Tartars are at present. In Ezekiel there is a
famous prophecy concerning Gog and Magog,
and this prophecy alludes to that in many par-
ticulars. Both that of Ezekiel and this of
St. John remain yet to be fulfilled; and
therefore we cannot be absolutely certain that
they may not both relate to the fame event,
but it appears more probable that they relate
to different events. The one is expected to
take effect before, but the other will not take
effect till after, the millennium. Gog and
Magog in Ezekiel are said exprefly (XXXVIII.
6, 15, XXXIX. 2.) to come from the north-
quarters and the north-parts, but in St. John
they come from the four quarters or corners of
the earth. Gog and Magog in Ezekiel bend
their forces against the Jews resettled in their
own land, but in St. John they march
up against
the faints and church of God in general. Gog
and Magog in Ezekiel are with very good reason
fuppofed to be the Turks, but the Turks are
the authors of the fecond woe, and the fecond woe
(XI.14.) is past before the third woe, and the
third woe long precedes the times here treated
of. Ezekiel's prophecy apparently coincides with
the latter part of the eleventh chapter of Daniel,
and prefignifies the deftruction of the Othman
empire, which includes Gomer and many Euro-

pean,

1

pean, as well as Ethiopia, Libya, and other nations. If Gog and Magog in St. John are the fame with those in Ezekiel, then we must suppose the Othman empire to subsist throughout the millennium, which can hardly be believed, as it can hardly be reconciled with other prophecies. It may therefore be concluded that Gog and Magog as well as Sodom, and Egypt, and Babylon, are myftic names in this book; and the laft enemies of the Christian church are fo denominated, becaufe Gog and Magog appear to be the laft enemies of the Jewish nation. Who they fhall be, we cannot pretend to say with any the leaft degree of certainty. It is a strange whimsical abfurd paradox of (9) Dr. Burnet, but his hypothefis betrayed him into it, that they fhall be fons of the earth, generated "from the flime of the ground and the "heat of the fun, as brute creatures were at "first." Mr. Mede's (1) conjecture is much more rational, that they shall be the nations of America, the nations of America being in all probability colonies or defcendents from the Scythians, that is from Gog and Magog. Whoever they fhall be, they fhall come up from the four corners of the earth on the breadth

(9) Burnet's Theory. B. 4. Chap. 10.

of

(1) De Gogo & Magogo in Apocalypfi Conjectura, in Mede's

of the earth, and fhall compass the camp of the faints about, and the beloved city, the new Jerufalem with the faints incamping around it, as the Ifraelites incamped around the tabernacle in the wilderness. But they fhall not fucceed and profper in their attempts; they shall not be able to hurt the church and city of God, but shall be deftroyed, in an extraordinary manner, by fire from heaven: and the devil himself, the promoter and leader of this new apoftafy and rebellion against God and his Chrift, fhall not only be confined as before, but shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimftone, where he shall be punished together with the beaft and the falfe prophet who were caft in before him, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

II And I faw a great white throne, and him that fat on it, from whole face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.

12 And I faw the dead, fmall and great, ftand before God; and the books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of thofe things which

were

Mede's Works. B. 3. p. 574. Cap. 4. in fine.
'Fulleri Mifcell. Sacra. Lib. 2.

(2) Burnet's

were written in the books, according to their works.

13 And the fea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

14 And death and hell were caft into the lake of fire: This is the fecond death. 15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was caft into the lake of fire.

After this laft conflict and the final defeat of Satan, there follows (ver. 11-15.) the general refurrection and judgment, represented in a vifion of a great white throne, great to show the largeness and extent, white to fhow the juftice and equity of the judgment, and one fitting on it, who can be none other than the Son of God, for (John V. 22.) the Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son; from whofe face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them, fo that this is properly the end of the world. The dead, both fmall and great, of all ranks and degrees, as well thofe who perished at fea and were buried in the waters, as those who died at land and were buried in graves,

are

are all raifed, and ftand before the judgmentfeat of God, where they are judged every man according to their works, as exactly as if all their actions had been recorded in books. They who are found not worthy to be inrolled in the regifters of heaven are caft into the lake of fire; whither alfo were caft death and bell or the grave, who are here perfonified, as they are likewise in other places of holy fcripture. It may feem ftrange that death fhould be caft into the lake of fire which is the fecond death; but the meaning is that temporal death, which hitherto had exercised dominion over the race of men, shall be totally abolished, and with respect to the wicked be converted into eternal death. Then, as St. Paul faith, (1 Cor. XV. 54, 26.) shall be brought to pass the Jaying that is written, Death is fwallowed up in victory: for the last enemy that shall be deftroyed is death.

CHA P. XXI.

I

ND I faw a new heaven and a new

Α' earth for the first heaven and the

firft earth were paffed away; and there was no more sea.

2 And I John faw the holy city, new Jerufalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.