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A37813 Eclectical chiliasm, or, A discourse concerning the state of things from the beginning of the Millennium to the end of the world T. F., 17th cent. 1700 (1700) Wing E157A; ESTC R171901 22,921 80

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seed are the Children of the Kingdom but the tares are the Children of the wicked One. The enemy that sowed them is the Devil Whence it appears that 't is the Devil that sows these tares of Heretics and Schismatics that overrun the field of the Church and infuses into their minds false and corrupt doctrines And thus that Floud of Arrianism that well nigh overwhelmed the Primitive Church is said to have proceeded out of the mouth of the old Serpent Rev. 12. 15. And the Corruption of the Christian faith in the latter times is attributed to the Devil by the Apostle Tim. 4. 1. In the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and doctrines of Devils that is doctrines Suggested by Evil Spirits So that when the Devil shall be restrained from sowing his tares and corrupting the minds of Men with false notions of things there will doubtless follow greater consent in matters of Religion Truth will prevail and Flourish and bear down all opposite Errors which will find no patrons to maintain and propagate them This Conclusion is grounded not only on reason but Prophecy For this Zechary prophesied should come to pass in the days of the Messias ch 13. 2. It shall come to pass in that day saith the Lord of hosts that I will cut off the names of the Idols out of the land and they shall no more be remembred And also I will cause the prophets viz that speak lies and the unclean Spirit to pass out of the Land Satan hath had his Ministers false Teachers in every age of the Church but the time will come when these lying Prophets shall cease and be removed out of it They shall have no place in the new Jerusalem For out of it shall be excluded them that make a lie Rev. 21. 27. And such are false Apostles those deceitful workers that transform themselves into the Apostles of Christ and with fair speeches deceive the Hearts of the Simple II. A great encrease of Piety will follow this confinement of Satan The design of the Gospel is to restrain Men from all impiety and to oblige them to the practice of universal goodness And considering the nature of the laws the Gospel prescribes their agreeableness to the best reason of mankind and their tendency to promote both our eternal and temporal happiness 't is strange Mens actions are not more conformable to them It is true human nature by the Fall of our first Parents is very much corrupted and tainted with evil Inclinations And this inbred Corruption doth at once indispose us to Goodness and betray us to many sinful practices agreeable to our depraved appetites But I cannot think Men would arrive at such heights of wickedness and villainy as we see many do unless they were pusht forward by the Instigation of some wicked Spirits who as the Scripture tells us work in act and inspire the Children of disobedience great and notorious Sinners over whom they have a more immediate influence and power Eph. 2. 2. Nor is the Devil wanting to insnare and allure even good Men into forbidden courses Hence he hath the title of the Tempter because he makes it his great business and employment to seduce Men to Sin So that the greatest part of the wickedness that is committed in the World is owing to the Temptations of evil Spirits who by presenting to Men the oppertunities and occasions of sin and infusing into them evil motions excite and actuate that Corruption which is inherent in our nature When therefore the Devil shall be shut up in the Abysse and restrained from tempting Men without doubt immorality and wickedness will decline and there will be a general and more exact conformity to the dictates of Reason and the laws of Religion And this flourishing state of Religion is clear from express texts of Scripture For thus Righteousness is said to dwell in the new Heavens and new Earth 2 Pet. 3. 13. And St. John saith that nothing that defileth shall enter into the new Jerusalem Rev 21. 27. Which plainly signifies a great encrease of Piety and Vertue in the Millennial State of the Church CHAP. II. Of the Resurrection and Reign of the Saints I Saw Thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them And I saw the Souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God and which had not Worshipped the Beast neither his Image neither had received his Mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a Thousand years Rev 20. 4. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished This is the first Resurrection Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection On such the second Death hath no power ver 5. 6. Here are two things to be considered 1 The judgment given to them that sat on Thrones 2 The Living of the Beheaded and their reigning with Christ The meaning of the First is clear from a parallel place Dan. 7. 22. Judgment was given to the Saints of the most High That both the One and the Other belong to the same thing is evident because they begin from the same Term viz the destruction of the fourth Beast That in Daniel when the Beast then ruling in the wicked Horn was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame ver 11 21 22. This in the Apocalypse when the Beast and the false Prophet the wicked Horn in Daniel were taken and both cast alive into a lake of Fire burning with Brimstone Rev. 19. 20 21 c. vid Mede Ep. 15 They therefore whom St. John saw sitting on Thrones are the Saints of the most High that is the Jews the holy People as they are called Dan. 8. 24. 12. 7. And to them Judgment was given i. e. Dominion or Empire For so it follows in the place even now cited The Saints possessed the Kingdom ch 7. 22. When the Course of the four Monarchies is finished by the destruction of the Fourth Beast the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled And from thenceforth the ●●ngdom and Dominion and greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven shall be given to the People of the Saints of the most High Daniel 7. 27. And thus of the new Jerusalem it is said That the Kings of the Earth do bring their Glory and Honour into it Rev. 21. 24. Of this see a more ful and particular account in the fourth chapter As for the other part of this vision I find no Key to it in the Prophets In defect whereof I think it safest to attend to the plain literal sense of the words And if it be interpreted by this Rule the thing signified must be the Resurrection and Reign of the Martyrs The Resurrection of the dead is a fundamental Article of Christian Faith built on clear and express texts of Scripture But in what order the
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