Page images
PDF
EPUB

66

[ocr errors]

again makes war, and engages in battle with him, who appears upon a white horse, clothed with a vesture dipt in blood," and whose name is called, "The Word of God;" which expressions import the gospel authority. Wherefore being now taken, he is cast into a " lake of fire burning "with brimstone," which is his final doom. The False Prophet is cast into the lake of fire with the Beast; for the nature of his offence, as being against the gospel authority, is expressed by his name, False Prophet; he sins against the spirit of truth, and therefore suffers this eternal judgment. A history is also given of the Devil very similar to that of the Beast. An Angel, doubtless Michael the Archangel, comes down from heaven, having “the key of the bottomless pit, and "a great chain in his hand ;" and he lays hold on the Devil and Satan, and binds him a "thousand years;" and casts him into "the bottomless "pit. Yet as this doom is of the nature of the first judgment, and under the key of the Archangel, which denotes, according to the Divine Theory, the subordinate authority established by the law; after a thousand years, he is loosed out of this prison. But when he excites a new rebellion, which is immediately against the kingdom of Christ and his saints, seated in the New Jerusalem, he is then "cast into the lake of fire and "brimstone, where the Beast and False Prophet are; and shall be tormented day and night, for ever and ever.'

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

The Devil, whose name was Legion, when he saw Jesus, knew that he had power to judge him; but he understood something relative to the nature of God's judgment, that led him to make an appeal to God that he should not then be tormented. But he was cast out of his habitation, and he went immediately into the deep.........And it is observable that Luke, in relating this story, makes

use of the same word, which, in Revelation, we translate bottomless pit. It appears, therefore, that in relation to the two dispensations of the law and of the gospel, which, as we have seen, constitute two distinct worlds, there exists two judgments, two deaths, and two states, or conditions of creatures, who are judged and condemned. And that there are many strong reasons for the conclusion, that it is the holy purpose of God, in the end, to bring the whole universe unto a judgment founded in the mediatorial authority of Christ, and upon the law of the New Testament, which is given to the world in his blood.

From this view of judgment it may be observed, that if it be admitted that there will be a restitution of all things, to the full extent that some understand the word, as including both men and devils, it would be nothing to the point of proving universal salvation. To establish this doctrine, it must be proved that there will be two restitutions, and that all men and devils will be restored, not only from the power of the first death, but also from the power of the second death; it must be proved, that not only will they be loosed out of the bottomless pit, and escape from the horrors of prison; but also, that they will be loosed out of the burning "lake," and be remitted from suffering "the vengeance of eternal fire."

Every careful reader will observe, in Hebrews, chap. x, the Apostle labors to establish a certain distinct view of judgment, which is intirely dif ferent from that by the law; and that in this most impressive view he uses the following words.... "For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth to me, I will recompence saith the "Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands "of the living God.".........From the view before us, it is also to be observed, that the Millennium

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

is a period which falls out between the commencement and the close of the last, or the eternal judgment. This hell of hells, the lake of fire, will be opened previous to the Millennium; and the Beast and false Prophet, and, doubtless, the whole antichristian body, of which they stand at the head, will instantly be cast into it. And after the thousand years, the Devil, together with Death and Hell, i. e. all those who had fallen under the firss judgment, and who had not been the subjects of the first resurrection, will also experience their decisive doom in relation to the high authority of the Lord of all, and be cast into the lake of fire, "where the Beast and the false Prophet are ;" and where they shall be “torment"ed for ever and ever." And thus the whole scene of judgment will wind up in relation to Christ, who is the "Alpha and Omega, the beginning " and the end, the first and the last."

[ocr errors]

The new-born, whose names are in the Lamb's book of life, will be separated from the rest of the dead, and raised up at the coming of Christ before the Millennium......This is the first resurrection...... And though the resurrection both of the just and unjust will take place, no doubt, in consequence of the mediatorial appointment of Christ, yet they will be things of the most different nature. The dust of believers, being united to Christ, will be quickened and raised up by the glorious appearing of the Sun of Righteousness, as a seed possessing the principle of life, is excited and springs up under the genial influence of moisture and heat. Thus the prophet describes the hope of the resurrection. Isai. xxvi. 19. "Thy dead men shall live, "together with my dead body shall they arise: "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for

[ocr errors]

thy dew is as the dew of herbs." Hence, "on "such the second death hath no power." "But "the ungodly are not so." They will be called

forth from the embrace of the first death by the voice of the sovereign Lord of all; and as the subjects of this resurrection will not partake of the power and glory of the raised and glorified body of Christ, this change of their condition will be no privilege to them, but it will only throw them within the grasp of the second death. The first will be "the resurrection of life;" but the second will be "the resurrection of damnation."

The Conclusion of the whole.

WHEN the Lord Jesus Christ shall have "put down all rule, and all authority, and pow"er;" and when "all things shall be subdued "unto him," according to the decree, that he shall "reign until he hath put all his enemies "under his feet;" and when he has settled the affairs of the whole universe, by the decisive rules of judgment which he has announced in his gospel, the curtains and stages, which have been raised for the purpose of the mediatorial exhibition, will then be drawn aside and rolled away; and the kingdom will be delivered up by the Son, and assumed by God, even the Father; and all authority, and power, as by appointment and ordination, will cease........This will be the last and consummating act of the glorification of Christ, in which it will fully appear that he is truly God, whose right it is to reign.

Although, by the appointment of God, authority and power has been given to angels and men, and "there be gods many, and lords many," yet

it cannot be said of any being in the universe, but God himself, that authority and power is held and exercised by him "whose right it is;" for it is an established principle," that power be"longeth unto God." This truth will appear in the event, that all rule, and all authority and poner, of angels and men, will be put down and subdued; and the powers that be, though ordained of God, shall be shaken and be removed; and nothing shall remain but that kingdom, and dominion which exists, essentially and unchangeably, in the divine nature. But this high transaction of the Father's taking the kingdom by the free act of the Son, will carry the fullest evidence, that this kingdom, power and glory was, by right, in his hands; and will be the most demonstrative proof of his true Deity; and that he is worthy of being glorified with the Father himself.

How different are the views of men! I have heard this article of Christ's giving up the kingdom to the Father, adduced as an argument against his divinity; but to me, this passage of Revelation offers conclusive evidence that Jesus Christ is the eternal God. There is, if possible, in view of all the circumstances, more evidence of the divinity of the Son, in this ultimate transaction of his giving up the kingdom to the Father, than there is of the divinity of the Father, in the anterior transaction of his giving the kingdom to the Son; or, in the part taken by the Father in the last transaction, of his receiving the kingdom from the Son. For the Father gave the kingdom to the Son, in a state of chaos and tremendous uproar; to be subdued, new created, and established, without a cent of revenue, or a mite of force, besides that of his own arm; but the Son will give back the kingdom to the Father, perfectly harmonized, and well ordered in all things; established with judg

Tt

« PreviousContinue »