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influence of this prejudice more than myself: and nothing but a laborious comparison of prophecy with prophecy has enabled me to subdue it. Yet,

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second advent, the reader might be in danger of imagining that they would not be restored till that era which is familiarly called the day of judgment, that is to say, the final consummation of all things: whereas, after their restoration and conversion, they are to flourish in their own land during the space of at least 1000 years.

Mr. Mede has treated this subject so well, that I cannot do better than avail myself of his remarks.

"When Daniel's times are done, the Son of man comes in "the clouds of heaven, to receive the empire of all the king"doms of the world. Dan. vii. 14.

"When St. Luke's times of the Gentiles are finished, then "shall be signs in the sun and moon; the Son of man comes "also in the clouds of heaven, the redemption of Israel and "the kingdom of God are at hand. Luke xxi. 27, 28, 31.

"The first coming of Christ was to be while the fourth "kingdom was yet in being; the second, when it should end." Works, B. IV. Epist. 8. p. 744, 745.

"The times of the Gentiles are that last period of the fourth kingdom prophesied of, a time times and half a time; at the "end whereof the angel swears unto Daniel (Chap. xii. 7.) "that God should accomplish to scatter the power of the holy people. This is that fulness of the Gentiles, which being 66 come, St. Paul tells us, The deliverer shall come out of Zion, "and all Israel shall be saved." Works, B. III. Treatise on Daniel's Weeks, p. 709.

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"The mother text of Scripture, whence the Church of the "Jews grounded the name and expectation of the great day

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of judgment, with the circumstances thereto belonging, and "whereunto almost all the descriptions and expressions "thereof in the New Testament have reference, is that vision

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while I now fully assent to Mr. Mede's opinion, that there will be some such preternatural manifestation, I cannot think that he assigns to it its proper place

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"in the seventh of Daniel of a session of judgment when the I fourth beast came to be destroyed: where this great Assises "is represented after the manner of the great Synedrion or consistory of Israel; wherein the pater judicii had his assessores, sitting upon seats placed semi-circle wise before "him from his right hand to his left. I beheld (saith Daniel Chap. vii. 9.) till the thrones or seats were pitched down. (namely for the senators to sit upon, not thrown down, as we of late have it), and the Ancient of days (pater consis"torii) did sit. And I beheld, till the judgment was set (that "is, the whole Sanhedrim,) and the books were opened.

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"Here we see both the form of judgment delineated, and "the name of judgment expressed; which is afterwards yet "twice more repeated: first, in the amplification of the ty26 ranny of the wicked horn (Ver. 21, 22.), which (is said) con"tinued till the Ancient of days came, and Judgment was given to the saints of the moft High, i. e. potestas judicandi ipsis facta; and the third time in the angel's interpretation (Ver. 26.). But the Judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion to consume and destroy it to the end. "Where, observe also, that cases of dominion, of blasphemy, "and apostasy, and the like, belonged to the jurifdiction of "the great Sanhedrim.

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"From this description it came, that the Jews gave it the "name of the day of judgment and the day of the great judg "ment; whence, in the epistle of St. Jude (Ver. 6.), it is "called the judgment of the great day.

"From the same description they learned, that the destruc❝tion then to be should be by fire, because it is said (Ver. 9.) His throne was a fiery flame, and his wheels burning fire;

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place in the succession of events. He supposes, that it will be the cause of the conversion of

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"and (Ver. 11.) The beast was slain, and his body destroyed "and given to the burning flame.

"From the same fountain are derived those expressions in the Gospel, where this day is intimated or described; "The Son of mun shall come in the clouds of heaven; The Son

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of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his holy "angels: forasınuch as it is said here, Thousand thousands mi"nistered unto him; and that Daniel saw One like the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven, and he came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near him.

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"Hence St. Paul learned, that the saints should judge the "world, because it is said that many thrones were set, and (Ver. “22.) by way of exposition, that judgment was given to the "saints of the Most High.

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"Hence the same apostle learned to confute the false fear "of the Thessalonians, that the day of Christ's second coming 66 was then at hand because that day could not be till the man of sin were first come, and should have reigned his time appointed forasmuch as Daniel had foretold it should be so, and that his destruction should be at the Son of man's appearing in the clouds; whose appearing therefore was not "to be till then. This is επιφάνεια της παρεσίας αuls in St. "Paul: whom the Lord (saith he) shall destroy at the avera

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of his coming. Daniel's wicked horn is St. Paul's man of sin, "as the Church from her infancy interpreted it.

"But to go on: while this judgment sits, and when it had "destroyed the fourth beast, the Son of man which comes in "the clouds receives dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, "that all people, nations, and languages, should serve and obey

him (Ver. 14.); which kingdom is thrice explained after"wards to be the kingdom of the saints of the Most High, "Ver. 18, 22, 27.

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the Jews: whereas, according as matters appear to me, they will be previously converted; and

"These grounds being laid, I argue as followeth :

"The kingdom of the Son of man and of the saints of "the Most High in Daniel begins when the great judg

"ment sits.

"The kingdom in the Apocalypse, wherein the saints reign "with Christ a thousand years, is the same with the kingdom "of the Son of man and saints of the Most High in Daniel. "Ergo, It also begins at the great judgment.

"That the kingdom in Daniel and that of a thousand years "in the Apocalypse are one and the same kingdom, appears

"thus:

"First, because they begin ab eodem termino, namely, at "the destruction of the fourth beast: that in Daniel, when "the beast (then ruling in the wicked horn) was slain, and his "body destroyed and given to the burning flame (Dan. vii.

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11, 22, 27.): that in the Apocalypse, when the beast and "the false prophet (the wicked horn in Daniel) were taken, "and both cast alive into a lake burning with brimstone. "Rev. xix. 20, 21.

"Secondly, Because St. John begins the regnum of a "thousand years from the same session of judgment described "in Daniel; as appears by his parallel expression borrowed "from thence.

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Christ will be revealed, not to turn them to the faith, but to execute judgment upon his enemies. "I incline to think," says he, "that they shall be "called by vision and voice from heaven, as St. "Paul was; and that that place of Zechariah They "shall see him whom they have pierced, and that of "Matthew Ye shall not see me henceforth till you

"Now, if this be sufficiently proved, that the thousand "years begin with the day of judgment, it will appear further "out of the Apocalypse, that the judgment is not consummate "till they be ended: for Gog and Magog's destruction and the universal resurrection is not till then: therefore the "whole thousand years is included in the day of judgment. "Hence it will follow, that, whatsoever Scripture speaks ❝of a kingdom of Christ to be at his second appearing or at the "destruction of Antichrist, it must needs be the same which "Daniel saw should be at that time, and so consequently "be the kingdom of a thousand years which the Apocalypse "includes between the beginning and consummation of the "great judgment." Mede's Works, B. 1v. Epist. 15. p. 762, 763.

In short, the whole matter may be briefly stated as follows. The day of Christ's second advent or the great day of judgment commences at the close of the 1260 years, when the vengeance of God begins to go forth against the Antichristian faction; extends through the period of the Millennium; and terminates with the final destination of all mankind either to everlasting happiness or everlasting misery. Hence this day of the second advent comprehends two manifestations of the Messiah; the one previous to the Millennium for the destruction of Antichrist, the other subsequent to the Millennium for the universal judgment both of quick and dead. The first of these manifestations is predicted in Dan. vii. 9, 10, 11, 18, 22, 26, 27. and Rev. xix. 11—21. the second is predicted in Rev. xx. 11–15.

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