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world in these latter days to give the world warning, all those men do gather out of Scripture, that the last day cannot be far off."

Another extract is added from his sermon for the second Sunday in Advent. Having observed again, that the days before the Advent will be shortened, "so that peradventure, (saith he) it may come in my days, old as I am, or in our children's days;" he proceeds: "There will be great alterations at that day; there will be hurly burly, like as ye see when a man dieth, &c. There will be such alterations of the earth and the elements, they will lose their former nature, and be endued with another nature. And then shall they see the Son of Man come in a cloud with power and great glory. Certain it is that he shall come to judge; but we cannot tell the time when he shall come." Then quoting 1 Thess. iv. to shew that the living saints shall be "rapt up into the air, and so meet Christ our Saviour;" he adds, "All those, I say, who be content to strive and fight with sin, these shall in such wise be taken up into the air and meet with Christ, and so shall come down with him again."—"I pray God, that we may be of the number of those, which shall hear this joyful and most comfortable voice of Christ our Saviour, when he will say, Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom which is prepared for you before the foundation of the world was laid."-"That man or that woman that saith these words, Thy kingdom come, with a faithful heart, no doubt desireth in very deed, that God will come to judgment, and amend all things in this world, and put down Satan, that old serpent, under our feet."

The martyr, Bradford, on Rom. viii. expresses the same expectation. "This renovation of all things the prophets do seem to promise, when they promise new heavens and a new earth. For a new earth seemeth to require no less renovation of earthly things, than new heavens do of heavenly things. But these things the apostle doth plainly affirm, that Christ will restore, even whatsoever be in heaven and in earth, (Col. i.) Therefore methinks it is the duty of a godly mind simply to acknowledge, and thereof to boast in the Lord, that in our resurrection all things shall be so repaired to eternity, as for our sin they were made subject to corruption. The ancient writers out of 2 Pet. iii. have as it were agreed to this sentence, that the shape of this world shall pass away, through the burning of earthly fire, as it was drowned with the flowing of earthly waters. These be St. Augustine's words, &c.-Therefore it is the part of a godly man, and of one that hangeth in all things upon the word of God, to learn out of this place, that whatsoever corruption, death or grief, he seeth in any thing,

whatsoever it be, that (I say) he ascribe that wholly unto his sins, and thereby provoke himself to true repentance. Now as soon as that repentance compelleth him to go to Christ, let him think thus: But this my Saviour and my Head, Jesus Christ, died for my sins, and therewith, as he took away death, so hath he taken away all the corruption and labour of all things, and will restore them in his time, wheresoever they be, in heaven or in earth. Now every creature travaileth and groaneth with us; but we being restored, they also shall be restored: there shall be new heavens, new earth, and all things

new.

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Combining the different extracts which have been here given, it will be seen, first, that the Reformers come back decidedly to that important point, the looking for the speedy revelation in glory of the Lord Jesus Christ,—a point of doctrine which we constantly find pressed upon the church in the writings of the apostles, and the postponement of which (by the intervention of an indefinite period of glory in heaven, or by applying to the condition of the believer in the separate state those promises which relate only to the time of the Advent,) has greatly tended to darken the view of the church in regard to prophecy, and to deaden its hope in the resurrection. It will be seen also, that the Reformers do virtually set forth the Millenarian hope in this matter: for if they looked not for a thousand years of glory to the church on a renewed earth, in company with their Saviour, they did certainly expect such a glory for an indefinite period; and they preached it as immediately at hand, and made, (as may be seen from the short extracts given,) a practical heart-stirring use of it.

There is another important tenet which was universally received by Protestants soon after the Reformation: viz., that Antichrist had not disappeared at the accession of Constantine; but on the contrary, that he then only began to be developed, and was manifested in full grown maturity in the papacy, which afterwards sprung up. So general has become the application to the pope, or to the papal system, of the scriptures relative to Antichrist, that it is superfluous to enter into the proof of it: there are few works on prophecy written by Protestants, from the period of Luther's declaring the pope to be Antichrist, which he did in the year 1520, down to the commencement of the present century, which do not thus treat the subject. And this doctrine likewise proved of great practical

* See Richmond's Fathers of the English Church, vol. vi. p. 608.

+ Some few considered Mahomet to be Antichrist. This will be noticed hereafter, when we come to treat more particularly of those features of prophecy, which are in this historical sketch necessarily but slightly touched

upon.

advantage to the Reformers. For they were encouraged to bear up against the abuse and contumely heaped upon them by the Papists, by insisting that Rome was Babylon, and the pope Antichrist, and that God's people were to come out of her; and even at the stake they were supported by the expectation, that he was shortly to be destroyed, and the kingdom of God to be made manifest:* for they coupled-as necessarily it must be coupled-the destruction of Antichrist, with the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven.

Before closing the history of this century, it must be farther observed, (in justification of the statement of Bishop Newton, that pure Millenarian doctrine was likewise revived and entertained at the time of the Reformation;) that it certainly was then revived; but, as it appears to be the common device of Satan, to bring reproach upon a doctrine which he dreads, by inducing some to profess it who walk not orderly, or by urging those who, in other respects are godly, into some extravagance; so, in this instance, the fanatical sect of the Anabaptists, which arose on the continent and quickly spread into England, having embraced millenarian views, but coupled with much error and carnal absurdity, brought the doctrine into great disrepute. It was apparently on this account, that so many stood aloof and alarmed, in regard to the single tenet of the thousand years; whilst in the same articles which accompanied the Catechism drawn up in the reign of Edward VI. and of which mention has been made, one was directly pointed against the Millenarians. But whatever were the circumstances which, in 1553, led to the adoption of this article, only nine years afterwards it was withdrawn, together with two others, which reduced the total number from forty-two to thirty-nine, with scarcely any alteration in the doctrinal matter of those which remain. The withdrawal of this article must have arisen either from the increase of millenarian principles at this time; or at least from the conviction that they were not to be confounded with the extravagances of Cerinthus or of Munzer.t 6. We have seen what the voice of the church was during the sixteenth century, or era of the Reformation:-a voice giving not altogether an uncertain sound, though not so clear and distinct as in the first three centuries of christianity; nor,

* The reader will find some striking testimonies, that the Reformers held the papacy to be Antichrist, in the appendix to Mr. Cuninghame's tract, "The Church of Rome the Apostacy, &c.;" likewise in his "Strictures on the Rev. S. R. Maitland's four pamphlets on prophecy."

+ It does not appear that the arguments or discussion which took place at the time the articles in question were withdrawn, have ever transpired. All we know is, that they were struck out with the red lead pencil used always by Archbishop Parker. See Strype's Annals, c. xxviii. p. 288, and Bennett's History of the thirty-nine Articles.

as it afterwards sounded out at a more advanced period of the Reformation. At the latter end, indeed, of this century, several individuals of eminence are known to us as having professed millenarian sentiments on prophecy; among whom may be named John Piscator, Alphonsus Conrade, Carolus Gallus, Tycho Brahe, Dr. F. Kett, Abraham Fleming, Hugh Broughton, and Anthony Marten. In the seventeenth century, however, there arose a constellation of learned students of prophecy; and, with the careful study of prophecy, millenarian doctrine shone out again once more with clearness and with splendour. The absurdity maintained by Grotius, Prideaux, Whitby, Hammond, and some others, that the Millennium commenced with the conversion of Constantine, was at length fairly driven out of the field and exploded:* so that the whole church has, by means of the flood of light then poured upon prophecy, since become millenarian in the literal sense of the term; there being very few in the present day who do not look forward to a millennium.† A remarkable revolution has indeed been effected in this matter since the era of the Reformation; the anti-millenarians of the present day, being now persons who are ardently looking forward for a period of rest and glory to the church, which is to last a thousand years; whilst they deny the resurrection of the saints to participate in it, the restoration of the Jews, and the appearing of the great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Whereas the anti-millenarians of the former period rejected solely the expectation of the thousand years, but held all the latter tenets. Even such antimillenarians as Bishop Taylor, and Dr. Whitby, who were of a later period, held sentiments which would now be deemed of a millenarian complexion; which has been already shewn in regard to the former; (see page 78,) and may be seen, as respects the latter, by a reference to his Commentary on 2 Tim. iv. 8.1

The essentials, however, of millenarian doctrine were doomed to undergo much opposition, and even persecution, in

* Archbishop Usher, and some few after him, made the Millennium to commence with the period of Christ's first advent; so that Satan, according to them, must have been hound during the period of pagan persecution, and during those days of which St. John says,-"Now are there many Antichrists." From the manner, however, in which Archbishop Usher afterwards concurred in much which was submitted to him by Mede and others, (as may be seen from his communications published in Mede's works,) we must conclude that he afterwards renounced this opinion and became Millenarian.

+ It cannot be said, there are none but what do; except on the principle, that there is no rule without an exception; for there will ever be found individuals, yea, and learned individuals, ready to adopt eccentric or extravagant opinions. Thus Professor Lee, in his recently published work on the Apocalypse, has in our day revived the exploded doctrine of Grotius in regard to the thousand years.

* A reprint of it appears in the Investigator, vol. iv. p. 178.

this century; and some curious facts remain to be recorded, affecting the history of prophecy during this period. The circumstances which principally gave rise to them were, the conduct of those fanatics who were called fifth monarchy men; and the jealousy of the dominant party. The turbulence and extravagance of the former, who were all of them millenarians,* caused many timid persons to shrink from the doctrine altogether; some fearing the reproach of being confounded with them, and others inconsiderately concluding that there was some necessary connexion between millenarianism and sedition: and thus by neglecting the study of prophecy altogether, or by seeking some allegorical (or, as it is improperly termed, some spiritual) meaning for portions of God's word, which were previously understood in their literal sense, they yielded up that very advantage to Satan which he sought. On the other hand, the conduct of the high church party caused this doctrine to be at last maintained principally among the puritans and the dissenters, properly so called; insomuch that to hold millenarian doctrine at all, was at length sufficient to expose a man to the imputation of being a dissenter, and to excite against him the suspicion of disloyalty.

Thus Mede says, in regard to this point, "that papists and episcopal men are loath that we should expect a better time than under them;"-alluding to the millenarian expectation of new heavens and a new earth, wherein should dwell righteousness. On the other hand, Dr. Prideaux, one of the most moderate of the episcopalians, when endeavouring to prove that the thousand years commenced with Constantine, says, "The dissenters here object, &c." by which he means the millenarians. And, again, insisting that the first resurrection, described in Rev. xx., is to be understood figuratively, he says, "Neither do those things move us, which the dissenters object; viz. that souls are here taken synechdochically for souls and bodies united."

Considerable light has recently been thrown upon the sentiments, in this matter, of the majority of the famous Assembly

They were called fifth monarchy men from the circumstance, that they understood that kingdom mentioned by Daniel, as succeeding to the four great monarchies or empires, set forth, first by the colossal image, (Dan. ii. 31-45.) and secondly by the four beasts, (Dan. vii. 17, 18.) of the kingdom of Christ and his saints to be established on earth. In this respect their views were orthodox; for almost all interpreters of prophecy maintain the same opinion. The peculiarity of their views, however, consisted in this; that they expected the destruction of every thing anti-christian, to be effected by the immediate agency of the living saints; and for this purpose, they contended that all power, both civil and military, must necessarily be put into their hands. With truly spiritual and excellent men, such as Tillinghart, who continually exhorted their hearers to patience, such a notion was harmless; but when adopted by the unsanctified fanatic, who was for anticipating the time and seizing the power, it proved itself a mischievous and very troublesome opinion.

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