or symbol, it is most usual and proper to do it in its full extent and entire settlement. So that this does not exclude the beginnings thereof, whilst it seems not perfect, but supposes them.' Does there not, then, seem reason to conclude, that the Revolution in the northern continent of America is a beginning of the new symbolic heaven and the new symbolic earth; and that that of France, when it shall rise superior to the intrigues and turbulence of domestic factions, and produce its genuine effects, under the mild influence of peace, and amid the consciousness of national security, will, at length, deserve to be viewed in the same favorable light? Faint is the dawn, which ushers in the day, and often deformed by dense and widely extended mists. So also, in almost every human good, of a complicate and extensive kind, the beginnings are necessarily defective, and often clouded by a large mixture of evil. They do not, however, on that account, cease to be highly valuable; and to him, who turns his eye from the present scene of momentary good or evil, and traces effects from their causes, they do not, on that account, cease to be a ground of congratulation and rejoicing. But I return to Daubuz, And there was no more sea. The sea, as has been frequently observed before, signifies multitudes in commotion and war. Thus this symbol signifies here, that in this new heaven and earth, or kingdom of Jesus Christ now completed, there shall be no tyranny, oppression, violence, war, shedding of blood, or any other turbulent wickedness.' The predictions of the Jewish and the Christian prophets mutually illustrate each other. Leaving, therefore, for the present, those which occur in the book of Revelation, I shall pass on to some of those, which are found in the Old Tes 29 The expression is plainly symbolic: and not to mention the extreme improbability of the sea in a literal sense being annihilated, or disappearing, at the commencement of the millennium, we read of it (XX. 13) as long afterwards existing, even at the Day of Judgment, and as then giving up the dead which were in it. tament, and delineate in perspicuous or in glowing lan-. guage the same happy period. From the concluding chapter of Joel a passage has already been quoted30, in which it is foretold, that the symbolic sun, and moon, and stars shall be darkened; and I now give a part of the verse which follows, as explained by Dr. Wells. And it shall come to pass in that day, or during the happy state of the millennium, the saints on earth shall enjoy the greatest plenty of all things requisite to this life, insomuch that the vines even on the mountains shall yield such plenty of wine yearly, that it may be said, the mountains shall in a manner drop down new wine yearly, and the cattle that feed even on the hills shall give so much milk, that it may be said that the hills flow with milk31? To the same purpose speaks Mr. Lowth. In a similar strain is one of the concluding verses of the prophet Amos, which verses, says Mr. Lowth, ought to be understood of the happy state of the millennium.' Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. Here also I cite the paraphrase of Dr. Wells. 'Behold the days of the millennium or reign of Christ and his saints on earth come, saith the Lord, when there shall be such plenty, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, i. e. they shall not get in all their harvest, till just before it be time to plow again for the next year: : and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed, i. e. by the time they have sown the winter corn seed, their vintage shall be ready: and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt33, or flow with milk.' 33 This word is, however, susceptible of a different interpretation. The Chaldee Paraphrase, the Septuagint, and Vulgat Latin, understand the Hebrew verb, translated melt, of being cultivated, the stony ground being made softer by plowing and manuring.' Mr. Lowth. Lactantius, having these passages among others in his eye, and interpreting them according to the letter, says, 'the earth will open its fertility, and produce fruits sponta neously and in the greatest abundance; the rocks of the mountains will sweat with honey; wines will run down in rivulets; and the rivers will flow with milk. In short, the world itself will rejoice, and the whole face of nature be glad.-Lions and calves will stand together at the stall: the wolf will not seize upon the sheep, nor the dog follow the chace: hawks and eagles will become harmless, and the infant will play with the serpent34. The rhetorician of Nicomedia, having uttered these and similar expectations, then quotes those exquisite lines of the Roman poet, which follow, as if impressed with the belief of their future literal accomplishment. Cedet et ipse mari vector; nec nautica pinus Though the reader is doubtless of opinion, that Lactantius has wandered sufficiently far from probability; yet he will soon see, that, upon this very subject, and by an earlier writer, he has been far out-stripped in the marvellous, Irenæus assures us, that the days shall come, in which there will be vines, each bearing ten thousand branches; and on every one of these branches there will be ten thousand 34 Lib. VII, c. 24. lesser branches; and on every one of these ten thousand twigs; and on every one of these twigs ten thousand clusters of grapes; and on each separate cluster ten thousand grapes; and every one of these grapes, when pressed, will yield twenty-five metretæ3 of wine. And when shall take hold of one of these sacred boughs, another will cry out, I am a better bunch, take me, by my means bless the Lord." any one But, though there is no reason for believing, that plants and fruit-trees will become supernaturally prolific; yet it may justly be expected, that the arts of agriculture and gardening will be improved beyond the conception of present times; and that, in consequence, all the more valuable productions of the vegetable world will surpass such as are now cultivated, with respect to beauty or flavor, size or quantity. By Micah also the arrival of this happy period is foretold. In the last days it shall come to pass, says the prophet, that the strong nations shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it37. Were there no prediction at all in the prophets of the destruction of the antichristian monarchies that now exist, from this single passage of Micah it might, I think, safely be inferred. Whilst they subsist, is it possible, that wars should cease throughout the world? That tranquility and security, that mildness, humanity, and concord, which will hereafter flow from the amended morals of mankind, are beautifully represented by the evan 35 That is, says Dr. Whitby (on the Mill. ch. 1.) according to the most moderate computation, 275 gallons. 36 Lib. V. c. 33. 37 IV, 1, 3, 4. gelical prophet, when he says (xi, 6), that the wolf shall dwell with the lamb; and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them38. Lest any one, says Vitringa, should stupidly annex to this a literal acceptation, the prophet has himself supplied us with a key for interpreting it, adding immediately after in v. 9. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain* ; for the earth shall be full of the knowlege of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. The lxvth chapter also of Isaiah relates not only to the future improved state of the Jewish nation, but also to the millennium" and of the state of the world in general. That the conclusion of it paints in the most beautiful and in the strongest colors the felicity of future times, and their exemption from despotism and from war, the following extracts from that part of the chapter will shew. Behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth; and the former ones they shall not remember, nor shall they come into their minds any more; but they shall rejoice and exult in the age to come, which I create.-No more shall there be an infant shortlived; nor an old man who shall not have fulfilled his days: for he, who shall die at a hundred years, shall die a boy; and the sinner, who shall die at a hundred years, shall be deemed accursed. And they shall build houses, and shall inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards, and shall eat the fruits of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree, shall be the days of my people: and they shall wear out the works of their own hands. My chosen shall not labor in vain; nor shall they generate a short-lived race,— 38 Among the early commentators, who have observed that these words are to be figuratively understood, are Grotius, Munsterus, and Forerius. 39 See the same observation in Mr. Lowth in loc. 40 That is,' says Dr. Lancaster, in all the kingdom of the Messiah, which shall then reach all over the world.' 41 See this observed by Mr. Lowth, Mat. Henry, Dr. Wells, and Vitringa. |