church from the beginning, is merely a groundless fancy; yet none of these things will at all alter the case. Days, and months, and years, will hasten along, and one revolution among the kingdoms of the earth follow upon another, until the fullness of time is come, till all things are ripe for the event; and then the ministers of Christ will accomplish, in reality, what St. John saw in his vision. I saw an angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them; that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred, and tongue, and people. (Rev. xiv. 6.) And then shall it come to pass, that the vail of ignorance, which hath so long spread over all nations, shall be destroyed, (Isai. xxv. 7.) and knowledge shall so greatly increase, that it shall be as though the light of the moon were as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven fold, (Isai. xxx. 26.) until the knowledge of the Lord cover the earth, as the waters do the sea. (Isai. xi. 9.) And then there shall be nothing to hurt or offend in all God's holy mountain. For Babylon shall fall, satan be bound, and Christ will reign, and truth and righteousness universally prevail, a thousand years. REMARKS and INFERENCES. 1. When, therefore, our Saviour, in the days of his flesh, denominated his followers a little flock, from the smallness. of their number, he had no design to teach us, that this would always be the case, for although it was very true, that his flock was at that time a little flock; yet the day was coming, when that little leaven should leaven the whole lump, (Mat. xiii. 33.) and the stone cut out without hands should become a great mountain, and fill the whole earth; (Dan. ii. 25.) so although it was a saying very applicable, not only to our Saviour's day, but to most other periods of the Church, that many are called and few are chosen ; yet it does not hence follow, that this will be the case when a nation shall be born in a day, and all the people shall be righteous. And although it has commonly been so, that of the many who haves ought to enter in at the strait gate, but few have been able, and the generality, have from age to age gone in the broad way, which leads down to destruction: yet it shall be quite otherwise, when satan is bound, that he may deceive the nations no more; and when all shall know the Lord from the least to the greatest, when the kingdom and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. For it is very plain, that these and such like expressions used by our Saviour, which were applicable to the then times, and to most other periods, when the number of true converts hath been comparatively very small, were never designed to be applicable to that glorious period yet to come, which is to be the grand harvest-time, when the Jews, (who are to this day for that very purpose, no doubt, by divine Providence preserved a distinct people,) and the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in. Nor can it be right to interpret such expressions in such a sense, as to render them inconsistent with what the scriptures so plainly teach shall be the case in the latter days. Therefore, 2. Notwithstanding hitherto but few have been saved, there is no evidence but that yet the greater part of mankind may be saved. Nothing can be argued against this from such expressions as have been just mentioned, for the reason already suggested. Nor can any thing be argued from any other passages of Scripture; for the Scripture no where teaches, that the greatest part of the whole human race will finally perish. I am sensible, many seem to take this for granted, and they are greatly strengthened in this belief, from a view of the awful state mankind have been in from the beginning of the world to this day. But if we should even grant, that hitherto not one in ten thousand have been saved, yet it may come to pass, (there may be time enough for it, and men enough yet born,) I say, it may yet come to pass, that by far the greatest part of mankind may be saved. For, as the Scriptures constantly teach, that in these glorious days universal peace shall prevail; and instead of war, the nations shall employ their time in useful labour, shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; so it will naturally come to pass, that mankind, who are now in vast multitudes destroyed in the wars from one generation to another, will be greatly increased in num bers, and plentifully provided for. Only remove wars, famines, and all those desolating judgments, which the sins of mankind have from age to age brought down on a guilty world, and let that universal peace and prosperity take place, which indeed will naturally result from the sincere practice of pure christianity, and mankind will naturally increase, and spread, and fill all the earth. And while every one improves his time well, and is diligent in his calling, according to the rules of our holy religion, and all luxury, intemperance, and extravagance are banished from the nations of the earth, it is certain that this globe will be able to sustain with food and raiment, a number of inhabitants immensely greater than ever yet dwelt on it at a time. And now if all these shall know the Lord from the least to the greatest, as the scripture asserts, so that the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the earth as the waters cover the sea, for a thousand years together, it may easily, yea, it will naturally come to pass, that there will be more saved in these thousand years, than ever before dwelt upon the face of the earth from the foundation of the world. Some indeed understand the thousand years in the revelation agreeable to other prophetical numbers in that book, a day for a year. So the time, and times, and half a time, i. e. three years and an half, and the forty two months, and the 1260 days, are no doubt to be reckoned. And if the dark period is to be reckoned by this rule, it should seem that the light period should likewise. For otherwise the dark period which in that book is represented to be the shortest, will indeed be the longest; the 1260 days longer than the 1000 years; and if the 1000 years is reckoned a day for a year, as the scripture-year contains 360 days, so the 1000 years will amount to 360,000 years. In which, there might be millions saved, to one that has been lost. But not to insist upon this, if this glorious period is to last only a thousand years literally, there may be many more saved than lost. If it be granted that it is difficult to compute with any exactness in such a case as this, yet it is easy to make such a computation as may satisfy us in the point before us. For in Egypt the Hebrews doubled at the rate of about once in 14 years; in New-England the inhabitants double in less than 25 years; it will be moderate, therefore, to suppose mankind, in the Millenium, when all the earth is full of peace and prosperity, will double every 50 years. But at this rate, there will be time enough in a thousand years to double twenty times; which would produce such a multitude of people, as that although we should suppose all who live before the Millennium begins, to be lost; yet if all these should be saved, there would be above seventeen thousand saved, to one that would be lost. As may appear from the table below. Sum total, 4 16 32 128 256 1024 2048 In the first column we have the 20 periods, which 1000 years will 8 make, at 50 years to a period. In the second column, we see in what proportion mankind will increase, 64 if they are supposed to double in every 50 years. At the end of the first 50 years, there will two for 512 one. And so on: At the end of the twentieth period, there will be above a million for one. Now suppose the world to stand 6000 years before the Millennium; and 16384 suppose it in every age to be as full 32768 of inhabitants as it will be when 65536 the Millennium begins; and suppose, through all the 6000 years, all the inhabitants of the earth to have died off, and new ones come 1048576 in their room, at the rate of once in 50 years; 6000 years, at 50 years 4096 8192 131072 262144 2,097,150 to a period, will be 120 periods: 120 worlds full; all lost, suppose; yet by the table we see, that the seventh period alone, (which is 128,) would more than counterbalance the whole : Suppose all before the Millennium lost, 120 2097150 Q. E. D. That is, above 17000 would be saved, to one lost; which was the point to be proved. Therefore nothing hinders, but that the greatest part of mankind may yet be saved, if God so pleases. There is time enough for it, and may be men enough yet born. And if these calculations may serve to clear up this, they answer the end proposed. What proportion of mankind will finally be saved, and what lost, none can tell. It is no where revealed. God was not obliged to save one out of all this guilty, lost world. Hitherto the generality may have perished: and 3. The periods past, that have been so dark, ought to be considered as introductory to this bright and glorious scene, and in various respects as preparatory thereto. And An apostate race, who had joined with the fallen angels in a course of rebellion against the Governor of the universe, might justly have been forsaken of God, and given up to a state of perfect darkness and wo, from generation to generation, entirely under the power of the prince of darkness. What has happened, in dark ages past, may help us a little to realize what might justly always have been the woful state of a fallen world. We have had a specimen of the dreadful nature and tendency of satan's government, in all the idolatry, wickedness, and wo, which have filled the world. And we have seen a little what is in the heart of fallen man, who have slain the Lord's prophets, crucified his Son, and shed the blood of thousands, yea, of millions of his servants. what has happened may help us to realize a little what must have been the state of a fallen world, if grace had never interposed. At the same time it hath appeared, after the best contrived experiments have been sufficiently tried, that it is not in the heart of fallen man to repent, nor can he be brought to it by any external means whatsoever; whereby the absolute necessity of the interposition of supernatural grace hath been set in the most glaring light. And now, if after all, God should effectually interpose, destroy the influence of satan, scatter the darkness which fills the world, recover mankind to God, and cause truth and righteousness at last to prevail; it would appear to be altogether of God, of his own mere self-moving goodness and sovereign grace. And after so long and sore a bondage, mankind will be the more sensible of the greatness of the deliverance. Nor can it ever be said by a proud and haughty world, "we did not need the influences of divine grace to bring us right;" when all other the Lord is righteous. But who can tell to what a degree God may yet glorify his grace? The holy scriptures encourage us to look for things exceeding great and glorious; even for such events as may put a new face on ail God's past dispensations. (See the Sermons on the Wisdom of God in the Permission of Sin.) VOL. I. 65 |