is begun. Besides, this Interpretation does concern only the Protestant Churches in the Happiness of the Thousand Years, when as the Converted Iews, and all the Churches on Earth, shall then be in a glorious Estate. Let us therefore go on with the second part of the Argument before us, viz. That the Day of Iudgment will be here in less than a Thousand Years. Most of those whom we dispute against do believe that the coming of our Lord to Judge the Earth cannot be far off. This is therefore an Argument ad Hominem no•• to be answered. It has been a commonly received Opinion, and much is to be said for it, that as the World was Six days in making, so the Duration if it shall be Six ••••••usand Years. Thus amongst the Iews do there Masters teach. Thus also Irenaeus Cypri|an, nay and Austin himself who was no Chiliast, and others of the Ancients, and very many of our Modern Divines. Now the World will quickly be Six Thousand Years Old. According to the Chronology of the Samaritan Penta|teuch, in the Year of Christ 1736. the World will be just Six Thousand. In that Year also (as Mr. Mede observes) the Twelve Hundred and Sixty ••ays of the Beast's Reign will expire, reckoning from the Deposition of Augustu••••••, the last Roman Emperor. Moreover, Antichrist will not be totally destroyed before Christ's coming to Judgment. It is plain from Daniel that the Beast, as 〈◊〉〈◊〉 by the wicked Horn, must continue until the Day that the World shall be on 〈◊〉〈◊〉▪ And that Horn shall make War with the Saints until the Ancient of Days cometh, ••an. 7.11, 21, 22. And Paul says concerning the Man of Sin, that the Lord ••aith de|stroy him with the Brightness of his coming, 2 Thes. 2.8. which Expositor•• gene|rally and truly interpret as meant of his Personal coming to Judgment. And it is clear from Psal. 1. that the Apostle there intends no other coming. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ver. 3. Antichrist shall not only be cast into the Lake of Fire, but cast 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to it, because he is destroyed with the Fire in which Christ will be revealed from Heaven at the great Day of his Second Appearance. Is not Antichrist Compre|hended under that God of whom Ezekiel has Prophesied, that the Lord shall rain upon him great Hailstones, Fire and Brimstone, Ezek. 38.22. viz. at the Bat|tle of Armageddon, When the Lord with his Mighty Ones shall come down and ••it to Judge the Nations, Revel. 16.16. with Ioel 3.12, 13, 14. When the Time of Antichrist's Reign is ended, who must reign next? Most certainly Christ and his Saints. Tythonius (who Flourished Anno Dom. 380.) in his Homilies on the Apocalypse (which are falsly ascribed to Austin) has these Words in Apoc. 20.4. Retulit Spiritum cum haec scriberit, regnaturam Ecclesiam mille Annis in hoc seculo us{que} ad finem mundi. V. August. Operum Tom. 9. Hom. 16. Now the Time, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and half a Time allotted to Antichrist are well nigh expired. They that begin his Reign latest confess that he was to be seen in the Year Six Hundred and Six. The Truth is, he was then a Man above an Hundred Years Old. But suppose him to be ••ewly born then, he cannot live longer than the Year 1866. Therefore the coming of Christ to Judgment will be here in much less than a Thousand Years. And then in as much as the Apocalyptical Chiliad is not past but future, it follows undeniably that the Millennial Reign falls within the compass of the Day of Judg|ment, and consequently that there shall be a Resurrection of the Just, antece|daneous to the Universal Resurrection. But thus for the Fifth Reason. I shall add but one more.

Reason. 6. The Lord Iesus will no sooner come in Person from Heaven into this Visible World, but there 〈◊〉〈◊〉 be a Resurrection of the Iust. For this the Scriptures are clear, nor is there any Controversie about it. 1 Cor. 15.21. 1 Thes. 3.13. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 our Lord will appear the Second ••ime unto Salvation, long before the Resurrection of the Wicked. It was shewed but now, that Antichrist will not be finally and to|tally

destroyed before the Coming of the Lord. But Antichrist will be totally destroyed a Thousand Years before the Universal Resurrection, We read of the Beast and False Prophet being cast alive into the Lake of Fire, before any thing is spoken of the Millennial Reign; and at the End of the Thousand Ye••r••, when Gog and Magog, and the Devil that deceived them, are cast into the Lake of Fire, they find the Beast and False Prophet there, Revel. 20.10. So that they had been dead and in Hell during all the Thousand Years. I confess this was one of the first Arguments which did above Twenty Years since induce me to believe a particu|lar Resurrection at the beginning of the Thousand Years; I could never an|swer it, I saw clearly by what is spoken by Daniel and Paul, as well as by Iohn, in the Revelation, that at the Final Destruction of Antichrist there will be a Per|sonal Coming of Christ, and that the World will then be on a light Fire. And I saw that after this Perdition of the Man of Sin, there shall be a Glorious Reign of the Saints on Earth.

If after the Total and Final Ruine of Antichrist, the Church of God shall have a Glorious time on Earth, before the Universal Judgment of all Mankind: And of the Final ruine of Antichrist is not to be expected before the coming of Christ in the Clouds of Heaven, all that we argue for must needs be granted; Both the Pre|misses does the Scripture clearly assert.

Yet further to prove that Christ's next Personal Coming will be a long time before the Wicked shall rise, I argue thus.

When the Marriage of the Lamb is consummated, Christ appears in Person▪ Mat. 25.6. but this will be a long time before the Universal Resurrection: For it is as soon as New Ierusalem comes down from Heaven, Revel. 21.9, 10. When as New-Ie|rusalem descends from Heaven a long time before the General Judgment: Which is manifest in that there are Nations Healed after that, and in that there are Saved Nations which walk in the Light thereof, and Kings that bring their Glory to it. All which must needs be before, and not after the Ultimate Judgment: Nor will there then be any building of Houses or Planting of Vineyards in any part of the Earth; which things the Apostle Peter says are to be expected in the New-Earth which God will Create, and of which all the Prophets have spoken, 2 Pet. 3.13. compared with Isai. 65.21. Irenaeus, (p. 502.) says that without Controversie these things will he fulfilled at the Resurrection of the Iust, when they shall Reign on the Earth. Mr. Brightman perceiving that the New Ierusalem intends a State of the Church on Earth, and not in Heaven only, that so he might decline a Literal Sense of the first Resurrection, makes the Second Resurrection to be Mystical. And whereas it is said, the Dead, small and great, stood before God, and the Books were opened, he supposeth the meaning to be, that all the Iews that belong to Election, would then he Converted. And Whereas it is said again, the Sea gave up the Dead which was in it, he says, the Sea notes Corrupt Doctrines, and that therefore the Words imply, that the Iews who live in Spain and Italy, and in other Popish Countries shall be called. But if Men allow themselves this Liberty of Alle|gorizing, we may at last Allegorize Religion into nothing but Fancy, and say that the Resurrection is past already. How much safer is it to keep to the Let|ter of Scripture, when for us so to do is consistent with the Analogy of Faith?

CHAP. VIII. Objections answered. That the Iudgment described in Daniel and Matthew, alludes to the Synedrium. That Jews as well as Chistians have believed not only a Day of Iudgment, but that it should continue a Thousand Years. That there will be two Con••lagrations. The first beginning with the Thousand Years not Universal. Gog and Magog will arise out of some of the Nations that shall escape the Conflagration. Conjectures about the Americans. Dr. Twiss his Opinion of Mr. Mede. That notwithstanding the Glorious Presence of Christ in the New-Jerusalem, it is not im|possible for Gog and Magog to make an Insurrection against the Camp of the Saints. The Conclusion.

THE Design of the former part of this Dissertation is to handle the Contro|versie under Debate (〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉) only in a defensive Way, and I have therefore but touched, and not enlarged on the Arguments that prove a fu|ture Conversion of the Israelitish Nation. In this last part, which concerns the first Resurrection, to begin with the Millennium, I once purposed to consider the Question (〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉) and only by positive Reasons to confirm what I be|lieve is Truth. But I perceive it will be needful to endeavour the Removal of some Objections which detain many sober Minds from the embracing of such a Paradox as that which we have been labouring to evince.

I. It has been objected that Matth. 25. speaks of the Righteous and the Wicked be|ing Iudged together; the one being set on the Right hand and the other on the Left hand of Christ the Iudge. To which I answer,

That it is evident that the Sentence of Absolution will be passed on the Righteous before the Sentence of Condemnation on the Wicked. When it is said, he shall set the Sheep on the Right hand, but the Goats on the Left, the mean|ing is, that the Sheep shall be acquitted, but 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Goats condemned. Both the 25th Chapter of Matthew and the 7th of Daniel ••••••ude to the Synedrium, or great Sessions of the Judges in Israel. That Supream Court of Judicature in which Cases of Life and Death were tried (which Court was always held at Ierusa|lem, thence was it said, that it cannot be that a Prophet perish out of Jerusalem, Luk. 13.33.) the Iews call Beth din haggadol, the great House of Judgment. This Court was first erected by Moses, according to Divi•••• Direction. It did consist of Seventy Elders besides the Nasi. i. e. the Prince or President of the Court. The most Aged or Venerable of the Judges was Vice-president, he was called Ab-beth-din, the Father of the House of Judgment. This helps to understand that Ex|pression of the Ancient of Days in the 7th of Daniel. These Judges sate semi-circle wise: The Nasi, or President, in the midst of them, the Father of the Consistory, or Vice President, next to him on his Right Hand. This gives Light to the Expression of sitting on the right Hand of Power, Mark 14.62. There were Two Scribes belonging to this House of the great Judgment; the one of which sate on the Right Hand, he took the Votes for Absolution; the other on the Left Hand, who took the Votes for Condemnation. Unto this (I say) the 25th of Matthew and the 7th of Daniel have Respect. Now why may we not believe, that at the great Assize, when all Mankind shall be brought before the Judge, the Righteous shall have the Sentence of Absolution passed on them in the Morning of that great and long Day; but the Wicked receive their Sentence of Condemnation in the after Part, or Evening of the Day? And why may not the Mille Anni caelestis imperii, (as Lactantius's Expression is,) why may not the Thousand Years Reign be the setting of the righteous at the Right Hand of him who is the Ancient of Days, the chief Judge to whom it belongs to pronounce the Sentence, and who will sentence to the Second Death all whose Names are not written in the Book

of Life after the universal Resurrection? These, when they shall be brought out of their Graves shall find the Judge and his Saints with him sitting upon Thrones of Glory. They that would see more of the Synedrium, unto which the Scriptures mentioned have (as I said) a Reference, may consult Godwin, Selden, Cunaeus, and Hoffman in his Lexicon universal. Also my learned Friend (whom for Honour's Sake I mention) D. Leusden, Professor of the Hebrew Tongue in the University of Utrecht, has written De Synedriis Iudaeorum in plilo••. Hebraea mixt. Dissertation 46.

2. It is by some objected that there is no mention of a Thousand Years any where in all the Scripture, except in one Place, when as, if so momentous •• Truth as that contended for, were intended thereby, it would be oftner spoken of than once. But far be it from us to reject a Scripture Truth because it is but 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉, once in express Terms mentioned. There are many weighty Truths of which this is to be affirmed. The Messiah his being to be born of a Virgin, and at Bethlehem, and that he was to come within so many Years, these Things were but once mentioned by the Prophets. That particular Resurrection which was at the Time of our Lord's Resurrection, is spoken of by only one of the Evan|gelists. Many Historical Passages in Luke's Gospel are no where else mention|ed, but that is Ground sufficient for our Faith to build upon. But as for the Thousand Years, they are mentioned no less than Six Times (sometime with, and sometime without an Article in the Greek Original) in one Chapter. I cannot think that the Holy Spirit by the Apostle Iohn would so inculcate, and insist upon it, if there were not a greater and a more glorious Mystery contain'd therein than the vulgar Interpretation does allow of. Moreover, it seems to me that another Apostle mentions the Thousand Years, as concurring with the Day of Judgment: For Peter calls the Day of Iudgment, the Day of God, and the Day of the Lord. He also says, that one Day is with the Lord as a Thousand Years, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Thousand Years as one Day, 2 Pet. 3.8, 9, 10, 12. The ancient Iews did believe the Day of Judgment would continue a Thousand Years. It is a celebrated Saying among them when they speak of the Day of Judgment, that one Day of the Holy Blessed God, is a Thousand Years. Peter seems to say the same. Hence it was that some old Antimillinaries would not own the Second Epistle of Peter to be Canoni|cal S••ripture; because they thought the Writer of that Epistle was a Chiliast, as Mr. Mede has observed Folio 756. The Iews cannot endure to read the New Testament; nevertheless, some of them are affected with the Book of Revelation, for therein they find Mystical Numbers, such as 666, and 42 Months, Three Days and a half, &c. which they are delighted with, and they are taken with Iohn's Description of the New Ierusalem, and the Allusions which are through|out the whole Book to Things which they are acquainted with is pleasing to them: And in particular, a Thousand Years glorious Reign with the Messiah, and that af|ter the Resurrection of the Righteous, and before the Resurrection of the Wicked, is a My|stery which the Hebrew Doctors have not been altogether unacquainted with; ha|ving (no doubt) received that Notion, as well as that of the Day of Judgment, by Tradition from their Fathers, who had them from the Prophets. For when these Things shall come to pass, in the Days of the Seventh Apocalyptical Trumpet, they are the Mystery of God which he has declared to his Servants the Prophets. It may give Light into the Subject before us to cite some Testimonies out of Iewish Authors; and let Men call what we plead for a Iewish Opinion, if they please. Maimonides, who is accounted one of the wisest and soberest Writers amongst the Iews since their last fatal Dispersion in Tract. Saned. cap. 10. saith that Their wise Men are of the Belief that the Kingdom of the Messiah shall continue for a thousand Years. In Talmud Babylon. Cap. Helek. Aruck is brought in as speaking their Sense of these Mat|ters,

viz. That the Righteous ones whom God shall raise from the dead, shall no more 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to the Dust, but those Thousand Years, in which the Holy Blessed God shall re|new the World, he will give them Wings of an Eagle. This he speaks as a Thing known and undeniable. And R. E••••••zer says, The Days of the Messiah are a Thou|sand Years. They say, that when the Righteous are restored to Life, and when Gog is destroyed (by that Gog, the Turk who is the Eastern Antichrist, must be meant) then will be the 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉 the glorious World to come. See▪ Dr. Lightfoot. Vol. 1. p. 354. In few Words, there are of their Rabbies who say, the glori|ous Reign of Messiah and of the House of David will begin when the World is Six Thousand Years old, which Reign some of them reckon as belonging to this World, but others call it the World to come. That this Reign will continue until the Seventh Thousand Year from the Creation, when will be the univer|sal Resurrection and last Judgment. They that would see more Rabbinical No|tions may find them in Grellot's Prodromus in Apoc cap. 20. I shall only add here, that it is no Heresie to believe that some Circumstances relating to the Day of Judgment were not revealed so fully before as since the Ascension of our Lord, who has taken the Book out of the Right Hand of him that sits on the Throne, and has made these Things known to Iohn, the last of the Apostles, so far as is needful, for the Edification and Consolation of his Church.

3. Another Objection is that at the Day of Iudgment the Conflagration will de|stroy all the wicked on the Earth, and then how shall there be Enemies, viz. Gog and Magog to make an Attempt on the Camp of the Saints after the Thousand Years are expired? To this some have answered, that we may suppose that the Living Saints who shall be all changed at the Lord's Coming, will not be put into a State in respect of Immortality, equal with the Angels, as the Saints of the First Resurrection shall be; but the Change they shall undergo will make them like Adam in Paradise; that they shall eat and drink and the like, as Adam should if he had not sinned; that these shall be instructed and ruled by the Saints of the New Ierusalem, who shall then be Priests and Kings. Thus Irenaeus Lib. 5. Cap. 35. and Lactantius Lib. 7. C. 24. The Hebrew Doctors are of Opinion, that in the Days of the Messiah Men shall live as long as the Patriarchs did before the Flood. They suppose the Meaning of that Text Isa. 65.20. The Child shall die an Hundred Years old, to be, that one who is but an Hundred Years old will be count|ed a Child, because of the great Longevity of Men in those Days. But the Scripture seems to intimate that the Saints found alive at the Lord's Coming shall in a Moment be made incorruptible, like those raised from the dead, 1 Cor. 15.50, 51, 52. Wherefore there is another Answer which seems to some (tho' for my own Part I am not so fully satisfy'd in that Notion of the Saints be|ing made incorruptible at the Beginning of the Thousand Years) a clearer So|lution of what has been objected. It is this; the Scripture gives us to un|derstand that there will be Two Conflagrations, as well as Two Resurrections, the first at the Beginning, and the last at the End of the Thousand Years. As for the first Conflagration, not only the Living Saints, but whole Nations besides shall escape that Destruction, out of which Nations will Gog and Magog arise. Lactantius says, that when the Thousand Years begin, tho' Antichrist shall be destroyed, yet that the Nations shall not be wholly extinguished, but Quadam relinquentur ut triumphantur à justis, &c. Some will remain for the Righteous to reign over. And the Scripture speaks expresly of the Nations of them which are saved, Rev. 21.24. that is to say, who are saved from that Fire, which the Beast and False Prophet are cast alive into; who are saved from that Burning which shall be when the Beast is slain, and his Body given to the burning Flame. A great Interpreter conceives that the Words have Respect to the 66th of Isaiah,

where the Prophet speaks of the Time when the Lord will plead with all 〈…〉〈…〉 Fire, and the slain of the Lord shall be many: Yet then will be the Day in which all Flesh shall come to worship before the Lord, and they shall go forth, i. e. go forth out of their Graves, and look upon the C••••casses of them whose Wor•• 〈…〉〈…〉 neither shall their Fire be quenched, Ver. 23, 24. This is the Case of those that are cast alive into the Lake of Fire. Nevertheless it is said, that at this Time some shall escape, Ver. 19. I will send those that escape of them: In the Septu|agint it is 〈in non-Latin alphabet〉〈in non-Latin alphabet〉, i. e. the saved ones of them; or it may be that Text in the Revelation alludes to Isaiah 45.20. They that are escaped (or as the Seventy have it) that are s••••ed of the Nations; meaning those that should sur|vive the destroying Judgments which should come on Idolaters. The Pro|phet there speaks of a universal Conversion of the Nations, which never|theless the Apostle Paul shews will be fulfilled after that the Day of Judg|ment shall begin, Rom. 14.11. No Man supposes that there will be any Con|version at the ultimate Judgment. He that is unjust then shall be unjust still: But after the Conflagration (which begins with the Judgment on Antichrist) there will be a most glorious Conversion of all the Nations on the Earth, which shall escape that Deluge of Fire. And this well agrees with Daniel's Intimation, that after some shall awake out of the Dust of the Earth unto everlasting Life 〈◊〉〈◊〉 shall be turned to Righteousness, Dan. 12.2, 3. When God's appointed Time is come for the Burning of the World, the Fire will doubtless begin in one Part of the Earth first, as it was when the World was drowned; and the Scripture does clear|ly intimate that Italy will be the Place, for there the Beast has his Seat. Dr. Cressener (a late judicious Writer) inclines to think that after the burning of the Body of the Beast, there will remain a considerable Part of the Earth en|tire and inhabited; that the Christian Church shall not only continue, but en|crease, after the particular Conflagration of the Roman Territories; because it is said, the rest of the Beasts had their Lives prolonged for a season, Dan 7.12. So that it should seem, that the Babylonian, Persian and Grecian Kingdoms represent|ed by the Three First Beasts, were not destroyed by Fire, as the Roman Territo|ries represented by the Fourth Beast, are described to be; but that Greece and Asia shall continue inhabited after the Burning of the Western Part of the Roman Empire. He also supposeth that when that Part of the Earth shall continue in Flames, this partial Conflagration will be a Means of keeping Christians in a more strict Obedience, yea and of converting the Heathen Nations in all Parts of the World. Thus doth that learned and worthy Person conjecture. His Argument would be demonstrative, if it were certain that the Prolongati•••• of Life for a Season and Time, which is mentioned in Daniel concerning the rest of the Beasts, were to be understood of a Life granted to them after the Fourth Beast (or Kingdom on Earth) is slain and given to the Burning. Mr. Mede chuses to read the Word in the singular Number, the Remainder of the Beast, and then the Sense is, that not the Body only, or People of the Beast's Dominions were destroyed, but the Ten Horns and the wicked Horn (which are the Remainder of the Beast) had their Dominion taken away; yet the Prolongation of Life was given to them for a Season and Time, viz. until the Time when the Son of Man shall come in the Clouds of Heaven. But if we construe the Words plurally, and by the rest of the Beasts understand the Three First Monarchies, the Meaning may be, that they lost their Dominion after they had successively for a Time ruled the World: But then the Fourth Beast differed from them in this, that he was destroyed by Fire from Heaven, which they were not: So that this Text in Daniel does not necessitate us to believe that the Conflagration will be so par|ticular, or that only the Western Part of the Roman Empire shall fall under it.

Others are of Opinion that the one half of the Earth will be consumed by the First Conflagration, which begins with the Thousand Years, viz. That Hemisphere which is spoken of in the Scripture. As for the New World, which is now well known and called by the Name of America (tho' there is more Reason to call it by the Name of Columbina, as Mr. Nich. Fuller well observes in Missel. p. 172.) in Honour to the first European Discoverer; it was not known in the Days in which the Penmen of the Holy Scriptures lived. Those Parts of the Earth which do not include America are in Scripture Dialect all the World, Luke 2.1. Acts 11.28. Col. 1.23. The late Opinion of Torniellus and P••gius that the Apostles preached the Gospel in America is a groundless. Imagination, and it is solidly refuted by ••asuagius in Exercitat. Historic. critic. p. 524, &c. It is cer|tain that the American Hemisphere was unknown to the Ancients a long Time after the Apostles Days: Nay, the Notion of Antipodes was as incred••ble to them as the Earth's Motion is to some in these Days. I remember one of them derides that Opinion; he says, they are idle Men who think there are Inhabi|tants in the opposite Part of the Earth, for then (says he) they must walk with their Feet superior to their Heads, and Trees would grow downwards, and the T••••es would grow downwards, and the Rain fall upwards. And Austin calls it a Fable, and says, it is nullâ ratione credendum, that it is in no wise to be believed that there are Men on the other Side of the Earth, walking with their Feet against ours. It is famously known that Pope Zechary, Anno 748. excommuni|cated a poor Presbyter, whose Name was Virgilius, for maintaining that there were Antipodes; that is, for saying there are Men in America. So then for ma|ny Ages after the Penmen of the Holy Scriptues were dead, America was an unknown World. And whether there were then any Inhabitants in that Hemis|phere is uncertain. But Asia, Africa and Europe were the Stage on which the Four Monarchies acted their Parts. All those Parts of the Earth are spoken of in that one Scripture, Isa. 66.19. Mr. Mede conjectures not only that the American Hemisphere will escape the Conflagration, but the People there will not be concerned in the Blessedness of the renovated World, during the Thousand Years, and that Gog and Magog will come from thence; that the Devil will sug|gest to them, Your World is a miserable World compared with that on the other Side of the E••rth: You die and never rise again, but they on t'other Hemisphere live again after they die, and ••re an happy People: Do you invade their Land, and you shall be like them, you shall be like the Gods, like the Immortal Ones that are there. He says the Americans may well be expressed by the Name of Magog, if Fuller's Conje|cture be true, scil. That they are originally Scythians. The East-Indians (espe|cially the Scythians in China) and the West-Indians do exactly resemble each other, as if they were of the same Original. And if the Scythians are spread abroad into both Indies, Noah's Prophecy concerning the Enlargement of Japhet's Tents is wondrously fulfilled. It is not easie to demonstrate who were the Abo|rigines in the American World, which made Peter Cotton the Iesuit (as Thuanus from his own Hand Writing reports of him) to go to Conjuring that so he might find it out. Grotius his Conceit that the Americans were originally Nor|wegians, is sufficiently confuted by Hornius in his Elaborate Discourse De origine Gentium Americanarum. Lerius, Comtaeus and Bochart have given probable Argu|ments to prove that some of the first Americans were Phaenicians of the Posteri|ty of Cham. This is also confirmed by Hornbeck, de Conversions Indorum, and by Hornius, who makes it no less probable that others of them are Scythians, who are indisputably the Posterity of Magog. Nor is it necessary that the Apo|••••liptical Gog and Magog should be the Natural Progeny of them mentioned in the Scripture: It is enough if they be like them in respect of Enmity and

Hostility to the Church of God: However, Mr. Mede's Conjecture is ingeni|ous, and may probably prove true. Dr. Twiss was much taken with Mr. ••ede's Notions, he says in one of his Letters to him, I profess you have strange Con|ceits, I mean for the Worthiness of them, they possess me with Admiration. And in another, Your Letters, your Conjectures, your Meditations are the greatest Iewels my Study contains. He says that when he communicated some of them to Mr. White (once a famous Minister in Dorchester) and to Mr. Thatcher of Sarisbury, they were ravished with them. In another of his Letters he has these Words, I protest unto you, if I should lie in Prison all the Days of my Life, next to the Conso|lations of God's Spirit, your Writings would most refresh me. That judicious Doctor does particularly applaud Mr. Mede's Conjecture about Gog and Magog. It is more like Truth than that of Dr. Homes, who supposeth a new Covenant of Works; and more rational than the extravagant Fancy of a late learned Writer, who concluding 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Conflagration at the Beginning of the Thousand Years will be general, (destroying the whole Earth and all living Creatures therein) thinks that the New Earth will of it self produce, not only other Animals, but Men. There are many who have asserted an Equivocal Generation of Serpents and Vermin, (tho' that be denied by the best Philosophers) but an equivocal Generation not only of perfect Animals, but of Men with rational Souls is a Notion never heard of in the World before. And yet it may be not less Heretical than that of a Pythagorean Metempsychosis, or Revolu|tion of Souls, asserted by the same Author. And not altogether so irreligious as his profane Attempt discovered in another Book; where he endeavours to make the World to believe that the History of Adam's Fall described by Moses is a meer Allegory, or Fable; for which his daring Impiety, a late judicious and worthy Writer, Dr. Iohn Edwards has with just Indignation rebuked him. But I pass from this.

4. It is objected, If New-Jerusalem do consist of raised Immortal Saints, How shall they that are in a State of Mortality be able without Fear to converse with such Glorious Persons, and how shall Gog and Magog adventure to besiege them? The Devil and his Angels might as well adventure to Besiege Heaven. Is it credible that during the Time of Iudgment, there can be Heart in any Creature to attempt such an Undertak|ing against Christ and his Saints, as this of Magog is? As for the first part of the Objection, it is answered without any difficulty. How was Abraham and Lot able to converse with the Angels who came to instruct them? How were three of the Disciples able to converse with Moses and Elias when Christ was trans|figured in the Holy Mount, in which there was a Glimpse and Representation of this Glorious Kingdom, and of the Communion which shall then be be|tween Saints Mortal and Immortal: As for the latter Part of the Objection, the Answer which Dr. Twiss gives is this, True, if Gog and Magog knew the Condition of New-Jerusalem so well as the Devil and his Angels know the Condition of Heaven. The Devil will deceive them, as he did our first Parents, and make them believe that they may without Danger follow his Suggestions. But if we suppose them to be acquainted with the Glory of the New-Ierusalem, which is only the Metropolis of the New World, the Camp of the Saints, upon whom the Attach does immediately fall, are in a less Glorious Estate. It will doubtless be a great Hardiness in Gog and Magog to engage in so desperate an Attempt: But how often have Sinners, when left to themselves, not acted like rational Crea|tures? Some have thought that the Apostate Angels did first Sin in Heaven; I am not of that Opinion, for Heaven is a Place that was never defiled, 1 Pet. 1.4. But for certain those Angels were once in Heaven, that was their first and proper Habitation. They saw the Infinite Power of God; they were

by, and looked on when He made this Earth, and shouted for Joy, Iob 38.7. And after that, they saw him Create the Sun and Moon, and all the Stars in Heaven. They could not but know that the Eternal Power was able to destroy them in a Moment; yet these mutable Beings left to themselves, begin a War against Heaven. Is it then impossible that Gog and Magog should do the like, when the Devil is in them?

Mr. William Alleine in his Discourse of the New-Heavens and New-Earth, p. 123. reasons well, that the Power of Sin is so great as that it will make Men hazard their Lives to fulfill their Lusts. The Officers who apprehended the Lord Jesus Christ, notwithstanding He did at that very Time discover his Divine Pow|er before their Eyes, were so hardned as to go on with their Design, Iohn 18.6. Luke 22.51. What Miracles did Pharaoh and the Egyptians see? Never|theless they would venture to follow the Children of Israel into the Red Sea, al|tho' they knew that the drying up the Sea was a Miraculous Thing, done by the Lord for the Salvation of his People. No doubt but the Amale|kites did hear of this, and that Pharaoh and all his Host were drowned in that Sea, yet they would venture to come and fight against the Camp of the Saints, tho' they knew God was among them. Balaam knew that God was with them, and that there was great rejoycing amongst the Children of Israel, because they had Him as King in the midst of them, Numb. 23.21. He knew that Israel should Eat up the Nations, his Enemies. For all this he did them all the Mischief in his Power, and gave Devilish Advice to Balak tending to the ruin of That People. Is it then impossible that Magog should, by the Instigation of Satan, attempt a War against the Saints of God, tho' he should hear that Christ is amongst them and Reigning over them, and that the Name of that Glorious Church is, The Lord is there? The Children of Israel whilst in the Wilderness, Lived by Continual Miracles; the Pillar of Cloud by Day, and of Fire by Night, was a standing Miraculous Demonstration of the Presence of God. The Manna was Angel's Food; They saw by Ocular Demonstration, in respect of the Effects thereof, that Immortal Invisible Agents were amongst them every Day. The Hebrew Doctors say (as Buxtorf in his Dissertation of the Manna has shewn) that the greatest Miracle that ever was wrought for their Father was that of the Manna where|with they were sustained. And how often did the Lord visibly appear to them? Deut. 31.15. Yet how did the Hypocrites in that Church rise up in Rebellion against God, notwithstanding these Miracles? Why then should it be thought impossible that God and Magog should compass about the Camp of the Saints, and the beloved City, with an ill Design, (which yet shall signifie no more than the Men of Sodon their besetting Lot's House when the Angels were in it) supposing Risen and Immortal Men to be in the midst of them.

As for that Opinion of Christ's Personal Presence and Residence in the midst of the New-Jerusalem, during the Thousand Years, I do not assert it. I believe He will ap|pear when the thousand Years begin: Yet I know not, but in that World to come, He may be seen ascending and descending at his Pleasure, all the Angels of Heaven wait|ing on Him. This great thing, this glorious Sight shall Nathanael, and all such Is|raelites as he was, be blessed with, Ioh. 1.50.51. The Saints on Earth may have a glorious Vision of Christ in Heaven at the Right Hand of God, when Heaven shall be opened, and they shall have the same Sight that Stephen had Acts 7.55.56. We may not reject a Truth, which as to the Substance of it is revealed, because we are in the Dark as to many Circumstances attending it. The Patriarchs and Prophets had the first coming of Christ discovered to them. They knew that the Eternal Son of God should be Incarnate, and that he should die for the Salvation of Men; Nevertheless, many Circumstances attending that coming

of the Lord, they did not discern with that Clearness as is in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Gospel revealed. The Prophets themselves searched into the meaning of th••se 〈…〉〈…〉 they were ins••••••ed to declare, 1 Pet. 1.10, 11. The like to this is 〈◊〉〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of our Knowledge respecting the Invisible World. We know that the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of departed Saints are in Bliss; we know that they are praising and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 God; but unquestionably those Holy Souls have Employments which we know not of; nor shall we as long as we abide in Flesh, 2 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 12.4. The 〈…〉〈…〉 to be said with reference to the Day of Judgment, and the Resurrection-World. Mr. Baxter, in his Book concerning the Kingdom of Christ, (p. 71, 72.) 〈◊〉〈◊〉 these Words. Concerning the New-Earth, we must content our selve: with what God has revealed, and not search into unrevealed things. It is 〈◊〉〈◊〉 that i•• will be a Restitution of all things; that in it shall dwell Righteousness, that it will be a Par••dise state; that Christ shall reign over it, that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Glorified saints shall lose any of the•••• part in Heaven by it: It will be a state of Communion; Angels and Men will 〈◊〉〈◊〉 familiar Converse, Christ shall be joyfully known amongst the•••• as their 〈…〉〈…〉 King. Neither Christ nor the Saints will lay by their Humane Nature, or Body, but their Bodies will be so far refined as shall be suitable to the Condition of the New refined World. All this Mr. Baxter saith is certain: I fully concur with him▪ 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in what he mentions as certain of Gog and Magog, I cannot go along with him, nor in some Particulars which he speaks of as uncertain; but with his Fourth Particular I consent. His words are these, It is uncertain whether there shall be any stated, visible Presence of Christ here, or that only he shall appear as in Heaven, as the Sun does by it's Light; or only sometimes be seen as he was after his Re|surrection. His concluding Words are; If by Faith in Christ God dwell in us by Love, and we in Him, and we have in us that Kingdom of Grace, we shall have our part in the future Kingdom, tho' we understand not many Difficulties about it. A 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Conclusion.

The Objection about the Insurrection of Gog and Magog is of all the most diffi|cult to be solved: I pretermit the odd Notion of a late French Author, viz. Pier Poiret, in his Book which bears the Title of Le Aeconomi•• Divine, T••m. ••. Chap. 15. p. 469. who supposeth that by Gog and Magog, the Devil and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Souls are intended, which he thinks will be all let loose out of Hell at the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of the Thousand Years, to make a Furious, tho' a fruitless Attempt 〈…〉〈…〉 Glorified Saints of the New-Ierusalem. This Fancy of his is new and singular, and I suppose will not be received by many. It is certain that the Universal Resurrection will be after the Magogical War; nor is it credible that that War will be undertaken by none but unbodied Spirits.

Thus have I with as much Brevity and Perspecuity as I could, declared my Sentiments with my Reasons: Nor do I maintain any thing but what the pri|mitive Doctors and Martyrs did Believe and Teach, as also very 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Emi|nent Divines (both Con-formists and Non-conformists) in this Last 〈◊〉〈◊〉 wherein the Truth relating to these Mysteri•••• has b••••n more abundan•••••• en••••••ed into.

I know many Worthy Men are of a differing Opinion. A late Learned Au|thor has well observed, that not only the discovery of Truth, but to believe it 〈◊〉〈◊〉 found out by others, is the Gift of God. All Good Men will be of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Judg|ment in Tempori••u•• Regni (〈…〉〈…〉 often 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Thousand Years) When they meet in the Glorious Kingdom of Christ. Then (and not, till then) we shall all come into the Unity of the Faith, and of the Knowledge of the Son of God; Which day, which Kingdom, let it come quickly, and it will come quickly. Amen.

FINIS.