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a white horse,' as a token of his victory and triumph over his enemies. He is described in such characters as are appropriated to him in this book, and in the ancient prophets. · On his head also were many crowns,' to denote his numerous conquests and kingdoms, which were now, xi. 15. become the kingdom's of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.' As the Jewish high-priest wore the ineffable name of Jehovah on his forehead, so he had 'a name written,' which none could perfectly comprehend but himself; his name is called the Word of God.' He had likewise another name written,' on that part of his vesture which covered his thigh, King of kings, and Lord of lords;' a title much affected by the eastern monarchs, and by Antichrist himself. The Pope is styled King of kings, and Lord of lords;' but what he is only in pretence, Christ is in reality. His armies. are mounted upon white horses,' as well as himself, and are clothed in fine linen, white and clean,' as emblems of their victory and sanctity. An angel standing in the sun,' and so conspicuous to all, in lofty strains copied from the ancient prophets, and particularly from Ezek. xxxix. 17, 18. calleth the fowls to the great slaughter of Christ's enemies. These enemies are the beast and false prophet,' the Antichristian powers, civil and ecclesiastical, with their armies gathered together,' their adherents and followers combined and determined to support idolatry, and oppose all reformation. But the principals, as deserving of the greatest punishment, are taken and cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone:' and their followers are slain with the word of Christ,

'the sword which proceeded out of his mouth; and all the fowls are filled with their flesh;' their substance is seized for other persons, and for other uses. In a word, the design of this sublime and figurative description is to show the downfall of popery, and the triumph of Christianity: the true word of God will prevail over superstition and idolatry: all the powers of Antichrist shall be completely subdued: and the religion of Rome, as well as Rome herself be totally destroyed.

CHAPTER XX.

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After the destruction of the beast and of the false prophet, there still remains the dragon, who had delegated his power to them, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan:' but he is bound by an angel,' an especial minister of providence; and the famous millennium commences, or the reign of the saints upon earth for a thousand years, ver. 1-6. 'Binding him with a great chain, casting him into the bottomless pit, shutting him up, and sealing a seal upon him,' are strong figures to show the strict and severe restraint which he should be laid under, 'that he might deceive the nations no more,' during this whole period. Wickedness being restrained, the reign of righteousness succeeds, and the administration of justice and judgment is given to the saints of the most High: and the martyrs and confessors of Jesus, not only those who were beheaded,' or suffered any kind of death under the heathen emperors, but also those who refused to comply with the

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idolatrous worship of the beast and of his image,' are raised from the dead, and have the principal share in the felicities of Christ's kingdom upon earth. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished;' so that it was a peculiar perogative of the martyrs and confessors above the rest of mankind. This is the first resurrection,' a particular resurrection preceding the general one at least a thousand years. Blessed and holy' too is he who hath part in the first resurrection;' he is holy in all the senses of the word, holy as separated from the common lot of mankind, holy as endowed with all virtuous qualifications, and none but such are admitted to partake of this blessed state. On such the second death hath no power.' The second death' is a Jewish phrase for the punishment of the wicked after death. So the Chaldee paraphrase of Onkelos upon that text in Deuteronomy, xxxiii. 6. Let Reuben live, and not die, hath Let him not die the second death;' and the other paraphrases of Jonathan Ben Uziel and of Jerusalem have Let him not die the second death, by which the wicked die in the world to come.' It is a familiar phrase in the Chaldee paraphrases and Jewish writings, and in this very book, xx. 14. xxi. 8. it is declared to be the same as the lake burning with fire and brimstone.' The sons of the resurrection therefore shall not die again, but shall live in eternal bliss, as well as enjoy all the glories of the millennium, ‘be priests of God and of Christ, and reign with him a thousand years.'

Nothing is more evident than that this prophecy of the millennium, and of the first resurrection, had not

yet been fulfilled, even though the resurrection be taken in a figurative sense. For reckon the thousand years with Usher from the time of Christ, or reckon them with Grotius from the time of Constantine, yet neither of these periods, nor indeed any other, will answer the description and character of the millennium, the purity and peace, the holiness and happiness of that blessed state. Before Constantine, indeed, the church was in greater purity; but was groaning under the persecutions of the heathen emperors. After Constantine the church was in greater prosperity, but was soon shaken and disturbed by heresies and schisms, by the incursions and devastations of the northern nations, by the conquering arms and prevailing imposture of the Saracens, and afterwards of the Turks, by the corruption, idolatry, and wickedness, the usurpation, tyranny, and cruelty of the Church of Rome. If Satan was then bound, when can he be said to be loosed? Or how could the saints and the beast,' Christ and Antichrist, reign at the same period? This prophecy therefore remains yet to be fulfilled, even though the resurrection be taken only for an allegory, which yet the text cannot admit without the greatest torture and violence. For with what propriety can it be said, that some of the dead who were beheaded, lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished,' unless the dying and living again be the same in both places, a proper death and resurrection? Indeed the death and resurrection of the witnesses before mentioned, chap. from the concurrent circumstances of the appears

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vision to be figurative, but the death and resurrection here mentioned must for the very same reasons be concluded to be real. If the martyrs rise only in a spiritual sense; then the rest of the dead' rise only in a spiritual sense; but if the rest of the dead' really rise, the martyrs rise in the same manner. There is no difference between them; and we should be cautious and tender of making the first resurrection an allegory, lest others should reduce the second into an allegory too, like those whom St. Paul mentions, 2 Tim. ii. 17, 18. "Hymeneus and Philetus, who concerning the truth erred, saying, that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some.' It is to this first resurrection that St. Paul alludes, when he affirms, 1 Thess. iv. 16. that the dead in Christ shall rise first,' and, 1 Cor. xv. 23. that every man shall be made alive in his own order, Christ the first fruits, afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming, and then cometh the end,' after the general resurrection.

In the general, that there shall be such a happy period as the millennium, that the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High,' Dan. vii. 27. that Christ shall have 'the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession,' Psal. ii. 8. that the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea,' Isa. xi. 9. 'that the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in, and all Israel shall be saved,' Rom. xi. 25, 26. in a word, that the kingdom of heaven shall be established upon earth, is the plain

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