At the expiration of the thoufand years, ver. 7-10. the restraint fhall be taken off from wickedness, and for a little feafon' as it was faid before, ver. 3. Satan fhall be loofed out of his prifon,' and make one effort more to re-establish his kingdom. As he deceived our first parents in the paradifiacal state, fo he fhall have the artifice to deceive the nations' in this millennial kingdom, to show that no state or condition upon earth is exempted and fecured from finning. The nations, whom he fhall deceive, are defcribed as living in the remotest parts of the world; in the four quarters of the earth,' EY THIS TECCOLTI JWHIKis Tas yns, in the four angles or corners of the earth;' and they are diftinguifhed by the name of 'Gog and Magog,' and are faid to be as numerous' as the fand of the fea. Gog and Magog' feem to have been formerly the general name of the northern nations of Europe and Afia, as the Scythians have been fince, and the Tartars are at prefent. In Ezekiel there is a famous prophecy concerning Gog and Magog,' and this prophecy alludes to that in many particulars. Both that of Ezekiel and this of St John remain yet to be fulfilled; and therefore we cannot be abfolutely 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 faid exprefsly, 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 for ces against the Jews refettled 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 reafon fuppofed to be the Turks, but the Turks are the authors of the fecond woe, and the second woe,' xi. 14. 'is paft before the third woe, and the third woe' long precedes the time 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 European, as well as Ethiopia, Libya, and other nations. If Gog and Magog' in St John are the fame

6

y

X

with thofe in Ezekiel, then we muft fuppofe the Othman empire to fubfift 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 Chriftian church are fo denominated, becaufe Gog and Magog' appear to be the last enemies of the Jewish nation. Who they fhall be, we cannot pretend to fay with any the leaft degree of certainty. It is a ftrange whimfical abfurd paradox of Dr Burnet, but his hypothesis betrayed him into it, that they shall be "fons of the earth, generated from the flime of the ground and the heat of the fun, as brute creatures were at firft." M Mede's 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 of the earth, and hall compass the camp of the faints about, and the beloved city, the new Jerufalem with the faints incamped around it, as the Ifraelites incamped around the tabernacle in the wilderness. But they fhall not fucceed and. profper in their attempts; they fhall not be able to hurt the church and city of God, but fhall be destroyed, 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 fhall be caft into the lake of fire and brimftone,' where he shall be punished together with the beaft and the false prophet,' who were caft in before him, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."

'

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

12 And I faw the dead, small 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

x Burnet's Theory. B. 4. Chap. 10. Y De Gogo et Magogo in Apocalypfi Conjectura, in Mede's Works. B. 3. p. 574. Fulleri Mifcell. Sacra. Lib. 2. Cap. 4. in fine

were judged out of thofe things which 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 cast 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,' so that this is properly the end of the world. The dead,' both Small 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 the 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 also were caft' death and hell or the grave,' who are here personified, as they are likewife in other places of holy fcripture. It may feem ftrange that death fhould becait into the lake of fire which is the fecond death;' but the meaning is that tempora! death, which hitherto had exercised dominion over the race of men, fhall be totally abolished, and with respect to the wicked be converted into eternal death. Then,' as St Paul faith, I Cor. xv. 24, 26. fhall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is fwallowed up in victory: for the last enemy that fhall be deftroyed is death.'

CHAP

CHAP. XXI.

'A new heaven and a new earth,' ver. 1. fucceeded in the room of the first heaven and the first earth,' which 'paffed away,' xx. II. at the general judgment. In the new earth there is this remarkable property, that there is no more sea, which whether it fhall be effected by the means which the theorists of the earth have prefcribed or by any other, time muft difcover: but it is evident from hence, that this new heaven and earth are not de'figned 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 understand the expreffion figuratively

Z Burnet's Theory. B. 4. Chap. 2. Whiston's Theory. B. 4. Chap.

6

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 splendour. 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 millennium 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 first refurrection, and it shall also be the habitation of the faints of 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 fhall be glorious upon earth during the millennium, and fhall be more glorious still 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 visibly among men: and, ver. 4. there fhall be no more death,' which cannot come to pafs, till death fhall be totally abolished, xx. 14. by being caft into the lake of fire,' and till the former things,' the first heaven and the first 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 first creation, and he commands these 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 faithful fervants fhall all be fully accomplished; the righteous fhall inherit all things,' but the profligate and immoral fhall have their portion in the lake of fire and brimstone;" which is a farther demonftration, that these things can-not take effect till after the general judgment. Gg.

VOL. II.

Many