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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 whofoever 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, reprefented in a vifion of a great white throne, great to fhow the largenefs 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 all raised, and ftand before the judgment-feat 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 registers of heaven are caft into the lake of fire; whither alfo were cast death and hell or the grave, who are here perfonified, as they are likewife 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 exercifed dominion over the race of men, fhall be totally abolithed, and with refpect to the wicked be converted into eternal death, Then, as St. Paul faith, (1 Cor. YV. 54, 26.) shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is fwallowed up in victory: for the laft enemy that fhall be deftroyed is death.

CHAP.

'A

CHAP. XXI.

ND I faw a new heaven and a new earth : for the first heaven and the firft earth were paffed away; and there was no more fea.

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.

3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven, faying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they fhall be his people, and God himself fhall be with them, and be their God.

4 And God fhall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there fhall be no more death, neither forrow, nor crying, neither fhall there be any more pain: for the former things are paffed away.

5 And he that fat upon the throne, faid, Behold, I make all things new. And he faid unto me, Write for thefe words are true and faithful.

6 And he faid unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end: I will give unto him that is athirft, of the fountain of the water of life freely.

7 He that overcometh fhall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he thall be my fon.

8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and forcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, fhall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimftone: which is the fecond death.

In

A new heaven and a new earth (ver. 1.) fucceeded in the room of the firft heaven and the firft earth, which paffed away (XX. 11.) at the general judgment. the new earth there is this remarkable property, that there is no more fea, which whether it thall be effected by the means which (2) the theorifts of the earth have pre

(2) Burnet's Theory, B. 4. Chap. 2. Whifton's Theory, B. 4. Chap. 5.

fcribed

fcribed or by any other, time muft difcover: but it is evident from hence, that this new heaven and earth are not defigned to take place till after the general judgment, for at the general judgment (XX. 13.) the fea gave up the dead which were in it. Many understandthe expreffion figuratively, that there fhall be no troubles or commotions in this new world. In this new world too the new Jerufalem appears (ver. 2.) in full glory and fplendor. It is defcribed as coming down from God out of heaven: it is a city, whofe builder and maker is God; and is adorned as the bride for the Lamb, the true church of Chrift: and the new Jerufalem, the true church of Chrift, fubfifts as well during the millennial kingdom as after it. At the commencement of the millenium it was faid (XIX. 7.) The marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. At the conclufion of the millennium Gog and Magog went up (XX. 9.) against the beloved city: And here it is reprefented as the metropolis of the new heaven and the new earth. The new Jerufalem fhall be the habitation of the faints of the firft refurrection, and it fhall alfo be the habitation of the faints or the general refurrection. The church of Chrift fhall endure through all times and changes in this world, and likewife in the world to come; it thall be glorious upon earth during the millennium, and fhall be more glorious ftill in the new earth after the millennium to all eternity. Earth fhall then become as heaven, or rather it fhall be a heaven upon earth, (ver. 3.) God dwelling vifibly among men: and (ver. 4.) there fhall be no more death, which cannot come to pass, till death fhall be totally abolished (XX. 14.) by being caft into the lake of fire, and till the former things, the firit heaven and the firft earth, are paffed away. He who fat upon the throne as judge of the world (XX. 11.) declares (ver. 5.) Behold, I make all things new: He is the author of this fecond, as well as of the firft creation, and he commands thefe things to be written for the edification and confolation of his church with a firm affurance of their truth and certainty, He pronounces this period (ver. 6, 7, 8.) to be the confummation of all things, when the promises of God, and the defires of his faith

ful

ful fervants fhall all be fully accomplished, the righteous fhall inherit all things, but the profligate and immoral Shall have their portion in the lake of fire and brimftone; which is a farther demonftration, that these things cannot take effect till after the general judgment.

Many, I know, both ancients and moderns, make the millennium fynchronize with the new heaven and the new earth; and fome latitude of interpretation may be well allowed in thefe myfterious points of futurity; but this order of things, and this interpretation of the words, appear to me moft natural, and moft agreeable to the context. Gog and Magog, the nations in the four corners of the earth, are deceived by Satan after the expiration of the millennium; but Gog and Magog are not inhabiters of the new heaven and the new earth. It is not our business to frame theories and invent hypothefes, but faithfully to follow the word of God as our fureft guide, without regarding much the authority of men. Not but various authorities might be cited to fhow that this is no novel opinion. As St. Barnabas (3) fays, When the Lord fhall make all things new, then fhall be the beginning of the eighth day, which is the beginning of another world;' allowing fix thoufand years to the duration of this world, the feventh thousand to the millennium, and the eighth thousand to the beginning of a bleffed eternity; and you may find many more teftimonies alleged to this purpofe in the notes of Cotelerius and other critics upon this paffage of St. Barnabas. Lactantius (4) affirms, that when the thousand years fhall be compleated, the world thall 'be renewed by God, and the heavens thall be folded up, and the earth fhall be changed; and God thall "transform men into the fimilitude of angels; and they thall be white as fnow, and thall be always con

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(3) γεγονοτων δε καινων απαντων ύπο κυριο αρχην ήμερας ογδόης, ὁ εςιν αλλο κοσμο αρχην. Novatis vero cunctis a Domino- -octavi diei initium, hoc eft initium alterius mundi. Sancti Barnab. Epift. Cap. 15. Vide etiam Notas Cotelerii, &c.

(4) Cum vero completi fuerint mille anni, renovabitur mundus a

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verfant in the fight of the Almighty, and fhall fa<crifice to their Lord, and serve him for ever.' St. Auftin alfo (5) declares, that the judgment being finished, then this heaven and this earth fhall ceafe to be, when the new heaven and the new earth fhall begin to be, For by a mutation of things this world will pafs away, not by an utter extinction. Whence alfo the apostle fays (1 Cor. VII. 31.) that the fashion of this world paffeth away.' And indeed why fhould the new heaven and the new earth be destroyed, when there fhall be no more fin, when there fhall be no more curfe, when there fhall be no more death? The heaven and the earth of old (2 Pet. III. 5.) for the wickedness of man perifhed by water: The heaven and the earth which are now, are referved unto fire against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men; but why fhould not the new heaven and the new earth be preferved, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

9 And there came unto me one of the feven angels, which had the feven vials full of the feven last plagues, and talked with me, faying, Come hither, I will fhew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.

10 And he carried me away in the fpirit to a great and high mountain, and fhewed me that great city, the holy Jerufalem, defcending out of heaven from God.

11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a ftone moft precious, even like a jasperftone, clear as cryftal;

12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Ifrael.

13 On the eaft, three gates; on the north, three gates; on the fouth, three gates; and on the weft, three gates.

(5) Peracto quippe judicio tune effe definet hoc coelum et hæc terra, quando incipiet effe cœlum novum et terra nova. Mutatione namque rerum, non omni modo interitu` tranfi.

bit hic mundus. Unde et Apoftolus ait; Præterit enim figura hujus mundi. S. Auguft. de Civitate Dei. Lib. 19. Cap. 14. p. 447. Tom. 7. Edit, Benedict. Antverp.

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