and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which fat before God on their feats [ufually fuppofed to be the heads of the twelve tribes of Ifrael, and the twelve Apoftles of our Lord, to reprefent the Jewish and the Chriftian Churches] fell upon their faces, and worfhipped God, faying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou haft taken to thee thy great power, and haft reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy fervants the Prophets, and to the faints, and them that fear thy name both small and great; and shouldst destroy them which deftroy the earth. And the Temple of God was opened in heaven, [it had been shut during the reign of the beaft] and there was feen in his temple, the Ark of his Teftament; and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail P.”

A multitude of other paffages might be brought in farther proof of the harmony of the Prophetic writings under both covenants, concerning these days of punishment to the

* Rev. xi. 15-19.

wicked,

wicked, and of triumph to "the faints of the Moft High." Whoever compares the awful threatenings contained in the Prophecies already stated, of fignal vengeance upon the enemies of God and his people, by the power of the Son of Man, vifibly exerted in fuch a manner as to command an univerfal acknowledgment of his divine authority-with Daniel's account of the total deftruction of the Image, and with St. John's defcription of the victory over the Beast and the falfe Prophet, and the kings of the earth which had worshipped the Beast and his image," cannot but be ftruck with the accuracy of the refemblance." Then was the iron, the clay, the brafs, the filver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and become like the chaff of the fummer threshing, floor, and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them, and the ftone became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth 9." “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horfe, and he that fat upon

Daniel ii. 35.

Rev. xix. 11, &c. It is obfervable, that when the firft feal was opened, there appeared" a white horse, and he that fat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer." Rev. vi. 2. Mede, Lowman, and Sir Ifaac Newton, confider this person as reprefenting Jefus Chrift, and this interpretation appears to me moft clearly juft.

典

him was called Faithful and True, and in* righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself: and he was clothed with a vefture dipped in blood; and his name is called, the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he fhould fmite the nations. And he fhall rule (or judge) them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God; and he hath on his vefture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. And I faw an angel ftanding in the fun, and he cried with a loud voice, faying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Còme and gather yourselves together unto the fupper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that fit on them, and the flesh of all men both free and bond, both fmall

解

• See Daubuz's explanation of these terms, p. 55. of this volume.

and

and great. And I faw the beaft, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against him that fat on the horse, and against his army. And the beaft was taken, and with him the falfe Prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that worshipped his image; thefe both were caft alive into a lake of fire burning with brimftone: and the remnant were flain with the fword of him that fat upon the horfe, which fword proceeded out of his mouth. And all the fowls were filled with their flesh. And I faw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold on the dragon, that old ferpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years '."

t

Nor are the gracious promises to his people, both Jews and Gentiles, of fpecial care and protection amidst these tremendous judgments, of fignal deliverance, and of the establishment. of a new kingdom of peace and everlasting happiness under the IMMEDIATE GOVERNMENT OF THE SON OF MAN, lefs accurately stated by thefe Prophecies. And that this kingdom will

Rey, xix, 11–21. XX, I, 2.

be

be established on earth by miraculous proofs of Divine power, and be Supported and increafed by miraculous proofs of Divine favour, till "the time appointed" for the CONSUMMATION of the mighty scheme “laid before the foundations of the world" does, I confefs, appear to me most clearly stated alfo.

The opinion of the earlieft ages of the church upon this fubject is well known. A great number of the primitive Christians believed in a Millennium, though, from various causes, the belief gradually funk into oblivion. Miftaken as they were in their expectations of its near approach, and fanciful as were their conceits refpecting the Millennium itself; the increafing corruptions and fufferings of the Church appeared to obliterate the hope of any fuch ftate from the minds of men; and by degrees Christians were led to look back, inftead of forward, for the fulfilment of a Prophecy which they evidently perceived did not accord with prefent times. But in proportion as Scripture has emerged from the dark ages of ignorance and fuperftition; and the study of the Prophecies has given clearer views of that great fcheme which it has pleased God to reveal by his word, the opinion of a Millennium has feemed to recover ground; though

the