"bunals had condemned to death, are living with God " in heaven."* The Scriptures furnish many examples of a thing being said to happen or to be, when it is discovered and acknowledged. Nor is it a contemptible accession to the glory of the saints, that the grace of God towards them is celebrated by the inhabitants of the earth. LV. Besides the souls of those that were beheaded whom he had seen in heaven, John saw on the earth "those" (observe, it is not the souls of those, but the persons themselves) "who had not worshipped the "beast, nor his image, &c." that is, those who, adhering stedfastly to Christ, determined to have no fellowship with the kingdom of Antichrist. These also "lived," enjoying a blessed peace of conscience, and a rich abundance of spiritual consolation;-" and reign"ed with Christ," victorious over Satan and the world, and partaking of the Redeemer's glorious grace. They thus lived and reigned with Christ, "a thousand years." Not that their lives, as individuals, extended to a thou sand years; for this never was, and never will be the lot of any mortal: but men of that description reigned during many successive ages, till the appointed period. And if you strongly urge their living again, this may be affirmed of these also; for they lived again, inasmuch as under the tyranny of the Beast, that description of men had been lately harassed, oppressed, reduced to a small number, and involved in such difficulties and privations that they scarcely lived or discovered any principle of vitality at all: but now, the face of affairs being changed, their numbers are in * Cœlo vivere, quos forum peremit. 'See 1 Kings viii. 24. Rom. iii. 3, 4. 2 Cor. iv. 7. creased, and breathing a freer air, they move all their members with ease and spirit. Nor ought it to seem harsh and unnatural, that one and the same word is employed to designate the life and reign of souls in heaven, and of others on earth. Those of each class, it is evident, live and reign only where they exist. As heaven is the habitation of those souls whom John saw in a state of separation from their bodies, they must live and reign with Christ in heaven. The earth being the abode of other believers, who are not naked spirits, these must live and reign on earth. In reference to both classes, the life and reign are limited to a thousand years in the sense already explained. And here again we find nothing relative to an anticipated resurrection of confessors and martyrs. LVI. "But the rest of the dead lived not again." "The rest" are those who received not the testimony of Jesus and worshipped the Beast, that is, those who persisted in their infidelity, or instead of sound doctrine embraced the errors of the Antichristian Church. These are certainly to rank amongst the dead, since nothing but death reigns in every kingdom which stands opposed to the kingdom of Christ. And these "lived not again:" they did not become partakers of spiritual life, nor had they any part in the felicity of that blessed state to which the true Church of Christ is advanced at that period. This again is to be understood not so much of particular persons, as of a certain kind of men; and it serves to show, that they who adhere to the Antichristian profession and heresies even when detected and exposed, are utterly excluded from a participation of that felicity which is promised to the Church. Until the thousand years were finished.” Throughout the whole period of time, during which 66 Satan is bound, they still continued under the power of spiritual death. How much more, when Satan is again loosed? LVII. "This is the first resurrection." The resurrection from which the enemies of the kingdom of Christ are excluded, must correspond to their death; and since the one is spiritual, it necessary follows that the other also is spiritual. This appears too, from the addition of the word first. A twofold resurrection is promised to the Church, whose condition John narrates; the one in this world, the other in the world to come. The resurrection in this world is spiritual, and consists in the glorious enlargement of the Church by the successful preaching of the Gospel, and the renovating energy of the Holy Spirit. This is termed the first resurrection, in contradistinction to the other-the second, which is a resurrection of bodies, and relates to the world to come. The first, however, extends to several periods. It includes the first promulgation of the Gospel of the kingdom among Jews and Gentiles, accompanied by the conversion of multitudes; the public renunciation of heathenism in the Roman empire, under Constantine; and the Reformation of the Church by the exposure of the Antichristian system. To this prophecy of a thousand years must also be referred all the favourable changes which are yet to be expected, at whatever seasons the dates of their commencement or termination are to be fixed. It is not our present business, however, to discuss this subject. LVIII. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in "the first resurrection." This expression stands opposed to the false glorying of the followers of the Beast, who, in consequence of the superstitious and idolatrous canonizations of the Pope, honour their partizans with the titles of Saints and Blessed.84 "On such the se "cond death hath no power." They are secured from apostacy, from impenitence, and from the lake of fire "But they shall be priests of God and brimstone. "and of Christ." They shall have free access by faith and hope to the holy places of the sanctuary, and offer sacrifices well-pleasing to God. To explain more fully what remains of the passage, is foreign to our present purpose. Let it now suffice to have shown, what we undertook to demonstrate, that this prophecy contains nothing which obliges us to conclude, that a happy resurrection of bodies is to take place prior to the last day.85 LIX. The consequence of the Resurrection hoped for, is THE LIFE EVERLASTING; which is often the subject of promise in holy writ.m It is mentioned last in order in the Creed, because it is in reality "the end "of our faith," the ultimate object of our hope, the completion of our salvation, and the final issue and consummation of the whole scheme of redemption. LX. The term LIFE doth not here signify the bare existence of the person living; for in that respect even the wicked live, whom, nevertheless, Divine justice has consigned to everlasting death. We are to understand by this expression, a state of the highest felicity. To live is not merely to exist, but to be happy.* In this sense the word is often used in the Scriptures. Thus we read; "Let my lord king David live;" "Your * Non est vivere vita, sed valere. m John iii. 16, 36. Rom. ii. 7. Tit. iii. 7. and elsewhere passim. n 1 Pet. i. 9. 1 Kings i. 31. where the Chaldee Paraphrast says by Let him be happy, Let him prosper. 84 See NOTE LXXXIV. 85 See NOTE LXXXV. "heart shall live for ever;" "The humble shall see "this, and be glad; and your heart shall live, that "seek God."q LXI. This life is called EVERLASTING, in contradistinction to the present animal life. Even from the beginning, animal life was capable of being terminated by death, in the event of the entrance of sin; and after the commission of sin, its termination by death became indispensable. But the life which follows the resurrection, shall have no bound or termination, because all sin will be removed at the utmost distance; because the body itself will be endowed with such qualities as shall repel every kind of corruption; and, in fine, because it will be conferred on man, not as the former life for the probation of his constancy, but as a recompence for well-doing, and as a reward due to the satisfaction which Christ has made in our room. Hence the distinction which the Apostle states betwixt "the life "that now is," and " that which is to come."r LXII. The life everlasting, as it is here mentioned in the Creed, is the life of the whole man, and includes the highest felicity of soul and body inseparably united together. But the nature and extent of this life can neither be conceived by the human mind in the present imperfect state, nor expressed by mortal tongues. "It "doth not yet appear what we shall be." To this subject the following words of Paul are generally accommodated: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nei"ther have entered into the heart of man, the things "which God hath prepared for them that love him." P Ps. xxii. 26. t 1 Cor. ii. 9. 9 Ps. lxix. 32. $ 1 John iii. 2. |