remain in this state six ages, that is six thousand years.' And again, because, having finished the work, he rested on the seventh day, and blessed it; it is necessary, at the end of the six thousandth year, all wickedness should be abolished out of the earth, and justice should reign for a thousand years; he saith, when the Son of God shall have destroyed injustice, and shall have restored the just to life, he shall be conversant among men a thousand years, and shall rule them with most just government. At the same time the prince of devils shall be bound with chains, and shall be in custody the thousand years of the heavenly kingdom, while justice shall reign in the world, lest he should attempt any evil against the people of God. He saith, when the thousand years of the kingdom, that is seven thousand years, shall draw towards a conclusion, Satan shall be loosed again, and when the thousand years shall be completed, then shall be that public resurrection of all, wherein the unjust shall be raised to everlasting torments. And having enlarged upon these topics, he concludes, This is the doctrine of the holy prophets, which we Christians follow; this is our wisdom.' In short, the doctrine of the millennium was generally believed in the three first and purest ages; and this belief, as the learned Dodwell has justly observed, was one principal cause of the fortitude of the primitive Christians; they even coveted martyrdom, in hopes of being partakers of the privileges and glories of the martyrs of the first resurrection.

9. "After the expiration of the thousand years, Rev. 20: 7-10, the restraint shall be taken off from wickedness, and for a little season,' as it is said before, ver. 3, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and make one effort more to establish his kingdom.

46

'The nations whom he shall deceive are distinguished by the name of 'Gog and Magog,' and are said to be as numerous as the sand of the sea. Gog and Magog' seem to

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have been formerly the general name of the northern nations of Europe and Asia, as the Scythians have been since, and the Tartars are at present. In Ezekiel, there is a famous prophecy concerning Gog and Magog, and this prophecy alludes to that in many particulars. Both that of Ezekiel and that of St. John remain yet to be fulfilled; and therefore we cannot be absolutely certain that they may not both relate to the same event, but it appears more probable that they relate to different events. The one is expected to take effect before, but the other will not take effect till after the millennium. Gog and Magog, in Ezekiel, are said expressly, 38: 6, 15. 39: 2, to come from the north quarters and the north parts; but in St. John, they come from the four quarters, or corners of the earth. Gog and Magog, in Ezekiel, bend their forces against the Jews re-settled in their own land; but, in St. John, they march up against the saints and church of God in general. Gog and Magog, in Ezekiel, are with very good reason supposed to be Turks; but the Turks are the authors of the second wo, and the second wo, chap. 11: 14, is passed before the third wo, and the third wo long precedes the time here treated of. Ezekiel's prophecy apparently coincides with the latter part of the eleventh chapter of Daniel, and presignifies the destruction of the Ottoman empire, which includes Gomer and many European, as well as Ethiopia, Lybia, and other nations, If Gog and Magog, in St. John, are the same with those in Ezekiel, then we must suppose the Ottoman empire to subsist throughout the millennium, which can hardly be believ ed, as it can hardly be reconciled with other prophecies. It may therefore be concluded that Gog and Magog, as well as Sodom, and Egypt, and Babylon, are mystic names in this book; and the last enemies of the Christian church are so denominated, because Gog and Magog appear to be the last enemies of the Jewish nation. Who they shall be we cannot pretend to say, with the least degree of certainty.

Wherever they shall be, they shall come up from the four corners of the earth, on the breadth of the earth, and shall compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, the new Jerusalem, with the saints encamped around it, as the Israelites encamped around the tabernacle in the wilderness, But they shall not succeed and prosper in their attempts; they shall not be able to hurt the church and city of God, but shall be destroyed in an extraordinary manner by fire from heaven; and the devil himself, the promoter and leader of this new apostacy and rebellion against God and his Christ, shall not only be confined as before, but he shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where he shall be punished, together with the beast and the false prophet, who were cast in before him, and shall be tormented day and night, for ever and ever.

"After this last conflict, and the final defeat of Satan, then follows the resurrection and judgment." Rev. 20: 11-15.

In his recapitulation of the prophecies relating to Popery, the Bishop says, "Sobriety and modesty are required in the interpretations of all prophecies, and especially in the explication of things yet future. Only this much it may be proper to premise, that having seen so many of the prophecies fulfilled, you have the less reason to doubt of the completion of those which are to follow.

§ 10. "According to the method and order wherein St. John hath arranged these events, they must happen before the end of the second wo, or the fall of the Ottoman empire. Ezekiel, 28 and 29, and Daniel, 11: 44, 45, have given some intimation that the Ottoman empire shall be overthrown, in opposing the settlement of Israel in their own land, in the latter days. In the conclusion of the book of Daniel there are also some intimations that the religion of Mohammed shall prevail in the east for as long a period of time as the tyranny of the little horn in the west. Very remarkable too it is, that Mohammed first contrived his imposture in the year 606,

the very same year wherein the tyrant Phocas made a grant of the supremacy to the Pope; and this might incline one to think that the 1260 years of the reign of Antichrist are to be dated from this time. But though they might rise together, yet they were not fully established together. The authority of Mohammed might be fully established in the 7th century; but that of the Pope was not till the eighth century; and therefore as the one was established somewhat sooner, so it may also be subverted somewhat sooner than the other. The Pope, indeed, was established supreme in spirituals in the seventh century, but he became not a temporal horn or beast till the eighth century.

§ 11. "About the time of the fall of the Ottoman empire, and of the Christian Antichrist, the Jews shall turn to the Lord and be restored to their own land. Innumerable are the prophecies concerning the conversion and restoration of the people. See Hosea, 3: 45. Ezek. 38: 21, 25. 39: 28, 29. Rom. 11: 25. Now these and like predictions, we suppose, will take effect, and this great revolution be accomplished about the time of the fall of the Ottoman empire and of the Christian Antichrist. Ezekiel's Gog and Magog, 38:39, we believe to be the Turks or Ottomans, and they shall come up against the children of Israel in the latter days, to oppose their resettlement in their own land; and they shall fall in some extraordinary manner upon the mountains, they and the people that are with them: so the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. Daniel too, 11: 45. 12: 1, predicts the fall of the king of the north upon the glorious mountain and at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth for the children of Israel. The restoration of the Jews and the fall of Antichrist shall also happen about the same time. In consequence of, and conformity to this doctrine, a tradition hath prevailed among

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the Jews, that the destruction of Rome and the redemption of Israel shall fall out about the same time.

§ 12. "When these great events, I say, shall come to pass, then shall the kingdom of Christ commence, or the reign of the saints upon earth. So Daniel expressly informs us, that the kingdom of Christ and the saints will be raised upon the ruins of the kingdom of Antichrist. 7:26, 27. So likewise St. John saith, that upon the final destruction of the beast and the false prophet, Rev. 20, Satan is bound for a thousand years. It is, I conceive, to these great events, the fall of Antichrist, the re-establishment of the Jews, and the beginning of the glorious millennium, that the three different dates of twelve hundred and sixty years, twelve hundred and ninety years, and thirteen hundred and thirty-five years, are to be referred and as Daniel saith, 12: 12, 'Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the 1335 years.' So St. John saith, 'Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.' Blessed and happy indeed will be this period; and it is very observable that the martyrs and professors of Jesus in popish, as well as in pagan times, will be raised to partake of this felicity. Then shall all those gracious promises in the Old Testament be fulfilled, of the amplitude and extent of the peace and prosperity of the glory and happiness of the church in the latter days. Then, in the full sense of the words. Rev, 11: 15, 'shall the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. According to tradition, these thousand years of the reign of Christ and the saints will be the seventh millenary 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, 2 Pet. 3:8, being with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.'