Eclectical Chiliasm OR A DISCOURSE Concerning the State of THINGS FROM THE Beginning of the MILLENNIUM To the end of the WORLD LONDON Printed for the Author and Sold by C. Brome at the Gun at the West End of St. Pauls Church-yard 1700. TO Sir Thomas Barnardidiston Baronet THIS Discourse is humbly Dedicated by T. F. TO THE READER I Have here attempted an Exposition of the Prophetick Visions contained in the Twentieth and One and Twentieth Chapters of the Revelation A Book which on pretence of its Mysteriousness is too much neglected This as well as the rest of the Bible was undoubtedly Written for our Learning and to encourage our Industry and Study a Blessing is promised to them that Read and Hear and Keep the Words of this Prophecy and the things which are Written therein Chap. 1. 3. which supposeth that the Knowledge of these Mysteries is attainable I am far from pretending to understand all the Visions of this Obscure and Mysterious Book Nay I dare not boast of an intimate and thorough Acquaintance with those I have undertaken to explain Yet I hope I am not a perfect Stranger to them nor wholly mistaken in the meaning of any One Vision I know they are differently interpreted by the Learned Hammond Grotius and other Modern Expositors But their way of interpreting has been solidly evinced to be none of the best by the Learned Author of the Mystery of Godliness so that my hopes are not much shaken with the Authority of these great Men. As to what concerns the Subject of the following Discourse the Millennium is by them made to begin at Constantine which is sufficiently confuted by the State of things from that Epocha to the end of the Thousand Years And consequently all Interpretations pursuant to that Hypothesis fall to the ground Besides how unsatisfactory is their Exposition of Gog and Magog and what little affinity between the Vision and the Event that is applied to it For Gog and Magog come from the Four Quarters of the Earth and perish in their attempt against the Camp of the Saints and the beloved City But the Turks came only from the North Parts succeeded in their Enterprize against the Christians took Constantinople and have been in Possession of it very near Two Hundred and Fifty Years But I decline this invidious Argument and for the Readers better satisfaction shall acquaint him with the grounds on which I proceed The Hypothesis to which my Interpretation is framed is that of the Learned Mr. Mede which has been fully vindicated by Dr. Hen. More in his Book even now mentioned The Visions I dispose agreeably to the Order of Time in which they are fulfilled And having framed my Exposition according to the most obvious sense of the words I consider whether the supposed Event hath been foretold by any Prophetick Writer And upon Enquiry I find a most wonderful agreement between these Visions and several Prophecies in the Old Testament And if any of them seem to relate to things already past and to have received their accomplishment this doth not hinder the accommodation of them to the Millennial Reign For the same Prophecy may very well respect different and far distant events of which several Instances might be given But I am perswaded most of these Prophecies were never yet fulfill'd particularly those concerning the peaceable State of Christ's Kingdom the Return and Incorporation of the Twelve Tribes the Army of Gog and that we are yet to expect the. Accomplishment of them in the last Times of the World But I am not much concerned what become of this Opinion For if this support from the Predictions of the Prophets fail the whole Fabrick of my Exposition will stand unshaken being grounded upon the manifest meaning of the Visions confirmed and strengthened by express Texts of the New Testament and very probable Reasons Eclectical Chiliasm OR A Discourse concerning the State of Things from the Beginning of the Millennium to the end of the World The Introduction THE most Judicious Expositor of the Revelation is the eminently Learned Mr. Joseph Mede of Pious Memory to whose Labours next to Divine Assistance the slender knowledge I have in Prophetick Mysteries is chiefly owing His Method of interpreting the Apocalyptick Visions is grounded on his Scheme of Synchronisms that most happy discovery and only safe Rule of Interpretation and must be acknowledged to be the most natural and unconstrained most agreeable to the style of the Prophets and likewise to History and Event His large Commentary on the Apocalypse ends with Ch. 14. On the rest he has only published some short Specimens or Essays intending as the Writer of his Life tells us to go over them again and then to perfect his thoughts and as fully to inlarge himself upon them as he had done upon the foregoing Chapters Besides his Essay on Ch. 20. c. contains some peculiar Sentiments which even among his greatest Friends and Admirers have not found equal acceptance with the rest of his elaborate Commentary The defence of these Notions is very pleasing and surprizing How learnedly does he expound the Prophecy of St. Peter concerning the Day of Christ's second coming in favour of his Opinion of the Conflagration and Renovation of the World His conceit of the great Day of Judgment and of the Reign of the Saints on Earth is not without some fair probabilities How ingenious is his Conjecture of Gog and Magog And there is an agreeable Beauty of thought in his distinction of the state of the New Jerusalem and the state of the Nations which shall walk in the light thereof And yet I do not find that he hath made many Proselytes to his perswasion concerning these Points As touching the Visions relating to these Mysteries they are in my opinion capable of a more satisfactory Exposition which is here attemped I shall discourse them in the same order they are accomplished To the Millennial state belong First The binding and confinement of Satan Secondly The Resurrection and Reign of the Saints Thirdly The new Heavens and the new Earth Fourthly The new Jerusalem The thousand years expired ' Gog and Magog invade the Camp of the Saints And to this Expedition succeeds the general Judgment and End of the World CHAP. I. Of Satan 's Confinement THE preparation to the Millennial happiness is the binding the Devil and shutting him up in the bottomless pit ch 20. 1 2 3. I saw an Angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit and a great Chain in his Hand And he laid hold on the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the Nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled All which signifies no more than the close restraint of the Devil and the retrenchment of that liberty which hitherto for
being spread over the World Christian Princes pour in their treasures into the Holy Land and contribute their assistances towards the rebuilding Jerusalem and the rest of the waste and desolate Cities The Nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of the New Jerusalem and the Kings of the Earth do bring their Glory and Honour into it Rev 21. 24. Upon the return from Babylon the building of the Temple and City met with great opposition and obstructions from the envy and malice of the adversaries of Judah But now there will be no Rehums or Sanballats to obstruct their proceedings the work will be vigorously carried on by the united forces and joint endeavours of Jews and Gentiles This assistance of the Gentiles Isaiah speaks of Chap. 60. 10 11. The Sons of strangers shall build up thy Walls and their Kings shall minister unto thee for in my wrath I smote thee but in my favour have I had mercy on thee Therefore thy Gates shall be open continually they shall not be shut day nor night that Men may bring unto thee the forces or wealth of the Gentiles And again Chap. 61. 4 5 6. They shall build the old wastes they shall raise up the former desolations and they shall repair the waste Cities the desolations of many generations And strangers shall stand and feed your Flocks and the Sons of the Alien shall be your Plowmen and your Vine-dressers But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord Men shall call you the Ministers of our God ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles and in their Glory shall you boast your selves But their greatest Glory will be the profession and establishment of true Christian Religion among them with the knowledge whereof God will wonderfully inlighten their minds for a Pattern to all the Gentile Nations professing Christianity who shall now conform to the Standard of the Jewish Church And this I take to be the meaning of the Nations walking in the light of the New Jerusalem and to be the full accomplishment of these words in Isaiah the Gentiles shall come to thy light and Kings to the brightness of thy rising Chap. 60. 3. CHAP. V. Of Gog and Magog 's attempt against the Camp of the Saints THE Jews being replanted in the promised land shall enjoy an uninterrupted course of prosperity for several ages But when the Thousand years of Satans confinement are expired he shall be loosed out of his Prison And shall go out to deceive the Nations which are in the four Quarters of the Earth Gog and Magog to gather them together to battel the number of whom is as the Sand of the Sea Rev 20. 7 8. At whose instigation They went up saith St. John on the breadth of the Earth and compassed the Camp of the Saints about and the beloved City But this attempt ended in the total overthrow and destruction of that numerous Army For fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them vers 9. A terrible Expedition this and no less astonishing than the issue And that which encreases the Wonder is the common opinion concerning the Amplitude of Christs Kingdom which long ere this may be presumed to be arrived at its full extent For if all the Nations under Heaven have of a long time received and professed the faith of Christ as this opinion supposes 't is very strange that such a prodigious number of Christians from the four Quarters of the Earth should all on a sudden conspire to invade Judea and to destroy the Jews professing the same Religion and whom their late reestablishment proclaims to be in a more peculiar manner the favourites of Heaven The present limits of the Church no doubt will be greatly enlarged by the accession of many Nations now sitting in darkness and the shadow of Death And this enlargement whatever encrease it may receive in the mean time of which there is little prospect may reasonably be expected at the time of the Jews Conversion from which no less then from their Infidelity the Gentile world will receive great advantages If the fall of them be the riches of the World and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles how much more their fulness Rom. 11. 12. That is upon the coming in of the body of the Jewish Nation to the Church of Christ the Gospel will be farther propagated among the Gentiles which is all that can be concluded from that Text. 'T is true there are several places of Scripture which seem to extend the Kingdom of Christ over all Nations of the Earth and to foretell the reception of the Gospel by all People in all places of the World Thus it is foretold of Christ that there should be given him Dominion and Glory and a Kingdom that all People Nations and Languages should serve him and that all Dominions should serve and obey him Dan. 7. 14 27. And thus of the stone cut out without Hands by which all agree is meant the Kingdom of Christ it is said that it became a great mountain and filled the whole Earth Dan. 2. 34 35. But these and the like Prophecies signifie no more than the vast extent and largeness of the Christian Church in opposition to the straitness of the Church of the Jews which was confined within the narrow limits of a small Countrey That these notes of Universality All Whole are to be interpreted in a limited and restrained sense is evident from other Prophecies in this Book of Daniel concerning the extent of the Grecian and Roman Empires For thus it is foretold of the third Kingdom that it should bear Rule over all the Earth Chap. 2. 39. And of the fourth Kingdom that it should devour the whole Earth Dan. 7. 23. And yet neither the Greeks nor Romans could pretend to an universal Conquest of the whole World There were several Nations never visited by the Roman Eagle and where the Name of Alexander was never heard of although 't is said he was so vain as to weep for want of more Worlds to conquer And thus a great part of the World will never be actually subject to Christ nor under the government of his laws For as the Greeks and Romans bearing Rule over and devouring all the Earth signifies no more than the greatness of their Conquests and the largeness of their Dominions So by the obedience of all Nations to Christ and his Kingdoms filling the whole Earth can be meant no more than the worship and acknowledgment of Christ by the greater part of the World And it is observable that Isaiah Prophesying of the establishment of the Mountain of the Lords House on the top of the Mountains and the exaltation of it above the Hills and the Confluence of all Nations unto it Chap. 2. 2. In the next verse the universal is changed into a particular proposition And many People shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to
the House of the God of Jacob Intimating the reception of the Gospel by a great part of mankind and the continuance of the rest of the World in the state of Heathenism And now the wonder of this Invasion ceases For 't is easy to imagine the Camp of the Saints encompassed by an army of Infidels excited or provoked thereto by the Devil But there is some difficulty in conceiving how this army should be drawn together from so remote and distant places of the World For the Nations of which it is composed are said to be in the four Quarters of the Earth But it hath been observed by a learned Man that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in many places of the New Testament hath a Critical signification and does peculiarly refer to the Land of Judea And in this notion it is here to be understood as signifying not the whole World but that Part or Portion of it which by God was given to the Posterity of Abraham and which is here distinguished by a new Name the Camp of the Saints in allusion to their incamping in the Wilderness And then the Nations in the four Quarters or corners of the Land will be some people seated in the Countries not far distant from Judea whom we may easily conceive entring into a Confederacy against the Jews and uniting their forces for the destruction of these Saints of the most High And thus the greatest difficulties relating to this vision are removed And the plain meaning and signification of it appears to be the Invasion of Judea by some of the neighbouring Nations Which event if it were foretold by the Prophets there can be no reason to question or doubt of the truth of this Exposition Now concerning this Invasion there are several Prophecies but the most remarkable and express is that in Ezekiel between which and this vision there is an exact and admirable agreement Ezekiel's Prophecy Chap. 30. In the latter days thou viz. Gog shalt come into the Land that is brought back from the Sword and is gathered out of many People against the Mountains of Israel Invasurus montes Israelis Junius ver 8. Thou shalt ascend and come like a Storm thou shalt be like a Cloud to cover the Land thou and all thy Bands and many People with thee ver 9. And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the Land of Israel saith the Lord God that my Fury shall come up in my Face And I will plead against him with Pestilence and with Blood and I will Rain upon him and his Bands and upon the many People that are with him an overflowing Rain and great Hail-stones Fire and Brimstone vers 18 22. St. John's Vision Rev. 20. And when the Thousand Years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his Prison ver 7. And shall go out to deceive the Nations Gog and Magog to gather them together to Battel the number of whom is as the Sand of the Sea verse 8. And they went up and compassed about the Camp of the Saints and the beloved City vers 9. And Fire came down from God out of Heaven devoured them vers 9. And whereas it is objected that Gog in Ezekiel comes out of the North parts vers 15. whereas God and Magog in the Revelation are said to be Nations which are in the four Quarters of the Earth this seeming difference admits of an easy Solution For although Gog with the People of Magog came out of the North parts yet the rest of the people of which his army consists come from other parts Some from Persia some from Ethiopia and Lybia and others from the North Quarters of the lesser Asia viz. Gomer and Togarmah vers 5 6. So that here are several Nations in Confederacy against the Jews and these lying against the four Corners of their Land But whereas God and Magog are chief in this Expedition therefore they only are mentioned by St. John And for the same Reason the judgment of God against this Army is in Ezekiel denounced particularly against Gog. So that here is no difference but a most exact harmony and consent between the Prophet and the Divine But there is a farther Correspondence as to the time of this Invasion very remarkable and which abundantly confirms my Interpretation This in the Revelation is about a Thousand years after the Jews Conversion and repossession of their native Land And that in Ezekiel succeeds the Restauration of the Jewish Nation and their Subjection to Christ For in the seven and thirtieth Chapter is foretold the Return of the whole House of Israel vers 11 12. The Reunion of the two Kingdoms after this Return vers 21 22. And the perpetual government of David or Christ over them vers 25. And then follows in the next Chapter the Prophecy of Gogs invading the people of Israel in the latter days or towards the End of the World Chap. 38. 16. CHAP. VI. Of the general judgment and end of the World THE last vision is that of the general Judgment which is the concluding Scene and ends with the Conflagration of the World And I saw a great White Throne and him that sat on it from whose face the Earth and the Heaven fled away and there was found no place for them And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the Dead were judged out of those things which were Written in the Books according to their works And the Sea gave up the Dead which were in it and Death and Hell delivered up the Dead which were in them And they were judged every Man according to his works And Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire this is the second Death And whosoever was not found Written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of Fire Rev 20. 11 12 13 14 15. What St. John here saith of the dead standing before the Throne of God and their being judged according to their works needs not much explication The right of judging belongs to none but God nor is any besides a God qualified for so mighty a performance But we are assured from Scripture that this judgment shall be administred by God Incarnate in the Person of Jesus Christ who is ordained the Judge of quick and Dead Act 10. 42. For the Father judgeth no Man but hath committed all judgment to the Son and that for this reason as Our Saviour himself tells us because he is the Son of Man that is truly and really Man as well as God John 5. 27. For of the three Persons in the Blessed Trinity the Son only is personally united to Human nature And therefore being God-man is the most proper Judge of Men who must be judged in their Bodies The consequents of this judgment are not so clear and obvious For as for the casting Death and Hell into the lake