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complete all the facred divifions of time, was res garded by the Jews as the symbol of perfection, and is used in this fenfe in fcripture. Thus, the seven spirits mentioned in this book fignify the perfect fpirit of God. And all the parts of this book are divided into fevens; the seven churches, the seven stars, the feven golden candlesticks, the feven angels, the feven feals, the feven trumpets, the feven vials, and the feven thunders. Is it ever to be fuppofed that all thefe events which are interwoven with the Mofaic difpenfation, which was fymbolical or typical itself, and which are introduced into the New Teftament, and abound fo much in this book of Revelation, have no antitype to correfpond to them, no great fabbatical feptennary to which they all point, and in which they shall all be accomplished? Is it not highly probable that they are all typical of the seventh millennary of the earth, which is the great fabbath? SEX

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There are alfo two particular paffages of the New Teftament which feem to point to the millennium as the great fabbath or millennarian feptenary of the earth. The firft is Heb. iv 9. "There remaineth therefore a reft to the people of God." The word tranflated rest is raßßar 10,μ05, which fignifies a fabbatifm, or fuch a rest as the fabbath is. From the context, it is evident that this fabbatifm which remains for the people of

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VOL. II.

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God,

God, is on this earth, and of a spiritual or religious kind. It is alfo remarkable, that when in the context the apoftle fpeaks of the reft unto which Jofhua introduced the Ifraelites in the land of Canaan after their toils and travels in the wilderness, he always ufes the word xaraα. But, when he fpeaks of the reft which remaineth for the people of God, of which that of the Ifraelites in Canaan after their trials in the wilderness was typical, he changes the expreffion, and takes the word σaßßαde, which is a word more peculiarly fuited to a religious reft.

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The other paffage is 2 Pet. iii. 8. "But beloved, "be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is "with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thou"fand years as one day." From the whole of that chapter, to which the reader is defired to pay particular attention, it is evident that the apostle informs Chriftians, that in the laft days perfons fhould arife who fhould fcoff at the fcriptural predictions of the millennium, of the diffolution of this world, and of the final judgement, faying, Where is the promise of Chrift's coming in either of thefe ways? For, fince the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning? With refpect to both thefe ways in which Chrift fhall come, the apoftle furnishes Chriftians with a full answer to that objection of thefe fcoffers, and with a folid foundation for their hope of the accomplishment

complishment of these promises, in the time fixed by the councils of heaven. Thefe he states in verfes 8th, 9th, when he fays, "But beloved be "not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is "with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thou"fand years as one day: The Lord is not flack "concerning his promife, (as fome men count "flackness), but is long-fuffering to us ward, not "willing that any should perish, but that all fhould "come to repentance." The expreffions used by the apoftle evidently fhew, that the context refers both to the millennium and to the general judgement. Verfes 7th, roth, 11th, and 12th, evidently refer to the conflagration and diffolution of this earth, and to the general judgement; and verse 13th evidently refers to the millennium: "Never

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theless," fays he, or though all these things fhall happen, yet before they happen "we according to "his promise look for new heavens and a new "earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." In this verse he tells us, that his hope of the new heavens and the new earth is founded upon the promise of God. That& promise is made, and recorded in If. 1xv. 17. "For behold I create new heavens and a "new earth, and the former fhall not be remem"bered nor come unto mind." The fame account is given of the millennium, Rev. xxi. 1. "And I faw "a new heaven and a new earth, for the first hea

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ven and the first earth were paffed away." Both

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thefe paffages are defcriptions of the millennium ftate, and make parts of two very long and full predictions of it, as fhall be fhewn in its proper place in the commentary on chap. xxi. 1. Therefore as his hope was founded upon that promise, and as that promife relates to the millennium state folely, as the whole lxv. chapter of Isaiah does, the apostle mufl certainly mean the millennium ftate in the 13th verfe; for it is not hope but presumption, whenever the expectation extends beyond the promife. Hence, connected with the promise of the millennium, he fays, Beloved there is one particular thing of which you ought not to be ignorant, which is this, "that one day is with the Lord "as a thousand years." Recollect that God created the world in fix days, and fanctified the seventh day for a fabbath. Every one of these days is the fymbol of a thousand years. Let men therefore wait with patience, until fix thousand years, typified by the fix days in which God made this world, fhall be fully run; and then the feventh millennary, typified by the seventh or fabbath day, fhall commence. This is "Chrift's reft, which "fhall be glorious," Ifaiah ii. 1o. "the fabba"tifm which yet remaineth for the people of

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God," Heb. iv. 9. and that millennium reprefented by Ifaiah and John, by "the new heaven "and the new earth.". Count in this way, and you have no reason to complain that the Lord is

flack

flack concerning his promife, that promife on which we hope for the new heaven and the new earth. Let the fcoffers count in this way, and they fhall fee that they have no reason to complain that all things continue as they were; becaufe by this rule of counting, the time is yet ve ry diftant when "all things fhall be made new," according to the promife of God. This is not a general expreffion for the comprehenfive view which God takes of all time past, present, and future. However true it is in that sense that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand' years as one day, yet in that fenfe it could not have ferved the purpose for which the apoftle ufed it, nor have accorded to the very particular manner in which he expreffed it.

The two purfirst, to fupport the faith and patience of Chriftians, and next, to anfwer the objections of fcoffers relative to the commencement of the millennium.

poses for which he used it were,

However true it is that all time is ever prefent to God, and to the Eternal the difference between the length of a day and of a thousand years is very inconfiderable, yet it is not by what time is or appears to God, but what it is or appears to themfelves, that the conduct both of Chriftians and of fcoffers will be regulated. If the time for accomplishing the promise were left indefinite, fuch a view of time in relation to God would tend rather

to

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