Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_400.lzh/D_450.TXT

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450                                    OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.                                                      Book VIL

a probable sera to begin the reign of antichrist; and
as this was in the year four hundred and seventy-six,
if one thousand two hundred and sixty years are
added thereunto, the fall of antichrist must have hap-
pened in the year one thousand seven hundred and
thirty-six; this some learned men were very confident
of, particularly Lloyd, bishop of Worcester, a great
calculator of times, affirmed, that all the devils in hell
could not support the pope of Rome, longer than one
thousand seven hundred and thirty-six. But we have
lived to see him mistaken; more than thirty years
have since passed, yet the popish antichrist is still in
his seat; though his civil power has been weakening,
and still is weakening; so that it might be hoped, he
will, ere long, come to Iris end. Nor should we be
altogether discouraged from searching into the date
of his reign: there is another zero which bids fair to
be the beginning of it; and that is, when the em-
peror Phocas gave the grant of universal bishop to
the pope of Rome; and this was done in the year six
hundred and six: and the rather this date should be
artended to, since within a little time after, Mahomet,
the Eastern antichrist, arose; so that as they appeared
about the same time, anti o-o on togcther, they will
end together. Now if to the above date are added
one thousand two hundred and sixty years, the end
of antichrist's reign will fall in the year one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six: according to this com-
putation, antichrist has almost an hundred years more
to reign: and if the date of his reign is to be taken
from his arriving to a greater degree of' pride and
power, or from the year six hundred and sixty-six,
which is the number of' the beast, Rev. xiii. 18. it
will be protracted still longer. It may be observed,
that the dates in Daniel xii. 11, 1 .o. and in the Reve-
lation, som.ewhat differ; they are larger in the former;
instead of one thousand two hundred and sixty days,
as in the latter, it is one thousand two hundred and
ninety days; thirty days, that is, thirty years, more;
which, after the fall of antichrist, may be taken. up in
the conversion of the Jews, and the settlement of
them ih their own land: and the date is still further
increased in the next verse; Blessed is he that waiteth,
and cometh to the thousand three hundred and thirty-
five days; which make forty-five days, or years, more;
and which may be employed in the destruction of the
Ottoman empire; and in the spread of the gospel
through the whole world; and therefore happy will he
be that comes to this date; these will be happy,
halcyon days indeed ! But now supposing these elates
could be settled with any precision, as they cannot,
until more light is thrown upon them, which perhaps
may be, when nearer their accomplishment; yet the
,time of the second coming, and personal appearance
of Christ, and of the millennium, or thousand years
reign upon it, cannot be known hereby; because the
spiritual reign of Christ, will only take place upon the
above events; and how long that will last, none can
any: nor have we any chronological dates, nor hints,
concerning the duration of it; only the Philadelphian
church-state, in which it will be; but as that is not

yet begun, so neither do we know when it will; nor
when it will end: and after that, there will be another
state of lukewarmhess, drowsiness, and car'hal secu-
rity; which the Laodicean church-state will bring on,
and will continue till Christ's personal appearance;
for such will be the state of things when the Son of
man comes; which will be like the times of Noah and
Lot; and how long this state will last cannot be said;
unless the seven months, allowed for the burial of Gog
and his multitude, Ezek. xxxix. 12. can be thought
to be the duration of this state {}; which, if understood
of prophetic time, takes in a compass of two hundred
and ten years; but this is uncertain. So that it scem.s
impracticable and itnpossible, to know the time of the
second coming of Christ; and therefore it must be
vain and needless, if not criminal, to enquire into it.
However, it is known to God, who has appointed a
day in which he will judge the world by Christ; and
as there was a set time for his first coming into the
world, so there is for his second coming; and God in
his own appointed time will send him, shew him, anti
set him forth. And it is often said by our Lord in the
book of the Revelation, that he would come quickly,
chap. iii. 11. and xxii. 7, 12, 20. to quicken saints to
an expectation of it; and yet it is seemingly de-
ferred, to try the faith and patience of saints, and to
render the wicked inexcusable: but the chief reason
is what the apostle gives, 2 Pet. iii. 9. that the Lord
long-suffering to us-ward, the beloved of the Lord,
v. 8. the elect of God he wrote unto; not willing
any of those his beloved and chosen ones should
but that all should come to repentance; and when
they are all brought to repentance towards God, and
to faith in Christ, he will stay no longer, but the day
of the Lord will come immediately.
VI. The signs of Christ's appearance and kingdom.
The more remote ones are snch as Christ gives in an-
swer to the question of the apostles to him; lVhat
shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the
world ? whether they meant his second coming, or his
coming to destroy Jerusalem, and the entl of the Jewish
world, church and state, Christ gave them signs which
answer to both; the destruction of Jerusalem being a
presage anti emblem of the destruction of the world at
the second coming of Christ; such as wars and ru-
mours of wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes;
persecutions of good men, false teachers, the preaching
of the gospel throughout the world: all which had an
accomplishment before the coming of Christ to destroy
Jerusalem: and they have been fulfilling again and
again in all ages since; and perhaps will be more fre-
quent before the destruction of the world at the se-
cond coming of Christ. The more near signs, or what
will more nearly precede Christ's second and personal
coming, are the spiritual reigns, and what will introduce
that ? the destruction of antichrist, the call of the Jews,
and numerous conversions of Gentiles, through the
general spread of the gospel; and after that, great
coolness and indifference in religion, and great defec-
tion in faith and practice. But after all, it seems as if
there would be an uncertainty of it until the sign of

See Rudd's Essay on the l),li!lennium~ p. 16, 363.