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world, especially of the redemption by Christ. And that creating it in six days, and then resting on the seventh, is designed to be a type of bringing the moral world in the work of redemption, to a state of rest; that there are to be six thousand years in which every thing with respect to redemption and the kingdom of Christ, is to be done and prepared, for a seventh thousand years of peace and rest, and joy in this glorious work. And it will be shown in the sequel, that there are institutions in the Mosaic ritual, which point out the same thing. The Apostle Peter seems to allude to this, when speaking of the coming of Christ, and the end of the world. "But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise; but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night," &c.* Hence the constant revolution of weeks, consisting of seven days; is an emblem of the revolution of time, which will come to an end, when the world has existed seven thousand years. And there has been a tradition among both Jews and Christians, agreeable to this sentiment. Now, this sentiment and tradition suppose, that the thousand years of the Millennium is but one literal thousand years, or the seventh part of the time in which the world is to stand. And as far as there is any weight

* II. Peter, iii. 8. 9, 10.

"There is an old tradition both among Jews and Christians, that at the end of six thousand years, the Messiah shall couse, and the world shall be renewed, the reign of the wicked one shall cease, and the reign of the saints upon earth shall begin." Newton's Dissertations on the Prophecies-vol. i. p. 490. And again, vol. iii. p. 410--" According to tradition, these thousand years of the reign of Christ and the saints, will be the seventh millennary of the world; for as God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, so the world, it is argued, will continue six thousand years, and the seventh thousand will be the great sabbatism, or holy rest, to the people of God: One day being with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."-II, Peter, üi, 8.

in them, oppose and overthrow the notion that the world will not come to an end, till it has existed three hundred and sixty thousand years, after the Millennium shall begin.

5. All the ends of such a day of peace and prosperity, of victory, triumph and salvation to the church on earth, and of the so much celebrated reign of Christ with his saints, in this world, will be fully answered in a literal thousand years, so far as it can be learned what they are from scripture; or man can conceive them to be; as much and as fully answered, as they could be in hundreds of thousands of years, or in any supposed length of time..

Satan will be as much defeated, and his kingdom and interest wholly destroyed in the world; the cause of wickedness, and evil men, will be entirely ruined and lost, and they all banished from the earth. The wisdom, power, grace, truth and faithfulness of Christ will have a proper and glorious manifestation, by introducing such a state, and continuing it as long as is most for his glory, and the best good of his church, though it shall continue but a thousand years. The church may have all the reward and enjoyment in that time, that it is proper or desirable that it should have on earth; and it may be wisest and best, then to take it to a more perfect, happy and glorious state in heaven. A thousand years will be time enough for Christ to show what he can do, in bringing good out of evil, and vindicating his cause and church, and triumphing gloriously over all opposition from earth and hell, and filling the world with his powerful presence and kingdom, with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord; with holiness and happiness. There will be full opportunity in this time, to show and demonstrate, from fact and abundant experience, what is the nature, beauty and excellence of Christianity; that it is exactly suited to form the world into a state of love, union and happiness; and that all the preceding evils among mankind have been chiefly owing to ignorance or neglect of Christ,

and the true spirit of Christianity, and opposition to those in life or heart, or both. And this will be time enough to show, that all means are ineffectual to reclaim man from sin; and that this can be effected by nothing but the Spirit of God, poured down in plentiful effusions; and to give a sample and foretaste of the beauty, happiness and glory of the holy society and redeemed church in heaven.

And in this thousand years the work of redemption, and salvation, may be fully accomplished in the utmost extent and glory of it. In this time, in which the world will be soon filled with real Christians, and continue full, by constant propagation, to supply the place of those who will leave the world; there will be many thousands born and live on earth, to each one that had been born and lived in the preceding six thousand years. So that if they who shall be born in that thousand years, shall be all, or most of them, saved, as they will be, there will, on the whole, be many thousands of mankind saved, to one that shall be lost.*

The only end that can be imagined would be answered by protracting this time of the prosperity of the church in this world, is, that greater numbers of mankind might exist, and be saved. But that this is really desirable or best, all things considered, there is not the least evidence. A desire that more of mankind should be saved than will be saved, in a thousand years of the prevalence of holiness and salvation, in all the families of the earth, never could be satisfied: For though three hundred and sixty thousand years should be added, and all should be saved who lived in that time; still, for the same reason that this is desired, it will be equally desirable, and more so, that the time of salvation should be lengthened out yet longer; and so on without end. This reason for making the time longer, that more may be saved, cannot cease; and a desire of more time, on this

*See Bellamy's Sermon on the Millennium.

contains all the events from the time of its sounding, to the end of the world, all the nations and kingdoms in this world shall become one kingdom, under Christ, and shall be wholly swallowed up in this kingdom, which shall not be succeeded or give place to any other kingdom; but shall stand forever. It shall continue the only kingdom on earth to the end of the world, and exist forever in heaven. Which is perfectly agreeable to many other prophecies which have been mentioned. The meaning is not, that this event shall follow immediately upon the sounding of the seventh trumpet: but that this is comprehended in the events of this trumpet, to which all the preceding have respect, and in which they shall issue, as the most important and glorious event, to which all the inhabitants of heaven were attending, and in the prospect of which they had peculiar joy.

The same event is celebrated in heaven, as having actually taken place, in the former part of the nineteenth chapter "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallelujah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth: Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted, that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: For the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he said unto me, Write, Blessed are they who are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God." Here the Lord Jesus Christ is represented as reigning, as he never had done before; which is the same event which is so often predicted in the Psalms, and by the prophets, especially by Daniel, by the Lord's reigning, that is Christ. And which is mentioned and celebrated in the tenth chapter; and in the twentieth chapter: "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, and they lived and reigned with

Christ a thousand years." By the bride having made herself ready, and being arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, is meant the eminent degree of holiness and moral beauty, to which the church will arrive at that day, in the Millennial state. This is represented as taking place upon the fall of Antichrist, and the great whore, the false idolatrous church of Rome. And it succeeds the overthrow of Satan's kingdom in the world, and not only the destruction of the Roman empire under Antichrist, but of all the nations of wicked men ; which is described in the sixteenth chapter, verse seventeenth, &c.

And the same event is again represented in the latter part of the nineteenth chapter, and in the beginning of the twentieth. "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse: And he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war." From the following description it appears, that this person is Jesus Christ, prepared, and going forth to destroy his enemies on earth. And an angel is seen standing in the sun, in the most conspicuous place, calling with a loud voice upon all the fowls of the air to come "to the supper of the great God, to eat the flesh of kings and captains, &c. and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And he saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together, to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army." And the beast and false prophet were destroyed by him; and the remnant of those who joined with the beast and were enemies to Christ, were slain by him. This battle, and the destruction of the enemies of Christ, does not follow in time, and is not to take place after the events mentioned in the first part of this chapter, viz. the joy and praise in heaven, upon the reigning of Christ on earth, and the bride, the Lamb's wife, making herself ready, &c. but is a repeated and more particular representation of what is to precede that happy event, which had been before mentioned in the sixteenth

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