called the holy city, the new Jerusalem; but not as in any state on this present earth. Mortal men, dwelling in houses of clay, would never be able to bear such a glory.

The inhabitants of the new heavens and the new earth, are here described under the names of the holy city, by their descent from heaven, and by their freedom from all evils; God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: there shall be no more night, either in a literal sense, or rather figurative, meaning no night of ignorance and error, of darkness and desertion, and of affliction of any kind; and they need no candle, neither the light of the sun; neither artificial nor natural light; for the Lord God giveth them light, what vastly exceeds either; and they shall reign for ever and ever; first with Christ on the new earth, for a thousand years, next to be considered, and then in heaven to all eternity.

OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST.

I OBSERVE,

I. That Christ will have a special, peculiar, glorious, and visible kingdom, in which he will reign personally on earth, 1. I call it a special, peculiar kingdom, different from the kingdom of nature, and from his spiritual kingdom. 2. It will be very glorious and visible; hence his appearing and kingdom are put together, 2 Tim. iv. 1. 3. This kingdom will be after all the enemies of Christ, and of his people, are removed out of the way. Antichrist will be destroyed; an angel, who is no other than Christ, will then personally descend to bind Satan and all his angels. 5. This kingdom of Christ will be bounded by two resurrections; by the first resurrection, or the resurrection of the just, at which it will begin; and by the second resurrection, or the resurrection of the wicked, at which it will end, or nearly. 6. This kingdom will be before the general judgment, especially of the wicked. John, after he had given an account of the former, Rev. xx. relates a vision of the latter. 7. This glorious, visible kingdom of

Christ will be on earth, and not in heaven; and so is distinct. from the kingdom of heaven, or the ultimate glory.

11. Having explained the nature of Christ's kingdom, I shall proceed to give the proof that there will be such a glori ous, visible kingdom of Christ on earth. Now the proof of this point may be taken, 1. From some passages in the Psalms, as the xlvth Psalm; which shews that this kingdom of Christ will be on earth, and agrees with the faith and expectation of the saints, that as they are made by him, kings and priests unto God, they shall reign on earth. Psal. xcvi. which begins, The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice; shews that the Psalm respects the kingdom of Christ on earth; and which will take place at his coming to judge the world, as appears by its connection with the last verse of the preceding Psalm. 11. From various passages in the prophets: and, 1. From Isai. xxiv. 23. Then the moon shall be confounded, &c. the sun and moon will be ashamed and confounded; they will blush and withdraw their light; that city, the new Jerusalem, where he will reign, will stand in no need of their light, for the Lamb will be the light of it, Rev. xxi. 23. 2. With this agrees another prophe cy in Isai. xxx. 26. Moreover, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, &c. this prophecy will not be fulfilled until the day of the great slaughter is over: nor will it be fully ac complished until the name of the Lord, or the Lord himself, comes with the flame of a devouring fire, to burn up the world, and all things in it, verse 27. 30. There is another prophecy which seems to belong to this glorious kingdom of Christ on earth, in Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, &c. and on the earth this his reign will be. 4. There are some passages in Ezekiel, which seems to have respect to this kingdom state; as in chap. xxi. 27. in Daniel ii. 44. and in Zech. xiv. 9. 111. The proof of this glorious kingdom of Christ, may be given from various passages in the New Testament; and, 1. From Matt. vi. 10. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, as 3. From Matt. xx. 21-23. Then came to him

it is heaven.

the mother of Zebedee's children, desiring that her two sons may sit the one on Christ's right hand, and the other on the left, in his kingdom. 3. From Luke i. 32, 33. The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 4. From Luke xxiii. 42, 43. And he said unto Fesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 5. From Acts i. 7. Lord wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom unto Israel? 6. From 2 Tim. iv. 1. I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and dead at his appearing, and his kingdom. His appearing a second time, and then his personal reign, and glorious kingdom will take place.

II. In this glorious, visible, and personal reign of Christ, all the saints will have a share, they will reign with him, Rev. xx. 4. 6. 1. There are various passages of scripture, which give plain intimations of the reign of the saints with Christ in his kingdom, as Psal. xlv. 16. Isai. xxxii. 1. Micah. iv. 7, 8. Luke i. 32. Matt. xix. 28. Rom. viii. 17. Rev. iii. 21. &c. 11. All the saints will share in the glories of Christ's kingdom; though some will have distinguished honours, yet all will reign with Christ; for, 1. All the saints will come with Christ, who have departed this life, when he comes a second time; this is asserted both in the Old and New Testaments, Zech. xiv. 5. 1 Thess. iii. 13. 2. All that are Christ's shall rise from the dead at his coming, 1 Cor. xv. 23. and, in consequence of their resurrection, shall reign with him. 3. All the elect of God, and the redeemed of the Lamb, are kings and priests; and being such, shall reign on earth. 4. The whole church of God, and the members of it, in every dispensation, shall have a share in this kingdom. 111. In what sense the saints, even all the saints, will reign with Christ, may be next considered This will not be after the manner of his spiritual reign among his saints; that is a reign in them, this is a reigning with them, and of them with him. This will be a reign with Christ personally and visibly. It implies some kind of share with him.

in the glories of his kingdom, and supposes dominion over all their enemies.

III. The description of the persons that shall thus reign with Christ, as given Rev. xx. 6. They are such who have part in the first resurrection: On such the second death hath no power. They will be priests of God and of Christ; that is, made priests to God by Christ. They will be always before the throne, and serve the Lord day and night, and hunger and thirst no more. They will be holy in body, being raised in purity, and in soul, being perfectly sanctified.

IV. The continuance and duration of the reign of Christ and the saints together, which will be a thousand years. It is expressly said, The rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished, Rev. xx. 5. It may be enquired,

Whether these thousand years are past or to come? To the solution of which, this observation is necessary, that the binding of Satan, and the reign of Christ, are cotemporary. 1. These thousand years have been dated from the birth of Christ, who came to destroy the works of the devil, and before whom, Satan fell as lightening from heaven, yet this falls short of the binding and casting him into the bottomless pit. 11. Others date these thousand years of Satan's binding, from the resurrection of Christ; but Satan was not then bound. 111. Others begin these thousand years of Satan's binding at the destruction of Jerusalem; but in these times, the devil could never be said to be bound, when he had a synagogue of corrupt men, Rev. ii. 9. IV. Others begin the date of Satan's binding, and Christ's reigning, from the times of Constantine; and reckoning the thousand years from hence they will reach to the beginning of the fourteenth century. But that the devil was not then bound, appears by the flood he cast out of his mouth to destroy the woman, the church, who was obliged to disap pear and flee into the wilderness, the remnant of whose seed he persecuted, Rev. xii. 13-17 v. Some begin the thou sand years reign, and the binding of Satan, at the reformation from popery; but whether the date is from Wickliff, John

Huss, and Jerom from Prague, or of Luther, they all of them either suffered death or met with great inhumanity and ill treatment, from the instruments of Satan, and therefore he could not be bound. Satan will not be bound till Christ, the mighty Angel, descends from heaven to earth, which will not be till the end of the world.

But it is

V. I close all with an answer to a few of the principal ob jections. 1. It may be objected, to what purpose will Satan be bound a thousand years to prevent his deception of the nations, when there will be no nations to be deceived by him during that time, since the wicked will be all destroyed in the general conflagration, and the saints will be with Christ, out of the reach of temptation and seduction. I answer, this will not be the case at the binding of Satan; the same nations, Satan, by being bound, is prevented from deceiving, are those that will be deceived by him after his being loosed, as appears by comparing Rev. xx. 3. with verse 8. 2. That though the saints are said to reign with Christ a thousand years, Rev. xx. 46. yet they are not there said to reign on earth. elsewhere said, the meek shall inherit the earth. They are manifestly the camp of the saints, who will come up on the breadth of the earth, and therefore must be on earth. 3. It is objected to the personal reign of Christ with the saints on earth, that they, by reason of the frailty of nature, will be unfit to converse with Christ. This objection proceeds upon a supposition, that the saints will then be in a sinful, mortal state; which will not be the case. 4. It is suggested, that for the saints to come down from heaven, and leave their happy state there, and dwell on earth, must be a diminishing of their happiness, and greatly detract from it. No such thing; for Christ will come with them. 5. The bodies of the wicked lying in the earth till the thousand years are ended, may be objected to the purity of the new earth, and to the glory of the state of the saints upon it. The purification of it by fire, will, indeed, only affect the surrounding air, and the surface of the earth, or little more. As for the bodies of the wicked,