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en in favours of that cause to which they had borne faithful testimony.

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In what refpect judgement fhould be given unto them, and they fhould be placed on thrones, the following words in ver. 4th farther predict and illuftrate. And I faw the fouls of them that were "beheaded for the witnefs of Jefus, and for the word: " of God, and which had not worshipped the beaft, "neither his image, neither had received his mark

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upon their foreheads, or in their hands, and they: "lived and reigned with Chrift a thousand years.". Some have understood thefe words, as a prediction: that the martyrs who were flain under Heathen and Papal Rome fhall be raised to life from their graves at the commencement of the millennium, and fhall perfonally reign with Chrift on earth for a thousand years. Even if the language of this paffage had been much ftronger in favours of a real refurrection of the martyrs at that time than it is, there are fo many unanfwerable objections against fuch a refurrection at that time, that it would not be easy to make candid and intelligent men to understand the words in that sense, if they could poffibly bear any other. Does not fcripture affure us, that the fouls of departed faints are with Chrift in heaven, which is a fituation far better than any state on this earth? Could it be any triumph or exaltation to them, to be brought down from fuch exalted fociety and bliss in heaven, to dwell

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dwell for a thousand years on earth, even in the millennium ftate?

But the words, as a fymbolical representation, do not contain the flightest hint of a real refurrection. John fpeaks exprefly of the fouls of the martyrs, but not one word of their bodies. But, a real refurrection can refpect the bodies only; for the fouls are neither dead nor buried, nor fubject to either death or burial. They are faid to live and reign with Chrift a thousand years. Though it is highly probable, both from the language of fcrip. ture and from the nature of the thing, that the ordinary length of the life of man fhall be much longer in the millennium period than it is at prefent, yet we have no reason to believe that individuals fhall live for a thousand years in that period. Thefe, therefore, who are to live fo long, must not be regarded as individual perfons, but as a fociety or fucceffion of men who are well typified by the martyrs of Jefus.

The language in this place is very fimilar to that which is ufed with respect to the two witneffes in ch. xi. Inch. xi. 3. it is faid, " And I will give power "unto my two witneffes, and they fhall prophefy a "thousand two hundred and threefcore days, "clothed in fack cloth." It was formerly fhewn in its place, that these two witneffes were not two individual witneffes; but that they were a fucceffion of martyrs, and that not any individual two

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of them were to live or prophefy for 1243 years, but that the whole fucceffion of them should prophefy for that time. From yerfe 7th to 13th, thefe witneffes are represented as killed, lying dead three days and an half, and afterwards rifing to life again. Verfe 11th, " And after three days and an "half, the fpirit of life from God entered into “them, and they flood upon their feet, and great "fear fell upon them that faw them." This account of the refurrection of the two witneffes is much more like a perfonal and real refurrection

than the one now under our view: because it is exprefsly faid, that their bodies were dead, that the fpirit of life entered into them, and that they flood on their feet. Yet, as hath been fhewn in that place, and hath been proven long ago by the event, that refurrection of the two witneffes to life was the revival of their teftimony to the truth as it is in Jefus, which happened at the glorious Reformation, exactly three years and an half after the witneffes for the truth had been filenced. it not therefore reasonable to understand the defcription in chap. xx. in a fimilar fenfe? Is it not contrary to all the rules of just criticism, to underftand two fimilar defcriptions in the fame book, in oppofite, or even not in fimilar fenfes ?

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The true meaning therefore of this fymbolical representation is this. At that period, the world hall be peopled with men of the fame fpirit

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character with the real martyrs of Chrift; with men, who like them fhall call no man on earth master in matters of religion; who, free from the fetters of fuperftition and idolatry, and regarding the facred rights of confcience, fhall regulate their faith, worship, and conduct, by the infallible ftandard of the word of God. Men of this character fhall in fucceffion live on earth, and enjoy a state of great purity and joy, for a thousand years. The martyrs may be faid alfo to live and reign with Chrift during that period, on account of the very high but unfuperftitious respect which the inhabitants of that age fhall pay to their memories, and the warm gratitude which they fhall feel for those good and undaunted men, who adhering to the teftimony of Jefus and the word of God, at the expence of their fame, fortunes, liberty, and lives, were the intelligent and voluntary inftruments in the hand of God of tranfmitting to them, through the long and bloody fpace of 1243 years, that divine religion which they enjoy in fuch purity, peace, and plenty. They will pay very high respect to the memory of all thofe men, who in the preceding period adhered to the gospel of Jefus in its fcriptural purity and fimplicity, whether they were called to fuffer for their faith or not; as the called, faithful, and chofen foldiers of Jefus, who clothed in the Chriftian armour had combated and overcome principalities, powers, the rulers of

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the darkness of this age, and spiritual wickedneffes in heavenly places. For, thus vanquished, none of these enemies fhall attack or annoy the men of the millennium age.

Befides the martyrs who died either violent or natural deaths in the preceding period, many others of a very different description died, and many of them as violent deaths as any of the martyrs. All these wicked men, especially those who oppofed Christianity and perfecuted Christians, are called "the rest of the dead," in verfe 5th. These lived not again until the thousand years were ended. No men refembling them fhall live upon the earth to corrupt or difturb the purity and peace of the church, or of the world, until these thousand years fhall be expired. Then, a race of men resembling them in attacking the church of Chrift, and in difturbing the peace of the world by bloody wars, fhall arise in the armies of Gog and Magog, which fhall be fhewn in the commentary on verses 8th, 9th.

For thefe thoufand years the memory of these wicked men fhall be buried in the deepest oblivion. These butchers of mankind, who in preceding ages were famed as heroes, for robbing individuals and nations of their most valuable property, and for deluging the world in human blood thefe heads of churches and fects who were famed as oracles for leading men afide from the oracles of

God,

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