Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_400.lzh/D_479.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-18 | 7KB | 137 lines

OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST.              4~9

CHAP. VIII.

__--~ =~: ..............
_
rose up, and manifestly appeared; whose coming was

after the working of Satan, with all powers and signs,
and lying wonders; whose followers give hccd to
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; and who
worship devils, and idols of gold and silver; and whose
reign is to continue one thousand two htmdrcd and
sixty days or years, and so not yet at an end: and
whilst antichrist reigns, Christ's reign cannot take
place, not' Satan be bound. Also much about the same
time, that vile impostor Mahomet, under the instiga-
tion of the devil, arosc; when the bottomlcss pit was
opened, and then Satan surely could not lie bound in
it; out of which came the smoke of the absurd Alkoran,
which darkened the sun and moon, the light of great
part of the world; and from whence came his locusts,
the Saracens, which, for some centuries, greatly afflict-
ed the christian empire, whose king was called Abad-
don, and Apol]yon, Rev. ix. 11. as did the Turks after
them, whose empire was set up in the beginning of the
fourteenth century, and continued to distress Europe
till the latter end of the last. And now, so long as
Mahometanism prevails over so largc a part of the
world as it does, the thousand years reign, and the
binding of Satan, cannot be expected. To which may
bc adde.d, the persecutions of the Waldenses and A!bi-
genses, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, by tile
e,
papal antichrist, and which have been exercised on
them, even in the last century, in the valleys of P~ed-
mont {}, shew that Satan cannot be bound. And as to
the state of heathenism, it will appear, bv consnlting
the Magdeburgensian centuriators, that it 'has subsisted
in various parts of the world, throughout all the cen-
turies, fi'om Constantine to the fourteenth century; and
about the end of the fifteenth, when America was first
discovered, in what state were the inhabitants of it?
ldolators: yea, they worshipped the devil in some
places in the West Indies {}; as the inhabitants of the
East Indiesas, and others in North and South America:
and how many nations and kingdoms, both in America
and in the East Indies, are, at this day, under the power
of heathenism ? And it was a calculation made by some
in the last century, that if the whole known world, was
divided into thirty equal parts, nineteen of them would
be found idolatrous Gentiles {}. Surely then Satan can-
not be bound, so as not to deceive the nations.
5thly, Some begin the thousand years reign, and the
binding of Satan, at the reformation from popery; but
whether the date is from Wicklift, John Huss, and
Jerom of Prague, or from Luther; they all of them
either suffered death, or met with great inhumanity and
ill treatment, from the instruments of Satan, and there-
fore he could not be bound; and great numbers of
their followers were persecuted unto death. Since the
reformation, were the massacre in Paris, when ten
thousand protestants were murdered in one night, and
seventy thousand in seven days time {}: and the many
martyrs bnrnt here in England, in queen Mary's reign;
and the massacre in Ireland, in which two hundred

a~ See Perrin's History of the Waldenses, and Morland's History of
the evangelical Churches in the valley of Piedmont..
34 p. Martyr de Ang!eria Decad 1.1. 9. Ofiedo de BId. Occident.

thousand perished; all under an hellish influence, are
clear demonstrations that Satan was not bound. Be-
sides, though several nations, at the reformation, fell
from popery, yet all did not, and some have revolted
to it since; and whoever considers the great decline of
religion in our day, the increase of popery, and the
spread of errors and heresy among us, and the great
profaneness and immorality that prevail, can never
think that Satan is bound, or that the millennium is
begun. Upon the whole, it must clearly appear, that
there never as yet has been such a time, in which it
could be said, that Satan had no power to deceive
the nations, either by drawing them into idolatry, and
other bad principles, or into persecuting practices;
nor any time in which the church of Christ has been
in a state of purity and peace, free from idolatry,
heresy, and persecution; wherefore it may be strongly
concluded, that Satan is not yet bound; and that
Christ's kingdom is not yet come; nor are these things
to be expected in the present state.
The spiritual reign in the latter-day bids fairest for
it; and which, indeed, is a branch of Christ's kingdom,
when both Pope and Turk will be destroyed; but then
Satan will only be destroyed in his instruments, but not
in his person bound. Besides, the spiritual and per-
sonal reign of Christ, though branches of his kingdom,
belong to different periods; and will not both take
place in the present state; the spiritual reign will be
in the present earth, and of saints in a sinful, mortal
state, and in the use of' ordinances: but the millennium-
reign will be on the new earth, and of saints in a risen
perfect state, standing in no need of ordinances, as
now. The millennium-reign will not be till after the
first resnrrection; and the first resurrection will not be
till the second coining of Christ, when the dead in him
shall rise first. The personal reign of Christ will not
be ti11 the new heavens and the new earth are made,
which will be the seat of it; and these will not be till
the present heavens and earth are dissolved and burnt
up; and this conflagration will not be till Christ comes
a second time. The reign of Christ with his saints,
will not be till Satan is bound, as well as antichrist de-
stroyed; and 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.
V. I close all, with an answer to a few of the prin-
cipal objections to the above scheme; and to two or
three questions relative to the same.
   1st, To objections. As,.            1. It may be objected,
to what purpose will Satan be bound a thousand years
to prevent Iris 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 first binding
of Satan, which is the first thing Christ will do when
he descends from heaven; first bind Satan, then raise

~s Vartomauni Navigat. 1. 5. c. _'2. 9..~. et 16. 27. Ross's View of all
Religions, p. 59. see p. 77, 79, 80, 88, 89.
as Schmid. compend. Hist. Ecclesiast. sec. 17. p. 500,
~ Ibid, see. 16. p. 462,