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xx. 6 also must be that of the present life; and that the sitting on the thrones, living and reigning with Christ, take place in this life, under the Gospel. This appears to me to be confirmed by referring to the priesthood of the believer. 1st, This is expressly declared to be of a spiritual kind. Ye also, as living (Swvres) stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ (1 Pet. ii. 5). As therefore the priestly office of the believer is not carnal, but spiritual; so, by analogy, the kingly office, which is connected with it, is also spiritual; and its authority and power is, I conceive, not of a carnal, but spiritual kind. 2dly, The time of the priesthood of the believer is described in the above passage to be that of the present life; and the sacrifices which believers are to offer up as priests, are such as they offer in this life. See Rom. xii. 1, Heb. xiii. 15. But the time of his reigning is the same as that of his priesthood, and connected with it; and therefore, I conceive, the time during which he reigns must also be that of the present life. These considerations, therefore, convince me that the reigning in chap. xx. 6 does not foretell any carnal power conferred upon the saints, but spiritual authority, answering to the description which Christ gives of his kingdom under the Gospel, My kingdom is not of this world (John xviii. 36, 37), and to that of the kingdom of God, which is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. xiv. 17). Hence I conceive the living and reigning of the persons there described foretells their spiritual life, and reigning over the fear of man and the errors and seductions of the beast, over sin, the world, &c. [Note FF.]

[FF.] We meet with a similar declaration in chap. v. 9, 10: Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. This is part of the song of the elders and the four living creatures, who unitedly seem to represent the church of Christ; not, as I conceive, in a glorified state, but in her state of prayer (ver. 8), during the period signified in the book of Revelation. They sung this new song upon the Lamb taking the book which had the seven seals (vers. 7, 8), and which contains the prophetical history of the church from the time represented by the first seal, and during the whole period signified under the other six seals. The first seems descriptive of the triumphant progress of the Gospel, on its going forth in the first ages of

The declaration, therefore, relative to the priesthood and reigning of the subjects of the first resurrection, leads me, by comparing it with what other Scriptures indicate concerning the priesthood and reigning of believers in this life, to conceive, that it refers to saints, not after the resurrection of their bodies, but in the Gospel church, as risen with Christ. The expression in ver. 4, judgment was given them, appears to me to imply, that while sitting on the thrones they would be endued, not with power to execute, but with authority to denounce judgment upon the beast, and those who worship his image. In chap. xi. 5, 6, it is said of the two witnesses, Fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies and if any one hurt them he must thus be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, &c. All commentators, however, as far as I am aware, interpret this as indicating, not any carnal power or temporal dominion, but spiritual authority conferred upon them. See Mede, Newton, Gill, &c. in loco. And by analogy with this, and with the figurative character of the preceding context in chap. xx., I conceive the expression judgment was given them, is to be interpreted, not in a literal but figurative sense.

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Sixth consideration. The declaration in ver. 6, leads me to conceive, that the meaning of the passage may be something of the kind I have suggested. The two declarations, The rest of the dead lived not again till the

Christianity (chap. vi. 1, 2, and see Mede, Gill, &c. in loco), and the dead being judged appears to be the winding up of the whole under the seventh seal (chap. xi. 18). Hence I conceive that the declaration, We shall reign upon the earth, which was made by the church upon the Lamb's taking the book, refers to her reigning in the figurative sense noticed above, from the time of the first preaching of the Gospel, until the judgment of the dead. In confirmation of this

I would observe, that as the verbs redeemed (ver. 9), and made (ver. 10), are in the same tense, so they must, I conceive, signify the same time. But the church is described as being redeemed by the blood of Christ while in her Gospel state and in the kingdom of grace (Eph. i. 7, and 1 Pet. i. 18, 19): hence I conceive the being made kings and priests is also in this life, in agreement with chap. i. 57; and that the declaration we shall reign on the earth, refers to the church's reign upon earth in the Gospel kingdom of Christ, and not after the resurrection of the saints.

thousand years were ended, and This is the first resurrection, convince me (1) that there is to be a second resurrection of the same kind as the first, and (2) that this is to take place at the end of the thousand years; and, therefore, that the first resurrection must be interpreted in such a way as to agree with both these points. This proves to my own mind, that it cannot signify either that of the saints in their glorified bodies, or an universal spiritual resurrection; because neither of these agree with each of the above two points. See pages 18 and 110. On the other hand, the view which I now suggest appears to me to harmonize in both these points with what is laid down in ver. 5. (1) The second resurrection would be of the same kind as the first, both as the dead, who are to live again at the end of the thousand years, would signify persons dead in the same sense as those who partook of the first resurrection; and also as their living again, or reviving, would be of the same kind, namely, living with Christ. (2) The second resurrection would take place at the end of the thousand years. I shall endeavour also to shew that the Scriptures do decidedly foretell a future resurrection of this very kind, and preceding the events noticed in verses 7—10. Hence, therefore, I am led to conceive that this may be a correct view of this passage.

Seventh consideration. The last consideration which I shall bring before the reader, is the impression on my mind, that the beast, in some form or other, is to continue till the second coming of Christ, which, for the reasons assigned in the first two chapters, I feel convinced will be the time of the judgment described vers. 11-15. The reason of the above impression is twofold:-First, the declaration made in 2 Thess. ii. 8, Whom the Lord will consume (avaλwoɛ, Luke ix. 54; Gal. v. 15) with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming (rapsoraç). We cannot, perhaps, infer with absolute certainty, that this refers to the second coming of Christ, because the same word (wapsσia) coming, occurs in the next verse in a figurative sense. Still the impression on my own mind is, that the personai coming of Christ is meant here, as it is in verse 1. Hence I conceive, that, though the first clause may indicate a previous wasting of the power of the man of sin, in some

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respect, or under some form, by the spirit or breath of Christ's mouth, in a figurative sense (compare Isai. xi. 4); yet the final destruction of the man of sin will not take place before the second coming of Christ. Secondly, I have the same impression from Rev. xix. 20, These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. Two circumstances are here foretold concerning the beast and the false prophet: (1) that they shall both be cast into a lake of fire; (2) that they shall be living (SWVTES) at the time of their being so cast. The lake of fire appears to be evidently the same as in chap. xx. 10 and 15; and the impression on my mind is, that the casting into the lake of fire, foretold in these three passages, will take place at one and the same time, namely, that of the judgment described chap. xx.12-15. (1) As it is expressly declared that Satan is reserved unto the judgment of the great day (Jude 6), I collect that the casting of him into the lake of fire, foretold in ver. 10, will be at the time of the judgment. (2) The lake of fire is evidently the final place into which the ungodly, as well as Satan, will be cast to be tormented for ever; and therefore I do not conceive it will, so to speak, be opened before Christ sits upon the throne of judgment, as in ver. 12. (3) The designation given in ver. 15, of those who will be cast into it after the judgment— namely, Whosoever was not found written in the book of life, is evidently a general one, which would include all who live and die worshippers of the beast. (4) All the worshippers of the beast who have died before the second coming of Christ, will, evidently, form a part of the dead who stand before God (ver. 12), and will be cast into the lake of fire at the time of the judgment ; and, therefore, I conceive that what is described as the casting of the beast himself into the place of eternal torment, will not take place (as, if we suppose chap. xix. 20 to precede the millennial period, it would be) more than a thousand years before the time when such vast multitudes of his worshippers will be cast therein. These considerations, therefore, combined together, produce a strong impression in my mind that the casting of the beast and false prophet into the lake of fire will synchronize with the judgment described chap. xx. 11-15. And the declaration that they are living at the time of being so cast, appears

to me to mark that the beast will continue, in some form or other, to have life even unto the day of judgment; and, consequently, through the whole millennial period. On this view, I see the force and propriety of the designation in chap. xx. 4, of those who live and reign with Christ during that period; namely, that they worshipped not the beast, nor received his mark; because the beast would be living and exercising authority through the whole period, and a refusal to worship him would be a distinguishing characteristic of the sincere followers of Christ.

Any one who has studied the book of Revelation, or the prophetical books of the Old Testament, will know that no conclusive objection to what I have now suggested can be urged from the order of the chapters. We cannot infer that the events of chap. xx. must necessarily be posterior to those in chap. xix.; because such a rule would by no means hold good with respect to many other parts of the book. It is said in verse 10, The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast und false prophet are. The reader will observe that the word are is not in the original, but is an insertion of our translators. As, for the reasons already mentioned, I conceive that the casting of the beast into the lake of fire takes place at the same time as that of Satan, so the declaration (where the beast and false prophet, ver. 10) seems to me to be intended to point out, not a priority of time in the one being cast before the other, but the identity of the place of torment, as there had been identity of sin and combination of power. I would, however, repeat the observation, already frequently made, that I merely lay before the reader the impression in my own mind upon this point, and the scriptural ground which, I conceive, there is for it, leaving him to judge how far there is any validity in the whole.

Having thus endeavoured to give a general outline of the view which I now take of this prophecy, and the various considerations which lead me to conceive it may be well founded; I would proceed to offer some suggestions, as to what may be the fulfilment of the prophecy, on supposition that the view is correct.

First, I conceive that the prophecy concerning the

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