from their sin and wickedness, and being in The first death, therefore, is nothing else proportion and according to the nature there- but that miserable and painful condition both of; in order that they may be thus convinced, of soul and body, which men are in while how bad and abominable that is which they they are under the dominion of sin, and at the have chosen for themselves against the will same time under the wrath of God; which of God: and so at last, to the everlasting wretched state began the moment they fell praise and glory of God's justice and mercy, into sin, and if they are not redeemed from it made by these rough and severe means truly in this present time of grace, it will continue subject to God the Father of all spirits, and after the separation of body and soul, under to his most beloved and only begotten Son many dreadful punishments and torments, Jesus Christ, whom he has appointed Lord and will grow worse and worse, till at the last over all things, both in this age, and that judgment, they are either delivered from it which is to come." See 1 Cor. xv. 25, 28, through the endless mercies of God, being compared with Psal. cxlv. 8-10; Psal. cl. 6; sufficiently humbled, and so found written in Rev. v. 13; Ephes. i. 20-22; Phil. ii. 9-11; the Book of Life. Rev. xx. 12, 15; 1 Pet. iii. Heb. ii. 8. 19; compared with chap. iv. 6; Hosea xiii. 14. Or, if the Divine Justice finds it adequate to their iniquity, they are from the first death committed to the second, to receive the full measure of the wrath of God burning over them. Rev. xx. 14, 15; chap. xxi. 8. This description takes in all the different kinds of death which divines generally distinguish by bodily, spiritual, and eternal death: since the painful separation of soul and body, with all foregoing bodily afflictions, (which is usually called natural death;) then the want and loss of the divine image and the grace of God, (being called the spiritual death;) and lastly, the woful condition of the damned in hell, either in soul alone, or both in soul and body, (which generally goes by the name of eternal death;) are in a manner but parts of death, if we take the word in its completest sense. Concerning the bodily or natural death in particular, whereby the soul and body of man are separated, it may be justly called according to Scripture, first, with respect to believers, a passage from death into the true eternal life, a putting off all mortality, or a perfect deliverance from the body of death, which in this world they were obliged to bear, and carry about them as an heavy burden. And in this view the natural death is so far from being terrible to the righteous, that it is desirable. See 2 Cor. v. 1-9; Phil. i. 23; Rev. xiv. 13; Isaiah lvii. 1, 2; Wisdom iii. 1-4. But, secondly, with respect to the wicked and unbelievers, we may rightly call it, a passage out of one miserable land of death into another which is much more miserable and terrible. See St. Luke xvi. 22, 23. But the most proper division of death is to distinguish it according to the Scripture, by the first and second death. It is true that we do not find the name of first death in Scripture, but the denomination of second death implies it. For if there is a second death, there must necessarily be a first death, which is antecedent to the second; because, without it, the name of second death would be without any meaning. But as the term second death, is four times mentioned in Scripture, (see Rev. ii. 11; chap. xx. ver. 6, 14; chap xxi. 8,) it is certainly used with design, and implies a first death. Knowing from what has been said above, that death inseparably hangs together with sin, and as naturally follows upon it, as the wages follow any service, and that sin and death are as much connected as pain and sickness; besides, the holy Scriptures having given us a precise definition of the second death, viz. that it is a lake burning with fire and brimstone, (see Rev. xx. 14; chap. xxi. 8,) we may easily comprehend what is meant by the first death. This first death, if represented by the figure of a tyrant, has as it were, two chief provinces and regions where it bears sway, and exercises its power, viz., First, the province of this present wicked world, and the time before the separation of the soul and body, where men in this world are under the dominion of sin and the power of death. And secondly, the woful rendezvous, or place of torment of the impure souls of the deceased, and the time after the separation of soul and body, until the great day of judgment, where men, going out of this world in an unconverted condition, must remain under the wrath of God and in death, not seeing life. That not only the unhappy state of men after their decease, but also their sinful condition by nature in this world, where they are servants to sin, is a part of death, the Scripture tells us in plain words, calling such a state, darkness and the shadow of death, St. Luke i. 79. Yea, representing them as dead who live in sin, St. Luke xv. 24, 32; Ephes. ii. 1-5; Col. ii. 13; 1 John iii. 14: and that such who live in sensual pleasure are dead while they live. 1 Tim. v. 6. They are called living because they enjoy as yet a natural life, common with brutes: but they are dead, because they want the spiritual life, (Ephes. iv. 18,) which properly distinguishes men from brutes, and makes them truly men, that is, creatures in the image of God. The doleful regions of the first death, into which unbelievers are banished after their dissolution, have many denominations in holy Scripture. They are, for instance, called, The lower parts of the earth, Psal. lxiii. 9. The nether parts of the earth, Ezek. xxxi. 14-18; chap. xxxii. 18–32. The pit wherein is no water, Zech. ix. 11. The grave, or hell and death, Psal. xlix. 14, 15; Hosea xiii. 14. The sides of the pit, Isaiah xiv. 15, compared with verse 9 and 19. The darkness and deep, Psal. lxxxviii. 6, compared with Psal. lxxi. 20. Darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, St. Matt. viii. 12; chap. xxii. 13; chap. xxv. 30. Darkness and the shadow of death, where such have rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High, sit bound in affliction and iron. Psalm levii. 10, 11. The prison, 1 Pet. iii. 19. Isai. xliii. 7. Hell, or the place of torment, where | after having received a sufficient number of the souls of the wicked are tormented as in a stripes for their sins, and being under such flame of fire, without being able to come at punishment cleansed by the power of the the least drop of water to quench their thirst, blood of Jesus Christ, which even penetrates which place is separated from the delightful into the pit wherein is no water; yet all these mansions of the blessed by a great gulph. that get into the prisons of the first death, See St. Luke, xvi. 23-28. To these names will be greatly tormented through fear of may be added that of the abyss or bottomless the second death; in the same manner as all pit, wherein Satan will be kept prisoner coufined malefactors who deserve to die, must during the blessed thousand years of the reign always be in expectation of the punishment of our Lord and Saviour on the earth. Rev. of death, though some of them, in consideraXX. 2, 3, 7. tion of certain circumstances, and through powerful intercession, may not suffer death, but be sentenced to a more tolerable punishment. All which different names and denominations, show plainly enough that the woful regions of the first death must contain several prisons and in a certain place of Scripture, they are expressly divided into three headquarters, viz. the Sea, Death, (so called in a particular manner,) and Hell. Rev. xx. 13. And the difference of these places of confinement designed for the wicked after their departure out of the world, (one being doubt less worse than the other) is grounded on the different degrees of their iniquity, where every convict will be ordered by the righteous Judge of all flesh to a prison of death proportionable to his crime. This is exemplified to us in the conduct of worldly magistrates, by their not committing all prisoners to the same place of confinement, but every one to a gaol, or part thereof, suitable to his offence. The second death, following the first, is that most wretched, most woful, and most unhappy condition of evil men and angels lying under the dominion of sin and the wrath of God, in the fiery lake, whom no foregoing judgments have been able to tame, and who therefore, according to their last doom, must receive the full measure of their well deserved punishments, be absolutely excluded from all the grace and mercy of God, during that very long and terrrible age wherein the anger of the Most High is to burn against them. See Rev. xix. 20; chap. xx. 14, 15; chap. xxi. 8; chap. iv. 10, 11; Si. Matt. iii. 12; chap. xxv. 41, 46; Isaiah xxxiii. 33. They shall be as unclean dogs cast out of the palace of the King of Heaven, and entirely forsaken of God, and banished from his presence into the most dreadful pain and punishment. See Rev. xxii. 15; St. Matt. viii. 12; chap. xxv. 30; chap. xxiv. 51; Prov. i. 24-32; Isaiah lxv. 13, 14; 2 Thess. i. 9. So great will be God's wrath upon those who shall be sentenced to the second death, that even the saints of the Lord will not be permitted to intercede for them, not until they have felt the wrath of God in its highest degree; whereof we have instances in some wicked and obdurate men in this world. See 1 John v. 16, compared with Jer. vii. 16; chap. xi. 14; chap. xiv. 11. Though not all men, dying in an unsanctified condition of soul, and who are after their decease sentenced to the prisons of the first death, will become a prey to the second death, but some, and without doubt such as are not wicked to the same high degree, nor have had the same means of grace towards their salvation here on earth, as others, will be, through the endless mercies of God preserved from it, as the holy Scripture plainly shews, That some whose names were not written in the book of life at our Lord's second coming, shall yet be preserved from being cast into the lake of fire, or the second death, is evident from this, that the book of life shall be opened, after the second resurrection at the general judgment, and many shall be found written therein, and shall be saved from the second death, who were not wor thy of a part in the first resurrection, nor of reigning with Christ. See Rev. xx. 12, 15; 1 Cor. iii. 15; St. Luke xii. 47, 48. But the being entirely free from all tormenting fear of the second death, is a peculiar privilege of the faithful conquerers, who during their life time here on earth have been united to Christ, and have suffered him continually to destroy in them the dominion of the devil and sin. "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." Rev. ii. 11. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." Chap. xx. 6. Such, dying in the Lord are thenceforth blessed, come into no judgment, and therefore into no prison of the first death in the next world, and, consequently cannot be hurt by the second death; (when even the thoughts thereof are a torment to the prisoners of the first death) for they are perfectly passed from death unto life. (See Rev. xiv. 13; St. John v. 24; chap. viii. 51.) When, in the judgment of men, they are said to die, they themselves die not, but it is death which quite dies in and on them, namely, the body of death, to whom they wish no better than entire destruction. From this we may see that the unhappy state of men leaving this world in unbelief, which we commonly express by the word hell, or damnation, implies much: namely, as Christ says of his Father's house, the dwelling place of the blessed dead, which is generally called heaven, that therein are many mansions; (See St. John xiv. 2) so it is with the habitation of Satan and all unclean spirits in the other world, or the abode of unhappy deceased men; there is not only one, but several gaols and prisons, where every man dying in wickedness will be sent to a prison adapted to his degree of iniquity, there to continue so long, till, according to the true saying of our Saviour, he has paid all that is due, even to the uttermost farthing, or the very last mite. St. Matt. xviii. 34; chap. v. 26; St. Luke xii. 59. That is, until he has suffered his due punish The difference of glory in the next world consists chiefly in the first birth, and after birth unto salvation. And consequently there are first born, and after born in the state of salvation. ent, which is to extend itself to every idle | shine; but they go much farther, as shall be word. St. Matt. xii. 36. And this is the mean- shewn immediately. ng of the words, He that believeth not shall be amned; St. Mark vvi. 16; that is, he shall be ondemned by the divine justice of God, which is grounded on his eternal love) to uch a punishment in the next world, as is dequate to the measure of his iniquity of which he would not suffer himself to be freed n this time of grace. The first-born unto salvation, to whom belongs the heavenly birth-right, are no other than such men, among the fallen creatures, (who must needs be regenerated and created anew, if they would come again to God) who suffer themselves to be regenerated first, and, this time of grace, so called in the properest sense. We may very well express by the words eaven and hell, if taken in their full latitude, he happy and unhappy state of men deceased, either in faith or unbelief; and need not super-through faith, to be united with Christ here in stitiously interpose a purgatory, since the ultimate end of all punishments, which God, (who is love, and whose anger is grounded on love) inflicts on the apostate creatures, both in this and the next world, is, to bring them at last to such a pass, that by the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, shed for the reconciliation of the whole world, sin may be destroyed, and purged out of them. In which sense, all punishments of God, both here and in the other world, may be called purgatories, and we have no reason to look for purgatory only in the world to come; we may find enough of it in this present world, under all sorts of punishments and afflictions. These are therefore called in Scripture, The Church of the first-born, who are written in heaven. Heb. xii. 23. The first fruits of God's creatures. James i. 18. Such as have the firstfruits of the Spirit. Rom. viii. 23. Besides many more glorious names which they have to shew their pre-eminence above all the rest of mankind, who will at last be saved too by our Universal Redeemer. They are, for instance, called the Bride of Christ. Psalm xlv. 9-11; Sol. Song iv. 8, 9, 11; chap. v. 1; St. John iii. 29; Rev. xix. 7; chap. xxii. 17. The friends of Christ. St. John xv. 14, 15. They are called his mother and his brethren. St. Matt. xii. 49, 50; St. Mark iii. 34, 35: St. Luke viii. 21. His brethren. St. Matt. xxv. 40; chap. xxviii. 10; Rom. viii. 29; Heb. ii. 11, 12, 17. The spirits of just men made perfect. Heb. xii. 23. But if we will not be made good in this gentle purgatory here, then God, who has bestowed so much on his creatures, and therefore cannot let them be irrecoverably lost, must necessarily after our decease, cast us into one which will burn to the lowest hell, and be able to tame and soften the most wicked But the Scripture speaks also of a differ wretches, if they were even as bad as the de-ence between these first-born unto salvation, vil himself. God will hold it out with them; dividing them, especially in Rev. xi. 18, into let them try if they will not believe it. But three classes; viz. The servants of God, or may the Lord, through his infinite love, pre- the prophets; the saints; and those that fear serve all those that will take warning, from the name of the Lord; and these last are again such hardness of heart; and grant that we subdivided into small and great. This differmay much rather choose the afflictions of this ence is doubtless grounded, partly, on the life, and the reproach of Christ for our pur-different degrees of sanctification to which gatory, which are temporal and light, and will procure for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 2 Cor. iv. 17; from which all others that must be drawn to God by the judgments of the next world alone will be forever excluded; although, to the praise of God's endless mercy, they will obtain some grace, after they have been sufficiently humbled. CHAPTER X. Of the different Degrees of eternal Glory; or of the First Birth, and After Birth to Salvation. they attain here; and partly, on the different measure of the spiritual gifts of grace wherewith they are adorned and favoured by God, through Jesus Christ. See Rom. xii. 3-8; 1 Cor. xii. 4-31. These first-born and first-fruits are represented as being sealed to the day of redemption; sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Éph. i. 13, 14; chap. iv. 30. There is a mark set upon them. (See Ezek. iv. 4.) They are sealed with the seal of God in their forehead. Rev. vii. 2-8. The name of God is written upon their foreheads. Rev. xiv. 1; chap. iii. 20; chap. xxii. 4. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. 2 Tim. ii. 19. It is to these first-born alone, that the promises of the celestial kingdom and priesthood in the future age belong, (see St. Matt. xxv. As there are many degrees of damnation 34. Rev. v. 10; chap. xx. 4-6; chap. xxii. 5,) and unhappiness in the other world, so there together with all the unspeakable prerogaare also many degrees of happiness and glory.tives and glories which our Lord and Sa1 Cor. xv. 23, 24, 39, 40-42; Psalm xlv. 14. 15; Sol. Song vi. 8, 9. The several degrees of happiness in the other world do not only consist, as is most commonly thought, in the difference of the heavenly and divine brightness in which the glorified bodies of the blessed will hereafter viour has promised to those who are converted to him on earth, love him with all their hearts, and are his constant followers, whereof, especially the book of the Revelations is full. See Rev. ii. 7, 10, 11, 17, 26-28; chap. iii. 5, 12, 20, 21; chap. xiv. 13; chap. xxi. 7; chap. xxii. 3-5, 14. This was represented in the Old Testament | whom and the first-born, that have part in by the first-born children of the holy patriarchs, who by virtue of their birth-right were entitled to the sovereignty or dominion, as also to the priesthood over the rest of their brethren, and the whole family; Gen. xlix. 3, compared with chap. xxv. 31-34; chap. xxvii. 19, 28, 29, 33-40. In the place of the first-born, God afterwards adopted the Levites among the children of Israel; and the whole tribe of Levi, instead of the first-born, were entrusted with the oracles of God, and invested with the sacerdotal office, as the government of state or royalty was transferred to the tribe of Judah. Numb. iii. 12, 40-51; chap. viii. 5-26; Gen. xlix. 8-10; 1 Chron. v. 1, 2. And we find that the high prerogative of the spiritual birth-right was even prefigured in the Old Testament in general, by all the first born and first-fruits, both of clean beasts, and of the fruits of the earth, which God would have sanctified unto him in a special manner, as appears by many places in the Pentateuch. Exod. xiii. 2, 12-16; chap. xxii. 29, 30; chap. xxiii. 19; chap. xxxiv. 19, 20, 26; Lev. xxvii. 26; Numb. iii. 13; chap. viii. 16, 17. See St. Luke ii. 22-24; Rom. xi. 16. The first born to salvation are those few who in their lifetime find the narrow way to eternal life, and penetrate through the straight gate; whereas such as go the broad way of the flesh, leading to perdition, are many, yea, the greatest numher. St. Matt. vii. 13, 14. St. Luke xiii. 24. The first-born are the few elect, compared with the many who are called, but on the account of their unbelief and disobedience are rejected. St. Matt. xxii. 14; St. Luke xix. 24. These, after the sad example of Esau, (who for one morsel of meat sold his birth-right) are deprived of the enjoyment of the inexpressible privileges and glories of the heavenly birthright. Heb. xii. 16, 17, compared with Gen. xxv. 33, 34: chap. xxvii. 33-38. By the after-born to salvation, are chiefly meant all the rest of mankind, who in their life-time neglect repentance, and the purification of their souls, selling like Esau, their birth-right for a mess of pottage of lentiles; that is, giving it in exchange for the vanities of this world, and must therefore, after their departure hence, remain under God's wrath, and by the long-lasting and terrible judgments of the next world be humbled and made fit for the participation of some enjoyment of the endless mercies of God, through Christ the universal Saviour and Reconciler of all fallen creatures, and thus, in their way be regenerated unto life, after the already glorified firstborn children of God. To the after-born belong too, as a supplement, the fallen angels, as we have shewn above. Although the phrase, after-horn to salvation, is not to be literally met with in the Bible, yet the thing itself is grounded therein. For, if it be true, that at the last judgment many of the dead that are given up by the sea, death, and hell, as prisons of the first death, will be found written in the book of life: (see Rev. xx. 12, 13, 15, compared with 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20; chap. iv. 6,) and shall be delivered from the full power of the second death; (between the first resurrection, and are to reign with Christ during the blessed thousand years, or the day of his glorious marriage, the Scripture expressly distinguishes; see Rev. xx. 5, compared with ver. 12, 13, 15,) yea if it be true, that at last will follow a Universal Restoration of all apostatized creatures through a general subjection, solemnly promised in Scripture; (1 Cor. xv. 24-28; Phil. ii. 10, 11; Rev. v.13,) then must be true too, that all these together may be justly called after-born unto salvation, because they are not of the number of the firstborn, but will, a long time after the glorification of these, be made truly subject unto God, and Christ, and in their way be born again unto life eternal. Now, of these after-born to salvation there are chiefly two sorts. For some are after-born out of the first death; and others after-born out of the second death. The after-born out of the first death are, as aforsaid, those deceased, who, after the blessed thousand years of Christ's marriage, at the last judgment, will be given up by the se, death, and hell, and be found written in the book of life. (See Rev. xx. 15, compared with Hosea xiii. 14, and Zech. ix. 11.) And so through the endless mercy of God be saved from the second death and from its full power over them; though the ideas of it will have been great torment to them in the prisons of the first death. The forerunners of these after-born were the spirits unto whom Christ, at his descent into hell, preached the Gospel of their Redemption. 1 Peter iii. 19, 20; chap. iv. 6; Psalm Ixviii. 18; Eph. iv. 8-10; Col. ii. 15. The after-born out of the second death, are all the rest of mankind, and the fallen angels, who, under all the foregoing dreadful judg ments of the first death, will continue in their wickedness, and therefore must be humbled in the fiery lake, by the most horrible and consummate judgments of the second death, and be brought at last to bow every one of their knees before Christ, and so have their share too in the eternal redemption obtained by him for us. Phil. ii. 10, 11; Rev. v. 13; Heb. ix. 12. That there may be a difference again between these after-born out of the second death, as to the time of their restoration, seems very probable by what is said, Rev.xx.10, compared with ver. 15; as also chap. xxi. 8. For in the first place it is said of some that are cast into the fiery lake, that with the devil they shall be tormented therein for ever and ever; but in the other two places, which likewise speak of such as will be cast into the lake burning with fire and brimstone, we do not find this addition, but it is only said that they are cast into the lake of fire, and that they shall have their part therein. This has, without doubt, a particular signification, since the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures neither inserts nor omits any thing without design. The very last of all that will be restored are the blasphemers against the Holy Ghost, and the seducers of the whole race of men, to wit, Lucifer with his angels. St. Matt. xii. 31, 32; St. Mark iii. 28, 29; St. Luke xii. 10; Rev. xx 10, compared with chap. xi. 15; chap. xxii. 5. These will be obliged to remain prisoners under the divine wrath, without remission of sins, during the whole eternity or age of Christ's reign with his people in the world to come, and through God's just judgments, shall not be restored until that point of time, or just before it, when the future age or world is to be changed into that still or silent eternity, wherein God is to be all in all, after Jesus Christ shall have subdued every thing to himself, and brought all into order and harmony. 1 Cor. xv. 28. Although these after-born to salvation, who, in due season, by Christ, the universal Saviour, will be delivered both from the first and second death, will also, after such redemption, receive a blessing with Esau, (see Heb. xi. 20, compared with Gen. xxvii. 34-40) and will partake of some beatitude, which the Scripture describes in this manner, In the name of Jesus they shall bow their knees, &c. Phil. ii. 10, 11. Shall be subdued unto Christ, and thus become the subjects of God, 1 Cor. xv. 28; and shall praise God and the Lamb, Rev. v. 13; yet they will be excluded to all endless eternity, from all the before-mentioned glories, peculiar to the first-born, namely, from the reigning with Christ, and the celestial priest-hood, both during the aforesaid blessed thousand years, and all the succeeding ages of ages: and thus, in some measure, they will undergo an absolutely endless punishment; that is, they will suffer pænam damni, or sustain the loss of the quite particular prerogative annexed to the spiritual birth-right, as Esau lost his birth-right. Heb. xii. 16, 17. However, so, that at last, having sufficiently regretted their irreparable loss, they will be very well content with that share of salvation which the infinite grace of God, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our universal Redeemer, will give them and will rejoice at the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, which the first-born shall receive, and will humble themselves to the utmost before them and their glorious head, Jesus Christ. Rev. iii. 9. Now this entire deprivation of the birthright, together with all the inexpressible pains which they shall have suffered for their sins, both in the first and second death, will be punishment enough for them: from which eternal damnation most graciously keep us, good LORD GOD. CHAPTER XI. What the Scripture meaneth by this present | World, the World to come, and the still or silent Eternity. THE holy Scripture in many places speaks of this, or the present world; see St. Matt. xii. 32; chap. xiii. 22, 39, 40, 49; chap. xxiv. 3; St. Mark iv. 19; St. Luke xvi. 8; chap. xx. 34; Rom. xii. 2; 1 Cor. i. 20; chap. ii. 6, 7; chap. iii. 18; 2 Cor. iv. 4; Gal. i. 4; Ephes. i. 21; chap. vi. 12; 1 Tim. vi. 17; chap. iv. 10; Tit. ii. 12. In some passages the world to come is men tioned; St. Matt. xii. 32; St. Mark x. 30; St. Luke, xviii. 30; chap. xx. 35; Ephes. i. 21; Heb. vi. 5. And once at least, the still eternity, which God inhabiteth is named. "Thus saith the High and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place," &c. Isaiah lvii. 15. And some think there is an intimation of the stillness or quietness of that eternity, in chap. xxxii. 17, 18. By this world, the Scriptures in general mean nothing else but this present aiona, or period of time, which in so far as it is called the wicked world, had its beginning with the apostacy of the creatures, especially the fall of our first parents, whereby sin and death were introduced into the world; and will last until the coming of Christ, when he will judge the anti-christian race of men, and consume and destroy Antichrist with the spirit of his mouth, and the brightness of his coming. See Dan. vii. 26, 27; 2. Thess. ii. 8, compared with Rev. xix. 11, 20, 21; St. Matt. xiii. 39–42. In this peried of time, that which is evil always had the sway over that which is good, and will have it to the coming of Christ: see Rev. xiii. 6-8, &c., so that we must not expect constantly better times, but rather that things will grow worse and worse the nearer the coming of the Lord approaches. St. Matt. xxiv. 37-39; St. Luke xvii. 26-30; chap. xviii. 8; 1 Thess. v. 2, 3; 2 Tim. iii. 1-5; ver. 13; Rev. iii. 10; chap. vi. 11; chap. xii. 12. Howbeit I will not deny, but that before the end of this wicked world, or age, there may be made a good beginning and preparation towards a downright reformation in the church of God, through the power of the gospel of the kingdom, which may be preached throughout the whole world; (though under many tribulations and persecutions) for which indeed the words of our Saviour, St. Matt. xxiv. 14; St. Mark xiii. 10, afford us good hopes. But this is certain, that there will not be a thorough reformation before the coming of the Son of Man: and the reason of it is this, be cause the devil is the prince or god of this world, or age; see St. John xiv. 30; St. Luke iv. 6; 2 Cor. iv. 4; Ephes. vi. 12, and consequently, worketh in the children of disobe dience, Ephes. ii. 2, who always were the most numerous in the world, and will be so until the day of the coming of the Lord; but then, and not before, the power of the devil, and the anti-christian kingdom of the beast and the false prophet, will have an end, according to the plain testimonies of Scripture. 2 Thess. ii. 8; Rev. xix. 20, 21. This aion, or period of time, is again subdivided by the holy Scripture into two special periods, or worlds: viz. into the wicked world before the flood, or into the old world, 2 Pet. ii. 5; chap. iii. 6; and into the present wicked world, Gal. i. 4, or the age of the world after the flood, under the four empires, represented by the four beasts in Daniel's prophecy, which began soon after the deluge, and will, as aforesaid, end at the coming of Christ. See Dan. ii. 31-45; chap. vii. wholly, By the world to come, the holy Scripture does not mean properly and absolutely an endless eternity, but those aionas, or long |