_The true State of the Millennium, according to Characters taken
from Scripture; some Mistakes concerning it examin’d._
We have made sufficient Proof of a millennial State, from Scripture and
Antiquity; and upon that firm Basis have settled our second Proposition.
We should now determine the _Time_ and _Place_ of this future Kingdom of
Christ: not whether it is to be in Heaven, or upon Earth; for that we
suppose determin’d already; but whether it is to be in the present
Earth, and under the present Constitution of Nature, or in the _new
Heavens_, and _new Earth_, which are promis’d after the _Conflagration_:
This is to make our _third Proposition_: And I should have proceeded
immediately to the Examination of it, but that I imagine it will give us
some Light in this Affair, if we enquire farther into the true State of
the _Millennium_, before we determine its Time and Place.
We have already noted some _moral_ Characters of the millennial State;
and the great _natural_ Character of it is this in general, that it will
be _Paradisaical_; free from all Inconveniencies, either of external
Nature, or of our own Bodies. For my part, I do not understand, how
there can be any considerable Degree of Happiness without _Indolency_;
nor how there can be _Indolency_, while we have such Bodies as we have
now, and such an external Constitution of Nature. And as there must be
_Indolency_, where there is Happiness; so there must not be _Indigency_,
or want of any due Comforts of Life: For where there is _Indigency_,
there is Solicitude, and Distraction, and Uneasiness, and Fear; Passions
that do as naturally disquiet the Soul, as Pain does the Body. Therefore
Indolency and Plenty seem to be two essential Ingredients of every happy
State; and these two, in Conjunction, make that State we call
_Paradisaical_.
Now the Scripture seems plainly to exempt the Sons of the _new
Jerusalem_, or of the _Millennium_, from all _Pain_ or _Want_, in those
Words, _Apoc._ xxi. 4. _And God shall wipe away all Tears from their
Eyes: And there shall be no more Death, neither Sorrow, nor crying;
neither shall there be any more Pain: For the former Things are passed
away._ And the Lord of that Kingdom, _He that sat upon the Throne_,
said, _Behold I make all Things new_, ver. 5. This Renovation is a
Restauration to some former State; and I hope, not that State of
Indigency and Misery, and Diseasedness, which we languish under at
present; but to that pristine _Paradisaical_ State, which was the
Blessing of the first Heavens and the first Earth.
As Health and Plenty are the Blessings of Nature; so, in Civil Affairs,
_Peace_ is the greatest Blessing: And this is inseparably annex’d to the
_Millennium_; an indelible Character of the Kingdom of Christ. And by
_Peace_, we understand not only Freedom from Persecution upon religious
Accounts, but that _Nation shall not rise up against Nation_, upon any
Account whatsoever. That bloody Monster, _War_, that hath devoured so
many Millions of the Sons of _Adam_, is now at length to be chain’d up;
and the Furies, that run throughout the Earth, with their Snakes and
Torches, shall be thrown into the Abyss, to sting and prey upon one
another: All evil and mischievous Passions shall be extinguished; and
that not in Men only, but even in brute Creatures, according to the
Prophets. _The Lamb and the Lion shall lie down together, and the
sucking Child shall play with the Basilisk._ Happy Days, when not only
the Temple of _Janus_ shall be shut up for a thousand Years, and the
_Nations shall beat their Swords into Plowshares_; but all Enmities and
Antipathies shall cease, all Acts of Hostility, throughout all Nature.
And this universal Peace is a Demonstration also of the former
Character, _universal Plenty_; for where there is a Want and
Necessitousness, there will be quarrelling.
Fourthly, ’Tis a Kingdom of Righteousness, as well as of Peace: these
also must go together: For unrighteous Persons will not live long in
Peace, no more than indigent Persons. The _Psalmist_ therefore joins
them together; and _Plenty_, also, as their necessary Preservative, in
his Description of the Kingdom of Christ, _Psal._ lxxxv. 10, 11, 12.
_Mercy and Truth are met together: Righteousness and Peace have kissed
each other. Truth shall spring out of the Earth, and Righteousness shall
look down from Heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give good, and our Land shall
yield her Increase._ This will not be a Medley-State, as the present
World is, good and bad mingled together; but _a chosen Generation_, _a
royal Priesthood_, _an holy Nation_, _a peculiar People_. Those that
have a Part in the first Resurrection, the Scripture pronounceth them
_Holy_ and _Blessed_; and says, _The second Death shall have no Power
over them._ Satan is also bound and shut up in the bottomless Pit, and
has no Liberty of tempting or seducing this People, for a thousand
Years: but at the End of that Time, he will meet with a degenerate Crew,
separate and Aliens to the holy City, that will make War against it, and
perish in the Attempt. In a word, those that are to enjoy this State,
are always distinguish’d from the Multitude, as People redeemed from the
Earth, (_Apoc._ v. 9.) that have wash’d their Robes, and made them white
in the Blood of the Lamb; and are represented as Victors over the World;
with such other Characters as are incompatible to any but the Righteous,
_ch._ vii. 14. _ch._ xiv. 3, 4. _ch._ xxi. 27.
Fifthly, This will be a State under a peculiar divine Presence and
Conduct. It is not easy indeed to determine the Manner of this Presence;
but the Scripture plainly implies some extraordinary divine Presence to
enlighten and enliven that State. When the _new Jerusalem_ was come
down, St. _John_ says, _Apoc._ xxi. 3. _And I heard a great voice out of
Heaven, saying, behold the Tabernacle of God is with Men; and he will
dwell with them, and they shall be his People; and God himself shall be
with them, and be their God._ And the like is promis’d to the
Palm-bearing Company, _ch._ vii. 19. where they are admitted to the
Privileges of the _new Jerusalem_. When our Saviour was incarnate, and
vouchsafed to dwell amongst the Children of Men, the same Phrase is us’d
by this same Author, ἐσχήνωσε. _Joh._ i. 14. _The Word was made Flesh,
and tabernacled amongst us; and we beheld his Glory_, &c. We read it,
_He dwelt amongst us_, but render’d more closely, it is, _He_ set his
_Tabernacle amongst us_. And that which the _Hebrews_ call the שכינה
_Shekinah_, or _divine Presence_, _Maimon. Mor. Nev. par._ 1. _c._ 25
comes from a Word of the like Signification and Sound with the _Greek_
Word here us’d. Therefore there will be a _Shekinah_ in that Kingdom of
Christ; but as to the Mode of it, I am very willing to confess my
Ignorance.
The last Character that belongs to this State, or rather to those that
enjoy it, is, that they are _Kings and Priests unto God_. This is a
Character often repeated in Scripture, and therefore the more to be
regarded. It occurs thrice in the _Apocalypse_ in formal Terms, _ch._ i.
6. _ch._ v. 10. _ch._ xx. 6. And as to the Regal Dignity apart, that is
farther exprest, either by the _Donation of a Kingdom_, as in _Daniel_’s
Phrase, _chap._ vii. 18, 22, 27. Or by _placing upon Thrones_, with a
judicial Power; which is the New Testament Style, _Mat._ xix. 28. _Luke_
xxii. 29, 30. _Rev._ xx. 4. These two Titles, no doubt, are intended to
comprehend the highest Honours that we are capable of; these being the
highest Dignities in every Kingdom; and such as were by the Antients,
both in the _East_ and in the _West_, commonly united in one and the
same Person; Their Kings being Priests, like _Melchisedeck_, or, as the
_Roman_ Emperor was, _Pontifex Maximus_. But as to the sacerdotal
Character, that seems chiefly to respect the Temper of the Mind; to
signify a People dedicated to God and his Service, separate from the
World, and from secular Affairs, spending their time in Devotion and
Contemplation, which will be the great Employments of that happy State.
For where there is Ease, Peace, and Plenty of all Things, refin’d
Bodies, and purified Minds, there will be more Inclination to
intellectual Exercises and Entertainments; which they may attend upon,
without any Distraction, having neither Want, Pain, nor worldly
Business.
The Title of _King_ implies a Confluence of all Things that constitute
temporal Happiness. ’Tis the highest thing we can wish any in this
World, to be a King; So as the _Regal_ Dignity seems to comprehend all
the Goods of Fortune, or external Felicity, and the _Sacerdotal_, the
Goods of the Mind, or internal; both which concur in the Constitution of
true Happiness. There is also a further Force and Emphasis in this
Notion _of the Saints being made Kings_, if we consider it
_comparatively_, with respect to what they were before in this World;
where they were not only mean and despicable, in Subjection and
Servility, but often under Persecution, abus’d and trampled upon by the
Secular and Ecclesiastical Powers. But now the Scene is chang’d, and you
see the reverse of Providence, according as _Abraham_ said to the
Rich-Man; _Son, remember that thou in thy Life time receivedst thy good
things, and likewise_ Lazarus _evil things: But now he is comforted, and
thou art tormented._ Now they are set upon Thrones and Tribunals, who
were before arraigned as Criminals, and brought before tyrannical
Judicatures: They are now Laws and Law-givers to themselves, in a true
State of Royal Liberty, neither under the Domination of evil Men, nor of
their own evil Passions.
Some possibly may think, that this high Character of _being made
Priests_ and _Kings to God_, is not general to all that enjoy the
_Millennium_; but a Prerogative belonging to the Apostles and some of
the chief Martyrs, who are eminently rewarded for their eminent
Services. But Scripture as far as I perceive, applies it to all that
inherit that Kingdom. _The redeemed out of every Kindred, and Tongue,
and People, and Nation_, are made _Kings and Priests to God, and shall
reign on the Earth_, Apoc. v. 9, 10, And in the xxth _chap. ver._ 6. all
the Sons of the first Resurrection are made _Priests of God, and shall
reign with him a thousand Years_. Here is no Distinction or
Discrimination thus far: Not that we suppose an unversal Equality of
Conditions in the millennial State; but as to all these Characters which
we have given of it, I do not perceive that they are restrain’d or
confin’d by Scripture to single Persons, but make the general Happiness
of that State, and are the Portion of every one that is admitted into
the _new Jerusalem_.
Others possibly may think that this Privilege of the _first
Resurrection_ is not common to all that enjoy the millennial State. For
tho’ St. _John_, who is the only Person that hath made express mention
of the _first Resurrection_, and of the _thousand Years Reign of_
Christ, does join these two as the same thing, and common to the same
Persons; yet I know there are some that would distinguish them as things
of a different Extent, and also of a different Nature. They suppose the
Martyrs only will rise from the Dead, and will be immediately translated
into Heaven, and there pass their _Millennium_ in celestial Glory; while
the Church is still here below, in her _Millennium_, such as it is: A
State indeed better than ordinary, and free from Persecution, but
obnoxious to all the Inconveniences of our present mortal Life, and a
Medley of good and bad People, without Separation. This is such an Idea
of the _Millennium_, as, to my Eye, hath neither Beauty in it, nor
Foundation in Scripture. That the Citizens of the _new Jerusalem_ are
not a miscellaneous Company, but a Community of righteous Persons, we
have noted before, and that the State of Nature will be better than it
is at present. But, besides this, what Warrant have they for this
Ascension of the Martyrs into Heaven at that Time? Where do we read of
that in Scripture? And in those things that are not Matters of natural
Order, but of divine Oeconomy, we ought to be very careful how we add to
Scripture.
The Scripture speaks only of the Resurrection of the Martyrs, _Apoc._
xx. 45. but not a Word concerning their Ascension into Heaven. Will that
be visible? We read of our Saviour’s Resurrection and Ascension, and
therefore we have Reason to affirm them both. We read also of the
Resurrection and Ascension of the _Witnesses_, (_Apoc._ xi.) in a
figurative Sense; and in that Sense we may assert them upon good
Grounds. But as to the Martyrs, we read of their Resurrection only,
without any thing exprest or imply’d about their Ascension. By what
Authority then shall we add this new Notion to the History or Scheme of
the _Millennium_? The Scripture, on the contrary, makes mention of the
Descent of the _new Jerusalem_, _Apoc._ xxi. 2. making the Earth the
Theatre of all that Affair: And the Camp of the Saints is upon the
Earth, _ver._ 9. and these Saints are the same Persons, so far as can be
collected from the Text, that rose _from the Dead, and reign’d with
Christ_, and were _Priests to God_, _ver._ 4, 5, 6. Neither is there any
Distinction made, that I find, by St. _John_, of two sorts of Saints in
the _Millennium_, the one in Heaven, and the other upon Earth. Lastly,
the four and twenty Elders, _chap._ v. 10. tho’ they were _Kings_ and
_Priests unto God_, were content to reign upon Earth. Now who can you
suppose of a superior Order to these four and twenty Elders? Whether
they represent the twelve Patriarchs and twelve Apostles, or whomsoever
they represent, they are plac’d next to him that sits upon the Throne,
and they have Crowns of Gold upon their Heads, _chap._ iv. 4. _ch._ xi.
16. There can be no Marks of Honour and Dignity greater than these are;
and therefore seeing these highest Dignitaries in the Millennium or
future Kingdom of Christ, are to reign upon Earth, there is no Ground to
suppose the Assumption of any other into Heaven, upon that Account, or
upon that Occasion.
This is a short and general Draught of the millennial State, or future
Reign of the Saints, according to Scripture. Wherein I have endeavour’d
to rectify some Mistakes or Misconceptions about it; that viewing it in
its true Nature, we may be the better able to judge, when and where it
will obtain: which is the next Thing to be consider’d.