_The third Proposition laid down, concerning the Time and Place of
the_ Millennium: _Several Arguments us’d, to prove, that it cannot
be till after the Conflagration; and that the new Heavens and the
new Earth are the true Seat of the blessed_ Millennium.
We now come to the third and last Head of our Discourse; to determine
the _Time_ and _Place_ of the _Millennium_. And seeing it is
indifferent, whether the Proofs lead or follow the Conclusion, we will
lay down the Conclusion in the first Place, that our Business may be
more in View; and back it with Proofs in the following Part of the
Chapter. Our third and last Proposition therefore is this, _That the
blessed Millennium, Propos. 3._ (properly so called) _according as it is
describ’d in Scripture, cannot obtain in the present Earth, nor under
the present Constitution of Nature and Providence; but it is to be
celebrated in the new Heavens and new Earth, after the Conflagration._
This Proposition it may be, will seem a Paradox or Singularity to many,
even of those that believe a _Millennium_: We will therefore make it the
Business of this Chapter, to state it, and prove it, by such Arguments
as are manifestly founded in Scripture and in Reason.
And to prevent Mistakes, we must premise this in the first Place; that
tho’ the blessed _Millennium_ will not be in this Earth; yet we allow
that the State of the Church here, will grow much better than it is at
present. There will be a better Idea of Christianity, and according to
the Prophecies, a full _Resurrection of the Witnesses_, and an
_Ascension_ into Power, and the tenth Part of the City will fall; which
things imply ease from Persecution, the Conversion of some Part of the
Christian World to the reformed Faith, and a considerable Diminution of
the Power of Antichrist. But this still comes short of the Happiness and
Glory wherein the future Kingdom of Christ is represented; which cannot
come to pass till the _Man of Sin_ be destroyed, with a total
Destruction. After the Resurrection of the Witnesses, there is a third
_WOE_ yet to come; and how long that will last, does not appear. If it
bear proportion with the preceeding _WOES_, it may last some hundreds of
Years. And we cannot imagine the _Millennium_ to begin till that _WOE_
be finished: As neither till the _Vials_ be pour’d out, in the xvth
_chap._ which cannot be all pour’d out till after the Resurrection of
the Witnesses; those _Vials_ being the last Plagues that compleat the
Destruction of Antichrist. Wherefore allowing that the Church, upon the
Resurrection and Ascension of the Witnesses, will be advanc’d into a
better Condition, yet that Condition cannot be the millennial State;
where the Beast is utterly destroy’d, and Satan bound, and cast into the
bottomless Pit.
This being premis’d, let us now examine what Grounds there are for the
Translation of that blessed State into the _new Heavens_ and _new
Earth_; seeing that Thought, it may be, to many Persons, will appear new
and extraordinary. In the first Place, we suppose it out of Dispute,
that there will be _new Heavens_ and a _new Earth_ after the
Conflagration. This was our first Proposition, and we depend upon it, as
sufficiently prov’d both from Scripture and Antiquity. This being
admitted, how will you flock this _new Earth_? What use will you put it
to? ’Twill be a much nobler Earth, and better built than the present;
and ’tis a pity it should only float about, empty and useless in the
wild Air. If you will not make it the Seat and Habitation of the Just in
the blessed _Millennium_, what will you make it? How will it turn to
Account? What hath Providence design’d it for? We must not suppose new
Worlds made without Counsel or Design. And as, on the one Hand, you
cannot tell what to do with this new Creation, if it be not thus
employ’d; so, on the other Hand, it is every way fitted and suited to be
an happy and _paradisaical_ Habitation, and answers all the natural
Characters of the millennial State; which is a great Presumption that it
is design’d for it.
But to argue this more closely upon Scripture-grounds: St. _Peter_ says,
the Righteous shall inhabit the new Heavens and the new Earth: 2 _Pet._
iii. 13. _Nevertheless, according to his Promise, we look for new
Heavens and new Earth_, WHEREIN DWELLETH RIGHTEOUSNESS: that is, a
righteous People, as we have shewn before. But who are these righteous
People? That’s the great Question. If you compare St. _Peter_’s new
Heavens and new Earth with St. _John_’s _Apoc._ xxi. 1, 2. it will go
far towards the Resolution of this Question: For St. _John_ seems
plainly to make the Inhabitants of the _new Jerusalem_ to be in this
_new Earth_. _I saw_, says he, _new Heavens and a new Earth_, and the
_new Jerusalem descending from God out of Heaven_; therefore descending
into this _new Earth_, which he had mention’d immediately before. And
there _the Tabernacle of God was with Men_, _ver._ 3. and there he that
sat upon the Throne, said, _Behold I make all Things new._ Referring
still to the new Heavens and new Earth, as the Theatre where all these
Things are acted, or all these Scenes exhibited; from the first Verse to
the eighth: Now the _new Jerusalem_ State being the same with the
Millennial, if the one be in the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_, the
other is there also. And this Interpretation of St. _John_’s Word is
confirm’d and fully assur’d to us by the Prophet _Isaiah_; who also
placeth the Joy and Rejoicing of the _new Jerusalem_ in the new Heavens
and new Earth, Chap. lxv. 17, 18. _For behold I create new Heavens and a
new Earth; and the former shall not be remembred: but be you glad and
rejoice for ever in that which I create; for behold, I create_ Jerusalem
_a Rejoicing, and her People a Joy_: Namely, in that new Heavens and new
Earth; which answers to St. _John_’s Vision of the new _Jerusalem_ being
let down upon the new Earth.
To these Reasons, and Deductions from Scripture, we might add the
Testimony of several of the Fathers; I mean of those that were
Millennaries: For we are speaking now to such as believe the
_Millennium_, but place it in the present Earth before the Renovation;
whereas the antient _Millennaries_ suppos’d the Regeneration and
Renovation of the World before the Kingdom of Christ came: As you may
see in [1]_Irenæus_, [2]_Justin Martyr_, [3]_Tertullian_,
[4]_Lactantius_, and [5]the Author _ad Orthodoxos_. And the Neglect of
this, I look upon as one Reason, as we noted before, that brought that
Doctrine into Discredit and Decay. For when they plac’d the Kingdom of
the Saints upon this Earth, it became more capable of being abus’d, by
fanatical Spirits, to the Disturbance of the World, and the Invasion of
the Rights of the Magistrates, Civil or Ecclesiastical, under that
Notion of Saints; and made them also dream of sensual Pleasures, such as
they see in this Life: Or at least gave an Occasion and Opportunity to
those, that had a Mind to make the Doctrine odious, of charging it with
these Consequences. All these Abuses are cut off, and these Scandals
prevented, by placing the Millennium aright: Namely, not in this present
Life, or on this present Earth, but in the new Creation, where Peace and
Righteousness will dwell. And this is our first Argument why we place
the Millennium in the new Heavens and new Earth; and ’tis taken partly,
you see, from the Reason of the Thing itself, the Difficulty of
assigning any other use of the new Earth, and its fitness for this; and
partly from Scripture-evidence, and partly from Antiquity.
The second Argument for our Opinion, is this; the present Constitution
of Nature will not bear that Happiness, that is promis’d in the
Millennium, or is not consistent with it. The Diseases of our Bodies,
the Disorders of our Passions, the Incommodiousness of external Nature;
Indigency, Servility, and the Unpeaceableness of the World; these are
things inconsistent with the Happiness that is promis’d in the Kingdom
of Christ. But these are constant Attendants upon this Life, and
inseparable from the present State of Nature. Suppose the Millennium was
to begin nine or ten Years hence, as some pretend it will; how shall
this World, all of a sudden, be metamorphos’d into that happy State?
_Apoc._ xxi. 4. No more _Sorrow, nor crying, nor Pain, nor Death_, says
St. _John_: _All former Things are past away._ But how past away? Shall
we not have the same Bodies; and the same external Nature; and the same
Corruptions of the Air; and the same Excesses and Intemperature of
Seasons? Will there not be the same Barrenness of the Ground, the same
Number of People to be fed; and must they not get their living by the
Sweat of their Brows, with servile Labour and Drudgery? How then are all
former Evils past away? And as to publick Affairs, while there are the
same Necessities of human Life, and a Distinction of Nations, those
Nations sometimes will have contrary Interests, will clash and interfere
one with another; whence Differences, and Contests, and Wars will arise,
and the _thousand Years Truce_, I am afraid, will be often broken. We
might add also, that if our Bodies be not chang’d, we shall be subject
to the same Appetites, and the same Passions; and upon those Vices will
grow, as bad Fruit upon a bad Tree: To conclude, so long as our Bodies
are the same, external Nature the same, the Necessities of human Life
the same; which things are the Roots of Evil; you may call it a
_Millennium_, or what you please, but there will be still Diseases,
Vices, Wars, Tears and Cries, Pain and Sorrow in this _Millennium_; and
if so, ’tis a _Millennium_ of your own making, for that which the
Prophets describe, is quite another thing.
Farthermore, if you suppose the Millennium will be upon this Earth, and
begin, it may be, ten or twenty Years hence, how will it be introduc’d?
How shall we know when we are in it, or when we enter upon it? If we
continue the same, and all Nature continue the same, we shall not
discern when we slip into the Millennium. And as to the moral State of
it, shall we all, on a sudden, _become Kings and Priests to God_?
Wherein will that Change consist, and how will it be wrought? St. _John_
makes the _first Resurrection_ introduce the Millennium; and that’s a
conspicuous Mark and Boundary: But as to the modern or vulgar
Millennium, I know not how ’tis usher’d in. Whether they suppose a
visible Resurrection of the Martyrs, and a visible Ascension; and that
to be a Signal to all the World that the Jubilee is beginning; or
whether ’tis gradual, and creeps upon us insensibly; or the Fall of the
Beast marks it: These things need both Explication and Proof: for to me
they seem either arbitrary or unintelligible.
But to pursue our Design and Subject: That which gives me the greatest
Scandal in this Doctrine of the vulgar Millennium, is their joining
Things together that are really inconsistent; a natural World of one
Colour, and a moral World of another. They will make us happy in spight
of Nature; as the _Stoicks_ would make a Man happy in _Phalaris his
Bull_; so must the Saints be in full Bliss in the Millennium, tho’ they
be under a Fit of the Gout, or the Stone. For my part, I could never
reconcile Pain to Happiness; it seems to me to destroy and drown all
Pleasure, as a loud Noise does a still Voice: It affects the Nerves with
Violence, and over-bears all other Motions. But if, according to this
modern Supposition, they have the same Bodies, and breath the same Air
in the Millennium, as we do now, there will be both private and
epidemical Distempers, in the same Manner as now. Suppose then a Plague
comes and sweeps away half an hundred thousand Saints in the Millennium,
is this no Prejudice or Dishonour to the State? Or a War makes a Nation
desolate; or, in single Persons, a lingring Disease makes Life a
Burthen; or a burning Fever, or a violent Cholick tortures them to
Death; where such Evils as these reign, christen the thing what you
will, it can be no better than a Mock-Millennium. Nor shall I ever be
persuaded that such a State as our present Life, where an aking Tooth,
or an aking Head, does so discompose the Soul, as to make her unfit for
Business, Study, Devotion, or any useful Employment; and that all the
Powers of the Mind, all its Virtue, and all its Wisdom, are not able to
stop these little Motions, or to support them with Tranquillity: I can
never persuade my self, I say, that such a State was design’d by God or
Nature, for a State of Happiness.
Our third Argument is this; the future Kingdom of Christ will not take
place, till the Kingdom of Antichrist be wholly destroy’d: But that will
not be wholly destroy’d till the End of the World, and the appearing of
our Saviour; therefore the Millennium will not be till then. Christ and
Antichrist cannot reign upon Earth together; their Kingdoms are
opposite, as Light and Darkness: Besides, the Kingdom of Christ is
universal, extends to all the Nations, and leaves no room for other
Kingdoms at that time. Thus it is describ’d in _Daniel_, in the Place
mention’d before, _chap._ vii. 13, 14. _I saw in the Night Visions, and
behold, one like the Son of Man, came with the Clouds of Heaven, and
came to the Ancient of Days; and there was given him Dominion and Glory,
and a Kingdom; that all People, Nations, and Languages, should serve
him._ And again ver. 27. _And the Kingdom and Dominion, and the
Greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven, shall be given to the
People of the Saints of the most High; whose Kingdom is an everlasting
Kingdom, and all Dominion shall serve and obey him._ The same Character
of Universality is given to the Kingdom of Christ by _David_, _Psal._
ii. and _Psal._ lxxii. _Isaiah_ ii. 2. and other Prophets. But the most
direct Proof of this, is from the _Apocalypse_, where the _Beast_ and
_false Prophet_ are thrown into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, (_chap._
xix. 20.) before the Millennium comes on, _chap._ xx. This, _being cast
into a Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone_, must needs signify utter
Destruction: Not a Diminution of Power only, but a total Perdition and
Consumption. And that this was before the Millennium, of the Beast and
false Prophets being in the Lake of Fire, as of a Thing past, and
formerly transacted. For when Satan, at length, is thrown into the same
Lake ’tis said, he is thrown into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, _where
the Beast and the false Prophets are_, Apoc. xx. 10. They were there
before, it seems; namely, at the beginning of the Millennium; and now at
the Conclusion of it, the Devil is thrown in to them: Besides, the
Ligation of Satan proves this Point effectually; for so long as
Antichrist reigns, Satan cannot be said to be bound; but he is bound at
the Beginning of the Millennium, therefore Antichrist’s Reign was then
totally expir’d. Lastly, the Destruction of _Babylon_, and the
Destruction of Antichrist go together; but you see _Babylon_ utterly and
finally destroy’d, (_Apoc._ xviii. and xix.) before the Millennium comes
on: I say, _utterly and finally destroy’d_. For she is not only said to
be made an utter Desolation, but to be consum’d by Fire; and absorpt as
a Millstone thrown into the Sea; and that he shall be found no more at
all, _chap._ xviii. 21. Nothing can express a total and universal
Destruction more effectually, or more emphatically. And this is before
the Millennium begins; as you may see both by the Order of the
Prophesies, and particularly, in that upon this Destruction, the
_Hallelujah_’s are sung, _ch._ xix. and concluded thus, _ver._ 6, 7.
_Hallelujah, for the 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 her self ready._ This, I suppose, every one
allows to be the millennial State, which now approaches, and is making
ready, upon the Destruction of _Babylon_.
Thus much for the first Part of our Argument, that the Kingdom of Christ
will not take place, till the Kingdom of Antichrist be wholly destroy’d.
We are now to prove the second Part, that the Kingdom of Antichrist will
not be wholly destroy’d till the End of the World, and the coming of our
Saviour. This, one would think, is sufficiently prov’d from St. _Paul_’s
Words alone, _2 Thess._ ii. 8. _The Lord shall consume the Man of Sin_,
who is suppos’d the same with Antichrist, _with the Spirit of his Mouth,
and shall destroy him with the Brightness of his coming_. He will not
then be destroyed before the coming of our Saviour; and that will not be
till the End of the World. For St. _Peter_ says, _Acts_ iii. 21. _The
Heaven must receive him_, speaking of Christ, _until the Times of
Restitution of all things_; that is, the Renovation of the World. And if
we consider that our Saviour’s coming will be in _Flames of Fire_, as
the same Apostle St. _Paul_ tells us, _2 Thess._ i. 7, 8. ’tis plain,
that his coming will not be till the Conflagration; in which last Flames
Antichrist will be universally destroy’d. This Manner of Destruction
agrees also with the _Apocalypse_ and with _Daniel_, and the Prophets of
the Old Testament. As to the _Apocalypse_, _Babylon_, the Seat of
Antichrist, is represented there as destroy’d by Fire, _ch._ xviii. 8,
18. _ch._ xiv. 11. _ch._ xix. 3, 20. And in _Daniel_, when the Beast is
destroy’d, _ch._ vii. 11. _His Body was given to the burning Flame._
Then as to the other Prophets, they do not, you know, speak of
Antichrist or the Beast in Terms, but under the Types of _Babylon_,
_Tyre_, and such-like; and these Places or Princes are represented by
them as to be destroy’d by Fire, _Isa._ xiii. 19. _Jer._ ii. 25. _Ezek._
xxviii. 18.
So much for this third Argument; the fourth Argument is this; the future
Kingdom of Christ will not be till the Day of Judgment and the
Resurrection; but that will not be till the End of the World: Therefore,
neither the Kingdom of Christ. By the Day of Judgment here, I do not
mean the final and universal Judgment; nor by the Resurrection, the
final and universal Resurrection; for these will not be till after the
Millennium. But we understand here the first Day of Judgment and the
first Resurrection, which will be at the End of this present World;
according as St. _John_ does distinguish them, in the xxth _chap._ of
the _Apocalypse_. Now that the Millennium will not be till the Day of
Judgment in this Sense, we have both the Testimonies of _Daniel_ and of
St. _John_. _Daniel_, in _chap._ vii. _ver._ 9, _&c._ _ver._ 26, _&c._
supposes the Beast to rule _till Judgment shall sit_, and then _they
shall take away his Dominion_, and it shall be given to the People of
the Saints of the most High. St. _John_ makes an explicit Declaration of
both these, in his xxth _chap._ of the _Apocalypse_, which is the great
Directory in this point of the Millennium; he says there were Thrones
set, as for a Judicature, _ver._ 4. Then there was a Resurrection from
the Dead, and those that rise, reigned with Christ a thousand Years:
Here’s a judicial Session, a Resurrection, and the Reign of Christ
joined together. There is also another Passage in St. _John_ that joins
the Judgment of the Dead with the Kingdom of Christ; ’tis in the xith
Chapter, under the seventh Trumpet; the Words are these, ver. 15. _And
the seventh Angel sounded, and there were great Voices in Heaven,
saying, the Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord
and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever, And the four
and twenty Elders, &c. 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 Servants the Prophets, and to the
Saints, and them that fear thy Name._ Here are two things plainly
express’d and link’d together, _The judging of the Dead_, and the
_Kingdom of Christ_; wherein the Prophets and Saints are rewarded. Now
as the _judging of the Dead_ is not in this Life, so neither is the
Reward of the Prophets and Saints in this Life; as we are taught
sufficiently in the Gospel, and by the Apostles, _Mat._ xix. 28. _1
Thess._ i. 7. 2 _Tim._ iv. 8. 1 _Pet._ i. 7. and _ch._ v. 4. Therefore
the Reign and Kingdom of Christ, which is joined with these two, cannot
be in this Life, or before the End of the World: And as a farther
Testimony and Confirmation of this, we may observe that St. _Paul_ to
_Timothy_ hath joined together these three things; the _Appearance of
Christ_, the _Reign of Christ_, and the _judging of the Dead. I charge
thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the
quick and the dead, at his appearing, and his Kingdom_, 2 Tim. iv. 1.
This might also be prov’d from the Order, Extent and Progress of the
Prophesies of the _Apocalypse_; whereof some are such as reach to the
End of the World, and yet must be accomplish’d before the Millennium
begins, as the Vials. Others are so far already advanc’d towards the End
of the World, as to leave no room for a thousand Years Reign; as the
Trumpets. But because every one hath his own Interpretation of these
Prophesies, and it would be tedious here to prove any single Hypothesis
in Contradistinction to all the rest, we will therefore leave this
Remark, to have more or less Effect, according to the Minds it falls
upon; and proceed to our fifth Argument.
Fifthly, The _new Jerusalem_ State is the same with the millennial
State; but the _new Jerusalem_ State will not be till the End of the
World, or till after the Conflagration; therefore neither the
Millennium: That the _new Jerusalem_ State is the same with the
Millennium, is agreed upon, I think, by all Millennaries, ancient and
modern: _Justin Martyr_, _Irenæus_ and _Tertullian_, speak of it in that
Sense; and so do the latter Authors, so far as I have observed. And St.
_John_ seems to give them good Authority for it; in the xxth _chap._ of
the _Apocalypse_, he says, the _Camp of the Saints_, and _the beloved
City_ were besieg’d by Satan and his gigantick Crew at the End of the
Millennium: That _beloved City_ is the _new Jerusalem_, and you see it
is the same with the Camp of the Saints, or, at least, contemporary with
it. Besides, the Marriage of the Lamb was in, or at the Appearance of
the _new Jerusalem_, for that was the _Spouse of the Lamb_, Apoc. xxi.
2. Now this Spouse was ready, and this Marriage was said to be come, at
the Destruction of _Babylon_, which was the Beginning of the Millennium,
_chap._ xviii. 7. Therefore the _new Jerusalem_ run all along with the
Millennium, and was indeed the same thing under another Name. Lastly,
what is this _new Jerusalem_, if it be not the same with the millennial
State? It is promis’d a Reward to the Sufferers for Christ _Apoc._ iii.
12. and you see its wonderful Privileges, _chap._ xxi. 3, 4. and yet it
is not Heaven and eternal Life; for it is said to come down from God out
of Heaven, _ch._ xxi. 2. and _ch._ iii. 12. It can therefore be nothing
but the glorious Kingdom of Christ upon Earth, where the Saints shall
reign with him a thousand Years.
Now as to the second Part of our Argument, that the _new Jerusalem_ will
not come down from Heaven till the End of the World; of this St. _John_
seems to give us a plain Proof or Demonstration; for he places the _new
Jerusalem_ in the _new Heaven_ and _new Earth_, which cannot be till
after the Conflagration. Let us hear his Words, _Apoc._ xxi. 1, 2. _And
I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth, for the first Heaven and the first
Earth were passed away, and there was no more Sea. And I John saw the
holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven; prepared
as a Bride adorned for her Husband._ When the new Earth was made, he
sees the _new Jerusalem_ coming down upon it; and this Renovation of the
Earth not being till the Conflagration, the _new Jerusalem_ could not be
till then neither. The Prophet _Isaiah_ had long before said the same
thing, though not in terms so express; he first says, _Behold I create
new Heavens and a new Earth, wherein you shall rejoice_: Then subjoins
immediately, _Behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing_, Isa. lxv. 17, 18.
This rejoicing is still in the same Place; in the _new Heavens_ and _new
Earth_, or in the _new Jerusalem_. And St. _John_, in a like Method,
first sets down the _new Earth_, then the _new Jerusalem_; and expresses
the Mind of the Prophet _Isaiah_ more distinctly.
This leads me to a sixth Argument to confirm our Conclusion: The Time of
the _Restitution_ or _Restauration of all Things_, spoken of by St.
_Peter_ and the Prophets, is the same with the Millennium; but that
Restauration will not be till the coming of Christ, and the End of the
World; therefore neither the Millennium. That this Restitution of all
things will not be till the coming of our Saviour, St. _Peter_ declares
in his Sermon, _Acts_ iii. 21. and that the coming of our Saviour will
not be till the End of the World, or till the Conflagration, both St.
_Paul_ and St. _Peter_ signify to us, _1 Thess._ i. 7, 8. _2 Pet._ iii.
10. therefore it remains only to prove, that this Restitution of all
Things spoken of here by the Apostle, is the same with the Millennium. I
know that which it does directly and immediately signify, is the
Renovation of the World: but it must include the moral World as well as
the Natural; otherwise it cannot be truly said, as St. _Peter_ does
there, that all the Prophets have spoken of it. And what is the
Renovation of the natural and moral World, but the _new Jerusalem_ or
the _Millennium_?
These Arguments, taken together, have, to me, an irresistible Evidence
for the Proof of our Conclusion; that the blessed Millennium cannot
obtain in the present Earth, or before the Conflagration; but when
Nature is renew’d, and the Saints and Martyrs rais’d from the Dead, then
they shall reign together with Christ, in the _new Heavens_ and _new
Earth_, or in the _new Jerusalem_; Satan being bound for a thousand
Years.
Footnote 1:
_Lib. 5. ch. 32, &c._
Footnote 2:
Dial. _cum_ Tryph.
Footnote 3:
_Contra Marc._
Footnote 4:
_Lib. 7._
Footnote 5:
_Quest. & respon. 93._